Light enveloped Jeric’s body. And every noble in the room turned and bowed to him.
I stared dumbly, with no clue what was happening. I moved to bow since almost everyone else was doing so, but the herald caught my gaze and shook his head firmly, so I stopped before I did more than bob my head.
The king stepped back and returned to his seat as the glow left the room. A small gold crystal the size of a pea rolled between the fingers of his right hand. “You may depart. I wish to speak to my council.”
We all bowed again and left the room.
I didn’t regain control of my body until the king was out of sight. I was pretty sure I wasn’t charmed—but then again, I knew from experience that I wouldn’t be able to tell if I was. I hadn’t remembered seeing the charmed prompt until after I’d entirely fought off the charm’s effects. I was going to contact a wizard after I was done with the giant. I wasn’t going to let this keep happening.
The doors had barely closed when Emily turned to her father and burst into tears. “Why did you do that? I didn’t want you to do that.”
Jeric tried to hug her, but she fled his arms for her mother. All Jeric could do was pat her shoulder. “I didn’t plan to, sweetheart. But when the king thanked me for my actions, I knew that it was my time. You’ve gone further than I ever hoped to. Growing myself is pointless now. You are our family’s future.”
I got a hint from his words, but not the full story. “Okay, what happened back there?”
Jeric’s wife looked over Emily's shoulder at me. “My husband had the king cap his class. He can still gain experience, but he can no longer use it himself. His level is as high as it will ever grow.”
I frowned, confused. “I can understand not using your experience, but why cap yourself?”
Jeric smiled, still patting his daughter's shoulder. “A noble’s purpose is to develop those under them. There is no one under me now and there never will be. It only occurred to me when the king thanked me on behalf of the kingdom that I had an opportunity to do something wonderful.”
“Capping yourself was wonderful?”
He smiled as he nodded. “In this case, yes. It’s all a little technical, but think of myself and Emily as the heirs to the village. She holds the title of lord of the village, but I am the recipient of the noble experience from the method you created. I was going to give her the experience anyway, but the way things were, the option for me to give her the experience was still up to me. At any time, I could have taken it for myself. Now, however, the king has stepped in and capped my level. I can’t use the experience myself, and the only person I can freely give it to is my daughter, which will inevitably raise her level.”
My brain started catching on to what he was saying. “And because that can only strengthen her and her village, by capping your class, the king’s actions made the kingdom slightly stronger which earned him experience.”
“Exactly.”
“Okay, I can follow that, but why’s Emily so upset?”
Jeric’s face fell. “Because she just realised with my level so low she might out live me by a century.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
EVERYBODY LOVES CARD COUNTING EXCEPT THE HOUSE
In the late afternoon, someone knocked on my door. “It’s open,” I yelled from the sitting room, keeping the count. I’d sent the servants away because I didn’t want them to see what I was doing. I heard the door open and looked up to see Jeric enter.
He stared at me, hunched over the table with cards laid out, and shook his head. “What are you planning now?”
“Can’t tell you. What do you want?”
I kept placing down cards.
Jeric flopped into the armchair opposite me. “Well, I seem to be in need of employment.”
I snorted. “Don’t you still get your monthly stipend from your class promotion or did you give that up too?”
“No, I still receive that.”
“Then why do you need a job?”
He threw up his hands. “Sanity. I have spent years managing a village that only required a few hours of my time each day. I have studied. I have read. And I have been bored to tears for most of it. And then you came along and made it fun again. I’d like to do something worthwhile with my life. I’d like to work for you.”
My brain went, Huh? and I lost the count. I let out a groan and threw down the cards. “You want to work for me. Doing what?”
Jeric smiled. “I have the administrator class. I would like to use it to organise your farm.”
“What makes you think I’ll need your help?”
Jeric smile turned into a smirk. “Arnold, you don’t wake up before ten and you’re practically useless before lunch. Most farmers rise before dawn. That is half the day where nothing is organised. That was fine when you were only in charge of yourself, but if trapping this giant works, you will be in charge of a few thousand people within a year. Honestly, what were you planning to do?”
I shrugged. “I haven’t really thought that far ahead,” I said. “But I figured Ranic would tell me when it became relevant.”
Jeric chuckled. “That was your plan?”
“Look, it wasn’t my idea to have a massive farm in the first place. I was perfectly happy doing what I was doing. It was Ranic who wanted me to do this.”
“I could point out that it was your idea to buy most of the village and that you were going to need to have a farm at some point anyway, but I can see you aren’t in the mood. So I won’t.”
I rolled my eyes. “So what does an administrator do?”
“We facilitate productivity.”
“Huh? What does that mean?”
“You know how nobles increase the productivity of their village based on their level? Well, administrators organise everything so that productivity can take effect. There’s no point in having a farmer who can work twice as many fields if he has to spend half his days locating fertiliser. Administrators make sure the right tools and resources are in the right place at the right time for them to be used to their best ability.”
