"What you should do is to re-soil these boxes. This soil is dry and dead. There aren't even any insects in here."

  Theo and the tall, lanky farmer stood outside in the backyard of the Barge. There, Theo had asked how to best go about planting the very specific seeds he had received from Wen as a favour for actually planting them. It turned out that Willam, the tall, young man, had all kinds of knowledge about not just farming, but plant cultivation of all kinds. He came from a long line of farmers, plantation owners and greenhouse enthusiasts.

  Actually, Willam had explained that as part of a joke, where he not-so-subtly replaced the word 'line' with 'vine', but Theo would never stoop to that level of jokes in his life, he was pretty sure.

  Willam was pretty kind and was an expert of his craft, but he seemed a bit shy all things considered. Even as Theo had approached him directly, looked up at his face as he tried to greet the man back inside the tavern, Willam had been pretty sure Theo was trying to talk to someone else, as if the giant man was in the way. Who else Theo would say hello to all the way up there was anyone's guess, but it eventually took several attempts for Theo to get him to respond instead of just looking around confusedly.

  "As for the seeds, the gingerelli needs lots of water, a quarter of a bucketful every six hours or so. There's no danger in giving them more so long as you don't go over double that."

  "So if I get that right, then I can water the gingerelli twice a day with half a bucket?"

  "Right, that'll be fine. The violetberries require much less, about a quarter bucket per day for this amount of seeds. You should plant them together as their roots go pretty shallow, but they merge together with other violetberry roots to create both a stronger foundation and shared resources."

  "And all five gingerelli seeds together as well?" Theo asked.

  "Sure. These planter boxes have more than enough room. You don't even need this third one. Actually, my advice if you're seeking to continue planting things is to replace this empty planter box with one that might hold together for a bit longer, replant the gingerellis in that one, then replace the second planter box, replant the violetberries once their roots have grown in a bit. That way you can replace all of them without leaving anything out of the box for too long," Willam said.

  "That's a pretty good idea. I don't know how long I'll be here, though," Theo frowned. If he could get these plants up and growing, he had the offer of perpetual living with Wen, but... was mediaeval townie life what he wanted? Would he still get the time for adventure? Seeing the world?

  "Oh, of course. The ranking and all," Willam frowned with a hopeless sigh. "Anyway, I got some neato seeds if you'd like to try planting them in the third box. We haven't had much luck with them here. The crops keep deteriorating, growing worse and worse by the month."

  Theo looked at Willam questioningly.

  "N-not that I don't believe you can do it! It's just been a bit of a recurring problem in Brook Town. Dad says it's a curse brought on the town because of Devin Whittlebutt. He's supposedly some exiled noble who lost favour in Ercheat for something or other. I don't believe much in curses myself, but... Things have been growing pretty bad."

  "Interesting," Theo mused out loud. "Wafflescarf didn't mention any of that with the trader. Well, except that he's trying to regain that favour, at least."

  "What?" asked the tall man.

  Theo considered it. It was probably not something he or Willam could do about it, so saying something to the man was probably unnecessary. Theo didn't exactly know anything either, he'd just overheard part of a conversation. It was mostly guesswork, anyway. He should talk to Wen about it first.

  "Nothing. How about rain and sun? That changes things regarding the care of the plants, right?"

  "Indeed. You're showing great understanding for someone who said they didn't know anything about this," Willam said with an agreeing nod. Theo was glad he could impress with pretty common knowledge about plant life. "The berries need the most attention as they shouldn't get too much water. A perfect violetberry is one that has barely lived on the edge of drying out, their taste becomes exquisite and sour. Too watery and they taste plain and dull. More berries will be required for either baking or brewing if they're too watery, as well. They should be placed under a roof, preferably."

  Theo looked around, finding a perfect place for them in a covered corner. He eyed one of the boxes and asked if Willam would mind helping him move it there after emptying it out of dry soil. The kind farmer obliged with a gentle acceptance.

  "The gingerelli don't care much. It's the roots you want, so the sprouts themselves don't matter too much. Don't let them grow wild, though. Trim them so they don't take all the moisture and nourishment from the roots."

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  Without so much as a prompt, the lessons continued the moment the first planter box had been moved to its new location.

  "You are a font of knowledge," Theo grinned appreciatively. Willam's face grew red in response and he looked away shyly. "Anything else I should consider? Re-soiling, maybe? When do I know they're... done?"

  "You shouldn't need to worry about re-soiling them. The gingerelli roots are what you want, and seeds can often be harvested from the core of the sprouts, so you can usually replant the same number you harvest. Under normal conditions, that is. When planting more, you might consider changing out the soil for fresh dirt. The berries will probably die during the cold winter, but most violetberries contain seeds, just very small ones. The ones you have are pretty big, so they likely come from stem-grown violetberries. Their seeds are often large and are the easiest to replant. By easy I mean that the much smaller seeds often don't sprout into anything."

