A Hospital in Another World?

After the speech, silence fell upon the meeting room. Moments later, a bishop attending the meeting from the Temple of the War God discussed briefly with his followers before raising his hand to say:

"We would like to see the real thing."

Garrett immediately led them down. The biogas digester was not far from the Mage Tower, located behind the animal feed room. Cleaning involved simply using a bucket to flush the manure into the digester. The bishop, after walking around the area, found it surprisingly not too smelly and nodded in satisfaction. He then asked Garrett:

"Is it convenient to boil water?"

Garrett took him next door. A hollow vine emerged from the ground, topped with an iron pipe leading straight into the stove. Garrett turned the valve of the iron pipe and cast a spark spell with a flick of his hand. A burst of flame rose, and soon, the pot on the stove was bubbling with boiling water.

"How much manure can one biogas digester process in a day? And how much water can it boil?"

Garrett smiled slightly and nodded to the priestess responsible for the biogas development. The priestess stepped forward:

"Next to our Mage Tower, we built a 10 cubic meter digester that currently handles the manure from two large pigs, three small pigs, four sheep, and a bunch of rabbits, which is just enough. If a biogas digester is paired with a human toilet, a 50 cubic meter digester could serve between 300 to 500 people.

—A 50 cubic meter digester can boil two tons of water a day."

"In summer, it can boil even more water, about twice as much," Garrett added. The bishop calculated in his head and then asked:

"Can this vine be replaced with an iron pipe?"

"Of course!"

Garrett answered before the priestess could. Ahem, the reason for using vines instead of iron pipes was because vines were cheaper and could be stimulated with natural magic, saving money... Previously, during the development phase, Garrett hadn’t provided much funding, so everything was done on a budget.

"Then we’ll take a set for our temple. Make it 100 cubic meters—at least it can handle horse manure and boil some water."

He placed the order without even asking the price. Following his lead, Lady Seraina stood up:

"How much fertilizer can one biogas digester produce? How much can it increase yield?"

"A 10 cubic meter biogas digester can produce 12-16 tons of fertilizer and 50-64 tons of digestate a year. Four tons of fertilizer is enough for one acre of land..."

This time, Garrett answered with less confidence. The annual production of fertilizer and digestate was an estimate; how much fertilizer was needed per acre, he had heard in bits and pieces from his correspondence with Elder Elwin. As for the effect of digestate on yield increase...

He knew it would definitely increase yield, but he couldn’t just make up numbers!

However, the lady knight was already smiling brightly. After her smile, she slightly furrowed her brows and sighed:

"That’s not enough."

"Not enough where?" Garrett felt somewhat guilty whenever he saw the lady knight, especially since he hadn’t repaid her 2000 gold coins yet. Seeing her dissatisfaction, he quickly inquired. The lady knight spread her five fingers:

"One biogas digester is enough for four acres of land. This city, with one per thousand people, would have about 400 to 500 digesters, at most enough for 2000 acres of land. 2000 acres is nowhere near enough!"

Garrett broke into a sweat. 2000 acres, my lady! How large of a landlord are you, thinking 2000 acres isn’t enough...

But then, considering her ownership of two castles and the viscountcy he had seen during his last visit, Garrett had to sadly admit:

To a lady viscount, indeed, 2000 acres was nothing...

"Lady Viscount, it’s not calculated like that." Garrett had no choice but to explain: "The city biogas digesters planned in my project can boil 2 tons of water a day, requiring about 50 cubic meters in volume..."

"So, enough fertilizer for ten thousand acres? That’s more like it." The lady knight nodded in satisfaction. "How much does one cost?"

"The surface part, including the boiling water room, about ten gold coins. The underground part..." hadn’t been calculated yet.

But with large quantities, there should be a discount?

Including the divine magic for adjusting the biogas digester, negotiations with the Church of Nature should be possible...

"That’s not too much." The lady knight muttered under her breath. She then flicked her hair aside and looked up with a smile that was carefree and strikingly beautiful:

"Alright, just 400

of them? I’ll take care of it!"

"Seraina!"

A young noble exclaimed in shock, stepping forward and instinctively positioning himself in front of her as if to shield her from Garrett. Seraina glanced at him:

"Little brother, what’s the matter? It’s not expensive. I’ll just hold fewer banquets and buy one less piece of magical jewelry, and I’ll save that money. These days, increasing food production is more important than anything else, don’t you understand?"

As she spoke, she walked forward, bypassing the young noble, and went straight to Garrett. The young noble was speechless, reluctant, and a bit worried, his gaze shifting back and forth between Seraina and Garrett:

"I’ll tell father!"

"Oh, my dear little brother." The lady knight’s eyes sparkled as she laughed softly:

"I’m going to tell father, I’ll tell father—always running to father over every little thing, when will you grow up?"

Seraina turned and walked away. With the plan to build 400 biogas digesters confirmed, there was nothing more of importance in the meeting. The guests gradually took their leave, and Garrett escorted them out of the Mage Tower, taking extra care to accompany the lady knight a bit further. Watching the siblings ride off side by side, the lady knight suddenly turned her horse around and galloped back to him:

"Magus Nordmark!"

"Lady Viscount?" Garrett, now owing another debt of gratitude, quickly responded. The lady knight dismounted and smiled at him:

"I’ve heard you’ve recently advised several merchants on improving their production techniques. How about it, do you have a way to make a profit together?"

I’m not! I haven’t! All that money went to the Public Health Office, not a cent in my own pocket!

—Garrett wanted to say. However, looking at the lady knight’s bright smile and thinking of the five or six thousand gold coins she had spent before, he had only one response:

"I’ll have to think about it..."

Making so much money wasn’t easy!

Even if he had the technology, he had to consider the cost of transformation and the market capacity. Besides, squeezing money out of his own people wasn’t the point; increasing productivity was the real goal!

He furrowed his brows in thought. The lady knight pursed her lips and waved her hand at him:

"Alright, no rush. Take your time, and write to me when you have an idea—"

She mounted her horse and rode off, leaving Garrett alone in the Mage Tower, pondering:

Where to find a profitable job?

Where to find a technological improvement that could easily earn five or six thousand gold coins to repay her favor?

"You know, it doesn’t really matter if you don’t repay," Aurora walked in, seeing him hunched over with his head in his hands, almost burrowing under the table, and couldn’t help but tease:

"Maybe she doesn’t even want you to repay? The more you owe, the more you owe, and then... hmm?"

"I definitely have to repay." Garrett rolled his eyes at her:

"Borrowing and repaying makes borrowing again easy, borrowing without repaying is a mess... Let me think, which project can I use to repay the debt? All the good projects have been sold off already..."

Pasteurization, salt purification, and using metal thermometers to control furnace temperatures for iron smelting... All the most valuable projects had been exchanged for investments with the Public Health Office, and the others weren’t worth much!

"Maybe cooperate in producing penicillin? No, absolutely not, this project is vital, the council must keep it under its own control...

Or the upcoming smallpox vaccine? Even less so, vaccines aren’t meant to make a fortune!"

"You better think fast!" Magus Lynn walked in. Mister Troka leaped down from his shoulder, carrying a gilded invitation, and presented it to Garrett:

"Well, she’s specifically invited you to her ball! If you don’t want to sell yourself, you’d better come up with something to redeem yourself!"

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