About four months have passed ever since I asked Max to allow me cultivate a part of his land.
Since I couldn’t do hard labor because I was a girl, I had Keith do it for me.
On the first month, Keith busily plowed the fields I was given.
Although he helped some other villagers, he mostly spent his time on mine.
As a result of his work, he became quite famous in the village.
Though I don’t like standing out, having my friend praised by others really made me happy.
I also had Keith crush some stones and bones into fine powder.
At first I thought that it was impossible for the lack of tools.
However when he actually did it in front of my eyes using a hammer, I became speechless.
He gave me a smile and said, “This is also a result of my training.”
I wanted to say a lot of things about that statement but stopped.
It’s because the smile he showed me was too bright.
We then spread the fine powder on the fields.
I thought he would’ve asked me why we were doing this.
However, he didn’t. He just single-mindedly spread the powder no questions asked.
I asked him if he was wondering why we were doing this and he replied that he believe in me.
This made me incredibly happy, so I became more enthusiastic into making this land as fertile as possible.
On the second month, I remembered about leaf molds.
So I decided to go to the forest and collect some.
I told Keith that leaf molds help the plants grow and make the lands more fertile.
Because of this, he gathered a lot of leaf molds in the forest.
On the third month, the villagers started gathering near our fields.
Max and the Village chief were shocked that the land they once thought were barren became really fertile.
The plants that started to sprout were full of life. They even told me that the quarter of land we cultivated could possibly have the same yield as the entire field.
Hearing this, Keith became prouder and told them that it was all because of me.
As a result, the villagers in the village started to ask me how we did it. But, because I wasn’t really good at dealing with a lot of people, I didn’t come out of Max’s house for days.
The only times I would come out was when it was lunch.
In place of me, Keith explained to the villagers my methods making his fame rise even more.
Today was the last week of the fourth month.
I was walking to the field where Keith and Max were harvesting the cabbages.
“Keith, it’s almost lunch. Don’t you want to eat?”
“In a moment, right after I finish harvesting five more.”
“Okay!”
I placed a piece of cloth under the shade of a tree.
I secured its edges with stones and placed the basket on top of it.
Removing my shoes, I sat on top of the blanket and secured the cloak covering my head.
Looking around, I could see that there were some villagers who were looking at them.
Most of them were smiling as they saw the harvest.
It’s because the number we harvested was around 120 which is three times the population of the village.
This was enough to feed the villagers for a couple of months if eaten sparingly.
If we add the sacks of food and vegetables that Max has stockpiled, it was enough for the village to last a month.
From the four months we have stayed here, Max has gone out of the village 3 times.
The reason he went out was to buy some food and stock it on the warehouse.
The money he used to buy it came from selling his belongings and also from some of the villagers.
Because of that, his belongings continued to decrease each month.
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While I was thinking of the past, I saw Keith walking to me.
“What’s for lunch?”
“Oatmeal and mashed potatoes.”
“I can’t wait.”
Keith sat next to me and accepted the bowl I served him.
Max also went a bit later and started eating the food.
“I can’t believe you managed to harvest this even though we’ve lost the blessing of the earth, Eulalia.”
“It’s simple. I just replenished the blessing.”
“Hahahaha, is that so?”
Max laughed heartily when he heard my reply and started smacking Keith’s shoulder.
Keith became angry and snarled at him.
Max made a smile and returned his gaze.
Keith was the first to make his move.
He quickly directed his spoon to the bowl, scooped a large amount of meat and ate it.
Max became also countered him but instead of scooping.
He took Keith’s bowl away from him and started drinking it.
“Why you!”
“Buhaa! That was good!”
“I’ll get you for that!”
“Try me.”
The two of them glared at each other.
After a while, the two of them smiled and started laughing.
Even I was infected by their laughter.
I noticed that Keith that there were some oats stuck near his cheek.
So I approached him.
“Ehh? Eulalia? Ehh? Why are you coming closer?”
“Sit still.”
“Ehh?”
Keith shut his eyes tight and became frozen.
Since I wanted to tease him, I licked his cheek and to remove the oats.
When he saw what I did, he became really red.
“You’re really delicious, Keith.”
I smiled as I said that to him
This made him even redder and steam could be seen coming out from his face.
When he couldn’t take it anymore he collapsed on the cloth.
“Hahahaha! You’re young, Keith.”
“Shut up!”
Max who saw what happened laughed at him.
“Hmm…”
I looked back at the fields and started thinking.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m thinking of what to plant after this.”
Max’s eyes opened wide when he heard me.
“It’s almost winter! You think plants will grow then?”
“Of course. That’s why I’m thinking.”
“Then can we do that to my entire field. I think it’d be great if we could make food for the winter.”
I tilted my head to the side and told him.
“The plants aren’t for us though.”
“What?”
“They’re for the livestock.”
“Why?”
“Well, it’s cause we need to feed the animals for the winter right? We’ll plant some plants that’s good for the soil and feed it to them. With this, we’d be able to save a lot more food in the warehouse.”
Keith who managed to recover from his earlier shock stood up and stretched his arms.
As for Max, he only stared at me with a frozen expression.
“Then, I’ll resume harvesting. What will you do, Eulalia?”
“Hmm… I’ll stay here and wait for you.”
“Okay.”
Keith smacked Max’s back waking him up from his daze.
The two of them then started walking back to the field and resumed harvesting the plants.
* * *
Pretty short huh?
Even though, it’s been awhile… hahaha.
Oh well….
Also, my life’s been pretty busy, that’s why I didn’t post any chapters for a while.
I wish I could update more regularly, but I couldn’t.