Now he had my attention. “So you will plan out everyone’s work, make sure they have their equipment, and check that jobs are done.”
“Exactly.”
“You’re hired.”
“Would you like to see my references?”
“No.”
“They’re exceptional.”
“I’m sure they are.”
“Let’s talk wages then.”
“Wait, I have to pay you?”
Jeric laughed. “Of course, only slaves work for free, and the kingdom outlawed that centuries ago.”
“How much?”
“Eighteen crowns a month.”
I started choking. “That’s the same as your stipend.”
“Yes, well, I’m not just an administrator I’m a noble administrator, which means you pay me based on my noble level, not my administrator level. However, there are added benefits to me being a noble that you wouldn’t otherwise receive.”
“You better hope so if you want this job.”
Jeric raised an eyebrow, not buying the threatening tone for a second. “Since I also have access to the farming class, I’m a much more effective administrator when it comes to anything related to a farm, and I also receive promotions related to farming regular administrators don’t easily gain access to.”
“So when you said you have the farming class because you were the mayor of a farming village, what you meant was you had it so you could administrate easier.”
“Yes.”
“Okay. What level is your administrator class?”
“Thirty-three.”
I frowned. “That’s a little low considering the cost of employing you.” I did some quick calculations in my head. Wages were more or less a fixed cost based on class and level. Only the very best could haggle for more. “I could hire a master administrator for a quarter of that, or more than a dozen of a similar level.”
Jeric nodded.
“Which is why I promise to put all my wages into buying experience for my class.” Jeric’s face turned serious. “Look, I know it’s not a good offer considering the cost, but I want to help. You’ve done so much for my family and this is actually something I’m good at. Something I know how to do. I’d willingly work the next decade for free if I could. But I can’t. What I can do is promise you that you won’t regret hiring me.”
A small smile found my lips. “You could always gamble with me until you lost your wages.”
“You forget I’ll lose half to the crown and village as taxes, but I’m willing to gamble my stipend with you if that’s what it takes for you to accept my offer.”
I grinned.
He was serious.
That could make this more interesting.
“What’s your gambler skill level after everything we did?”
Jeric frowned. “It’s maxed, just like yours. But what does that have to do with anything?”
I looked down at the cards scattered across the table. “Well, we’ve got 11 days until the king makes his announcement before the court and hands me my reward. I think that’s more than enough time for us to clean out the capital’s casino.”
Jeric looked at me, confused. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about how I’m going to afford to employ you. There are only a few steps.”
“What do you need me to do?”
“Step one: let me teach you how to win at blackjack.”
It took eight days, but the casino had finally shut down its blackjack tables. Jeric and I sat in my apartment grinning ear to ear as 14,737 gold crowns sat on the dining room table between us.
When I’d learned that the people here knew what blackjack was and that there was a casino in the capital, which only used one deck, I knew no one here had worked out how to count cards yet, so I made a promise to myself to one day clean it out. It had been just as exciting as I had imagined it would be. Watching the dealers become more and more worried as we repeatedly won was one of the most thrilling experiences of my life. Every greedy bone in my body had screamed in constant ecstasy.
I pulled out a deck of cards and began shuffling.
Jeric looked at me and frowned. “What are you doing?”
“Well, I told you that I had a plan for how I was going to afford to employ you. Step one was teaching you how to count cards. Step two was taking the casino for everything it was worth. Step three is now we are going to play Texas Hold'em with our winnings.”
Jeric snorted, not at all surprised. “Fine, I didn’t want to be rich anyway.”
“Oh, don’t sound so disappointed. You are going to absolutely love what I do with this money.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
GROWTH, ACQUAINTANCES, AND EXPLANATIONS
I knelt with my hand over my heart before the king. A crowd of nobles and influential people stood behind me. The king’s voice enveloped the great hall, shaking the stonework with his power. “Landlord Arnold, for your services to my kingdom in solving the Stagnation Dilemma, I have decided to bestow upon you the mark of the crown. Furthermore, you will receive six attributes worth of rare blessings and 500 crowns each time your mark achieves a new level.”
The king placed his hand upon my forehead and a prompt appeared.
The king would like to bestow the crown’s mark. Would you like to allow this?
Yes/No?
I had no idea what the crown’s mark was, but it was my reward, and it came with 500 crowns and six attributes worth of free blessings, so I wasn’t going to deny it. I accepted.
Congratulations, for solving the Stagnation Dilemma and trading the information to the king, you have received the crown’s mark.
Heavy is the head who wears the crown, but blessed is the man who helps him. The king has marked you for your services to the kingdom. Now the kingdom offers its support in return.
Crown’s Mark
Level: 1
Effect:
+3 to all attributes.
+1% to the quality of your farm’s produce.
+5% to the quantity of your farm’s produce.
