Project Necro is an official initiative by Re:Library.

“Excuse me… you said that the Black Dragon is watching our actions, yes? Then, if we showed some effort to restrain our logging, might it back off?”

Everyone turned to look at Ekaterina in surprise.
No one expected a noble lady to interrupt a serious discussion like this.

“…In theory, that may be possible. However, demand for fuel keeps increasing. Holding back will be difficult.”
“Have we done any afforestation after we cut the trees down?”
“A-afforest? No… I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

—I knew it!

When I lived in Osaka in my previous life, we went on a field trip to Yoshino in Nara. I would’ve preferred cherry blossom viewing, but no, we went to learn about reforestation of Yoshino cedars. We were told afforestation there started as early as the Muromachi period¹, and later we had to write reports about global reforestation history.

That was when I learned: in Europe, forests had long been something to clear for farmland.
The concept of replanting trees after cutting them down didn’t even exist until the latter half of the 19th century.
And looks like this world is the same!

“What I mean is replanting the trees. Take farmlands for example, we plant new crops again after we harvest them, yes? Similarly, after cutting trees, you plant new ones and raise another forest.”
“We cut down the trees, so the forests grow again…?”

Forli looked utterly bewildered.

“My lady, trees aren’t like wheat. You can harvest wheat in a year, but it takes ages for a forest to grow again.”
“Indeed. I’ve heard a saying once: ‘Cultivate wheat, and reap in a year. Cultivate trees, and reap in a decade. Cultivate people, and reap in a century.’”

…Wait, was it rice, not wheat? And does a proverb from my previous life even make sense here? Ah, whatever—confidence is key!

“The House of Jurnova boasts a four-hundred-year history. If we cannot even make a plan to grow trees, how can we claim to support the Empire?”

I deliver it with all the cool poise I can muster.
The secret of a good presentation: confidence! The art of persuasion—learned from con artists!

“You said it yourself, Lord Forli. The Black Dragon is an ancient being—something humans cannot destroy. If we keep logging recklessly, we’ll eventually provoke its wrath…
Should that happen, not just our duchy, but the entire Empire may suffer disaster.
That must never be allowed. I cannot stand seeing my brother, all of you, or any of our citizens be put in danger. Even if we can’t stop logging immediately, then let’s at least start planting and raising trees again, showing that we don’t intend to rob the forest of its home completely. Wouldn’t that be worth trying, to soothe the dragon’s anger?”

“Hmm…”

Forli groaned.
The others all stared at Ekaterina intently.

“Ekaterina… you called it afforestation? I’ve never heard the term. How did you come up with it?”
“I mentioned it before, Onii-sama, I just thought of it the same way as wheat. Wood is one of the duchy’s important resources, isn’t it? Then instead of only taking, we should also plant and maintain. It will take time, but if we plant and care for them ourselves, we might even grow timber better than what the wild forest offers.”

“…I see.”

Alexei thought for a moment, then quickly raised his head.

“Very well. Even setting aside the Black Dragon, it would make good use of steep, unfarmable land. It’s a solid investment for the future. Forli, investigate this replanting method and begin as soon as possible. —As for the current order, tell the client we’ll need a six-month delay and observe the dragon’s behavior. If nothing changes in three months, we’ll reconsider.”
“Understood, my lord.”

As expected of my brother!
Even when faced with an unheard-of idea, he calmly weighs its merit and turns it into a practical policy.
So dependable, so admirable!

…Still, to think our countermeasure against “The Ancient Northern King, the Greatest of all Dragons, the Black Dragon” is—reforestation.
Kinda plain.
I mean, *I* brought it up, but wow, it’s such a mundane solution.

B–but if the Black Dragon really is who I think it is—its name in the game was the Demon Dragon King, Vladforen—then we’re facing the Final Boss!
If we ever got into the Empire Destruction Route, then nobody could ever defeat him!

No, well, rather than *“defeat”* him, it was more like *“conquer”* him…
Actually, there was this hidden route…
Right when I was searching to see if there was a hidden route to conquer my lovely Onii-sama, I learned that if the heroine met some specific conditions, the Demon Dragon King would become a capture target. He’d transform into this incredibly handsome human man with jet-black hair and ruby red eyes.

But I have completely no idea how to get into that route! The idea of going into it was out of the window when I learned Onii-sama rarely ever showed up in that route, after all!
I mean, yeah the Demon Dragon King (human version) is such an incredible looker that it almost made me want to try to challenge myself into capturing him, but in the end Onii-sama is my one and only.
He’s the Demon Dragon King, so I assumed he must be some kind of self-important Ore-sama type of character. I don’t think I can expect any doting older brother comforting his little sister vibe from him, so I didn’t even bother looking at a strategy guide to capture him.
I’m sorry I’m so useless!

With that being said, the sight of the Demon Dragon King (dragon version) roaring and crushing the Imperial Palace in the Empire Destruction route was, to say the least, *gripping*.
It was massive, almost as big as the palace itself… I’d estimate it was well over 100 meters tall. It was probably bigger than a jumbo jet, or perhaps even twice that size…

Come to think of it, the game didn’t particularly explain why the Final Boss even attacked the Empire. All I knew was, if you fail clearing some important events ahead, you’d enter an action-packed route where monsters would come attacking one after another, with a high chance of the Demon Dragon King appearing.

That was why I thought I needed to clear those events in order to eliminate the Empire Destruction flag—but if the Final Boss and his monsters in this world attacked the Empire due to the deforestation and the loss of their natural habitat, then perhaps taking care of those issues would prevent the attack in the first place.

Besides, from my knowledge in my previous life, there must be a ton of negative effects if you allow deforestation to proceed indiscriminately.
The mountains’ water retention capacity will decrease, causing flash floods and mudslides, and increasing the frequency of disasters like landslides and rockfalls. Groundwater will decrease, drought comes after, biodiversity will be lost, and ultimately the nutrients flowing from rivers to the sea will change, affecting the marine ecosystem, or something.
Come to think of it, Onii-sama did receive a report of a landslide in a village somewhere.

Yes. Stop deforestation!

Afforestation is peaceful! No problem at all!
And while I’m at it, I’ll make sure we never enter the Empire Destruction Route—
time to clear all those story events properly!