"Why do you want us to dig up the mountain?"Mupan asked Alex. In his mind, there was no reason for them to dig into the mountain unless for the exploration of a mine. But Alex, who was standing before him clearly said it was not the case.
"Not digging into the mountains. I want you to plough the ground, build bunds and make the surroundings of the valley feasible for agriculture." Alex explained with one hand on his head. It was exhausting to convince these people who had never farmed to farm.
He thought Mupan might take a liking to his idea. But even he, one of the smartest people in the village couldn't grasp it.
"For generations, we were hunters. We don't need to farm to survive." Mupan said plainly.
"I don't plan to farm to just survive. We need some wealth to make our place in this world. And I agree that we have been hunters for generations. I don't expect you to change your ways. I just want to try farming on a large scale. I believe we can do it." Alex explained in detail.
He had already made a thorough plan to farm in the mountains. And for that, he needed manpower. It was impossible to do it alone. So, with the wealth he had accumulated in the past six months. He was going to create an awesome farm.
The ice-covered mountains of the north had already welcomed the summer. It was the best time to farm. The snow melt was feeding the rivers and icy mountain ground has thawed. If he can't make use of this opportunity, it would be a loss. He had already ignored spring, he could waste any more time.
Besides that, farming would increase the survivability of the entire tribe. Was that not a good enough reason to farm?
"You are adamant about not letting me farm. Is there a reason for your worry?"
Finally, Alex gave in trying to convince Mupan and began to ask the right questions. Only if he had done this earlier, his task would have been much easier.
"That. Truth be told. We tried to farm before. But the land we could use was infertile and the forest was too dangerous for us to venture out and farm. Like you, there were others in our tribe who were overflowing with enthusiasm. But they all failed. And it cost us a lot." taking a moment to breathe, Mupan looked at Alex and continued.-
"Farming will take away manpower from the hunting squad. And if it failed like in the past, we would be left with nothing. We wouldn't even be able to buy salt. I know that you are wealthy now, And we could depend on you. But how long are we going to depend on you? If a day comes when you are not here. Even then, can you provide for us? At that time, we would have already become people that can't hunt or farm. We would have become useless.
"And useless people die in this world." The Mupan said in a grave tone.
This answer shocked Alex. He was considering every one of his actions while looking at its future implication. He was thorough indeed.
But even a thorough man wouldn't be able to make an informed decision when there is not enough information.
And that was the case for Mupan. Although his reasoning was great, he still doesn't have enough information on the capabilities of Alex. According to him, Alex was still the fifteen-year-old Meru. Not an adult from another world. So, he couldn't grasp the entirety of the situation.
"I agree," Alex said after a moment of deliberation. He looked at Mupan's worries and how to alleviate them.
Mupan was concerned about the tribe and the people. He doesn't believe that Alex can farm in the mountains. But he believes that Alex can provide for the entire tribe alone. Either way, the results would always be bad according to Mupan.
So, the first concern he had to take care of was doubt of Mupan about his ability to farm.
"But what if I can show you with my action? You don't need to take my words at face value. I can show you how to farm. I just need the help of some fellow tribesmen." Alex took a softer approach this time.
Instead of putting all the eggs in one basket, Alex wanted to let Mupan try his idea before deciding on the outcome.
This will mitigate the risk and increase his chance of convincing Mupan.
"Are you sure?" Mupan asked worriedly. But it also meant that he let Alex farm.
"Yes, I am." Alex gave confirmation. He wanted to decrease his dependency on the interdimensional farm and the Mupan wanted to decrease his dependency on Alex. They were similar, and they could see the benefit if their plan worked out for the better.
After making an informal agreement, Alex left Mupan's house. He was a man with a mission and he had a lot to do.
—-----------
As you might believe, agriculture is not easy.
A game might fool you by showing the easy side of farming, but in reality, a multitude of conditions can affect the yield of crops. With a low yield, it would be impossible to convince Mupan.
So, Alex had to carefully select the first few crops to plant. So, he did it by comparing the current season to the seasonal seeds that were available in the farm shop.
And summer was the best time to grow wheat. It was easy to grow by utilising fertiliser from the farm. It might even mature early due to it. He also selected some other seeds to try out while he was at it.
To grow wheat quickly, Alex needs some infrastructure, A method for irrigation and a way to plough the soil. And this was where the manpower was required.
Alex had to guide the tribesmen to plough the land and build an artificial waterway to the farmland.
Fortunately, The farmland Alex selected was near the valleys, just beside the river bank. It was a small plot of land with a length and breadth of thirty meters. It was not a hard job for the ten warriors of the stone head tribe that came to help. They easily ploughed the land in half a day.
Initially, Alex was worried about the amount of sunlight that would be available in the valley. So, he went around and made sure to use the plot with plenty of sunlight.
After that, he ordered the workers to make a pond nearby according to his instruction. Due to the close proximity to the river, the pond filled in without any intervention from Alex.
Alex was hoping to make a small stream from the river to the pond in the beginning. But it seems like that would not be needed.
By evening, all the preparation were done. The next step was to use the fertiliser on the farmland.
Using the ability of the interdimensional farm, Alex used the corpse of a tier 3 beast he had to make the fertiliser. Soon, ten sacks of fertiliser materialised in his inventory.
His next goal was to spread the ten sacks of fertiliser over the farmland. It would only be a thin coating of fertiliser, but he thought it would be enough. After all, it was made from the corpse of a tier 3 beast. It cost more than actual fertiliser by a lot.
"If this can't grow wheat, then nothing will be able to." He said with a smile.
After that, he purchased the seeds he needed from the interdimensional farm. Like fertiliser, the seeds were stored in sacks. They appeared in the inventory.
At first, Alex couldn't tell the difference between normal wheat with seed wheat. But after a while, Alex noticed a thin coating around the seeds. The farm seemed to have done to protect the seeds.
Alex wasn't entirely sure what it was. But it may be a pesticide or some kind of growth enhancer. Anyway, he was not daring enough to eat it and test what it was.
'In hindsight, it feels like the farm was expecting me to use the seeds outside. After all, I never saw any pests inside the farm. So, if it was pesticide, then it was for the world outside.' Alex was slightly spooked by the notion.
Nonetheless, he sowed the seed over the new farmland.
For the wheat to germinate, it needs to stay under the soil. So, Alex raked the seeds. By doing so, the seed disappeared from the surface and mixed into the soil.
All that was left for Alex to do was water the seed and just get the hell out of there.
Fortunately, he could use the watering can from the interdimensional farm to do this chore. It could hold thousands of litres of water and can be filled easily by just dipping it in water from inside the interdimensional farm.
His tribesman would not be able to use it, but it simplified his life by a lot. Within minutes, Alex watered the plot.
If he had time, he would have created a fence around the farmland. But it was already late into the evening. He needs to return home and get a good night of sleep. So, with great expectations about tomorrow, Alex went home.
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