Greed God chapter 101 (Patreon)

February 7th 2016 Gemworld 10:00 AM EDT

We  made it back to the village the next morning, but this time we took a  more relaxed approach. We wanted ourselves to be seen coming so they  could adjust. I thought we should make a rickshaw or something and have  one of our heavies pull the thing, but Barbie nixed the idea, playing  the 'strategic advisor' card, and claiming we didn't know enough about  Gemworld culture to know how it would be received.

After a  brief discussion I conceded the point. I's fallen into the trap of  assuming the technology level and language meant that these people would  be culturally identical to people in Earth's middle ages, but that  wasn't necessarily the case. Even slight alterations in geography and  resources could drastically alter the cultural landscape of a region,  and Gemworld was full of wizards and magic trees and shit.

Barbie  seemed shocked that I listened to her, but I just shrugged off the  questioning gaze she shot me. "Listen, I asked you to help me do this  because you know what's going on more than I do. I didn't study this  kind of thing back home, you clearly have a deeper understanding. I  wouldn't have asked you to help me plan things if I wasn't going to  listen to you. I might have my pride but I'm not an unreasonable idiot."  She seemed mollified by the comment, and was clearly glowing at the  praise of being told I valued her opinion.

I could  understand her confusion. Given my propensity for control in most  aspects of my life, it wasn't strange that my willingness to bend  perplexed her. What she missed was that I considered all of my people,  her included, to be my property. They were assets that I'd worked to  acquire, and I wasn't in the habit of wasting assets. Besides, my father  had always made a point of clarifying that delegation to competent  subordinates was NOT weakness. Properly leveraging the capabilities of  employees was a cornerstone of good management. As long as you were  confident in the leverage you had over them, it was stupid not to make  use of your peoples skills.

So we walked, which was much  less impressive but also less likely to mortally offend everyone and  result in us having to slaughter the whole town and start over, a  solution I suspected Barbie would have been horrified with. As we  approached, several farmers working out in the fields stopped to watch  us pass. We made no outward sign of noticing their gazes, but I took  everyone in with a thorough gaze, making sure to get a good idea of what  we were dealing with in terms of the farmers here.

The  people in the fields were surprisingly varied. In my head all the  farmers here were that same tall burly guy with a thick beard and an  amish hat, but they really ran the gamut. Unlike back on Earth in the  time period I'd associated with this place, there were several women out  here. Tall, short, blonde brunette, there was a large variance in  appearances and builds with each person working on something a bit  different.

While some farmers had rakes or were even  pushing plows, some were manually pulling up weeds or planting with  trowels. The farmers almost all wore tan linen clothes that were either  incredibly tight or cut down to allow movement, and most of them were  heavily tanned. I saw more than a few large pairs of sweaty tits that  caught my attention, and even some smaller ones that weren't as  voluminous but made up for it in perkiness. I knew we couldn't focus on  women here because we needed the best, but I absolutely hoped some of  these farm girls made the cut.

I hadn't realized that the  farmers were unisex, and when I mentioned it to Barbie she shrugged.  "There are a few of them out helping their husbands, but manual labor is  a male dominated field here just like back home. The women mostly  gather crops, pull weeds, that kind of thing." She sounded disdainful of  the practice, which was zero surprise to me, so I decided to drop it,  especially since we were coming up on the actual entrance to the village  proper.

Waiting for us was who I could only assume was  Manka, the mayor. As Barbie had mentioned Manka was a big guy with a  beard. Not as big as I was, closer to six feet even, but what he lost  out on in height, he made up for in width. Manka wasn't fat mind you, he  was just thick, wide barrel chest, broad shoulders, overhanging brow.  This guy looked less like a mayor and more like a thug, though I  obviously wasn't worried about him being a threat. I still decided to  appraise him just in case.

[Appraisal function  activated. Treasure detected. Manka-H rank Gemworlder. The Mayor of the  small town of Bridhall, Manka gets his position from the absurdly thin  amount of Emerald bloodline he inherited from his father, a minor noble  who impregnated a tavern girl. Angry at the nobility for their casual  cruelties and at the peasantry for accepting them, Manka abuses his  position to leverage some of Bridhall's female residents into giving him  sexual favors for minor magical solutions to problems or considerations  from his political role.]

Pretty much what I'd  figured based on Barbie's report. That wasn't shocking, though the  confirmation was nice. It meant if I had to kill him Barbie wouldn't  bitch about it. This was the kind of guy she would be glad to see gone.  He was only H rank so the chances of him being a threat to me were  basically zero. As we drew closer I saw that he didn't look intimidated  by us as I'd expected. Instead he looked suspicious and hostile. Given  his background that made sense, but I didn't want to assume how he'd  react. I just kept my guard up and continued my approach.

Manka's  beady green eyes glared out from under a pair of caterpillar eyebrows,  and his scowl twitched enough that I could see it even through his thick  bristly beard. As I came within range I saw him puff up his barrel  chest and tilt his head like he was trying to look down on me. Given I  was several inches taller than he was it really shouldn't have worked,  but he somehow managed to stare down his nose at me from his position  below my eyeline, which I had to admit was impressive. "State your names  and purpose strangers!"