+5% to experience gained on your farm.
-5% to the negative effects of disease and pests on your farm.
-5% to the fertilizer requirements on your farm.
If a field on your farm is below level 1 it will immediately level to this level.
I’d barely finished reading the prompt before another took its place and a second brighter wave of light hit me.
The crown’s mark sees all.
Congratulations, for your services to the kingdom, your mark has leveled multiple times. Your crown’s mark is now level five.
Heavy is the head who wears the crown, but blessed is the man who helps him. The king has marked you for your services to the kingdom. Now the kingdom offers its support in return.
Crown’s Mark
Level: 5
Effect:
+15 to all attributes.
+5% to the quality of your farm’s produce.
+25% to the quantity of your farm’s produce.
+25% to experience gained on your farm.
-25% to the negative effects of disease and pests on your farm.
-25% to the fertilizer requirements on your farm.
If a field on your farm is below level 5 it will immediately level to this level.
The king gasped.
Two dozen guards blurred forwards, but before they had crossed half the distance, the king flicked his wrist and halted them.
I felt my body change as the mountain of attribute points hit me all at once. My muscles grew more toned and defined. My breath came easier. My heart rate slowed. And the twinge in my back from kneeling awkwardly disappeared.
It felt good.
It felt really good.
Way better than getting blessings.
The king began to laugh, making a sound of open delight. The nobles and other people of importance saw their king laugh and joined him. Laughter reverberated through the great hall.
The king clapped me on the shoulder, hitting me with just enough force to convey how pleased he was, instead of driving me into the floor and killing me. “It is a rare occasion when I cannot judge what reward a man should receive for his actions. As an incarnate, so much about you is different from my people. The only way I could be fair was to have the laws show me the full extent of your actions through the crown’s mark.” The king dropped his voice, so only I could hear. “You are two levels higher than we were prepared for. There are currently a handful of scholars and twice as many servants, all sprinting towards the treasury to make up for this mistake. So you’re going to have to improvise a very lengthy speech to help me save face. I can see what you are thinking, and yes, this will help grow your crown’s mark further.”
The king took away his hand and raised his voice once again. “Landlord Arnold, common is the man or woman who achieves more than a level upon receiving their mark, but rare are those who receive five. For such an achievement, I would have you rise and tell my court of your world.”
Before coming here to this world, the thought of standing in front of a crowd and giving an impromptu speech would have given me a stomachache, and I then might have fainted, but with 51 points in charisma, I was past what most normal people were capable of and in the lower realm of some of the greatest orators in history. So instead of blanching, a smile spread across my cheeks as I rose and activated Lowheart’s Lungs, enhancing my voice to carry four times further, so the entire room could hear me.
A servant woke me at an ungodly hour the following morning. Fifteen points into all my attributes hadn’t done anything to lessen my foul mood at waking up at a regular time—though it did do something for my grogginess.
The feast went into the early hours of the morning. I hadn’t been seated with the king, but Jeric’s family and I shared a table in the back of the main hall with influential nobles and merchants. For the first half of t
he night, I thought our seating arrangement was a reward, but it turned out to be a reflection of our new standing.
My new mark, mixed with my status as a landlord in Blackwood, crossed with Emily’s new title and her new levels meant Blackwood was expected to grow rapidly—so rapidly, in fact, that everyone around us was overly friendly and promising all sorts of assistance.
I climbed out of bed, bathed, dressed, and then ate a quick breakfast before the servant led me through the palace to the temple.
The servant took me to the front row of pews and asked me to sit and wait. I wasn’t too upset by being made to wait. I was here to receive the blessings the king had offered. I would happily wait all day for another 30 attribute points—attribute points you couldn’t buy no matter how much money you had.
Once these blessings were taken care of, I had a few more errands to run before I could leave the capital. It would be another two weeks before the teleportation circle connected to the city closest to Blackwood, but I wasn’t sure if that would be enough time to get everything done.
I leaned back into the pew and looked around the temple, trying not to fall asleep. The interior was similar to the one I had woken in more than a year ago, only smaller. The same golden serpent hung on white marble walls, and the only fabric in sight was a deep red.
I’d asked Salem about the golden serpent symbol and got a very unsettling response. The serpent was apparently real. Once or twice a decade, the sun would dim, and the skies darken. During that time, you could look directly at the sun and see the serpent. On that day, every man, woman, child, monster, and beast would go outside, raise their hands to the serpent and offer it their mana.
Despite this mana-based devotion, the people of this world didn’t worship it as a god. Mainly because the serpent told them it wasn’t. It was just a powerful, millions of years old benevolent being who kept their sun from expanding and destroying everything. It had given them the laws that governed their world as a way of siphoning the enormous amounts of mana required to keep the sun under control. The once or twice a decade mana devotion they gave to it was to help it renew the spell.
Oh Great! I was Reincarnated as a Farmer Page 41
