Beast World: A Fragile Beauty Blessed with Many Children-Chapter 357 - 356: We Are Farming

The fields in the suburbs were relatively barren; all the fertile land had been enclosed within the city walls during Beast City’s successive expansions.

"Wei Ce, your Father’s idea is a good one, but look around. Grass is already sprouting in patches everywhere else, yet here it’s still sparse—just a tuft here and a clump there. Can we really rely on the silt deposited by the rainwater to grow good crops?" As they walked along, the Beastmen, who had been fired up and ready for a big project, gradually felt their hearts grow cold.

Wei Ce glanced at the Tiger Striped Cat Beastman beside him and nodded. "As long as we plant exactly as instructed, even if our harvest isn’t as good as what comes from the fertile land inside the city, it will definitely be much better than anything the other Beastmen out here in the suburbs can grow."

That was true enough. Silt was full of good nutrients that could enrich the soil. Once mixed in, the land’s fertility would surely be better than the other fields outside the city.

Now, they needed to consider just how much better it would be, and whether the extra grain harvested would be worth their effort.

They couldn’t afford to toil away for a pitiful harvest, only to lose face in front of the other Beastmen in the suburbs.

The suburban land was too barren. At first, the local Beastmen were full of confidence. After learning planting techniques from within the city, they started reclaiming and farming land outside the walls themselves. But after months of hard work, the yield from their fields was pitifully small—not even as good as what grew naturally in the wild. As a result, they preferred going into the city for work, or hunting and gathering nearby, rather than continuing to farm.

At least seventy to eighty percent of the flat land in the suburbs was ownerless. Wei Ce’s group was currently surveying the size and ownership status of these lands.

Suddenly, a group of Beastmen carrying tools hurried over. They lowered their heads and began digging haphazardly in an empty plot.

"Hey, what are you people doing?" a Beast Soldier Little Captain asked loudly, frowning.

One of them, a female of a certain age, smiled and said, "Sir, as you can see, we’re farming. The weather has just warmed up, so we have to hurry and plow the fields and sow our seeds. We’re hoping for a good harvest come summer!"

Her words made the whole group pause. They had, of course, come prepared, having already asked around to determine which plots of land were claimed and which were vacant.

’This land is obviously abandoned. How did some Beastmen suddenly show up to claim it?’

"You must be mistaken. This is ownerless land," one of the Beastmen said, displeased.

"How could that be, sirs? You can go to our village and ask anyone whether this stretch of field belongs to our family," the female said, tapping her hoe, her expression calm. "My family has many males and many cubs, all of them strong and able-bodied, excellent workers. If my health hadn’t been poor for the last couple of years, they would never have neglected the fields and let them get so overgrown.

You’re not planning on using your greater numbers and your status as powerful city families and tribes to just take our land, are you?"

Wei Ce and Wei Shuo Lian exchanged a glance. They understood now. This land had definitely been cultivated before, but because its yield was so pitiful, it had been abandoned.

This group of Beastmen must have seen them surveying the area, sniffed out an opportunity, and rushed over to stake their claim first.

Wei Shuo Lian smiled. "I wonder, ma’am, where does your family’s land start and end?"

The female, thinking she had successfully bluffed them, let her eyes dart about before she started running to mark the boundaries. "From here all the way to that rocky patch! And on the sides, from that crooked-neck tree over to the river!"

’That’s a good thirty mu of land!’

’It wasn’t just land inside the city that was in high demand; suburban plots used to be as well. A family was considered well-off with just two or three mu. Thirty mu? Hah! Did she think this was a pasture for raising cattle and horses?’

Wei Ce’s eyes turned cold as he said flatly, "You had best think carefully about your answer. If we hear from anyone else that you’ve lied about the size of your land... heh. What kind of punishment do you imagine you’ll face?"

Wei Shuo Lian raised his hand. "I have a guess. The families in the city won’t want to hire their males for work. After all, who would dare employ Beastmen who lie, take what isn’t theirs, and twist the truth?"

Yimei’s Pangolin Beast Husband, the Eleventh-Level Zhe Heng, was also in the survey team. He sneered, "If her family is the only one to get a deal like this, the other Beastmen will be resentful. They’ll probably be ostracized."

"That’s right! You suburban Beastmen live outside the city, but our Beast Soldiers patrol and scout out here too! Without us, this area would be crawling with High-level Wild Beasts. You’d be too busy struggling to survive to have the spare energy to scheme against us..." other Beastmen added angrily.

"Don’t think I don’t know! You abandoned this land because the yield was too low. This is ownerless land! You just came over here to take advantage, didn’t you? Ptooey! Open your eyes and take a good look! Do you really think you can afford to offend us?"

The female’s face flushed red then went pale at the barrage of accusations. Still unwilling to give up, she said, "Right, you’re right about one thing. This land isn’t all my family’s, but it belongs to our relatives and friends."

She wasn’t wrong about that. Back when everyone migrated here, they settled in the suburbs and, full of hope, reclaimed land in this very area.

’I’m defending their land for them, fighting for some benefits. There’s nothing wrong with that!’

Wei Shuo Lian smiled. "Oh? And who might they be? We’ll be sure to cross this plot off our list and plant elsewhere. Then, when it comes time to hire workers, we’ll know to avoid you all.

After all, since you have your own fields, you won’t be needing any work from us."

Huh? The female had only heard that the great families from the city were fighting to divide up land; she didn’t know the specific reason why.

’If all the big shots are fighting over it, it must be something good. It can’t be a mistake to stake a claim first, no matter what.’

’But what did I just hear? Have these Beastmen lost their minds? They actually want to farm *this* land?’

"Fine, don’t plant here then," the female said without a second thought. ’The yield is low, and after giving up half in taxes, what’s left? Not even enough to raise a single cub. Only an idiot would bother farming it.’

"In that case, go register with our Contract Beast Soldiers. Tell them which plot belongs to whom, and we’ll arrange this year’s spring planting around your land," Wei Ce said, not indulging her in the slightest and immediately writing off the plot.

The Beastmen behind him had no objections. In any case, the silt they had accumulated was only enough to enrich an area half the size of the farmland within the city. There was plenty of wasteland in the suburbs, and they could only manage to convert about thirty percent of the ownerless plots anyway. There was no need to fight to the death over these thirty mu.

The female was dumbfounded. ’Are they really giving up this land? This isn’t normal. It’s a far cry from the usual domineering and arrogant image of city Beastmen.’

"What are you gaping at? Let’s go. We need to finalize the land deeds so we can get started on the next task," a Contract Beast Soldier urged.

Wei Shuo Lian added a reminder, "My friend, be sure to clearly record who is responsible for which plot of land. Afterwards, we’ll need to have someone verify the authenticity of these claims..."