It was the boy, Collin, who answered me first. He sounded scared, but with the immediate threat of a possible intruder gone, his stutter vanished. “Mister, we don’t have anywhere to go. Pa died three years ago, and they kicked us off our homestead when we didn’t get the harvest in.”

  That seemed odd. The message I’d read said that it was the first year they’d opened up the homesteads.

  “Wait,” I said, confused. “My message says that the homesteads just opened up, and the wizards have made it so everything is good this first year.”

  Collin answered again. “No, that was over three years ago now. This is the spring of the fourth year since the Western Territories were opened up to settlers. For some reason, the System doesn’t always update messages.”

  “Huh.” It didn’t really matter to me whether this was the first year or the fiftieth year. It seemed odd that messages wouldn’t be updated, though.

  I needed to think for a moment before I replied. How much should I tell them? I still had no idea if this was real or a coma, but that big blue tractor sitting about fifty feet away was a pretty big giveaway that I wasn’t from here, if it was real.

  If the situation wasn’t so surreal, that would probably be the primary topic of conversation. Instead, we were talking about wizards as if that were an everyday, normal thing.

  “Alright, so let me see if I’m understanding everything,” I finally said. “So you two were part of the original homesteaders. Your dad died, and you were kicked off your nd. Then you came to this homestead. Why?”

  The woman, whose name I still didn’t know, said, “Yes, they give up to five years to cim your plot as long as the person is not showing up as dead by the System. We took the farthest pce out that had a cabin. It does not get farther west than here.”

  She gnced at Collin once before continuing, “This plot sits on the western border of the frontier. The river behind us is the border. On the other side of that is the Untamed Wilderness, then eventually the Barrier Mountains.”

  Her voice was strong and pleasant. Also, strangely formal. I swear I hadn’t heard her use any contractions so far.

  “I see.” I still didn’t know how I’d ended up here, but I was figuring out this situation at least.

  With a neutral tone, I said, “Listen. I don’t want to kick you off this nd. But, I think I am going to have to try and farm it. Farming is in my blood, and it’s all I’ve ever done.”

  “I’m not going to make any rash decisions, and I’m certainly not going to kick a woman and a kid out on their own. We can see how things py out. You guys know the nd, and I don’t. I won’t even take the cabin. That work for you guys?” I asked.

  The woman pursed her lips and gave me a small frown, but she nodded and said, “That will have to do.”

  I finally decided I couldn’t handle it anymore and had to mention the tractor.

  “You guys see that big tractor right there?” I waved towards ?it and the equipment parked just outside the barnyard area.

  They both looked at it, and the woman said, “We have heard of steam engines being used to work the nd. Is that what that is? Yours certainly has tracks. It is a truly impressive-looking machine. I have always heard tell they were small things, barely the size of a grown bull. But, if you have one, then by the System, why are you all the way out here?”

  Why indeed? I chuckled internally. “I don’t think I can talk about that part right now. You mentioned the Bishop would be on his way. Who is he?”

  Collin answered this time. “He’s a real arsehole, is what he is. He coulda helped Pa when he got sick. Cims he tried, but he’s a Priest, and Pa still died even though he was here and came out and saw him.”

  The dy spoke quickly and sharply. “Collin, son, do not say that. If he finds out you are disparaging him, then that is reason enough for him to send us back home as debtors.” Her face was a mixture of concern and sadness.

  Colin looked down and mumbled, “Doing the man of the house’s work, I can speak like a man.”

  Despite myself, I smiled when I heard his words.

  “What’s your name?” I asked the woman.

  “Emily.” Her eyes fshed blue for a moment. “I can see that your name is John.”

  When she mentioned my name, I realized she was probably using her UI to see my name. I did the same and saw that it only gave one’s name, not their css or level. I could see the woman’s name was Emily Lloyd, and her son was Colin Lloyd.

  “I get that he didn’t heal your husband, and I’m sorry about that. But why did he kick you off of your nd?” I asked.

  I was confused, but I was also getting a good feel for what the time period analog to Earth was. Based on their mentions of steam engines and debtors, I would have called it the Victorian Era or the Gilded Age.

  I’d studied Agri-Business and minored in chemical engineering in college, but I was also a huge history buff. If this world was some kind of mirror to my own, then I had an idea of what had happened to them, and I did not think I was going to like what she was about to tell me.

  Emily shook her head. “We did not fulfill our obligations and bring in a set amount of our crops the first year. We could not afford seed. The contract states that the King’s Man has the discretion to remove anyone from their nd if they do not fulfill the terms of the contract. The governor has to agree, as well.”

  At this, Collin practically spat out, “The real reason was because you wouldn’t marry the Bishop’s nephew.”

  There it was. This was the sort of thing I was expecting to hear, except it seemed to me like a bishop’s nephew would have had more pull than to have to marry a homesteading widow.

  I said as much to them. “Why would a bishop need to marry his nephew to a widow?”

  Once again, it was Colin who spoke up, his voice filled with disgust. “Because he’s a mean drunk who has been all but exiled to the territories. He’s the sixth son, so he won’t get any of the family nd, and he’s too much of a disgrace to do anything else. He would have pissed away the nd if Ma’d married him.”

