Farmer Mage

Chapter 25: Finally, the First Step

Cal looked toward the dirt path and frowned as he shoveled the rubble into the wheelbarrow. He had gotten a late start today.

Seris still hasn’t arrived, and it’s almost midday. I’ll give her an hour before I head to town to check on her.

He filled the wheelbarrow’s bucket and stuck the shovel in the dirt. He pushed the wheelbarrow to the new pile he had created today and tipped it over.

That’s the last of it.

Cal gazed at his cleaned-up field with satisfaction. All the rubble was neatly piled up on the edges of his field, leaving a relatively uniform dirt field in the areas he had worked on the last few days.

I need to plow the entire thing to keep the surface layer from growing back, but other than that, there’s nothing else that’s required of me. I’ll have plenty of time left in the day. I don’t want to use the pickaxe to dig up new areas of the field. I want to let it repair itself.

His eyes wandered briefly before they locked onto a stone outside his field’s bounds.

I haven’t used my sledgehammer in a while. I might not need to expand my field soon, but I can see a use for the rocks. I can hire someone to create a cobblestone path or do it myself after learning how. I will have plenty of time to kill, so I’ll look to do the latter.

Cal had taken all the equipment besides the pickaxe out of the storage room, primarily due to habit. He pushed the wheelbarrow out of the way and picked up the plow. He plopped it into the dirt before stopping at something that annoyed him intensely.

“What’s the point of your existence?” Cal’s tone was surprisingly harsh, reminiscent of how he used to speak in his first life. His patience had been tested all day, and he had no will to try and crush his temper.

The little beast turned its head lazily—looking at him with sleepy eyes—before dismissing him with a small chitter.

It appeared just in time to eat its fill before sunbathing. What infuriated him was how it observed him and occasionally took quick bites before returning to its lounging. It made him feel like a servant, and he didnot like that.

“I will hurt you, beast,” Cal growled, taking a threatening step forward. It was not convinced.

The little beast turned to show its back and ignored him.

It has gotten very bold. My inaction has given it the courage to show me attitude.

“Remember what I said a few hours ago? One slip-up, and you are gone. No easy food, no time to sunbathe.” It quivered slightly at his words, which brought a sense of accomplishment in him.

It’s a hollow victory, but it’s still a victory. I can’t actually bear to harm the little thing, given that it has become a sort of companion, but it doesn’t need to know that.

He put that out of his mind and pushed the plow while keeping close track of time. He would need to start the trip to town if Seris didn’t show soon.

Turning over the dirt would have usually taken him a few hours at the least with the size of the field he needed to plow, but he discovered something as he worked.

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Cal had severely underestimated how quickly he could work. He had been trying to strike a balance between his constantly increasing strength and the fragility of the equipment he used. With his Advanced-ranked equipment, that was less of a concern, but he had been babying anything lower.

He sliced through the dirt with the plow in curiosity, wanting to see if it would degrade instantly. With the plow being a Common tool, he considered destroying it an acceptable sacrifice. Orrin could make him another if necessary.

Cal quickly plowed through half the field in less than twenty minutes. It would have taken him well over an hour at his regular speed.

He pulled the plow out of the dirt and inspected the blade. The interface didn’t tell him of any quality degradation, but he had learned that only came after the purely cosmetic defects could be seen on the equipment.

I don’t see anything that catches my attention. Maybe the quality degradation hinges on the tasks completed instead of increased stress in a short period of time. I expected the plow to degrade by the time I reached the end of the dirt field if I was going at a slower speed. If it happens earlier, I’ll know the answer if speed and stress change how a tool degrades.

Cal sped through the rest of the field, carving neat lines in the dirt with every run. He had reached the last part of the field without the interface alerting him of a degradation. However, a few minutes ago, he noticed cosmetic imperfections appeared on the blade.

He was in the middle on the very last line he could carve into the dirt when it finally happened.

[Common Plow] has degraded to Good Quality.

Cal dismissed the interface and finished the line. He lifted the plow out of the dirt before pulling up the progress of the plow to the next rank.

[Common Plow: Good Quality] Upgrade: 86/90

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He was close. Really close.

I could do four more lines to get the upgrade, but it’ll only get the plow to the Uncommon rank. It won’t give me any special choices that make it worth the rush. I’ll let it happen naturally.

Cal placed the plow beside the wheelbarrow and stared at the still-sunbathing little beast. For some reason, it reminded him of Seris.

They’re both a little silly to me, but at least Seris isn’t a moocher like the little beast. Speaking of her, I should head to town—

“Boss!”

He stared at Seris running into his field with a surprised expression. He glanced at where the little beast had been lazing around and wasn’t surprised to see it had disappeared.

She has perfect timing, as always.

“What has you so excited, Seris?”

“All the stuff you ordered came in yesterday! It’s a lot of stuff, boss. Drex had to hire a bunch of carts to drop them off.”

Cal became aware of the low rumbling in the distance. It sounded exactly like Miren and her convoy all over again… except bigger.

“What’s the exact number of carts heading here?” Cal envisioned half his field piled up with fertilizer.

How is my tiny dirt patch requiring all this?

