Foreign Land Reclamation By a Vegetable-growing Skeleton

Jelis began making introductions while they were flying, “This is our base—the Myriad Isles Sandbank. Some say there are thousands of sandbanks here, but no one has bothered to count. No one is that idle.”

“Most of the sandbanks are barren. People tend to gather on the most abundant sandbank, which is the Light Sandbank. That’s where they go to buy and sell goods.”

Negris’s voice emanated from Ange, “Judging by the name, I’m guessing this is the Church of Light’s territory? What’s their influence like here?”

Jelis, who had gotten used to Negris’s presence by now, and knew who he was, replied respectfully. This was Lord Nage, the man the Chairman Silver Coin respectfully referred to as the ‘second boss’, and a superior whom she couldn’t reach even if she were promoted several more ranks.

“Correct. Boss, you’re quite sharp. Indeed, the Church of Light manages the land there. As for their influence? Let’s just say, they handle the minor stuff, and nobody pays attention to them for major stuff.” Jelis answered, currying favor earnestly.

“Oh? How so? Are there places where they’re present and still get ignored?” Negris asked curiously.

Considering the Church of Light’s propensity to dominate wherever they are, unbelievable as it sounds, whoever controls this area would surely be visited by the Church’s Priest of Divine Light the next day for proselytizing, and then asked for donations once they have been converted, effectively a religious tax.

If you refuse to join the church, you would be deemed a heretic. Then, the paladins and divine knights would come knocking on your door preaching the doctrine. If they fail, then come the bishop, and angels spirits, they’d preach until you join their faith.

Jelis continued indifferently, “This place is full of adventurers. Nobody cares about such nuisances. If pushed to the verge, they kill them and then hide on a sandbank or return to the Master Plane. They wait for things to die down before they venture out again. The numbers of the Church of Light here are limited, so they generally avoid causing public outrage.”

“However, having them around does garner some face-saving respect. In the event of disputes, people often go to them for mediation. Commodities and money transactions also take place on their territory where it’s safer, and then they take a transaction tax of sorts.”

Having heard what she had to say, Negris paused for a moment. This setup seemed strangely familiar. The same situation was present in Resting Abyss back in the day.

Back when the world’s transit station was still active, undead creatures wielded the most power in the Resting Abyss. However, the undead didn’t bother much with affairs unless they involved murders and robberies disrupting the trade route.

When it came to sentient creatures, most disputes were trivial matters like theft, fights, affairs with others’ partners, and so forth. As for such matters, typically people didn’t want to go to the undead for arbitration. Their punishment often tended to be severe—they would kill, soul search, or cast you into the Soul Prison.

That’s when the Church of Light stepped in to fill the void. Back then, Lisa had the role of spreading faith in the Light, ensuring justice, and resolving disputes.

It was similar to how imperial envoys were sent by different empires, with the difference being they had more trivial matters to deal with.

In this plane, it seems that this situation has arisen because the Church of Light’s power can’t penetrate deeply.

Upon figuring out the pattern, Negris quickly moved onto his next question, “This place is full of adventurers. What attracts all these adventurers here? Judging by the large number of Air Bubble Stones on your ship, could it be that you mine them here?”

“Yes, here, we have Air Bubble Stones, as well as sand gold, seafood, fish skins, and some special Crystal Stones found inside some sea beasts. Even one or two of these can make you wealthy, hence attracting a lot of adventurers.” answered Jelis.

Negris was somewhat surprised. He had thought that Air Bubble Stones were produced only in planes where the Wind Element was particularly active, but he never thought it would be a water world.

However, upon further thought, it made perfect sense. Even the most fierce Wind Element wouldn’t compare to the density of water. If some places exhibited particularly active Water Element, it would stimulate the creation of such peculiar materials.

“What about you guys? Did you come to this plane because you wanted to strike it rich?” Negris asked.

