Chương 128: Chapter 112. Farming

After Sarah and Anna released me so I could breathe, we laughed a bit at ourselves. Once we had all calmed down, I walked them back to the mansion and I went North to the Gate where a small group of people were waiting for me with Ruby at the front of the group. She waved at me as I arrived." Lord Drake! We've been waiting for you! This is the group we've made that will guard the fields until you've finished hunting in the North!" Ruby pointed at the 20 people behind her." Nice to meet you all!

I understand that you may believe that Guard Duty for a field is boring, and you could spend your time better elsewhere, that's why I'd like to tell you that you'll be free from this job once our hunting has progressed smoothly. Which will include more people soon. Once we settle down all of the new people who moved into Paradise. In fact, I see a few of those people right now! With their help, I doubt you'll need to guard the fields for long! So let's work hard to make this place even better!"" Yes, Sir!"

The crowd responded to me. I then turned to Ruby." So, they're all ready to go? What will you be doing, Ruby? I only asked for a Guard for the field. Your time would be spent better elsewhere, right?" Ruby smiled at my words." Of course, Lord Drake! My job is of most importance! I'll be your Personal Escort while you tend to the fields!"" When did this get decided?"" About 3 hours ago. I won an arm-wrestling match to do it!" Ruby smiled confidently at me." My safety was bet on an arm-wrestling match?""

We would've cast a vote, but you move quickly." I nodded my head." Well, Ruby, please take care of me."" Will do!" I then Summoned Lily to begin the 1st step of making a field, finding appropriate soil. I briefly explained who Lily was to Ruby before continuing on." Queen Lily! Welcome! We already have a few spots picked out that we think can be used for your farming process!" Ruby greeted Lily with excitement. The way people act when a Sovereign arrives is always something. Ruby, in this case, seemed a bit tense.

I guess she doesn't want to embarrass Paradise or its residents in front of Lily?" Perfect. Let's get moving then, before the daylight dies down. We don't want to waste the light." With Lily's words, we began to march North, following Ruby's directions. After looking at 3 different spots, Lily decided that the 4th spot was perfect for what she had in mind after inspecting the land. It was a large field, it seemed to be about the size of about 4 big parking lots.

If we could find 3 other spots like this, the current food shortage would only be a short-term problem. Also, with Gil now a Spirit I'm Contracted with, I could probably make even more farmland once I strengthen my mana and get accustomed to Gil's abilities. I could make Paradise completely self-sufficient for its dietary needs! I'll talk to Sarah and Anna about my idea once I get back home. While I was thinking, Lily turned to me and began to speak.

"Matthew, I believe now would be a good time to get started. I assume you'll allow me to handle the rest, right?"" Use all of the mana you need. We'll be visiting these fields every other day for a while, so make sure there's enough nourishment to survive tomorrow and most of the next day. Also, the plants need to be able to survive fall and winter, since we're only a month away from fall starting after all. So I guess it should be something hardy right?" Lily nodded and then began to respond to my instructions."

That will use about 95% of your current mana. Will that be alright?"" Sure!" I turned from Lily and look at Ruby." I have a great Bodyguard after all! Isn't that right, Ruby?" Ruby heard my words and smiled deeply. She raised her hand and saluted me as she began to speak.

"Of course, Lord Drake! I'll protect you with my all!" Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. I turn to Lily and spoke to her." I trust her, so let's do what we came here for!"" As my Summoner wishes." * Rumble... Crack... Woosh! / And like that, Lily grew a vine from the ground and stood on it as it lifted her up above the ground a good deal. We should nearly seem like ants now to her. If I had to guess, I'd say she was about 15 stories high."

Does she really need to be that high, Lord Drake?"" I believe so. This is the first time I've seen her use her Magic for farming. So, I think she's just doing what needs to be done?" Lily began to glow a muti-colored aura around her body. Like a rainbow or tropical flowers. The glow eventually swallowed Lily whole and I began to feel my mana draining somewhat." It's so pretty..." Ruby spoke in amazement." Yeah, she's always been pretty. It makes sense for her Magic to be as well.

Also, considering she's growing life, it's fitting for the Spell to seem so.... Fantastical, I guess?"" I wonder what else she can do?"" A few things, granted, since I still lack the necessary skills as a Summoner for a Sovereign like Lily, I can't have her use her abilities to the fullest. One day though, I hope to be able to Summon her and Paula and have all 3 of us fight in tandem with each other."" You'd be scarier than anyone I've encountered in a fight if you could, Lord Drake.""

