As Jamie and I talked, we began to discuss what her company could actually do to benefit the territory. While exporting the peppers was nice, it was a purely economic boon that we could achieve on our own by sending wagons to Corvath. There was the chance that whoever we sent could get taken advantage of in a deal, but that was still a small favor given the profits that the company would be earning.
That was when the topic of imports came up. While we were able to export redflare pods, and even sodas, there were several items that we needed imported in order to ensure a balanced diet for my citizens. The chief among these imports would be meat, or preferably livestock.
Currently, our only source of meat was buying food from the tavern, or the odd bird that one of the adventurers shot out of the sky. There weren’t many deer or other beasts that roamed this area, likely because of its proximity to a forest typically ruled by monsters. If we could get enough cows to set up a farm, we could produce meat, as well as other products like cheese, milk, and butter.
Unfortunately, cows were quite costly to purchase and transport, so Jamie wasn’t sure if they would be able to bring any to this village. That said, she did tell me that she would bring the subject up with her father when she went back to get the contract drafted. I told her that a domesticated monster that could be used as a food source would also work fine, which seemed to ease her concerns.
The next day, Jamie ventured north in her carriage again, quickly returning to Corvath. As she did, I confirmed that my point limit had been increased to one thousand, and shared this news with Wesley. However, I told him that I was still going to proceed with my original plan of building towards the north before I made any new additions to the village.
That said, there was a new building that had been made available for a hundred and twenty-five points, which was a food shop. According to its description, I could turn it into a variety of specialty shops, though I could only imagine myself using it as a bakery for now, once I was ready to buy it. In addition, there was an option to buy a graveyard or a watchtower. I would definitely be needing the watchtower once I set up my monster plan.
Like this, a week passed, with me investing all of my points on continuing my northern expansion. I had even recycled the second tuber harvest, given that we still had more softstone tubers than we could eat. And finally, I had touched the edge of the forest.
On that same day, I spotted Jamie returning with her carriage, and a large series of wagons trailing behind her. On each one was a strange monster, half plant and half animal. They looked similar to cows in their build, but they were clearly anything but normal cows.
Prim, as always, waited at the entrance of the territory for the carriages to approach, her hands folded calmly in front of herself. “Welcome back, Ms. Rowal,” she said in a polite tone, bowing her head. “May I ask what these creatures you brought with you are?”
Jamie smiled briefly as she emerged from her carriage. “These are a D-rank monster called Grovines that are commonly domesticated thanks to their timid nature. Their meat is similar to a cow and they can produce milk, but they also have a sweet, honey-like nectar for blood. Unfortunately, the meat yield is lower than a normal cow, and I could only convince my father to let me bring thirty of them to start a small farm. Consider them the greeting gift of my family, and a token of our desire to share a bright future together.”
“I see,” Prim said thoughtfully. “These certainly fit the requirements of the Land. I’ll ask our workers to build an enclosure for them, if you can tell me what their dietary needs are?”
“They’re herbivores, so you can feed them essentially any type of plant you want. If left to their own devices, they’ll happily graze on the grass,” Jamie said, gesturing for the wagons to be led towards a vacant lot, with Lesley guiding them into place. “Do you have anyone to care for them? I was only able to get so many because the autumn season has hit. Grovines are weak to cold, so they’ll need a warm shelter soon.”
Prim thought about it for a moment, sighing. “We’ll add it to the list. With any luck, we will have someone to tend for them in just a few days.” Jamie blinked in confusion at that, but Prim opted not to elaborate, letting Jamie see for herself. This chapter was taken from novelping dot com without permission.
Once the wagons had dropped off the monsters, they returned to the north. Clearly, their only task was to ensure that the creatures had been properly delivered.
“Yo!” A new voice startled Jamie as she was leaving her house. Standing before her was a human woman that she had never met before, with red hair in twin braids, green eyes, and freckles covering her face. She had an athletic build, and Jamie was sure that she’d remember someone like her.
“Uhm… hello? Can I help you?” Jamie asked uncertainly, earning a laugh from the redheaded girl.
“Ah, right! Introductions. I’m Maki, the new farmer created by the Land to take care of those babies you brought before,” Maki flexed her arms as she introduced herself, causing Jamie to blink.
“Produced…? Ah, I heard about this… like Prim and Lesley, right?”
“Yup! You could consider those two my sisters! Neat, right? Anyways, since you brought those little guys over, I wanted to greet you first and show you what we’ll be doin’ with them!” After saying that, Maki grabbed Jamie’s wrist and pulled her out of the house, causing the girl to let out a yelp of surprise.
