Rise of empire: From gamer to emperor

Ethan lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, a small smile tugging at his lips. Beside him, Anna shifted slightly, her warm breath steady against his chest, her hair tickling his skin.

Smiling as he glanced at her, stroking her hairs gently.

The crowing of a rooster cut though the morning air.

Anna groaned softly, muttering her eyes still closed sleeping.

Ethan watched as Anna buried her face against his chest, muttering something about roosters.

A few weeks ago, I was just a gamer. Now, I wake up to a village that depends on me… and a girl who won't let me out of bed.

He smiled, brushing a strand of hair from her face. Turning to stare at the rays of sunlight peering in from the small window in the room. Not a bad trade-off.

The roosters crow, came again. This time Anna raised her fists shaking it.

Ethan chuckled. "Alright, time to wake up. We have a whole day ahead of us."

She groaned softly, burying her face into his chest. "Damn rooster…"

Ethan chuckled, running a hand through her hair. "Come on let's get going."

She peeked one eye open, pouting. "Or… hear me out… we stay in bed all day?"

Ethan chuckled. "Tempting, but—that's not how leadership works."

Anna groaned, throwing her arms around him like a vice. "Nope. You're not leaving me to deal with another council meeting alone."

Ethan sighed, patting her head. "Anna."

"Shhh," she whispered. "Sleep now. Problems later."

After a minute of silence she huffed. "I swear one of these days, I'll be having chicken soup. Just as soon as I get fast enough to catch one."

Chuckling, Ethan pried her arms open freeing himself, walking out the door and headed towards the meeting hall to discuss the issue of the immigrants with the elder council.

Exchanging pleasantries along the road, sitting down he flipped the parchment Ludwig handed him.

Setting it aside he straightened his back. "I know you all are worried about the issue of feeding and possibly security that will arise from accepting the immigrants."

The elders stared at each nodding.

"I'm pleased to inform you that the mineshaft has been completed. And with that the miners can earn their own wage whilst living with us."

Helen tapped her fingers on the desk. "And what if they can't earn enough, Chief? What if the mine isn't as rich as we hope?"

Morris exhaled. "She's right. If we're wrong, we won't just have starving newcomers—we'll have starving villagers."

"That's why we make sure we're right," Ethan said. "The mine is just the first step. If the ore isn't enough, we expand our hunting grounds. We trade smarter. We start storing surplus crops before winter."

"Have the new crops been sorted? If it has write a list of crops we still need. I want us to ramp up crop production before the month runs out."

Before Helen could respond, the meeting hall doors burst open.

A breathless villager stumbled in. "Chief—Elders, there's a problem at the farms."

Ethan sighed, already standing. No rest for a leader.

As they approached the small farmland Ethan asked. "What happened?"

The man swallowed hard. "It's the crops, Chief. They're… dying. And it's not natural. At first it was a few wilting so we pulled them out and replanted the others but they soon started wilting."

Ethan paused, glaring at the man. "And you didn't think to report this sooner?"

The man shifted uncomfortably. "I—I thought those plants weren't watered well, since it only started happening three days ago."

Ethan exhaled, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Look, I get it. But next time, if something threatens our food supply, you tell someone. Immediately."

The man swallowed, looking at the ruined crops. "I just… I didn't want to believe it, Chief. It was just a few stalks at first. I thought…"

He clenched his fists. "Now it's half the damn field. I should've spoken up sooner."

Helen's cut in her eyes almost spewing flames, "You should've. Now I look like incompetent. Scoffing she followed Ethan.

Morris and Ludwig turned to glare at the man before following Ethan.

On reaching the farmland he saw the damage, almost half of the farmland was ruined. Crouching he picked up a strain of wheat staring at the damage. "Yellowing and wilting on the leaves, I've read about this somewhere come on Ethan think."

After a few seconds his eyes flashed, "Ah yes Septoria Leaf motch..No, that sounds wrong." Closing his eyes again after a minute, he muttered, "Blotch. Yes, Septoria leaf blotch. That's the one."

Opening his eyes, he touched the wet soil, "It has been raining heavily this past few days. Still it should have taken a few more days to spread." Thank you game logic, else it might've been too late when I find out.

Standing up he turned to Helen, "Have you encountered this before."

Helen crossed her arms, eyes narrowed as she examined the ruined crops. "I've seen plant infections before, but never one that spread this fast, it seems almost unnatural."

Morris rubbed his beard, frowning. "Or maybe it's just bad luck. Diseases happen, Helen."

Ethan narrowed his eyes. "Not this fast. And not this widespread."

So, a fast-spreading fungal disease? Either this world's agriculture mechanics are harsher than I expected… or something else is messing with our crops.

He turned to the system. "Hey, do I have any tools to deal with this?"

[What do I look like, a farming encyclopedia?]

"You're literally an AI system designed for guiding players."

[Oh, fine. Give me a second, farmer-boy.]

The screen flickered.

[Side Mission: Fix the Fields]

[Objective: Find the source of the unnatural crop disease and eliminate it.]

[Reward: x3 Cyphs, one catty each of ten random plants.]

Ethan's brow furrowed. Find the source? Meaning… this isn't natural?

Ethan rubbed his chin. Cyphs… creatures with plant affinity. If they're anything like the forums said, they could boost crop growth naturally.

He smirked. Now that's an upgrade.

[Oh, there are magic spells and items in the store that could cure it, lickety split.]

[But the store is unavailable till you reach the rank of a town lord.]

Why are you telling me about the store if I can't even access it.

[As motivation, come on now get to work.]

Helen, interrupted his conversation with the system. "Chief, what's the plan?"

Ethan crouched again, staring at the soil. "First, we contain it. We uproot the worst patches and burn them before it spreads. Second, we check if it's coming from the water supply or somewhere else."

Morris nodded skeptically. "I'm not sure that will be the problem, but I'll gather some men to check."

Helen sighed. "I'll start separating the crops."

With that Ethan walked off to deal with other problems in the village, including the refugee issues and mining logistics.

By evening Helen visited Ethan, "We've contained the crops Chief. But I don't think it'll last long we should start looking into getting a new batch of crops. Her hands clenching tightly.

Sighing Ethan nodded, "It's okay Helen, at least we found out before it ruined the whole farmland. Better late than never right?"

Helen smiled wryly, "I suppose you're right, so then how do you plan on dealing with the problem."

"I'll leave the village tomorrow to look for solutions."