[Farmer] Mage
B2 - Chapter 11

“Finally!” Cal clenched his fist in victory. The slab of surface he successfully separated from the soil dropped to the side. It had taken him the entire night to get to this point.

The interface didn’t prompt him for a name for the spell, so he wasn’t proficient enough at it. Understandable since it took him half a minute for an area that was only fifty square feet.

He would need to be skilled enough to do this in a few seconds, with the ability to change the sizes without effecting the casting time by much as long as he used more mana.

It’s not qualified to be called a spell yet, but it’s still better than using a pickaxe... unless I have to upgrade it.

Cal felt Torin approaching him.

“Apprentice Cal, we’re done.”

He looked over to see the workers cleaning up, and his house had gained a second level. He could sense Seris still sleeping in his room. She could check if it was to her liking when she woke in a few hours.

“I have another project I want to speak to Miren about,” Cal said in leu of speaking of the new expansion.

“Of course, Apprentice Cal,” Torin led him to Miren, who was already in the carriage and ready to leave.

“Thank you for the quick finish, Miren. I know we spoke of creating a way for a quicker travel time, but I have a project that has a higher priority. I want to build a smithy here, and I want it to be the best in the territory.”

Miren frowned as she fell into her thoughts. She summoned Torin and whispered in his ear.

“Madam Miren says the best smithy in the Celestial Order costs thousands of guildmarks to recreate,” Torin informed.

Cal had to stop himself from falling in shock. He thought he was wealthy from his recent crop sale, but it turned out he was still a pauper. He cleared his throat and backtracked. “That’s good to know. Let’s limit the cost to ten guildmarks for now. I can upgrade the smithy when it becomes necessary.”

“Of course, Apprentice Cal,” Torin said, gracefully ignoring the drastic change in request. Miren whispered in his ear again. “This isn’t our strength, but it shouldn’t be an issue. We’ll look over the options and give you a quote soon.”

“That’s more than enough,” Cal replied. He wasn’t in a rush, since he didn’t expect Orrin to move in soon. Unlike Seris, who seemed happy to treat the farm as her new home, the boy was always tense around him.

“We’ll take our leave, Apprentice Cal,” Torin said, giving him a wave before leaving in the carriage, the workers’ carts following behind.

Cal stretched before returning to the pond and sat down next to the pack leader. He glanced at the golem and swore it looked bored as it cast [Rainfall] over the pond for the umpteenth time, but that couldn’t be right. He couldn’t say the golem had no thoughts since it could find strange loopholes in his orders, but he was certain it didn’t possess complex intelligence.

“Are you sure the golem didn’t act strange on your trip?” Cal asked as he lay on his back and slid his hands behind his head to act as a pillow. The pack leader huffed before settling into a more comfortable position. He took that as a no.

He lazily glanced over at Nibbles, smiling when he saw her trying to take control of the large cats that were the recent addition of the farm. He still wasn’t sure why Nibbles felt the need to take on the responsibility, but at least it seemed to be something she enjoyed… for some reason.

Cal turned away and closed his eyes. He needed some sleep after experimenting the entire night, but it wasn’t at a point where he had to do it immediately. He didn’t feel like waking Seris up before she did so naturally.

He listened to the rain falling into the pond, Nibbles squeaking commandingly in the distance, and the light breaths of the snoozing pack leader. He slowly dozed off.

***

Cal frowned lightly at hearing familiar voices and slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he noticed was the golem gone from where he ordered it to be. He quickly located it beside Nibbles, acting as a statue while the cats used it as an obstacle course.

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Nibbles was the conductor, directing the cats over and around the golem in a coordinated manner while throwing smug looks at the wolf pack watching her production.

Cal rolled his eyes and turned to the unfamiliar voices and saw Tavia by her carriage speaking with three people, two of which he knew, Vaela and Liora. The newcomers were sneaking glances at the golem casting [Rainfall] and the beasts outside the farm’s border. It would be strange if they didn’t.

He stood up with a sigh and dusted off his pants before heading over. He was still reluctant to allow others to attend to the farm, even though he knew it was a necessary thing to focus on more important matters.

“Cal!” Tavia waved excitedly. “You already know the girls,” she waved her hand at Vaela and Liora, who gave Cal a smile, “And this is Bole, a Farmer!”

Cal’s reluctance disappeared as he met Bole’s eyes with interest. He had forgotten that he requested Tavia to find a [Farmer]. It was about time for him to learn the proper way to do things, and he hoped that would bring more efficiency to his farming.