Maki practically dragged Jamie to the north, towards where the fence had been built to keep the grovines in place. However, Jamie’s eyes widened as she approached, realizing that the area had changed considerably overnight. Within the fenced area, the ground had become far more lush, with exotic flowers blooming. Several trees had grown along the edges, their leaves overlapping to form a solid canopy to shield against the rain.
Jamie looked at this change in shock, before turning to look at Maki herself, who gave a broad grin. “Whatcha think? The little guys should be happy there, right? This is a special nest prepared by the lord. As long as the grovines are inside, it will encourage faster growth and fertility.”
“That’s… certainly marvelous,” Jamie answered, not knowing what else to say. Now that she was properly seeing the effects of the Land, she had to admit that she was captivated. “But, why did the Land create a new caretaker for them, instead of leaving it to one of the existing farmers?”
“Ah, he’s just worried about them bein’ monsters, is all,” Maki answered honestly. “Even if they’re tame, they might go a bit crazy if they get enraged. So, he made me, with the power of a D-rank and a level five farming skill.”
Jamie had no idea what level five meant for farming, but with how proud Maki seemed, she assumed that it was quite decent.
I let out a mental groan as I watched Maki interacting with Jamie outside of the grovine den. This was a Monster Nest that I had created using the points that had been accumulating since they arrived. However, that was not my only reason for having Maki show this scene to Jamie, as I had hidden another secret within the den, and wanted Jamie to see it as normal in comparison to the den itself.
I had created a single extra grovine through the spawner, one that I intended to have control the others with Maki’s help. Creating a standard grovine cost ninety points, which had left me just enough to purchase the nest.
As for Maki herself…? Purchasing her, with two ranks in all of her stats, two attunement slots, and five levels in farming, cost over three hundred points. From what I could tell, the cost for additional levels in any stat or skill doubled with every rank.
I assumed that with five levels in farming, she would be created with more than enough knowledge to be able to care for creatures like the grovines. Thankfully, she seemed to be able to get along with them well, though there was no option to assign her as a worker for the Monster Nest, as it was not a recognized farm with my system. Read the latest chapters at g.com.
This was my first monster farm, and would greatly help me in setting up my plans in the forest. Meanwhile, Jamie’s men were making quick work of constructing a warehouse and shop behind the blacksmith and tailor. This put them quite close to the grovine nest, but that hardly seemed like an issue after their enclosure had turned into a proper nest.
In addition, Wesley had received a report regarding the dungeon to the south. Apparently, Mikhail was having trouble conquering it alone, and was unable to explore its deepest floors by himself, so they put in a call for an adventuring party to come and help, though it would be a while yet before they arrived.
As I thought about that, I noticed through my avatar that the sky had begun to darken, dense clouds slowly blanketing the sky. Looking at them, I could tell that we were in for another storm. Thankfully, our tailors had been hard at work to prepare raincoats and jackets for the settlers, but I doubt anyone would want to stay outside for very long if the storm got bad.
At least the farms will get plenty of water, I thought to myself as the first droplets began to strike against the roof of my manor.
Within an hour, the rain had become so thick that you could barely see your neighbor’s house. The grovines huddled together for shelter beneath their canopy, with my summoned one leading them. Everyone had already rushed inside, refusing to stay out in the rain any longer than they had to.
The next day, the rain showed no signs of abating, so I took the chance to go ahead and set up roads within my territory. With nobody wandering outside, there was no chance of the change causing an accident, and this would keep them from having an accident if anyone did need to go out for any reason.
After that, as the rain progressed, people only briefly left their homes to take care of daily necessities, causing the village to become far more dreary. So, I focused my attention to the north, finally reaching deep enough into the forest to achieve my first goal, creating a goblin nest.
From what I could tell, the local goblin population had been annihilated by the awakened sword several weeks ago, as Sylphy and Brock had been unable to find any trace of them since. So, I created a nest suitable to goblins, which turned into a small cave burrow buried beneath a tree. Then, within that burrow, I placed something that had recently unlocked, a proper monster spawner.
This spawner would only create a single goblin per day, but unlike the ones that I created like Maki, Prim, or that grovine leader, these spawns could generate monster points for me. If I wanted to increase the spawn rate, I would need to pay double the cost, which was currently impossible for me, even if my points were capped out.
My next goal was to advance even deeper into the forest and create a second spawner, this one further out of the way to avoid detection. Unfortunately, I could only create spawners or other facilities for monsters that I had seen on my land.
Soon, my true monster farm would be operational, and I could give my adventurers plenty of work to stave off their boredom.