The days following Hewet’s death unfolded as usual. The village seniors rose early, worked tirelessly throughout the day, and retired in the evening with empty bellies, weary and hungry, each day leaving them a little worse off than the one before, moving toward a bleak future.

The younger villagers were in slightly better circumstances, but even they found little joy in their daily lives. Having recently lost one of their mentors—Hewet also taught the youngsters in his spare time—even the children were experiencing a decline in their quality of life after the old Elder’s passing.

Petyr kept a close watch on Jonn, waiting for the week the boy had requested. Meanwhile, the tribe’s elders discussed Jonn’s unusual behavior following his grandfather’s death. Some even speculated that he might have gone mad.

Soon after assuming the role of Village Elder, Jonn exhibited a dramatic change in behavior that exceeded his responsibilities. He spent the first four days after Hewet’s death almost entirely observing the animals, plants, and terrain.

Some villagers discreetly observed him during these days and witnessed him staring at rocks, soil, water, and animals for extended periods, as if his soul had departed his body. At times, people spoke to him, and he didn’t even hear them.

On the morning of the fifth day since Hewet’s death, Betta, Arber, and Lance gathered in the Dawn’s Temple, a crescent-shaped building open to the sky, serving as the meeting place for the Councillors and the Village Elder.

Huddled around a bamboo table, the three exchanged worried glances, having arrived a little earlier than the other Councilors for their weekly meeting with the Village Elder.

“Should we continue our last few day’s conversations?” Betta asked softly, the look on her face sad, disgust evident in her gaze and tone of voice. Unfortunately, they didn’t have time to be compassionate with Jonn. Either he was strong enough to lead them, or it was better for him to step down and let someone else take over.

“I’ve spoken to Petyr and our Elder has asked him for a week to decide on the future of the village. Let’s wait two more days and see what he comes up with. If we realize he won’t be able to lead us, we’ll talk to the others,” Lance said as the sound of footsteps came from the front of the small, roofless building.

“That’s if we need to bring it up.” Arber sighed, having already noticed that the other Councillors were worried about Jonn’s case, too.

The rumors about Jonn had already reached even the few children in the village.

“Betta, Arber and Lance, how are you?” asked a girl with ruddy skin, black hair tied up in a ponytail, and clothes dirty with mud.

The village’s most beautiful young Councillor, Elia, sat across from the three of them. Even at the beginning of the day, she had a smile molded on her cherry lips, having already ridden her horse in her morning training.

The village had three horses, cared for by the hunters responsible for gathering animal meat in the surrounding area. But the village’s trade manager, Elia, always trained with the horses when the hunters weren’t out. Someone like her had to be prepared to travel.

In the Eternal Village, women and men had fairly equal roles. If a woman was better than a man at leading a matter, the village had no problem assigning the function to her and making him available for another matter.

“Not as well as I’d like.” Arber looked at the 28-year-old flower in front of her. “Unlike you girls, I have limitations. Oh, how I miss being your age, Li.”

The four chatted briefly. Hardly anyone was late for the Council meetings. In less than 10 minutes, all 11 Councillors were around the oval table in the small circular building, when Jonn entered it, drawing everyone’s attention.

The 11 people stopped talking to each other, all curious about what was going on with Jonn. But their doubts wouldn’t last much longer. With a smiling look on his face, Jonn waved one of his hands and said, “My people, over the last few days, I’ve been doing some experiments related to our problems. Now I would like you to accompany me to the greenhouse so that I can show you something.”

Jonn’s words excited no one. Everyone remained silent for a few seconds, sitting and wondering where this would lead. But regardless of the doubts that had arisen in their hearts over the last few days, they still knew and respected Hewet’s choices. Jonn had always been a good guy, too. Even if he really was mad, it was worth giving him some attention and treating him with respect.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

One by one, the 11 Councillors stood up, following Jonn into the greenhouse.

Some Councillors were elderly, so it took them a few minutes to reach the place where a young man was currently tending the plants.

‘Jonn? Councillors? What’s going on?’ The boy watched the group following Jonn to the side where the one-square-meter plot marked out was.

Jonn crouched down next to where he had placed the five concentrated mana crystals and explained with a relieved smile, “I’m not here to tell you that the village crisis is over. There is a long road ahead. However, today I can present you with the way out of the horror we are currently experiencing.