Oh, the next part of the Spell is happening."" How can you tell?"" Because my mana is draining faster and faster." Lily, who was now visible, went from glowing like a rainbow to now a pale-green. The green spread from her body and covered the sky as far as we could see. Like an umbrella over us all. The green aura then began to condense." It's like being covered with a green glass ceiling!" Ruby spoke with wonder in her voice." Yes, it is really cool to be on this side of it.

We should probably move back, Ruby, we're on the field after all."" Oh! You're right, Lord Drake. Let's move!" After Ruby finished speaking, I turned and began to take a step. Trip!" Woah!" I was off balance. Ruby looked back at me as she heard my voice. I look at her with an apologetic look on my face." Ruby, do you think you could lend me your shoulder? My body isn't used to my mana being drained this fast and it's messing with my balance." Ruby smiled at me and walked towards me with swiftness in her steps."

By all means, Lord Drake!" She lowered her shoulder to try and let me reach. Grip. I placed my hand on it and tried to walk. We took 2 steps and Ruby fell. I let go before she took me with her. I didn't want to land in a compromising position with her and make her embarrassed... Or even worse, have the people around us form a negative opinion about either of us. I mean... The Demons around me are finally starting to like me after all... I don't want to ruin that or Ruby's reputation." Whoops!""

I had a feeling that was going to happen." Ruby stood up and brushed herself off. She looked at me again with a shy expression and began to speak." Well, since that didn't work... How about you... Hold my hand?" Pressure... Grip... I thought that it might not be a good idea to take the hand of an unmarried woman in this society, but I could feel Lily's annoyance at the fact that we weren't already off of the field. So, I took her hand, and she helped guide me off of the field to let Lily finish her Magic.

Lily, after sensing we were at a safe distance, guided the green mana slowly and gently into the ground. While we were witnessing that, a guard had come up behind us and asked a question I had no answer for." Couldn't you just use her arm to balance yourself, Lord Drake?" Ruby and I both looked at him, then we looked at each other. And then we both hit the bottom of our fists on our palms." Why didn't I think of that!?" We both said that in unison." 2 peas in a pod, it seems. Fufufu."

Lily's voice came from behind us, we turned to see her floating off of the ground, but looking a tad bit tired." Are you okay, Lily?"" Mostly, it's just that the Spell takes some concentration to do correctly. I basically had to make sure that every seed was planted in the correct depth and the correct distance from each other, so they don't fight each other. Then, I had to do some changing to the natural make-up of the soil. All in all, I'd say everything went well. You can see for yourselves as well.

Here, have a look." Ruby helped me with her arm this time to the field. She seemed to be thinking about something while doing so. Her face tells me that it was something difficult. It was like a kid wanting a cookie, but she thought that someone would catch her with her hand in the cookie jar." Here we are, Lord Drake." She spoke with a somewhat sullen tone. I looked at the fields and I saw that they all looked like someone tilled them!

The most surprising thing however, was that there were already sprouts coming out of the ground! I looked at Lily and began to speak." Lily, how many times do we need to use the Spell to make the vegetables ready for picking?" Lily thought for a moment.

"About 8 times, I think?" I grinned. I could definitely do this 8 more times! This much food will help alleviate our food shortage easily, add in the hunting, and I think we can manage all of it!" It's going to happen! We can easily do this! And then, I can just use the wild animals for training!"" Why not just hunt everything, Lord Drake?" Ruby asked." Because that could damage the Ecosystem of the Rose Swamps."" Ecosystem?"" You don't know? Well think of it like this. Do you know what an apex predator is?""

Isn't that the toughest animal in the wild?"" Yes, that's right! You have the apex predator at the top of the food chain. Then you have everything beneath them. Those that can eat something, will eat it. However, too much of this could be bad, like what if a Monster that eats another Monster or animal that eats important plants is gone? The creature that eats plants will eat so much of the plants that the plants around the area will disappear.

Without them being around they can no longer pull water from the soil like it usually does. This can cause mud slides and weaken the ground. This could make the grounds around Paradise collapse and create giant holes or even more swamp pools. That's if we hunt everything down. The smart, quick ones will live and can cause such an issue if we let them."" Ah so too much hunting could let a smaller one break the balance that keeps things relatively normal?"" Yes, more or less.""

So, we'll only take as much as we need?"" That's the plan that Sarah, Anna and I came up with." Ruby nodded at me as I explained." Well, let's wrap this up for the day. I'm starting to want to head to bed." Lily spoke as she yawned. With that, I let her head back home and we did the same.