Re: Level 100 Farmer

Chapter 168 - Interim

"Listen to me, my followers," said Li, his voice projecting loud and clear over the entire two hundred strong crowd. "In your hands may be but a single blossom, but it is a crystallization of the gratitude that you have shown for me and to this land, and it is also a symbol of my own thankfulness to you. 

Thus, each of these petals is undeniably a great treasure that is now bound to your life. They are shards of the Everfortune tree, and as its name suggests, each of these petals will grant you the fortune and good luck of a lifetime. 

And at the time of your greatest need, when the night is at its darkest, it will show you the light so long as you hold it dear."

Li was curious about the effects of the petal in this world. Unlike what its humble appearance might have suggested, it truly was an item worthy of being Celestial-tier, equal in worth to the world ending gear of the same rank that he also used. Placing the petal in one's inventory massively increased gold gains and the rate of rare loot drops, making it the absolute best item for powerfarming in existence. 

But what truly gave it its celestial rank was its hidden ability. At its most basic level, when the bearer of the blossom died, they would immediately be revived and transported to the nearest safe haven. Yet when it was actively consumed, it would become a wish granting device, manifesting an effect that best suited what the bearer needed at the moment of consumption.

The user would not actually know what the petal would grant, just that it would be supremely helpful in that very situation. For example, in the case that it was consumed during an intense raid against a boss where all allies were low, it might restore all allies to full health. Or it might create an incredibly powerful summon to tank damage. Or if it calculated that the boss's health was low enough, it might conjure up a mighty offensive attack that would fell the boss.

In Li's case, it had been used many times during guild raids. Li realized that the petal would grant stronger effects when it determined the user was in greater trouble, and so in the early days of Arboretum when it did not have the necessary defenses to ward off greedier and larger guilds, Li and his guildmates would fight their enemies tooth and and nail until the very last inch when they reached the inner sanctum of the guild.

Then, Li could consume the petal to simply banish all enemies from the guild and end the raid. Like this, he managed to keep Arboretum safe until it grew to sufficiently fend for itself. 

Li nodded to Ivo, signaling the head priest to start the festival.

"Now with the sun set and summer's end before us, let us celebrate Summerfell once more!" shouted Ivo. "The first Summerfell in many, many years. For some of you, it shall be your very first, but I guarantee that it will make a lasting impression upon your youthful memories such that when you grow old and bearded and white haired as myself, it will stay with you as a memory of comfort, of an understanding that though the blessings of summer may fade, that it is simply the closing of one chapter for another."

And with that, the festival of Summerfell began. It was supposed to be one high with energy, a last burst of fervor before the cold of winter came, and so there was not much strict routine in what it involved. There was a large and controlled bonfire lit at the end of the festival that everyone could dance around until it flickered down, symbolizing the end of summer, but aside from that, everything else was fluid.

At its heart, Summerfell was simply just meant to be a time of merriment, whatever form that took.

The men and beastwomen took out carts loaded with food and drink and spread them around. Some food stall carts with fire runes laid within them to cook meat and pastries on the go were scattered around too. A surprisingly little amount of these were expenses to the guild. Most of the food and equipment came from the businesses the farmers had run in the city. 

They had emptied out their shops in preparation to sell them, and what better way to use what they had than here. Lakeside Bounty had also donated a hefty amount of fine dining foods and wines. 

Meat from butcheries, bread from bakeries, and a whole selection from a farmer who had been a barkeep all were spread around. Certainly, a good bit of the necessary foodstuffs were guild based expenses, but Li and Ivo had both agreed to not spare anything. 

And as the food and, most importantly, alcohol started spreading around, the mood livened up immensely. Conversation began flowing everywhere, and when the energy of the festival began to kick into gear, Li had Ivo lead the priests into lighting the summerfell bonfire. They had cleared out a patch of grass and set up the wooden framework and support of the bonfire already. 

All that was left was to light the fire, but that came later. 

For now, Li made his way around the festival to observe. Because of the rain of golden light from the Everfortune tree's blossoming, there was actually enough light even in the night to see rather clearly. Though Li had prepared lanterns and posts for them, he did not give a signal to light them, for he felt that the light radiating from the little nuggets of sparkling gold that gently drifed down from the sky was a far more wonderful thing to behold. 

Li could spot farmers talking to each other, openly laughing and sharing drinks of wine in wooden mugs. At one food cart, there stood a heavyset man who was cooking up a storm. He was a farmer who had gone to the city to roast and serve meat related dishes, and he did so now with his two sons, sharing meat pies and kebabs and all manner of foods they had perfected in their years in the city. 

At another stall, Li waved to Ada and her husband manning another food cart, warming up their baked goods. Their child was at the stall's back, nibbling at a croissant. They waved back at him now that they had spent a week seeing what he had done. 

The beastwomen, though they were more than happy to use their energy to work with the farmers, were much more hesitant to socialize with humans they had long known to stay away from. However, once alcohol came into play, they took a liking to it, perhaps a little too strong a liking, and with that, inhibitions largely fell.

There was the issue of a language barrier, but thankfully, some of the Serpi actually knew the common tongues of man though they spoke in old dialects from the last time they had recorded the languages. 

The Feli were very curious, as curious as a cat, you could say, and they spent their time flitting about, eyes wide as they observed fires and food carts and other things they had no idea about. The Lupi had formed their own celebratory activity which involved standing in a ring and taking turns sparring with each other.

