Chapter 123 | Reborn as a Saint in a Rotten World, I Refuse to Submit

I followed Ligeia to the top floor.

I had noticed from the outside that there were four small rooms facing each cardinal direction, and they didn't look particularly large, likely only about a dozen square meters each.

I had assumed they were display rooms or something similar, but when I stepped inside, I discovered the room was filled with grain plants that looked like rice paddies.

"Please look, Your Highness. This is a new variety of upland rice I've been breeding. Although the flavor isn't great, it is extremely resistant to drought and cold. Furthermore, if it were grown in a wet paddy, its yield would be over thirty percent higher than ordinary rice."

"How does it taste?"

"The taste? That... I haven't actually researched that in detail."

"Is that so?"

I walked over to the paddy. These paddies were man-made and looked quite ordinary with nothing special about them. I reached into the small patch of rice, plucked a stalk, and chewed on a grain.

The flavor was quite average. I suppose you really can't have both flavor and high yield.

"It's not bad, but it's not enough. From what I know, the current yield of rice is about one hundred and fifty kilograms per mu, and that's only in the southern regions. Even with this rice, the yield won't be much higher."

A thirty percent increase would only bring it to about two hundred kilograms. While that was a significant overall boost, the gap was still far too wide.

Taking Golden Bell City, the central point of the Kingdom of the Moon's south, as the dividing line, the rainfall in most southern regions was quite good, with temperatures and humidity well-suited for rice. However, the north was different.

Golden Bell City was about a thousand kilometers from Brilliant City, and Brilliant City was another thousand kilometers from the northern border of the Kingdom of the Moon.

The distance from Golden Bell City to the northern border was roughly two thousand kilometers, and most of that land was unsuitable for rice cultivation.

This was partly due to the temperature and partly due to the humidity.

Furthermore, because the yield of rice was so much lower than that of rye, and rye grew extremely fast, was resistant to drought and cold, and its stalks could be used as livestock feed, the north preferred planting rye.

Consequently... rice was actually considered a high-end ingredient in this world, usually only enjoyed by the nobility.

The vast majority of commoners ate flour ground from a mixture of wheat and rye.

The key issue was the massive disparity in yield between these crops.

One yielded one hundred and fifty kilograms per mu, while the other approached four hundred kilograms.

Such a gap meant many people would choose to grow rye or wheat directly.

"Ligeia, have you ever seen a plant that grows ears of fruit, like a cob, with golden seeds?"

I was, of course, referring to maize. It was undoubtedly the ultimate food crop.

Not only was its yield high, but it also grew much faster.

"Are you referring to... Jinmi?"

"Jinmi?"

"Yes. To my knowledge, only Jinmi fits your description. However, that plant only seems to be grown in the highlands. Does Your Highness wish to bring Jinmi to the Kingdom of the Moon for trial planting?"

"Is there a picture? Can I see it?"

The moment I thought of maize, a surge of hope rose within me.

Maize was not something ordinary grains could compare to!

"Of course."

Ligeia gestured, and a book appeared out of thin air in her hand, which she then handed to me.

With Ligeia's guidance, I quickly found the maize. It was indeed maize; no other plant shared that distinct shape!

"Yes, this is it! Ligeia, do you have any seeds here?"

"I do, but not many. Although this plant grows frequently in the highlands, I haven't yet tried to transplant a highland plant to the plains, so I haven't made a move. Your Highness... how did you know about this?"

Ligeia was somewhat puzzled. The Saintess before her clearly didn't know the original name for Jinmi, yet she could describe its appearance with perfect precision.

This was very strange. As far as Ligeia knew, no human was born with knowledge; everything had to be learned.

"Don't worry about such small details~"

My mind was filled with anticipation for maize, but there were others besides maize.

I then pointed out potatoes and sweet potatoes. These two plants were also mostly grown in highland regions, primarily in the western Dwarven Kingdom, and had not been transplanted here.

Ligeia truly lived up to her reputation as a botanist and zoologist, knowing every plant like the back of her hand, and as long as I could roughly describe its appearance, she could find it quickly.

That night, Ligeia and I talked until dawn.

The magic lights stayed lit from nightfall until morning.

It was only when a sliver of dawn painted the horizon and the reflected sunlight illuminated the windowsill that I realized with a start that it was already daytime.

"I never imagined Your Highness would be so knowledgeable. It has truly opened my eyes. I didn't realize there was so much to explore regarding money."

In the beginning, Ligeia was the one teaching me, but by the latter half, I was the one teaching her.

