There can't be a Harvest Moon in the RimWorld.

Seeing that I couldn't get the answer from this person, I turned my attention to Sheriff Harris, who was wearing a tall hat, standing next to me.

This overly straightforward sheriff clearly lacked the ability to conceal his intentions and earnestly explained the reason.

“Mr. Marcus, this ranch is currently the biggest bad asset in town.”

Seeing this, Mayor Thomas, who was standing nearby, also came over to explain.

"Twenty years ago, this ranch was the largest property in town. Later, the old ranch owner sold the ranch and went to a big city to live out his old age. We never saw a new owner."

"As the buildings age, we even have to subsidize them to ensure that the area doesn't become a den of wild animals."

“Last year, we also mobilized the villagers to spontaneously resist the tumbleweeds that ran out of the pasture!”

"........."

I listened carefully to their reasons, which meant that I was the most suitable sucker for this ranch at the moment?

“Mr. Marcus, please come inside the tavern. We can have a proper discussion about the ranch’s operations. I’m sure you’ll change your mind.”

The portly Thomas, not forgetting to promote his unsold ranch, half-pushed and half-invited me to a small tavern.

The tavern's facade is unremarkable; two large, yellowish-brown doors serve as decorations, but they can't hide the signs of age and disrepair. Judging from the chairs inside, it probably doesn't have more than ten regular customers, far from being a profitable establishment.

I found a bar stool and sat down, ignoring the usual conversation between the two people next to me, and started to pay attention to the panel on my body.

I opened the character attributes at the edge of my field of vision, which contained a long list of complex calculation formulas and data. The simplest and most understandable part was the calculation of my current abilities.

Character backstory:

Childhood: Shining Urban Children

Adult: Wanderer

Character traits:

Death (Gold)

Child of Nature (Gold)

Bear Grylls (Gold)

Character skills:

Shooting: 8 Proficient

Combat: 4 Beginner's Guide

Social: 6. Somewhat successful.

Taming: 7 Getting Better

Medical: 5. Suddenly realized

Cooking: 8. Proficient

Construction: 0 Completely clueless

Planting: 10 (Completely proficient)

Mining: Part 2 - Beginner's Guide

Art: 3. Superficial understanding

Handmade: 1. Unaware of the details

Intellectual: 7 "Getting Better and Better"

After carefully reviewing them, I found that among my skills, apart from the few abilities that are boosted by the gold trait, the rest were almost all at a mediocre level, especially the construction and crafting skills, which were almost below their numerical values.

Did all those years of hard work go to waste?

No, maybe it's because I was just writing code in a virtual world; I've never even touched a real brick or nail before...

Suddenly, a middle-aged man emerged from behind the bar. He had light blonde curly hair and a small mustache, but his face showed only a gloomy expression. If one had to describe it, his square face and mustache formed a "囧" shape, making him look overly serious.

Upon seeing us, this group of uninvited guests, they didn't offer much of a greeting, only briefly mentioning the weather before asking...

"Is this young man new?"

Before I could answer, Mayor Thomas had already identified himself.

"Dart, come and meet him. This is the new owner of the ranch. From now on, you can get rid of those awful overseas shipping companies when it comes to food supply!"

When Thomas brings up a topic, he always manages to reveal the positive side of things, but as for the other side...

“Mayor, I haven’t decided to run this ranch yet. There are just too many difficulties in front of me. I don’t know carpentry, I’ve never farmed, and I don’t know how to repair houses. Before long, I’m afraid I’ll have to trouble you to build me a tombstone.”

I asked back with a look of utter despair.

But the serious-looking boss in front of him replied.

“Young man, it may take some time for that ranch to resume production. You can come to my shop for a meal first. I also run two guesthouses upstairs where you can stay temporarily and pay with future goods.”

I suddenly realized why the fat mayor hadn't taken me anywhere else first, but instead brought me to this bar.

They probably already guessed that this boss would lend a helping hand.

Harris chimed in, "You could find some work in town to do first, or patrol with me in town. Besides the town, I also need people to be responsible for the mountains and the seaside long-term."

After I finished speaking, all three of them fell silent and turned their gazes toward me.

"Then I'll...give it a try?"