Manka's voice was a booming  vibrato, and he had an accent that on earth I'd probably have called  british. Despite obviously taking himself far too seriously he wasn't  actually intimidating though, and I just looked him in the eye and gave  him my best Lord sneer. "Nicholas Lord. My companion's name is none of  your concern. Vulgar ears like yours are unworthy of its grace."  Admittedly a little high handed, but this guy was a dick and if I was  playing noble in a fantasy world I was going to be a huge asshole about  it. That was like...half the point.

The  big man's lip curled up in a snarl, and he stepped forward, but before  he could act a deep, resonant voice said. "Enough, Manka." The bearded  mayor stopped, looking hatefully to one side as a tall, serious looking  man with greying hair and a salt and pepper beard stepped from behind  one of the nearby houses. "If you can't keep a civil tongue in your  mouth when greeting guests, perhaps this part of your duties can be left  to me. A man of your position surely has more important things to do."

I  was expecting him to fight that, but Manka clearly didn't want any of  this guy. The out he gave him at the end let him justify the retreat to  himself without sacrificing his pride, which was fairly well done. The  big mayor turned to snarl at us agian, like literally snarl like a dog,  and then stalked away, leaving us along with the older man. I had a  decent idea who this probably was, but I decided to appraise him anyway.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Levka-  G rank Gemworlder. An experienced and skilled smith, Levka occupies a  position of honor in Bridhall village. Due to his rich experience and  invaluable crafting skills, people come from many surrounding villages  to commission work from him. His ability and even temper make him a  respected figure to all residents of the nearby townships, and allows  him to remain indispensable to Bridhall.]

I  almost whistled at that, but I held it in. G rank was solid. Not at my  level, but if he was G rank smith he should be capable of putting the  new forge to good use. He smiled calmly when he saw me looking at him.  "Welcome to Bridhall, my lord. My name is Levka, a humble blacksmith."  He bowed deeply to me, and I nodded to him, letting him rise. His eyes  were grey as granite, and piercing. "It has been some time since a noble  last graced our lands, I take it from your manner of dress and the name  you claim that yourself and your lady are indeed of the nobility?"

That  one was easy enough to answer. Even if I hadn't been born here or given  land, I owned a village, which did make me a lord in truth. "Even so.  Perhaps you might bring me to your place of business." I didn't SAY that  leaving me out here standing in this shitty dirt patch was an insult,  but I implied it pretty heavily with my tone. Levka clearly understood  how nobles worked because he didn't even look annoyed, he just smiled  and led me toward one of the larger and more well maintained buildings  in the city center.

We  stepped inside, the smith ushering us through the door and closing it  behind us. Inside was a grey haired woman in a tight dress. She was in  good shape for an older lady and had a bunch of smile lines on her  pretty face. Her low cut bodice showed a pair of very perky and  surprisingly smooth tits. She smiled as we all came in. "Levka, if you  had told me we would be having guests I would have prepared  refreshments. Welcome children. How might I address you?" She had a  pleasant, smooth voice and her silver hair was up in a loose bun.

Levka's  face remained serious. "Apologies dear. This is Nicholas Lord and his  companion. They're nobles visiting the town." Her easy demeanor  straightened, clearly worried about offending us by being so casual. The  action made her tits jiggle, which was nice, old style clothes really  made staring at bustlines way more fun. For a woman in her sixties she  was keeping it tight. Levka gestured to the woman. "This is my wife  Mara, the love of my life." He shot her a warm affectionate smile, which  she returned, and I mentally crossed her off my list. I'd never had a  GILF but Levka was going to be important to my village. I was sure I  could find another older woman to bounce on my dick for a laugh.

He  gestured us to sit at one of the chairs inside the tiny shop front. I  could see his forge through the door to the back. When we sat down I  decided to skip the pleasantries and get down to brass tacks. "We are  here because we're founding a new village. Lord village is only a few  hours from here. We possess multiple magic farms that can increase  growth times and yield as well as a magic forge we believe only you can  properly operate.  We came to you in hopes you might agree to become our  town blackmith, and to suggest hard working and talented farmers that  might staff our farms."

His  brow furrowed, but before he could speak I held up my hands. "Please. I  know you have a life here and are most likely comfortable. We didn't  come to poach you right away, simply to invite yourself and your  suggestions for the farm positions to tour Lord village and experience  our amenities. If you choose not to accept you're free to return, though  we hope you can give us another suggestion for our smith. How does that  sound?"

I hoped it would sound  good, it was the least offensive offer I could make. Once he saw the  forge he would definitely be hooked. Any passionate craftsman would lose  his shoot over a building like that. He looked uncertain for a moment  before sighing and giving one short nod. Perfect. Now I just had to put  on a decent show when they all came down to look over our village and  I'd have my first citizens in the bag.