A single night didn't seem to affect Ligeia at all. Her face was still filled with an excited smile, and her eyes shone with anticipation.

"And the Decree of Distribution of Grace proposed by Your Highness is simply unheard of. Once this plan is released, the nobility across the world will fall into chaos."

Speaking of this, Ligeia seemed to remember something and looked up at me.

"However, Your Highness, once this decree is issued, you will surely become a thorn in the side of every noble family. Even if those branch families help you, it will put you in great danger. While these nobles dare not openly oppose the Holy Church, if they are pushed too far... it is inevitable that some might act impulsively and do something irrational. Your Highness... are you prepared?"

"Prepared? There's no need. If they want to assassinate me, let them try."

I was joking. The ones supporting those nobles were the branch families. If those branches turned against them, the main families would be powerless.

And this... was the greatest effect of the Decree of Distribution of Grace.

It made every noble branch family feel resentful of their current situation!

At that point, even if the main family wanted to harm me, the branch families would warn me in advance, because they knew that if I died... this decree would never become an official law!

They do not fear scarcity, but they fear inequality. From what I understood of the noble system, the current nobility was based on the main line as the primary branch and others as side branches. Although they were biological brothers, the most abundant assets of the family were always left to the main house.

This meant that all the branch families received very little of the inheritance and had almost no power. Aside from the elders, others had no voice in the family at all.

But once this decree was issued, those branch nobles would definitely support me.

Because only then could they obtain their vested interests.

Of course, there would be clever individuals who would choose to help the main house. After all, the greatest strength of the nobility lay in the entanglement of blood ties.

Once a dispute arose among blood relatives, the originally unified stance of the nobility would be split, unable to unite as one again.

However... the number of clever people in the world is always a minority.

Otherwise, the lord of the Cavendish family would not have agreed to my slave system reform draft.

A few clever people knew that once the nobility was split like this, it would inevitably lead to their decline.

But those clever people also knew that in the face of me... in the face of the behemoth that was the Holy Church, they couldn't mount any effective resistance.

Under the pressure of the general trend, the smartest individuals would inevitably choose to stand by my side.

Naturally, some 'clever people' would choose to maintain the status of the nobility.

But the remaining ordinary people would all flock to me.

That was the true power of the Decree of Distribution of Grace.

It was a 'vested interest' placed right before their eyes; every branch family that was not of the main line would support this decree.

For example... Yuna's father was in the middle of her grandfather's eleven children, and so far, the Von family had not split.

Once this decree was issued and all eleven children gained inheritance rights, everyone except the designated heir of the main house would turn to me.

In this way, the originally united Von family would be split into two factions.

One faction would be the branch families supporting me, including Yuna's father.

The other would be the main branch, consisting of only one person: the next head of the family, Yuna's uncle.

Although the majority of the Von family was controlled by the lord of the Von family, its branches each had their own strengths. Together, they formed one of the thirty-three minor families of the Kingdom of the Moon, but once split, they would no longer possess the formidable strength that only a unified family has.

When that time came, just the internal strife alone would be a sight to behold. Where would they find the time to worry about me?

Of course, it wasn't time yet. The Decree of Distribution of Grace was still premature.

It had to be issued when I had enough military power—specifically, when the armies of the other six nations of the Holy Church were all in place, providing absolute overwhelming force.

The ten airships were promised by the Kingdom of Sand during our trade. Although ten airships might not seem like many, each could carry about a thousand people.

This meant I already had a powerful air force capable of dropping ten thousand knights into any region!

Everything was progressing in the direction I desired.

I only had to wait for the right moment to strike hard!

But before that, I still needed to cultivate some sufficiently useful confidants.

I also needed to change the domestic transportation of the Kingdom of the Moon to facilitate the radiation of control over the entire country.

With the military support from the other six nations and the resources from the Holy See this time, the army in my hands was approaching three hundred thousand.

The Kingdom of the Moon's own army consisted of about fifty thousand knights and one hundred and fifty thousand infantry.

The support from the Kingdom of the Sun was thirty thousand knights, one hundred thousand infantry, and one hundred thousand naval forces.

Reinforcements from the Snow Country were thirty thousand knights and fifty thousand infantry.

The Kingdom of the Sea sent ten thousand knights.

The Kingdom of Flame sent ten thousand knights.

The Kingdom of the Highlands sent ten thousand knights.

The Kingdom of Sand sent ten thousand Wyvern Knights.

Combined, there were about one hundred and forty thousand Temple knights and ten thousand Wyvern Knights, three hundred thousand infantry, and one hundred thousand naval forces.