“Uh, maybe like twenty? I stopped counting and ran here to tell you the good news.”

Cal nodded silently, listening to the fertilizer convoy getting closer.

I heard it smells horrid in small quantities. With the amount on the way, it might permeate every part of my field and drown me in the smell.

He took a deep breath—perhaps the last clean air for a while—and decided to distract himself. “So, you were busy helping Drex yesterday? I was wondering why you didn’t visit.”

“Oh, I tried to, boss. But there were way too many people there building that house for you. And you were talking to a pretty girl. It would be a bad look if someone better-looking showed up to meet you, don’t you think?”

Cal forgot all about the potential fertilizer issue and stared at Seris with an open mouth. He didn’t even have a chance to be surprised at her nonchalance toward the house.

She’s being serious.

“You’re saying you were being my wingman by skipping yesterday… because you are too good-looking.”

“Wingwoman,” Seris corrected without a hit on embarrassment. “And obviously, boss. I mean, have you seen me?”

Confidence is good to have.

“As you say, but next time, I don’t care who is here with me when you arrive. I still want you to do your job.”

“If you insist, but that lady will be lost to you,” Seris muttered, pausing for a good second. “Do I still have to when there are a bunch of people here like yesterday?”

There’s the real reason. Seris is comfortable around people she knows but retreats into a shell when there are too many unknowns. If it was only Tavia, she would have likely approached me. The workers pushed her into skipping.

“Yes,” Cal said bluntly. “You have to get used to being around new people, Seris. How will you go to other towns when the task I gave you requires you to?”

“I have to go to another town?” Seris asked with trepidation.

“Did you forget about the maps I asked you to buy?” Cal’s eyebrows were raised. “You were the one who said there are none in Mariner’s Rest.”

“… Ah, right,” Seris gathered herself before nodding firmly. “Alright, boss. I’ll do as you say.”

He felt a little bad when she fell silent after that. The convoy was close. He could hear that there were only a few seconds before the first cart would be visible.

“You’re doing a good job overall, Seris,” Cal reassured her awkwardly. “Your help had been invaluable.”

Thankfully, his delivery wasn’t as important as the words themselves. Seris brightened up a little. “You’re welcome, boss… Can I check out your new place?”

Cal chuckled and waved her off. “There’s nothing in there yet, but have fun.”

Seris didn’t waste time running off to the newly built structures.

A few seconds later, the first of the convoy entered Cal’s field. Drex was sitting on it, casually directing the oxen pulling the cart to where he was standing.

“Initiate Cal,” Drex greeted when he was close, hopping off the cart. He waved his hand to tell the others following to park nearby. “I apologize for the slight delay in returning the test results to you. I promised you the latest would have been around evening yesterday, but there were some unexpected surprises.”

I forgot about the test Drex was doing on the dirt.

“A good surprise?”

“I would say so. The dirt here isn’t as lifeless as I assumed. I had to change the things I ordered to better fit the true state of your field.” Drex saw that Cal still looked confused. “In other words, it’s not nearly as difficult to fix your soil issue. The only thing holding you back is water.”

I need to travel to Lumina and get a basic water spell. The guild subsidizes the price of such spells, so cost won’t be a concern. I should be able to modify the spell to meet my needs.

“I already have a plan for that,” Cal waved off his concern. “How long will it take for the soil to be fixed?”

“It depends,” Drex said, directing the drivers of the other carts to unload their cargo onto the field. “It can be done in a few days if you are in a rush, or up to a week if you can wait.”

Sealed bags, closed buckets, and open tubs of black powder quickly took up far too much space.

Cal couldn’t smell anything terrible as he feared, so he was thankful for that. “When will the Sunfire Grain barrels arrive?”

“Tomorrow.”

He blinked in surprise, not having expected such a quick delivery.

A trip to Lumina will take up an entire day. It wouldn’t be wise of me to go until after the [Tier] boost period ends.

“I can wait,” Cal said finally, getting a nod from Drex. “So, all of this is just for my dirt patch?”

“It just looks like a lot when neatly packed and separated,” Drex chuckled. “You’ll see how it works when we start mixing all of this with the poor soil of—did you dig up more?” He frowned as he stared at the newly dug-up part of the field.

“I did, but ignore it. I want to see this work before expanding the process to more parts of the field.”

Drex hummed in agreement. “I’ll return with the workers tomorrow to start the work. Unfortunately, I will need your help since that’s the only way to keep the surface layer from growing back.”

Cal looked at him strangely.

Unfortunately? Did he expect me to just stand aside? This is a golden opportunity to gain a skill that will help me greatly.

“I just need you to show me what needs to be done. I want to do this myself.”

“… All of it? No help at all?” Drex looked shocked. “You’ll need to work all day just to finish in a reasonable amount of time. And even then, it will be a week at the earliest.”

It will be much faster than that. All-day work is a dream. A few [Tier] increases will drastically reduce that time.

“I don’t mind,” Cal shrugged, not seeing a need to explain his reasoning.

Drex stared at the workers before switching to Cal. He shook his head and muttered, “I suppose you are the farmer.” He spoke louder. “Very well, Initiate Cal. Let me show you the steps.”