The Fighter and the Farmer – Day 15

  Tiller stood scratching his head. He had a mess in front of him. He had a handful of potato and corn plants still growing, nearing harvest, from his first planting. He had some plants from his second planting, he estimated about a hundred coins’ worth. He had filled the available planting space with seeds bought in Medley with the money from Bonk’s corpse and Cutter’s loan. He had opted for fast-growing crops, carrots, onions and cabbage. He wanted a fast turnaround. He’d dropped 35 coins on those seeds, getting a friendly discount for buying multiple packets and, if they all survived without pipkin predation or ogre stomping, should yield 200 coins when sold. He feared it might be slightly less, as the volume of his sales grew.

  He would have three different harvests which might mean three different days spent going to and from Medley. He looked around the earthen island. If he got an axe he might be able to clear enough room to add another 200 coins’ worth of growing space, but that would be nearing the limit. That would put his output at about 500 coins per ten days. Fifty coins a day. Not terrible, but a far, far cry from where he needed to be.

  His thoughts were a blur of needs. The need to investigate higher-value crops, to explore other markets for when he (hopefully) had saturated Medley’s, the need to expand his growing space, accelerate growth… it went on and on. And all of this while worrying about the ogre corpse that lay in the distinctly ogre-shaped mound of earth.

  A whirring sound caught his attention.

  Tiller said, “You might as well say, Tiller heard Cutter and Stone Robot coming, I do know what the sound is.”

  …

  Tiller heard a whirring sound and turned in its direction. The familiar shapes of Cutter and his construct/personal vehicle were speeding across the open white. They were moving faster, he thought, than when he’d seen them before.

  There was a strange comfort in the sight. He hardly knew Cutter. But he felt like he was more real than the rest of this place, these other people. Cutter had helped him when he’d needed it, fighting Bonk, loaning him money. He felt his heart lift slightly at the sight of their approach. He walked to the edge of the island, Bean bouncing at his heels, to greet the other human.

  Cutter slid from Lita’s back. “Hey! Looks like you’ve been busy.”

  Tiller sighed, “The bank was a no-go, I didn’t know what else to do, so I decided I couldn’t let the land go to waste doing nothing. I bought some seeds with some of the gold you lent me. I think I owe you 23 coins, but you might as well have the rest of this back. It’s going to take me a couple of cycles of growing to make the money I need. If I’m not ogre-chow before then.”

  Cutter flashed a brilliant grin, “Don’t quit so fast. I made a fucking killing today. Literally and figuratively. We scored six hundred bucks today!”

  Tiller’s eyes flew wide. “Six hundred? Six, zero, zero?”

  Cutter preened.

  Tiller said, “Wow, I’m on the wrong path… that would take me more than ten days to put together.”

  Cutter hesitated, “I’m not so sure about that, pal… I’ve been talking to some people… hey, why’d the bank not help you out?”

  Tiller said, “Cause I’m a blow-in, cause I’ve got nothing to mortgage. They won’t count the land here because ‘a,’ it’s not mine and ‘b,’ it’s not worth shit in the first place. But man, with your 600 we could get the composter in like… well, it’s still going to take ten days for my harvests to add up to that, I’ll have some sooner but it won’t add up to a grand.”

  Cutter waved at him, “I’ll be earning too, probably won’t be making six hundred every day, but we’ll make some money to add to the next harvest, we’ll get there.”

  Tiller paused. “You’re… really going out of your way. I mean, you don’t know me. Don’t worry, I will pay you back, my harvests will get bigger once I clear some trees and start adding earth with the composter. But even at that, this is some serious angel shit.”

  Cutter said, “Nah, it’s a sidequest. Help the other human. Besides, we’re both in the same mess. I’ve been thinking that means we could maybe stick together. We both want the same thing, kinda. I’ve been thinking some other things… but I’ll get back to that later. You’re not going to believe who’s coming!”

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  Tiller groaned, “It’s not a clan of angry hungry ogres?”

  Cutter laughed, slapping his shoulder. Tiller staggered under what was intended to be a light blow. “Shit. Sorry, man. Don’t know my own strength. Cinder Strength, that is! Aha! Sorry, where was I… Oh yeah, no, no ogres. Not that I saw anyway. No, I met another human!”

  Tiller leaned in, “Seriously? Was he…”

  “Isekai-ed in here like us? Sure as shit he was. It’s really got me wondering. This place is meant to be pretty big? Like, the way people talk about Medley it doesn’t sound like New York City or anything. There’s these other realms people keep yapping about, and other towns too. Three of us got zapped into the same local area. Does that mean there’s people all over Scape? Shit, not that the rest of you guys aren’t people…”

  Lita stared at him through slitted eyes, “Nah, bruh, it’s cool. So long as my people-ness is an afterthought to you hoo-mans…”

  Cutter pursed his lips. “Anyway, what was I saying? Oh yeah, either there’s a lot of humans all around the place, or there’s a reason the three of us got dropped here together. I’m thinking either way, we should be teaming up a little. We all want the same thing.”

