Re: Level 100 Farmer

Chapter 48 - Taxes

Li and Old Thane stood side by side in front of the fields the very next day.

It was true. The seeds worked. Just the night before, they were little kernels of amber, and now they had sprouted stems about a half meter tall. At first, he had thought them all fully grown as the genetically modified wheat he worked with maxed out at a meter tall, almost half their covered with seeds.

But this wheat had no such modifications, instead operating off of some strange magic. A few long leaves, green and healthy, perked out from the stem, but as of now, the wheat had not grown their characteristic heads. The plants were still green and unripe, but even so, they had grown the amount they would have in almost half a year in the span of a single day.

If Li recalled his classes on classical, unmodified crops, he knew that wheat had four stages of growth: tillering, stem extension, heading, and ripening. During tillering, the wheat formed tillers which were essentially additional stems that made wheat look like overgrown weeds. It was only when they entered stem extension did they gain their stalk-like structure.

Li figured he should have stayed observing the field throughout the night, as it was during the tillering stage that he could figure out how much yield the wheat would bring based on how many extra stems, or tillers, as they were called, he could see, but then again, this wheat didn't seem to operate off of any of the natural laws he was familiar with. And he didn't want to make Old Thane worry about him.

Old Thane stepped forwards and took one of the wheat plants in his hands, his fingers gracing its stem and leaves as he nodded.

"These be of excellent health, lad," said Old Thane, his hands starting to tremble. "Gods, when was the last I saw these fields so full of life? When? Years, lad, years. Not since my life fell apart."

Old Thane came close to the wheat, almost hunching over the stalk to cradle it. "A farmer is only as good as his crop, it is said. I felt the dead fields a sign, a symbol for me. When my life shone under Aine's light, my crop grew magnificently. When her sun set, the crop withered, and so did I, even my sight fleeing me." He smiled. "But now that I am near your light, lad, I see now that the fields grow oncemore. The demon is right – the gears of fate work in strange ways, aye."

Li put his hand on Old Thane's back as he smiled. "You better get used to it, old man, because I won't be leaving anytime soon."

They laughed before they shared a moment of silence together, admiring the wheat that had brought them together.

Old Thane stood up straight again as he dusted his hands, mentally readying himself to work on harvesting the next morning. "I should say the wheat will be ripe in the morrow, or perhaps the day after. Gods, I have not harvested in years. Oh, and about that, lad, we must report our harvest to the city hall."

"We what now?"

"I never found it useful to tell you as I thought the earliest I'd see wheat again was next year, but here we are. I understand you feel yourself cheated, lad, but the crown has so gracious given me, once a foreigner from the northwastes, this land, and so I feel it appropriate to return unto them what is due in taxes."

"And how much is that?"

Old Thane touched a hand to his temple as he tried to remember. "Aye, it's been so long since I've reported a harvest. Well, as it comes to my mind now, I believe it was a third of the harvest for the crown and then a tenth as tithe for the temples."

Li nodded with a slight frown. "That's almost half our harvest gone to taxes."

"Aye, but you must understand, lad, to the crown I give what is owed, and it has done well in bringing peace to this land. To myself as well, they have given much aid. As a distinguished veteran, I need not pay tax when I am unable. That is why I yet still live on this gifted land unevicted. The temples, too, deserve their keep, for without them, countless many would fall to their festering wounds. I feel no regret in letting my harvest flow to the crown and the temples, for I trust they will help all those needing."

"I can understand that, but I know how you are, old man. You're the type to want help people directly. You want to see people grow from your help and better themselves. It's why you feel so much pride in me being able to manage your farm from your teachings. It's why you feel so happy seeing Triple Threat claw themselves out of the streets with the shelter you gave them years ago." Li clenched a fist in resolve. "You've given the crown more than your due. It's about time you got to decide where your harvest went."

"Lad, what are you planning? I know you possess great power, but do not be rash."

"I'll go to the city hall and file out your harvest officially for this year. They'll get their taxes, but only once per year, because that's what they would've gotten normally. As for all our countless other harvests, I'll negotiate something so that we get to decide where it goes."

"Negotiate? Do you mean to strongarm them?"

"Nothing of the sort, old man. That would cause way too much of a ruckus. I've heard from my assistant that the duchess is still in town. I'll pay her a visit again, tell her what I want. I'm sure she'll listen to me, judging by how our last talk went."

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Li came through Riviera's city gates once more, nodding at the guards near the great entrance gate. They usually nodded back, but this time, they almost hopped aside when they recognized him. He didn't think much of it as he strolled into the city.

As he pathed through the main road, following it until he reached the marketplace, he had to give a mental thanks to Iona. It was such a load off his back to be able to have someone he trusted working the herb stall. Add to the fact that business was now positively booming with the adventurers crowding the place 24/7, and Iona never had to use her atrocious hawking skills.

He also gave thought to why he wanted to do this. It wasn't like him to draw attention to himself, and he wanted nothing much but the bare minimum to do with authority, but he wanted Old Thane to be remembered.

Old Thane wanted his extra harvest to go to the orphanages, and Li wanted to make sure everyone knew that it was the old man's work. Of course, Li knew that the old man would have opposed this, wanting to stay humbly anonymous, but this was a bit of Li's selfishness that he had no qualms about.

He wanted Old Thane's name to never be forgotten, to always be known and appreciated for the wonder of a man he was forever. He knew that the old man was mortal and destined to fade, but at the least, he felt it only right that he as one who would live forever should immortalize the old man's name.

