After joining up with his squire Amondo took a walk out the castle gate and down the path towards the village. They then headed toward the village temple were the villages Cleric Mario Plumon was to be found. He was sworn to the service of Synno the Goddess of Agriculture and was a cheery man in his late thirties.
He had been serving the spiritual needs of the villagers of Membe since shortly after Amondo had left over a decade ago. His predecessor had been an old man who had become too infirm to carry out all of his duties and was quietly retired to live out the rest of his life which had ended seven years later.
Plumon had been born on Carbo one of the princely islands to a family of goat herders and had answered the call of Synno at a young age.
It was likely that since he had served so long in Membe already he would remain in his current position as long as he was still fit to do so as his predecessor had. Everyone in the castle had only good thing to say about him even Vasyl Harez. It wasn't unknown for the clerics of Synno and her older half brother Yechtai to not see eye to eye with each other.
"Welcome to this Temple dedicated to Synno how is it that a humble cleric such as myself can help you today milord?", greeted the cleric.
"Well, father, it be many a year since I last set foot in the village and I be thinking that you be a good person to shed a little light on what has transpired in the village since then."
"I don't think much has truly changed in the next village for many generations people have of course come and gone, buildings like the mill have been destroyed by fire and the like but they were quickly rebuilt sometimes bigger and better than they were before.
Ah but silly me I seem to have a forgotten to mention the new Manor house and its grounds. Not that I have anything against them, no villagers house has been demolished to make way for them. even if it is never finished I think you will agree it is still a fine enough building.
Still, while I won't comment on its cost, the timing of construction could perhaps have been better. Of course, he had to send away for a lot of the people and much of the materials needed for its construction. However, some locals were still hired to help and many of them learnt new skills whilst earning a little extra coin for them and their families which they were all thankful for.
There have been no major scandals that I have been made aware off and only a few minor ones that really aren't worth mentioning. The population of the village notwithstanding the temporary influx of construction workers has I think grown slightly and the harvest whilst failing six years ago has overall been excellent."
"That's just the kind of information I was looking for now, how this year's harvest doing?"
"Well we had a bumper wheat harvest, the plenty of rye and if the weather holds it looks like we're going to have a good supply of oats and barley. The flax in the demesne and the villager's gardens did better than expected. The mild weather was good for the children of Kechasse and the older villagers. The only real problem this harvest season is the potatoes and even they aren't doing too badly.
Before I forget the orchard are also doing fine this year, the pears more than the apples for some reason. While we are on the subject of the harvest I haven't heard anything bad about it elsewhere in the Barony or the surrounding ones either. Even Leweton which had a bad harvest last year has recovered or so I hear."
"I believe someone mentioned that last night they said the hay was the only thing that grew in any quantity but pray tell me what transpired there."
"Well no one is exactly sure what the cause was but for some reason, the crops in the northern part of the fief failed completely or nearly enough. It didn't appear to be a blight or anything else like that, the crop simply didn't grow.
There were rumours of the black sort of magic of course but it wasn't any sort of known cantraps and none of the varied types of practitioners that were consulted could detect even minut signs of magic use or find any records of similar things happening before.
So if magic was involved it was either something new or wild magic like you find in the forest of the Damned or the island of madness."
"And how are your flock anyone of them about to meet Teafinn or joining us all on this rock that we call home?"
"There are a few for whom this winter will I believe be the last and one who will not even manage to see it. As for new births other than your widowed sister in law the next isn't expected until later in the month but the wife of the thatcher miscarried last week."
"I am sorry to hear that would it have been their first?"
"No, they already have a girl child who was born two summers ago."
"How is the temple itself if I recall correctly there had been some kind of a problem with the bell tower the year I left or so I was told at the time?"
"It was the bell actualy, a crack had appeared in it and my predecessor and your brother had to send away for a new, while you're here why don't I show you and your squire around."
The temple had been around in its present form for at least two centuries and had been built in that then prevail Neo-Ersapian style. It had an entry chamber which leads into the main temple which was dedicated to Synno.
Shrines to the other Gods and Goddess were located in small rooms to either side of the main temple. At the other side of the temple was an office for the cleric and behind that the bell tower. All in all the tour of the temple took twenty minutes or so and when it was over they all went into the office to finish there earlier conversation.
"Well the temple looks to be in good shape it is it my imagination or have you had some work done to it recently?"
"Well yes, nothing major mind you but I had some of those working on the Manor house have a quick look around and do a few things here and there. They patched a few holes in the mortar both inside and out, whitewashed the outside, replaced some of the tiles on the roof and other small things like that."
"I hope you managed all this without it costing too much and that it has all been paid for."
"Sir do not mistake me for a cleric of Klwet I had only that which was needed to be done and no more. While it was in no way free I paid them for their service promptly and fully."
"Forgive me, father, I meant no disrespect to you or your patron, now before I take my leave of you I have a gift for the temple that I think you will appreciate."
And with that word spoken he signalled to his squire who took off the satchel he had been wearing around his left arm and removed a book from it which he then handed to Amondo who in turn presented it to Plumon.
"It is a thesis on the future of agriculture by a professor at the University of Melix in the Urban Union by the name of Sergio Balinn. I would like you to go over the text and see what you think of it. If you think there might be something to it we can then see about perhaps undertaking some small scale testing of the theories contained within it."
"Sir I will try my best to do so I cannot say how long it will take it seems to be a rather hefty tome, why there must be over three hundred pages. Is it an easily read book or mostly dribble with only a few pearls of wisdom here and there?"
"I can't say that I understand everything I read but for the most part it makes use of plain language and doesn't use two words when one would suffice."
"It is my busiest time of the year as you can imagine so it may take me a while but once I have had a good look at it I will contact you and we can take it from there."
"That is all I can ask of you I will now take my leave, good day and may the harvest be plenty and the weather mild."