Homesteading in a fantasy world

I was glad about two things: one, it was winter, and the second was that I could take Goose and go to Breach and its connected City. Thanks to it being winter, I had a lot less to do at home, and the government work I needed to do for the United Freeholds wouldn't take much time, again thanks to it being winter.

It was honestly my favourite season. For me, at least, it had always been a time that was less busy, and I could do things that I liked to do. Now, however, it will give me enough time to figure everything out about my company and what I need to do there to make it functional.

There are some annoying requirements, mostly about how and what resources you can use. The World Council generally wants to keep the high-rank and low-rank economies separate. I could see why because a single rank 4 weapon, for example, could probably purchase the entire United Freeholds. If they were mixed more often, it would cause tremendous trouble for both economies.

I had my own company back on Earth where I sold whatever I made, but mostly it was for my bow business. This entire thing kind of reminds me of this: how you need to keep your and your company's money separate and you could only buy certain things with your business card.

But I think I have been thinking about this too much. So, I’ll finish eating at this inn and then take this day and the next as vacation days.

The walk back was nice, and I did enjoy the cold. The road was decently busy as every once in a while, I saw a group of people walking towards the capital and sometimes even a carriage that were transporting cut stones.

From what I understood, they were trying to build up the stockpile in the capital so next year they could continue the road east with as much speed as possible. A lot of the stones were also being transported to the coastal capital using our newest energy-type portal.

I would still personally call this a prototype, as it's a long way off from the efficiency goals we have, but it's a step in the right direction. They need information from constantly running the portal so they can figure out how to make it more efficient and to see how long each part lasts.

I will need to get them to build one in the connected town as well. Wait, what was its name? Then I remembered. It’s called Connection. That’s why I tried to forget it.

From what I understood, basically every town that had a similar function was called something stupid like that: Supply, Resupply, Food Bank, and so on. I do not know why they’re named like that, but I would kind of like to know the history behind it.

Wait, I’m once again thinking too much about work. So, I switched off, and when I made it back to my home, I kind of would have wanted more alone time, but with so many apprentices, it was never going to happen. My vacation went by really fast, and I kind of wished I could take more time off, but I couldn’t.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t pack everything that I wanted to, as Goose was still not so big that he could carry me and a lot of extra weight. This was also my first visit, so I didn’t actually know what I needed to bring and what I could buy locally.

The fact was that I would need to build two company buildings, one in Connection and the other in Breach. Both places probably had their own quality needs, but in the paperwork, it was mentioned that you couldn’t use any resources below first rank, but that every location would have its own specific rules, and that could change if leadership changed.

“You ready?” I said to Goose, who bumped his beak into my chest and tried to guide me to get on. He was always excited when he could fly long distances. We also couldn't wait for too long; otherwise, we were not going to make it to our destination before sunset.

We did still have one stop to make before we set off. I mounted Goose, and he took off, soaring through the air without gaining a lot of height, towards Emma’s homestead. We made it there in just a few minutes, and she was already waiting for us outside.

"Good morning," I said to her. "Good morning as well. I have what you ordered, and I made sure it was as close to rank two as I could make it." We chatted for a little while longer.

I took the large ribbon that I ordered from her. It had a distinct pattern of striped light blue and dark blue. It's needed to mark every bonded or domesticated beast. If I had flown there without it, they would probably think a wild giant eagle was looking for dinner.

Attaching it to the leg so it wouldn’t come loose and flop around, which would cause other problems, was a bit difficult, but with my abilities, I managed.

We said our final goodbyes to Emma and then flew off towards the South. Goose gained altitude fast and then settled into a fast, forward flight, where he was using his air manipulation to help speed us along.

I started to give him some of my energy, but I needed to be really careful because if I gave too much, I could easily burn out his energy system, simply because he was still rank two. He was not happy about still being rank two. He was extremely glad to hear when I told him where we were going, as he was looking for more dangerous hunting grounds so he could continue to rank up.