Some of the younger men of the farming community, wanting to show their strength and perhaps a little enamored by some of the Lupi's beauty, came into the ring to test their mettle against them very unsuccessfully. 

The few harpies that stayed mostly spent their time eating, though Li did observe that one of them gave small flights to a few curious children. 

The Serpi spent their time translating and recording the events going around them, using their magic to inscribe records upon tablets of sand. They came from a culture of knowledge, and the role vested upon them through their goddess was to be watchers of the world and all that occurred, and they fulfilled that even now, recording the momentous history that unfolded before them through Li. 

And seeing things proceeding well, Li came back to the cottage where Old Thane was preparing a smaller, more personal dinner. He had been given rare ingredients from Lakeside Bounty from the north, and he confidently wanted to show off his far northwaste cuisine. 

It involved a lot of boiling, and that kept Tia in the house, allured as she was by the scent of cooking high quality flesh of sea monsters she had never tasted before. 

Li came into the cottage, finding Old Thane bent over at the pot on the fireplace. The pungent smell of the sea, of recently gutted and prepared fish, wafted in the air, though that scent was largely counteracted with the smell of boiling herbs and roots. 

At the dinner table, Azhar sat with Tia beside him while Jeanne and Sylvie were moving to and from the kitchen, helping Old Thane with the cooking. 

"Lad, is that you!?" said Old Thane. 

"That would be me," said Li as he closed the door behind him. Tia jumped from Azhar's feet and took her place behind Li. He took in a whiff of the food and made a concerned expression. "Are you sure that spineshark is cooking right? And aren't they deadly poisonous?"

"Only if they are cooked with ill-prepared hands," said Old Thane as he stirred the pot, the shark fin visible at the top of the boiling broth. 

"I don't know old man, you haven't cooked this in thirty years by your own admission. That seems kind of ill-prepared to me," said Li as he came to the dinner table, nodding a greeting to the adventurers.

Azhar bowed his head slightly as he put out a chair for Li. 

"That may be true, but never is there excitement without risk, and risk I daresay makes food taste all the better," said Old Thane. 

"Well, I guess it's a good thing I'm here to heal any of us if we start to die," said Li. 

"That morbid topic aside, how was the festival?" said Sylvie. Her hands were busy at the kitchen table, her dagger cutting up slices of frost piranha meat. Jeanne helped beside her, though she more watched, unsuited to the precise motions needed to slide under the tough and shard-like scales of the fish. 

"Quite well. Better than expected, I would like to say, but this was all within my expectations," said Li. The adventurers had come to set up the festival before it started, creating the framework for the bonfire and rolling in carts and lights and whatnot, but when it started, they went where they felt most comfortable: by Old Thane's side. 

"It does seem so very cheery and wonderful!" said Jeanne as she clasped her hands together. Her lengthy hair had been tied back in a ponytail to work in the kitchen. Even if she had little of the finesse required to cook, she still prepared with all her usual enthusiasm. 

"So much happiness and energy, it reminds me much of the Day of New Light celebration. And it was oh so wondrous to see the women of the north enjoying themselves with nary a care in the world."

Li nodded. The Day of New Light was basically this world's version of new year's, meant to celebrate when the gods supposedly came down to fend off the demons from taking over the world so very many years ago. 

"Hopefully, in years to come, this celebration will spread through the city."

"I do not see why not," chimed in Sylvie between deft slices of her dagger. "I am certain none would oppose more time to rest and draw away from their daily struggles and toils."

"Well, I ain't gonna' get worked up over a day of bummin' round'," said Azhar. 

A scratching echoed out from the front door. Tia roused herself away from smelling the boiling stew and went down low as she positioned herself at the door's front, fangs bared. Li got up from his chair and headed past Tia, opening the door with some degree of caution because he knew to trust that Tia had sharp instincts in determining foreign presences.

To Li's surprise, he saw one of the harpies there. She was a skinny, lithe woman, her red winged arms tucked behind her back as her eyes, the pupils slit like those of a falcon's, widening as they beheld Tia. She let out a shrill sound of surprise as she jumped up with her taloned feet. 

"It's fine," said Li to the harpy as he held a hand to Tia, bidding her stay calm. Tia was not yet too used to the presence of beastwomen, it was evident. "What is it?"

Li communicated in Allspeak, his words coming out in a dialect that sounded like a long-winded and quiet whistle. Now that a good degree of his divine powers had been revealed, it was easy to communicate to the beastwomen without the front of a translator. 

"Shiny men are coming from down the flat dirt," said the harpy as she flitted her hips from side to side in quick motions to show agitation. "Many of them. A problem, maybe?"

"With me here, nothing will be a problem. Thank you for keeping a look out, but do not trouble yourself further. I will meet them." Li nodded to the harpy, and she leaped up, unleashing her wings. Her pinkies were elongated, curling down the length of her arm as a spine-like bone that kept most of her feathers and gave her a wingspan impressive enough to fly.

Li clicked his tongue, bidding Tia to stay close behind him. Shiny men meant knights, and though it was unlikely they would be a problem considering Li had done all the paperwork necessary to get this festival approved, he was still cautious. He turned his head back to the cottage and saw that activity had fallen to a standstill, everyone looking at him to see what had transpired.

"Knights are headed this way. Perhaps not everyone is too fond of extra vacations."