Mibbet watched closely as the Spriggan queen reached out a hand , and poured power into it, not a lot, but some. Then noted with surprise the seedling was already sprouting, at this rate it was only a matter of time before it gr....... wait, now the other Spriggans were stepping forward, and a feeling of wellness washed over the area. The trees were bigger now? Maybe Spriggans could speed growth, but what about this weird feeling? Mibbet had felt this sensation before back when she was at the shrines, was the forest sacred to them? That would explain why they were so upset, and why they fought the dungeon so hard.

That gave Mibbet an idea, as she picked up a stick, monsters steered clear of shrines for the most part, something about messing with gods tended not to appeal to them. If the forest was sacred but humans could still live off it. Fruit and herbs, that was it. Corn and grain were not the way to go round here, but what if there were other options. The Spriggans liked trees, that much she could figure out. Fruit and orchards fetched good money too. Maybe there was a compromise they could reach here. She took a handful of fruit seeds, but that was met with a disapproving scowl. So she sent Errol off running back to the farm, under orders to fetch as many different types of fruit seeds, and herbs as he could get his hands on, it seemed it was time to negotiate.

First off she made a sweeping gesture over the fields, all of them. Then she drew a pond, and a building, this was of course met with a scoff from the Spriggans, the humans already had that land, and they weren’t getting it back in a hurry. So if they wanted to be stupid on their own land they were welcome to. But then Mibbet started to sketch trees around it, spreading outwards as widely as they could manage. This piqued the Spriggans interest, a human proposing more trees? This went against everything they knew, and on top of that they were proposing the means to support it, namely the big body of water in the middle. But monoculture on land never ends well.

The Spriggan queen pointed to an area where a cluster of the same type of trees were growing together, giving an expression of disgust that humans usually associate more closely with something unpleasant they just trod in. Well that was clear enough, at least Mibbet now knew that was off limits.

Soon enough Errol returned towing a small handcart, inside it were seeds for apples, pears, plums, peaches, and an assortment of herbs freshly plundered from peoples gardens (he did pay in all fairness, on the grounds that if Grandma Smith had caught him stealing he would definitely pay, with his hide. Oh that and because his mum definitely did not raise a thief.)

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Mibbet had only one shot here, she had to figure out a balance that the Spriggan could approve of, and the humans could be sold on. It helped that there were several foresters nearby, as it meant that it would be easier to sell this, but first she had to convince the Spriggans she wasn’t going to screw them over as soon as she left. They didn’t want a farm, they wanted a forest, but humans needed food and money. So she gestured to the Spriggans, then to the seeds, and the forest, it was time to negotiate. They couldn’t have fruit alone, but herbs helped, but from here on things were going to get tricky. She needed to know what they needed to grow too.

It took absolutely hours, and several grumpy tantrums from all involved to find a compromise that would work. They could grow fruit trees, herbs, and mushrooms, and even herbs and spices, but in exchange there were trees in the forest that were needed, and those that were off limits. The ancient trees were never to be disturbed. In exchange they could grow a few clearings of fast growing trees that would meet their needs, and the Spriggans would help with that. This was the best solution Mibbet could figure out, and seemed that it would be very profitable for the locals. Their pigs would be delighted to be unleashed on a place with lots of acorns, and that would prevent overgrowth. None of them really farmed many cows to start with, on account of them being expensive to feed, and those that did liked to do so in clearings anyway. That and the water issue had left them with a problem of their corn withering a lot. The ground was getting tough to work. Trees on the other hand with a little help from the Spriggans could dig their roots in deep, tapping water that otherwise was inaccessible.

That and the excuse to create a large body of water in the area made things much simpler to negotiate, the potential tourist trap didn’t hurt either. But she still had to sell it there. That was going to be no mean feat, but at least now they had an idea what they were doing, as they started to plan.

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Amelia and Mary were starting to get nervous by now, The Princess (and more importantly as far as she was concerned her son,) had headed off into the deep woods yesterday, and hadn’t checked in. On top of that at some point the forest had started to shake, then there was a noise like an explosion, Amelia was about ten seconds away from picking up her axe and going to help herself when Errol came charging in, ranting about peace negotiations with the forest, and demanding as many seeds and saplings of different types as he could get. Then he grabbed a shovel, and grandpas old handcart and went haring off again, throwing coin to people, and before they could recover from their shock well enough to object dug up a chunk of their flowerbeds and ran off. Just what the hell was going on here?