Chapter 39: The Dilemma of Powerful Lords!
Kaiden had never worked in farming, so he had no prior knowledge of the yields from a good harvest and had never expected such large quantities. He was surprised and delighted — he now had an enormous surplus.
"My lord, where shall we store all of this? The warehouse still has considerable capacity, but it isn't equipped for vegetable storage. A large portion will spoil within a week or less."
Casper's voice pulled Kaiden out of his momentary daze. That was true — where would he store all of this? What a happy problem to have.
He thought for a moment, then said: "No problem — transfer everything to the warehouse for now, and I'll think of a solution soon." In truth, when he considered it further, Kaiden wasn't particularly worried about the vegetables spoiling.
If he couldn't find a storage solution in the future, he could simply sell the surplus at a high price. Of course, that would be a last resort — it would be better to find a suitable solution first. Besides, he still didn't have enough cultivable land, so he preferred not to sell anytime soon if possible.
Having grown to know his talent better, Kaiden decided to store the vegetables in the warehouse today, and tomorrow he would check his territory talent's quest list to see whether there were any suitable quests.
Having set his goal, Kaiden took it upon himself to handle the transportation — he was best suited for the task, being a walking portable spatial storage. He could have delegated it to the villagers, but everyone already had work to do. Transporting such a large quantity would take them a long time, slowing both the work and the territory's growth — something he absolutely wouldn't allow. So he thanked them for their efforts and dismissed them to return to their primary duties.
Only he, Casper, and the six farmers remained. Kaiden noticed the farmers had reached their rank threshold during the harvest ceremony, so he took the opportunity to upgrade them on the spot.
After the upgrade, the six had officially become Farmers as a class. As a result of their class, they became more efficient and knowledgeable in farming. Their rank also included ten levels, and they would need two Origin Points to upgrade to Seasoned Farmer.
Although he still had vegetable seeds — increased from the previous batch — sufficient to plant another round, Kaiden chose to hold them for now. Instead, he handed the farmers the crop seeds he had earned from the vegetable farming quest: three thousand seeds, a thousand each of barley, wheat, and corn.
Kaiden liked to make use of everything, so he told the farmers not to waste the now-empty vegetable plants — rather, to cut them down and send them to the warehouse as well. Who knew when he would acquire livestock? He was planning ahead.
Speaking of livestock, Kaiden remembered the chicks that had hatched yesterday. They needed food urgently too — but he didn't want to grow poultry feed at this stage despite having the seeds. At least in this batch he didn't want to plant it, since he didn't have enough farmers, let alone sufficient cultivable land.
In any case, it was fine for now. He only had twenty chicks, so feeding them kitchen scraps over the coming days would suffice. After the chickens multiplied over a few days, he would have more manpower, and there would be no problem.
Ahh… being a Lord means thinking about every kind of thing, Kaiden grumbled inwardly as he emptied the first loaded haul into the warehouse. But it was only a passing thought — he didn't feel bad or upset about it. Kaiden was mentally mature and understood that to acquire power, influence, and authority, one must pay a certain price.
He also understood that everything in the territory was interconnected. For example, the vegetables he was now transporting would improve the quality of food — and that was enormously important. Imagine himself and his territory's residents eating nothing but meat at every meal, every day, for a solid month. Problems would certainly begin to show.
From his experience over the past days, Kaiden had found this world to be incredibly magical — yet it followed very logical foundations. It was somewhat amusing that when he had first arrived, there wasn't even a container for storing water, no spoons or pots. In truth, even at this moment, the territory — despite its apparent vitality — still lacked many basic essentials. All the relevant workshops were operating at full capacity to fill the gaps and produce basic necessities.
So this world was logical, and everything had a function. Being the Lord, he had to think about all kinds of matters — otherwise problems would appear, grow, and accumulate without him noticing. Perhaps this was the dilemma of powerful, fast-developing Lords like Kaiden.
His spatial bag held roughly two thousand units, so he needed only three trips back and forth. As for the surplus, he sent it to Sidra's tavern — lunchtime was already approaching.
Kaiden sat resting in the shade of the warehouse, a water flask in hand, and used the break to think about what he needed to do next. He opened his territory talent to look at the quests again:
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1 — Reclaiming the Spoils:
Details: Retrieve the spider carcasses killed in the forest back to your territory. They may be more useful than you imagine.
Time Limit: 24 hours.
Reward: Iron × 1,000 units.
2 — Elite Promotion:
Details: Raise the rank of at least 4 militia soldiers to elite.
Time Limit: 24 hours.
Reward: Random Elite Soldiers ×3. (Completed)
3 — The First Harvest:
Details: Harvest all fully ripened vegetables.
Time Limit: 24 hours.
Reward: Random Common Fruit Tree Sapling Bundle ×1. (Completed)
4 — Optimal Use of Earth Magic 2:
Details: Use the "Subterranean Vision" skill to do something beneficial for the territory.
Time Limit: 24 hours.
Reward: Earth Mage Equipment ×1 (Rare).
5 — The Territory's First Hero:
Details: Promote the rank of at least one elite soldier to Nascent Champion.
Time Limit: 24 hours.
Reward: Random Nascent Champion ×1.
6 — Beast Master:
Details: Use the Monster Taming Voucher to tame at least one Common-tier monster and make it your companion.
Time Limit: 24 hours.
Reward: Random Rare Pet Draw Voucher ×1.
7 — Acknowledged Power:
Details: Upgrade the Lord's Crown to the Silver rank.
Time Limit: 24 hours.
Reward: Golden Treasure Chest ×1.
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Kaiden looked at the quests and sank into thought. He had completed two so far, with five remaining. As for the seventh quest — upgrading the Lord's Crown — he couldn't complete it until he finished the first quest, since he was short on iron ore to upgrade the Lord's Hall and meet the Crown upgrade requirements. Setting those two aside, three quests remained. The first hero promotion depended on Laura's monster-killing efforts, and Kaiden estimated it wouldn't take long either. That left him two quests to actively work on.
Kaiden stood up, full of energy, bringing his ten-minute break to a close and started walking with his decision already made, heading along the territory's borders.
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— End of Chapter Thirty-Nine —