A day in the life of a forager

I just wanted oregano!

''-Finally, Oregano Season is here! I was starting to run out of the stuff...''

Have you ever wondered how is the daily life of a forager from this world like? Well, you can be one for a while and embody them during what some may say is a fairly regular day, the start of Oregano Season.

A lovely walk

---

''Of course it would be that way. When I am not supposed to gather the plants, they are everywhere! But when it is finally time to take them, they suddenly vanish from existence!''

You wake up, some may say quite late, but you frankly couldn't care less, if your years as a forager have taught you something is that plants don't suddenly multiply just because you woke up in the middle of the night to find them. Eventually, you leave the house and start walking through the very carefully managed woods and fields around it. Unlike in other days, where you essentially wander aimlessly, this time you think you know where you're going, as last week you saw a lot of those plants growing on a creek nearby.
However, when you get to the place, there is nothing to be seen or found, at least nothing worth picking. Despite this, you keep walking, undeterred by your failure and still bent on bringing a bit of the joy of the mountain back home.

''Eureka!''

Luckily, what felt like hours of marching through the wilderness and stopping every so often to scour the undergrowth in search for that spice finally paid off, as you discover an incredibly large group of those shrubs after crossing a small hill and can finally start harvesting to your heart's content, probably gathering way more than enough to last your family the entire year.

''-Hey, you! Yes, you! What do I see you carrying? Oh no, it couldn't be! Are you still using flint for your tools? Don't you think a man like you deserves to work with something a bit... better? Yes, so let me please introduce you to bronze equipment! Don't worry, I know exactly what you're thinking right now, and yes, bronze may be valuable, but let me assure you that it is entirely worth it to buy and use bronze items...''

The words of that merchant you encountered a while ago come back to your mind as you walk back home, perhaps it's actually a good idea to switch to bronze, perhaps you should trade some of the excess oregano to get some of it, the trader definitely made some good points.

A shaky night

---

''-Farmers from the Hananden Clan are threatening our very survival. They cut down the forests we manage to build their farms, plough our fields to plant their grains and don't care at all about the balance of Nature, their greed being too great! Should we fail to do anything about them, they will destroy our very way of life and starve us to death.
Don't you believe me? Fine, then! Anyone who has never been affected by the growth of the Hananden's estates in any way whatsoever, doesn't matter the scale or the gravity, raise their hand. See! I am not lying when I say they affect us all''.

As you are walking back home, enjoying the beautiful sunset landscape and the Summer breeze, you hear the voice of a man coming from somewhere nearby. Curious, you decide to follow the noise and investigate. As you get closer, you see a rather large crowd of people, likely more than 50, you reckon, gathered around the person who was giving the speech that drew you there.

''The people over at the citadel cannot be expected to protect us from this threat! Oh, no, they only come down here to get their taxes and then leave us alone until they want more funding. Thus I suggest we take action ourselves to rid ourselves and the Land from this plague of arthritic parasites. What do you say, you all, will you strive for justice? Will you be brave? Or will you sit idly and see how everything is brought to ruin?''

Not long after you join the group, the situation heats up considerably as the speaker starts inciting everyone, both men and women, to take revenge on the troublesome peasants. As you yourself have had some of your land stolen by the Hananden in the not-so-distant past, you are more than eager to join this emerging mob to get some justice, even if it instantaneously cancels all your plans for what you thought would be a nice Summer night (namely dry all that oregano you just harvested and are still carrying around).
Thus this militia you are now part of starts marching through the ever darker woods, hellbent on achieving their goal, carrying torches and singing songs of war while doing so. When you reach the hamlet the Hananden call home, everyone is soundly asleep, blissfully ignorant of the small army placed just outside their holdings.

''This is such a quiet and peaceful night...''

After whispering those words to yourself, you join the assault. While most people focus on destroying their crops and stealing anything valuable around their dwellings, you and some other raiders decide to head straight into the clan's houses, wanting to deliver your 'message' directly to those expansionistic farmers. As nobody is (visibly) awake when you break in, it doesn't take you much effort to overpower and tie them all up (despite your lack of proper weapons), dragging your screaming foes outside and gathering them on a field.

''Good people! Brave people! Now that we have vanquished our foes and destroyed everything they had stolen from us, what should we do with them? Should we end their lives right here, and send them to the gray depths Akaina? Should we let them live? I am asking you, for you may vote on their fates tonight!''

As all the hamlet grows silent again, your prisoners likely praying for luck, the voice of the man who started this whole operation is heard, giving everyone the choice of what to do with the captured victims.

''-How can anyone here even consider the option of not killing them all in this very field? Haven't they stolen our dear lands? Haven't they tried to starve us to death by doing so? Haven't they broken all semblance of law just to feed their endless greed? Thus, how can anyone be so delusional or, even worse, pathetic, to think they should be spared?
-Oh, please! Let's not be that harsh! They have definitely overstepped their boundaries by building wherever they wanted, but, to be fair, we are not innocent either. Or has nobody here ever stolen some food from an unguarded field? I definitely know I have, and nobody I know can say they haven't either! So, let's not be that severe with their punishment...''

The debate rages for a long time, almost getting violent on more than one occasion, but eventually an agreement is reached by all.

''Each one of the raiders' clans will be allowed to take 2 of the Hananden as their household servants. The remainder of the group will be split evenly among these families, though not as household servants but as agricultural servants, working the land for their masters and giving them three quarters of the produce they harvest each year for the rest of time. Finally, all the land the previous managers deem necessary for their sustenance will be seized and left uncultivated''.

And thus, your mind tired from the debates and your body exhausted from a long day of physical activity, you go into the pile of captured people and pick two, trying your best to determine who has the most desirable skills even if they are all tied and most are either unconscious, too shocked to speak or asleep, a process which takes you more than what you are willing to admit.

A quiet morning

---

''How many times will I have to tell you to trust me?''

With your 'gains' secured and 'peace restored', you start heading back home, the Dawn Sun starting to rise over the horizon and your new slaves following you closely, their ropes not allowing them to stray too far from you anyways. Despite your best attempts at telling them they will not suffer a fate worse than death under your control, they are reluctant to believe any of it and thus won't speak, making the journey rather boring. 

''Does any of you know how to dry oregano?''

As you finally get back home, everyone else is asleep, it being extraordinarily late (or early depending on who you ask), which means there is nobody to welcome you or the household's new members. However, you are not particularly bothered by this and go to your room to sleep at long last, leaving the task of drying all that oregano to the slaves and hoping you don't wake up to a mess.