“The simple answer is yes. But it’s a bit more complicated than that. Good farms produce excess magic, while poorly-run, bad farms consume it. The same goes for businesses to a lesser extent. An ineffective farm is more of a drain on a village that empty land.”
“Sorry about that.”
“Don’t be. Killing all those monsters has kept your farm magically positive.” He added far more quietly, “Barely positive.”
“So you need more magic in order to increase your production of resources. How do you expand to other resources like iron or gold?”
“I go into the interface, select the resource I want, and then purchase the expansion slot for the village,” Jeric said like it was the most normal thing.
“So, if you wanted to purchase a mithril mine, you would just buy it, and the mithril mine would appear?”
“No, and yes. Village’s sites are surveyed for resources, those resources are assessed for their viability, and a map of the area is created before scholars assess the village’s growth potential. Only if the resources are considered acceptable will a village actually be built. Until we expand Blackwood into a town, the only resources we have access to are clay, wood, and a higher form of granite called concentrated granite. Ultimately we’re a farming village and will always be a farming village. Other villages are built in locations like mountains where there are large deposits of stone and metal but no farmable land, so we supply them with food and they supply us with metal.”
“So everywhere has its speciality, and here it is farming. What resources become available if you expand?”
“No idea,” Jeric said. “We’re a border village. The only direction we can expand is into The Wild Woods and it takes considerable time and resources to expand into unclaimed land.”
Ranic walked over, holding a large map, muttering to himself. He began taking control of the interface, changing the model. “It looks like you can dig down between fifty and eighty feet anywhere in the village and you will hit concentrated granite that’s good enough for what we want to attempt, so I think this might be viable. However, I’m going to have to work out the costs involved, and do some research into whether or not the walls will have to be magically reinforced. Also, I noticed while looking through the survey map that, you have a small crystallized mana deposit that is serviceable as a resource when the village grows into a town.”
Jeric sighed. “That is not meant to be public knowledge.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Crystallized mana is the main ingredient used in enchanting and is worth its weight in silver and can be mined directly,” Jeric said. “If it was known that there was a small deposit under the village, profiteers would come in and mine it out without considering the longterm consequences. Without the deposit, the village won’t gain access to the resource option when it grows into a town. Losing the deposit would be a massive blow to our future economy as that resource will become a serious source of wealth for Blackwood.”
Ranic chuckled. “I was wondering why Redcliff remained here. Now, his level makes sense.”
I gave Ranic a questioning look.
“He’s the wizard academy’s watchdog, making sure no one disturbs the deposit. Wizards plan in decades, not years. They’ll keep someone here to watch over their investment for a century if they have to. I’m betting they’ve already put a down payment on the deposit, which is how this village could afford to reach level three, because it certainly wasn’t through productive farming.”
“Are you done in here?” Jeric asked, apparently unwilling to confirm Ranic’s bet.
“For now,” Ranic said. “I might need to use it again once I get a better idea of what this project will involve. I think we might be able to repurpose the pitfall for longterm gains.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
CRIMINAL MINDS
A day later, Jeric and I stood around the plans Ranic had unrolled across the parlour table. We were at a complete loss for words, and Ranic was grinning like a madman, more bug-eyed than ever.
“Is that even feasible?” Jeric asked, recovering first.
“Entirely; it is not even in the top ten largest water reservoirs in the kingdom.”
I stopped scratching my head. “Why’s it so big?” It was more than three hundred feet across and two hundred feet deep. It kind of looked like a quarry lake.
Ranic pointed to the pillar that was the centre of the giant pit. “Well, I ran into a few problems. Like I said yesterday, the pit has to be wide enough and circular, so the giant can’t press against the walls in a corner to get out. And if the curve is too small, it could run along the edge and use the curve to give it enough upward traction to get out. That extra size made it impossible to cover, so I had to add a central tower to rest the camouflage covering on top of.”
“That’s why it looks like a doughnut,” I said.
“What’s a doughnut? Never mind, it’s not important. Call it a ring. But yes that is why there is a tower in the centre which is also why it’s bigger. The distance from the tower to the wall has to be far enough away that the giant can’t leap from the wall to the tower or from the tower to the wall. It also has to be wide enough around that the giant can’t wrap its arms around and climb up, but even if it can, it doesn’t matter because it’s going to end up standing on a perch that is too far away from the sides for it to jump to them. But I know we would all rather it be in the pit than on top of the tower, which is why I made it so wide.”
“How much is it going to cost?” Jeric asked.
“Between 10,000 and 12,000 crowns, since we need to build it in less than six months to be safe,” Ranic said. “The positive news is that once the giant is killed, the reservoir will service the water needs of roughly 20,000 fields worth of orchards.”
“Even if we ignore that ridiculous cost, there are only a dozen farmers in this village with the levels to work those orchards,” Jeric replied.
“I’m not trying to insult your village, but Arnold has asked me to train some of them in my spare time, and I wouldn’t trust any of them with an orchard,” Ranic said. “We’d bring in an outside workforce.”
