177 Guild I (2/2)

”My blessings are working properly, then,” said Li. In two months, he had made, at least in his mind, what he thought was incredible progress in attuning himself with his divinity.

He had memorized and committed to his being the life songs of a variety of plants now, and he had advanced himself enough to even alter them, granting them blessings to make them more suited to changes in weather and soil.

”Aye, lad, and the planting of our third crop of Goldwheat has just finished. The beastwomen are mighty fine workers with tireless strength and enthusiasm, though I do fear that perhaps fieldwork becomes too dull for them.”

”Right, but it looks like the other jobs are keeping them busy,” Li nodded. Some of the beastwomen, especially the Feli, had at first been quite curious about farmwork, but had begun to naturally lose interest over the past two months.

As a result, Li and Old Thane had devised new jobs for them.

First there were scouting jobs meant to scour the forests to see if any threats were approaching or to check for rare finds for certain herbs, fruits, and roots.

Then there were hunting parties that, now that they were supplemented with the speed and strength of Feli and Lupi, provided more than enough meat for the farming community.

Finally, there were guarding jobs meant to protect the various herbalist stalls that the guild had now set up outside the city walls now that the priests had learned enough from Iona to form basic potions.

”Indeed, and it is mighty impressive to see the beastwomen learning so quickly. They are as quick with their minds as they are with their feet, grasping the common tongue of man well.”

”We're to give much thanks to Sindra and the Serpi for that,” remarked Ivo.

Li nodded to Sindra, who held her head up ever so slightly, her expression disinterested but her ears twitching in appreciation for the praise.

”Having lived among man for many years and working in the city hall of Riviera, interacting with both rabble and nobility, I suppose I was uniquely suited to teaching my kin to adapt,” said Sindra. ”But enough about me. The matter at hand is your report, Thane Bloodfist.”

Old Thane scratched his head. ”Hrm, what else was there. It does muddle me mind a bit, having to think of so much more than mine own field, hah.”

He rapped his knuckles on the table in recognition. ”Ah, there is the other crop, too. Carrots, cabbages, peas, rye, and the like. The farmers that have decided to grow berries. An apple orchard has also been planted, and Blaise has been trying his darndest to grow the grapes that Lynette graced us with.”

”Once I get some time, I'll bless those grapes too,” said Li. He had blessed all the other crops, inscribing their life songs to his being and enchanting them with better growth and resistance to the elements.

He did not go overboard with his blessings for with too many changes to a crop's life song, its cadence became distorted, unnatural, and would lead to it withering or, as he found out in rare cases, twisting into low level plant monsters.

Blaise was the farmer that, at the festival, had worked the alcohol stand. He was a middle-aged man, but when he laid down his plow, he decided to take up brewing as his profession, and it had stayed with him. Now, he fervently tried to grow grapes for his own wine that Lynette, the owner of Lakeside Bounty, was willing to donate.

”But for now,” continued Li. ”It seems like everything relating to the fields is going well. Our first two harvest yields were exceptional, and I do not see any reason why our third in this coming month will not be either.

Then, onto Sindra who probably has the hardest job out of all of us.”