After all, I'm not familiar with the uses of this newly launched cheat system. If it only makes farming super fast or makes me immune to pain, it's probably less helpful to me than a meal from this boss.

“That’s great, Mr. Marcus, no, I should call you the ranch owner now! You can come to me anytime if you need anything. I live in the house on the north side of town.”

Perhaps fearing I'd change my mind, Thomas immediately decided to slip away, dragging Harris out of the bar as well, leaving me and the bar owner staring at each other.

Seeing that the atmosphere was about to slide into an irreparably awkward abyss, I quickly started a conversation.

"Mr. Dart, how long have you been running this bar?"

The bar owner's mustache twitched twice, and he spoke after a long pause.

"It has been five years since my wife passed away."

"........."

I quickly changed the subject, trying to save face.

"What's your specialty wine?"

The bar owner seemed a little surprised by the topic and replied.

“I only sell one type of bourbon here, but for some reason, everyone likes to bring Dick’s wine with them.”

"........."

My social skills are clearly at level 6, which, according to the description, means I've already made some progress and can negotiate, persuade, manipulate, lead, and motivate others. But it seems like all I can do is provoke others.

"Your business must be pretty good usually, right?"

I tried to use a generic phrase to save face.

“There are always a few customers who like to come: Thomas likes to run up a tab, Harris likes to persuade others to quit drinking, old Sebala likes to smash things when he’s drunk, Dick likes to mock my drinking habits, and Basil always says things that no one can understand. Sometimes I wish they would come less often.”

Suddenly, a gust of wind blew through the empty bar, passing right in front of me, who was dumbfounded.

I don't know what to say anymore. Boss, your business has no future and you have no interest in it, so what's the point of opening it?

"Boss... have you... ever thought about changing careers?"

Suddenly, a resolute look flashed in the eyes of this silent middle-aged man.

“After no one in the family cooked, I took charge of cooking myself. Later I thought that since I was cooking for one person, it was the same as cooking for two people, so I might as well open a restaurant.”

"After thinking about it, I realized that just cooking wouldn't attract many customers, so I decided to turn it into a bar and sell some drinks at night."

"Then I thought about it and decided to open two more guesthouses upstairs."

"The path of restaurant and accommodation chains is absolutely the right one."

What kind of reasoning is that?!

I don't know what's good about this logic chain that does everything but does nothing well, so I asked cautiously.

What is the approximate occupancy rate of the guesthouse upstairs?

Dart glanced at the ledger at the front desk and said decisively.

"Although we only have guests in the summer, our occupancy rate reaches 50% during the summer!"

So that means there's only one room rented out during the summer, and no one is there the rest of the year?

Chapter 5 originates from the first day of the Emerald Elephant Season.

After some probing questions, the tavern owner, Dart, seemed to have some misunderstanding and thought that I, who asked these questions, was someone who could understand him. He treated me to a meal he had cooked with unusual enthusiasm.

To be honest, the owner's food is absolutely top-notch.

Not to mention the nutritional supplements I ate during my years of working hard in the city, even the famous chefs' meals I ate when I was young, or the expensive ingredients that appeared in my dreams, were almost the same.

Without a doubt, if the owner focuses on developing his culinary business, he will be able to monopolize the town's catering industry in the shortest amount of time.

The premise is that someone can shatter his unrealistic fantasy of dominating the entire food, beverage, and accommodation industry.

As someone who possesses memories of two lifetimes, I can sense that due to the closed internal and external environment of this small town, the industries tend to be balanced. There is no possibility of anyone becoming extremely wealthy, nor is there a situation where anyone loses all their wealth.

It was this stable environment that allowed Dart's owner to expand his business at will without having to worry about losses.

The biggest headache for business owners, in terms of profit and loss statements, must really be the issue of food imports.

This also made me understand why the people in the town leave the ranch idle and do not operate it, but still take the initiative to maintain it so that it does not collapse and become abandoned.

If we're talking about running a business, we don't have enough manpower. Everyone's social division of labor has already been established, and no one has the spare energy to farm or herd livestock.

If abandoned, and the food supply were to be cut off one day, this small island town would truly become a small boat on a vast ocean, ready to capsize at any moment, with no way out.

"Looks like I really need to make some use of my skills here."

I still thought about it with great confidence.

Until the absurd reality drew my attention back.

…………