Chương 119: Chapter 103. Office Meeting

After accepting the thanks of all of the Demons, I ended up walking back into my house with Sarah and Anna as Ruby directed the new arrivals on where the Immigration Office was, to start the process of becoming Official Townspeople of Paradise. As I made my way back to my new house, Rodrick was waiting for me outside my door. After greeting him, Rodrick said he needed to speak to me. I welcomed him to the mansion to speak. After entering the door, Rodrick began to speak."

Have you looked around the mansion yet, Lord Drake?" I turned around to answer Rodrick." No, we were going to today, but the new group of Demons distracted us."" Ah, I see. Well, I'll show you to your new office then." Rodrick guided me up the steps to the left side of the house's entrance. When we arrived at the 2nd floor, I found a reception room with a desk and a few sofas to sit on. Further back there was a door that must have been the office. Rodrick spoke after I noticed the door."

The previous Lord used some of his stolen money to create this office. Originally, the Lord's office was a 5-minute walk from this property. The previous Lord was a rotund man who tired from that walk, or so he claimed. So, he commissioned a new frontside extension for the 2nd floor of this mansion to hold his office and a waiting room."" Well, to be fair, it is convenient... I guess."" That it is, Lord Drake. Let's walk into the office. Seems right to speak in there after all."" Sounds good, Rodrick."

We walked into the office to find a decent sized desk and 2 chairs in front of the desk with a table in between. To the right side of the room was a liquor cabinet with around 10 different spirits on the shelf and quite a bit of space. To the left was a nice-sized couch that sat in the corner of the room along with a coffee table. Behind the desk in front of us was a wall made out of glass so the entirety of the town could be seen from the office.

Once I had sat at the desk and Rodrick took one of the 2 chairs, Sarah and Anna had entered my new office as well." Well, looks like another chair will be needed." Sarah entered first and spoke after looking around the room. Seems my Wives want to have a say during any business dealings, not as if I minded. It'll be good to have them by my side during dealings seeing as I'm not completely sure of all of the customs of Diablos.

Sarah brought in a simple wooden chair and sat next to me on my right side, Anna placed a tray with a cup on it on the table in-between the 2 chairs and she took her place and stood by me on my left side." Now, Rodrick, please, enjoy the tea we've brewed." Rodrick sipped on the hot tea before beginning to speak." You may be wondering why I needed to speak with you, Lord Drake. It has to do with the new people moving into Paradise."" Is it that we don't have enough housing?"" No, Sir. We don't have enough food."

Rodrick began to sip on his tea again after speaking." Doesn't the Government deliver provisions for Paradise?" I asked Rodrick the first question that came to my mind. Rodrick answered." Yes, however, they deliver in bulk twice a year. It's usually nonperishables like dried grains or salted meat. They delivered the last batch about 3 months ago. The current amount of food we have now, including the provisions for the winter months, will only last us a month now.

If we were to stretch it out, we could up it to another 2 weeks on top of it, but we'd still run out." If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement." I see. If that's the case, I guess we need to stock up while also sending a message to the logistics division about our increasing population so they can account for it in the next delivery."" How do you plan on doing that, Lord Drake?" I smiled at Rodrick." Simple! We hunt and forage.

Also, I think we can start farming. I think there's fertile land all around since the swamplands only really start around 3 miles out in any direction if I remember the maps for the area correctly. Do you know of the places I'm talking about, Rodrick?" Rodrick looked panicked at my words." But Sir, the Monsters in the swamps tear the crops apart! That's why we can't farm in the first place! Also, we have no seeds to plant, how do you plan to farm, Sir?" I smiled at him before speaking."

What do you think we're going to hunt, Rodrick? Monsters are edible after all. As for farming, I have a trump card for that." Rodrick looked at me confused." Sir, we have multiple S-Class Monsters around these parts, the Demonic Alligator from yesterday is found all around these parts, Sir!"" That's fine, we need to train against strong competition. My Wives and I need something to fight against to facilitate that. I'm still a novice at most combat related things after all.

As for my Wives, they've recently obtained new Jobs and have yet to master their new abilities. Also, the farming side of things will also help with my training as well." Rodrick was staring at me like I went crazy. Maybe it's better to show rather than tell? I asked if Lily was okay with being Summoned and she said yes, so I Summoned her." What is this energy!?" / Woosh! / Rodrick began to feel Lily's presence. Before long, the Rose Queen was standing before us." Hi, Lily.

By chance, did you hear what we were discussing?" Lily looked at me before answering me." How many times do Paula and I need to remind you? We Spirits have access to our Summoner's thoughts. Everything that you do, we know about it because of our Connection. And yes, I have no problem providing my seeds and helping grow crops. I expect you want robust and enduring crops for the winter months coming? I think we can have a fresh full crop by the end of the month if you let me tend to the fields daily.

After I prep them during the first harvest, they should hold for 3 years I believe."" Sounds great! Do the mornings work for you, Lily? Or would you prefer afternoons or nights?"

"Hmmm.... I think nights will work best, I may have matters to attend to during the day."" Sounds great! Thank you, Lily!"" You're welcome, J... Matthew!" Lily almost called me the wrong name, but she corrected herself before she spilled my real name. Meanwhile, Rodrick was mumbling something to himself." A... Spirit.... Sovereign...." Seems he recognized Lily. I tried to get his attention back to the conversation." Rodrick.... Can you come back down to Gaia?"" Huh!? Oh! Sorry, Sir! It's just....

I've never seen a Spirit Sovereign in person before..."" I see, well, she's a good person and will be helping us in the future, so I hope you can be nice to Lily in the future."" What!? Be discourteous to a Spirit Sovereign!? I would never, Sir! This is like meeting an Ancient Figure from history! Sovereigns only deserve the deepest of respect from us scholars!" Lily turned to me after Rodrick spoke." I like this one."

I looked at Rodrick, who currently was looking at me with a newfound sense of respect and I began to speak again." So, Rodrick. Now that the farming situation will get squared away, time to talk about hunting."" What do you propose, Sir?"" Well, both of my Wives have useful abilities for hunting outside of their combat prowess." It may have been my imagination, but I think Sarah and Anna both seemed to have raised their heads from pride at my words. I continued to speak."

But the 3 of us don't know the area on foot very well. I'd like to have a guide to help us hunt. I think we'll start by going through the swamps to the North of Paradise first."" The swamps to the East have Demon-eater Squirrels, Paralyzing Rams and King-killer Crabs, Sir. All A-Class and quite aggressive. But I will place my faith in you. I'll send an Iceskin youth to guide you."" Sounds perfect for a first hunt. If everything goes well, we should be able to fix the food problem after about a month or 2!"

I spoke in a cheerful voice for the future. Rodrick spoke in response." Lord Drake! How many times do you plan to hunt for!?"" As many as it takes! I also need to learn the land anyways, so why not kill 2 birds with one stone, Rodrick? Besides, I can't do much else for now anyways!" Rodrick seemed to give up and decided to let me do as I pleased. We agreed to go on the hunt tomorrow.

For the rest of the day, Sarah, Anna and I cleaned the mansion to have it be presentable to guests and for any professional meetings when I need to act as the Lord of Paradise. Sarah and Anna were very happy as I praised them for how well they cleaned as I mopped the floors of the mansion. In the evening, I made a plan with Lily to start sowing seeds for farming every day after I hunted. My days are going to be busy for the foreseeable future it seems...