The saddle was most definitely not the most comfortable, and I could see many changes I would need to make to make the long flying sessions more comfortable for me and Goose. We would probably also need to figure out a fighting technique that we could use together, as I suspect we could hunt quite a lot using our mobility and my explosive damage capabilities.

The current plan was to make contact, see what I would need to build, and then finish this month's necessary contracts using Goose's help as fast as possible.

I thought that perhaps boredom might also be a problem during the long flight, but that wasn't the case. With my eyes that I could enhance with multiple abilities, there was nothing I couldn’t see.

It was so interesting to fly, yet still be able to see everything so clearly. Goose wasn’t the biggest fan of this, as I needed to scoot over to one side to peer downwards, and that messed up his flying balance.

The third time I tried to do this, he threatened to drop me, so I, unfortunately, had to settle for just looking at the landscape that was in front of us. Unfortunately, with our speed, it didn't stay in front of us for long.

Now, my eyesight might have been amazing, but it was nothing compared to Goose's, so he was the first one to notice our target. We did have to adjust our course a little bit, but I was quite amazed at how accurate Goose could be while flying such distances.

We had flown about 3000 kilometers, and now we were flying quite slowly compared to what we did before. Finally, I was also able to see their city below. It was bigger than I expected, but there weren’t any buildings higher than three stories, and none were taller than the walls surrounding the city.

Honestly, this looked like a fort, and for a moment, I thought that perhaps we were in the wrong place. When I communicated this to Goose, he shook me a little bit, so I had to hold on. Apparently, I was being stupid, and Goose had brought me to the right place.

To prove that I was wrong, he started to fly towards the West. The burst of speed was amazing to experience, and I had been ready just in case.

Goose flew for about 30 minutes before he started to show images through our connection. The place I saw was formidable. It would take us around two and a half hours to fly there, but Goose wanted to show me a better image of it today, so he could prove me wrong.

He turned around, but I still had the image in my head. It was hard to gauge the height of the walls, but they were massive and incredibly thick. There were towers, and I’m quite sure all of the structures inside were built out of rock as well, and they even had towers inside the fort, probably to fight against flying creatures.

We approached the city once again, but we didn’t fly inside simply because I didn’t know the rules here, and if it wasn't allowed, it would be quite troublesome. Goose didn't like walking, but he managed well enough as we walked towards the impressive gatehouse.

Even before we landed, there were quite a few siege weapons pointed towards us, and as we got closer, I could see more and more people showing up. They didn't let us get too close the gate as a group of 10 people jumped off the wall and started to approach us, so I stopped walking.

"State your business here," the guard in charge told me when they were within comfortable shouting distance. "My name is Rich Dirt, the leader of United Freeholds Company that was assigned to Fort Breach. I am here to finish registering and establish my company," I replied.

I could see the serious faces almost instantly change into pleased ones, except for the guard who was in charge. They were now quite close, so there was no longer a need for shouting. "Can I see the card?" the guard asked.

It was a card that was inside the paper bundle and was the physical document proving my claim. I showed it to him, and after he examined it for a little bit, his face finally turned cheerful.

"Connection welcomes you with open arms. We can always use any help we can get. We will escort you to the City Hall so you can take care of anything urgent. Please follow me," he then looked towards Goose.

"Also, register the eagle so that we know it's friendly, so you could fly straight into the city, although there are specific areas where flying creatures can land. Follow me, and hopefully, we can get everything taken care of today."

I thanked him and started to follow. It seemed that they were quite well-trained and actually helpful. That was a nice change of pace. As we got closer, the large gate doors were opened, and I was amazed at how many people, not just guards, were ready to fight anything that might come through.

This was also, however, a bit worrying. Were the surrounding lands truly this dangerous? When I cleared the gatehouse, I was greeted with what looked like quite the traditional medieval town, although I could see the magical elements hidden within. I wondered what wonders I would be able to find here.