Published at 25th of January 2023 9:04 pm

Chapter 255: The Reformation and the Industrial Revolution

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“…So, what exactly do you mean by reformation?”

While staring at Eren-san, who received a large amount of stomach medicine from one of his subordinates and drank it, I briefly explained while thinking about making him a special stomach medicine just for him with my [Super Medicine] skill.

“Well, roughly speaking, we’ll change from polytheism to monotheism.”

“…Huh?”

“The reason why we have more things to control isn’t just because of the territory, but also the people who live there… The ethnic and racial groups.”

Especially in the northern part of the continent, where the Meffy Commercial State was located. Not only was the language different, it was clear that different ethnic groups and races lived there. The same went for the western part of the continent, where the City of Beginnings was.

No, even in the western part of the continent, people with different skins had already jumbled together.

The first major NPC I killed, Alexei-san, was slightly tanned. Not to mention, he also had fair skin, blond hair, and a pair of blue eyes.

However, Sage Ron and his son, Ronove-san, whom I had fun partaking in bloodbath with just recently, seemed to have dark brown skin. Moreover, while they spoke the same language, their origin was different—

—It’s probably their ethnicity.

I had also heard that their ancestors worshiped the Sea God who was said to reside in the inland sea. So I guess that Ronove-san and his people were the natives and the forces belonging to the former Kingdom of Hermagne. Then, people such as Alexei-san probably hailed form the central and southern parts of the continent…

When we first met, Ronove-san and the others were of the slave class. As such, my conclusion was probably not that far off.

“Considering the languages we use and our customs are already different, if even the gods we worship are different for each individual, the country will split.”

“Well, you have a point.”

Now that the foreign war had ensued, the discriminatory eyes which lurked in the depths of the war were directed outward. But eventually, the people would start fighting each other.

There was a difference between dividing and conquering newly-acquired territories and dividing the people of the mainland.

Dividing and conquering was nothing more than a process of ruling, so it wasn’t like we were going to keep at it forever.

“In terms of religion, what do people seek after the most?”

“…Faith?”

“No, it’s the worldly benefit of the community. Only clergy cares about mastering the path of faith, while the general populace don’t care.”

St. Augustine, who lived in the 4th century, also complained that instead of deepening their own faith, people were only seeking fellowship in the community. He said something along the line of, “Few people come to church in search of faith.”

For over a thousand years, religion had been like that. In Japan during the first period of rapid economic growth, new religions grew rapidly and became popular, probably as a new community for people who moved from rural areas to urban areas.

Is that why it’s so effective?

As such, if I were to interpret and think about what the people expected from religion, there was only a single answer.

“As a means of governing multiple ethnicities, we need a single god who accepts all.”

“…Fumu.”

In Japan, which is almost a mono-ethnic country, this may not be so obvious to many people, but when people of the same ethnicity share the same skin color, hair color, culture, language, and even roots, this in itself can be a “guarantee that they were friends.”

But that wouldn’t work if the person came from a different ethnicity. Some might feel incapable of trusting another simply because they looked different.

Therefore, if they believed in the same religion, they’d have a sense of security and camaraderie, who had the same values and standards.

For that reason, it shouldn’t be a polytheistic religion in which there were multiple gods that served as the standard of value to believe in.

Unlike in Japan, where people who had different mindsets became comrades due to the same ethnicity, I’d make it so that people of different ethnicity became comrades because they had the same mindset.

…Well, Japan wasn’t a completely homogeneous nation, either. But beside the Yamato race, there were also many ethnic groups such as the Ryukyu race, the Korean race, and the Han race.

“We aim to create a community that can guarantee that the presence in front of us isn’t an enemy, but an ally, and that we’ll warmly welcome any presence while becoming a gathering place for local residents.”

“…Basically, are you going to fight with the central temple?”

“Well, I’ll make up a story that the gods they believe in used to be a single, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and absolute god.”

“If you make one wrong move, all the countries in the world will invade at once?”

If anything, it’d become a one-sided excommunication.

Like Eren-san said, if I made even one wrong move, there’d be a crusade.

“Hence, we’ll sell it as a new sect.”

“…Huh?”

