Tiene drifts off to sleep soon after, leaving me alone in the darkness. I bring up the portal to our external website to upload the days video, doing some basic editing. I cut part of Leona’s appearance, making her seem a bit more mysterious and saving Tiene’s dignity. A short montage of the farming process gave me filler material to work with. Finally, a mood shot of our late night chat with some guitar music on top. That should give the viewers a taste of farming life in the World Below. There’s still no videos uploaded by the others, which makes me worried. Hopefully there’s a letter waiting for me at the keep. The videos I uploaded previously has garnered a few hundred views. Not exactly a viral video yet, but anything is better than nothing. If our viewership keeps growing at this rate we’ll be able to pay next months rent in about six months. I sigh sadly, letting the voices of the night lull me to sleep.

***

[You are rested.]

Birdsong greets me in the new day. I stretch, bumping into Tiene in the process. She swears a little before going back to sleep. I chuckle as I get out of the tent. Morning is breaking slowly and I light the fire, preparing our breakfast. As I’m grooming Reynard, I catch movement in the corner of my eye down by the field. A dark shape is hopping around, sniffing at the ground. No, not sniffing, pecking. A magpie?

I drop the reins running towards the field. Flailing my arms, I scream as I approach. Before I get withing ten metres, the bird flies off with a caw. I pick up a rock to throw after it, missing it by miles. With a thought, I bring up the field interface.

[Field 1: small (100x100)][Current crop: Emgrass (430)][Soil quality: Normal (high mineral content)][Growing cycle: Sprouting (1)][Average health: 67%][Estimated Yield: 0.][Needs: Weeding. Watering.]

Crap. Stupid greedy bird. How much did it eat? I start weeding, repairing the damage as much as possible as I go along. The distribution of colours has changed since yesterday. Several sections are black, where the feathered fiend feasted. Some are greener than yesterday, showing some healthy little sprouts. Most of them are still orange to yellow.

As I keep working the field, the colours begin to improve showing a much healthier hue than when I started. I replant the darkened squares, losing another handful of seeds, and water everything. This brings the average health up to 82% and the crop number to 1000. At least I could recover from the damage, but I need a way to keep the damn thing from destroying my work.

While I’m thinking about the problem, Tiene comes to join me with some cold breakfast. I complain to her as I eat, and she gets a thoughtful look in her eyes.

“I think I can help with that. We just need a scarecrow. I need some materials to make one. Two sticks, about yea high.”

She holds her hands out to show me.

“Some old clothes, some stuffing, a bag for the head and something shiny to dangle from the side.”

You have been given a quest: Nightmare Fuel.Tiene will build you a scarecrow if you get her the materials.Success: A staple of horror to call your own.Reject: Probably the sane choice. Birds need to eat too.

I roll my eyes as I accept.

“I guess I’m heading into town then. Can you keep an eye out for the little bastard? I’m sure it’ll be back as soon as I turn around.”

She nods, smiling.

“Oh, before you go, here’s my list. Get me this stuff and we’ll have a place to sleep before long.”

I head back to the cart and strap Reynard in. He’s a bit grumpy since I didn’t finish grooming him this morning, but a handful of oats makes up for the heresy. I start the long trip with high hopes.

***

The guards at providence greets me as I arrive in the late afternoon. I park at the stables, exchanging pleasantries with the stablehand before I head to the general store. Handing over the list, with the addition of the scarecrow materials, I get ready for the bill.

“More water, eh? I thought there was a well on that old plot.”

The old man is climbing some rickety shelves using what I can only call a parody of a ladder. I stand underneath, stabilising it for dear life.

“There was, but it’s been destroyed. Don’t know if it was the old owners or time and weather, but I’m not going to be able to open it up any time soon.”

He grunts as he pulls an old tarp from a high shelf, nearly falling over.

“I’m sure there’s a source of water closer than the keep. Have you met your neighbours yet?”

For a moment I’m left speechless. It didn’t even occur to me to check out the farms around me.

“I haven’t had time yet, but I’m going to make it a priority going forward.”

He hands me a carton of nails as he goes to dig around for the rest of my order. Finally, he hands me a tally.

“Thirteen gold?”

My mind boggles at the price.

“I can’t afford that right now. I haven’t even had my first harvest yet.”

He gives me a serious look as he puts a hand on the cudgel at his belt.

“This isn’t a charity, friend. Do you have anything to put up as collateral?”

Thinking about it, I realise how poor I am.

“Can you give me a loan against the Emgrass I’m growing? It’s a fast growing crop, so I should be back with the first delivery in a few days. I can throw in three gold pieces as a down payment.”

I can see the gears grinding in his mind. Frankly, it’s a terrible deal. I wouldn’t agree to it myself, unless there was some real collateral.

“I’ll take the gold, and you’ll owe me seventeen more. I’ll take part of it in trade, but I’ll need at least ten coins cash. I’ll give you a week to repay me, or I’ll take your cart and foxburro in lieu. How does that sound?”

A seven gold markup makes it very expensive, but I don’t really have a lot of choices right now. The cart and Reynard are worth much more than twenty gold though. If it comes to the worst, I can sell them myself and pay him off.

“Throw in a can of lamp oil and a bag of potatoes, and you have yourself a deal.”