“There’s nothing here to entice them,” Jeric said. “I mean no insult to you, but even with a house of scholars, the experience bonus doesn’t compare with what they could gain in other towns and cities.”
“Not yet,” Ranic said. “However, when Arnold passes through his second threshold, there is a legendary promotion he will gain access to from killing monsters. Upgraded, it will give those under him twice the experience bonus they would receive from working for most farm managers. I believe that will be enough enticement for many.”
“That requires getting Arnold through his second threshold first, though,” Jeric countered.
“You make that sound a challenge when it isn’t. I can teach almost any farmer what they need to produce an excellent crop. The ones who work for him in the beginning won’t need to be particularly skilled, only have the right attitude. It will only take me a year or so to get him to where he needs to be and once that happens, better candidates will quickly follow.”
They were talking around the obvious flaw in Ranic’s whole plan. “Ranic, I don’t have the gold for the water reservoir and I certainly don’t have the spare money to plant orchards.”
The bug-eyed look returned, along with the grin. “You’ve got that auction house organising the auction of that experience, right?”
“Yeah, Jeric said, they should be back to me in a few days, but that will only make me 5000 at the most, not 12,000.”
“We can easily fix that after you’ve sold the experience. We’ll just have to visit the bank in Weldon and see about getting you a loan.”
I frowned, not following his reasoning. “Why would they loan me money?”
Jeric’s eyes went wide and his head snapped towards Ranic. “You are going to lie to a bank?”
Ranic tried not to laugh and failed horribly. “I won’t lie. It’s no
t my fault if they look up his land’s asset value and see his sale through the auction house and come to their own conclusions. I mean, it will be my fault, but I won’t be lying, so it’s not illegal.”
“That’s fraud,” Jeric said.
Ranic shook his head, grinning wildly. “No, it’s not.”
I glared at him. “It sounds like fraud to me.”
“Fraud requires you directly lie. Lies of omission do not count. Saying you own half a million crowns worth of land—even though none of that land is currently doing anything—is technically not a lie. Saying you own half a million crowns worth of land that is developed would be. You just have to drop off the ‘developed’ part.” He slapped me on the back. “Don’t worry, Arnold. I’ll do the talking.”
My frown deepened. “Why would that change anything?”
“Well, I have a long-standing relationship with the bank in Weldon, with a rather substantial savings from my farming investments. Also, the owner of the bank is my neighbour. My endorsement should help move the conversation along. I’m not saying it will be easy once you have the loan, but you should be able to make enough income to pay off the tax and interest payments eventually.”
“When?” I asked, exasperated.
“Eighteen months.”
“What about before that?”
“You’ve got enough money to cover the interest and taxes until then,” Ranic admitted. “Hopefully, you will have your new barn well before then and with that more experience to sell.”
I scowled, not liking this at all but willing to hear him out. “What’s the interest rate?” Old credit card statements were flashing before my eyes.
“It’s 3% annually, split in two payments.” Ranic saw my expression and misinterpreted my reaction. “I know it seems high, but I don’t know the better city banks as well as this one, so I can’t guarantee they will loan you the money, so you will have to bear the expense for twelve months; after that I think we can convince one of the better banks to take on your debt at 2%.”
Jeric growled and slammed his fist against the table. “3% is pure robbery.”
Ranic shrugged. “Weldon’s head banker hasn’t passed through his third threshold. The additional funds they receive for their loans are limited. Their 3% rate is actually outstanding considering their limitations. Their conservative nature keeps them semi-competitive.”
Jeric growled again.
I looked at Jeric and couldn’t stop myself snorting, suddenly a lot less worried than the moment before. “Honestly, if you think 3% is bad, you don’t want to know what kind of interest we are charged on loans in my world.” I turned to Ranic. “I’m not on board yet, but how big of a loan were you thinking?”
“I believe 200,000 crowns should do it.”
“What?!” That was all I could say.
Jeric dropped the mini salami he was holding and it made a slapping sound as it struck the floor.
“Hear me out,” Ranic said, patting my shoulder, trying and failing to calm me down. “If we ask for too little, they will find it suspicious and investigate, so we have to go bigger than we need. I know you cannot service that large a debt, so I propose that we ask for 50,000 this year with a preapproved loan for another 50,000 the next three years. Hopefully, we can change banks before we have to take out the next loan or decide not to pick it up.”
“I didn’t think Weldon had a bank big enough for this,” Jeric said.
“They don’t. The bank I’m suggesting can cover the first 100,000, but they will have to go looking for the second. They won’t turn down the chance at gaining extra experience even if there is almost no financial gain for them. They might actually be relieved if we get trapped and have to ask to be released from the follow-up loans.”
I grabbed the edge of the table to steady myself. “Why does it feel like I’m just digging myself into a larger and larger hole?”
“Because you are,” Ranic said cheerfully. “But if you come out the other side, this is going to be glorious.”
“You came up with all this in only a night?” Jeric asked.
