Chapter 82
Complex base sequences are difficult to explain in words alone.
But if the speaker’s skill (?) reaches the heavens, and the listener is capable of understanding it all on their own...
Even a conversation is enough to get the message across.
It might not be perfectly accurate, though...
Fortunately, I’d seen it once before, so I recalled what I could and gave the Pride individuals an order.
“Phew.”
As a result.
(2) Pride (Pride) (Transformed)
Description: A Pride individual modeled on the base sequence of the new bacterium ‘Revitalobacter Humanis,’ created by SG Bio Inc. using gene-editing technology. It has powerful fatigue-recovery abilities. Thanks to the synergistic effect unique to Pride individuals, it also has a significant impact on improving mana flow.
It worked.
But there was an extra bonus, too.
It affects mana flow?
No way.
“Pride, come into my body for a bit.”
At my command, about a million individuals entered my body.
It wasn’t long before I could feel myself recovering in an instant.
That wasn’t all.
[Your natural mana recovery rate is affected by the entity ‘Pride.’]
[Your natural mana recovery rate has increased by 0.5%.]
“Good heavens.”
A 0.5% increase in natural mana recovery.
It might not seem like much, but with my maximum mana now through the roof, even 0.5% was incredibly effective.
The number of individuals I could keep active would increase by the trillions.
And I was getting that effect from just a million individuals.
I immediately increased their numbers to see how much the effect would grow.
A million became ten million, and ten million became a hundred million.
Then I went up to a billion.
“Hmm, it looks like the effect maxes out at around a hundred million.”
As expected, the effect didn’t grow in proportion to their numbers. It followed a curve.
In the end, a hundred million individuals increased my natural mana recovery rate by up to 1%.
That alone was plenty to be satisfied with.
Ah, this wasn’t the time to be congratulating myself.
“Improve the condition of everyone in the castle.”
The Pride spread in an instant, filtering into the bodies of the exhausted people in ones and twos.
About ten trillion Pride individuals began moving through people’s bodies and rapidly stimulating ATP production.
“Huh? I feel...”
The general standing beside me recovered his strength in an instant, then gripped his sword with a much brighter expression.
“I knew it, Mage! Your power is incredible!”
“They should all have the strength to lift a spoon now, so make sure they get a good meal.”
After being bedridden for a long time, the muscles in your stomach become less active, making it difficult even to eat.
Put simply, they don’t have the strength to lift a spoon to their mouths.
So the quickest way to help them recover is to get their bodies into a state where they can take in nutrients, then improve how well they absorb them.
After I finished giving those instructions...
The general looked at me awkwardly.
“What is it?”
“... There’s no food in the city.”
“Sigh...”
Why did I have to face this kind of trial?
This was hardcore beyond hardcore difficulty.
“... Is there any way to get some?”
“The plague went on for so long that the castle’s food stores ran out. Trade and economic activity with the outside world also stopped, so the harvest...”
This was driving me insane.
Should I just somehow handle everything on my own?
No, I should at least do what I could.
Can’t be helped, then.
“You have a manure storage facility, right?”
“Pardon? Yes...”
A medieval city on this scale wouldn’t just waste its waste, after all.
“Do you have any spare lumber?”
“... We have quite a lot in reserve for expanding the castle.”
I only vaguely remembered it; I couldn’t recall the proper method.
Maybe I could manage if I asked Segyun for help.
First, I recalled the Pride individuals I’d used to improve everyone’s condition.
Was it the miracle of the five loaves and two fish?
They say ‘He’ fed five thousand people with five loaves and two fish, right?
I was going to try feeding hundreds of thousands with wood and manure.
**
The largest tent on a plain covered with countless tents.
But its owner was alone.
In the middle of a tent so huge it could easily hold a hundred people, maybe more.
Leonhardt de Bretus, commander-in-chief of the Holy Kingdom’s army and captain of the holy knights, was kneeling in prayer.
Just then...
“Graaah!”
A radiant halo appeared behind his head, and Leonhardt rolled across the floor, his eyes rolled back.
He screamed in pain for quite some time, but no one dared enter his tent.
That was because he’d issued a strict order.
The deputy commander, who’d been waiting anxiously outside, waited for the screams and glow to die down, then flung open the tent and rushed inside.
“Commander!”
“... There’s no need to make a fuss.”
With smoke billowing from his entire body, the commander struggled to speak.
“I received an oracle.”
“What?!”
An oracle?
Only the highest-ranking priests could receive one.
They were usually reserved for the Pope or cardinals, and even then, they’d become exceedingly rare in recent years.
But even if he was the commander, how could a Crusader receive one?
“What did the oracle say...?”
“It told me not to be deceived by the devil’s schemes, but to stand firm.”
“... Was that all?”
“It also said we must destroy the Demon King’s successor.”
“The successor... Surely it means the one in that castle?”
“It must be the successor of the Maggis who disappeared.”
“I can hardly believe it.”
Just how powerful had the ‘Mage’ been?
He was a man who could be said to have sustained an empire single-handedly.
It had been decades since he disappeared.
They’d thought at last the time had come for the Holy Kingdom’s radiance to cover the entire continent.
“Calm down. It isn’t Maggis himself.”
“R-Right, of course.”
“What information have we received from our believers?”
“They say conditions inside the castle are as bad as they could be.”
