165 Old and New (1/2)

In what felt like a flash, a week passed. Now that Li had far more to worry about than his own little farm, there were now countless things to think about. Of these, the major concerns were the establishment of the farming guild and now, the very first planting and all the logistics that came with them.

Li stood at the center of his and Old Thane's field, and around them, the entire farming community gathered. The ground had been recently planted with another batch of wheat just as had been done with all the other farmers' fields.

He closed his eyes and he knelt on the dirt, in a clearing where nothing had been planted.

Overall, he would have to say that his first forays into larger scale farming and administration were a resounding success. However, he would also admit that it was not at all due solely to his own efforts. With increasing scale of operations came responsibility far too great for one person to manage, and he was grateful that there were capable individuals whom he could trust.

The guild was well on its way to being established. Formally, Lord Lys had signed off on the guild's creation today, but a signed piece of paper alone did not mean anything.

A headquarters for the guild needed to be established, and it came in the form of a premium property space in the center of Riviera right below the City Hall. The property had previously been a small Lawspeaking office owned by Alexei, but it was now being renovated to become a much larger building capable of fitting the farmers that numbered a little over a hundred as well as the beastwomen who also neared that number.

Alexei had been a lifesaver in more than one regard. With Chevrette's death, there came a massive void of businesses that would have fallen under. Alexei had taken this chance to fill up this power vacuum, buying up many ventures he thought were profitable and, most importantly, taking up a large stake of ownership for Gold Standard, the bank that the Chevrette family had run for generations.

Had that bank fallen under, then the whole economy of Riviera would have collapsed. But thankfully, Meld's helpful decision to essentially put up the ownership of Chevrette's properties and ownership titles for free auction made it extremely easy for Alexei, now the undisputed wealthiest individual in the city, to swoop in and take control.

In giving some gratitude to Meld's decision, Li and Alexei had agreed to put Ella Chevrette under Alexei's own tutelage to have her take over the bank in the future. It was hers by birthright, and her suffering had come not at all due to her own decisions. In some measure, this would grant her some compensation for what she had suffered through.

Without him, the guild would have most definitely fallen in debt, needing coin to cover farmhouse repairs, tool purchases, livestock purchases, and the like. Even with the beastwomen aiding the construction as much as they could, it still would have bled an absurd amount of coin.

Surprisingly, the owner of Lakeside Bounty, the high end restaurant that had housed the beastwomen as slaves, had come out in support of the farmer's guild, investing a massive amount of coin within it as a gesture of thanks.

The restaurant had been a family business, but the current owner had inherited a debt that had required her to take up Chevrette's help, and he had slowly but surely incised her away from its operations, using her only as a pretty prop.

Alexei, taking up Chevrette's spot as what kept the restaurant afloat, had given the restaurant back to her command and had likely turned her to the direction of the farmer's guild to express her gratification for the farmers' testimony had made all the difference in ending Chevrette.

But at the end of it all, Li did not care too much for the monetary part of this whole ordeal. Once the first harvest came rolling in, he foresaw that there would never be any money issues.

That was because throughout the week, Li had thoroughly trained himself with Iona to understand the golden wheat's song, and he had committed a rudimentary version of it to his being. It was a little inferior to the original, requiring a little over a month to fully ripen, but it was just as hardy and just as superb in nutritional and taste quality.

And today, the farmers had planted their very first batch of the golden wheat. Such was a cause for celebration, and they had decided to hold a festival over it as was tradition in the days of Morrigan. It would be a worthy day for celebration, too, as Li foresaw that when this first yield was harvested, they would have enough to feed the entire city – granting them an incredible amount of power over it.

It seemed absurd that just one small community of farmers could feed Riviera, a city of two hundred thousand, and Li himself had to take a moment to wrap his head around the nuances of it. After all, in his world, he knew from his studies that one acre of land could feed perhaps five people over a year?

Old Thane had the smallest fields among all the farmers as it was a small plot of land meant only to support retirement for him and his family. The regular farmers had land five to ten times the size of Old Thane's farms, but even then, that would not nearly be enough to feed a city.

Yet Li quickly realized how the magic in this world had changed so much. Even the worst wheat here was extremely productive, needing a little over three months to grow in contrast to the seven to eight months in his world.

It was also extremely nutritious, grown on a soil layered atop a world forged by magic. He estimated that the wheat here could feed anywhere from five to ten times as many people as the wheat in his world.