He grunts as he puts out his hand, and we shake.

[Skill discovered: Trading.]

[Debt acquired: You owe seventeen gold to Quarn the Shopkeeper. You have put Reynard and your cart up as collateral. You have 7 days to pay.]

I carry the goods out, loading the cart before I head to the administration centre. Inside I find the InterDaemail console.

[You have 4 new messages.][ Mika - Sorry.][ Mika - Dude!][ Mika - Portal.][ Rishi - . . . ]

I check Rishi’s mail first. As I select it, I feel excited in a way I didn’t expect. I shake it off as I start reading.

[Subject: . . .][Hi Tee. We should talk.]

My heart sinks at her words. That can’t be good. I read Mika’s letters in the order I received them.

[Subject: Portal][ Are you going to start uploading anything to the portal soon? We’ve put up hours of adventures, but we’re not getting any traction. I think it’s pretty standard fare, so there’s a lot of competition. Rishi is feeling better. I think. Actually, I have no idea. She tore a lizardman apart yesterday. Check out the video!]

[Subject: Dude!][Oh man, I forgot to say! We’ve been out of contact for more than a week. After the mercenary mission we joined an expedition into a ruined city underground, made by some sort of protodwarf. Suffice to say there wasn’t a lot of mail consoles.]

[Subject: Sorry.][I think I know what’s going on with the portal. We’re not able to see each others videos. It would give us an unfair method of communicating with each other, so we can only see our own uploads. I’m not sure how the company is policing this, but I’m going to assume you’re uploading as well. We’ll see soon enough when the advertising money comes in. Oh, and we’re going to start travelling to you now. It was the Deephammer province, right?]

Dammit Mika. That kind of jumping to conclusions led to him shouting at me so many times when I was a healer. It was a big part of the reason why I’d had enough. I compose a response.

[Subject: Calm yourself mountain man.][Haven’t you learnt by now that your first instinct is always wrong? I’ve uploaded a few videos. Not a lot of views yet, low hundreds, but I’m hopeful for the next few clips. I won’t have produce to sell for a while though, I’m scraping the barrel with regards to cash. Take care brother, see you soon.]

And one for Rishi.

[Subject: You know where to find me.][But I’m sure you’ll get lost on the way. Probably chasing a squirrel. I’ll keep a light on for you. Best, Tee.]

I almost put in ‘love’, but delete it. No reason to complicate things. I send the messages, collecting the change left behind. Before I head off, I go to check in with Yadra. The inn is busy. It looks like supper service, making me feel nostalgic for my first few days in this world. Shaking it off, I sit at the bar and wait. Soon enough I’m smacked upside the head with a wooden spoon.

“What the hell are you doing here? Goofing off? You’re going to lead that poor girl into misery the way you’re keeping on.”

I rub my head as I smile at Yadra. She’s wearing an apron with food stains. She’s clearly working hard.

“You’re looking good. Sure I can’t convince you to come with us?”

She snorts.

“I’d rather wipe my ass with nettles.”

I nod, chuckling.

“That’s fair. I can get you some nettles if you need any. Also Emgrass, if you have a way to mill it.”

She raises an eyebrow, clearly interested.

“I don’t know if there’s any use for that kind of thing here…”

She starts her negotiation, but I interrupt her.

“Come on, we’re not doing this. If you can use it, I’m going to sell it to you, and you’re going to pay a reasonable price with the friend discount.”

She bristles at first, then relaxes.

“Fine. Come around with a sample when you can. If the quality is good enough I’ll buy some off you. It’s an uncommon grain in this area, but I have a few recipes I think will sell well here.”

I consider that for a moment.

“You know, if you’d prefer I can trade part of the grain to you in exchange for a share in the finished goods.”

She puts out her hand faster than I’d like.

“Deal.”

As we shake, I can’t avoid the feeling that she played me this time. I quickly forget it as she comps me an ale, a small keg and a parcel of food to bring back to Tiene. When I’ve finished I head back to the stables. It’ll be well dark before I get back, but I should be fine with the lamp. The wagon is heavily loaded, but the repair seems to be holding as I sit in the drivers seat. As we start rolling toward the gates, I see a large figure standing in my way.

I approach Grimguard, slowing down in good time. I do not want to ram this guy. He walks over to me, and even sitting in my elevated position I have to look up to meet his eyes.

“Good evening. Leaving?”

His voice thunders against the calm evening.

“Yeah, I have to head back to the farm. It’s quite a place you helped us get, I really appreciate the assistance.”

I try to keep the sarcasm out of my voice. It’s impossible to read his expression as the glowing embers of his eyes keep burning.

“Welcome. Baron request.”

He hands me an official looking scroll. I take it and wait for him to keep talking.

“Will visit. Two days.”

I nod.

“We’ll look forward to it. Is there anything we can prepare for you? Any hospitality we can offer?”

There’s a whirr of cogs and axles inside of him for a moment.

“Anything interesting. Good talk. Travel safe.”

He turns around, walking away from me. I find myself wondering what kind of player would voluntarily play something like that. I’d understand it if he was in the army, on the front lines. As I’m about to leave, I notice that the people he passes give him a wide berth as he stomps back to the keep. Interesting.

[Skill increased: Perception.]

By the time I get back to the farm, the moons have kept me company for an hour already.