Author's Note: So I got a message from a reader encouraging me to write in a very threatening or maybe peculiar way. Well that and apparently people like this story. Which was unexpected. My proofreader edited it so here's the 2.o~ Enjoy and expect a few chapters this week :p
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As always reviews,ratings,Recommendations,Corrections,Questions and comments are greatly appreciated
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Chapter 4: Village life Start!
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“This plot of land is yours now!” said Gendred.
The three of us —Gendred, Maya, and myself—were standing at the outskirts of the village. Although I had thought this land belonged to some lord it seemed the the local lord hadn’t visited in more than 3 months. The village was isolated and was situated at the very northern end of the kingdom. The last piece of news was that the capital was being attacked by the rival Kingdom. So for all intents and purposes all the serfs here were now freedmen. Well Gendred did say the enemy kingdom may send someone to control these lands but well for now as they say we’ll cross that bridge when when we get there.
“So then we’ll build you a small cottage here and you’re farm will go over there on that plot.” Gendred went on and planned everything, but well....
“It's what I’d like to do anyway but you have no way of paying.for any labor. So for now You can live with my family.”
I wasn’t fond of sleeping on that hay again.
“I can't take your sleeping room for myself. You have a family as well.” I said and it seemed he was thinking about it.
“Then it’s simple we can just share.”
“Huh? in that little room?”
“Hmm? well Steven has 9 members of his family sleeping in his cottage and his is way smaller than mine. at least mine has 1 room.”
And so it was decided I’d live with Gendred and his family. Well so much for my over-romanticized dream of owning my own property.
And so here I was, in the room, lying on hay together with everyone else. The family of three seemed to sleep in one corner while Maya and I slept a little farther away. Well tomorrow Gendred is gonna take me to work on the fields it’s something to look forward to I guess.
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It had become routine now for Maya to wake me up but the entire room was dark. The son wasn’t even up and it seemed it was time to work. So I got dressed in a simple tunic, pants, and my boar skin boots. Maya would stay and help out Gendred’s wife with household things.
“It cost quite a bit of my savings but after saving up for a good while I was finally able to buy this here plow.”
It seemed like he was bragging that he himself owned it rather than having to borrow it. Standing next to Gendred was an ??? Oxen type thing? yeah let’s just go with oxen.
“Oh this is ;Mets. he’s been my working partner for quite a while.”
My stomach grumbled while tears formed when I yawned.
“HAHA! Breakfast will be in a few hours!”
I decided to put my watch away so as to avoid it being scratched or damaged while farming. There were days when I had skipped breakfast back home so it’s not like I couldn’t handle hunger for a few hours. What was difficult was the plowing itself. Look, I’ll be honest the only agricultural work I’ve ever done is pick up leaves and sticks from the yard but well mom usually hired other people to do that. I see, I’m sorry Miguel but this truly is hard work isn’t it. I thought that the Ox would be doing the heavy lifting but for some reason there were large stones in the ground which had to be pulled out and moved out of the way. apparently this land had never been cultivated before.
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“Oof my back…” I mumbled, straightened up, and surveyed my surroundings. We weren’t the only ones working out here but it seems the villagers had stopped cultivating the lord’s land and were now concentrating on their own personal gardens.
“Is that wise? Will you be able to pay the lord his taxes if you don’t work his land?” I asked. I only knew the bare basics of the feudal system but even with that limited knowledge I knew that not paying taxes could lead to some VERY troublesome things.
“Hmm. Usually the Earl would send someone to the village to check up on us But it’s been more than 2 months since we’ve had no contact. Rumors in the village is that some nobles ran away before the southern Kingdom got to the capital.” explained Gendred.
“Actually the earl took all our men capable of holding a spear. All that’s left are Old men ,women and children. Luckily the earl owed me one and allowed me to stay.”
Gendred looked no older than 50. His eldest child being only 10 meant that he’d been here for 10 years now? It’s suspicious but I’ll try not to pry.
After a few hours of work it was finally breakfast time. However this time the broth looked thinner and had less vegetables. Gendred noticed my look.
“It is late spring so our food stores are running low due to that we have to save what we can.”
I see so the earlier food I was given was to show off in a sense. Again I noticed that His daughter and wife weren’t joining us for breakfast.Either they had already eaten or were planning to eat later. His wife Jessandra was teaching her daughter Jess how to spool wool using a distaff and spindle, while Maya was cleaning up the area where the pig slept. From what I’ve observed most of the huts in the village were made of wattle and daub, with a thatch roof but no windows. Only Gendred’s had that extra room. There was no chimney so the air inside was eye-wateringly smoky.
Maybe I just had to get used to it but I sighed. To be honest I was homesick to the point I nearly wanted to cry. My friends, family, my life, everything was just taken from me. Did someone send me here and if so for what purpose? Was there a demon King I had to kill? or maybe it was just a random dimensional shift that sent me here. Was there no way back home? Endless questions filled my mind. I was scared of this world not to the point I was useless but I sure as hell didn’t want to go on an adventure. I was a simple man. I wanted a home food and some enjoyment. The work day wasn’t even finished. I still had to go back and help Gendred. Was I to do this for the rest of my life?
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My hands hurt. My back aches. My legs burn. Every single muscle in my body is complaining. I had blisters on both of my hands. I was hungry, dirty and tired.
I stared at the field, and the field stared back, as if saying 'I dare you, no, I double dare you puny farmer, lift that hoe one more damn time, and I'll make your day hell.’
In the end my first day farming sucked…. Hard, harder than a Dyson vacuum cleaner using black hole technology. And for dinner I had the same exact thing thin soup with sad excuses for vegetables. The family blabbed on endlessly about who knows what. I guess I was a bit cranky and just wanted some peace and quiet.
That day I turned in quite early.