274. Food for Thought

274. Food for Thought

Year 267, Part 2

Delvegard

Sundus found it quite easy to bribe the existing Dwarven Lord to resign from his post, and hand it over to him. After all, he was the lord of a small town worth nothing, a bit of money and high quality equipment did more for him than his position ever did.

So, Sundus soon found himself lord of the small dwarven town of 2,000 dwarves. They worked at a mine that produced regular iron, and they had forges to make high quality steel, which they sold to the other dwarven cities.

For food, some of the dwarves farmed. It was a matter of great reluctance for the Delvegard dwarves, since they didnt like farming all that much. On Treehome or on places like the Eastern Continent where the dwarves had their hidden underground cities, they loved to fund the other races to produce all their food and wheat or buy their food from others. It was for this reason dwarven cities are rarely mono-racial cities, because they needed some people to be farmers, and would treat them well to do what they were meant to do.

It was a productive, symbiotic business transaction. The dwarves supplied high quality equipment and ale, and the humans supplied the wheat, barley, and rye. The dwarves were also stockier, sturdier, and generally, better brawlers than the humans, so they often provided protection to the human farmers, who also enjoyed how the dwarves generally stuck to their word.

On Delvegard, there are no humans.

And so the dwarves had to do their own farming. In most dwarven towns, most dwarves do their own small-scale farming, where their produce is enough for themselves, and for the brews they make. Dwarven homes in Delvegard usually came with a small patch of land next to their existing homes where they cultivated some of their farms, or in more structured cities, there were designated shared lands where the irrigation was centralized.

But in most cases, large scale farms were extremely rare, except in certain dwarven cities where there is a functional slave class or underclass of dwarves. This was an underclass of dwarves that were forced to do farming.

Theres an opportunity here. Kafa said to Sundus, and Sundus readily agreed. A monocultural dwarven society isnt able to do what they need to do well. The dwarves farmed, and they tried their very best to automate the process through large magical machines meant to run their farms. This was an option available to the strongest of towns, because automated farming golems were fairly difficult to make, because for dwarves who were so picky with the quality of their wheats, the unskilled [golem]s output was still pretty bad.

A [farmer] with skills and levels produced high quality food. Materials for brews.

But dwarves didnt like being [farmers], and those that did, are few and far between, and so, they become rather precious folks. Despite this, their society looked poorly on them. A dwarven [farmer]s social status in Delvegard was shit, so most of them doubled up as [brewers], which was a better ranked position.

Still, the split focus, and the micro scale meant farming output in Delvegard was low.

Despite farming being an absolute necessity for survival, dwarves in Delvegard generally avoided taking up too many farming skills. They would take 1 or 2 just to ensure that they had some viable crops, but no more. In fact, most of them prefer to subsist on a diet of hunted meats, foraged berries and fruits.

So Delvegard dwarves tend to base their cities and towns near large hunting grounds, large forests with a decent amount of berries and fruits, or near rivers where they could engage in fishing.

But the options are fairly limited. If we bring in an entirely new race of people to serve as farmers, that is a risk of its own. The two discussed their options. Disease, environment, and we would essentially alter the racial composition of Delvegard.

In some ways, we were already altering it with our actions, but large scale import of an alien race to a world like Delvegard did feel a little wrong. It felt like we were introducing a potentially invasive species, even though we already are an invasive species.

The alternative was to engage in import of the common necessities of the Delvegard dwarves. We had the ability to produce large quantities of high quality food on Treehome. In short, we could be the remote breadbasket of Delvegard, and pretty much throw the economic balance of Delvegard upside down.

In a way, we really had three main options, though our ultimate solution was likely a combination of them.

We could start introducing a migrant race to do farming. We also could use my trees and my blessing abilities to boost natural food sources. We could import.

Actually- Sundus asked. Whats Aeons time horizon for Delvegard? Do we want to take over this world in 2 years, 10 years, 50 years, or a hundred?

Fifty. But within 10 years we want a solid foothold with at least two to three cities. Kafa said. The things we want in Delvegard are people, skills, academies. Things that would be destroyed if we acquired them by force. Our preferred strategy here is to trade and win over, similar to how Aeon won over the rest of the Central Continent with trade and pretty much overwhelming power during Freshkas first Century.

Sundus looked at the domain holder, and scratched his head. You need to make yourself into a scary person, if thats the case. Are you going to be the stick that looms over us all?

The lizardfolk frowned. Thats- thats still a strategy that well need to shape over time.

Sundus countered. Lord Kafa, I hope you dont find this offensive, but, I believe you are ill suited for this assignment. If Alchemist Alka is here, we should have a significantly better time. His sheer presence as a domain-tier dwarven Alchemist should convince many to join us.

The lizardfolk actually froze momentarily. But he was willing to entertain the idea, and as the thought swirled in his mind, he eventually nodded. You are right. But Alkas resurrection is still a decade away. For now, I will have to suffice.

