#1268 The Farm Kingdom is Complete 

It’s me. 
The Saint. 

Ten years have passed since then, and now I’m a proper king. 

King of what country, you ask? 
Of course, the Farm Kingdom. 

The Farm Kingdom officially began five years ago. 
Now, it’s recognized as a full-fledged state by our neighbors. 

The Demon King, King Arowana, and President Ritheseus all attended and offered their congratulations at the founding ceremony. 

Since then, we’ve built good trade relations with every country. 

Our Farm Kingdom was originally created to deal with the population boom that started a little over ten years ago.  
Back then, Cronus had just been let loose in the world and was going wild.  
With his blessing fueling more births, the world population was about to double in no time. 

So, we needed a place to take in all those extra people.  
That’s why the Farm Kingdom was born, and sure enough, we successfully absorbed the population influx and accomplished our original goal. 

Now, the children of that Cronus-induced baby boom are around thirteen or fourteen. 
They’re in their hungriest years of their lives. 

Luckily, we made it. The world didn’t plunge into a food crisis, and the leaders of other countries could breathe a sigh of relief. 

Even after five years, the Farm Kingdom continues to grow.  
After all, our purpose is to feed the overflow of people. 

Production is everything.  
True to our name, over 70% of our land is farmland, where crops are harvested every single day. 

We export the surplus to other nations.  
Despite being young, our food self-sufficiency rate is an absurd 400%. 

It’s no exaggeration that we’re the kitchen of this world. 

As for me, even as king, I still live in the very first farm I cultivated.  
It’s on the outskirts, inconveniently far from the capital, but it’s my land, my work, and I can’t just abandon it. 

“All right, I’m heading out.” 
“Okay, I’ll see you at the office later.” 

So, I live the life of a commuting king, from farm to government office.  
With Sakamoto the dragon-horse, the trip takes only five minutes. 

And to be honest, there isn’t much for me to do at the office. Skilled bureaucrats, dispatched from every allied nation, take care of the actual work. 

“Your Majesty! Good morning!” 
“Morning, Your Majesty!” 
“Urgent matter: the harvest numbers from the southern K-block need your review!” 
“Breakthrough from the crop improvement lab!” 
“Emergency in the western X-block: natto contamination!” 
“Also, Lady Veil is causing trouble again, please come calm her down!” 

Like so. 
Even as king, my daily grind isn’t much different from when I was just a farmer. 

At the government office, I mostly look over crop growth reports, plan farmland management, and guide long-term projects like selective breeding. But I prefer getting out into the fields myself. 

Out there, our citizens are working hard, like oxen and horses, from dawn to dusk. 

“Saint-King! Still as lively as ever!” 
“His Majesty has arrived! Everyone, give him a proper welcome!” 

No, no, keep working, don’t mind me. 
It’s not like I came here to disturb you guys. 

“Our crops are thriving, sir!” 
“These tomatoes are almost ready for harvest!” 
“We can live in comfort thanks to you, Saint-King! Thank you!!!” 

Not at all. You’re the ones working yourselves to the bone.  
I only give a little push here and there. 

By the way, everyone calls me “Saint-King” now. 
It became a thing before I even noticed. 

Honestly, I thought “Farm-King” would’ve been nice. But since people already called me Saint, it naturally shortened to “Saint who is also King,” or just “Saint-King.” 

...I did toy with the idea of being called “Holy Emperor.” 
But nah, love matters. 

Anyway, none of our crops are ones I produced with my gift, the Hand of Supremacy. 

I’ve mentioned this before: the vegetables I summon don’t make seeds, so they’re one generation only.  
For the Farm Kingdom to last, I need to cut out every element that depends on me. 

At first, we imported seeds from other countries, but of course, they didn’t yield much. That’s why we’ve been experimenting ever since. 

Selective breeding is a big part of it that we even set up a research institute.  

The goal is simple: crops that grow easily, resist disease and disaster, produce a lot, and still taste great. 
What’s that? Too many demands?  
Come on, aiming high is what makes it fun! 

But truth be told, someone else was way ahead of us. 

It’s Letasreit. 

She’s been researching her own dream bean long before the Farm Kingdom ever existed. 

In the process, she discovered how crossing varieties resulted in either smooth beans or bumpy beans. That discovery is now known worldwide as Letasreit’s Law. 

Thanks to her years of work, the beans she cultivates are top-quality and delicious. 

She’s bred beans that resist disease, don’t fall in the wind, thrive with little water, survive in swamps, or grow in nutrient-poor, frozen soil.  

On top of that, they’re tasty and nutritious. 

Thanks to her, beans are now the Farm Kingdom's main crop.  
They’re filling enough to be a staple, which is something we’re grateful for. 

Letasreit even founded her own company, Letasreit & Horkosfon Co., partnering with us while building a fortune of her own. 

Her wealth now surpasses the old Human Kingdom monarchy. She’s practically a shadowy financial power behind the world.  
Not bad for a fallen princess. 

At least she’s harmless, since her only passion is beans. 
Well... aside from her partner Horkosfon’s subsidiary, Angel Natto Co., which keeps causing those natto contamination incidents.  
I’m still not sure what “natto contamination” even is... 

Anyway, with beans as our foundation, the Farm Kingdom keeps booming. 

“Dear, another diligent day out inspecting the fields?” 

Oh, Platy. 
She’s the Farm Kingdom’s queen now. 
Sometimes, people call her Saint-Queen. 

Being the former first princess of the Mermaid Kingdom, she was always fit for royalty, and now she’s right where she belongs. 

Naturally, Platy has more than proven herself as queen of the Farm Kingdom. 

With her potion research as a witch, she’s boosted the country’s productivity. As queen, her outstanding diplomacy has deepened our ties with other nations. And as a mother, she’s built up quite the record of achievements, too. 

And with her family... well, we’ve had six kids together so far 
After Shotaro, we had two more boys and finally, on the sixth try, a girl. I was starting to wonder if it was just our family line. 

Nowadays, Platy doubles as both queen and director of the Crop Quality Research Institute. 
She commutes using teleportation potions.  

Me? I can’t use magic, so I still rely on Sakamoto. 

“Hm, not bad growth. Let’s add some fertilizer later.” 

Fertilizer is her specialty.  
Her blends make crops sprout and ripen at insane speeds.  
That’s how we were able to harvest daily back in the early farm days. 

That fertilizer is pure technology of this world, so we’ve never hesitated to use it in the Farm Kingdom. But lately, we’ve added a new twist. 

We changed the components. 

It used to be fish monsters, ground up into marine fertilizer. But now, our newest product: 

Dragon fertilizer. 

It all started because Veil had way too much dragon essence on her hands.  
She’d tried using it up by making gonkotsu ramen, but even after distributing it across the entire world, the supply just kept coming back. 
Of course it would—every time someone consumed it, more would be delivered. 
Backed into a corner, Veil actually turned to Platy for help. 

Yes, Veil. The same Veil who’s always butting heads with her. She must’ve been truly desperate. 

And from that unlikely pairing came a miracle: dragon fertilizer. 

If the stuff is potent enough to turn a person into a superhuman, then naturally the results are ridiculous when spread on soil. 
Thanks to it, the Farm Kingdom’s crops grow in leaps and bounds. That’s the hidden secret behind our outrageous production levels. 

Though, well... I didn’t expect it would end up causing those kinds of problems. 

Anyway, the farm is peaceful as usual. 

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letasreit's law: mendel’s law of inheritance parody