“No!” Jelis declared proudly, “We’re not just anyone; we’re members of the Silver Chamber of Commerce and belong to the Moonship Mercenary Corps. We have stable jobs with good benefits, even including five types of social insurance and a housing fund. My apologies, boss, this is what I say when I’m recruiting.”

“Recruiting? So how many people are in your Moonship Mercenary Corps now?” Negris asked.

Jelis awkwardly scratched her nose: “Th…Three.”

“Three? Then he…”Negris cast a questioning thought over the four people on the ship, before finally settling on the damage control boy.

The damage control boy seemed to sense Negris’s gaze. He immediately straightened his posture and replied loudly, “Reporting to you, sir, I am Mark, the airship’s damage control officer and I belong to the Chamber of Commerce, not a part of the Moonship. I am responsible for managing and protecting the Chamber’s assets, preventing intentional damage, and in dangerous times, I am to toss the troublesome fat guy overboard.”

Fat Alvi turned red in the face, glaring at Mark furiously. But due to the presence of Ange and Negris, he dared not explode.

Negris was confused, his thoughts rotating among Mark, Alvi, and Lily who was murmuring reassurances. What caused this sudden dispute among them?

However, as long as they weren’t physically fighting, Negris wouldn’t intervene. He continued to ask, “How many people does the Chamber of Commerce have here? When did silver coin send you over? Are you married and have children? How’s the treatment? And the meals? Do you get days off? How are bonuses distributed? Do you have any dissatisfaction? Speak up, I’m here to solve problems.”

An absolute large landlord visiting the farmers in the field to express consolation.

The airship slowly moved forward. A large sand bank appeared in front, unlike other bare sand banks, this one had a lot of trees, coconut trees, palms and other plants that can grow in sandy soil. Ange even spotted some malnourished date palms.

Ange believed that the trees were malnourished, because he was comparing them to those found in the Oasis desert. Fat Alvi and Lily didn’t share this opinion. When passing by a date palm, the glow in Fat Alvi’s eyes was about to burst out, mumbling,”I really want to taste the dates. Compared to those rotten vegetable leaves, the dates are like a divine gift from the Goddess of Beauty!”

Alvi’s words were said with a dedication, causing a soul’s flame to float towards the ‘Goddess.’

Who would’ve thought that this fatty was indeed a devotee of the Goddess of Beauty? Ange accepted the soul flame and tossed a full date over to him.

Fat Alvi clumsily caught the date and stared at it, then at Ange, and then at the shriveled fruits on the date-palm tree by the shore. He hesitated, swallowing his saliva.

He quietly retreated a few steps back and whispered to Lily and Mark who had gathered around him,”What did the boss mean? Is it a reward for me? Why don’t you guys have any?”

Lily licked her lips, saying, “The boss probably thought you were too embarrassing, even getting envious over those broken dates, so he rewarded you with a big one to let you broaden your horizons.”

“Hehe, if that’s the case, I won’t mind making a fool of myself a few more times.” After a silly giggle, he opened his mouth to bite the date, only to be met with two pairs of angry eyes.

To avoid being beaten to death, Alvi split the date into four parts in sorrow. Everyone took a bite, and the airship immediately became filled with exclaims such as ‘Delicious!’ ‘So yummy!’ ‘The dates I had before were just shit!’.

Just then, the airship suddenly jolted as if it had been hit by something. The water canal was wide, and there weren’t many ships, so it was hard to collide without doing it deliberately.

Since arriving here, Jelis hadn’t paid much attention, she didn’t expect to be hit in the midsection of the airship by someone now.

The thing that hit the airship was a small rowing boat. The impact wasn’t significant, and the airship wasn’t damaged, but the people on the boat started yelling, “Do you even know how to operate a ship? You can even crash in such a wide waterway? My big brother fell into the water and choked! You better compensate us!”

Negris was shocked, “He hit you, yet he expects you to pay? Is he trying to swindle you?”

With a grey face, Jelis gritted her teeth and said, “Them again, do they really think I’m so easy to bully?”