The Farmer

Little Sam's Card Shop had changed hands, and the news left the neighbors thoroughly astonished. Quite a few people were worried about the shop's purchasing service and home visits.

The shop assistants, led by Sally, were even more on edge, with no idea what sort of person the new owner would be.

In this era, finding a stable job with decent pay was not easy.

But none of that had anything to do with Duke anymore.

His Spirit Dragon Card held savings of more than ninety gold dragons. In his little case, he also had quite a few unsold secondhand cards, as well as a 2-Ring Thermostatic Card.

He was worth no small amount.

He soon rented a house nearby, moved all his belongings over, then transported an old, discarded machine there as well, finally bidding farewell to Little Sam's Card Shop.

"Boss, I'll miss you." As they parted, Sally gave Duke a hug.

Levin, who had helped with the move, wanted to come over for a hug too, but he was too timid. He still held Duke in deep awe. Although Duke was only fifteen, the way he usually conducted himself was nothing like that of a fifteen-year-old boy.

Duke did not like hugs either. It was the height of summer, and he was covered in sweat.

He merely patted Levin on the shoulder.

On the way back to his rented house, he saw Best standing in the shade at an intersection. Duke had no intention of paying him any attention, but he had not expected Best to call out to him.

"You sold Little Sam's Card Shop?"

"Yeah."

Duke had thought Best would gloat and mock him, but instead, Best sighed. "You were forced to sell it, weren't you? Someone came to ask me about it today too... You're just a kid. They scared you a little, and you sold the shop. But I wouldn't have agreed."

Best's guess was not entirely unreasonable. There had indeed been some suspicion of coercion in the transfer this time.

Duke did not argue. He merely asked, "Once the Pioneer War begins, Snakehead Town will definitely descend into chaos. Are you sure you can hold out?"

"Of course I can." Best snorted.

"Then good luck."

Duke turned and was about to leave.

"Hey, don't rush off, Little Duke." Best caught up with him. "Now that you've lost the shop, you'll definitely need to find a job. Why not come work at my shop?"

"Hmm?"

"I'll give you the treatment of a formal Card Master, and the rules will be the same as at Little Sam's shop. You'll get a commission! How about it? We've had a little unpleasantness between us, but we were both just trying to make a living, weren't we? I'm not the sort to kick someone when he's down." Best raised an eyebrow.

He was extremely confident in this speech of his, carrying the smug superiority of someone eager to lend a hand to the dejected Duke.

Being mistaken for a fallen man, Duke could not help wanting to laugh.

He looked at Best, who had raised his chin, and slowly shook his head. "No. I want to change jobs."

"Change jobs? Are you stupid? You worked as my apprentice for a year. Surely you learned at least a little of my craft?" Best said loudly. "Forget it. If you can't repair cards, just work my counter. I just fired Bob. With my skills and your clever head, we can surely make something big of this!"

Duke had never repaired cards during the day, so many people still thought he had only recently become a Spiritual Apprentice and had yet to master the art of card repair.

But Best did not particularly care whether Duke knew how to repair cards.

He merely thought Duke was very clever. The few measures Duke had introduced at Little Sam's Card Shop had nearly driven Best's shop into the ground. He was a natural talent for business.

"Actually, I'm not very interested in doing business." Duke waved his hand.

Seeing this, the warmth faded from Best's kindly tone. "No way. You can't repair cards, and you don't want to do business either. Could it be that you want to go farm?"

Farm?

Duke's eyes lit up.

Then he smiled gently. "Why not? My greatest dream when I was a child was to become a farmer—to feed cattle and horses and grow vegetables and wheat myself."

"You're not a Spirit Plant Master. What are you going to be a farmer for?"

"I'm not one, but I can hire people." Duke had already made up his mind. He waved and hurried away. "Goodbye, Mr. Best."

Watching Duke walk away, Best angrily cursed, "What an ungrateful fool! Looks like he isn't very clever after all!"

At the window in the farthest corner of the first floor of Snakehead Tower.

Duke pointed at a small farm on the map, located on the southern bank of Little River Bay and still available for purchase, and said calmly, "I'll lease this farm for ten years!"

This small farm had only one hundred mu of land.

Under the original rental rates, ten years cost ten silver dragons per mu, so ten years for one hundred mu came to ten gold dragons. That amount was already nothing to Duke now.

The Pioneer War was being prepared in full swing, and adventurers from all over were swarming in.

The spirit beasts had long since been frightened away. A place like the Little River Bay farm would no longer be threatened by spirit beasts.

But the clerk said, "The rent is twenty gold dragons."

"What? Didn't it only cost ten gold dragons a while ago?"

"You said it yourself—it was a while ago. How can now be the same as then? The Pioneer War is about to begin, and so many people are crowding into Snakehead Town. Do you think the rent can stay the same? Hurry up. Are you renting it or not?"

"I'm renting..."

Duke was quite unfazed. Even with the price doubled, he did not waver.

Two days later, after running through all the procedures under the guidance of several town clerks, Duke officially leased the one-hundred-mu farm.

The clerks replanted the farm's boundary posts and said to Duke, "Give the farm a name. We need to register it."

"Let's call it... Little Duke Farm." Duke continued the tradition.

Almost all the shops and farms in Snakehead Town were named after their owners. Little Sam's Card Shop was an example.

After the clerks left, Duke began wandering around Little Duke Farm.

Since it was a farm reclaimed from wasteland, there were no crops growing yet. The fields were covered in all sorts of weeds and mugwort that reached waist height.

Without a doubt, there were no spirit plants hidden among them.

The entire one hundred mu was basically flat. Only the western side had a small earthen hill, and its slope was not particularly steep. From the top of the hill to the bottom was about the height of a person.

"Let's build the house on this hill." Duke made a circuit of the farm, then fixed his gaze on the small hill.

Although it was not in the exact center of the farm, it at least offered some elevation, making it convenient to keep watch over the entire farm later. Any disturbance would be visible at a glance.

For the next few days, Duke ran back and forth between the farm and the town.

He found a construction crew to build a house on the farm.

At the same time, he hired people to string up a wire fence along the farm's boundary. He also specifically purchased a 1st Ring Arcane Card—Spirit Pressure Conduction.

This Arcane Card could conduct spirit pressure through metal. Anyone who touched the metal would be attacked by spirit pressure.

In short,

it was the other world's version of high-voltage electricity.

Once connected to the wire fence around the perimeter and supplied continuously by a Spirit Storage Card, Spirit Pressure Conduction could remain active without interruption, creating a "high-voltage electric fence."

The Seven Towers Federation had no laws forbidding privately installed electric fences or anything of the sort. Constructing a metal network with the 1st Ring Arcane Card—Spirit Pressure Conduction was reasonable, legal, and in keeping with tradition. It was only natural for people to protect their property. Even if someone was killed, there would be no consequences.

When the Spirit Pressure Conduction metal fence had been installed, the person in charge of the house-building crew also came over. "Boss Little Duke, your interior design is a little complicated..."

"Can't you do it?"

"That's not it. It'll cost extra."