  Well, that was definitely messed up. While I could rete to being in the position of being a family leftover, my lips curled at the thought of any woman being forced to marry someone they didn’t like. The technology screamed Victorian Era, and so did the social values. This made things more complicated, but I already felt some truly righteous anger on their behalf.

  Colin spoke up, “Well, the governor also has a say. He’s supposed to be Parliament’s man, but he lets the bishop do what he wants. He’s also about a hundred miles away, as the crow flies, in Riverton. That’s the territory's capital. Everyone says he’s not a bad guy, but that he’s not the right man for a territory governor. There’s a mayor in Weston, but he doesn’t have any say over the Bishop.”

  Alright. Bance of power firmly in the Bishop’s favor. Don’t piss him off. Too bad it looks like I am possibly going to do that immediately.

  I continued on, “I’m sorry for my ignorance. I’m from very far away. Once again, I don’t see why we can’t give cooperation a real try since you obviously know the nd. I don’t want to hurt anyone, and if I have things correct, you need me to stay on this nd. The Bishop is going to be here soon, and it doesn’t sound like he’s going to be happy you’re still here.”

  I took a breath and said, “I recently dealt with some pretty harsh family betrayal. If I even catch a hint of that, then you guys will be gone. Right now, I’m looking for peace and quiet. If things go well, then we can all get what we want.”

  I finished ?with a joke. “I won’t even ask you to marry me. I think I’ve had enough of marriage for now, anyway.”

  I chuckled, but stopped abruptly when I saw Emily’s reaction.

  Her frown showed she was none too happy with my words. My joke clearly did not nd.

  She pursed her lips, hesitated, then spoke. “He will probably be here tomorrow. I know he’s in town, our neighbors warned us to lie low. Weston is 25 miles to our east. The Bishop always travels by carriage, and there’s only a rough dirt road the entire way. However, he has a high-level Coachman who drives him. They can get here quickly.”

  Hearing the term ‘Coachman,’ which seemed like it came with a capital letter, reminded me that the System said I needed to choose my new css.

  I’d pyed plenty of video games and read my fair share of fantasy novels, so I had a fair idea of what that entailed. As soon as it was convenient, I needed to get it done.

  “Well, we need a pn to deal with him then,” I mused out loud.

  Emily smiled at my words, a hint of malice in her eyes. “That is easy enough. You are John Jacobson. That is what your System identification says. A Bishop of the System cannot argue against that.”

  Her tone and her expression said she was definitely not sure I was John Jacobson, even if the System was infallible.

  “John Jacobson is a male, nd-owning citizen of the Albion Empire. The Bishop cannot do anything to you until you break the contract, or do something outright bsphemous. Can you actually farm?” She finished, looking me firmly in the eye.

  I gave a rueful chuckle. “I’ve been farming my entire life. I have no idea what the crop possibilities or climate are like here, though. I’ll need you to expin all of that to me.”

  Collin piped in, showing the first hint of excitement I’d seen in him so far. “The Almanac should tell you everything you need to know.”

  My eyebrows raised at the mention of an almanac. “Does it have weather patterns and crop suggestions?”

  He nodded, a smile on his face as he excitedly told me about the almanac. “That and all kinds of extra stuff. There are recipes, and it tells you how to make all kinds of things. The System updates the almanac automatically every year! It has crop forecasts, and the dates of important moon and sun things too. It even has crossword puzzles. Ma loves to do those. The Bishop should be bringing you a copy with the rest of your welcome stuff.”

  At the mention of the bishop, he looked down and lightly scuffed the ground. With the shape his boots were in, it was a dangerous habit.

  Now I was in business! I’d spent many a rainy afternoon at my grandparents’ house reading their copies of the Old Farmer’s Almanac. At least in theory, it really had everything you needed to know to survive in a frontier pce. You would still need experience to succeed, but reliable info sure helped.

  My tractor had a limited fuel supply. 455 gallons would definitely be enough to pnt up to 100 acres. It would probably be more like 60-80 acres of farmable ground.

  Right now, I wasn’t sure if this was real or not, but if it was, I’d be making the most of it. This could be my new start.

  “Let’s check things out, and we can make a pn after that.”

  As I looked around, I once again thought it was odd that no one had mentioned anything about the giant tractor and all the equipment just showing up out of thin air. Maybe they just chalked it up to a System thing? Even if they were going to ignore the elephant-sized tractor in the proverbial room, I couldn’t.

  “Emily, Colin, I need to look my tractor over and make sure everything is okay.” I looked at the two of them to judge their reactions.

  Emily spoke up, “Colin, go with him. Show him the pce when he is done. I will go make something to eat.”

  I was a little concerned about that. I didn’t want them to starve on my account. “You sure? I should have a sandwich in my tractor.”

  Emily shook her head. “Nonsense. It will be fine. We shall make do, you will receive funds to buy food in your Welcome Package.”

  “Alright then, I’ll check the tractor out, then we will look the pce over.” I told them both.