Once again, Luka sat at his desk in the Governor's Office, diligently handling official duties.
Sunlight streamed through the window, casting a warm glow upon his desk.
His fingers glided rapidly across the data-slate, reviewing various reports and documents.
Although Rostov's situation had stabilized, as the Planetary Governor, he still needed to constantly monitor every detail of the planet, ensuring everything developed as expected.
After several years of consolidation and various unforeseen events, Rostov was currently in a relatively stable phase of rapid development.
There was not much more to be done in terms of the planet's development in the short term; if they didn't want to destroy the planet's fragile ecosystem, Rostov II's population would ideally need to be controlled.
Luka knew that the planet's ecological carrying capacity was limited, especially before Ovilia completed her academic research and transformed the planet into a paradise world.
Any excessive development could lead to catastrophic consequences.
Moreover, Luka also had to consider the food problem.
Although Ovilia had completed the protein processing plant she had agreed upon with the previous Governor, and its protein bars were sufficient to feed everyone on the planet, this 'everyone' was limited to Rostov's population before Luka took over.
After Luka took over, Rostov's population had been growing rapidly.
Although the population of Rostov City had not changed much, the newly added Knight Fiefs and cities near the Sisters of Battle outposts undoubtedly brought a large number of new inhabitants.
Coupled with the continuous stream of Pilgrims to the Ecclesiarchy City who chose to settle, the population of Rostov II was now approaching the 2 billion mark.
If it weren't for the completed protein factory and the planet still enjoying more than two decades of free food from the Department of Internal Affairs, some people would probably be starving by now.
Not to mention Luka also planned to launch the Sub-Sector colonization program, which would require not only a large population but also massive amounts of food.
By 'massive amounts,' it meant at least one Agricultural World was needed to support the entire colonization program; otherwise, most of the colonists might starve before even establishing a colony on the new planet.
If Luka wasn't particular about the food source, he could just find a planet capable of refining promethium.
The Imperium's corpse starch was made from a byproduct of promethium refining, which was much more convenient and cheaper than producing protein bars.
Of course, don't expect any nutrition or health benefits from eating that stuff; it's not even clean or hygienic.
It simply solves the problem of hunger.
Otherwise, the average lifespan of people in the Imperium's Lower Hives would not be less than forty years.
Luka would not feed his people such things, so he planned to establish an Agricultural World in the Sub-Sector to supply food to the entire Sub-Sector.
Of course, building an Agricultural World would not be simpler than building a Hive World, and under current circumstances, Rostov was unable to bear the construction costs of an Agricultural World.
However, this problem was not severe; he could just ask the Mariupol Adeptus Mechanicus, and they would handle it as long as they were paid.
Luka had already settled this part with Pavel, and the Ecclesiarchy also believed that an Agricultural World in the Sub-Sector would be crucial for the Ecclesiarchy's missionary work and the stability of the entire Sector, so they readily paid for the expense.
However, although the Ecclesiarchy paid, Luka also understood that he probably couldn't squeeze any more out of the Ecclesiarchy for now.
According to the results of Luka's previous negotiations with Pavel, the construction costs for the Orbital Ring and the Agricultural World were the Ecclesiarchy's last investment before Luka launched the immigration program.
Unless Luka truly opened up new colony planets, the Ecclesiarchy would not provide any more large sponsorships.
After all, the Ecclesiarchy's money didn't grow on trees; although spending any amount for the Emperor was fine, the Ecclesiarchy would not spend limitlessly, and the Sector Ecclesiarchy Council needed to see results from these expenditures.
The Orbital Ring was easy to explain; construction had already begun, and as the Orbital Ring was built, the Ecclesiarchy would naturally see its impact on Rostov once completed.
But the Agricultural World was currently just a plan, and the Ecclesiarchy hoped to see some achievements that could at least serve as a display of progress.
Luka expressed his understanding.
The Ecclesiarchy had spent a large sum of money, so even if it was just for show, Luka should let them see a return.
So, after sorting out the current official duties, Luka went to the Ecclesiarchy City and once again sought out the Old Bishop, asking him to organize people to form an exploration team and prepare for the first wave of immigration.
The Old Bishop showed considerable enthusiasm for this; Luka had reason to believe that if he weren't too old to personally participate in the immigration, this first Bishop of Rostov would probably build churches brick by brick again on the new colony planet.
But to be fair, if the Old Bishop could truly do such a thing, leading believers to those planets for immigration and once again building Ecclesiarchy churches brick by brick, he could truly be canonized as a Saint.
The Old Bishop obviously knew this, and if he wished, he could naturally arrange for Rejuvenation Surgery to enable him to do these things.
He was less than a hundred years old, and with the Imperium's technological level, it would not be difficult to restore his health, and he could even live for another two or three hundred years.
However, this Old Bishop was a fundamentalist; he insisted on natural aging and refused Rejuvenation Surgery or any medical treatment that went against natural laws.
Even if he would lose the chance of canonization because of it, he was unwilling to abandon the principles he had upheld his entire life.
But although he himself no longer had enough energy to follow the exploration team to open up new Imperial Worlds, he could send his disciples.
The Old Bishop dispatched most of the priests from the Church of Rostov II to accompany the exploration team to the new planets and guide the faith of the Imperial citizens.
In addition, some priests and Sisters from the Ecclesiarchy branch in the Mariupol Sector also answered the call and joined the exploration team; they would also provide various religious services, including medical care, mass, confession, and funerals, during the exploration team's journey to open up new worlds.
Thus, with Luka's eager anticipation, the first batch of exploration teams had departed from the core region of the Mariupol Sector and subsequently arrived at Rostov II.
After completing resupply and division there, they split into two groups, heading for two different Imperial Worlds.
These two Imperial Worlds were the targets of the first wave of exploration; according to the plan, one was to be a regular Imperial Civilized World, and the other was to be a Mining World already entrusted to the Adeptus Mechanicus.
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