Re: Level 100 Farmer

Chapter 165 - Old And New

In what felt like a flash, a week passed. Now that Li had far more to worry about than his own little farm, there were now countless things to think about. Of these, the major concerns were the establishment of the farming guild and now, the very first planting and all the logistics that came with them. 

Li stood at the center of his and Old Thane's field, and around them, the entire farming community gathered. The ground had been recently planted with another batch of wheat just as had been done with all the other farmers' fields. 

He closed his eyes and he knelt on the dirt, in a clearing where nothing had been planted. 

Overall, he would have to say that his first forays into larger scale farming and administration were a resounding success. However, he would also admit that it was not at all due solely to his own efforts. With increasing scale of operations came responsibility far too great for one person to manage, and he was grateful that there were capable individuals whom he could trust. 

The guild was well on its way to being established. Formally, Lord Lys had signed off on the guild's creation today, but a signed piece of paper alone did not mean anything.

A headquarters for the guild needed to be established, and it came in the form of a premium property space in the center of Riviera right below the City Hall. The property had previously been a small Lawspeaking office owned by Alexei, but it was now being renovated to become a much larger building capable of fitting the farmers that numbered a little over a hundred as well as the beastwomen who also neared that number. 

Alexei had been a lifesaver in more than one regard. With Chevrette's death, there came a massive void of businesses that would have fallen under. Alexei had taken this chance to fill up this power vacuum, buying up many ventures he thought were profitable and, most importantly, taking up a large stake of ownership for Gold Standard, the bank that the Chevrette family had run for generations.

Had that bank fallen under, then the whole economy of Riviera would have collapsed. But thankfully, Meld's helpful decision to essentially put up the ownership of Chevrette's properties and ownership titles for free auction made it extremely easy for Alexei, now the undisputed wealthiest individual in the city, to swoop in and take control. 

In giving some gratitude to Meld's decision, Li and Alexei had agreed to put Ella Chevrette under Alexei's own tutelage to have her take over the bank in the future. It was hers by birthright, and her suffering had come not at all due to her own decisions. In some measure, this would grant her some compensation for what she had suffered through. 

And with that massively increased influence, Alexei could do far more for the now newly established farmer's guild. Most notably, his role was in putting in enough initial capital to make sure the guild could cover its expenses.

Without him, the guild would have most definitely fallen in debt, needing coin to cover farmhouse repairs, tool purchases, livestock purchases, and the like. Even with the beastwomen aiding the construction as much as they could, it still would have bled an absurd amount of coin. 

Surprisingly, the owner of Lakeside Bounty, the high end restaurant that had housed the beastwomen as slaves, had come out in support of the farmer's guild, investing a massive amount of coin within it as a gesture of thanks.

The restaurant had been a family business, but the current owner had inherited a debt that had required her to take up Chevrette's help, and he had slowly but surely incised her away from its operations, using her only as a pretty prop. 

Alexei, taking up Chevrette's spot as what kept the restaurant afloat, had given the restaurant back to her command and had likely turned her to the direction of the farmer's guild to express her gratification for the farmers' testimony had made all the difference in ending Chevrette. 

But at the end of it all, Li did not care too much for the monetary part of this whole ordeal. Once the first harvest came rolling in, he foresaw that there would never be any money issues. 

That was because throughout the week, Li had thoroughly trained himself with Iona to understand the golden wheat's song, and he had committed a rudimentary version of it to his being. It was a little inferior to the original, requiring a little over a month to fully ripen, but it was just as hardy and just as superb in nutritional and taste quality. 

And today, the farmers had planted their very first batch of the golden wheat. Such was a cause for celebration, and they had decided to hold a festival over it as was tradition in the days of Morrigan. It would be a worthy day for celebration, too, as Li foresaw that when this first yield was harvested, they would have enough to feed the entire city – granting them an incredible amount of power over it. 

It seemed absurd that just one small community of farmers could feed Riviera, a city of two hundred thousand, and Li himself had to take a moment to wrap his head around the nuances of it. After all, in his world, he knew from his studies that one acre of land could feed perhaps five people over a year? 

Old Thane had the smallest fields among all the farmers as it was a small plot of land meant only to support retirement for him and his family. The regular farmers had land five to ten times the size of Old Thane's farms, but even then, that would not nearly be enough to feed a city.

