Domestication: A Fantasy LitRPG Adventure (Battle Mage Farmer Book 1), page 22
“I have a kitchen to clean,” she said, calling out to her brother as she walked away. “Ben, have you checked for eggs yet?”
“Yes, there were two, but most of the hens didn’t lay anything,” Ben replied, jumping down and chasing after her.
“That’s normal; it might take them a few days before they start laying again.”
Listening to the conversation between Ben and Ellie while he watched Sigvald and Ferdie to make sure there wouldn’t be any trouble, John soon found himself alone.
I guess I better figure out what’s going on with the barn.
The cow barn was attached to the first pasture and had a considerable amount of room to expand, but John wasn’t sure he was skilled enough to make the extension work seamlessly with the existing building. Instead, he was thinking about building a second, larger barn on the other side of the stone tub where the milk was stored. Walking over to the barn, he ran his hand over it, trying to figure out how it was built. It looked like a simple frame building with thick boards for walls, but when he went inside, he realized that mud and hay had been used on the inside to keep it insulated.
The ceiling, like the roof of the house, was slate laid over wooden planks, creating a watertight seal. Unsure where he would find the slate for a new roof, John decided to get the cows first and then worry about the rest later. Walking back to the pasture, he whistled, and after a second, Ferdie came trotting over. Sensing the bull was still a bit hurt, John patted his head and then fed him a mana crystal.
No sooner had the crystal formed than Sigvald, who was studiously ignoring John, snapped his head around, his beady eyes fixed on the crystal in John’s hand. With a speed that would put an Olympic sprinter to shame, the rooster crossed the pasture, only stopping when the mana crystal vanished into Ferdie’s mouth. Seeing there was no hope of recovering that one, Sigvald looked at John, shaking his feathers to make himself look as pretty as possible.
What a stupid bird.
Despite his thoughts, John pulled mana into his palm, condensing it into another mana crystal. Holding it between his fingers, he showed it clearly to Sigvald as he spoke to both animals.
“I’m leaving. You know the drill. Keep the farm, and more importantly, Ellie and Ben, safe.”
Without another word, he tossed the mana crystal to Sigvald, who gobbled it out of the air with a lightning-fast strike. Crowing triumphantly, Sigvald spread his wings and flew up to one of the fence posts, posing there like he was the king of the farm. John and Ferdie shared a look, both rolling their eyes at the bird’s theatrics. After letting Ben and Ellie know he was heading out, John walked past the corn fields and left the farm, cutting through the woods toward the Keller farm.
Hmm. So, according to the book, corn takes sixty to ninety days on average, but I think the mana might be doing something to shorten that. Ellie said we should start to expect frost to start coming in a few months, so we should be able to harvest the corn before that happens. Even if we get an early frost, I think we’ll be okay. Once the corn comes out, it’ll be time for wheat to go in.
As he moved through the woods, John’s thoughts spun, thinking over the problems that faced him. Apart from things like improving the cheese cellar and building another barn, he still had to figure out how to make wheat that could grow anywhere. Already, the corn in the plot of land where he was testing the highest concentration of mana was beginning to show clear signs of mana poison. Though it was growing quickly, even touching it would likely start to corrode a normal person’s skin, and eating it was a sure recipe for death.
The problem is the corn is just storing the mana; it’s not actually processing it. I need to figure out a way to make plants that process the mana as a nutrient. I wonder how that flower works I picked up from the grimm? That seemed to transform the mana it stored into something that the plants could use when combined with the light. But I have no idea what it’s doing or how it’s doing it. Maybe if I had more of the research from the mage who wrote the journal. I wonder if they’re still alive?
A small group of buildings soon came into view as John arrived at the edge of the valley and walked out of the woods. Seeing a fenced-in pasture with almost two dozen dirty dairy cows, John frowned. It was clear from the complete disrepair of the buildings and the general lax feeling that whoever ran the farm had other things on their mind that took clear priority. Walking over to the field, John spent a bit of time looking at the cows and then headed for the house.
“Can I help you?”
As he was walking up onto the stoop to knock, a large-bellied man walked out of the barn.
“Are you Keller? I’m John Sutton.”
“Oh, you’re the one who took over the Burrows place, right? Are you here for the cows?”
“If you’re selling, I’m buying.”
“Great, great. Come on over and see them. Haha, I was worried no one in the valley would be interested. They’re fine animals, and it would be a shame for the wolves to get them,” Keller said, rubbing his hands on his dirty shirt and only succeeding in making them even dirtier. “Take a look. Like I said, fine animals. A bit dirty, but that’ll all come right off.”
“Hmm. They look a bit gaunt. What are you looking to get for them?”
Giving John a measuring glance, Keller leaned against the fence and made a show of thinking about the question.
“Well, I’d hate to see them dead for nothing, but, you know, cows in these parts are rare. Even harder to bring into the valley, you know?”
Waiting impassively, John just watched the cows milling listlessly around the pasture while Keller babbled on. Finally, his patience growing thin, John looked at the fat farmer.
“One gold coin per cow.”
“What?! Impossible! You and I both know these are the only other cows in the valley. Do you really think I’d sell them for one gold coin a piece?”