“There’re mountains of dissatisfaction and suspicions about the current Central Temple, right? If everything goes well, it’ll split in half like the Catholics and the Protestants.”

“—Katorik? Protestan?”

“Oh, it’s irrelevant.”

While accusing the Central temple of being corrupt, I’d declare the new sect as the true path of faith with various reasons.

It’d be nice to use something like Luther as a model. However, not all events on Earth could be applied, so it’d be necessary to make improvements according to the game world.

“So, that’s the general idea. Let’s peacefully make it possible for the citizens to say, ‘Yamada-san, who believes in a different god, is actually a compatriot!’”

“…Peacefully?”

“Rather than creating an entirely new religion and performing mass conversion, it’s just a matter of taking over what already exists, so it’s more peaceful.”

“I, I see…”

After sipping the tea prepared by Eren-san, I decided to switch the topic. As I pondered about the subject matter, I fished through the documents pertaining to religion.

“Next is about the industrial revolution.”

“That’s right, you haven’t explained about that…”

I handed over the blueprints for the weaving machine to Eren-san, who seemed exhausted.

“What is this?”

“It’s called a loom. Let’s start by introducing this.”

While explaining in detail to Eren-san regarding the advantages and problems behind introducing such a tool, I also told him that it was relatively easy to make.

As I explained further, the confusion in Eren-san’s face grew.

“I see, while I understand that the production speed will increase dramatically, but… is there any meaning in creating equipment that offers no defense or enchantments whatsoever?”

“But you aren’t supposed to bring it to combat? The majority of ordinary citizens are generally under no risk of danger. As long as it can hide their bodies, it’d suffice. Besides, the market is bigger there.”

“That’s true.”

But well, this is a game world, isn’t it?

It was obvious that the value of a mere garment with no enchantments or defenses would be a little lower than expected.

It’d be nice if I could find a way to impart some effect in this process of mass production.

Right, why don’t I entrust the task to Yuu-san, who’s on the verification team?

For now, I aimed to move to a consumption-based economy along with mass production.

“With our overwhelming productivity, let’s crush the textile industry of other countries.”

“…How scary.”

“Buy the raw materials at a low price and in large quantities, then sell the finished products to the other countries… Colonizing them while propagating the monotheism I mentioned earlier in the process!”

“Won’t you please stop?”

‘—When the whites came to Africa, we had the land and they had the Bible. They taught us to close our eyes and pray. When we opened our eyes, they had the land and we had nothing but the Bible.’

Those were the words of Jomo Kenyatta, the leader of Kenya’s independence movement and also its first president.

I, who lived in the real world, had knowledge about the history of Earth that the NPC didn’t. Therefore, I shall use it effectively.

…Is this what they call knowledge cheats or domestic affairs cheats? I think Yuu-san and Maria-san said something like that.

“By establishing a bank, we’ll prepare some funds. Then, we’ll use it as the basis for the industrial revolution, and with its overwhelming productive power, we shall triumph over the industries of other countries. We’re proceeding with the acquisition.”

“…Are you a devil?”

“In the acquired land of other countries, we’ll only produce and mine raw materials… and we’ll make it a monopoly market where they’ll buy nothing but our overflowing products.”

“…Are you a devil?”

“If other countries are dissatisfied with this and attempt to unfairly levy their tax rates or seize land from our company, we’ll attack them under the pretext of ‘protecting our own citizens,’ which will result in a full-fledged unfair treaty.”

“…You’re the devil.”

Perhaps, or rather, I was sure that Eren-san would eventually do the same. From the northern to the southern ends of the continent’s western part, we’d gradually extend our spheres of influence. Afterwards, when the borders of our own country and our vassals collided, it was an all-out—the beginning of the war.

Until then, it was just a preparatory period.

“We’ll discuss in detail later how to deal with the unemployed in our country, which will likely occur with the industrial revolution.”

Just as the Industrial Revolution and the race to acquire colonies began in Europe, which was located in the western part of the Eurasian continent, I personally found it very interesting that the game began in the western part of the continent.

Upon hearing that, the terribly weak Eren-san collapsed on the sofa and only said one word—

“—Bring the stomach medicine.”

“U, understood!”

…As I thought, should I prepare a special stomach medicine for him?

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