[Mysterious Egg:
There is something inside.]
I turned it over and over in my hands as the maids served us tea. We were in a more informal place today, a nice, cheery little chamber I was fond of, with large windows facing the courtyard and white wood furniture. Ever since Prince Baiyu started living here, we had more messengers and clerks coming and going, and I had made two spare rooms into three smaller rooms for receiving guests. The main hall was still used for more formal occasions and important guests.
“Huh, well, my bloodline inheritance just asks me if I want to open it, no other information, but I don’t wanna. I’m busy!” I patted my stomach.
“That’s understandable,” said Shuye.
I put the egg in my inventory, but this made my Farm Guide frown.
“My lady, I need the egg back,” he said.
“I thought you were giving it to me.”
“No, it belongs to the people who found it. Raid team rules.”
“Raid?”
“The team was primarily there to monitor, but also to fight the spider if they needed to. Whatever the monster hunting team finds during a raid on a lair is theirs to keep.”
“Oh, I see. That makes sense.” I handed the [Mysterious Egg] back to him.
Shuye and Scholar Wu exchanged a glance while Prince Baiyu looked unconcerned.
My husband said to me, “My dear, do you want to buy it?”
I thought about it for a moment as I nibbled on a sugar cookie. The System hadn’t given me a quest for it. There were a lot of random items in Adventure Incarnate that functioned like a gacha game, but most of them were filled with junk or decorative items. Since this was an egg from the spider maze, it was likely that the biggest prize was a spider. It could be either a real spider or a spider-themed accessory or decoration. There was no way to tell.
“How much for it?” I asked.
Shuye named a price that made Prince Baiyu choke on his tea.
I patted his back.
Theoretically, my husband was extremely rich since he was the son of the Lady of the West. However, it was actually his mother who owned almost all of his family’s wealth.
“I think I’ll pass,” I said to Shuye.
“Are you sure?” Shuye asked. “If the price is a problem, I can try bargaining them down.”
“No, I think I don’t need it.”
Prince Baiyu shook his head. “There’s no way they’ll be able to sell it at that outrageous price.”
Shuye lifted both his hands in an “I surrender” gesture. “It’s what the team is asking.”
My husband snorted inelegantly.
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Talk then turned to what they had seen during the [Spooky Maze] event. There were spectral visions of spiders, strange smells, glowing balls of light, and so forth. The spider simply stayed in the middle, bothering no one.
I told my husband that the midwife and wet nurse that Lady Yuying had hired for me had arrived and had settled into rooms adjacent to our courtyard.
After the tea, we went our separate ways, and I enjoyed some relaxing time with my husband until it was time for lunch.
***
“Yes…” I slowly turned in a circle to look at the entire field of [Wheat].
[Rice] was, of course, the main staple crop of Emberstone Farm, but [Wheat] was a close second. The wheat stretched across the field in dense, uniform rows. The stalks stood tall, reaching to about my chest height, their pale golden-brown color catching the early morning light. I inspected one of the [Wheat] heads more closely. The kernels were tightly packed, almost luminous in the soft dawn glow. It was high-grade for sure!
I smiled and said to my apprentices, “I think Deming’s suggestion is worth listening to. What do you think? Should I use the [Mill] to process our [Wheat]?”
Our normal procedure was to send the crops off to others who took care of the curing, threshing, winnowing, milling, etc.
Level 50 Farming meant I could have seven buildings on the farm. I had the main house and six [Greenhouses] that we were using to grow plants that we could sell or use for the desert quest.
In the past, I used to have [Rice Mills] processing [Rice] from my inventory, but these days our harvest was so abundant that I no longer felt the need for them.
Kharli looked thoughtful. “That would mean destroying one of the [Greenhouses] and replacing it with a [Mill]? But growing spiritual plants is more valuable than milling [Wheat].”
“Yes, that’s true, but the Demon Chef says the quality of our [Wheat] will decrease if we send it to a regular mill, ” said Lari.
Kharli didn’t look convinced. “Is that more important?”
“It is to the chef! And our tummies will be happier if we get top-grade [Wheat],” said Lari.
“We could have a [Mill] for just a few days,” suggested Mo. “Just enough to make [Wheat] for our household and the Lady of the West.”
I let them talk it out. I could make the decision for them, but I wanted my apprentices to grow up to be independent and come to their own conclusions. After a few minutes, they decided to go with Mo’s suggestions, which I approved.
“Great. We’ll use the [Mill] for the [Wheat] after we finish using the [Rice Mill] for this season’s harvest,” I said. “Congee is often given as a new mother’s first meal, and I want mine to be made of top-grade [Rice].”
Kharli gasped, and I saw slow realization dawn over the others’ faces.
“That’s right! We need the best quality food for Teacher when she gives birth to our new god!” said Mo.
I smiled. “Exactly! Now, we need to harvest it before we can mill it. I’ll use the [Combine] on half of the field, you guys take your time with the other half.”
Using my harvester, I easily finished my share of the work and watched from atop my vehicle as my apprentices walked down the rows of plants that disappeared in their wake, their arm movements fast and efficient from long practice. Lari was now significantly taller than the girls.
When they were done, we still had a bit of energy left, so we went to the vegetable field.
All four of us sighed or smiled in contentment as we looked over which crops were at the peak of their ripeness. Unlike the [Rice], [Wheat], and [Tea] fields that had only one plant, this part of the farm was a riot of different colors with dozens of different vegetables in each neat row. Our Farm levels were high enough that the majority of them were high grade.
The [Tomato] plant was full of rich red fruits that gleamed like rubies, and the [Cabbages] were as large as my head, with leaves the color of pale jade. The [Pumpkins], Adventure Incarnate’s quintessential autumn crop, were massive, and the morning dew on their leaves sparkled like diamonds. The low-grade spiritual vegetables looked pretty much the same as their mundane counterparts, but these high-grade crops couldn’t be mistaken for normal ones.
“Guys, we have a special request this time. One of Deming’s close friends wants a mature [Chili Pepper] plant.” I pointed at the biggest [Chili Pepper] plant. “Who wants to dig this one up, roots and all?”
Mo had the most energy left, so she volunteered.
“A full plant?” Lari frowned. “How much more does that cost compared to a seed?”
“A lot more!” I showed him the contract.
“This plant has twenty-two large fruits…” Lari took out an abacus from his inventory and started calculating the price. “Per fruit cost…each has perhaps one hundred seeds… Wow, that’s a good price!”
Kharli was watching Mo dig the plant up. “If we can sell mature plants, why are we harvesting the fruit?”
“Wait for it,” I said.
Mo finished digging, and the plant disappeared as she put it in her inventory. Then, a look of horror and disbelief slowly crept across her face. “Teacher, this is horrible! We can’t sell this plant!”
*****
Author's Note:
- Will we ever find out what's inside the [Mysterious Egg]?
- Advanced chapters on my Patreon!
- Thank you very much for reading.
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