Ch.4646. How to Tame a Slave

[Currently, you can own up to 15 slaves.]

I felt a bit disappointed.

“Ah, I should have kept two more alive.”

In farming games, there’s never enough manpower.

To hire NPCs that help, you need Farm points, but it’s advantageous not to create continuous Farm consumption until you secure a stable source of Farm points.

In that sense, slaves who can be worked while only needing to be fed are extremely useful and efficient.

Of course, newbies often complain about considerable discomfort when they first manage slaves.

– “These bastards keep disobeying me, what should I do?”

– “I worked them while starving them, and they died.”

– “How do I increase their obedience level…”

The easiest approach is to think of slaves as people too.

One of the biggest mistakes newbies make is treating slaves like pre-19th century black slaves.

While monster slaves with shackles will follow orders that way, it’s difficult to maintain their obedience level and work them as desired for long periods.

There’s only one case where that approach works:

When you need to burn through labor power as quickly as possible.

If you want to use them for a long time, you need to think of slaves as humans who can be exploited cheaply.

“Here. Meat. This is your food.”

Goblins are carnivores.

There are hardly any monsters weaker than goblins in a Level 0 biome, but there are enough animals they can hunt even if they’re not monsters.

That doesn’t mean they can always eat meat, though.

They might fail at hunting, and now that the village has been destroyed by someone, it would be unreasonable to expect them to follow my orders while also finding their own food.

That’s why the village had various fruits and vegetables in case they couldn’t eat meat.

Goblins are specialized in survival, able to eat anything to survive.

I deliberately brought them the meat that remained in the house.

“Keurk. Master… Keurk. Thank you.”

“It’s meat. Meat.”

This is why in the Farming World, you shouldn’t throw away any resources—there’s always a use for them somewhere.

Big Rats meat.

It started to rot after passing its expiration date while I was on Earth, but this level of spoilage isn’t a major issue for goblins.

Well, monsters probably get stomachaches from eating spoiled food too, but it’s better than starving to death.

In fact, they’re showing happiness after receiving meat that will last them for days.

“Come to the hut every morning to work.”

“Keurk.”

“Your first priority is to grow Sunro mushrooms. Your second priority is to help with farming at the hut. If you follow these well, I’ll provide food so you can live safely and expand the territory so other predators can’t target you.”

“Keurk. Keurk. Good. Keurk.”

“Meat good.”

“But mushrooms keurk… Black Monkeys target them keurk.”

“I’ll kill those monkey bastards. Do you like monkey meat too?”

“Keuruk! Monkey meat good!”

“Good. Here’s your first task. Harvest the Sunro mushrooms well and bring them to the hut. A female orc will be waiting there. Give them to her, do what she tells you to do, and then go home to sleep after you finish work at night.”

“Understood. Master.”

Treating them like people isn’t difficult for users who have played Farming World for a while.

Carrot and stick.

Wielding them appropriately while firmly communicating what I want is the proper way to establish the master-slave relationship.

Perhaps it’s even easier and more comfortable for me because I’ve lived as a shut-in for 26 years with deficient social skills.

Since my opinion comes first and others’ circumstances aren’t my concern, it’s important that the slaves prioritize the tasks I assign them, regardless of how difficult it is for them.

Watching the goblins move cautiously, I headed home with some harvested Sunro mushrooms.

“How did it go?”

Kim Sujeong, who had been struggling alone to expand the field in the widened yard, quickly approached and asked when she saw me.

Instead of answering, I held out the Sunro mushrooms.

“What’s this? Mushrooms? Huh? Sunro mushrooms? Are these real Sunro mushrooms? The dungeon truffles?”

“Yeah.”

“What about the goblins and the mushrooms?”

“I dealt with the goblins, and they were growing mushrooms. About 50 plants are growing, so I made about a dozen of them slaves. They’ll probably harvest and bring them in a few days. Take good care of them. We’re going to sell mushrooms this time.”

“Wow… 50 plants means how many mushrooms?”

“Don’t know. Looked like a few hundred at least.”

I don’t know how much they grow and tribute.

Or maybe they only harvest what they need for tribute and leave the rest alone since they don’t know when they might need them.

Come to think of it, Sunro mushrooms are more like condiments for humans, so they might not be good food for goblins.

