Chapter 356: The Burden of Vrethka’s Farmers

He realized these people probably knew exactly who he was. Stories of the battle would already be spreading throughout Vrethka. To them, he wasn’t simply a visiting noble. He was the Necromancer who destroyed their army and killed their chief.

The contrast felt strange to Darion. Yesterday, people were trying to kill him. Today, farmers were watching him from behind their crops. He didn’t threaten them. He simply walked through the fields, allowing them to continue working. Some greeted him, their voices hesitant. Some farmers lowered their heads respectfully. Others remained visibly nervous, their eyes fixed on him as if expecting something terrible to happen.

Darion understood that fear wouldn’t disappear immediately. He had done seemingly terrible things. He had killed their chief, had defeated their army, had stood in the middle of their settlement and commanded them to bow or die. Fear was the natural response. It would take time, patience, and consistent behavior to earn their trust.

Darion asked the warrior how the farmers were treated under Vrethka’s rule. The answer wasn’t particularly pleasant.

Vrethka demanded a heavy portion of the farmers’ harvest as tax. Every farming season, a significant amount of their crops was collected for the settlement. The food went toward feeding warriors, filling the granaries, supporting Vrethka’s campaigns, feeding workers and officials, and maintaining reserves for emergencies.

Darion realized the farmers essentially carried much of the burden of Vrethka’s military strength. They worked the fields, grew the crops, harvested the grain, and then watched as most of it was taken away.

The warrior explained that refusing the tax wasn’t really an option. Dross’s administration expected the crops regardless of how difficult the harvest was. If the farmers didn’t produce enough, they were punished. If they tried to hide their crops, they were caught. The system was designed to extract as much as possible from the people working the land.

Darion looked over the farmers again. He remembered what Percvale’s farmland looked like after he inherited the territory. Much of it had been neglected. The land was recovering. The people were trying to rebuild. Food production had been one of Percvale’s biggest problems.

Vrethka, meanwhile, had farmland stretching across the countryside. Its soil was fertile. Its irrigation system was established. Its farmers already knew how to work it. Darion realized that he didn’t need to reinvent agriculture here. He simply needed to make sure the system remained productive, and perhaps treat the farmers better than Dross had.

He began thinking about how the two territories could complement each other. Percvale had newly restored farmland that was still developing. Vrethka already had an established agricultural system. If he could improve Percvale’s farming using some of Vrethka’s techniques, both territories could benefit. The irrigation system especially caught his attention. He thought about whether something similar could be expanded throughout Percvale.

More reliable water meant better harvests. Better harvests meant more food. More food meant stronger armies and healthier populations. Darion realized that something as simple as irrigation could eventually have military consequences.

Though Percvale’s soil was actually good now, it hadn’t always been that way. The history of Percvale’s farmland was a history of neglect and decline. The previous Barons had let it degrade, had done nothing to maintain it, had allowed it to become barren.

The settlers had been left with few options. They could try to plant in the forest, but that was a stupid idea, the creatures there would eat the crops before they could be harvested. They could try to import food, but that was expensive and unreliable. They could try to hunt, but the forests were dangerous and the animals were scarce.

So Percvale had starved. Its people had left. Its farmland had died. It had taken Seren’s magical restoration to bring the land back to life. Now the soil was rich, fertile, capable of producing crops. But it had taken magic to achieve what Vrethka had naturally.

Darion also thought about the heavy crop tax. He didn’t necessarily want to repeat Dross’s methods. Taking too much from farmers could weaken the very people producing the food. If farmers were left with barely enough to survive, production eventually fell. He considered the possibility of taking a reasonable portion while allowing farmers to keep enough to support their families and continue farming effectively.

He didn’t need to squeeze every resource out of Vrethka immediately. He wanted a system that could keep producing for years. The idea fit with how he wanted to build his territories: take control of the land, protect the people, improve production, make the territory stronger.

Darion looked over the fields and realized this land might become one of Vrethka’s most important assets. The more places he visited, the more he realized Vrethka wasn’t simply a settlement he conquered after a battle. It was a functioning territory with systems already in place. The challenge wasn’t necessarily building everything from nothing. It was learning what already works and figuring out how to improve it.

He thought back to his original goal of simply surviving as Baron of Percvale. Now he was inspecting miles of farmland belonging to a territory he conquered. The scale of his responsibilities was beginning to sink in.

Darion turned away from the farmers and looked toward the distant horizon. Beyond the cultivated fields were forests, hills, and more unexplored land. The surviving warrior followed his gaze.

Darion paused for a moment before asking: "How far does Vrethka’s territory actually extend?"

The warrior considered the question. "A few more villages ahead. It is a large village, but not populated as a kingdom would be."

Darion nodded, understanding. Regular kingdoms were densely populated, with cities and towns and villages scattered across their territory. Vrethka was different. It was a settlement, a single large village with surrounding farmland and a few smaller villages under its control. It wasn’t a kingdom. It was something smaller, more focused, more militaristic.

But that didn’t mean it was weak. Vrethka had defeated Harrowhold, had conquered other settlements, had built a military force that could threaten entire regions. It was a power in its own right, even if it didn’t have the population or infrastructure of a true kingdom.

Darion looked toward the horizon again. He had seen the treasury, the livestock, the armory, the granaries, and the farmland. He had seen the systems that kept Vrethka functioning. And he was beginning to understand that conquering a territory wasn’t just about taking walls and soldiers. It was about taking responsibility for everything behind those walls.

He had a lot of work to do.