Yet Li quickly realized how the magic in this world had changed so much. Even the worst wheat here was extremely productive, needing a little over three months to grow in contrast to the seven to eight months in his world. 

It was also extremely nutritious, grown on a soil layered atop a world forged by magic. He estimated that the wheat here could feed anywhere from five to ten times as many people as the wheat in his world.

Of course, even then, that was not enough for the farmers to actually feed the city even though they had done so before in the age of Morrigan. And that was because Morrigan herself was there. She had blessed their harvests and the farmers themselves had far more workable land, not to mention there were far more of them. 

When Morrigan's age was at its peak, Riviera's walls were surrounded entirely by farmlands, but now, perhaps only half of it was active arable land, with much of it having been sold off or repurposed over the decades. 

Li was not yet Morrigan. He was not fully in tune with his abilities, but the more time he spent with Iona, the more confident he was he could return the farmers to their previous heights. For now, though, the miracle of the golden wheat would sustain them.

To that end, Ivo and Old Thane were wonders. Old Thane shouldered much of the command of logistics, directing the farmers in their field work while Ivo had worked day and night with his old group of priests to re-establish Druidry. 

Ivo had taken up a small group of new initiates to be druids, but they came mostly from curious younger folk from the farming community. News had made round of the resurgence of the old faith of the forest, but nobody yet wished to join it. 

It was understandable. After all, the people of Riviera had only known the faith of the Light for most of their lives. Seeing a new, foreign faith was jarring to them and would take a while for them to adjust.

It did not help that it was likely the temples were attempting to spread rumors to dissuade the citizens from joining the druidhood – the only recourse left to them after they were forbidden from rousing up any militant threat to anyone by Swift. 

To counteract this, Ivo and his band of druids worked as hard as they could to learn herbalism from Iona to share healing and buffs that could be stored and used for later unlike the blessings of the Light priests.

Ivo also worked double as the de-facto head of a small council that worked in the guild office. They discussed matters of finance and courses of action to take before sharing them with the rest of the farmers. Basically, a chain of command. 

Li was technically the true head of the guild, but he had spent almost all of his time in his shrine, training his utmost hardest to develop the wheat while Tia frolicked around him, enjoying the newfound freedom and sometimes wandering to hunt.

At sundown, Ivo and the priests would come for a prayer in which they simply knelt in silence, closing their eyes. The faith of Morrigan was not one that shouted their belief for all to hear. They were a silent one, quiet like the fields, planting their thanks only in the depths of their hearts, and yet Li could hear the thanks they expressed from deep within, and every night, he could not help but smile at it. 

After their prayer, Ivo would stay behind and discuss with Li any matters discussed in the guild council, and Li would put out his opinions and suggestions with the older man. In this way, Li juggled both enhancing his divinity and maintaining the functioning of his guild, though he had to admit that at some times he felt others were doing far more than he was. 

But Li was never daunted. In fact, he felt quite excited to be doing all of this. He had always thought of himself as one to manage his own, simple farm, but he had forgotten the happiness he had felt in managing a guild of his own in his past life.

A virtual guild, yes, but still one that required many of the same managing skills that he now used in this guild of a new life. 

And now, after such a tumultuous and event filled week, Li now knelt back where it all started, in his own little field. Old Thane and Ivo stood behind him, and behind them, all the lives that relied on him leaned forwards, eagerly watching him with bated breath.

Li gently scraped away some of the dirt in front of him until he had formed a little pit perfectly sized for one seed. He was going to plant the seed of a flower to commemorate their first planting and the official establishment of the farmer's guild. 

He had prepared for this, having had Alexei buy an expensive Crystalpetal Rose seed from the magic-rich land of Duvin. The rosebush would sprout under tender care, its gleaming green leaves forming a canvas upon which the icy, crystalline petals of the roses would shine with a cold and otherworldly beauty just in time for fall and winter. 

But somehow, it did not feel right to use that seed. So many people had worked so very hard for him, and Li wanted to thank them with something far more than a seed he could have just bought.

And, as he smiled to think about it, he wanted to thank the precious few memories of the past that were happy, the memories of a guild from a lifetime ago that had taught him the skills to keep this new guild prosperous.

That was why Li, for the first time, reached into his pocket, into the void of his inventory, into the seed bag that contained all the culminated blood, sweat, and tears of his old guild.