They wouldn’t eat Sunro mushrooms just because they’re hungry when those mushrooms are their lifeline.

That’s fortunate for me, though.

“Dad would be thrilled… Dungeon truffles this size would go for at least 200-300 each.”

“What taste do people even eat them for?”

I was curious too and smelled them, and while they had a rich aroma, they didn’t seem particularly tasty.

Kim Sujeong shrugged.

“I don’t have particularly refined taste either…”

Then she cautiously asked me:

“…But since we have them, can we try some with meat today?”

She quickly went inside and brought out beef.

It’s beef I brought to eat soon since we can’t freeze it, so its shelf life is short.

I nodded.

“Let’s see how delicious they are.”

We still have plenty of Sunro mushrooms.

And the Sunro mushrooms confirmed something for me.

That in the Rift Dimension, resources that are valuable on Earth are scattered around like sand on the streets.

It’s not called a top-tier dimension for nothing.

“Oh, and I told the goblins to follow your orders when they bring the mushrooms, so have them work in the fields and let them go home at night.”

“Really? I can give them orders?”

“You’re in charge of farming, aren’t you?”

“This will be fun.”

Lulu looked a bit scared.

“What’s wrong? Are you afraid?”

“Master. Slaves must be handled carefully. If mishandled, they might rebel.”

“Did that happen with the previous master?”

“…Yes.”

“How did the previous master even get selected for this place? Was she pretty?”

“…”

“Don’t worry. From my perspective, handling slaves was the easiest and most comfortable part of playing Farming World.”

Later on, I only used NPCs managed with Farm points because they were convenient and didn’t require management as long as Farm points were supplied infinitely. But before reaching that stage, my farm had such a bizarre structure filled with slaves of all races that it could have been called Slave World rather than Farming World.

“Anyway, since you’ll have to manage them too, distribute food when you have time.”

“Huh… you’re giving us this?”

Lulu was startled as she looked at the food in the PP box.

Her expression seemed to say “But that’s mine…”

“Why give that? There’s plenty of meat in the box.”

“Ah… What?”

I had given all the Big Rats meat away today, and the only meat left in the box outside was goblin meat from the ones I killed.

The thing is, when you butcher something, all the meat comes out as edible meat, so people who don’t think about it just see it as meat. But for those who care about where it came from, it can be a bit unsettling, which is why I hadn’t eaten it either.

But I couldn’t throw it away—meat is meat, and throwing it away? That’s unthinkable for a 10-year Farming World veteran.

I kept it thinking it would be useful somewhere, and now I found a use for it.

“Oppa. Isn’t this goblin meat?”

“It is.”

“If you give that to the goblins…”

“Are you a psychopath?”

“Eh?”

“Just give it to them. There’s no need to tell them what kind of meat it is.”

“…”

Whether it’s Big Rats meat or goblin meat, if you don’t check the item name, you can only guess if it’s pork or beef when eating it.

Sizzle—

Kim Sujeong, who had started grilling beef on the lid of the pot over the campfire, checked the packaging she took the meat from once more.

She also prepared bubbling kimchi stew and rice, making a decent outdoor meal.

She’s good at earning points, even though it hasn’t been that many days.

Taking a spoonful of stew, I asked Lulu:

“I need to hunt a Corrupted Ogre in the south. Do you know anything about it?”

“A Corrupted Ogre? Do you mean the Corrupted Tree?”

“Yeah.”

“Ugh… that place is dangerous, Master. The Corrupted Ogre is a monster that even the previous master only hunted when entering a Level 2 biome… I know it’s an S- rank monster.”

Lulu flapped her wings and warned me.

Fortunately, she has information this time.

S- rank, huh.

That definitely sounds tough just from the name.

Level 0 biome.

Even for a main quest, it doesn’t seem like something that should be cleared here.

The reward also gives me that impression.

SSS+ rank ability selection.

They could attach any difficulty level to this and it wouldn’t be strange, but that kind of risk is what makes the reward worth it.

Besides, while difficult, it didn’t seem impossible.

S- rank means I could fight it on roughly equal terms or with a slight advantage given my current stats.

“Seems doable.”

What should I choose for the next SSS+ rank ability?

I should start thinking about it now.