“Like I am going to take you straight to her, are you one of those guild assassins?”
“Look dipshit, I am tired, and I really don’t want to do this right now. Take me to Bretta or I swear to the goddess, I will cut you down right here.” I put my hand on the hilt of my sword to make my point. But as I was staring him down, I saw my friend in the distance field. “Nevermind, found her.” I made a show of going around him at the ready, like I was ready for his attack. When I got passed him, I started walking away. More retards tried to stop me, and I just held up my hand and said, “Hush.” This was my fucking land and they could all fuck off.
My mood lightened when I heard her call from the field, “DARLING!” If you have ever seen a muscular run, you would know what I felt when I saw the tight shirt she was wearing, fail at keeping her breasts under control. I stopped long enough to enjoy the moment and she scooped me up like I weighed nothing. “Jaeger, your back, gods be praised, what happened, where were you…” More questions spilled from her mouth and I laughed at her.
“Later, tell me what is going on here?”
Her smile split her lower face ear to ear. “You've done well, your theory on a nonprofit thingy business whatnot.” She led me by the hand as she explained, “When I got back, I noticed you were gone, and I knew something was up. I could smell your blood was still fresh on the ground and found the remains of a portal spell. But besides that, I had a friend with me, he was going to inspect our crop to buy it. He bought the whole thing, all three fields and wanted more. Even provided the labor. Things just starting moving from there and this ground, my gods, you have the best soil I have ever seen. We get growth bonuses, I don’t know how, but we are getting twice the speed of growth and now have ten fields.”
She pulled me over to one of the buildings. “We are rotating crops, like you wanted, wheat then beans, and we can’t grow them fast enough. Hana is overwhelmed with offers and with the campaign now over, everyone is coming back to find there is no wheat available. We have contracts, for years Jaeger, not just a growing season. Our wheat is the best there has ever been and the King, THE KING, is eating out wheat.”
I laughed at the big woman, “that's all well and fine, but what's all this?” I motioned toward the two buildings.
“Bunk houses, we now have twenty people staffed full time, and more come in from the surrounding areas.”
“I know, I came here on a lift from Cree. The carriage was full. But Bretta, what happened to staying small time?”
“Hey when the gods throw you a golden egg, do you crack it or just let it sit there?” I had no answer for her. “You crack it, and reap what's inside.” She pulled me into the building and I saw the bottom floor was completely open, full of tables and benches, and I could smell baking bread and cooking bacon. “You look like crap, and you’re thin, eat and tell me what happened.”
“Yes ma’am.”
Sitting down at one of the tables, Bretta fetched me a plate with so much food on it, I raised a questioning eyebrow at her when placed it in front of me. “You need it, eat your fill and the rest will go into the compost heap.” I did as she said and recounted my tale between bits.
For two hours she listened, and I didn’t harp on any of the details, well, I might have forgotten a few of my dumber mistakes. She absorbed my story as if I was the only thing in the world at the moment and it felt good to have her complete attention. “Then I came here, and damn, you have been busy.”
She let out a long slow breath, “I have been too busy actually. But, so have you. Hana must know, she needs to hear this.” Her sense of urgency gave me pause. When I asked why, she said, “because my silly little man, the Slave Guild is not allowed to take Noblemen.” Bretta stressed the point by slamming her fist down on the table. “Think about it, had you not made me a partner and I had returned to find you gone? I would have left and all this!” She motioned her hand around, “would not be here. Jaeger, Lord Persik,” I didn’t like how she used my title. “I have been in this world for a long time and I have been all over it. This, you taken in the middle of the night, does not happen. Hana must press this issue in court.”
“You think someone was out to get me?”
“Mayhap, but the Slaver Guild does not target random people and never noblemen, if they did, there would be open war against them.” She looked uncomfortable as she said the next part. “And a Tier One at that, it's not like you have been here long enough to cause offense. When I first met you, you were barely more than a wide eyed, scared child of a man. You had an innocence that had not yet been stolen from you, and now you are changed, I can smell the blood on you, death. You have killed, you have fought, you have struggled. If I had to guess, someone made this happen to make you this way.” My brain was spinning out of control from her words. “An education of fire and blood, someone wants you to gain as much experience as you could in a short time. And truth be told, it worked.”
I sat for a long time, thinking, I had experienced more over the last three months than would have ever happened if I had stayed on the farm. I could only think of one person, a person that had as much to gain from all of it as I did. One person I kind of screwed when I took on Bretta. But I kept my thoughts to myself, if Hana had set all this up, then she was not on my side. I was more than sure she had the means, the knowledge and the connections to make it happen. Not to mention she was the only one who knew where my lands were, knew how many people were on them at the time, it made too much sense. “You have a look, you figured it out?”
“No, just a suspect.” I looked into her deep brown eyes and my thoughts shifted. Bretta could easily be a suspect as well. She also checked all the boxes, an adventurer ready to give up the hard life on the road and settle down. There was no doubt in my mind she also had the means, and the connections, and she knew about the Slaver’s Guild. My fingers started tapping on the table. Would I go after her, sure I had been tortured, humiliated in open court, starved and poisoned. In the end, I had come out on top, I knew how to fight, knew how to survive with only my wits, and had met some kickass people from the Red Suns Guild.
