"Is the land here... some kind of charity handout?"
Ewan wasn't in a rush to answer the question of staying or leaving. Instead, his curiosity collided with this issue of land distribution. According to the colossal memory bank accumulated over thousands of years drifting as a soul, he had observed that land everywhere always had an owner. If you wanted a place to stick a stake, you had to cough up the cash to buy it, since when did "pies fall from the sky" like this?
Could it be that this dirt-poor planet, living hand to mouth, was actually generous enough to... gift land as a present to anyone who arrived?
Asher Ryder looked at his bewildered expression, shook his head, and gave a bitter smile: "This planet isn't like other places. The land here... how should I put it, it's like it's been cursed. It's contaminated with impurities beyond count, whatever you plant just dies. On wealthy planets, people use advanced machinery to filter it in a zip, turning rocky soil into fertile fields. But in this backwater, where would we get machines? Everything relies on human strength, on blood, sweat, and tears."
He pointed towards the distance: "Around the village, there's only a strip of land along the river that can be cultivated thanks to the silt and water source from the mountain springs; the rest is all dead soil."
To put it bluntly: The land here is vast and endless, but its main use is just for... walking to stretch your legs, not for growing a single vegetable. If you want to turn it into living soil, you have to put in the effort to terraform it, and that undertaking is as risky as gambling. Get lucky, and in a year or two the soil turns sweet; get unlucky, and you could hoe until you go to meet your ancestors and the ground would still be as stubborn as rock.
"Arable land in the village is a communal resource, distributed per capita. If you don't farm it, you don't have the right to sell it, because it's not your private property. Anyone who is lazy and leaves the land fallow for too long will have it reclaimed by the village and redistributed to someone more diligent." Asher Ryder explained further, his tone containing a hint of resignation. "But those who are allocated land must pay taxes to the village chief to submit up to Silverton Town."
Hearing this, it dawned on Ewan. It turned out that the cultivable strip of land existed thanks to the machinery of the wealthy elite up in Silverton Town helping to terraform it, so now the commoners had to break their backs paying taxes to pay off the debt.
All things considered, this planet wasn't completely backward. It was just that civilization and modernity were all concentrated in Silverton Town, while fringe regions like this village were still living in the "Stone Age", stuck in sustainable poverty.
Ewan narrowed his eyes, asking a question full of rebellious intent: "So what if I don't want to pay taxes?"
Asher Ryder shrugged, pointing towards the bare hills far in the distance: "Then you can just grab a hoe and go reclaim the wasteland. There's plenty of land out there, completely free, take as much as you want."
Sounds easy enough, doesn't it! Ewan pouted. Reclaiming wasteland in this godforsaken place where "dogs eat rocks and chickens eat gravel" - how was that different from digging your own grave?
After a moment of weighing the pros and cons, Ewan decided to... "thicken his face" and agree to Asher Ryder's offer. Well, getting a reputation for mooching off someone wouldn't kill anybody, but if he stood on false pride and dragged his carcass out there right now, he feared he would starve to death before he could even strike the first blow of the hoe.
"We're in between crop seasons right now. If you want to plant rice or main staples, you have to wait another month or two to sow along with the whole village. For now, we can probably just scramble to plant some vegetables to get by day to day."
As he spoke, Asher Ryder led Ewan on a tour of his landed estate.
The farming zone lay along the main river flowing through the village; the silt buildup gave it a look of vitality. Along the way, Ewan encountered quite a few farmers checking their fields. And sure enough, his appearance became the center of all attention.
The gazes pouring toward Ewan weren't exactly malicious, but they were so naked and scrutinizing that they gave him goosebumps. They looked at him like they were looking at a strange beast that had just escaped from an intergalactic zoo, both curious and evaluating him from head to toe.
Hey, hey, is your village starving for human presence? I am a living, breathing person, not some three-headed, six-armed monster, so why look so terrified?
Fortunately, Asher Ryder walking beside him was quite perceptive. Seeing Ewan shrinking back in discomfort, he continuously spoke up to greet people, rescuing Ewan from several awkward situations. Otherwise, with Ewan's temperament, he might have already found a crack in the ground to crawl into to hide his embarrassment.
After walking until their legs were weary, Asher Ryder finally stopped in front of two plots of land.
It was the same riverbank land, but looking over at the neighbor's field, it was lush green, the soil loose and porous, cherished and watered by its owner bit by bit. But looking back at Asher Ryder's property... oh my, it was too pathetic to behold. The two plots lay bare under the scorching sun for months, cracking into large plates like alligator skin, with weeds growing sparsely, one look was enough to see the sheer neglect.
"Ryder, look who's here. Has the dragon finally come to visit the shrimp's house, dragging your carcass out to the fields today?"
A middle-aged uncle in the adjacent field looked up, saw Asher Ryder, and called out, his voice booming: "Let me tell you, son, land is gold and silver; wasting it like this is a sin against heaven and earth. I know you're good at hunting and earning fresh cash, but in this village, if you don't have grain in the house, even a mountain of money will crumble. Do you plan to buy rice to eat for the rest of your life? How can you sustain that?"
"That's right!" Another person in the next field chimed in, clicking their tongue in regret: "Back when your parents were alive, these two plots were the top-tier fields of the whole village, the best soil in the region. Now look at them; it makes my guts ache."
After finishing a stream of lectures, the two neighbors coincidentally turned to look at Ewan, their eyes twinkling with amusement and deep, hidden implications: "But now that the house has an extra person, you have to be diligent, you hear? Feeding an extra mouth means you can't be lazy anymore!"