Holding up his hand as Farmer Keller protested vehemently, John spoke calmly, not a trace of emotion on his face.
“First, you’re leaving and cannot take them with you. You can, on the other hand, take twenty-three gold coins, which is more than enough for you to live for a few years. Second, they’re practically dead on their feet. I’m pretty sure most of them are diseased. If you sold them to anyone for meat, they would hunt you down and kill you, if they didn’t die first. Third, I’ll ensure you make it out of the valley safely.”
His face turning red as John listed his reasons, Keller was about to explode until John listed the last point. Seeing John staring at him evenly, the fat farmer’s face went white and his lips opened and closed like a fish as he tried to find the words to say. Looking at the cows and seeing what terrible shape they were in, Keller deflated and nodded weakly.
“Alright. I’ll take it. But you won’t get the deed for them until I’m out of the valley.”
“No problem, but you have to help me drive them to my farm first.”
“Okay, that’s fine. Let me get my stuff and we can go.”
CHAPTER 29
While Keller went to get his bags, John hopped the fence and went into the pasture, walking through the cows to examine them closer. Many of them had sores on their legs that had been left untreated, and it was clear from the blank looks in their eyes that they were completely dispirited. Frowning, John suppressed the impulse to throttle the fat farmer and began condensing mana crystals. Ever since he had started feeding them to Ferdie, he had realized the tremendous impact they had on animals. The six cows back on the farm had also been fed mana crystals a few times, and not only had their health improved, but they’d also yielded more milk.
John was guessing the same would hold true for these cows and started to feed them crystals, watching carefully for any signs of trouble. Instead, the cows perked right up, following him around, their eyes wide. As the rush of mana surged through them, they seemed to gain a liveliness that had been missing before, and by the time Keller came out, a giant bag strapped tightly to his back, all twenty-three cows were following John like a brood of ducklings.
Staring in shock as John opened the gate and led the cows out of the pasture, Keller didn’t know what to do and could only follow along behind the cows as they lumbered after John. The path he had taken through the woods was relatively flat, so John headed back the way he’d come, periodically summoning mana into his palms for the cows to lick. Since the cows moved much slower than he did, it took until a bit after dinner time for John and Farmer Keller to get the cows back to the farm, and by the time they got there, the cows were exhausted. Letting them into the pasture next to a very excited Ferdie, John grabbed some food for himself and Ellie and had Ben hitch up the horse to the cart.
“Are you running him into town?” Ellie asked, glancing at Keller, who was stuffing stew into his face.
“Actually, I’ll be escorting him out of the valley. The trip shouldn’t take more than a few hours, so I expect to be back before morning. There’s a caravan forming up on the other side of the pass, so after I drop him off there, I’ll head back.”
“Alright. Travel safely.”
“Yeah! Watch out for bandits!” Ben shouted, causing Keller to blanch.
Nodding seriously, John patted Ben on the head.
“I will. Have you been practicing what I taught you?”
Reaching for his waist, Ben grabbed the handle of his dagger and drew it in one smooth motion, at the same time jumping backward into a solid stance, the dagger held out in front of his body. Looking up excitedly, he blocked down and then up and to each side, each time returning to the central position.
“Good. Remember, fighting with a knife is one hundred percent about surviving. The same is true for fighting with any weapon, whether it’s a knife, a sword, a spear, or your fists. Goal number one is always to survive. Nothing else matters. You’re doing well. Tomorrow morning, I expect to see you up bright and early practicing before it’s time to milk. Four laps around the farm and then thirty defensive draws.”
“Yes, sir!” Ben said, his eyes glowing as he slid his dagger into its sheath.
“Keller, you ready to go?”
Shoving the last little bit of bread into his mouth, the fat farmer nodded, giving Ellie a smile to thank her for the food. Picking up his big bag that had never been more than a few inches from him since he left his house, Keller followed John out to the cart and climbed up into it.
“Let’s go.”
Looking back as they turned onto the road, John saw Ellie’s shadow still standing on the porch, staring after them. About to turn away, he saw another shadow and frowned, his eyes rising to the house’s roof. There, perched majestically in the moonlight, was Sigvald. Noticing John’s frown, Keller grew nervous.
“What’s wrong?”
“Hah, nothing,” John said, smiling wryly. “Everything is fine. It’ll take about two hours to get to the caravan’s camp. Oh, and we’ll be swinging by the town to see if anyone else needs a ride.”
By the time they left Fairford Village, it was nearly three hours later and the cart was absolutely bursting with people who were all planning on leaving the village with the caravan. Some of them were leaving for good, like Widow Brown and Farmer Keller. Others were taking a trip to the closest city and preferred to do so with the safety of a large group. John couldn’t blame them, since bandits had been rampant since the last war finished up.
That was one of the reasons he was so hesitant to get rid of Haver the Wolf King. Should the Wolf King ever disappear, the valley would undoubtedly be plagued by many other smaller groups of bandits. The fact that he’d seen the bandit leader and his lieutenants eating in town was a clear sign that he wasn’t the only one who knew this. Often, a large evil that was known was better than a thousand small evils in the shadows.
