Althea smiled and let the old man bond with the plants. She knew his reputation, and she knew he was the perfect person for this job—whether it was for his ability or his sincerity.
She walked over after a while, gently explaining some things to him.
"I had managed to procure a number of seeds before the transfer." She said, leading him over to a plot of land.
The whole time, the old man's eyes were dilated in joy, and if she wasn't there he may really have wept.
"Here are the root vegetables like potatoes, carrots and radishes. Unsurprisingly, they're the most versatile and were quick to adapt to the local 'regeneration' rates."
Speaking of regeneration rates, they found that taking soil from the system fields forgoes the +20% growth bonus. So, they just built a small shed as a nursery above the system Farm.
She then took him from plot to plot, to the bean varieties like beans, lentils, and even chickpeas.
There was a dedicated plot for herbs and spices garden like basil, oregano, and rosemary. Some herbs could be used in a few days, while most would still need weeks at least, but they were all very beautiful regardless.
And then there were the oil producing crops (ready for harvest in a few more days) like sunflower, soybean, and olive.
There were local alternatives but if she were to be picky, she didn't like the aftertastes very much.
There was also not much oil from meat here, so producing good-tasting vegetable oil would be so lovely.
Moving forward, they went to the section of the trees. The Fruit-bearing plants (which were now a meter high baby trees). There was a good variety comprising apples, peaches, and citrus, and then the nut trees like almonds, cashews, and walnuts.
And finally, there were also her favorite tea plants, coffee plants, and cocoa.
"I didn't plant much for fear of wasting seeds. Now that I see them growing well, I will be transplanting most of them to a field per type."
"Yes, yes." Gru nodded in agreement, full of support.
"It's just that the growth rate was understandably slower than the local ones, Fortunately, it was still faster than in Terran."
For plants that still had no local alternatives like coffee and cocoa, these seeds were real treasures.
Thinking about bringing back coffee and chocolate was making her drool…
Not to mention, there were still many recipes and food that required the old plants, so she decided to use several fields to plant them.
Even those that did have local alternatives were still explored. After all, the strains they had had undergone thousands of years of improvement. If there was no need to start from scratch, why would they?
Of course, the price would also be much more expensive than the local seeds.
There was also an area with herbs for personal use, as well as for the pharmacy. These would take far longer to grow, but very worth it.
As for the greenhouse, it was still ongoing planning. They needed enough Youli stone or similar material first, as well as insulating material that would fit well with its use.
Anyway, seeing Gru almost crying as he stared at the fields, Althea pursed her lips in amusement.
"When I get some surplus seeds, I will sell some in my grocery store." She said and Gru looked at her as if she was a god.
"Can you reserve some for me?" He asked, looking like a child instead of an old man in his 70s. In fact, if he had a tail, it'd probably be wagging.
He was extremely excited about this, especially the Terran variants of vegetables and fruits.
This way they could get the productivity of the plants here and the quality of the Terran plants.
He was so hyped up just thinking about it that he swore he got 10 years younger.
"Sure."
"Thank you, thank you! You're a really amazing person, boss!"
She smiled. Even when he's already an Elder, he was still as easygoing as before.
"It would be great if you're an elder too. For research?" Gru mumbled off-handedly, half-dreaming about what he'd do in the farms today.
This offhand comment though, made Althea's eyebrows rise.
Elder in Plant Research? That was an interesting idea.
Right? There would definitely be times where she'd want to show prestige without showing she's the Lord.
Wasn't this just right?
Althea cleared her throat and lied with her eyes open. "Actually, I already am."
Gru froze and clapped. Of course! How could Ms. Althea not be an elder when he had the honor?
"That's very good to hear." Gru said with a happy smile. "It so happened that our two fields are connected." He raised his hand for a handshake, resuming his old practice, finally looking professional.
Althea smiled and took his hand. "Looking forward to working with you."
"An honor." He said with that toothy old man smile. "I wonder who else got the opportunity?"
"Auntie Mathilda's also an Elder."
"Oh?" He asked, interested. "Must have to do with diplomacy?"
"Internal and External Affairs."
Gru's face showed a level of understanding, before they shifted back to their favorite topic: Plants.
The two of them spoke for a while longer, laying out the plans for the crops. Which would be planted for this rotation, how many fields would be allocated, et cetera.
For instance, the coffee and cocoa would get their own fields, same with other fruit requiring an orchard.
And also, pretty much every other crop.
When the study of the greenhouse was completed, they would also apply it to the territory farms.
But this discussion was centered in Althea's farms alone. Naturally, she needed to make territory-owned fields now, as it would cast a suspicious light on her otherwise.
Speaking of territory farms, all farms have been rented out. Althea advised him helpfully that he could request fields from the territory, and if the rationale was there—it would likely get approved.
Gru didn't even wait another moment and planned the request for some 'territory-owned' farms to do his own experiments on.
He was also given access to her own fields. Although it was her 'private' property, she gave the right to Gru to study it, and give some back to the territory by sharing the result.
It took them nearly three hours to iron everything out, and Gru politely refused to eat a meal in her home.
Interestingly, when Gru left, he went straight to the neighbors house, which really amused Althea.
Making house calls already? Perhaps she should include the elders in the meetings with the NPCs? At least once a week?
Other than elders, she skimmed through the data in her Lord panel, arranged the list according to loyalty, and looked at the attributes, talents, former occupations, as well as specialties.
With a few press of her fingers, she sent successive announcements to several people, startling quite a few areas, at the same time lighting several fires in people's hearts.