  Theo's head was soon about to burst with all of this information. It wasn't just that he was learning about planting and farming, but as far as he knew, without looking at the specific product itself, Theo was about to plant berries and vegetables he'd never seen nor heard of before. Truly alien vegetables! He was excited, to say the least, despite having had exactly zero interest in planting before.

  "Thanks for great help," Theo burst once Willam seemed finished speaking. "I can pay you for this lesson if you need-"

  "Please, it was my privilege. Besides, some more of these lessons and I bet you my Teaching skill will go up."

  "Oh!" Theo exclaimed. He had kind of been wondering how the locals knew the progress of their skills without a system to easily quantify it for them. Should he ask about it, or would that give too much away?

  He decided not to. He did have other questions, though.

  "Are you sure? From what I've gathered, this place can use the influx of coins."

  "That doesn't mean you should throw your hard-earned money around like that. You might come from a much better off town or even a city, but out here in the country, we mostly deal in services to each other. Few of our interactions are taxable, but we all try to chip in where we can to make ends meet, not just for ourselves, but for everyone else as well. I'm not an officially recognised teacher, so receiving pay for a small lesson would be Black Money. Black Money can be pretty heavily penalised." Willam scratched his head as he explained, leaving behind a slightly dirty smudge on his temple.

  How would the government know, though? There was something Theo wasn't getting. To add to his furrowingly heavy brows, Willam then added a comment.

  "But you already know this, right? It's common knowledge what happens with Black Money around. Even city-folk would be afraid of that, perhaps even more so considering the wide-reaching penalty."

  "Of course," Theo lied. He then scrimmaged for something to add to his lie. "You just mentioned you had the Teaching skill, so I assumed you might've been a tutor or something. Officially, I mean."

  Willam's face lit up. "I see. Sadly, no. I'd like to be a farm guide someday, but around here, there won't be a well enough off farm to do that with. Not with how things are going."

  "I see. There really is quite a bit of trouble brewing in this town, isn't there?"

  "I wouldn't say brewing, exactly. There's certainly odd things going on, but I can't say there's any blame to go around. How would someone turn all the soil inhospitable around the town? Why would they even do that?"

  Theo thought. He had no idea what was even possible in this world, but there was probably some kind of magic that could do that, right? Or maybe the whole magic system the locals used was basic spell-flinging with more direct spells? Theo had honestly just encountered 'Fireball', so he couldn't tell just based on that. As for why, though...

  Theo was growing in confidence regarding his suspicions toward the mayor. If his plans were to keep the town destitute and siphon a bit of their small cash flow over years, that would still amount to a decent sum of money. If he also gained something for keeping the town low on whatever this ranking was, then that would only make sense. But what? Wouldn't it be better to control a town that flourished, making that small percentage of siphoned income to swell as well?

  The mayor wanted to return to his old life in Ercheat, Theo had gathered as much. Was it harder to leave a well-off town? Would there be detriments to that? Theo had to actually know more about the ranking to be more sure of anything. Everything seemed to lead back to that, whatever it actually was. It certainly couldn't be just a tax income rank, could it? Why would that be so important? Sure, it might affect the budget of the town, but there didn't seem to be any government funds right now and still there were people here, doing honest work.

  "I should be getting back. Early mornings on the fields from now until the rank!" said Willam, shaking Theo from his internal musings. "Thank you for this. I'll come around with the neato seeds in the morning after fieldwork, if that's alright with you. Maybe you'll have some luck with them."

  "Please," Theo said, almost a bit embarrassed that Willam was the one thanking him and not the other way around. "I should be thanking you! I'll get this all up and running this evening. You'll see the best plants for miles around back here soon enough!" he added with a wide, friendly smile. People in this place were alright, he reckoned. Chaste, Wen, and now Willam were quick friends he found he could be himself with. If anything, that was more important than adventure, wasn't it? To be able to share in fun and delight?

  "N-no, I mean... Thanks for asking me to help. Most people tend to find me a bit odd," he frowned as he looked down. He then immediately looked back up with a smile in Theo's direction and waved goodbye before leaving through the side of the Barge.

  Theo waved. An all-round nice man. Why would people find him weird? Maybe it was just his build? Theo had to admit it was a bit different, but should that really matter? If nothing else, Willam showed a great understanding of his chosen profession and was an able teacher and hard-working man. Everyone should strive to be like him.

  Theo got to work emptying the next two planter boxes as evening turned to night. He couldn't help but think one thing even as he worked by his lonesome, dirtying his hand with the soil of a brand new world; 'I still haven't asked about the ranking.’