Plans on Farming, Ramon's Interaction with the Refugees

Sam began walking towards the farm and saw that many of the farmers were still plowing the land.

He had planned it to be a huge farming area, with the future being he plants both food and cash crops, allowing him to begin setting up businesses that would bring income to his settlement. For now, it is starting to shape up to be a medium size farm.

Sam smiled and whistled, catching the attention of the farmers who stopped what they were doing and walked toward Sam.

"Lord! Here to check up on us I see?" One of the ladies said while holding the hoe.

"You bet, just seeing how you guys are doing, it looks like you guys were quick to plow the field, how long until you guys are ready to start seeding?"

"A few days, then we will begin seeding and watering the plants. Watering is a bit of a hassle, as we have to travel out of the village for a brief time to the nearest river and carry a water bucket back. Other than that, we are extremely relaxed with the work we are doing!"

Sam smiles and tells her to bring everyone around so that he can start explaining what to do next after the land has been plowed.

After a few minutes, everyone who was plowing stopped and began to circle around Sam who quiets everyone down with a raise of his hand.

"Alright, here is the plan. In the town center, there is a bag of potato seeds, a vegetable very nutritious and also very profitable! Do not worry, it isn't valuable to us as we can plant as many as we want, but it also means we need this entire farm based solely on potatoes for the time being!"

"Question Lord! What is a potato?"

"Good question! You'll find out! Any more questions before I move on?"

The farmer who asked the question had his head down while the others laughed at him.

"Alright alright, it was a joke! The other thing you guys need to do is use this special fertilizer I got for the land! Now, this is precious, make sure you use it correctly alright?"

Sam then went into his rucksack which he carried with him and took out the <FARM GROWTH ACCELARATOR> which was just a small 1kg bag with the name of what it is on the packet.

"What is that?" One of the farmers asked.

"As I said, fertilizer, but not just any fertilizer, this one as I was told is able to improve growth time and quality of the crop by a thousand percent!"

This was a lie, but Sam knew that this growth accelerator would do magic wonders to his farm. He just wanted to show off a little, which succeed.

"Now that is insane! But you did rebuild homes with your mysterious magic so I trust you Lord!"

"I'd trust you even if you didn't do those thing- ow! Who hit my head!"

The farmers began to smile and play around, while Sam watched on with a smile. If his people are happy, he is happy, as all lords should be.

"Now, now. You guys got some work to do, I'll entrust this fertilizer with the beautiful aunt over there and she'll start getting a group together to start fertilizing when the plowing is done. This is important, you are our bread and butter of how we are going to grow this settlement! Let's work hard!"

The farmers, similar to the lumberjacks cheered loudly before heading back to work.

Sam turned around and walked towards his office in his courtyard building, his plan was to write down notes of what to do with his village in the future while he waits on the tasks to be completed.

**

Meanwhile, Ramon began his journey back to the forest, heading towards the refugee camp in the forest.

"Who goes there!" A deep voice stopped Ramon in his tracks.

"Just a villager, just a villager!" Ramon raises his hand with a wry smile, hoping that they wouldn't start attacking him.

"Villager? Which village do you hail?" The loud voice replied.

"The former village of Dunkirst, now named the Hope Village!"

"Dunkirst? Former? What happened to your village?"

"We were raided by bandits just a few days ago, most of our people died in that raid." Ramon voice started to choke, remembering the incident which was like PTSD in his mind.

"So how did you become the Hope Village? Did you guys join another village?"

"No! We met a man who buried our loved ones and rebuilt our homes! We are all living under his protection now, and working hard to make a new home from scratch!"

"Bullshit!" The voice then came out of the trees, revealing himself to be a middle-aged man with a bow and arrow as a weapon.

"You are telling me that some random stranger decided to build your homes, bury your loved ones and is now your leader? Are you drunk? Or perhaps you work for the bandits who 'raided' you!"

The man then pointed his arrow at Ramon once more, but Ramon didn't look scared nor did he flinch.

"Listen, if you need proof, I can always take you to the village and you can see for yourself! I am here to make peace, I saw your camp yesterday when I was scouting the area at the request for the village leader! I returned and reported your existence, and he said he doesn't mind you guys joining the settlement and is beginning construction on new homes!"

The middle-aged archer raised his eyebrow and stared deep into Ramon's eyes, but saw nothing to indicate Ramon was lying. He lowered his weapon and sighed.

"I will take you to our camp, but I do not guarantee that we will follow you to this new village you claim to be from."

"I do not wish to force you, just like how our Lord gave us the choice to stay and work with him, I will do the same with you guys."

The man nodded and introduced himself as Dale, a former kingdom soldier who retired and returned to the village.

"When the bandits arrived, I tried to fight them off but I couldn't fight alone. So many people died that night, and I just escaped with as many people as I could take with me without the bandits knowing. I… made a terrible mistake of leaving everyone else there, I am a terrible person!"

Ramon nodded and explained how his wife had died during the raid. He thought about committing suicide the moment he saw her body, but when Sam came and buried his wife despite them planning on burning her body, it made him feel indebted to him, which is why he is working hard to be a valuable member of the settlement.

"A man who would bury random strangers is someone I respect. But that couldn't be the only reason you follow him, does he have something special? Something worthy of you being his follower?"

Ramon nodded, "He had the power to rebuild homes with magic, something I have never seen before!"

Dale raised his eyebrow, "Is he a magic user?"

Ramon smiled, "I don't know, but he rebuilt our homes and helped give skills to our villagers through some magical building! It's something that I don't think no other place including the Kingdom has that sort of thing!"

Dale nods and begins to wonder if it is worth joining this new settlement Ramon is talking about.

Soon, they arrived at the small basic camp that Dale and his crew set up.

A bunch of kids was seated in front of a fire, alongside women who looked malnourished and starved. The men who saw Dale and Ramon stood up and began eyeing Ramon with caution.

"Hear him out, apparently he is from Dunkirst, but they were raided by bandits and now are rebuilding alongside a new Lord who is also a magic user!"

The women and men gasped and looked in shock as they stared at Ramon who smiled at them back.

Ramon nodded his head, "Our Lord heard about what happened to you, and is inviting you to join the village and help rebuild with him. He is even setting up new homes now if you do wish to join. But we do not wish to force you. We promise to keep you fed, and provide you jobs and a warm home."

The men who stood up called Dale to come to the corner with them while they discuss, meanwhile the women whisper amongst themselves approving of moving to Hope Village with Ramon, after all, they have been living in the forest for a few days and haven't eaten food at all since, with the hunting only going towards the children so that they don't die of starvation.

Ramon waited, laying his back on a tree and his eyesight not leaving the men who were huddled in the corner discussing their next move.

Soon, they all nodded simultaneously and walked toward Ramon.

"We all agree, but only if you stay with us for a few days. We recently had two men who were hunting with us going missing, if you help find them then we will head to your settlement and see if it is worth us settling down there."

Ramon smiled, "No problem, searching for your men will take a few days. I'll begin searching for them now, where did they go?"

"I do not know, we asked them to search the area and find some food which should only take a few hours, but it has been a day and no signs of them being around is causing us to be worried."

"Do not fret, I'll start running around now. Stay back, if I do not find them tonight, I'll bring some food and we will continue tomorrow!"

"Hold up, I'll go with you too. I have experience in tracking, it'll help!"

Ramon nodded his head and he and Dale began traversing around the forest searching for the missing villager.