The dwarven [Lord] could only sigh. I guess so.

All the other Dwarven [Lords] successfully took control of their new towns. There was hardly any resistance, not when the right amount of money was paid.

These towns were worthless, but with the Valthorn presence, all of them dwarves selected from our own academies, our work began.

In some ways, we gave dwarves huge options. With access to the wider Valtrian Order network, the dwarves of Treehome could select duties that they were most suited for, and with a large enough net, we could have dwarven [druids], [alchemists], [blacksmiths], and [builders].

We deployed them in these five towns, and used their skills to give our new towns advantages. New walls, improved yields from the foraged berries.

As the year reached its end on Delvegard, Sundus finally said his town was ready for the node.

And so, I deployed my first [Node Tree] on Delvegard.

***

Mountainworld

Adrian, the last hero of Mountainworld prepared for battle.

In a year, another demon king would arrive. Fifteen years seemed too short, or too long, depending on how you see it. Fifteen years was enough for a human child to become a war ready soldier.

Because on this war obsessed Mountainworld, a life of war starts early.

Fifteen. Ten. Child soldiers aplenty.

Will you be calling them back? Lumoof looked at Mountainworld. He was slated to visit Satrya too, but that was a risk.

I thought about it. It was a suboptimal choice, and the exploration of Satrya took longer than I expected. Partly because I wasnt expecting to find a world touched by the gods. I should.

Weve scouted out the connected demonworld, and found it to be some kind of wolf-world. The demons took the form of gigantic wolves, but with elemental powers. Each of the slightly different variants of the horned demonic wolves controlled either fire, earth or lightning.

***

Satrya

Edna, Roon and Ezar explored all the relic cities, but they eventually concluded that Patriarch Lumoof would have to be present in order to convince the other two Head Priests to switch sides.

The head priests of the seven relic cities met once a year for what is known as the Hawas Circle. Hawa himself only selected the Hawas Champions after the demon king arrived, and that was a few years more.

In short, they have at least a few more year before Hawa would come. If they have to, theyd have to crash a meeting with Hawas Champion.

Well, lets head back. Edna concluded. We need to be there for the fight with the wolf-demon.

Stella would open the portal from the other side-

You dont want to say goodbye to the priestess? Ezar teased. I bet shes going to hate you if you just disappear without telling her.

Roon was about to roll his eyes.

You promised her youd take her on a trip.

He gulped. Ah man- come on, I cant be taking a woman on a trip. Not when were going back to fight demons-

Edna laughed but nodded. Ezar has a point. I think you need to be more sensitive to how a woman of her age thinks. Lets take her with us.

What if shes a security risk? Roon countered. Shes a high priestess of Hawa. Were revealing information about ourselves!

Agree on that too. But at least, tell her youre going away. I know shes trying to observe you even now-

Roon flinched. It was true he was notified that his [domain] blocked attempted scrying.

But there were ways around it. She attempted to scry locations close to them, and it was possible to do so when their locations were not secret.

He frowned, but nodded. Ill send her a message.

Im leaving your world. Roon said via a magical message. He activated an item that allowed him to have a magical conversation. Also, you can stop scrying now.

The spell only facilitated a voice conversation, partly because Roon didnt really want to see her. -you know?

Of course. I keep getting notified its blocked!

If youre leaving, can you take me with you?

No. The unspoken reason was clear. She was a risk, and they didnt want to cannot expose our location.

My God is not a threat. She answered, clearly sensing the cause of her rejection.

We dont know about that. Roon said. Edna and Ezar listened nearby. There really was not much point for privacy in such situations.

Im certain of it. We have a common foe.

I hope so. But until we are sure, were not taking the risk. Roon countered. If youd arrange for the audience-

Its all about the audience. The priestess repeated. Fine! Ill tell Hawa! But if you get to speak to him, I want you to take me to your world.

The ranger sighed. He wondered why he had this type of trouble. Look. Its not my decision. Its a collective decision as an organization. I cannot promise you that. Goodbye.

The magical spell was cut off.

There.

Edna laughed. Well done, but I do think you need some relationship coach. The way you spoke to her was quite harsh.

Roon shook his head. Why are you trying to matchmake me with a foreign priestess? Cant you just let me date Aeons priestesses instead?

Im not. Its your personal choice in the end. Edna nodded. Come. Lets get back and deal with a giant pup.

***

Spaizzer

Author NOte : Shoutout /series/928639/ultiimate-level-zero/

Synopsis

Max wanted to be a [Baker].

Settle down, bake stuff, and enjoy life.

The gods, however, ruined that dream. Given [Baker] and a black skill, he is now running for his life, trying to grow strong enough to return home.

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LitRPG

Starting Slow Burn but will begin to grow faster as the story goes

Book 1 is done (and submitted to Publisher). Book 2 is currently 110k+ words!