“I am going to sleep for a week. Is there a room I could use?”
“Yes of course, but not until you bathe, your smell will spook the horses.”
I awoke sometime...the next day. A hunger the likes of which I had never felt gripped my very soul and I stumbled my way down the hall to the dining room. Before my ass hit the bench, there was a plate in front of me, put there by a bright-eyed mouse of a woman. I guess Bretta had told her to keep an eye out for me. I savaged the plate in front of me and energy I had never known came flooding through my veins.
Exiting the bunkhouse still half asleep, I saw everyone was in the throes of their work, and by the position of the sun, it was early afternoon. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I went over to the first field, the one we had so painstakingly turned nearly by hand. It was going through its resting yield and I dropped down on my knees. My hands buried themselves within the soil and I swore it seemed like it was happy I was back. A smile found its way on my lips and my mouth moved. “Thank you, for all you are doing. Praise be to the goddess for blessing me with such caring Earth. If I had a way to repay the debt, I wish you would name it.” Had I been completely awake, I might have bolted in fear from what happened next.
The soil came alive, moving from my fingers. Tiny rocks, even smaller root bundles, and dirt shifted before my eyes to spell out one word. Hemp. “You want me to grow hemp, or add it to the compost?” Both. “Your wish is my command.” With leaden eyelids, I moved from field to field, performing the same act, no two answers were the same. By the time I got to tenth field, Bretta was standing behind me, watching in amazement.
“By the gods, that’s new.” Her voice was just barely more than a whisper, but it sounded like thunder in my ears. The effect was like my ears popped and suddenly I found myself feeling very foolish, especially with everyone watching me.
&n
bsp; “Yeah, well, praise be to the goddess and this land for all it yields.” I looked back at her and she inclined her head, worry in her eyes. “We have work to do, find something to write with before I forget.” One by one I walked the fields and I pointed out what each wanted.
“You think this will help with the yields, mayhap make the crops accelerate their growth even faster?” Her questions came pouring out of her.
Shrugging my shoulders, “Don’t know. But it's what they want. Hemp for the first, no more beans for the second.” I went over every detail with her and once finished, I stopped with my hands on my hips. “And the tenth, well, she wants to grow vegetables. She doesn’t like wheat so much, not like three through eight. And she wants a neighboring field.” I looked at Bretta, not understanding the crazy that was coming out of me.
“Does she have any preference?”
“No, only that we eat what she grows. She wants to take care of us. Feels like it's her duty.” I raised my hands in shock, how the hell did I get all of this from one word? Was I making it up or did I really understand what soil thought? Was it even alive? WHAT THE FUCK!
Bretta did not seem happy, “if we go by this, our product will be limited and we have more contracts to fill. Hemp is in abundance right now, it would be a waste crop.”
“I don’t think so,” I started off, “and we are only down two fields. One and ten, cut another to the south and we are only down one. And we have a complete field of vegetables.”
“But that is more than we can eat?” She countered.
“Funny, you say that since,” I pointed at the bunkhouse, “there wasn’t a single grown plant from the land that was served. Eggs and meat. How much are we wasting on food that is not grown here?”
It was our first fight, more like the beginnings of an argument. “If you don’t feed the workers meat, they will thin out, and their strength will start to wane.” I looked down at the field, and the soil shifted again, one word. I snorted when I read it. LIAR.
“The field just called you a liar.” I held her gaze for a long moment. “This land, my land, wants to take care of us. I say we let it, if the others want to bring in their own meals, then fine. But there is no point in wasting silver on produce when we can just grow it. Let the workers take the excess home with them, sell it if they need to. Feed their families and friends as well. Bretta, I don’t know how I know all this stuff, but to be honest, it has something to do with me being an enlightened one. And it wasn’t just this land either.” My brain stopped spinning, my thoughts aligned and I had an answer I had been pondering for over a week. “I would not be here right now if not for the land, and not just this one. On campaign, it told me where to find food, water, sure I was poisoned because of it, but I survived.”
The expression on her face was one I did not care for, she thought I was crazy. “But whatever, if we need more fields to grow wheat, I will find the right spots.”
It was like I could see the fields already plowed, and I staked out the proper portions. I found that I could snap into whatever it was I was doing. Like walking from the heat of a summer day into a room with air conditioning. My body shivered, but I was comfortable, and I knew there was a connection with this land, so strong it shook me to my core. All the drama from my time in the game, even that from real life, was left out in the heat and I was who I was supposed to be with my hands in the dirt.
The land was calming, caring, and it didn’t just like, there was a love emanating from it I had never felt before. Eternal, right, like we were soulmates from different dimensions. My brain could not comprehend it and it didn’t need to. I had never felt this much joy in all my life, and when it came time for plowing, I did it myself. It wanted me to, a necessary pain like it was losing its virginity. It hurt, but felt so good after a while. The crazy man in the cell was right, I needed to find out what all this enlightened stuff was about, but not until after I took care of the land that had so graciously taken care of me.
