[NR] Head Go Squish - Chapter 577 (Patreon)

The man shrugs, “One can assume such failures have happened. Though kingdoms tend to keep such things quiet.”

Rosha, “Wouldn’t it be hard with travellers and what not?”

The man smiles, “Well, it will be now. You all are new and so most examples of failed expansion happened before travellers showing up. Oh, and when an attempted claim fails, there isn’t any time for people to get away. The Deep Wilds is like a bear trap and the kingdoms are trying to disarm it while standing inside of it, hoping it doesn’t go off.

“Once a kingdom fails? A thick forest pops up around the entire claim and then some. As for everything and everyone that was in that area? Well, they don’t die, at least not from the event. It is just that they get thrown deeper than Deep.”

Courtney frowns, “The depth of danger seems to have no end.”

The man rolls his eyes, “Say the immortal that just has to die and they pop back up somewhere familiar? Well, I guess technically that isn’t true with this.”

Courtney squints at him, “And what do you mean by it technically not being true?”

The man laughs, “Nothing serious, just that you don’t have to go and get yourself killed. If the grapevine is correct, the last failure about two hundred years ago had a couple travellers. When questioned on where everyone ended up, it was found that the System killed them before they could get transported away.

“And not as in the System, just forcing them to die. Rather, the System hardened the air around their heads and squeezed it. They popped like a watermelon. So I guess the System gets a bit of warning and some Magi believe that contingency spells hooked into the System itself might allow someone to be extracted. Not that they have any volunteers.”

Courtney sighs, “Well, that sucks for us, but the risk isn’t quite as cataclysmic for us.”

The man shakes his head, “Yeah, not that bad for you. Don’t jinx this all, I would really prefer to be alive to turn in my resignation from this position. Besides, things are nowhere near that bad here! If anything, we’re winning, though this is definitely the sort of thing where it is up in the air until the last possible moment.”

Jason nods, “That is fair, so how about we transition to some other matters? In particular, what’s the glass situation in the area? I’m thinking a greenhouse would be useful.”

The man snorts, “Fair enough, let’s change the subject I guess. As for glass? We don’t have a glazier in the settlement. We’re much too small for such a specialized profession. However, you can certainly put in an order. Even better, orders through the settlement get handed off to the best people for the job.

“You aren’t going to have a small shop for such a big and demanding order. It will get put to some larger organization with the equipment and manpower to deliver within a few months. The question is whether you have the money for it.”

Jason shakes his head, “Certainly not at the moment. I’ve only got a little over a hundred gold to my name.”

The man sighs, “You’re correct, that wouldn’t be enough. Just as equally, though, you have to admit how much money that is. I know you travellers tend to end up using gold pieces almost exclusively. However, there is a reason for the copper and silver coins. The average farmer might see gold pieces once a year around harvest. Even then, those gold coins aren’t going in their pockets, but getting exchanged for the lower denominations of coins.

“Hell, if it wasn’t for the System preventing it, chances are people would do things like clip coppers in quarters or eighths to pay for minor items. Though really, it is silver that most people live on. The second and especially third bottleneck means most don’t need anything more.”

Rosha interrupts to ask, “Then why is our gear in gold? It cost us a good chunk of change.”

The man gestures at himself, “And do I look to be wearing some magical creatures pelt? You’re an adventurer. Proper gear for what you do is never going to be cheap. The average farmer is going to be happy with a bronze hoe that has a sturdy oak handle.

“Then there’s you. Well, there’s Jason, I don’t think you’re the one farming. Anyway, there is Jason standing over there and I bet he has at least one farming tool made with some sort of mystical metal or wacky wood. A normal farmer might, let me stress, might have an iron plow with a tiny bit of Earth iron mixed in for durability. Though generally that is only because it has been passed down for many generations.

“However, even that small amount of added elementally aligned iron is enough to keep the plow in working shape for over a hundred years. That is, if they only farm normal crops in a normal place. A group like you? Out farming in the Deep Wilds? You’d need a plow made almost entirely of the stuff and it might not last more than one season. The very soil itself resists you, and a normal iron plow would lose its edge within a few feet. And that doesn’t even take into account any roots that might be around to foul up the plow.”

Rosha makes a sour face, “Things can’t be that bad?”

The man shakes his head and even crosses his arms for emphasis. “Oh, my no! Things are actually quite fine. Yes, in theory, one high-level farmer could put a kingdom’s worth of regular farmers out of work. However, that is only if they focus on normal crops.

“Even those that focus on growing enormous fields of crops don’t bother with that. Why grow normal wheat in a few days when you could grow some sort of mystical wheat variant? Sure, they help with natural disasters and other events that would cause a famine. In the normal swing of things, though, they might even need multiple years for a field to mature, depending on the crop and how saturated the local thaum field is. And it’s not like there is a limited market for that kind of stuff. Even the most basic magical wheat variety has a never ending line of buyers. If only because they’re used to make military rations since they are magically extra filling.”