On the first day of summer break, the Sorin Region experienced a night of rain, and the continuous gloom lasted until the following day.

The towering Sorin Giant Tree stood proudly on this now revitalized land, with its massive canopy stretching out like a fortress, covering a third of the distant Sorin Castle and large expanses of plains outside the castle. Although the giant tree blocked the rainfall for an entire night, several streams formed after the rain flowed from areas outside the tree’s coverage, meandering through the low spaces between various research, storage, and industrial facilities, and finally converged by the newly built Druid Research Institute at the base of the tree trunk, forming a small pond, before flowing into the gaps formed by nearby tree roots leading deep underground, becoming part of an underground river.

Rows of interconnected streetlights stood along both sides of the road, while numerous high-powered lighting devices hung from the lower canopy of the giant tree, dispersing the extensive "night sky" created by this enormous plant. Margarita traveled from the sunlit plains outside to this area under the tree canopy and saw soldiers guarding under the streetlights, with many people peeking between the pathways of the houses.

Margarita ignored them, passing through the sentry posts and the guards who saluted her, reaching the vicinity of the giant tree’s roots — numerous tangled vines and wooden structures branched out from the tree trunk, cleverly "growing" into a small house here. The flower vines connected to the roof wriggled slightly in the air like veins, and two tall Treants with eerie green eyes stood in front of the house. Their height almost exceeded the pointed top of the house, with their heavy and powerful palms tightly gripping a team-used orbital acceleration cannon known as the "Gorgon Cannon," and their bark-covered and knotted trunks were secured with long steel nails fixing the Magic Web Device that powered the cannon.

— This small orbital cannon named after the Empire’s most significant life-giving river, the "Gorgon River," is a variant of the Persuader-type Orbital Cannon, typically used on lightweight mobile vehicles. With minor modifications, it can be used to arm large summoned creatures of immense strength. Currently, this modification is used on a small scale, and if someday technical experts solve the spell moulds problem of summoned creatures, this type of armament will surely have significant applications.

The Treants showed little reaction to Margarita’s appearance, only slightly moving aside, producing sounds of wood and leaves rubbing against each other as Margarita bypassed their thick, beam-like legs and feet, while the door of the small wooden house in front opened before her approach.

A cluster of wriggling flower vines "walked" out from inside, as Beltira appeared before Margarita.

"How is Minister Norris?" The young female knight immediately stepped forward to ask.

"He briefly lost consciousness earlier, but has just regained it, though it won’t last long," Beltira calmly replied, "...Just today, Miss Margarita."

A cloud shrouded Margarita’s features, and her voice instinctively lowered, "Is there really no way?"

"We’ve already moved him here—I spared no effort to use the power of the Sorin Giant Tree to sustain his life, but aging itself is the most infallible natural law—not to mention Norris’s situation is not merely aging," Beltira slowly explained, "Over the past few decades, his body has been on the path of exhaustion—a common state for the impoverished, but his depletion is too severe, reaching a point where even magic and miracles are difficult to restore. The fact that he has lived to this day is already a miracle—he was supposed to die last winter."

Margarita paused in silence, gently taking a breath, "I’d like to go in and see him."

Beltira looked at the knight before her, and a touch of helplessness finally appeared on her face, altered by the non-human mutation, "We should probably avoid all visits now, but... at this point, these measures are pointless. Moreover, if it’s you, Norris would likely want to meet you."

Margarita followed the former Archdruid of Oblivion inside the miracle spell-created "Life House."

With the illumination of certain glowing plants, the small house maintained just the right amount of brightness. A soft couch crafted from intertwined wooden structures, vines, and grass lay in the center, where Margarita saw Norris—the elderly man resting there, covered by a blanket, with several slender vines spreading from the blanket and extending to the ceiling.

Margarita approached Norris, slightly bending down, "Minister Norris, it’s me."

Norris recognized the woman before him, his wrinkled, deeply lined face slowly showing a faint smile, "Miss Margarita... Thank you for your care these days."

"Please don’t say that, you are the most important person in the whole reconstruction area," Margarita immediately replied, "Without you, this land wouldn’t have revived so quickly..."

"Everyone here is important," Norris’s voice was light yet every word was clear, "Miss Margarita, I apologize, there might be some tasks I won’t be able to complete."

"No, you still..." Margarita instantly responded instinctively, but seeing Norris’s composed expression, she swallowed the following words.

In those deep-set wrinkles and depleted flesh, vitality had already begun to continuously drain from this elderly man.

Norris just gave a faint smile, his eyes moving, slowly raising, scanning over the few furnishings within the small house—some specimens, some seeds, some manuscripts, and a crystal clear glass container, where a stem of still-green wheat quietly stood, immersed in an almost transparent alchemical solution.

"Actually, I have no regrets..." The old man spoke in a low voice, "Barring a major incident, this year’s harvest is secure, we avoided a terrible famine... the agricultural documents entrusted by the King are completed, though I lack the energy for the final sorting, my apprentices and assistants have matured, they are reliable... the Administrative Office has always been prepared, even if I leave, someone will immediately take over..."