“Welcome to my farm,” Cal greeted everyone with a smile. “I just want to make something clear before we talk about anything. If you want to work here, you’ll have to give up the artifact dealing, and you’ll most likely have to neglect whatever the guild has assigned to you.”

The girls didn’t hesitate to nod, as if any delay might lose them the chance. However, Bole looked reluctant and said, “I have no complaints about giving up the artifact hunting, but I have to oversee my farm. It’s not an optional task from the guild.”

That didn’t surprise Cal. Even if the Celestial Order imported most of their food, they would need something grown within the territory, for times of emergency. He looked at the girls with a raised eyebrow, silently asking why they hadn’t brought up similar concerns.

Vaela took the lead. “We don’t have any permanent assignments. Farmers have the most consistent work, and us Gardeners get the rare tasks of growing experimental plants.”

Cal looked between them and wondered why he hadn’t made use of a resource that was so close by. Well, it’s better late than never.

“Don’t worry about the guild. I’ll take care of it and get all of your exemptions,” Cal said with surety. This was a minor matter to bring up to the Overseer.

They exchanged glances before giving him a similar unconvinced look.

Cal reassured them. “You’ll get confirmation from the guild later. Now the second thing we need to deal with before talking about the job. Your pay. How much do you all currently earn every month?”

“A little less than one gold.”

“Same for me.”

“Around two gold,” Bole said, getting annoyed stares for his fellow Initiates. “What? You two said it yourselves. I have more consistent work than you.”

Cal ignored the light ribbing between them and quickly calculated what he could afford to pay them. A replacement level income would be easy for him, but it wouldn’t do them any good in terms of future growth.

Living with an activated interface and the access to mana it allows was expensive. One guildmark per year would buy enough food to survive, but with nothing leftover for improving oneself, which Cal considered the essential. What was the point of having an activated interface otherwise?

The issue with that logic meant Cal would have to pay five gold a month for that to be possible. With three hoping to get hired, that meant one guildmark and five gold every month.

Cal couldn’t take on such a burden, at least not yet.

He thought about linking the pond to them in order to offset the low wage, but that thought didn’t even last a second. The pond would be for his people, and that only comprised the people living on the farm, and perhaps Orrin and Oleg in the future.

“I can pay you all two gold a month, with pay increases in the future as the farm gets larger.”

“We’ll take it!” Vaela and Liora said in unison.

Bole, however, didn’t look as enthused.

“Is there a problem?” Cal knew what it was, but he was firm. He had plans to use his connections with the guild’s administration to make up for the low pay, but he had no plans of speaking of it before he could make concrete plans.

“My current position guarantees me two gold pieces. I’m not doubting you, Apprentice Cal, but what if the guild moves you to a higher role? Wouldn’t that mean we lose these jobs?”

Cal expected to hear a reason for wanting higher pay, but not this. “Did you expect high pay and a short-term job?”

“Well… yes,” Bole admitted.

Cal hummed and shook his head slightly. “Unfortunately, it’s neither of those, but the long-term nature is in your favor, isn’t it?”

“Not for two—”

“Bole!” Liora hissed as she pulled him to the side before whispering furiously. Vaela wandered over to them to back her up.

Cal had a puzzled look on his face as he looked at Tavia. She shrugged and said, “Liora was the one who recommended him.”

They watched Bole get increasingly agitated before storming off to the tree line in a huff. Cal couldn’t understand why Bole threw a tantrum. Even if the pay was disappointing, he didn’t force anyone to work for him.

“Um, I’m really sorry about him,” Liora said with a red face full of embarrassment. “I swear he isn’t usually like that.”

“Really?” Tavia raised her brow. “Then what’s he usually like?”

“Well, he, uh, I mean—”

Vaela interrupted. “What Liora means to say is that Bole won’t be taking the job, but we definitely will.” Liora nodded rapidly in agreement. “I didn’t like that entitled idiot, anyway.”

Cal pinched the bridge of his nose, done with the ridiculous drama dropped onto his lap. “I still need a Farmer.”

“I know someone who would love to work here,” Vaela piped up, and instantly felt the need to defend herself at the suspicious look from Cal. “I’m not Liora to bring someone like Bole in.”

“Hey!” Liora’s protest went unheeded.

“Fine.” Cal wanted this to end. “Let him know the pay before you bring him here.” After Vaela’s nod, he continued, “Let’s talk about what you’re going to do here.”