[The serfs comment gets a slight inward pull of his eyebrows, not quite a furrow, but it's a reaction at least.]

Know you naught of agriculture? Stonhyrr is built upon stone. One would must needs tend to the field beyond the moat for aught to find serviceable purchase, not simply deposit soil and hope.

[Though, there is always the option of modifying things through their strange rewards. Not a terrible idea, that.]