Chương 23: The Newtons

As the Newtons approached the homestead, I was able to assess their wagon and horses. The wagon was a simple four-wheeled affair. It looked like it was only about eight feet wide, and maybe twelve feet long. I had looked at the shop interface for wagons. This one was called a simple farm wagon. With two draft horses, it had a 2, 500 lb carrying capacity. There were larger wagons available in the shop interface, but they all required more horses. I actually wasn't sure if magic played a role in how a wagon worked.

I didn't know if two healthy horses could always pull up to 2, 500 lbs, or if that 2, 500 was a set limit. There were definitely games that I'd played that had a hard limit on what you could carry in a specific vehicle. Back home, there was technically a limit on what you were supposed to carry with certain vehicles. A 10-wheeler, for example, was only supposed to weigh in at 54, 000 lbs fully loaded. If the vehicle traveled on the highway, you often needed to honor that weight limit.

If you didn't, you risked getting caught at a DMV scale that would fine you for being overweight. But if you were just traveling to your own barns to sort potatoes, or going to the local grain scales, no one was likely to ticket you for going over. It was time to add one more thing to my almanac research! The two draft horses pulling the wagon were magnificent beasts. The two horses looked almost identical. They were black with black manes and tails. The only color on them was their white fetlocks.

They were over six feet tall at the shoulder and had to weigh close to a ton apiece. The ID tag said that these horses were called Highlander Draft Horses. After we had gotten the farm animals, I found out that I could turn on ID tags for animals on my UI. It had taken some effort to get that feature the way I wanted it. The System had the default setting set to only ID humans. When I set it to also include animals, it initially included every single animal.

There were so many birds in some of the large flocks flying through the sky that their ID tags covered my vision. After some tinkering, I got it changed so that it only came on when I focused on it happening. There were actually a few more things I changed once I knew I could. When the Newtons pulled up in front of us and Brendan set the brake on the wagon, his kids all piled out of the back and came around to stand in a row in front of us. Brendan then stepped down and helped his wife, Ginny, off the wagon.

I knew that Brendan and Ginny were both right around thirty-five years old. ID tags only showed names and classes, not ages or levels, so I had no idea what their exact levels were. Emily thought they were somewhere around level 14 or 15. Brendan was a short and muscular man with a bushy black beard. He was five-foot-six and looked like he weighed maybe a hundred and seventy pounds.

He was wearing similar clothes to what I had been given in the homestead package, but unless these were his "best" clothes, he was doing much better for himself than Emily or Colin since there were no patches evident on his clothing. The final touch to his ensemble was his hat. I immediately wanted one! It was a tan straw cowboy hat, which was heavily waxed to repel rain. I was jealous. I hadn't even looked at hats in the store. New life goal: acquire a cool cowboy hat.

As I looked at the rest of the family, I could see their clothes were in a similar condition to Brendan's. Brendan's wife, Ginny, was barely five feet tall. She had light brown hair up in a tight bun that sat on top of her head, and she was stout. I didn't mean to disparage the woman, but I couldn't help but think she resembled a barrel. Her light brown dress and off-white apron were nicer versions of Emily's own clothing, but they certainly didn't hide her general shape.

She smiled at me, with a set of perfect white teeth. The wrinkle lines around her eyes indicated she smiled a lot, and she definitely wasn't pursing her lips as she looked me over. Her grin was so wide and infectious I couldn't help but smile back at her. She really reminded me of a friendly, plump German matron. Their oldest child was a boy named Aiden. He had his father's dark hair and already stood two inches taller than his father. It looked as though he would have his father's build when he finished growing.

Their daughter Caitlin, who I knew was thirteen, was between her mother and father in height. She had the same dress as her mother, and the bun for her dark hair was the same I'd now seen on all three of the women I'd met so far. She had a thinner build than her parents. I would describe her as of "average" build for a girl. She was awkward now, but would probably be cute when she grew up. The two younger children, Clive and Roslyn, were still shorter than their mother and were pretty average-looking kids.

They were obviously all siblings, and there was no question of parentage for any of the four. Brendan was assessing me, even as I was assessing him and his family. Emily had told me that proper protocol for a first meeting between homesteaders required me to initiate a grip with Brendan's forearm, which he would return. Then, I was supposed to offer them a cup of water from my well. I stepped forward and put my arm out. When Brendan did the same, I gripped his forearm and said, "Well met Homesteader Brendan."

He smiled at me and returned the grip.

"Well met Homesteader John." This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. It was tradition for wives to hold the drinking cup while their husbands exchanged greetings. Even though Emily was not my wife, she said it would still be appropriate for her to take on the role. I turned to her and asked her to hand me the cup, using the exact words she had told me to use.

"Free Woman Emily, you hold the cup of welcoming. Would you be so kind as to proffer it to Free Man Brendan and his family, so that they may slake their thirst?" She nodded and smiled before answering me.

"As you will, Free Man John. This is your homestead, and you are wise to welcome these new friends to your homestead. Please take the first sip, it is your right as the owner of this homestead, and proof of your open dealings." With that, she handed me the cup, and I took a sip, then handed it back to her. She also took a sip, then the two Newton adults both drank from the cup. Once Ginny had drunk from the cup, she smiled and said, "Alrigh', enough o' this carry-on now, mates!"