Grateful for John’s willingness to take everyone out of the valley in his cart, George came along with him, his crossbow held ready. Thankfully, there was no trouble to be found along the way, and they arrived at the caravan without incident. Dropping everyone off, John got out a sack of coins and carefully counted out twenty-three gold coins into Keller’s palm. Happy with the gold, Keller handed over the deed to the cattle with a nod. Folding it up, he put it in his pocket and had just started to climb into the cart when Keller called to him softly.
“Sutton. If you have another twenty-five gold, you can have the whole farm.”
“Twenty-five? A bit steep for a bunch of buildings that probably won’t last the winter.”
“Sure, but it comes with water rights to a spring coming out of the mountain there. There was a mine there, but the spring filled it right up, which is how I got it. It’s fresh, clean water, and if you have it, you can claim rights to all the land in between that can be used for grazing.”
Recalling one of the books he’d read on raising cattle and how grazing rights worked, John paused.
“You said there was a mine on the property? What kind of mine? Wouldn’t it ruin the spring?”
“It was iron, I think. But you don’t have to worry about it being poisoned. The spring comes out completely clear; just don’t drink the water that runs down into the mine shaft and you’ll be fine.”
“Is there still iron in the mine? Or is it tapped out?
“Oh, sure. There’s still tons of iron in there; it was just too expensive to get out with all that water flooding it. Actually, before I farmed on the property, I was the mine supervisor. Where do you think those cows come from? Yes, it was quite the mine back in the day. There was a smelter and everything—shame it’s all under water now. Of course, anything you can get out is yours. Only twenty-five gold for the lot of it. But if you’re not going to buy it, I’ll have to find someone in the city to take it off my hands.”
“You have the deed?”
“Yup, it’s right here.”
Staring at Keller for a moment, John tossed the bag of coins to him. Catching it, the fat farmer opened it up and counted exactly twenty-five shining gold coins. Grinning, he signed the farm’s deed over to John and nodded happily.
“Thanks for doing business.”
“You know, I think it’s good you’re heading to the city,” John said, a faint smile on his face as he put the deed away. “I think you’re in the wrong business. You should be a merchant or a shop keeper.”
“Haha, you know, I’ve heard that before. Thanks.”
Driving his cart back into the valley, John dropped George off and then headed for the farm, arriving early in the morning. Putting the horse away, he flicked a bean-sized mana crystal to Sigvald, who was still standing guard on the roof, and went to bed.
Despite the fact that he only got two hours of sleep, John was up before the sun the next morning to check on Ben’s practice and help with the milking. Most of the two dozen cows he had bought were in no shape to be milked, so he and Ellie spent some time after breakfast taking care of the sores on their legs. After feeding them more mana crystals, John needed to figure out how to build another barn. Thankfully, George had told him where he could find slate for the roof, so John was pretty confident he would be able to complete the whole thing by himself.
After checking the corn to see how it was growing and making some adjustments to the amount of mana in each of the five test plots, John headed for the woods and began chopping down thick trees and dragging them out to saw into logs. After shooing Sigvald away after the rooster strutted over to see what was going on, John quickly stockpiled a giant number of wooden planks, which he dried quickly. Adding a massive stack of trees with the branches trimmed off to the pile, John felt like he was ready to start.
Somewhere along the way, he had stopped caring if Ben or Ellie knew he was tremendously strong, figuring they would think it was part of his class, so the work progressed at an incredible rate. Notching the logs before he put them up, he didn’t even bother digging holes in the ground and instead just rammed them into the earth with pure force. After the ten posts were in the ground, he set up a log at an angle to one of the central posts and, gripping a cross beam, scrambled up.
Setting the cross beam in place across the width of the barn, he tapped it down and then grabbed another beam, placing it lengthwise down the side of the barn. With those two beams in place, it was easy enough for him to put the other beams in place, and soon the structure of the barn was almost done. It was easier for him to build the roof beam on the ground, so he did, attaching the angled poles on the ends of the beam and then carrying the entire thing up onto the top of the frame and lifting it into place. Once everything was fitted together, John went around with long dowels, sinking them into their places with a few taps of his palm.
Okay, so maybe being impossibly strong isn’t so bad. I mean, it’s not everyone who can raise a barn by themselves in an afternoon.
Standing back and admiring the structure for a few minutes, John had to admit he was pleased with his work. With the framing done, it was time to attach the planks to the sides, which John did rapidly, pushing the nails in with his fingers. By the time dinner rolled around, John had been working furiously all day and the barn was entirely finished, apart from the interior, the doors, and the slate roof.
Any normal person would have been utterly exhausted, but thanks to the mana that coursed through his body, John felt as fresh as a daisy. Once dinner was finished, he got one of the mana lamps and continued to work on the interior of the barn, building out stalls and making doors for the front and back entrance. Finishing around eleven o’clock, John was stunned to find that Ellie had left a cup of hot tea warming on the stove and some cut-up fruit out for him. Happily eating it all up, he went to bed, sleeping better than he had in a long time.
[-1 Doom Points.]
[The apocalypse retreats.]
Waking the next morning to some welcome news, John shook his head as he got ready for the day.
