Why are you special?

Now, while that was a VERY relaxing time… we have things to do.

Well, mostly Oscar.

I call him out to the courtyard (my wall encompases a square mile), use the Mana sphere to link up to him with Flow so my unlimited spell points will let him cast to his heart's content (not that he has one, he's a construct), and chat with him a bit, “Doing OK today Oscar?”

He looks at me a little blankly, “I'm in full working order.”

Yeah, he's not fully a person, yet. Still working on that, “That's good to hear… say, do you mind setting up the ground within these walls for farming? Shift in the Nature Sphere, grab Create Nature, Purify Nature, and both the Plant and Earth packages, then go around making tillable soil from these polluted rocks and filling it with food-bearing plants of various kinds, adding in Harvest as well so there's food immediately?”

Oscar nods, “Yes boss,” and gets to work.  The smallest of the ranges he'll need for this affects a fifty foot radius at his caster level… but he has a square mile to cover. He's got a few thousand castings of each involved effect ahead of him… so it'll take him several hours to finish.  But after a day, we'll have a square mile of usable farmland.

…which is not nearly enough to feed the whole city. He'll need to spend a few weeks on it for that, unless I use the Time Clone power from the Time Sphere repeatedly to make a bunch of fragile copies. But that's not the point: The point is proving we can set them up to do it themselves.

… and a few weeks to set up enough farmland to feed an entire city is probably fine….

Oscar gets to work, picking a spot, casting the two Sphere effects (Create Nature(Earth) with Purify Nature(Earth) as one casting to make fertile soil, plus Create Nature(Plant) with Harvest to create food-bearing plants… first takes just one spell point when he converts the poisoned rock into the dirt, second takes two spell points… and thanks to buffs, he can do both spells in one round), and moving to another spot.  He's working a grid, and I'm feeding him the spell points.

Of course, when he does it, he's leaning on the local dungeon… oh well, it's plugged; shouldn't be too bad… and it's an Instant effect that needs to happen once vs. all the magical food production that's an every day thing. Oh yes, and there’s a harvest waiting, to the tune of a day's worth of edibles for a hundred thirty five folks per casting.  

Hmm. I should hire some folks to follow Oscar with really big bags. Yeah, I could have summoned creatures do it, but what's the point of that?

Thinking about it, I consider, and Greater Teleport back into town. I focus on Ears of the City for a bit: Where do I find folks who are looking for simple work?
Untrained laborers should be available at pretty much any bar.  The cheapest labor will be at the Spread Skirt, but the folks you'll find there aren't exactly the most reliable sorts.  You'll find more honest laborers at the Penetrated Peach, and only slightly more expensive. For noble household servants, you'll want the Rented Romp: Pricy, but they know their place.

What is up with the names on public houses here?
It's a historical note. At one point, all the noblemen wanted to… shall we say, ‘relax away from their wives’ … and any public house that didn't have an overly suggestive name didn't get the guys with gold to burn coming through the door. So now all of them do.

Aha. Well, money's not an issue… for me. I suppose I might as well shore up the poorer portion of the populace… I head to the Spread Skirt, and stick my head inside.

Nearly everything is made of mismatched stone, and crudely carved at that. Benches, chairs, walls… everything. The one thing I can see that isn't stone is a cook pot over a campfire bead… and it's iron.  Again, the only thing in the pot is weak tea. I don't smell any beer … ah, right. There's a food shortage: Beer needs calories for the yeast. At least I won't need to deal with any drunks.

The people… look like they could use a stiff drink.  And a good meal; most of them are looking a bit too thin. Folks on the street are wearing clothing that's a bit too worn.  Here? Visible holes.  And there's an air of despair on everyone.

Well… uniforms are traditionally provided by the employer, and clothing is simple due to the Clothier's Closet spell…

I shout over the general din, not that it's that loud, “Hey all, I need to hire a bunch of folks for a few days to bring in a harvest. I'm paying a silver a day, plus room and board for the duration. Uniforms provided. Follow me if you're interested.” I then turn around and walk out at a sedate pace (so that, for instance, a halfling wouldn't have trouble keeping up), heading back to my district the long way.

As I watch behind me with Blindsight, I realize these people are in a sorry state indeed - I emptied the place… including the wait staff. Huh.  I have a good twenty people following me, I guess these folks really are desperate.

But that is what I wanted, wasn't it? Desperate people to employ?

They chat amongst themselves and with people we pass… and I find by the time I get to the gate, that number has doubled from other people joining in. Huh. You know what? That’s fine. The more the merrier.

The gate guards don't bother us this time - no, there's no exit fee. And it's the same two guards… they’re paying me a very healthy respect now, even saluting as I go past. Maybe they appreciate what I put in their pants? No matter.

We cross the gap to my district, and their eyes bulge as they see. I mean, between the tech, the summoned creatures, and the plants… well, it's all new for most of these people.

So I address them all, “All right, so I want the fruit, nuts, and vegetables harvested. but of course you need proper attire. So first…” I cast Clothier's Closet in the gate, making a hundred Traveler's outfits in different sizes based on what I see.  I pick colors as I do… green and brown.  Nothing too fancy, and goes with plants and soil, “... everyone get dressed. There should be enough for everyone to have two. Which will be important tomorrow, as I expect everyone will get quite dirty.”

I also Fabricate a bunch of burlap sacks, and spend some time going over what parts of which plants to harvest, then set them to work… with a few Summons supervising.  Hound Archons (basically dog-headed humans, good aligned, that fight with Greatswords and can turn into dogs) specifically, because they have some safties for dealing with humans in their write up: They don’t like killing mortals. At all.

I quietly explain a few things to my summoned supervisors, in Celestial so that nobody else understands, “I'm primarily doing this as charity work. It's best if they earn their wages… but if some of them steal food to eat, or maybe take home to their families and friends… let them, all right? I don't actually need either the food or the money from the sale for myself… or their ‘uniforms’ for that matter. But again: It's best if people earn their keep. There's a sense of accomplishment and dignity that goes with it… and that's important too. Do you understand?”

They all smile and nod, so I continue, “Also, please keep a lookout for trustworthy workers that have a good set of ethics. I will probably do this again in the near future, and with the state the dungeon is in, I would prefer to minimize my use of magical beings.”

Again, they smile and nod, so I leave them to it. I take a perch atop of one of the watch towers… and quickly come to the conclusion that I'm going to need more harvesters. Oscar is making enough food to feed one hundred thirty five people for a day every six seconds.  The forty people I hired aren't nearly enough to get the harvest in before it all spoils on the vine.

Obviously, there's only one solution that aligns with my goals: Hire more people. So I rinse and repeat, many times, throughout the entire day. I go to a different tavern each time, make the same offer, and go through the same speeches.  I'm employing a good several hundred people before I get to the point where I estimate it'll be harvested before it all rots.

And I have space for people. Which is good, as feeding and housing is part of the deal when hiring untrained laborers here.

So at the end of the day, I make a big bag of silver coins, and - with a smirk - have my summoned servants line them all up from last hired to first hired, and pay them all one silver coin, before directing them inside to eat and rest.

And yes, the ones I hired first are a bit grumpy.