Chapter 671: Farming

The location of the Yae mansion was relatively remote, outside the city of Heian-kyo.

Dorothy came out of the city and strolled leisurely on the country road. While walking, she appreciated the pastoral scenery that was already hard to see in the outside world.

On both sides of the path were boundless farmlands. These farmlands were filled with spiritual energy and fertile soil. One look and you knew they were very suitable for planting various spiritual materials.

And it happened to be the planting season, and many Yingzhou witches were working in the fields at this moment.

Although they were witches, the way these transcendent beings farmed was actually not much different from mortals. They were all facing the yellow earth and backing the sky, looking very hard.

Planting spiritual medicine is a very troublesome thing. Some precious spiritual seeds need to be carefully guided and activated with mana. This kind of thing isn't difficult, but the only problem is that the activity status of each seed is different, so the strength of mana required for activation is also different.

Therefore, this kind of thing cannot be operated in batches; it can only be done by letting the farmer witches patiently spend time grinding it bit by bit.

And it's not just that you can let go after activating the seeds. After the spiritual plants sprout, you still have to adjust the spiritual energy supply according to different growth conditions, and you have to come and see if there are any pests from time to time.

In short, this is a very troublesome thing, time-consuming and labor-intensive, very hard.

The Home Witch stood by the road, watching an old grandmother who was teaching her little granddaughter how to farm.

"Watch carefully, girl, just like this, like that, then like this..."

The old grandmother's mana bloomed, and she very skillfully input the weak mana into the spiritual plant seeds in her hand. The originally quiet seeds soon emitted a faint fluorescence, and then tender buds broke out of the cocoon.

"If it sprouts like this, it's fine. Then bury the sprouted seeds into the soil. Did you learn it?"

The old woman demonstrated it once and then asked the granddaughter beside her.

"En, it looks quite simple, Grandma, I learned it."

The half-grown girl, who looked to be only eleven or twelve years old, nodded, and then picked up a seed and began to input mana.

It was just that, clearly, the young witch's control over her own mana wasn't good. She input too much mana all at once, and the fragile seed quickly mutated under the excessive mana, and finally grew a big mouth full of sharp teeth and sticky mucus, biting toward the confused little witch.

The Home Witch, who was squatting on the road watching this scene, was stunned. She didn't expect this thing to be so fierce. However, seeing that the little witch might get hurt, she reached out to save her, but a sharp cold light swept past, and the mutated spiritual plant that had just been showing off its power was cut into two sections by someone.

"What a fast sickle."

Dorothy looked at the old grandmother holding the sickle and couldn't help but sigh like this.

Even in the eyes of her, this Martial God, the sickle just now was very amazing. Whether it was the speed of the blade, the angle, or the force, everything was perfect. In terms of technique, it was already considered proficient and reached the peak.

Such skilled technique clearly couldn't be achieved overnight; it must have required a lot of time and energy to practice hard.

However, the Home Witch looked at the old grandmother's wrinkled appearance and wasn't too surprised by this.

A witch's appearance generally depends on her state of mind, so one

But conversely, those witches who appear aged are mostly no longer very young; after all, the aging of one's temperament also requires the erosion of time. The situation where a teenage witch is already world-weary and mentally aged is, after all, only a minority.

This old grandmother is so aged that her face is covered in wrinkles; one can only say her life experience must be very rich. She must be a witch over several hundred years old, and it is perfectly normal for such an elderly witch to have one or two special skills.

This grandmother has likely been a farmer for hundreds of years; the technique of wielding a sickle must have long ago been honed into instinct through day-after-day of labor.

"That's right, my grandma is the best at using a sickle in the village. Every harvest season, our family is always the most efficient."

Hearing Dorothy's praise, the little witch who had been terrified just moments ago wiped the spirit-plant slime from her face, then lifted her head and puffed out her chest, saying this with pride.

However, before she could finish speaking, the grandmother had already covered her little granddaughter's mouth, then pressed down on her head and bowed humbly toward the Home Witch.

"This noble lady, I beg you to forgive my little granddaughter's offense; children speak without thinking."

The weather-beaten old woman saw at a glance from the clothing of the young witch before her that this was a big shot. Although she didn't know if she was that kind of noble lady from the noble clans, regardless of whether she was or not, she certainly wasn't someone they, the lowliest of peasant women, could offend.

In short, apologizing first is the right thing to do.

As for the young little witch, she still didn't understand what had happened at this moment. She didn't understand why, when she clearly hadn't said anything wrong, her grandma had to apologize to others. She was clearly stating facts; grandma really was the person with the best planting techniques in the village.