She embraced Emily in a big hug and then held Emily out to look at her.

"Lookit this new frock, tidy tha' is, innit? An' don' think I didn't spot Colin's new gear neither." With that, she turned towards me and asked, "Tha' your doin', was it?" I blushed, then said, "I figured they needed some new clothes if they were going to be effective partners and help me make this homestead successful." She smiled and gripped my upper arm. She had a firm grip.

"Fair play t'you." Then she turned to Colin, and Aiden and motioned, "Come on now, boys, grab the salt — time we got crackin', see." With that, she whisked Emily towards where the elk carcass was sitting in the shade. Colin and Aiden got to work grabbing the casks of salt. I had expected large barrels, but the half-casks I saw would make more sense from a weight perspective. Brendan waited until the women and children were gone before he said any more. He and I were standing a few feet apart.

He had taken a wide stance and had his thumbs hooked into his belt. Before he began speaking, he pushed his cowboy hat back so I could look him in the eyes. He was so much shorter than me that the brim had blocked me from seeing his face while he was standing close to me. I had to fight back a chuckle. My mom's brothers were both about his height, and both wore big cowboy hats all the time. He took the exact same stance that they both did whenever they were talking. Maybe it was the cowboy hat?

I'd never really thought about it. Both of my uncles were truckers, so it definitely wasn't just a "cowboy" or farmer thing. After adjusting his hat, he hooked his thumb back into his belt and rocked back on his boots before settling back flat-footed. Then he finally said, "Well now, John Jacobson. At first glance it looks like you're treatin' Emily an' Colin alrigh', mate, Ginnie's right, tidy thing tha' was you did, givin' 'em new clothes.

We've helped where we could, see, but this last year was the first time I'd say we were finally doin' proper good, like."

"Did she tell you imma Rancher subclass, then?" I nodded and said, "She did." He nodded back and began speaking again.

"Yeah, mostly sheep. But I'm milkin' ten dairy cows now too, see. We mostly make cheese an' yogurt out of it. Tha' was my level five Rancher skill, mind. Before tha' it was tough — milk mostly had to go back t'the animals 'cos it spoiled before we could cart it down Weston. I gave a nod at his words and said, "I bet it was. You have pigs too then I guess?" He nodded, then reached down to grab a grass stalk that had sprouted into seed. He stuck it in his mouth and looked around my place for a few moments.

"Looks like you've got a fair bit o' work done in no time at all. Why d'you got them furrows dug in your fields, then?" I followed his lead and grabbed another grass stalk for myself. It let me uncross my arms and opened up my body language a bit. Before I'd been in more of a defensive posture since I was unsure of what his thoughts would be about me. He wasn't starting out hostile to me, so I didn't want to give off the impression there was any need for me to be defensive.

Once I'd reset myself, I said, "I'm going to dig a ditch, and then I'm going to use those furrows to water the land."

"Why?" he asked, turning his head towards me.

"Why, is it? We get enough rain out 'ere t'grow our crops, see. The almanac reckons we'll have an average rain year, an' it's never been wrong yet, mate." I nodded and pulled the grass stem out of my mouth.

"True, but I have studied crops for a long while now, and I think I can get much better yields with my new methods. Either way, I won't do worse, just extra work." He raised his eyebrow and moved his head from side to side in a way that seemed to say he was conceding I was probably right. His next words threw me for a loop, but he said them in a conversational tone, with not a hint of accusation in his voice.

"You plannin' t'marry Emily then?" I let out an uncontrolled nervous laugh.

"Haha! What? No! I don't have any designs on her. She and Colin were here when I showed up, and I have no actual knowledge of this province. I couldn't kick them out, I'm not heartless. I figured we could work together. Colin seems like a real good kid, and Emily has been helpful. I've made no untoward moves here." He smiled at me, amusement clear on his face at seeing that his words had rattled me. His next words kept me on my back foot.

"Why not, eh?"

"What do you mean?" I said, my expression was as neutral as I could keep it.

"I've already heard that the bishop tried to get her to marry his nephew. The bishop was… Interesting." He nodded along as I spoke. When I was done, he tossed aside his chewed-up grass stalk and found another one that suited him. He took a couple of bites and then spoke.

"True enough. But tha' fella was a right piece o' work, wasn't he. A drunk, he was. Emily'd never've been better off wi' him. You though, you seem tidy enough, fair play. You should think on it, like." I was taken aback. I had met the guy only ten minutes before.

"Sir, you don't know me at all. I mean, I think I'm a pretty good guy, but even if I am, it would be awfully quick to be thinking Emily and I should be married."

"Why?" Looking me in the eye, he said, "Most marriages are arranged, mate. You've already spent more time wi' her than me an' the missus did before we were betrothed. Emily'd only met Brolen twice before they were wed. Unless you grow up wi' your intended, same village like, you hardly know 'em. The System, it gives perks t'marry outside your home village, funny thing tha'." That was interesting information. I thought about it quickly, though. The System's actions made sense.

It would help stop inbreeding in small clans. He finished the conversation by patting me on the shoulder and said, "Think on it now." Then said, "Help me unload the flour an' the sugar, an' then we'll give the women a hand. We can talk more after, see." I nodded and followed him to the wagon.