The Eselletia Order’s influence covered the entire continent.
Even in that city of unbelievers, the Eselletia faithful operated in secret.
The Eselletia faithful inside Constance Castle were actively relaying information about its conditions to the outside.
“Maggis... More precisely, his successor withdrew the plague he’d spread, so the people have recovered. But the problem is food.”
“Naturally. The plague lasted a long time, and so did the quarantine. And he really is Maggis’s successor, after all.”
“Yes. Judging by his ability to manipulate the plague at will...”
“We’re fully prepared, aren’t we?”
“Of course.”
They’d brought every available means of dealing with the plague.
As a result, they hadn’t brought much of what was needed for war, aside from the Purifying Fire...
But there was no chance the people inside that castle would get back on their feet.
Even if they did recover, the castle would fall before then, and all those heretics and unbelievers would burn.
“As soon as the engineers recover, we’ll deploy the Purifying Fire and begin the assault.”
Constance Castle was a natural fortress that had brought many great empires to grief, but...
They’d have to be fools not to capture it while the people inside were in that condition.
Just as he was thinking this, full of confidence...
“U-Urgent news! We have urgent news from the castle!”
“... Urgent news?”
The deputy commander tilted his head.
It hadn’t been long since they’d made contact with a believer inside the castle.
“Let him in.”
At the commander’s order, a holy knight hurried in, knelt, and handed him a letter.
When the commander read its contents, his expression turned grim.
“What does it say?”
“... What kind of nonsense is this?”
His face twisted into a murderous scowl as he crumpled the letter and hurled it to the ground.
The deputy commander picked up the crumpled letter, unfolded it, and read.
─Meat is appearing out of thin air, and trees have turned into honey. The mage... is performing a miracle, feeding the people!
“This is blasphemy!”
The deputy commander had no choice but to throw the letter down, too.
Countless mages had appeared throughout history and deceived countless people.
But even they couldn’t dare trespass into one domain.
The miracles of God.
True miracles that couldn’t be achieved even with divine power, which drew upon fragments of God’s might.
It was an unexplored realm that neither magic nor divine power had ever been able to touch.
One such miracle was...
the creation of food.
In other words, the miracle of creating matter.
It was an ancient tale found in scripture, but one of God’s most famous miracles.
“We can’t just let this stand! The believer inside the castle must have gone mad!”
“... No, there’s nothing wrong with their faith. They’re risking their lives to send us news from inside.”
Of course, in a situation like this, it wasn’t easy to send word from inside to the outside.
They’d devised all sorts of difficult ways to get news back to the main force.
Those devout believers had no reason to send such an absurd rumor to the main force.
If that was the case...
“Maggis is deluding the people.”
“... What a truly evil man. To dare interfere with God’s providence, knowing he can’t possibly withstand it...”
“If he’d considered that, would he have strayed down the path of heresy? In the end, our task hasn’t changed. We raise our spears and run him through. That’s all. Are we ready?”
“Yes. I’ll press the priests to get everything ready as quickly as possible.”
They’d just witnessed something blasphemous, but their faith only grew stronger.
That was because...
they knew it was impossible.
**
For a person to function properly, the most important nutrients are carbohydrates and protein.
Protein is used as the building material for the human body, while carbohydrates provide calories—the energy that lets a person function.
You can also use things like fat through ‘fat metabolism,’ but it’s extremely inefficient.
In practice, if you can secure just those two nutrients, you’ve succeeded in ‘feeding’ people.
“Calories come first, for now.”
Fortunately, this was relatively easy compared to protein.
“How exactly are you going to turn lumber into food...?”
The general led me to a warehouse full of lumber, still looking skeptical.
But the process was simple.
Wood is made up of cellulose.
If you grow large quantities of bacteria that secrete cellulase, the enzyme that breaks down cellulose...
The cellulose in the wood breaks down, producing a simple sugar called glucose.
Glucose might sound like a complicated word, but...
It’s glucose.
The kind of energy source living things can use most easily.
You know how we get IVs when we’re sick?
That’s glucose solution, and naturally, it’s one of the most suitable sources of nutrition for patients, too.
“Just watch.”
First, I made the Pride individuals imitate forms that secreted large amounts of cellulase...
Then I sprayed them all over the piles of lumber.
Normally, you’d have to grind and crush the wood to increase its surface area and expose the cellulose before cellulase could break it down.
But the Pride individuals strengthened by my control began rapidly breaking down the cellulose inside the uncrushed logs.
Before long...
Drip, drip.
Glucose syrup began beading and dripping from the softened surface of the wood.
It had definitely been lumber, but...
In an instant, it had become a vat brimming with glucose.
“W-What did you...”
“Don’t ask. Just try it.”
At my words, the general touched the sticky liquid beading on the wood and tasted it. His eyes widened.
“This is...!”
“Sweet, right? Does it give you strength or not?”
“It does! Absolutely!”
“Let’s get your strength back first, General, then feed the citizens. If we need more, we can cut down some ornamental trees and use those for now.”
“Yes, Mage!”
A glimmer of hope began to appear in the general’s once-despairing expression.
At the same time, that hope...
spread throughout Constance Castle, where hundreds of thousands of people lived.
Yeah, that’s right. Big bro’s here.
Big bro’s gonna make hundreds of thousands of people live the sweet life off some trees!