Chapter 17: Farming Is Best Suited For Labor And Capital As Expected

When Xi Wei saw what happened with Angora in the divine kingdom, he could not help but think that he was being simple-minded in choosing some dolt as a rather important new village head…

That being said, even Xi Wei did not expect the little town outside the Valley of the Tragic Dead to be so barren.

“Looks like I have to think of a way to help.”

Xi Wei scratched his head with his tentacles as he pondered how he should proceed.

The problem at hand was that with the townsfolk suffering from famine, it meant that their respect could be easily earned by thinking of ways to fill their stomachs. He might even secure another wave of followers in the process.

If that was so, the Overlord System could slightly relax on strategic combat management, and focus on farming literally.

“If it’s farming, I guess it would be games like Harvest Moon and Rune Factory back in my world…”

Xi Wei slightly adjusted the setting as per his idea, only to find that he was underpowered in the aspects of plants or harvest. Although he had the ability to modify seeds so that they could instantly mature, the divine energy required to control plants and harvest was considerable. Moreover, that effect would not last up to the next generation, and their seeds would only bear normal harvest.

“It’s quite difficult to yield both quantity and quality at once. There is no combat class in the town either, so there is no way to obtain bone powder or other materials from the fringe reaches of the Valley of the Tragic Dead to help them grow…”

Xi Wei found the present situation difficult. “Moreover, if the balance between intake and output of divine energy cannot be ensured, my divine energy would be used up after a dozen accelerated harvests.”

And when he thought about it carefully, the farming simulation in both Harvest Moon and Rune Factory did take most of the player’s time given that it was the main aspect of fun for those games.

Still, Xi Wei would not want Angora to become a farmer. The fellow was a bit of a dolt, but since he was the new village head whom he had chosen…

That was when Xi Wei noticed the useless metal scraps piling in his Divine Kingdom, and the idea he had days ago which did not really present itself finally sprung out.

Should he create a currency for his believers, the players of the system?

As long as it does not flow out to other markets, the scraps that caught divinity would never catch the attention of the other gods (especially the Goddess of Prosperity). At the same time, the divinity meant that it would not be counterfeited, eliminating the possibility of fraud.

“Setting: divine seeds need to be bought with game currency, and the dolt… I mean, Angora could learn some management through games of the genre, supervising and allocating the villagers as farmers. Since the divine seeds wouldn’t need watering or fertilizing, I’ll just make it so that the allocated personnel must pray to me devotedly in order for the seeds to grow, and would grow even faster the more believers there are, and each plot of land are only allowed to have at most three farmers. That would probably recover some divine energy, and the other facilities could use this design as well. I’m a genius!”

With Angora acting as an example, the townsfolk who were beside themselves with hunger would probably be flocking under his wing. Moreover, Xi Wei did not need all of them to become true believers, as shallow believers would suffice in providing him divine energy.

“The harvest can also be sold into the system for game currency. Furthermore, even if the preceding generation had been harvested and the new crops lost the capacity for instant growth, it still reduces the divine energy needed to modify them now. Angora could also buy new seeds after trading for the game currency, and I’d give him those seeds. That basically means no problem.”

In a nutshell, the process in which Xi Wei would sell Angora divine seeds, obtain the second-generation crops from Angora and resell them to the dolt as new divine seeds still would extol a cost on divine energy.

However, all it took was a shallow believer to keep praying as the seeds go—any loss would hence be reimbursed, and the more believers converted under Angora’s wing, the more Xi Wei would earn.

Additionally, the presence of the game currency limits the number of divine seeds Angora could obtain. Given that Xi Wei still had limited divine power, he could not provide him too many seeds at once.

“Done. Now we’ll see how that dolt is going to put on airs.”

***

Early next morning, Angora got out of bed and left the house to begin surveying his lands.

The land was infertile as the old man told him the day before, and what few usable plots were scorched to ashes. It certainly explained the enmity that the townsfolk aimed at all outsiders, and Angora himself would have been driven away if not for his young age.

“My lord, so you’re here.” Vela found him around noon; she sounded rather upset. “Please don’t wander around—we’ll be in trouble if something happened to you in this town. Lunch is ready, please leave immediately after your meal!”

“Lunch… is that the same black bread as yesterday’s?” Angora asked curiously.

“I’ve heated it a bit, and I’m off to pluck some mushrooms with which I could make soup for you…”

Vela then hesitated, seemingly finding it rude to serve such things to a noble and whispered, “I’m sorry, but that’s the best we can do.”

Nonetheless, Angora said, “If you don’t mind, please keep me company for a while.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t look so miserable…” Angora said, slightly miffed. “How about this? You’ll keep me company until the sun rises to the center of the skies. If you’re not interested, I’ll leave today and you wouldn’t have to chase me off. How about that?”

“I’m just a peasant. I certainly can’t go against your wish, my lord,” the girl muttered, but still obediently followed Angora to where the farms had been.

There was a thick blanket of ash covering the plot of land. Although the soil might be more fertile in the coming year thanks to that, there was just no telling how many townsfolk could last until then.

“Is this your family’s plot?” Angora asked.

“It’s that one,” the girl pointed at one of the plots by the fringes which appeared irregular. “There are fewer heads in my family, that’s why our land is smaller.”

“I’m borrowing it for a bit.”

“What?”

Then, ensuring that the girl was not watching, Angora inwardly thought the words ‘O Master of Games, give us New Life’ to open the system page, and flipped through it to get to a new page which appeared yesterday.

[Overlord System: Penguin Farm V0.1 Test Version]