Lady Von Goldiue continued to tease me for the remainder of the journey, flaunting her perky butt and winking at me whenever we made eye contact, which drove both Regina and Crima into a rather sour mood for reasons I wasn't entirely sure why.
Regina sort of made sense; from what is sounded like, the futanari Catkin was Lady Von Goldiue's sexual partner as well as guard, but Crima didn't know me at all, so why was she getting sour at this teasing from the Government Official..?
It was confusing, so I decided to instead stare out the window as best I could and go over the things I knew about the Frontier, since it was going to be my new home for the foreseeable future... probably for years upon years, unless I decide to retire or some kind of injury that was unable to be healed robbed me of my ability to maintain the Ranch...
Otherwise, I was going to be here for a long, long time, and with how Ranches were set up by the Government, my closest neighbors were at least ten miles away, so unless they had a Centaur, carriages, or an Airship, I wasn't going to be seeing people regularly... just me and my Demi Humans, which is exactly what I wanted.
Anyways, the Frontier is different than the normal lands of the Empire; the soil itself is imbued with rich mana that allows you to grow a vast number of crops on it, and any of the normal, everyday crops can be grown here even if it isn't the proper temperature, humidity, soil content or any other factor.
Wheat, corn, potatoes and tea, for example, were considered everyday crops; things that anyone could get on any day of the week for any purpose at all made them 'everyday crops', and they counted for a large portion of all our food stores.
They had little mana in them and were just... normal, so they could be grown in the Frontier with no issue; corn and rye were not able to really thrive on the same farm normally, but out here, on the Frontier, they could grow side by side with no issue at all.
But, things like Sangroot and Broda Beans needed specific types of mana to grow properly; Sangroot needed some Earth Mana alongside the normal Nature Mana, while Broda Beans needed Earth Mana and Fire Mana.
These mana enhanced crops were what us Ranchers were supposed to be growing in bulk; if they weren't at least 50% of your crop yields, you needed to either be growing a large amount of food for yourself or you needed to be preparing to plant a lot of those crops.
We had quotas to hit each month, and they differed depending on the Ranch and the Rancher, and that was what we made our money from primarily; those mana enhanced crops were our real 'bread and butter' out here on the Frontier, followed by our Demi Human's and then our normal crops.
Which was why I was so excited to see what sort of land I had on my two acre Ranch, since the mana could very easily change from one field to the next, meaning I could have a variety of things to grow and then sell to the Government, and if I could grow a variety of things, I could afford to take risks and chase profits in smart ways, like preemptively growing a crop that would go out of season soon so I could have a large market share of said crop.
Of course... I wasn't that sharp of a merchant, so I was going to stick to accepting Offers from people and fulfill their wants instead, but I did have some things I just wanted to grow to see if I could, like Medusa Stalks; nifty little herbs that were so rich in Earth Mana they often petrified themselves before harvesting, but if you managed to get a single stalk, you could sell it for around 150 gold by itself...
"What's got you so giddy, Miss Serani~? Is it the sight of Mount Fornagi growing closer? Hoping to catch a preemptive look at your Ranch?"
Lady Von Goldiue drew me out of my thoughts and returned me to the cabin of the Airship, which was still somewhat tense, the two Demi Human's staring at us from afar...
"Oh, yeah... Hoping that I can be blessed enough to have a variety of Mana Fields for myself to make use of in the future. And... also hoping that the Ranch isn't in too much disrepair..."
She chuckled at that, and we fell back into a comfortable silence as we drew ever closer to the mountain, which towered over everything nearby and marked the newest edge of the Frontier; black rock was weathered away and shaped into a unique mountain that had many 'shelves' of flattened land, which was where my Ranch was likely located.
Down below, at the base of the mountain, there were a few Ranches visible from up high, and in the distance I could see the road leading into Vorgina Outpost, which was the true edge of the Frontier; a city in the making that was currently home to all sorts of Hunters and Mercenaries, who's sole job was to chart and explore the Frontier even more.
But, my attention - and my job - was going to be here, on this mountain, so I turned back to it and had my heart leap into my throat when Lady Von Goldiue said "Here we are... your new home, Miss Serani."
The Airship began to slow down and turn, controlled by magics I had little understanding of that allowed us to travel from point a to point b with no issue.
Almost pressing my face against the glass, I looked outside and smiled as I saw the long and wide shelf below, overgrown with thick grasses and the occasional tree, while boulders peppered the land, likely rich in all sorts of materials.
As the Airship reached the designated Airstrip built for this Ranch, I got to get a better look at the 'hub' of my Ranch; the manor that I would be living in, and the main fields that were around us.
The house was built upon a foundation of black rock - likely mined from the mountain itself - and had two stories to it, the wood covered in a layer of varnish to protect it from the elements showing its age as some planks were splintered and cracked, while others... were hanging off by a single nail.
The shingles were also in disrepair, with quite a few of them missing from the roof and revealing the wood below, which had been damaged by the weather too.
Meanwhile, the fields were overgrown and completely covered in grasses and roots, as well as the occasional boulder that had fallen from who knows where...
"It's... certainly a Ranch, Miss Serani~?"