Looking at the ring in Alade's hand, the wizards present found it somewhat peculiar, but still took it as instructed.
Ivina, following Alade's instruction, fastened the ring to her ring finger and, after infusing a small amount of magic power to activate it, her consciousness seemed to sink into the endless depths of the sea.
In a daze, Ivina felt as if she had forgotten something, and then a series of calls began to ring in her ears.
Ivina suddenly opened her eyes to see seven or eight plainly dressed peasants looking at her with surprise and delight.
"Officer, you're awake?" said an old farmer who spoke up.
"Officer?" Ivina hesitated for a moment, her mind still foggy, but quickly remembered that she had been selected by the council and had become an officer in charge of a territory in the eastern part of the kingdom.
Today was her first day on duty, and she had been inspecting the territory with the villagers when she volunteered to help with the farming. It seemed she had passed out from overexertion.
Strange, with her physical condition, this shouldn't have been possible…
Ivina frowned, but before she could give it more thought, any doubts she had were dispelled by the villagers' enthusiasm, and she quickly gathered her emotions to begin her life as an officer!
In the first week, Ivina didn't rashly do anything, but instead, spent most of her time interacting with the villagers to understand the current situation of the village.
Like other reclaimed territories of the kingdom, everything here was steeped in a sense of conservatism and decay. The local lord, who often oppressed the poor, had been hanged on a crooked-neck tree atop the city walls a week ago, leaving behind nothing but a group of illiterate peasants who knew only how to farm and hunt, in stark contrast to the vibrant and ever-changing Fire Oil City.
Moreover, a significant number of locals were devout believers in "Ella," and years of church propaganda had instilled a strong wariness of wizards—even after the musketeers had come, performed acts of grievance, criticism, land distribution, and fought against local tyrants.
Her task was to dissolve these peasants' faith and extricate them from their old life of hunger and scant clothing.
Ivina felt the great weight of her responsibility and, as her first act, stopped all villagers from planting wheat!
After all, the price of grain had reached an all-time low with the advent of "magic bread," and it could be anticipated that for quite some time, the kingdom's wheat prices would be hard to recover to previous levels.
In fact, if it weren't for the council's current purchasing of grain at the price of a copper, the wheat would have been worthless by now!
Change was necessary!
After making inquiries, Ivina quickly learned that the recently hanged Viscount had owned a vineyard specialized in brewing a unique blue fruit wheat beer, which had always sold well among the nobility.
Considering this, Ivina immediately summoned several brewers from the vineyard to carefully inquire whether the blue fruit could be cultivated on a large scale and what the yield might be. Satisfied with the answers, she began her first step in the village transformation plan—to replace the usual wheat with blue fruit in the coming autumn sowing season and to build more vineyards.
Ivina believed that kingdom's villagers, now earning higher wages in workshops, would not be satisfied with just a few pieces of bread. The distinct flavor of the blue fruit wheat beer could not be found elsewhere; this was their advantage!
And with the current low prices of wheat, they could use this to their advantage, acquiring enough raw material for brewing without spending much!
While Ivina's ideas were excellent, they faced spontaneous resistance from many villagers who were unsure if such a large-scale planting of blue fruits could sell and whether the expected revenue would be achieved.
What if it failed? Wouldn't that mean everyone would starve?
The generations of farmers were reluctant to make experimental changes. Getting their lands back from the nobles had already satisfied them. Regardless of the low grain prices, at least wheat ensured food on their tables!
Instead of spending too much time persuading each household, Ivina rented all the fields outright, generously promising,
"Everyone does as I say. If we make money, I want seventy percent of the profits. If we don't make money, all the losses are on me!"
Only with the promise of hard cash and Ivina's assurances did the strategy of crop replacement reluctantly proceed.
To ensure success, Ivina even specially invited an Elemental Wizard skilled in agriculture to fertilize the land, control pests, and increase yields with magic.
Ivina's bold and aggressive strategy undoubtedly yielded impressive results, transforming a poor village into a blue fruit wheat beer production base. The entire village became involved, responsible for every process from planting to brewing and selling. Ivina also passed the assessment and became the local village mayor!
However, she soon found that becoming mayor didn't reduce her problems—on the contrary, troubles only increased, and she found herself busier than ever, faced with making decisions on a variety of bizarre and curious matters every day.