Ranic snorted. “I’ve had most of this planned for the last month, back before I proposed purchasing the house of scholars to you. This whole giant incident is just putting me three years ahead of schedule. Isn’t it exciting, though?”
I glared at him. “No. No, it's not.”
We were back in the interface room under the manor. It had taken Ranic almost an hour to convince me that I needed to commit fraud. Well, not fraud—legal fraud. However, it had taken him twice that long to convince Jeric. It all came down to one simple fact. No one was coming to protect the village and the villagers wouldn’t abandon Blackwood without the abandonment order paying them to leave. They’d stay right up until the next time the giant showed up and if they didn’t get another head start like the one they’d received this time it would likely eat them.
If I wasn’t part of the reason the village hadn’t received the abandonment order, I would have said that it was their choice and walked away. However, I was. In my haste to help Jeric, I hadn’t considered the consequences of abusing the system and Jeric hadn’t been thinking clearly enough to question our actions. He hadn’t been in the right state of mind to explain that the abandonment order came with all sorts of benefits for the villagers. That it was a form of insurance which allowed them to sell their farms to the crown for a tenth of its value or receive half their usual income while it was in place. Sure, I’d been ignorant of what an abandonment order entitled, but that wasn’t really an excuse I could accept. I was responsible. We were responsible.
So now we were trying to figure out where the reservoir should go.
Ranic paused, turned away from the model of the village, and frowned at me. “You said you planned to lure the giant to the pitfall. How exactly did you intend to do that?”
“I figured I would throw something at it and run like hell,” I said, suppressing my urge to remain silent. This was my idea. I didn’t like it, but it was the best one I could come up with. I couldn’t chicken out. No matter how terrified I was.
“Be serious, Arnold. I need to know how you intend to lure it to the reservoir. It will affect where we place it.”
“He was serious,” Jeric said, without looking up from the map.
“I was. Why are you looking at me like that? Why won’t it work?”
Ranic sighed and shook his head. “A running giant can out-sprint a magically enhanced racing horse. Once it has noticed you and gives chase, there is no scenario where it doesn’t catch you.”
“I figured as much, which is why I’m planning to purchase some magical items that will increase my movement speed. I got the idea from one of the farm upgrades. It doubles movement speed for my farm. If I could afford it, I’d just choose that, but I’m more than 90,000 farming points away from being able to do that. So I’ll have to settle for items.”
“That will cost a small fortune,” Ranic said.
“So I shouldn’t do it?”
“I didn’t say that. Let’s call your throw-something-and-run-away idea Plan D—for desperate. I think Plan A should involve setting up a lure in the middle of the tower. Maybe a pen full of sheep or a few caged monsters if you have them.”
“That does sound safer,” I said, liking it a whole lot more than my idea. “Won’t it realise that it’s a trap if we do that? I know that canvas you mentioned will make the pitfall look like a grass field once the grass is grown, but isn’t staking a bunch of animals out a little too obvious? I thought you said giants were semi-intelligent.”
“They are, which is why we might need your Plan D, and a better Plan A.” Ranic made a gesture, and the model changed, showing the eastern side of the village and a bunch of open farmland. “I think we should build it here,” he said, pointing to a spot a mile directly east of the village. “The giant will have to walk right over or next to it to get to the village. It will give Arnold a chance if he has to throw something and run and s
hould make anything we stake out obvious.”
“Arnold will have to use at least 1,000 fields worth of his claim to build a reservoir there,” Jeric said. “None of the existing farms he purchased are close enough.”
“I realise that,” Ranic replied.
“It will make connecting the other farms more difficult.”
“I realise that too.”
“What do you mean it will make connecting the other farms more difficult?” I asked.
Jeric made a gesture. The model of the village zoomed out until everything could be seen. He made another gesture and then a whole lot of areas suddenly glowed red. They were all over the village. “Those are the existing farms you bought from the village. They make up about a third of the land you own within the village’s zone of influence.”
“Okay, why do I need to connect them?”
“Because if you don’t, without a farm manor, they are treated as separate farms. Meaning they will accumulate farming points and upgrades individually,” Ranic said. “Traditionally, a village-sized zone of influence can fit 50,000 fields, but it only starts with 5,000. Each time a new level is purchased for the village, another 5,000 fields become available. Right now, there is a lot of spare land, which means farmers get grazing rights to go along with their fields, which is the only reason most stayed, but as the village levels, they lose those rights, only keeping the land allotment for each field. That allotment is where farmers build their farmhouse and barn.”
“So basically, if a farm is between two of my farms, they are treated as two separate farms instead of one large farm.”
“Yes,” Jeric replied. “That’s why connecting your farms is so important. If you don’t, it will make it that much harder to run a profitable farm since the benefits from your promotions and threshold boons can only be applied to one.”
“Couldn’t I just sell off the farms that aren’t connected?”
“That is one option,” Jeric said.
Oh Great! I was Reincarnated as a Farmer Page 26