Chapter Nine
Days passed and the fields were sewn, planted and growing at an alarming rate. Even Bretta had no explanation for it, all she ever said anymore was, “I don’t believe it.”
The hired hands didn’t like the fact that I cut meat out of their diets, but with the help of Hesty, the cook, we came up with some meals that knocked their boots off. A few still grumbled, saying they weren’t “Rabbits.” But after an ultimatum, they changed their tones quick enough. Not that I was a Vegan in any sense of the term, I fancied myself a thick steak every now and then. No one could fight the fact they were gaining muscle, not losing it, and it didn’t taste bad at all.
On one particular afternoon, while I was strolling around the fields asking how everyone was doing, I came across a patch that was screaming for attention so loud I had to cover my ears. It was not my ears that hurt, just the inside of my head. I walked up to this particular patch and what it wanted made me laugh. “Fruit Trees.” Not that I had ever thought about an orchard, but I didn’t mind having one.
Running the idea by Bretta, had her near tears. “What’s wrong with you?” I asked very concerned for my best friend.
She just shook her head at me, “This, you, it's not natural. Or it's entirely too natural. I don’t know up from down anymore. I keep second guessing myself like you used to.” I could tell she was having a hard time with this, maybe I should have been too. “You're going to get rid of me, aren’t you?”
I chuckled softly and squatted down by the big woman. Gently I took her hands in mine. “I’m your darling, remember, I would never get rid of you. You're doing the best you can do. I know its stressful right now, you have a lot on your shoulders and I am only adding to it. Fall is in another what, five months, then you get the break you need. Hang in there beautiful.”
She melted into me, and I struggled under the weight of her, but I did my damndest to keep from grunting with effort. “Thank you.” Her whisper sent a chill through me for it was not every day the abrasive bison woman showed any type of gratitude whatsoever... After she collected herself, she wiped her eyes and we got down to business. “Fruit trees, yeah, not so hard. Anything the lands wants.”
“That’s my girl. Apples to the south, pears, then something called a Heart Fruit.” Her eyes became so large with surprise, I thought her eyeballs would just drop out of her head and start rolling around on the ground. I was kind of disappointed when they didn’t.
“Heart Fruit? Are you sure?”
“Is that too hard to grow or something?”
“Difficult yes...they take a lot of work. They attract a lot of insects and you will lose half the crop to them before they can be harvested. Each fruit has to be inspected to make sure its pure. The trees have no natural defense. Same with pears.” She let out a deep sigh, “I don’t know about this, Jaeger. The risk may be too great.”
I patted her knee. “I think everything will be fine. I will ask the ground what she thinks about it. Maybe she knows a way.” She groaned at me and I smiled.
“You know, I got a message from Hana today. You have been putting off going to Harwick, so she's coming down here tomorrow. You have been so caught up in the farm, have you even checked the status of your quest?” I blinked at her, I had completely forgotten. EPIC FAIL!
Her chuckle was a familiar one, the one she used when I was ignorant. “She has been pushing for expansion. Not just the land, but to branch out the operation to mills and bakeries. And when you tell her we are going to start an orchard, she will push all harder.”
I took a seat across from her and said, “what do you think, I mean really feel about it? You're the expert here, I am just an idiot that knows what the land wants. Don’t hold back Bretta.”
She snorted before she let me have it. “It’s too fast, everything, we are moving so quickly I see nothing but disaster for the future. Sure, with the locust plague in the east, we have more work than we can handle. But it won’t always be this way. Once the others
recover, old buyers are going to go back to old suppliers. A lot of people like local produce, it's a pride thing and I know Hana is pulling her hair out with the logistics of trying to get everyone what they want when they want it.” I could see the tension in her shoulders, this woman had the weight of all of Atheria on her. “No, we are moving too quickly. We need to calm down, if we get too big, there will be an influx, supply and demand will turn against us and our profits will dwindle. We might even have to give away our crops because a bushel will only be worth a copper piece.”
I heard everything she said, even between the lines. She was right, of course, the real world was full of profitable companies one year, and then were filing bankruptcy the next. “What do you suggest?”
“That we stop expanding, for this cycle anyway. Fulfill our current contracts and start again in the spring. Watch the markets, and if demand stays as it is, expand with the market as need be.”
“I’m with you. But what about the other possibilities? Mills and bakeries?”
Again, she sighed, “A mill would be a good idea. Right now, everyone is buying raw wheat. Our wheat is above average, in some plots, excellent quality. With a good miller, we could make the same quality flour. Make a name for ourselves that way.”
I nodded following the direction she was going. “So, what I am hearing is this, we call it done for this cycle and focus more on quality. Save our excellent quality grain for the mill and put out a kickass product. Is that about it?”
She laughed, “No, we can’t just produce one quality of flour. Why limit ourselves to the wealthy like other mills do? We need to be a farm of the people, a mill for the people. If anything, we hike up the prices of higher qualities and start producing commoner flour. They are the ones that make up Atheria, not the wealthy.” I smiled at her. She really did understand everything I didn’t. And her words resonated deep within me. ‘Merica!
“Do you know of a mill around here I could go visit? Offer them the same deal I did you?”
Noble Farmer Page 11