And though he wouldn't admit it out loud, he did fear that he would become lonely as a god, living years and years and years as everything rose and fell around him. He still didn't have the best idea of what it meant to be truly divine, but at the least, he wanted the old man's name to be just as immortal as he was, keeping him company forever.

When Li began approaching the marketplace, he realized the city was loud. Much, much louder than usual. Under the bright day's sun, a festive energy burst through every road. Drink flowed free on the streets, men and women exchanging toasts.

Troubadours sang and played to their heart's content, bouncing up and down the street. The patrolling knights were even laid back, their helmets uncovered as they laughed and talked with the common folk.

There was some massive celebration going on.

And as Li paid more attention, he realized that all these people had one thing in common: they were cheering for the duchess. They cheered for her success in disbanding Black Vine. They cheered her for ensuring their borders were safe and their livelihoods taken care of.

They spoke tales of her generosity. How, even though Soleil faced famine the past two years, the duchess had emptied the royal coffers and stockpiles to make sure that everyone went to bed with full stomachs. Some of the older people remarked at how much better the duchess was than King Beaumont, the former ruler when Soleil was not a duchy but a kingdom, and even then, just a kingdom in name, subservient to the greater Republic in the north.

But the duchess, a Beaumont herself, took over the throne and put humanity first and foremost, seceding from the inhuman Republic. When she changed her surname from Beaumont to Soleil, thus changing the kingdom name as well to Soleil, she heralded the start of Soleil as a new and independent human territory. The people believed her casting away her old royal name as a sign of her role as a revolutionary, someone who broke the chain of royal succession that had oppressed them for so long, dragging them through the horrors of the demon wars.

There were even rumors that the duchess would give power to the people, allowing them to vote for laws best for them. Some believed her continued youth a sign of blessing from the gods, for upon her succession, she had cleaned all the temples of their corruption, driving out all the clergy that abused common folk's superstition for a profit and replacing them with those truly faithful to Helius, god of light and all that was good.

Li could not help but note how there was not a single point raised against the duchess. He found it unbelievable. Even if he came from a different world, he knew people. It was just a plain fact of reality and common sense that there would never be a leader, president, or duchess with no opposition, and yet here he was, finding himself amidst a sea of voices raising praise for the duchess.

Of course, it wasn't as if he lived a day to day life with all these people. Maybe if he did, he would hear some dissent behind closed doors, but he wasn't curious enough to find out. Whether she was a good ruler or not did not matter to Li – she would listen to him regardless.

First order of business, though, was making it to the city hall to report his future harvest, more for Old Thane's sake than Li's own. Li couldn't care less about giving back to the crown, but he would still respect Old Thane's decision.

Interestingly, the grand stairs that led up to the hall just had a few people coming up and down. Nobody wanted to do business on a day of celebration, it seemed.

Inside the city hall, Li found himself quickly at the reception desk as there was no line to wait through. The announcement crystal on the ceiling was uncharged as well, its normally glowing blue facets now a dull black.

Behind the reception window was the same feli that had talked to Li about the herbalist's exam. When she saw him, her slit-like pupils widened in recognition.

"Still at work? Even though it's a vacation day?" said Li.

The feli blinked as she tugged at the collar of her uniform shirt, taking care to prevent her claws from tearing the fabric.

"There are some privileges we of the beast tribes lack," she murmured, her feline ears twitching in irritation. She took in a breath, putting back on a professional face used to facing the angriest of common folk with a stone-solid smile. "What brings you here today?"

"I'm filing for a harvest. I'd like the paperwork to fill out."

"Of course." The feli stood up and went to the back of her workspace where there were shelves packed with empty documents ready to be filled out. As she did this, Li noticed that the receptionist beside her, an ordinary human woman, was staring at him, her mouth open in awe.

"Something on my face?" said Li.

The receptionist quickly shook her head before giving the feli a nervous look. She looked back down to her desk, but after a few seconds, she nodded several times to herself before standing and going to the back, leaning into the feli's ear and whispering a few things.

Li could only see their backs, but he could see the feli's ears twitch upwards, stiffening. Her tail stiffened, the hair bristling.

The feli rushed back to Li as the other receptionist watched from the back, adjusting her glasses one too many times.

Something was off.

"My deepest apologies, sir," said the feli, still standing. Her professional face had been wiped off entirely. Normally, she enunciated her words rather slowly and carefully, preventing people from seeing her bestial and sharp teeth, but she had left care to the wind as her words came out in a rush. "May I make a call? It will be very quick, I assure you."

Li shrugged. "Sure."

The feli reached under her table, stooping a little, before taking out a lacquered wooden wand. Li nodded in understanding. That was a storage wand that could store a spell. Judging by its black color, it was common tier in rarity, and so was only able to store E and D rank spells. In the game, it had been useful for mages to use spells without expending mana or warriors to gain access to spells they could never cast otherwise, with the balance being that a player could not hold more than three of any storage wand.

Here, though, the feli used the wand like a telephone. She took the wand with her to the back, wanting to keep her call discreet. It made sense, too, as though messaging was just a basic function, they were considered a spell in the lore, even being affected by silences which would disable sending or viewing messages.

He realized as an aside that potentially, there were spells that those of this world had that he did not obviously know of. He could not cast any spell to message people, for example, as it was not something an official spell he could learn in the game because everyone could just do it.

More importantly, though, he felt the situation was off with how these receptionists were acting. The feli's tail swished from side to side, obviously agitated, but there was no way to hear her conversation as it was all held in her head, transmitted from thought to thought.

Surprisingly soon, however, the feli returned, putting the wand back under her desk. She nodded to Li and said, "Lord Lys wishes to see you on the sixth floor, if you please. Do not worry about the paperwork – he will handle it personally."