Chapter 398 Homesteading in a fantasy world (Patreon)

Everything was packed for my trip to Connection. There was, however, some time before I needed to meet up with the new company members in the capital. Arabella had done a good job recruiting in Connection, but there were also promising recruits in the UF military.

This was also a good way to keep strong people tied to UF. Otherwise, when their service ended, many would leave and join guilds or other companies so they could continue their journey of leveling up. With my company, they do not need to choose to leave but can still stay connected.

It's good when a plan comes together. I suspect that if things continue like this, I will need to expand the company quite a lot as we will probably start to have members in the thousands.

When I walked out of my room carrying my packs, I noticed a few apprentices cooking. They were from the new batch, but they have already settled in quite nicely.

Tim and I had teaching them down to a science. That didn’t, however, mean we couldn’t improve things. Cooking for over 12 people was a lot of work, and I think the kitchen is a bit small for that amount of people.

Not that it can’t do it, there’s just better options. With every batch of apprentices, we also have quite a few who are interested in making food. Having proper facilities for them would be important.

It seems like we need to make another building. I’ll need to talk to Tim about this when I get back. We could probably add some other things to that building as well, perhaps some brewing equipment, or perhaps a place to do some alchemy so I could finally get that skill ranked up.

Speaking of skills, they were advancing, but the higher you get them, the slower things go. There was a reason why some rank 3, 4, and even 5 people were called empty barrels. In this world, especially if you have combat classes, you could quite easily out-level your skill, leaving you a lot weaker or emptier as you don't have the powerful abilities you can get from getting to master rank of a skill.

Thanks to my Homesteader class, this wasn’t too much of a problem, as I have had so many chances to gain abilities. I have gotten lucky in getting some good choices, and having multiple weaker ones that do similar things also helps a lot.

This meant that I wasn’t an actual empty barrel, but I could be a lot fuller. It will take a lot of time and effort to get those skills up, and that was if I was focusing on a few of them and not on the ridiculous amount that I had.

It was still green outside, but the leaves had already started to turn. A smile came to my face. This place looked so lived in. It was nice to see it being so lively.

Back on Earth during my later years, even with my efforts, a single man could only do so much, and slowly nature was starting to reclaim what I had taken from her. I was not mad about it, but it’s still nice to see everything be so alive and filled with activity.

The new root cellar that the apprentices built about a year ago was currently the main place where we held our harvest. The old root cellar now mainly holds bottled and preserved stuff. There were so many different jams, but I think what I liked the most were the pickles. They truly were good to eat, and having gone without them for a couple of years caused me to consume quite a few jars.

Currently, most of the apprentices were working on building a house and root cellar, but these were not going to be permanent. This was Tim’s idea.

We were both concerned that we simply wouldn't have enough buildings to be built after a few more waves of apprentices. So, Tim came up with the idea of having a place where we could have them build a building and root cellar and then also deconstruct them.

This way, every batch of apprentices will get the practical experience they need if they want to build their own homestead. Tim truly has been a lifesaver. Without him, I would not have this much free time, and who knows where I would be?

As I walked towards the planted trees, I marveled at how large they had grown over a couple of years. The land was feeding them nicely, so they could grow large and strong.

This, however, also meant that the time was fast approaching when I would need to relocate the iron oak saplings. This was still a secret project, but I have been pushing during some of the meetings that we should start expanding west as well. There were other reasons for that as well, one of the bigger ones being so we could secure our western border.

While currently, we weren't finding any trouble that way, there was an entire kingdom near the coast that no one has heard of since the plague.

We have sent some scouts that way, but they have found nothing too worrisome for quite a large distance towards the west. Perhaps Goose and I should take a look, but I have a gut feeling that going to look would not be a good idea, so I’ve been pushing it back.

Eventually, I made it near where the hills start. I looked over the batch of tree vines I planted here. They were the plants I collected near the lake in the river delta that grew incredibly fast.

I was able to modify them so they would grow a bit slower, so they wouldn't mess up the soil around them but also stop them from spreading through their roots. That was truly difficult to achieve.

I took an axe and started to chop them down and pull out the roots. They were almost there, but they needed a little bit more work before I could use them. When they were ready, they would make the perfect fence.

They were incredibly tough and could survive being planted next to each other. As they grew, they were incredibly easy to guide, so it was easy to make them interlocked with each other, creating a strong weave which made a strong fence.

Their roots also made it safer against predators who could dig; not even a fox would be able to get through if I did it correctly. These plants would also grow quite thick leaves, which would help shield animals from the wind and sun. I could even create overhangs so the animals could take shelter underneath them from flying predators and rain.

Eventually, I want to divide many of the hills into smaller sections with this fence, so we could keep different kinds of animals and they would be quite safe without constant supervision. Of course, not every kind of domesticated animal could live in these hills, but I think some would quite enjoy it. There was the problem of water, but I also have a solution for that.

There were many large boulders absolutely everywhere. Cutting them in half and then hollowing out both sides would create water troughs that would be filled with rain. And with enough of them, water shouldn't be a problem. Hollowing them out would also be a good job for some of the apprentices, but if this didn't work, I was certain I could think of a way to use the river for a solution.

It was now time to go. I kind of wanted to work more on my homestead, but I should have a few centuries to do so. It was important to make sure I could have those centuries, and if that meant I would need to be away right now, then that was acceptable to me. It would also be nice to see Francis once again.

After he and Luke got done with this year’s road preparations, they left back to Connection and have been working there. While they haven't taken the wagon deep into the wilderness, they have been taking it out quite regularly near Connection so the new company members could get practice.

Everyone there has also been working on the inside of the wagon as well, so it shouldn't be a problem taking more than 100 people into the deep wilderness for an extended stay.