A week passed by with no incidents nor stimulating events. Ren had been looking forward to fighting bandits, but it seemed that Eldrad had overstated the frequency of their attacks. He spent most of his time swinging his sword, and checking his system interface, attempting to familiarize himself with it.
Things were stable until he got up one morning, and saw his crops. His vegetables, blue berries, and potatoes had all ripened, and were ready for harvest, all at the same time. He had noticed the vegetables' fast growth, and he had been glad that they were already voluminous in such a short time, but having all of his crops ripened all at once was a disaster, and Ren had no doubt in his mind that the fountain of Elaxis was responsible for it.
He had no idea what day it was, and although his clock still read the time, he could not attribute it to this world. They were all ripe, and huge, almost like they had been pumped full of steroids the previous night.
"What?!" He screamed at the sight of them, immediately running to his field to get a better look.
"What happened?!"
The cabbages had become three times their previous sizes, the carrots were well protruding out of the soil, and his apples and berries were bigger than ever.
"How am I supposed to sell all this before they go to spoil?" He grimaced, but one thing Ren did not know was that, not only does the fountain of Elaxis fertilize the soil, and provides it a copious amount of nutrients, it also preserved whatever that grew. His fruits and vegetables would be fine, and would go without spoiling for a very long time, but he did not know that.
The system noticed his distress, and it was the perfect condition for a new quest.
[New quest: Food Merchant/The trade farmer]
[Sell all your farm produce in the expanse of two weeks.]
[Reward: +5 Dexterity, +7 coins]
[Duration: Two weeks]
[Failure results to the Fountain of Elaxis getting revoked, and your crops left to rot.]
Ren cupped his chin as he read the quest off the system interface, two weeks was not too bad, however from the looks of it, he doubted his crops would last that long anyways, he needed to trade them fast. A lot of convincing needed to be done to have the villagers even consider buying his produce, and although Ren did not know of the total number of the villagers, he knew they could not buy all of what he had.
'Low prices, and the sizes could attract them. I could even give certain discounts over a number of single purchases.'
"I need the villagers to like me."
His first, and largest problem was that he would need to build trust with the villagers, or at the very least have them lose their distrust against him. Should he pack his produce off for sale right this instant, he was certain that all he would get were ugly looks with none to trade with.
Then Ren realized something, he had never had anything of the village. Sure, he had just been in Tunish for a little more than a week, but across that time, all he had had were potatoes he had harvested before the mysterious translocation and vegetables he picked. He had taken glances at what was sold in the market stalls he had come across, he had seen the bright veggies and fruits, and he saw a cart of berries once. The villagers no doubt have an abundance of foods to select from, and Ren had not had a thing from them.
"I have to see and understand my competition better." He muttered to himself. He then busied himself with feeding the animals, giving Molly and the other cows hay that he had collected around, whereas he fed the sheep some of his cabbages.
It's been months since the cows had their calves, and although their milk production had dwindled, they still produced milk daily which Ren helped himself with to the extent that he could, with most of them spoiling. Back in Renegade town, he and the other dairy farmers sent bottles of milk to cheese factories daily, generating consistent revenue; the same could not be done here.
He needed customers fast and plentiful, just what could he do to earn their trust and fondness?
He washed himself with water from the fountain, and readied himself, this time however, he donned his most worn out and faded clothing: an old shirt of linen, and old brown trousers. This way he could blend in, and not necessarily attract their envious eyes.
He prayed no one would come to steal his livestock and farm produce while he was away, and he went down the slope, walking through the glade that led straight down to the village.
Tunish was significantly busier than the last time Ren was out, and he wondered why. He would ask Eldrad. There were more market stalls, and for a strange reason there were men out sparing with wooden sticks. They did not spare at their homes like he hsd seen them do, but in the streets, sweating profusely. There were many on the streets swinging wood chipped to be in the shape of a double edged sword.
The village had piqued his interest now, "Is a celebration on the way?" He loved parties, and he would be keen on attending if the village hosted one.
The stalls sold different items, from fruits Ren had not seen to meat, fur and skins. Something however surprised him, goatskins lined the tables of one stall, and Ren listened to hear the vendor cry out wine, wine. The goat skins contained wine. Now, he truly wished he had coins to spare.
He eventually got to his destination—where Tuarine had come out from, hoping either Tuarine or Eldrad was around. He knocked, and the door came open to the old village chief.
"Ren? Oh come on in."
Eldrad's home was dark, most of the windows were shut, but light came from the hearth that burned. He offered Ren a seat, and whereas he sat opposite him, on a chair that rocked back and forth.
"You must need something for you to have come here. Tuarine told me you purchased a good sword from Doma some days ago."
"Yes, I followed your advice. I did need a sword. I have indeed come for something Mr Eldrad."
'Should I tell him about the thief?
The old man nodded his head slowly, gesturing, 'Go on'.
"I need a job."