Azel, Camellia, the village head, and ten knights were seen walking around the farming area. Seeing the location of the farm not far from the forest, Azel thought of something.
"Village head, this forest isn't that wide, is it?" asked Azel.
"It's quite wide, sir. It's just that the trees are not very dense and have been explored. There are no high-level Demonic Beasts there. Perhaps the most powerful ones are only level 2."
"Hmmm ..."
Azel surveyed the forest. Even though the trees are a bit far apart, there are lots of shrubs there. Most likely rat nests exist in such places. More precisely, digging a hole in such an area.
"I've found a solution for rats," said Azel casually.
"Is that true, sir?" asked the village head with an amazed expression.
The middle-aged man was amazed that Azel had only been around for a while but had already found a solution. Not only the village chief, the knights and Camellia were also quite shocked.
"Correct."
Seeing the enthusiastic gazes of the people around him, Azel immediately asked.
"Village head, there are dishes based on snake meat in this area, right? Like the ones you serve at the banquets?"
"Do you know it, sir? Could you possibly have an impression of this dish? It is indeed one of the specialties here, sir."
"So that's it. It tastes really good."
"Does it have anything to do with this pest, sir?" asked the middle-aged man with a confused look on his face.
"Indeed," Azel said casually. Seeing people's confused expressions, he explained.
"Since it tastes good, I'm sure the locals often hunt snakes, right?
If it's a week or two, it's not a problem. But after months or even years, that sort of thing becomes a problem. Because they are often hunted, snakes become rarer in population. That being said, it's definitely more difficult to find snakes now.
The relationship between snakes and rats is of course because they are in the food chain. Vegetables and various types of plants are rat food. rat are snake food. They are linked in the food chain.
So..... what happens if the rat-predating snake goes missing?"
Everyone looked pensive for a moment, then looks of shock crossed their faces.
"That's right! The rat population will continue to increase because there are no natural predators. What's more, rats reproduce fast. Without deterring predators, they grow more and more and eventually become difficult to stop.
Luckily this has been found. If not, I wouldn't be surprised if you guys would fail your harvest this autumn."
Hearing Azel's explanation, the village chief's expression turned pale. He hastily said, "Forgive our carelessness, Master! Because of our stupidity and carelessness, everything went wrong."
"No problem. Do you understand the solution now?"
"Stop hunting snakes?" said the village head doubtfully.
"That's right. That's one of them. It is forbidden to hunt snakes. If you encounter a snake, as long as it's not venomous, chase it away. If it's venomous and might threaten citizens, it's fine to kill it.
It's just... using that method alone takes a very long time."
"Then, what should we do, sir?" asked the village head worriedly.
"I'm thinking about it. A quicker solution."
Azel pondered something. Now, he has two missions. First, make rat poison. Second, make pesticides. More precisely, insecticides! The two poisons will get rid of the pests very efficiently. Only he was a little confused.
Indeed he had quite a deep knowledge of alchemy or concocting potions. It's just that Azel doesn't have a recipe for the two poisons. After all, there's no such thing as rat poison or pesticides here.
For rat poison, Azel is still confident enough to make it. It's just that about insecticides, he is really confused!
Insecticide, toxic to a wide variety of insects but the poison itself has no effect on plants. Such a concept might be easy in modern times, but in a world of demons that relied on magic and such, Azel was utterly bewildered!
'After all, I wasn't a professor or anything!'
Azel cursed inwardly. He actually also intends to make various kinds of pesticides. For examples, fungicides that prevent fungus, bactericides that prevent various kinds of bacteria, algasides that prevent algae, and so on. But everything is not as easy as planned. Never mind making other types, just making insecticides, Azel is still confused about where the starting line is.
'Let's think about it after returning to Black Lily City.'
It's impossible to make such a thing in this place. At the very least, he still had a laboratory in his castle. For now, keeping the farmers calm about taxes and providing a long-term solution to the rat problem is enough.
'For the development of agriculture... let's do it after I've successfully made rat poison and insecticide.'
Azel thought as he walked back to the village head's house. But on the way, he felt strange because he saw a wooden house in the corner of the village. What's more, the house was quite close to the forest. Although quite curious, he decided to head back first. It's not too late to check it out tomorrow.
Arriving at the village head's house, because it was late, Azel immediately took a shower and rested in the room provided by the village head. Normally, the previous territory owner's Marquis would never come down to the location at all. According to the village head, that person only cares about the results he received. If not, the people will be miserable.
'Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! Even though the people have already worked so hard for him. what an ungrateful leader.'
Azel thought. Even though he was quite lazy to deal with such matters, the young man did not dare to run away from responsibility. For comfort and security, it is also necessary to struggle.
After the sun set, Azel and his company had their usual dinner. They had to enjoy dinner having only stayed in the village for two days. Azel decided to come back the day after tomorrow. He wanted to quickly take care of the rat poison and insecticide problem. He also had to work on new paperwork on special taxes in areas he administered personally.
After finishing dinner and sitting casually together, Azel who was curious looked at the head of the village.
"The wooden house in the corner of the village... who lives there?"
"Huh?" The village chief looked surprised.
After pondering for a moment, he said, "Actually, there are half Trolls living there, Master."
"Troll?" Azel asked.
From the book Azel read, Trolls are tall humanoid creatures, have ugly faces and are very brutal. They have strong regeneration abilities. Usually Trolls are born as reliable warriors. However, they have an obvious weakness, and which is magic.
Trolls themselves are also a demon race, but are in the low class category and are even despised by other demon races. The Demon race also has various types of sub-races. The most famous ones are common demons (Devils), Arch Devils, Succubus, Vampires, and some Demon races that have human appearances.
For races like Trolls, Orcs, Goblins, Imps, Minotaurs, and the like… they were even despised by the majority of the Demon Race. Some of those races were usually employed as slaves. Even often treated like animals.
Azel himself didn't really care about their strange appearance. Instead he looked quite curious.
'Half Troll, eh? I will see him tomorrow.'
****