Elevation of Mana Chapter 64 Farming Take Two and a Big Hole

Over several hours of trying to negotiate I learned that this elder's name was Ina, and the village was of course Inatol, Ina's home.  We weren't really getting anywhere, but that seemed to bother her little.  One thing I began to seriously hate about older elves was how patient and hard-headed they could be.  Ina wanted my help killing her foes before they managed to poison all the water around, and I wanted nothing to do with her little war.

“You frustrate me boy,” she said after a long time.  It was a clear attempt at disrespect, as it was clear I should be an adult.

“And you frustrate me elder.  I want to trade, but I am not a warrior for sale.”  We'd gone back and forth on this quite a bit, and were getting nowhere.

“I can see your power, and I have what you want.  Certainly you can see my point can't you?  My people are hungry, it is simple enough.  They're poisoning the watering holes, driving off game and even trying to kill the best gathering spots.  They are few, we are many, we will starve before they will.”

“Do you not have a singer who can summon food?  We used one all through the winter recently where I came from, it made things much easier,” I retorted.  “It might even turn the odds into your favor.”

“They have one as well, and neither can produce enough for either group.  We need plants, and it's not like we have them beside our village,” she snarked.

Something pinged at that.  It took me far longer than it should have to come up with that answer.

“Why not?” I asked.

“What?”

“Why can't you have plants right beside your village.  If you have someone who can make them grow, you can get them to grow there.  Your enemies won't want to come so close will they?  And then you won't need to go out and gather them.”

“Because... that's...” I could tell she was looking for a retort.

“Ina, it can be done.  As a  matter of fact, I've done it.  I made a little plot like that back where I'm from, nobody really cared though.”  That admission kind of stung, farming had been one of my biggest failures to date.

“Tell me more,” she said after a few more moments of thought.

I ran her through the very basics of gardening.  There was no real way to test soil pH and nitrogen levels here, but there were some general things she could do.  Some plants grew better in sun or shade, and the best way to guess would be to look where they grew in the wild.  You could bury fish into the ground to make it better, though not many.  I even told her that if they were quick growing plants she'd need to rotate them, or the soil would go bad, but a proper bit of magic might be able to help that.

For her part Ina listened intently, tapping her chin the whole time.  There was a bit of a crease between her eyes, either she didn't like it, was unhappy, or had to poop, I was having a hard time telling which.  She asked a few questions here and there, and even brought in one of the local spellcasters to listen and ask me other questions.

“I believe you have done this,” she finally declared, something of a relief.

“Good, because I have.”

“But it solves only half of our problem,” she retorted.  “We cannot make enough water for everyone either, and with the local sources being set upon we still will run into conflict.”

I wanted to scream, we were living in the tropics.  That didn't mean that good sources of water were everywhere though.  Other than rivers and streams, which were being poisoned, there were few places.  This was particularly bad in the dry season, but there were solutions to even this.

“FINE, FINE, you want a source of water?  Very well, but if I give you this you give me the hair I came for, no more arguments, no more trying to send me against your foes.  Agreed?”

The elder laughed at me.  “If you can, I shall give you all you can carry young man.”

“I need stones, and I'm not cleaning up the mess,” I declared, and then I rose, turning to leave her hut.

In a huff I marched straight to the center of her little village and plopped down, settling as well as I could on my bag, then I began to cast.  This was a spell I'd cast many times, but never quite like this.  In my mind I formed the drill, the same one I used for wood, but longer, and wider, far, far wider.  It made it to a few feet across before I decided that was enough, and then I sent it down.

The progress was slow, but the first few feet weren't too bad.  This was the kind of magic I did all the time, and while I'd never actually dug a well before, it wasn't all that complicated.  Only the size was a bit of a strain, the rest of it was easy enough.

At ten feet I was feeling the strain, and the mounds of dirt I was dumping were really starting to get attention.  Elder Ina came out of her home to look at me strangely but said nothing.  Personally I thought she was hoping I'd fail, but that wasn't going to happen.

Around fifteen feet I was tired, but the dirt coming up was coming up significantly wetter, and those that had been watching me like I was a madman were now coming closer, touching it and looking at me like I might not be.  I began to smile at that.

By the time it reached twenty-five feet I was done.  My magic was beginning to sputter like an engine out of fuel, and I had to stop.  As I did so I collapsed back on my pack, using it as a pillow.

“That's a very deep hole,” the elder said as she approached and looked down it.  “What's it for?”

“How many stones did people get?” I asked.  I was pointed to a small pile nearby of varying sizes, mostly river rocks.

“Right, so those are for covering the sides.  They don't need to be perfect, but they need to keep the dirt out and hold the sides basically in place.  You need a layer on the bottom too, but kinda loose I think?  I don't know, I'm tired, I'll look at it after a nap.”  My piece said I fell asleep.

Using too much magic at once was exhausting, in an almost physical sense.  I wasn't sure how long I'd been out when I woke up, but it must have been hours.  I was at least glad to see that people were working, and at a frantic pace.

“You're awake,” the elder said from nearby.

“Ugh, kind of wish I wasn't,” I responded, I felt like I'd been hit by the proverbial truck, fitting since I found myself in some kind of fantasy world.  “But I am glad people are getting that done.”

“At first everyone thought you were a fool,” she answered.  “Even I thought you were a fool, and then I realized the hole was quite wet.”

I began to snicker, which got me a raised eyebrow, and more pain in my head.  After I waved her to continue and then went back to rubbing my temples.

“Yes, there's water down there.  You should line it with stones and put something over it so nobody falls in, but it should be drinkable.  Maybe boil it first, but nothing else should be wrong.”

“I was dubious about it, but I think I'll put a good bit of effort into this 'farming' of yours too.”

“If it works you should share it with your opponents.  If both  of you have food and water there's no reason to fight,” I said.

“That is... worth consideration, but they've made us quite mad.  Perhaps once we are resupplied we will deal with them in other ways,” she answered.

“Fine, just leave me out of it.”  I was still feeling below the weather, but I could see her nod.

“Oh, and your reward.  Our hunters don't really need this, since it's just gathered during practice.  We've mostly been sewing it up in skins to sit on or use in beds.  I hope this is enough,” she said, pointing to a bulging pack full of what appeared to be fluff.

“Yes, that should do quite nicely,” I said with a smile.