The little witch felt somewhat aggrieved; her eyes were even red and moist, and she really wanted to retort, but grandma kept covering her mouth, blocking all the words of rebuttal in her belly.

"This grandmother, I am not some noble lady, and the child didn't say anything wrong either; you don't need to be like this."

The Home Witch hurriedly dodged, avoiding the bows of the old and the young, and said this.

However, the grandmother did not straighten her back because of this; she still pressed down on her granddaughter, and then, together with her granddaughter, bowed and apologized humbly.

This left Dorothy feeling somewhat helpless.

It is easy to break the ghosts in this ruined city, but hard to break the ghosts in the heart.

Even though she had already sent Izanagi to hell and had almost completely demolished this Yingzhou Island, the rules formed over the past tens of thousands of years on this island could not be erased in a short while.

However, there is no need to rush; the power of time is fair. It can strengthen certain things, and it can also erase certain things.

"Fine, I forgive your offense; you can lift your heads now, otherwise I really will be angry."

She had no choice but to keep a straight face and pretend to be a noble lady.

"Yes, yes, yes, we will listen to you, noble lady."

Having obtained the forgiveness of this young noble lady, the grandmother finally stood up straight. The little witch, who had been so proud just a moment ago, was now hiding behind the old woman, her pair of watery eyes looking at Dorothy with some fear, some confusion, and some curiosity.

The Home Witch smiled gently at the little witch, then looked at the grandmother.

"Grandmother, do you know about the Witch Home?"

Dorothy asked this.

"Witch Home? Oh, oh, I know, I know. I am also a member of the Witch Home. A few days ago, Lord Tengu came to the village to notify us, telling everyone to join that Witch Home thing, saying that there would be fields to distribute once we joined."

The grandmother was stunned at first, but then smiled and said this.

"Actually, I won't hide it from you, noble lady: at first, everyone in the village didn't really believe there was such a thing as pie falling from the sky. It was just because it was Lord Tengu's word that everyone didn't dare not to listen, so they all went to sign up."

Perhaps because this young noble lady was indeed relatively kind, the experienced old woman knew that for this kind of noble lady, appearing more relaxed would make it easier to gain their favor. So, she let herself relax a bit and opened the floodgates of conversation.

"But I didn't expect that the noble ladies of the Witch Home are truly great benevolent people. They actually really distributed fields to us, and even promised that we only need to pay one-tenth of the harvest from the fields later, and the remaining nine-tenths will all be our own."

When the grandmother spoke of this, her face was filled with an unstoppable smile.

After all, when she was a tenant farmer for the noble ladies of the noble clans before, let alone keeping nine-tenths of the harvest from the fields, if she couldn't meet the harvest targets of the noble ladies, they would even have to pay out of their own pockets to compensate for the loss of not taking good care of the noble ladies' spirit fields.

Of course, she also knew that anyone who believed the nice words of the noble ladies was a fool. Those noble ladies of the Witch Home spoke nicely, but when the time came, it would definitely be impossible to really leave them nine-tenths. In the old woman's heart, nine-tenths must belong to the noble ladies, and being able to really keep one-tenth for herself would be satisfying enough; that was already a wonderful thing they hadn't dared to even think about in the past.

Besides, what if, what if they really met someone who kept their word...

Forget it, there are no "what ifs." Rather than believing the promises of the noble ladies, the old woman would rather believe that her spirit fields could yield 100,000 catties per mu this year.

"Is that so? That's all good news. Actually, I also joined the Witch Home. Now the entire Yingzhou Island is the property of the Witch Home. We nobles are the same as you and the grandmother; we are all working for the Witch Home. These noble ladies came from outside the island, and their words actually count."

Dorothy smiled and said this.

"Is that really so?"

The grandmother, who had farmed for a lifetime, couldn't help but widen her eyes upon hearing the words of this noble lady before her. For someone like her who had hardly ever left the village in her life, the idea of the entire Yingzhou Island changing hands was truly unimaginable. But since the noble lady said that the Witch Home kept its word, then...

Then it's over; they must be birds of a feather. Hopefully, her family can keep half a tenth of the harvest this year.

The grandmother thought gloomily in her heart.

Home Witch: "........."

How good an acting performance can an old farmer have? Dorothy could roughly see the old woman's disappointment even without using mind-reading. This left her speechless.

Damn, you nobles are truly deserving of death; how could your credibility be so poor?

Originally, she had wanted to utilize the reputation of the nobles, the original rulers of Yingzhou, to indirectly promote her own society, but Dorothy never expected that this would have the opposite effect. She had no choice but to hurriedly change the subject.

