Mage? Magic Engineer!

The grain harvest was nearing its end. During this time, Master Humboldt didn’t visit; he simply said he was tied up with other trivial matters.

In his place came a field investigation team from the Tower of Forest. Every year, various teams had to travel throughout the Empire to collect data on the grain harvest and provide guidance for one planting season. Whether by deliberate arrangement or coincidence, Rorschach recognized two members of the team in Bayern.

Ella and a tall, sturdy Mage appeared to be the leaders. They had once adventured with Rorschach in the Black Forest when they were still Apprentices. Rorschach’s most vivid memory was of the big fellow, who was very skilled at cooking wild game.

Previously, Master Humboldt’s involvement had been more of a general overview and understanding the properties of the artificial fertilizer, rather than a field inspection. Now, the new farmland developed by Kempson was the primary object of observation, and this team of trainees needed to conduct a detailed, on-site investigation.

By the time Rorschach heard the news and hurried over, they had already begun taking water samples from the ditches, collecting soil samples, and observing the last of the wheat that had yet to be harvested. Most of them were working hard under the sun with their heads down, but Ella noticed his arrival and looked him up and down.

"Miss Ella, what are you looking at?" Rorschach felt uneasy under her gaze. ’My appearance should be fine,’ he thought. ’Zippers haven’t been invented in this world yet...’

"I would be happier if you called me Mage Ella... I’m just surprised you didn’t come out wearing a red robe, Master... Rorschach." She seemed to have wanted to see Rorschach in his red robe, but unfortunately, he was just simply dressed, not even wearing a Mage Robe.

"We’re out in the fields. Only scarecrows would drape themselves in flashy red cloth." Rorschach also wanted to snark about it. ’The Mages and Apprentices of the Tower of Forest wear green as their main color all year round. Maybe I should invent some polyester camouflage and ask if they’d like to buy some?’

"What a shame. I spent the whole trip telling the Apprentices that I knew a Great Mage, but you showing up like this... you have no presence at all." There were some things Ella couldn’t bring herself to say. Rorschach currently looked no different from when they first met, a far cry from the bearing of a Great Mage.

’What, you need me to cast an [Intimidation Badge] to simulate Conqueror’s Haki?’ Rorschach chuckled, unconcerned. "Compared to presence, I think refreshments would be more welcome."

The Tower of Forest Apprentices and the tall Mage had already noticed Rorschach. After finishing the task at hand, they paused as well. Rorschach then retrieved crates and barrels of iced drinks from his ring, which floated slowly around the group. "The crates have Fanta soda, and the barrels have a low-alcohol sparkling wine. They’re all chilled."

A cheer went up at the edge of the field. The Apprentices chose various sodas from the crates, while the tall Mage and Ella each accepted a glass of wine. One Apprentice also wanted to try the alcoholic beverage but sullenly grabbed a soda after getting a sharp glance from his team leader.

Rorschach waved his hand again. The caps on the glass bottles were pried off one by one and flew into a crate. The release of gas as they opened made a crisp "POP" sound, like a section of a conducted orchestra.

"Thank you for your hard work, everyone!" Rorschach said, also holding a stemmed glass.

"To Master Rorschach!" This was definitely a heartfelt cheer.

The Powerful Mage, who loved to eat and cook, drank the sparkling wine, and his eyes lit up.

The bubbles in this wine weren’t overwhelming but rather dense and restrained, providing just the right amount of stimulation to the palate. The carbonation mingled with the slight tartness of the fruit to form a crisp, refreshing initial taste. This was followed by a rich, full-bodied berry aroma. Finally, as it went down, the aftertaste lingering from the tip to the root of the tongue was not the typical sourness of a low-alcohol wine, but a sweet sensation from a subtle hint of alcohol and sugar.

If he weren’t in front of the Apprentices, he would have definitely exclaimed what a fine wine it was.

"Mmm—ah! This is delicious! A great wine!" Mage Ella, on the other hand, was less restrained and said it outright.

"Right? I’m quite satisfied with it myself."

The Powerful Mage also spoke up, "Is this a new wine from Bayern this year? I want to purchase a batch."

"No need to purchase any. I’ll give you some as a gift before you leave, both the wine and the soda. I also have some gifts for Master Kou Bo and Master Humboldt that I’ll need to trouble you to deliver. And once you run out, you can order more from us by letter—there’s a discount."

Besides thanking the Tower of Forest for their help, Rorschach had another, real purpose for gifting these specialty products: he wanted them to serve as product promoters. Bayern urgently needed to rebuild its trade relations with the Empire. The Logistics Guild had already been fully mobilized to try and reconnect the routes that had been severed for the past half-year. Rorschach also hoped to develop new product categories, since the market share for Bayern’s original exports had mostly been replaced by other places in the Empire.

The Tower of Forest had extensive contact with the outside world. As one of the Thirteen Magic Towers, if Bayern’s beverages became popular among its Mages and Apprentices, the upper-class consumers they frequently interacted with would naturally be influenced. Then, it would only be a matter of time before the products were highly sought after.

"So the Great Mage is moonlighting as a merchant?"

"Haha, if that were all, then I would indeed be just a beverage peddler. But what if I told you that this morning, the contents of this barrel were still just grapes? This is a one-of-a-kind technology."

Communication between Casters rarely involved the word "impossible." The Powerful Mage asked, "Is there a Magic spell that accelerates the fermentation process?"

"Not exactly. To be precise, it’s done using an alchemical ’Rapid Fermentation Tank’." Rorschach took out a product brochure and handed it to the Powerful Mage.

This award-winning design from the competition, widely praised and strongly supported by fellow wine lovers, had been rapidly iterated to version V4.1.2. It came preset with multiple fermentation modes, one-touch production for low-alcohol sparkling wine and base spirits from different ingredients, a "pro" version with all-in-one functions like distillation and secondary fermentation, and even derivative models for fermenting vinegar and cultivating humus.

"Right now, the biggest factor affecting quality is the instability of the bacterial strains, but that shouldn’t be a problem for the Tower of Forest."

"Of course not." The Powerful Mage replied while quickly flipping through the brochure to the price list. The machine cost as much as three barrels of the most expensive wine on the market, but... at the thought of being able to quickly home-brew his own, the Powerful Mage gritted his teeth. "I’ll preorder one of the latest deluxe models."

"No problem. Mention my name and you can waive the deposit..."

After the field-side product promotion was done, the team from the Tower of Forest continued with their work. A few days later, Kempson’s harvesting and the Tower of Forest’s investigation were completed at almost the same time.

"It’s more or less as you predicted. Our tests show that the water bodies are showing a tendency towards eutrophication, and the soil is overly acidic, whereas the soil in other parts of Bayern is clearly alkaline. Also... because there’s no crop rotation, even without considering soil fertility, the risk of disease outbreaks has significantly increased. We recommend stricter screening and detoxification of the seeds before planting winter wheat this year."

Ella summarized the results of the past few days in her report to their host.

"Thank you!" The report was detailed and held no surprises for Rorschach. The effects of chemical fertilizers and pesticides had been thoroughly studied in his past life, and the Tower of Forest team’s conclusions were largely consistent with that knowledge.

Ella took a deep breath. "But the most important thing is the yield! This year’s output is nearly three times what we recorded last year! Although the cultivated area was expanded by clearing new land, the yield per mu still increased by a remarkable 73%."

"If this is rolled out worldwide, then hunger will end in our generation!"

It wasn’t just her; the other Mages and Apprentices on the inspection team all felt stimulated by the miraculous future.