Elia, please tell me what it is the thing I’m pointing out now.” He caught the eye of the youngest member of the Council, the one who would take over his position if he were deposed.

Jonn didn’t mind being the Village Elder. Command was not what he wanted for himself. But he would not ignore his grandfather’s wishes, let alone the opportunity to help his people. Aware that some of his fellow villagers were worried about him, he gave his ‘competitor’ the chance to speak for him.

Elia walked closer to Jonn, at first not seeing anything on the square ground he had marked out. But as she crouched down beside him and inspected it, her expression quickly changed.

“What?!” Her shout almost made one of the elders stumble backwards, drawing a few grimaces on the faces of the Councillors.

“What’s wrong, Li?” Arber took a step closer.

As far as she and the others were concerned, there was nothing special about the demarcated terrain. Apart from the fact that it looked wet compared to the surrounding dry ground—it hadn’t rained in the last few days—it looked similar to everything else for dozens and dozens of acres.

Looking at Jonn with wide eyes, Elia ignored her aunt’s question and asked the Village Elder. “How is this possible? What have you done here?”

Petyr was watching from afar when he couldn’t stand his curiosity any longer and stopped at the side of that one-meter square terrain. His eyes were sharper than Elia’s and he didn’t have to stoop to see the tiny plant growing out of the black soil.

“That...” He opened his mouth, but couldn’t get the words out in his mind.

Jonn smiled as he introduced to the Village Councillors. “I present to you the solution to our food issue. After some observation, I’ve come up with a method for us to plant in the dead soil of the Barren Hills of Deepshadow!”

“What?”

“How is that possible?”

“Are you serious?”

The seniors’ first reaction was to doubt. But when Arber asked Elia what she was looking at, she couldn’t help but ignore her aching knees and back as she kneeled beside her niece.

“It’s true! There’s a sprout here!” The head farmer took a closer look at the small sprouts scattered irregularly across the small space marked out by Jonn.

She looked the white-haired boy in the eye and held one of his arms tightly. “How did you do that?”

Jonn had already thought about it over the last few days. He explained with the best answer he could give at the moment, “Grandpa is taking care of us even after his death.” He looked up at the sky, his eyes shining as he thought of Hewet. “It seems that before he died, he understood a method for us to plant on this land. I just had to read his theory and apply it.”

“The Elder managed to do that?” Lance couldn’t believe it as he clenched his fists. “He looked at our land for decades without knowing what to do.”

“I didn’t believe it either when I read it. But it seems he had an epiphany,” Jonn explained. “Unfortunately, he didn’t have the chance to test it... But I could complete what he started and figured out how to use the plants in the greenhouse to produce on the dead ground of the Barren Hills of Deepshadow.”

“How’s that?” Arber asked, eager to know how he had made the impossible come true.

Jonn smiled as he stood up, helping Arber to do the same. “Please, those of you who want to watch, come with me. I’ll show Grandpa’s method.”

He headed inside the greenhouse with half the group, while the other half continued around the small tomato sprouts. Seeing those little green essences in the middle of the black ground was like seeing small children around snakes. They felt strange, as if they had to protect the little ones.

And in fact, the sprouts were just as important to their future as the next generation. Even if it took weeks to yield results, if they could replicate the same with a larger plot of land, they could solve their food crisis!

With many thoughts in mind, part of the group didn’t even bother to learn Jonn’s, or ‘rather’ Hewet’s, method. Nor did Jonn bother with the implications of his discovery. He couldn’t hide such a thing from his fellow villagers, because he couldn’t do what was necessary on his own. For now, he moved on, sharing this fraction of the things he had discovered in the last few days of analyzing the village.

Now I just need to see the results of the plants with half their mana crystals and if all goes well, I’ll be able to replicate what I did with all the plant pots and increase the planting ground outside the greenhouse a few times!

Jonn perked up in the middle of his presentation to Arber and the others, who were interested in his answers.

{Ding!}

{+1 progress point on the quest [Save the Eternal Village]}

...

{Quests: [Save the Eternal Village]}

[Save the Eternal Village]

[Progress: 1/20]

In the middle of his explanation, blue screens appeared, momentarily blocking his view of the village members looking at him with hope and relief in their expressions, voices, and body gestures.