Fields Expanding Fast, Settlers Multiplying Fast

[Tier-Group 3, Conference Room]

"To sum up the present situation: the dungeon's sphere of influence has finished expanding by about 300 km in each direction. Eastward toward Tsukuba, as far as Ōta Bridge just short of Oda Castle; northeast toward Nasu-Shiobara, as far as just short of Seki Castle; northwest toward the Land of Ke, as far as just short of the ninja castle, Oshi Castle. Highways of dungeon structure are being laid down with the eastern route to Oda Castle given priority. That's about where things stand."

Marie explained the current state of affairs.

"Since existing towns and villages can't be folded into the dungeon's sphere of influence, that's as far as each highway route can expand. What about the directions with few people, like the north or the southeast?"

"Master, we'll keep folding into the sphere of influence the land beyond the highways as well, westward as far as the Yoshinogawa and the Irumagawa, eastward as far as the Futoigawa. The north grows higher in elevation by degrees, and since drawing water there is difficult, it's hard to make much use of; but let's expand at least to the vicinity of the highway linking the east and west of the Land of Ke."

"Aide-de-camp scribe, the dungeon's sphere of influence extends only as far as can be seen from the dungeon, and even then only inside the calculated horizon, so unless we keep adding to the dungeon body proper, constraints will arise on expanding the sphere."

As Mint pointed out, the dungeon's sphere of influence is bounded by line of sight. A cave-type dungeon, being underground, can have its sphere extend even to areas the dungeon can't see; but ordinarily a tower-type or cave-type dungeon's sphere of influence is a few hundred meters, a few kilometers at most. In this world, the common understanding is that, setting aside area-type dungeons like the Tanzawa Hills or Nasu-Shiobara, "it normally never exceeds one ri." Incidentally, since English is unknown in this region, the "s" in "Tanzawa Hills" is held to carry no particular meaning.

"That said, we've pretty much summoned every tower apartment with a public library and every station-front redevelopment building that lets us gain height. Whether summoning what's left can carry us past 20 km in height is the question."

"Dr. Ōba, how are the fields coming along?"

"Yes. Perhaps because pests are scarce in the desert, the growing conditions are good; but the trouble is that the acreage planted is far too small."

"There was hardly any population in spring, so it can't be helped. Plant too vast a crop and we can't manage it all."

"At this rate we won't last until spring. We'll supplement as much as we can with autumn potatoes, daikon, and the like, but a considerable amount of food will have to be imported."

"Humans have a high breeding rate, so they multiply to excess, you see…"

Being a Malthus-Darwinist, Marie takes a dim view of overpopulation.

"The present problem isn't breeding but influx, though. Honestly, settlers keep coming in endless numbers, yet they bring no food."

"A branch family of a provincial lord looking to extend its reach would bring food from the main house, but it's invariably people with no margin in their lives who migrate."

"Even if we commission merchants to make purchases, we need money. Should we lodge a complaint with Sō over breach of contract, perhaps?"

"To them, these people are surplus population. We'll just have to have them endure on the Asura liquid fertilizer."

Its color was a filthy green and its taste that of ditch water gone thick with summer algae.

"So then, Dr. Ōba, how much should we plant this autumn?"

"There are currently 60,000 to 70,000 settlers. Saitama's staple is wheat, so for the wheat sowing we'll press non-farmers into service too and force through 50,000 chōbu of seed. Figuring an initial yield of one koku per tan, and that we only need to last half a year until next autumn, that's 500,000 koku, which works out to enough for roughly 400,000 people."

"If we can just hold out until spring, we'll manage somehow. The question is how much we can supplement over the winter with autumn potatoes and daikon."

"Rāja, the current population was 60,000 to 70,000, was it?"

"With the influx ongoing I can't give an exact figure, but around 70,000. However, once we open the eastern highway, there's a danger that refugees from the chaos-stricken Eastern Land will come flooding in all at once."

"On the contrary, couldn't we let a certain number of eastern refugees in before the wheat sowing, and increase the wheat acreage?"

"There's a danger the spring food shortage would grow severe, but it's better than refugees pouring in en masse over the winter and the wheat running out by autumn, never mind making it to next year's harvest."

"Then let's send an envoy to Oda Castle to have the refugees diverted our way early, and, Dr. Ōba, I'll ask you to increase the wheat acreage."

And so, with the autumn harvest before them, the influx of settlers only accelerated.