The speech that Rino gave only helped to ease the tensions between his villagers for a while. Most of them only tolerated each other. He was starting to understand the difficulty of ruling over people who were given free wills.

It wasn't this difficult in Noir Province, mostly because the only people who were not part of his shadow summons or soul bonds was Kragami. Rino got along with Kragami well, and the gnomes in Noir Province were loyal to him because of the soul bonds.

The earth gnomes in Town Zera might agree to be Rino's children, but they showed no willingness to bend to Rino's will, even after adoption. They enjoyed the privileges they were given and helped Rino with some tinkering projects like crafting the sprinklers. 

The earth gnomes learned from Aiden and the other gnomes from Noir Province very quickly, but they also had a lot of questions and often refused to do as told, preferring to run their experiments to find a better way until they were convinced that the way they were taught was the best.

It was a handful.

Not to mention, the earth gnomes have been getting on the troll tribe's nerve by offering unsolicited advice. The trolls were tolerating, but they did not enjoy how the earth gnomes constantly told them what to do. They might be Rino's adopted children, but the trolls did not serve them.

For some reason, the earth gnomes decided to help the trolls out at farming. The fairies finally completed the mana web array, so there was light at night for the earth gnomes to see what they were doing.

The land was well prepared a few days before, thanks to the urgent shipment of fertiliser. Unfortunately, Fronzo wasn't able to make it, and Rino had to leave the fairy in charge as well as Zerg to monitor the sowing stage.

Rice was a rather interesting kind of crop. After soaking it in water and mana imbued water for half a day, Rino found that those soaked in mana imbued water started to germinate. It was a mess trying to untangle the seedlings. He should have asked someone to monitor their progress periodically to avoid the waste of time untangling seedlings.

Fortunately, thanks to that, Rino now knew that if he grew rice with mana imbued water and fertiliser, the growth rate could be reduced tremendously. He also took Fronzo's advice to build new farmland, specially for rice, with soil that could trap and drain water. The prototype design of that new farmland was working well in Spudville, although the rice did not grow as well as it did in Town Zera. According to Fronzo, it was due to the soil texture and temperature differences.

Similarly, soybeans and corn did not grow so well in Spudville. The only crop that grew somewhat well was wheat, so Rino decided to split wheat productions. They did not have too much land in Town Zera with such a huge variety of crops planted.

Rino looked at his crop production cycle plan that Fronzo helped to draft. The resources unique to Noir Province were wood, reed, hemp, flax, cotton, potato, jasmine tea and wheat. Most of those could be hastened to some extent, and Rino was happy with the province's system.

The crops that could only grow in Town Zera because of the soil quality and climate were purple potatoes, wheat, corn, soybeans, bitter pods and rice. Rino still had no idea how to grow bitter pods even though he found them from the trees in the jungle. He only knew that Kragami wasn't a huge fan of coffee after the necromancer experimented with it. Hence, Rino had to find his own way to grow this while the seedlings were sown.

"Master! The gnomes and trolls are fighting again!" Sheila reported through the soul bond they shared.

Rino sighed. What were they fighting about this time?

Looking at the time, Rino decided that he should resolve it quickly before the sun rose. Honestly, they should know better than to disturb him when he is in the middle of working. Why couldn't they see past the differences in species and accept each other like the villagers in Spudville?

The drows managed to restrain the troublemakers, and Rino sighed silently. Why was it always Bink? Initially, Rino thought that he would have problems dealing with Deezer because he was the black sheep of the earth gnomes. However, after the episode of trying to sell his soul to Rino in exchange for an eternity with Sheila, the earth gnomes started to become less harmonious.

It all started with the two camps supporting and respecting Deezer's decision and the stubborn leader who insisted that they should not walk the path of no return.

Rino couldn't help but feel that he might have sown the seeds of discord in the earth gnome gang. In a way, Bink might be rebelling against Deezer's desire to become part of Rino's immortal army. It wasn't that the lich could not understand where the gnome leader's dissatisfaction came from. If he were the person who protected the gang for so many years without anyone else helping, he could feel betrayed that one of his brothers decided to leave the gang for another.

"What happened this time?" he asked wearily.

The drow staring down at the trolls explained how they were planting the rice seedlings when the gnome said that the trolls should let the gnomes pass them seedlings for sowing as they climbed onto their backs. The water was a little too high for gnomes to be waddling in it, but the trolls took this as a sign of insult because only losers get mounted on.

The argument escalated into name-calling and eventually a physical fight with gnomes burrowing and tossing rocks at the trolls who smashed the ground up.

Looking at the damaged rice field on the other side of the river, Rino remained silent. They still had enough time to fix it and plant some f*cking rice, but that wasn't the problem here.

Instead, Rino called for all the gnomes to gather in his stone cottage while he apologised to the trolls like a responsible father for the mess his children created.

"Please get the fairies to help fix the field and get back to planting the rice seedlings. I will talk to them and make sure that they give the trolls a sincere apology later."

Bink looked like he was wronged as Rino barked at the earth gnomes to fix the field with their earth magic. He felt sorry looking at the trampled rice seedlings that took so long to grow. It was a horrible thing to do in a fit of anger, but the damage was already done. Even if they managed to restore the field, there was little they could do for the rice seedlings.

All the earth gnomes gathered in Rino's stone cottage, where the lights were used for the first time. It was slightly chilly, and the new clothes had not arrived, so Rino lit the fireplace and told everyone to huddle closer to it for warmth. He didn't need anyone else catching a cold now.

Deezer was the only one sitting furthest from the fireplace. He looked sullen, and Rino suddenly realised that not all the earth gnomes were in the field helping with the farming. Has the relationship in the earth gnome gang soured so much?

"Ok, spill. What's going on? Why must you constantly pick fights with everyone else? Is this because of Deezer's request?"

The person right at the back stiffened when Rino said that. Honestly, the one most miserable here should be Deezer because he couldn't get what he desired. However, Bink was the one who looked closest to tears. It must have been tough on the leader of the earth gnomes. How old was he when he started assuming the role of a leader and caretaker?

While listening to the live report on the field situation from Mutt, Rino paid attention to the gnomes who huddled together. Some hung their heads and those who looked away. Nobody wanted to answer, and this was the tricky part.

Rino pulled a chair over and sat down. "Look, I know how some of you are feeling. I wanted to treat all of you as individuals with free wills. It's the only reason why I did not offer you a soul bond contract, unlike the drows. You're free to do as you please. However, I didn't want to offer Deezer a contract without the blessings of those he called his brothers. Offering me your soul is the same as offering me your freedom. It's something inventors hate the most."

Then, Rino added that if everyone wanted to form a soul contract with him and did not mind losing their free will, Rino would welcome everyone with open arms.

"That way, everyone could stay together. There's no need for sad partings. At the same time, there is no rush to make a soul contract. The Genesis Tree will always be there."

Hearing this, the earth gnomes started to look up with their little faces. Hope glistened in their eyes, and one by one, they began to approach Deezer. Rino watched how they apologised and gave Deerzer their blessings. Some preferred to get the soul contract now with Deezer, while others chose to wait a little longer before they did it. There were also those like Bink who still couldn't decide. However, nobody said that they would reject it outrightly.

Maybe this was what they needed all along?

Rino shook his head, watching his adopted children discuss the order of soul contracting as the mood lifted. The discord he accidentally sowed was starting to finally resolve itself. After this, he would make them apologise to the trolls and drows for causing them so much trouble.