"Don’t talk too much at once," Beltira’s slightly stiff voice suddenly interjected from the side, "This will further diminish your strength."

"At this point, allow me to say a few more words," Norris shook his head very slowly, saying with some relief, "I’ve known my condition... for many years, I knew, I would probably die a bit earlier. I’ve read books, seen the world with priests in town, I know what happens when someone exhausts all their energy in the fields..."

Margarita looked at the elderly man before her, slowly reaching out to hold his hand.

She knew that the old man’s final moments of clarity were coming to an end.

She heard a low and slightly indistinct voice reach her ears—

"...Our family once owed a lot of money, a lot indeed... probably equivalent to a knight’s sword, or a small gem on a missionary’s glove—Miss Margarita, it was truly a lot, it would take several cartloads of wheat to repay it.

"That money allowed me to learn to read, but at that time, literacy did not prove useful—my father and mother died very early to pay off the debt, and I... spent most of my life working in the fields or doing hard labor for others. So, I understand how my body became like this, I was prepared for it long ago.

"But there were many people like me back then, there were serfs and free people—the poor free people, they didn’t know, they only knew that commoners all died very young, while the aristocrats could live for a century... missionaries said it was determined by God, precisely because the poor were lowly, so they naturally had a shorter lifespan, while the aristocrats could live for a century, which was evidence of their noble bloodline... most believed this narrative.

"I was literate, I read books, I knew what was truly going on, but at that time it was of no use, the only benefit literacy brought me was the clear understanding of what my future held, yet I could only keep my head down in the fields, digging potatoes and planting perilla—because if I didn’t, my entire family would starve to death.

"Miss Margarita, you can’t imagine such a life—I know you are an excellent knight, but some things, you truly cannot imagine."

Margarita instinctively grasped the old man’s hand, her lips moved slightly, but in the end, she could only nod lightly: "Yes, Minister Norris, I... I’m very sorry."

"No, no need to apologize," Norris’s eyelids drooped even lower than before, "because it’s not your fault, and the most joyous thing is that those days are over, Miss Margarita, those days are over.

"Commoners no longer need to do hard labor like my parents and I did just to barely fill their stomachs, no one will take two-thirds or even more of our grain from the granary as tax, we have the right to eat the fish we catch at any time, the right to eat white bread and sugar on ordinary days, we don’t need to prostrate ourselves at the roadside in front of aristocrats, nor do we need to kiss the shoes and footprints of missionaries... Miss Margarita, thank our King, and thank the many people like you who are willing to follow our King, those days are over.

"I just want to say, never let those days return.

"Miss Beltira, I know you’ve always had doubts about what we’re doing, I know you don’t understand some of my ’obsessions’, but I want to say... at any time, regardless of the situation we face, feeding more people, allowing more people to survive, is the most important.

"I, with those in the agriculture department, conducted a wide-ranging survey, we calculated population and land, calculated the consumption of grains and the yield of various staple grains now... we also estimated the consumption and production after population growth. We have some figures, in the hands of my assistant, please give them to the King... make sure he receives them. Hunger is the most terrible thing in this world, no one should starve to death... no matter what happens, whether in industry or commerce, some farmland must remain untouched, and never rashly change the staple crops...

"Furthermore, there are too few crops suitable for planting in the north, although the Plains of the Holy Spirits are very fertile, our population is bound to have a significant increase, because now almost all infants survive—we need the southern lands to feed these people, especially in the Dark Mountain Range area, there are still many places that can be cultivated..."

He suddenly coughed, a violent cough interrupted the words he wanted to continue, Beltira almost instinctively raised her hand, and a powerful—almost an excessive-for-ordinary-humans—healing force was released onto Norris, while Margarita immediately leaned close to the old man’s ear: "The King is already on his way, he will be here soon, you can..."

She did not finish her sentence as Norris shook his head to interrupt her.

His previously drooping eyelids lifted again, and after a few seconds of silence and recollection, a smile mixed with realization and relief suddenly appeared on his face.

"Ah, perhaps... he didn’t lie to me..." Norris’s eyes briefly lit up, and he spoke with something akin to joy, "He didn’t lie to me..."

"Minister Norris," Margarita held the old man’s hand, bending down to ask, "who are you speaking of? Who didn’t lie to you?"

"The missionary... that missionary..."

Norris murmured softly, feeling his heavy body finally grow a little lighter, and in the hazy light and shadows, he saw his parents standing beside him, dressed in the ragged clothes from his memories, standing barefoot on the ground, wearing expressions of humble and slow smiles because someone wearing the priest robes of the Goddess of Harvest, Eve stood before them.

Some children and their parents were also standing nearby, and the elders of the village were behind the priest.

Everyone’s faces were very vague.

The priest’s face was also very blurry, but Norris could hear his voice—the priest reached out and gently rubbed the head of young Norris twice, seemingly smiling as he casually said:

"This child is blessed with the land, he carries the grace of the Goddess of Harvest."