Stepping out of the Airship, I took a deep breath of the crisp, cool mountain air before nodding to myself, continuing to investigate my new home as I looked around at the tarmac, which was thankfully still holding up; most likely, the Government had ensured its continued existence whilst leaving the rest of the land to do as it pleased...
Which I understood; we were told that the Ranches we were sent too would likely need a liberal amount of repairing before it was even somewhat worthy of being called a Ranch, but still... someone could've surely cut the grass once or twice, right?
"The Incubator should still be operational, right? Otherwise, it is actually impossible for this to become usable land..."
Lady Von Goldiue stepped out beside me and nodded, looking around curiously before gesturing to the building attached to the back of the manor, which had giant doors that were secured shut... hopefully that was a good sign.
"It should be in there. Ah, and the well is over there, in the middle of... the fields. And the pond was further that way, near the side of a cliff face I believe? Also... in the middle of these 'fields'... I do not envy you at all, Miss Serani. This is..."
I chuckled as she looked around at the overgrown plateau we were on, the grass easily reaching our chests whilst large roots snaked around below; and again, there were boulders that were as large as we are - and some even bigger - that were haphazardly located around the area too, so...
"It is definitely a lot of work, but in order to be a Rancher, you need to enjoy your work and be able to do more work than you think... So this isn't that bad. It'll take some time, but it isn't impossible. Maintaining it is the hard part."
"If you say so..."
"Well, let's hope the inside of the house is still intact at least? Or at the very minimum, one room and the kitchen. Those are all I need right now... would like a bath too, but that can wait."
Each step I took off of the tarmac felt surreal, my eyes looking this way and that as I took in the land that now belonged to me; the manor was up the path and to the left, and if I kept going straight I would eventually reach a cliff face that led up the mountain; behind me was the cliff that led down the mountain, and there was easily around four to five hundred feet of land between those two cliffs, which was quite a good size.
Wide, but not too wide; it worked in my favor since I could more easily divide the land and not need to worry about some things, like animals or monsters wandering around over my crops or people creeping around hoping to steal something.
We were so far up and so far into the Frontier that I doubt bandits even existed for a few dozen miles, which was a relief.
My land then extended to my left and right for apparently another 200 some odd feet, which wasn't a lot, but it was clear that I was meant to expand off to my right for more land, which would come along with permits from the Government when I met certain requirements.
But, having a ~450 feet by ~200 feet rectangle of flat land was nice, and it came with its own well, a pond, and the ability to keep adding to that 200 feet for expansion?
Yeah, this was a steal... after I cleared it all off and began to till the land, work on irrigation, and finally plant some seeds.
The manor needed work too, obviously, but as we opened the front door and stepped inside, I was pleasantly surprised to see that most of it was still intact and only needed to be dusted and given a little love.
From the front door, the kitchen was to the left, with a large brick oven, a wide sink, four stoves and a pretty big refrigerator and freezer, most of which I was going to need to get some Power Crystals for; to the right was a nice open space that I could turn into anything I wanted, while the stairs in front went up AND down, which surprised me.
"A basement? Pleasantly surprised doesn't even begin to describe me at the moment~! Let's look!"
Excitedly making my way down the stairs first, I found a small, quaint storage area and another small room connected to it, which I could use for whatever as well; both were big enough to be bedrooms as well, if need be, and considering the cool air during the middle of the day, well... maybe this would be better.
It was nice and warm down here...
And there was a fireplace connected to the same chimney as the oven upstairs, so that would be nice during the winter.
Heading back on upstairs, I looked at the three rooms and nodded, each one having a good amount of space for maybe two or three people each, and the interior was only slightly damaged from some missing planks or shingles; it was a bit breezy too, which was worrying, so I decided the basement would be best...
The entire time, Lady Von Goldiue followed me around curiously, while Regina and Crima brought my stuff into the house and placed them near the kitchen; when we went back to the main floor, I realized there were doors on either side of the stairs, with one leading into that building that was behind the manor - that was on the left, with the kitchen - while the one on the right led into a bathroom, which had a tub, a sink, a mirror, and a toilet.
"It's all rather quaint. In need of some cleaning and some care, but otherwise... not too bad. Are you happy with this, Miss Serani? Any issues?"
"No, none. I can fix it up easy peasy~!"
We walked into that other building together as well, revealing a spacious barn that had a giant, complex machine right beside the door, which was the Incubator; a large metal box that had three small holes for eggs, the Incubator looked like one of the fancy new ovens that had glass doors to look inside, only it had three of those doors, which was for each of the three eggs it could heat up and begin incubating.
Besides the Incubator, there was a table that had a giant blue crystal on it - the Communication Crystal - as well as a workbench with a bunch of rusted tools littering its surface; on the opposite walls, there were various stables for each of the Demi Humans that would live inside a barn, like the Sheepkin, Bullkin, or Cowkin, and there was already a nice bale of straw that was waiting to be used in each.
Additionally, there were a couple of crates that had materials in them; wooden planks, nails, bricks, stones, extra seeds, and so much more.
"Seems like you got a welcoming package as well~! That's nice. All of this will be of help for you, won't it~?"
"It will. Thank you, Lady Von Goldiue!"
Giggling beside me, she just winked at me as she replied "No, thank you~! It's been a blast, dear, but I should get going. Remember though; if you have an issue, use the Crystal. Reach out for nearby Ranchers first, then the Town or the Guild, before reaching out for the Government. Good luck~!"