Farming is OP

Princess’s Point of View

I woke up to the sound of one of my maids ringing a bell outside. I ordered them to do so after I heard them talking about my bedhead before I could make myself beautiful. Now, no one was allowed to see me before I had time to bathe and put myself together. After my morning routine, I made my way down towards breakfast.

One of the maids brought a plate in front of me as I held my hand out for her to place the fork in it. I had grown so accustomed to the routine that I didn’t even notice the food looked slightly different than it normally did. It wasn’t until I had a mouthful and tasted the difference did I finally woke up from my morning fatigue. I couldn’t help but eat the food voraciously, it was to the point that I had dropped the noble etiquette I had been taught all my life, and ate like a person who didn’t care about their appearance.

Finally coming back to my senses after I finished my meal, I asked the chef. “What did you do to this food?” He had on the calming smile I knew him for. Most of the men and women who took care of me were closer to me than my parents. “That would be the luxury spice assortment that made its way to our kitchen, Miss.”

The portions of my food were always perfectly chosen for me to retain my beauty, and eventually, my father would sell me off to the highest bidder; whoever could benefit his rule the most would get to become my fiancé. It meant that I could only eat small portions of good food or large portions of bland food. The spices managed to make the bland food taste better.

I asked out of curiosity. “I’ve never heard of that before. Is it a new product? Where did it come from?”

…

Gourmand’s Point of View

The gourmand class was nothing but a dead end. The only way for me to level was to eat delicious food, but the quality of food a person could earn waitressing or working as a barmaid just didn’t hold up. I had tried so many things to improve the speed at which I leveled, but it would still be years before I reached the next rarity of the class.

Even then, I’d have to forgo picking other skills that would make it easier for me to level in the future; it was an ever-scaling uphill battle, and the only benefit was my rapidly leveling jobs from the experience bonus I received during my pursuit of improved food. Any time I worked a job that would give me money to buy food, I’d get the experience increase, and since I spent almost all of my money on food to level my class, it meant I was fairly skilled in multiple jobs.

My class did give me one thing that I exploited whenever I could. It would alert me when there was high-quality food or products in my vicinity. It let me eat the odd, uncommon burger or even rare salad, but my gourmand nose was going crazy at the new product one of the travelling merchants was selling. 

The spice assortment was expensive, but I could tell it was all top quality. My chef profession was fairly high level, and I knew right away that it would improve the quality of any product I made while using the seasoning. I talked the owner of the restaurant into buying the bundle to improve his food, and it made an instantaneous difference.

I had leveled off a single meal… Normally, it would take weeks of eating higher quality foods, foods that cost on average more than the common fare by a dramatic amount. And I just made that common food able to raise my level just by adding in these simple spices. I saw a light at the end of the tunnel now. All I had to do was find who made these bundles, then marry them.

“Well, I would say I didn’t see this coming, but I’m honestly shocked it took you this long to move on.” I waved goodbye to the restaurant owner I had been working with for the past few months; my expert cooking, waitressing, and maid professions made his inn far more popular than it was. It also didn’t hurt having a beautiful cow demihuman with huge knockers serving your food.

“Yep, it’s time for me to move on now that I have a clue on how to level more quickly. Thank you for hiring me when I needed a job, Frances.” He waved me off. “Here, take some of these spices to help you get by until you can find the source. Sarah, I’ll miss you.” I gave the man a hug before leaving. He was too old for anything to happen between us, and I think he saw me as more of a daughter than anything. I would also miss the old man. “Once I make it big, I’ll come back to visit.” 

…

Third Person Point of View

Inside the inn, several bandits gathered. None of the normal civilians went inside anymore, as it became the hangout for all the local bandits. The old bandit leader made a deal with the local guards to overlook them, and now one of them had replaced the previous guard captain, which was why they could live like kings inside a village instead of needing to live on the outskirts in a bandit camp.

A younger bandit came running into the inn, he looked around at all the other bandits who had started to gather so far. A larger bandit held a woman in each arm, his hands openly fondling their bare breasts. One was the previous innkeeper's daughter, while the other was the previous guard captain's wife. Both were dead, their women stolen from them. Both women bore looks of despair and disgust as they hated what had happened to their village. 

It had been years since some of them had the chance to hit an easy target like a farm without a guard contingent watching it. Not only could they pick it clean like locusts, but they could steal the food as well, which would allow them to go far longer without needing to leave their hidey hole. The younger bandit spoke up. “T-the village the farmer is from is selling luxury goods. The spies who are watching the travelling merchant said that he brought dozens of gold worth of items through, and they’ve already sold out.”

Eyes widened as the bulk of the bandits clamored to assault the farm right now. All of their momentum was stopped when the old bandit leader yelled out. “Stop!” Everyone went silent as they waited for him to speak. “It’s too soon for us to kill the fat sheep. If we go right now, every gold we take will be paved in blood. We need a better plan than just showing up and hoping the guards aren’t stronger than us. We need a reason for the bulk of their capable men to leave… Then we can take what we want at our leisure.”

The bandits all gained wicked smiles as they thought about overtaking another village. Who knew how big their group would grow if they succeeded?