"Grandmother, actually, the Witch Home treats everyone equally. Look, we nobles also have to farm together now. I haven't farmed before either; could you please teach me how to farm? Otherwise, it won't be good if the piece of land I was assigned goes to waste."

She hurriedly put on an appearance of seeking instruction.

Of course, this was just an excuse. Dorothy also knew a thing or two about alchemy, and farming was naturally something she could handle with ease; there was absolutely no difficulty. She just wanted to take the opportunity to see what the farming level of this Yingzhou Island was like.

"Is that so? It really wouldn't be good if the land went to waste. I just happen to be teaching my granddaughter how to farm; if you don't mind, noble lady, we can just do it together."

How could the old woman who had farmed for a lifetime listen to words about letting the land go to waste? Although she didn't think this young noble lady, who looked so delicate and pampered, could really go farming, since the person had already said so, the old woman decided she should teach her properly.

She wasn't pitying the noble lady, but rather pitying the land. Don't let this noble lady, who knows nothing, ruin the spirit field when the time comes.

Immediately, holding such a simple thought, the grandmother took out two more seeds, distributed one each to Dorothy and her little granddaughter, and she also took out a seed, explained and demonstrated in detail once more, and then encouraged the two to try it themselves with her eyes.

The little granddaughter might have been frightened by the demonized seed earlier and was somewhat afraid to try; she just quietly looked at Dorothy.

And the Home Witch was naturally not intimidated. Just kidding, she was super good at farming.

Immediately, she skillfully channeled her mana, activated the seed in her hand, and then...

And then nothing happened. The seed silently turned over and couldn't be bothered to pay her any mind.

Dorothy: "????"

Good grief, I was actually looked down upon by a seed; can this be tolerated?

The Home Witch, with a tic mark appearing on her forehead, gathered her mana and wanted to apply a set of high-level potion cultivation procedures to this unruly seed on the spot, making this seed directly turn into the shape she wanted.

But before she could act, the grandmother reached out and took the seed from her hand, then smiled and encouraged her.

"Noble lady, perhaps you are naturally cut out for this line of work... pfft pfft pfft, look at my clumsy mouth. I meant to say you really have a talent for farming. This seed really likes your power, noble lady, so it's a bit greedy and wants to eat a little more."

The grandmother said this, and then she reached out and tapped the seed. Immediately, the tiny seed also broke its cocoon and sprouted; a tiny goldfish emerged from it, and then pointed its fish tail at Dorothy.

"Haha, noble lady, this little guy is a bit shy."

Dorothy: "????"

The Home Witch was truly stunned this time; she looked at this grandmother with a face full of shock.

Wow, what kind of power is this, to actually be able to communicate with plants?

There are quite a few plants with intelligence in the Witch World, but it is very clear that this Yingzhou food crop called fish-grass is not among them. This is clearly a low-intelligence spirit plant; otherwise, it wouldn't be used as a food crop.

Dorothy had eaten this fish-grass during this period; this thing looked like a fish, but the texture when eaten was actually more like tofu. The meat was very delicate, melted in the mouth, and was quite delicious.

"Grandmother, does this fish-grass actually have thoughts?"

Dorothy couldn't help but ask.

"Of course not."

The grandmother said it as a matter of course.

"However, plants are also life, and as long as it is life, there is always a heart. Although this fish-grass has no intelligence, I have farmed fish-grass for a lifetime, so I can barely read the emotions and needs of these guys."

The old woman stroked the fish-grass in her hand like this, and that silly little fish affectionately rubbed against the old woman's finger.

"Actually, others always say that the fish-grass I grow is the fattest and best, and people often ask me for the secret, but I really don't have any secret. At first, I just thought that we grow this fish-grass for food, so it is only natural to take good care of these fish-grasses before the harvest."

"But later I realized that the fish-grass we harvest is actually already a corpse. Fish-grass is the kind of thing that dies as soon as the parent produces seeds. These guys are actually quite short-lived, and if I can make their short lives a little more comfortable and happy, why not?"

"Besides, fish-grass that dies happily seems to be more delicious, and the seeds they produce will also be more numerous and more robust; next year will be another bumper harvest."

The grandmother revealed her exclusive secret technique without any concealment.

"Uh, do plants also have hearts?"

Dorothy lowered her head to look at those seeds and fell into deep thought. After a long time, she raised her head, looked at the old woman before her earnestly, and sincerely sought instruction.

"Grandmother, I want to learn how to farm."

Just like that, the Home Witch farmed for a day.

.... Dorothy is raising fish.....