Rowan stepped out of Scrumble’s shed and headed back to his farm again. He was so excited to begin harvesting and expanding. His boss Zillia, the goblin baron's daughter, was waiting for him.
"There you are. I've been looking for you. As you remember, the baron has allowed you the use of this lot on certain conditions."
This was true. At the time, the goblin baron hadn't made clear what those conditions were, but said that he would come up with them and let him know. Rowan was worried about this. It seemed his sponsor would be able to impose whatever rules he wanted and require him to do any number of things. Rowan braced himself for the news.
Zillia presented him with a stack of papers. "You can start by fulfilling these orders. Food services for a number of goblins in the land. Just go through them one by one. There will be more tasks for you, but that's enough to get you started. I'll bring more orders every day."
Rowan held the heavy stack of papers. He was daunted by the tasks they represented. How was he going to get through them all? Rowan looked at the first order. It was for 10 pieces of corn. He'd be able to fulfill that soon, but the stack of papers was huge. He couldn't imagine how long it would take to fulfill them all. He didn't have an idea when he'd have a big enough farm to provide food for himself, considering all the goblins orders. He figured those took priority, since the punishment for failing to fulfill them was death.
"I'm also here to guide you through ways to improve your farm,” Zillia said wincing, as if it pained her to say, “I'm aware of the fact that you're new to farming in goblin country." Zillia judged the little progress he’d made so far. "The next step for you is to water your crops."
"Well I was going to. I got pulled away to save another goblin," Rowan said defensively. He wasn't going to let the whole day go by without watering. But at the rate the crops had grown, clearly he would have to get used to watering more frequently too. He admired the rate of growth of the plants, wishing he could take credit for them. But it was clearly the goblin soil doing its job, not him.
"Get yourself a watering can," said Zillia. "I'm sure eventually you'll want a more advanced irrigation system. You save time once that gets automated. But for now, a watering can. I see you don't have many good materials, but you can make one out of wood for now."
Rowan checked on Scrumble. He had finished work on his new hoe. Rowan found that even the large tools could shrink down to size to fit in his little belt pouch and became weightless.
Rowan thanked the goblin, and asked if a watering can could be made next.
“Well of course I can make a watering can. For the right price.”
Unbelievable. Rowan regretted saving the guy more and more. But he didn’t exactly have another option. He looked at Zillia, trying to elicit sympathy, but got no reaction. He dug through his pouch, pretending to look for money, but remembering that he only had two pieces of gold to his name. He gave Zillia another look, hoping to get some help. But the goblin lady turned away saying, “I’ll meet you by the stream.”
Rowan grumbled and collected wood by whacking trees with his axes. When the first one broke, he used the new one. He realized he’d be going through tools very quickly. Bad craftsmanship, that’s what it was. Rowan thought about the goblin’s theory about kobolds kidnapping craftsmen. He didn’t think the goblin nation would suffer that much at the loss of Scrumble. He gathered plenty of wood, enough to make more tools, and enough to sell to pay for the act of crafting them.
When he returned to his farm, he had to shoo away crows again. Then he paid Scrumble for the crafting of a watering can. It was a bit of an awkward process handing over wood to sell, receiving coins which he then handed right back, along with more wood. But the point was he got his new watering can. Hopefully it would last longer than the axes.
Rowan followed in the direction Zillia left, trying to meet her by the stream. On the way to the stream, Rowan collected a little more wood. It seemed like he would need a lot of the stuff. And he got in the habit of grinding for it. There was something satisfying about the repetitive act of swinging at trees, and something satisfying about picking up perfect logs and seeing them shrink into his magic bag.
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In the middle of gathering wood, Rowan heard a loud buzzing sound behind him.
"Watch out!"
Rowan turned around to see a giant hornet ready to attack him. It slashed with its insect arm. Rowan took a second to drop his ax and take out his sword. Technically he could've fought this thing with his wooden ax, but he figured it would break immediately. While Rowan switched tools, the hornet got another attack in.
HP -3 HP -3 HP 6/12
Rowan was not prepared for this battle. Because he was caught off guard, the battle started with him at a great disadvantage. He slashed the hornet for 2 damage. Then it hit him back for 3.
An arrow came flying. It struck the creature for 8 damage. Zillia shouted, “You’ll never take it down at that rate.”
Rowan slashed the hornet again, and took another hit. Zillia let loose another arrow and took down the hornet.
XP +8 XP to next Level 17 HP 3/12
“Thanks for the help.”
“You’re doing too much,” Zillia said, turning around and heading downhill.
Rowan followed, “What do you mean?”
“You’re attracting too much attention. All that wild chopping. That means tougher enemies are going to come out at you. You need to be more in touch with your place in nature. Do only what you can afford without upsetting the balance.”
“I’ll figure out the rules eventually.”
“We’ll see. Before goblins got here, humans attempted to settle here. Didn’t turn out too well. For obvious reasons.”
“I’m not like other humans,” said Rowan, who in his sheltered life hadn’t encountered enough humans to confidently say for sure what they were like.
“We’ll see.”
Zillia led Rowan to the stream. It was a peaceful place. He used his new watering can to collect some water.
Now to get back to the farm before something else attacked him. Rowan was wary now that he knew his health was low. This was still a new concept for him, but he knew enough to be cautious.
Rowan brought the full watering can back to the farm. While they were away more crows had come and had to be shooed away. There was also one giant worm feasting on a corn crop.
Rowan gripped his sword, ready to slash the creature, but he knew he was in serious danger.
“Need some help?”
“No,” Rowan decided, “I got this.” He had fought a giant worm before, so he knew he was strong enough. He didn’t want to seem like too much of a weakling in front of Zillia. And besides, he wanted the XP, and figured she would just take it out in one hit, leaving nothing for him.
“At least eat something first,” said Zillia
The goblin pointed to the first crop Rowan had planted. Because the crop had been planted a few minutes before the others, it was the first to yield a crop. A bright, shining, golden ear of corn was there just waiting for him.
Rowan harvested the corn. As soon as he picked up the vegetable, the rest of the plant withered away down to the ground. Another effect of goblin farming he supposed. As miraculous as it was for the crop to grow this fast, it was a harsh downside that only one ear of corn was rewarded and that he'd have to start planting all over again. But that could wait.
Rowan took a look at the ear of corn.
Corn Restores 5 HP
He noted that eating the corn wouldn't bring him to full like the melon did, but it was enough to safely take down the giant worm without too much worry. Rowan ate the corn, then marched over to the pest and slashed. It hit back, but a second slash defeated the creature.
Unfortunately, the one crop the worm attacked was already compromised. But at least it was defeated before it could destroy a second crop.
With all the pests cleared, it was back to business. Rowan picked up the can and watered each of the plants, which were so close to being fully grown. As each one received the cool, refreshing spray, they were pushed over the edge and blossomed to their final stage. Rowan plucked an ear of corn from each plant, and after he did, each plant withered down to the ground.
Rowan decided to eat a couple more ears of corn to get back to near full health. Self care is important. He wouldn't be able to fulfill his first order yet, but without healing he wouldn't be able to do much of anything. Who knew what monsters would come his way before he had another healing item.
Rowan assessed the fruits of his labor, or in this case, the vegetables. All that work, all that fighting and crafting and running around, what did he have to show for it? After the corn he used to heal and the crops lost to crows and worms, he only had 5 ears of corn left. Now on a human farm, you couldn’t expect to harvest anything after just one day. But things worked differently here. And he needed to produce a lot more than if he wanted to stay alive. He looked at the pile of invoices. He had a lot of work cut out for him.