81 Infan (1/2)

Li took in a deep breath, enjoying the crisp early morning breeze and the fresh smell of newly upturned soil. He could hear Zagan's breath rumbling like a minor earthquake from the side as the demon slept.

Sometimes, Li felt it more fitting for Zagan to have been a herald of sloth, not greed, but at the same time, it was not like there was anything for the demon to really do aside from harassing the occasional suspicious passerby.

”You never do get tired of the earth, do you, lad?” said Old Thane. The old man was squatting beside where Li knelt. Around them was their field, a swath of soil several shades darker and moister than the earth surrounding it.

”Seeing as you haven't gotten tired of it in twenty years, I don't see why that's surprising,” said Li as he took a chipped trowel and scooped up a patch of earth. He made sure to carve out a neat hole with a depth of nearly exactly six centimeters before placing a golden seen at its center.

”Haha, it is because I was a weary man tired of all else when I started working the land,” said Old Thane as he mirrored Li's movements. ”You've much youth in you, and you're godly strong. You sure you don't want to go out adventuring a bit? Spend some of that youthful blood boiling in some mighty fine fights? With fine women?”

”Don't be ridiculous, old man. You know I wouldn't be here unless I wanted to be.”

”Aye, just wanted to hear it from you.”

Old Thane smiled, and Li smiled back.

”You know, for a veteran of a war and who knows how many adventures, you're surprisingly needy.”

Old Thane laughed. ”Aye, I've always been greedy. You should have seen in my youth. I'd have let nothing stop me from getting what I wanted. But age, like it does to all, has tempered by greed, but it is still mighty heartening to hear your words, lad.”

”Talk is cheap, they say, but I always do keep my word.” Li nodded to himself as he reached forwards and scooped up another handful of dirt. He thought of the oath he had made to Old Thane to grow this farm to heights so tall that none could ever forget it.

And Li would. He had ambitions to expand the farm to more than it was just now. The land surrounding the field was untended and empty. He could easily apply to take some of it over and start expanding their harvests.

As he learned how to access life, he would use his lessons in replicating and altering plants to slowly accumulate a vast variety of crops.

But for the time being, Li was content to take it slow, working this one field with Old Thane at a deeply personal level. The larger the fields got, the harder it would be to have these conversations with him every day.

Right now, they were both planting on different rows of the fields, but they worked at the same pace, and so they managed to keep up consistent conversation throughout as they went up and down the fields and up and down again, carving out neat, evenly spaced furrows dotted with planted seeds.

Li gave a nod towards the main road where Iona sat at the counter, her chin resting atop her hands with a bored expression plastered on her face. She had replicated the golden wheat the day before to keep the harvests going, but soon enough under her training schedule, he would progress in cultivating his spirithood to do that himself.

”And that's a wrap, boys! Mighty fine job, too.”

Li perked his head up as he watched Charles's builders step back from the sides of the cottage. They had finished creating what were essentially greenhouses over and around the berry and herb gardens. Glass was melted into a wooden frame that covered the gardens while a retractable roof lay above, attached to the cottage wall.

The greenhouses were open at the ends in consideration of the fact that the gardens, too, were likely to expand. The builders would only have to extend the frames to match however much the gardens grew instead of tearing things down.

”Old man, I'll catch up with you soon. I gotta go thank the builders.”

Li got up wiping his dirt-crusted hands on his trousers. He waved to the builders and moved over to congratulate them and to hire them again to build a stable. The job would not be part of the free job that Charles had agreed upon, but he wanted to give the builders some paid work for their troubles.

But before Li could even get the builders' attention, something erupted out of the cottage wall, tearing berry bushes, smashing the greenhouse's wooden frame, shattering glass and sending shards flying everywhere, and collapsing the roof - damage that hopefully would be covered by some kind of warranty.

The builders all gasped before they shrunk back, shielding their eyes with their burly arms so that splinters and glass pieces would not strike their eyes.

”Already?” whispered Li.

”What is it, lad!?” Old Thane had already come to Li's side, his speed surprising despite his age, and yet unsurprising considering he had kept a good chunk of his muscle.