Chapter 79: Colliding values

3rd Person Point of View

Deep in the depths of a cave system, hidden in one of the local taverns at the capital, a meeting was taking place. Men yelled and shouted over one another as information was being spoken. “This cannot stand! None defy the merchants' cabal since its induction into the hallows of history over a millennium ago. A small town dared to kill one of our spies! We must send the Problem Solvers to deal with that town to the south.”

One of the more pragmatic men at the table spoke next. “That would be the case if the spy were sanctioned. It appears someone forgot to do the paperwork and used a local thug to spy on him, thinking he could hide what the farmer has been accomplishing for the past few years. Instead of offering him a position, you thought to take what was his for yourself, then get upset after you’ve been found out!”

While the man was calm, he couldn’t help but burst into anger at the fat oaf who might have ruined their best chance to break the king’s farmer collective, put in place hundreds of years ago, when the undead broke through the southern part of the country, and cities were struck by famine because of diseased crops. Centuries of trying to break the king’s long-held monopoly on which skills farmers could choose, the man who started farming on his own broke many rules in place, but found a loophole as he was technically not growing crops inside the kingdom's borders.

A third person wasn’t worried about the farmer but was far more concerned with undermining his competition inside the cabal. “Yes, the fish baron did overplay his hand. I’d like to start a vote to have him removed from his seat amongst the cabal.” Voices shouted out in either affirmation with aye, or negative with nay. The ayes had it, which meant he would be removed immediately by the guards overlooking the meeting.

“Wait! You can’t remove me for a single mistake. We have to get that farmer under our banner. Give me another chance-.” The slightly overweight man that everyone deferred to spoke up. “You had your chance, Tybolt, and you blew it. Perhaps if you put your nose to the grindstone and pay double your dues, you can join us on the council again this decade.”

“W-wait, your majesty, please!” “ENOUGH! You’ve already embarrassed yourself with your greed. Be happy we’re not discussing your permanent removal from the cabal!” A hushed quiet fell over the group until the fat merchant was removed before the second prince continued. “Now that that bit of surprise is over, let’s get back to discussing where we are with making me king over my brothers…”

The meeting continued for another six hours, only stopping for them to eat before resuming. They did get back to discussing the farmer, but because it had been put so far in the back of the meeting instead of near the beginning, they agreed to take a more cautious approach. The first and third princes, no doubt, were going to send their own people to try and bring the farmer to their side. Now wasn’t the time for them to get caught outright defying the king's decree.

…

The first prince sat, sleeping in a hammock after a rare dungeon clear break, as he left the thinking to his wives. They didn’t deem the farmer producing several new items important enough, besides the bundles, which they purchased; they didn’t see the point in wasting resources on getting on the good side of a single farmer. They loved the bundles, but didn’t realize how influential the other products the farmer produced were.

Only the nobles under the first prince cared, and it was only a handful. Out of those handful, only one thought it was prudent to see if he could seduce the farmer to their side. And he only sent a single one of his knights to do so. It was a shot in the dark; everyone knew that the merchant’s cabal and the second prince were going to offer him a far better deal… But what if they didn’t?

…

The Third Prince's Point of View

It was one of the few rare cases of me leaving my well-guarded mansion. That’s how important this farmer was, not for the reason he was important to the merchant’s cabal or my idiot battle junky brother. No, the farmer was showing signs of being another harem lord. I learned early enough in my career that you don’t let other harem masters survive when you find out about them.

I was going to kill him. His harem was on the smaller side, with only ten women, and it appeared that about half were non-combat classes. The problem was the time it took him. With nothing to his name and the farmer class, he somehow managed to convince ten women to be his.

I suited up, putting on my armor, and took a contingent of forty warriors to go and kill him before my other brothers realized what I was doing. Not only would I kill a threat to having women stolen out from underneath me, but I’d also remove a key piece from either of my brothers to play, especially if that person was the only one alive who could make those transport golems everyone was underutilizing.

…

An Adventurer’s Point of View

I sprinted away from the army that was chasing me. Each breath felt like lava in my lungs as I had reached my limit miles ago, but slowing down now would only get my head chopped off. I needed to warn the town of the dungeon break. A group of high-powered monsters was invading the border dungeon, who knew how many dungeons it had destroyed already.

I could hear them yipping in excitement as they grew closer to me. The lizardmen weren’t lizardmen; they were something different. They were far too strong to be lizardmen. Scales so thick that blades could barely penetrate. It was also the numbers, for how strong they were; there were far too many of them for it to make any sense other than a dungeon break. Finally, he came across a group of women adventurers exploring near where the dungeon's boss spawns.

I could only get out a single warning before I fell over from exhaustion. “D-dungeon! DUNGEON BREAK! H-help!” I felt myself be trampled, I waited for the death blow to come, but the coup de grace never came. Instead, I felt warm liquid wash over me as I felt a body fall onto me. A plated boot came forward, kicking the head of the lizardman as the blow snapped its neck. A moment later, I heard a familiar voice from the previous town guard. Her name was Silk, I believe. “Get up and explain what’s happened. How many of these giant lizard people are there?”