On the hillside east of Fontdmer Town.
The howling cold wind slipped through Thane's collar and into his chest, making his already cold heart even icier.
"This is supposed to be farmland?"
Thane couldn't help but let out a shocked question.
Looking out, the pale yellow earth was choked with weeds, with grass roots poking up everywhere.
If it weren't for the broken scarecrow standing ahead, this would look like complete wasteland!
Thane frowned and bent down to grab a handful of yellow soil. His palm was full of clumped dirt that crumbled into fine powder when squeezed.
"What a damn waste of good land!"
You didn't need a degree in agriculture—Thane could see at a glance this was soil depletion from years of no fertilizer and no crop rotation.
Forget the weeds—the soil was starting to turn into concrete, which wasn't just about fertility anymore. Keep this up and even letting it sit unused wouldn't bring it back to its original state.
These people were really something—lazy and clueless.
"So those weedy patches of land on both sides of the road below town—those are farmland too, Otto?"
Otto was one of seven wealthy farmers who had piled up quite a bit of land through years of hard work.
He had four sons and wealth that used to exceed the hanged mayor's.
Well, that was before Thane collected taxes.
"Yes, my lord."
The wealthy farmer Otto standing nearby nervously rubbed his sleeves and answered carefully.
From Thane's arctic tone, Otto could sense the lord's displeasure, though he didn't know why.
Great, just freaking great.
When Thane walked past yesterday, he'd wondered why the weedy wasteland had all those crooked furrows and ridges.
Turns out it was Northern Borderlands farmland.
What an eye-opener.
"Otto, can you actually get decent harvests farming on land like this?" Thane couldn't help but demand.
"It was okay a few years back, but it's gotten worse the past couple years."
Otto reported carefully: "If we really can't grow anything, we just have to clear new farmland."
"Everyone else farms for two years then lets fields rest—you just ditch them completely."
Thane was laughing with disbelief at these people.
Even morons had their own methods, apparently.
Good thing the Northern Borderlands wilderness had tons of land, or these people would definitely starve to death!
"My lord, if I may ask, what do you mean by letting fields rest?"
Thane had zero interest in educating these knuckleheads and asked directly: "Is all the farmland like this?"
"You mean..."
"Clumped yellow dirt, covered in weeds—all like this?"
"Some of it isn't," Otto replied.
"Right now, clear a six-foot-wide strip around the edge of this farmland, leaving nothing but dirt—no weeds at all.
Then start fires from all sides and burn all the weeds inside clean."
Burning weeds would create natural fertilizer from the ash, improve soil structure, and the flames would kill all the bug eggs hidden in the grass.
The six-foot clear strip was a firebreak to prevent the controlled burn from accidentally turning into a wildfire.
But if there was enough farmland, Thane wasn't planning to keep farming this plot for now—better to let it rest for a year.
"Not just this plot—treat all the farmland in town this way!"
Wood ash was natural fertilizer, so Thane decided to burn everything once over, whether the soil was crappy or not, to give it all a good rest.
"My lord, forgive my boldness, but the reason for doing this is..."
Seeing Thane's unfriendly look, the wealthy farmer quickly added: "I have no objections, but if I'm going to have all the farmers do this, it would be good to have an explanation."
"An explanation?"
Thane snorted coldly, his words ice-cold:
"My land doesn't need explaining to anyone. Whoever doesn't do it can go die!"
Taking care of the land like this, and they still want an explanation?
A bunch of people so ignorant they've blown right through the bottom of this era's standards, and they want an explanation?
Ha!
The farmers back on Earth would grab their hoes and beat their brains in!
"Also, immediately take everyone's seeds. Starting this year, all farmland will be centrally planned and farmed together!"
"Tell everyone I won't let any of Shadowpine Ridge's people starve—I guarantee it on the Ividaya family honor.
But whoever dares to clear farmland on their own, I'll strangle them with my bare hands!"
Of course Thane wouldn't actually strangle one of his own people.
But Thane also understood that what was messed up in the Northern Borderlands wilderness wasn't the land—it was these people's brains!
So Thane decided to stop reasoning with them and use the most basic system to manage them!
When they finally grew some brains, then he'd open up land leasing.
Thane's angry voice made Otto not dare to respond anymore. He could only scrunch his neck and nod repeatedly.
His head was full of thoughts of Matt being hanged last night and the criminals strung up in town this morning, praying he wouldn't end up like that.
Especially when Thane said his next words, Otto's heart plunged into an icy pit.
"Now, take me to find a piece of land that hasn't been cultivated."
"Noble lord, all the land around here has been cultivated. New land is way far away..."
"What?"
Thane wanted to get angry, but there was no point given the situation.
Right now, to unlock the trait, he needed to personally clear an acre of farmland.
According to the game system rules, all the farmland improvements from before he arrived didn't count—he needed to personally participate after arriving to unlock traits.
If that was the case, did that mean all the existing land counted as wasteland?
Thane felt his guess made perfect sense. He ordered Otto to take him around the area to pick a piece of land that looked decent.
Then Thane had Otto find a dozen or so people who, following his earlier instructions, built a firebreak around the farmland edge and carefully burned all the weeds.
Then, under everyone's shocked stares, Thane spat in his palms, rubbed them together, grabbed a hoe and started breaking ground.
"Noble sir, what the hell are you doing?!"
Eliric was so startled he almost dropped his axe!
Even if he, a mercenary, were to work the land, it shouldn't be Thane the lord doing it!
"Besides breaking up soil, what other explanation is there for what I'm doing?"
Thane straightened up and glanced at Eliric. "Do I look like I'm eating right now?"
With that, Thane continued swinging the hoe.
His earlier action was actually checking the trait unlock progress in the system.
The gray progress bar already had a tiny bit of green sprouting, proving Thane's approach was right on the money.
The rest was just elbow grease.
"What are you all standing around for? Hurry up and help the noble sir break ground!"
Eliric couldn't stand it anymore. He spat out the wild grass he was chewing and wanted to grab a hoe too, but Thane refused.
"Just save your energy to keep me alive. Everyone else go burn the weeds on the other farmland clean."
"Anyway, nobody touch the land I'm working on."
"Huh..."
Eliric couldn't help scratching his head, unable to figure out what was going on.
But nobody dared disobey Thane's orders now, so they all obediently followed instructions.
Breaking new ground was tougher than expected. You couldn't just swing the hoe and jam it straight into the earth, or you'd wear yourself out in just a few minutes.
Farming also required know-how—you needed to maintain a steady rhythm, take it step by step, and when you felt a bit tired, it was best to stop and rest before continuing.
As a bastard at Ividaya Castle, Thane had farmed before, and this land wasn't virgin soil either, so it cooperated.
No rocks in the ground, plenty of moisture from freshly melted snow—it only took most of the day to finish an acre.
[Successfully cultivated the territory's first acre of farmland personally. Unlocked trait: Knowledge of Fertile Soil]
[Next trait: Collect 4,400 pounds of manure fertilizer to unlock: Master of Humus]