Chapter 80 Lending Tail
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“Lord Lily, Lord of Edenthal Region, hereby announces that all farmers maybe could lend their farming tools so we could open another farmland in the western part of the region. Lending tools is not mandatory, and any participant may register at the desk in the town hall. Sorry that we will not recompensate you, but we need your farmer’s tools for farming other parts.” The ridiculous announcement was being read all across Edenthal.
Lily was the only one who stood proudly beside the messenger while Lhorne and Mattheus facepalmed their head in disbelief. Then after the announcements were done, she went to the registration desk. All the farmers that heard went to the town hall to ask for the information, and Lily stood there directly and explained.
“We wanted to open a farm in the western Edental. And possibly in the eastern too!” She shouted. “But we don’t have many tools, and I don’t want to take debt to buy them! Please help us!”
“Why do we need to lend our tools to some strangers?” One asked
“Ah! It is not strangers. I heard she will give it to Edenthal troops.”
“Ah… I see. I have a neighbor that was drafted. I don’t mind, then. I know the guy.” He nodded and left the venue without registering.
The tailfolk then went out after another, and only two hundred or so farmers registered. They said they wanted to help our lord as much as possible and thus registered.
The gathering was done, and Lhorne reported the result. “So, we got about a hundred and fifty hoes and plow. It is much more than I anticipated, but this is still insufficient.”
“Whoa, I am impressed anybody registered at all. I wouldn’t want to register for sure unless Lily ordered it. Making more farms means more competitor for the business after all.” Mattheus widened his eyes at the register.
“Well, this is quite an achievement. This shows how much liked you are in the Edenthal region despite only being recently promoted. I am astonished. Though I would prefer that you do not lower your heads like that, Lord Lily.” Lhorne replied while smiling. “Good Lord will be helped by their citizens in times of need. I heard it in fairy tales! I am glad I am in Edenthal and serving Lord Lily.”
“It is a piece of good news. Should we buy another thousand tools, then? We would not have enough for our troops otherwise.” Lisey asked. As the one in charge of our finance, she was always beside Lhorne lately.
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“Hmm…. Not yet. We will start the project in five days. And then, we will count those who didn’t have the tools and buy it for them.” Lily ordered. “I don’t want to buy tools when they didn’t even use it yet.”
“We would need to order them and wait a month before the tools are delivered. Your command causes inefficiencies, Lord lily.” Lhorne warned me. His eye started to frown at our decision.
“Well, we shall gather the soldiers tomorrow and bring out the news!” Lily pumped her fist in excitement.
“Who will we lend the first two hundred tools to?”
“First will be the one who has experience farming. If there were more soldiers than tools, then we choose based on strength!” Lily declared.
“Well, alright. This will cause a riot…. they will feel unfair toward our decision. How am I to solve this?” Lhorne sighed. Lily’s method was too spontaneous for him, and he was tired because of it. He could not predict Lily’s next move, and he was afraid that Lily would violate some kind of hidden elven law or customs.
“It’s going to be fine. Let’s wait until tomorrow! The worst that can happen is a five days delay. And we are not actually in a rush to do this farming anyway. It is not some grand project that needs to be done no matter what.”
The following day, everyone popped their eyes at the spectacle before them. Three thousand pioneer troops were entirely ready for farming. Even Lily was surprised at the readiness of her forces.
“Wait, how is this possible?” Lhorne almost shouted.
“Well, they borrowed their farming tools from their family or neighbors. I expected this, but did all of you guys were farmers?” Lily asked. Some soldiers raised their hands and confessed that they borrowed it from their customers from the bar, shops, or neighbors.
Edenthal was a farming town with over four thousand farmers before Lily took over it. So it is theoretically possible for these tools to be borrowed from their fellow tailfolk. But that means everyone in Edenthal was pitching in for them even though they might become their future competitor.
“Why aren’t they registering at the front desk yesterday then?!” Lhorne was confused. It was not the fact that the tailfolk managed to borrow some tools from their friend. It was the complete disregard for the proper channel from the government.
“Well, I didn’t want to lend my swords to some stranger even if those said stranger is a popular lord such as Lord SIlvane, Alistar, or even lord Edelweiss. But I wouldn’t mind lending my sword to neighbors or friends such as you guys!” Lily answered.
“Well, now that we don’t need to buy any tools, let’s start the pioneering farming village.” Lisey sighed as she threw away her order form for new hoes and plows.
“Let’s go! First, we begin in the western part! Then we marched on to the eastern part. Please pay attention not to damage the forest and keep it at least 100 meters away from it. We don’t want wild animals to eat our crops later. We are going to build a fence later!” Lily shouted while she led the march.
Despite her first time doing marching training, the group didn’t look uncomfortable in the least. It was baffling that these tailfolk seemed very expectant doing farming work.
“We really are different races….” Mattheus and Lhorne sighed.
“Hello!” Jona was riding a horse in our direction with Sarielle in tow. They appeared to bring some news from the high council.
“What are you guys doing? Farming? How nice! I wish dwarven lands were blessed with more fertile soils for farming just like Edenthal Lord Lily!” Jona nodded. “ Ahh! Sarielle brought news from the high council!”