  “I thought this was all a dream.”

  “Tiller, man, this is so obviously all a dream or a coma or some weird bullshit. But it’s the best fricking time I’ve ever had, so I’m going to play by the rules of the game. There’s mysteries to be uncovered! Tasks to be accomplished. Hot-bodied lady rogues in the helmets so you can’t see their faces to be banged. Point here is that I’m playing the game. I’m gonna make my ten mil and I want to see you make yours. That’s the mission objective isn’t it? The main story quest?”

  Tiller nodded slowly. “I guess… So when’s this third human coming over?”

  Cutter shrugged, “Never really named a time. Just told him to come over today. Hmmm… you know, the guy was stoked to meet another human. I’ll bet he won’t take long.”

  Tiller said, “Come on, Maeve might make us some tea while we wait.”

  Cutter, rubbing the back of his neck, said, “That wouldn’t be so bad. Really tied one on last night. Hey, you’re not looking too healthy.”

  They started walking toward the leprechaun burrow. Tiller said, “Bonk really beat the shit out of me. I’m not just enough to justify wasting money on a potion though, so it’s probably just regular healing for me.”

  As they approached the burrow, they both saw Norris, crawling around in the dirt, partly obscured by the long grass beneath the trees.

  Cutter said, “Well, shit man, I should have thought of this. Here, try one of these.”

  Cutter produced a little brown mushroom from his bag.

  Tiller looked at it dubiously. “That’s… raw…”

  Lita said, “Trust me, bruh, that’s some serious meat-bag cure-all right there. It patched the big guy up just like that.”

  Tiller shrugged and took a bite. His eyes widened, pupils narrowing. “Holy shit! That tastes… amazing! Oh, wow, I can feel the difference. It’s like a mini healing potion.”

  Tiller’s imagination suddenly went wild with the potential. He wanted to ask Cutter where he got these, and if they could be farmed, when they came to a stop by Norris.

  The goblin was on his knees and caked in dirt. He was kneeling by his brother’s grave. Tiller tilted his head as he examined the evidence of the goblin’s efforts. There had been some crude effort turning the earth, though the result had been less than desirable. A mound of unbroken sods lay stacked on the grave, the withered remains of some wild flowers sagging where they protruded from the top.

  Tiller said, “Hey… Norris… whatcha doin’?”

  Norris looked up at them, his face disturbingly eager, “Oh, fellows, I have been endeavoring to make my brother’s resting place more fitting to its inhabitant. Wouldn’t you say this is quite the improvement?”

  Cutter grimaced openly. “Jeez… this is the saddest thing I’ve ever seen…”

  Norris looked from him to the mound of dirt and dead flowers. “Well, old boy, I… I’m not exactly on a path most congruent to the task… but I… oh no, I’ve shamed you, brother! Alas, what am I to do. Theodric would never have erred so!”

  Tiller calmed him. He took his shovel to the task, breaking, shaping and smoothing the earth. When he found fresh flowers to transplant they did not wither as they had for Norris. When the task was finished it may not have been a work of art, for a crafter Tiller was not. But it was substantially better.

  Norris threw himself on Tiller, weeping into his shoulder and laughing at the same time. “Oh, old boy! You’ve outdone yourself! Theodric would be overjoyed at such a monument! I dare say this would go so far as to mollify his regret at having his time cut so dreadfully short! You are a hearty gentleman. I say, a gentleman.”

  Tiller eventually extricated himself from the embrace and they made their way to the fire. Maeve was only too happy to brew tea and the two humans sat with the blue leprechaun and the stone construct. They spoke for a time of nothing. Cutter recounted his adventure with Huntress, Tiller his disturbing experience with the “necromancer type,” Maeve tried and delighted in one of the little brown mushrooms, and Stone Robot bemoaned his inability to drink tea.

  It would have been easy to forget the reality Tiller had found himself in. The morning passed so easily, so comfortably. It was perhaps the first time since arrival on Scape that he had forgotten the task before him.

  Maeve was placing the kettle back over the fire when a voice rang out.

  “Hey! You the fucking human dipshits my boss was supposed to be making out with today? You fucking have to be, cause I don’t see any other fuckwads with the pink skin and rounded ears. Looks like we’re having a nice fucking time? Tea party going okay? Well, I’ve got a bit of a fucking problem and I think you pieces of shit are the only option I’ve got to fucking solve it.”