165 Old and New (2/2)

Of course, even then, that was not enough for the farmers to actually feed the city even though they had done so before in the age of Morrigan. And that was because Morrigan herself was there. She had blessed their harvests and the farmers themselves had far more workable land, not to mention there were far more of them.

When Morrigan's age was at its peak, Riviera's walls were surrounded entirely by farmlands, but now, perhaps only half of it was active arable land, with much of it having been sold off or repurposed over the decades.

Li was not yet Morrigan. He was not fully in tune with his abilities, but the more time he spent with Iona, the more confident he was he could return the farmers to their previous heights. For now, though, the miracle of the golden wheat would sustain them.

To that end, Ivo and Old Thane were wonders. Old Thane shouldered much of the command of logistics, directing the farmers in their field work while Ivo had worked day and night with his old group of priests to re-establish Druidry.

Ivo had taken up a small group of new initiates to be druids, but they came mostly from curious younger folk from the farming community. News had made round of the resurgence of the old faith of the forest, but nobody yet wished to join it.

It was understandable. After all, the people of Riviera had only known the faith of the Light for most of their lives. Seeing a new, foreign faith was jarring to them and would take a while for them to adjust.

It did not help that it was likely the temples were attempting to spread rumors to dissuade the citizens from joining the druidhood – the only recourse left to them after they were forbidden from rousing up any militant threat to anyone by Swift.

To counteract this, Ivo and his band of druids worked as hard as they could to learn herbalism from Iona to share healing and buffs that could be stored and used for later unlike the blessings of the Light priests.

Ivo also worked double as the de-facto head of a small council that worked in the guild office. They discussed matters of finance and courses of action to take before sharing them with the rest of the farmers. Basically, a chain of command.

Li was technically the true head of the guild, but he had spent almost all of his time in his shrine, training his utmost hardest to develop the wheat while Tia frolicked around him, enjoying the newfound freedom and sometimes wandering to hunt.

At sundown, Ivo and the priests would come for a prayer in which they simply knelt in silence, closing their eyes. The faith of Morrigan was not one that shouted their belief for all to hear. They were a silent one, quiet like the fields, planting their thanks only in the depths of their hearts, and yet Li could hear the thanks they expressed from deep within, and every night, he could not help but smile at it.

After their prayer, Ivo would stay behind and discuss with Li any matters discussed in the guild council, and Li would put out his opinions and suggestions with the older man. In this way, Li juggled both enhancing his divinity and maintaining the functioning of his guild, though he had to admit that at some times he felt others were doing far more than he was.

But Li was never daunted. In fact, he felt quite excited to be doing all of this. He had always thought of himself as one to manage his own, simple farm, but he had forgotten the happiness he had felt in managing a guild of his own in his past life.

A virtual guild, yes, but still one that required many of the same managing skills that he now used in this guild of a new life.

And now, after such a tumultuous and event filled week, Li now knelt back where it all started, in his own little field. Old Thane and Ivo stood behind him, and behind them, all the lives that relied on him leaned forwards, eagerly watching him with bated breath.

Li gently scraped away some of the dirt in front of him until he had formed a little pit perfectly sized for one seed. He was going to plant the seed of a flower to commemorate their first planting and the official establishment of the farmer's guild.

He had prepared for this, having had Alexei buy an expensive Crystalpetal Rose seed from the magic-rich land of Duvin. The rosebush would sprout under tender care, its gleaming green leaves forming a canvas upon which the icy, crystalline petals of the roses would shine with a cold and otherworldly beauty just in time for fall and winter.

But somehow, it did not feel right to use that seed. So many people hard worked so very hard for him, and Li wanted to thank them with something far more than a seed he could have just bought.

And, as he smiled to think about it, he wanted to thank the precious few memories of the past that were happy, the memories of a guild from a lifetime ago that had taught him the skills to keep this new guild prosperous.

That was why Li, for the first time, reached into his pocket, into the void of his inventory, into the seed bag that contained all the culminated blood, sweat, and tears of his old guild.