Flora's eyes narrowed slightly, her tone carrying a hint of natural playfulness. “Mm! Snatched away. Loviki was snatched away too~”
Loviki's fingers paused for a moment. She quickly let go and pretended to watch Velyan fish. “W-Who was snatched away? I'm going to see how many fish Velyan caught.”
With that, Loviki quickly walked over to Velyan's side, her face flushed red as she reached out to poke at the fish in the bucket.
Velyan leaned in as well, gently poking the belly of the red grouper with her finger. She then looked up, her golden eyes sparkling slightly as she asked curiously, “Loviki, did you tell Chen Mian what you wanted to say last night?”
“...Mm.” Loviki hesitated for a moment before nodding gently.
“I see. No wonder Loviki's attitude toward Chen Mian feels different today.” Velyan nodded, then asked thoughtfully, “So, if you like someone, you just have to say it out loud? You don't need to snatch them away?”
“L-Like... How did you know?” Loviki looked at her, feeling a bit embarrassed.
“Because the way Loviki looks at Chen Mian is different from how she looks at others,” Velyan replied earnestly after a moment of thought.
“...How is it different?”
“Hmm... I can't really explain it, but it just feels different,” Velyan said, scratching her head.
“Shh! They're coming over,” Loviki whispered, her face blushing as she made a shushing gesture.
“Why?”
“...No reason!”
Chen Mian stopped in front of them and looked down at them. “What are you two squatting here and whispering about?”
Loviki suddenly stood up and spoke rapidly, “We weren't saying anything! Velyan was just discussing with me how we should eat the fish tonight! She said she wants it spicy!”
Velyan looked up at Loviki, her golden eyes filled with obvious confusion, but in the end, she didn't expose her. “...Yes, spicy. I want to try spicy grilled fish.”
Chen Mian's gaze lingered on Loviki's bright red ears for a moment before he looked away. “Alright, then we'll have Flora whip up a spicy sauce later.”
“I can help scrape the scales!” Velyan immediately raised her hand, her tone filled with a bit of eagerness.
“Last time you scraped scales everywhere.” Loviki finally recovered her composure and poked Velyan's forehead.
“I'll be careful this time! I added a new rule to my survival guide: scrape fish scales over a basin of water.”
“...When did you add that rule?”
“Just now!”
Chen Mian couldn't help but chuckle. He turned and walked toward the apartment. “Let's go, then. We can prep the fish first. Also, Louise is making fish soup tonight, so remember to drink more of it. My appetite hasn't been great lately, so I won't be able to drink much.”
“Don't worry, human! I can help drink it!” Velyan picked up the fish bucket and quickly followed, her golden tail wagging happily behind her. “Tell Louise to make more. Irena can eat a lot too.”
“The grilled fish will be enough. We're having a different kind of grilled fish this time,” Chen Mian said seriously, looking back.
“Is it tastier than the last time we grilled it?” Velyan jogged to the front of Chen Mian and turned around, asking excitedly.
“That depends on what flavor you like. Don't walk backward, or no one's going to help you up if you fall,” Chen Mian warned, amused by her antics.
“I won't fall!” Velyan retorted with a laugh, but she still quickly spun around and walked briskly into the apartment with the fish bucket. “I'm going to drag Irena out of bed to help me prep the fish.”
“Mr. Chen Mian!” Just as he was about to enter the apartment, Melo's voice came from behind.
Chen Mian turned around to see Melo jogging over from the distant garden.
He stopped in his tracks, and soon, Melo stood before him, panting heavily.
“What's wrong, Melo?” Chen Mian asked, looking at the breathless girl.
“Mr. Chen Mian.” Melo took a deep breath, finally catching her wind, her rabbit ears twitching slightly. “I've mapped out an area for the spice seeds Miss Flora wants to plant, but... we have too many different crops in our fields right now.”
“Magic tomatoes, golden tomatoes, Moonlight Grass, pumpkins, chilies, bok choy, chives, Honey-Crystal Mushrooms... plus the newly brought-back Windbell Berries, Silver-light Fruits, and so on. Adding the seeds Miss Flora brought from the Royal Capital, our farmland is getting a bit cramped. So, I wanted to ask if we should expand some ordinary farmland, or reduce the planting area of some crops to free up some plots.” As she spoke, she pulled out a dog-eared notebook from her pocket and flipped it open. “The consumption rate of some magical crops isn't very high, like chilies and chives. Should we scale down their planting area?”
Just as Chen Mian was about to answer, the system panel suddenly popped up in his mind.
【System Notification: Territory deed detected, and current crop demand exceeds the land capacity limit. Unlocking Territory Expansion Quest.】
【Quest: Territory Development】
【Description: You hold the Hella Kingdom deed of territory, but the existing land area is no longer sufficient to support your planting needs. Please reclaim new farmland exceeding 100 mu within the boundaries designated by the deed of territory. The farmland within the territory will automatically convert into Primary Magic Farmland.】
【Primary Magic Farmland can be upgraded to Medium Magic Farmland (increases crop yield and quality) or converted into Mutational Magic Farmland (crops have a higher probability of mutating to produce mutated crops) by consuming Points.】
【Quest Requirements: Reclaim more than 100 mu of farmland and obtain 5 types of mutated crops. Current mutated crop count: 1】
【Quest Reward: 5,000 Points, unlocking of a designated additional function (Optional functions: Point Shop item expansion, Cooking Workshop, Alchemy Workshop, Hot Spring Resort, Large Ranch, Breeding Workshop...)】
Chen Mian's gaze swept over the panel, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly.
He hadn't originally planned on using the territory Arthur had just given him, but now it seemed necessary to develop it. Not just for the new functions, but even for the mutated plants alone, it was worth developing. In all this time, it seemed only one mutated tomato had ever appeared, which had allowed them to cultivate a large batch of golden tomatoes with effects far exceeding ordinary ones.
If he could grow mutated grapes, would the fruit wine brewed from them have other special effects...?
In that case, he would put territory development on the agenda... When the time came, he could migrate the ordinary plants to the new territory and dedicate this place to growing special mutated crops. However, manpower was going to be an issue.
“Melo,” he said, withdrawing his gaze and looking at the rabbit-eared girl still holding her notebook and waiting for an answer. “There's no need to scale down the area. On the contrary, we're going to expand.”
Melo blanked for a moment, her rabbit ears perking up slightly. “Expand? Expand where?”
“The two-hundred-mile range north of Linyu Port, along the periphery of the Forest of Death.” Chen Mian smiled and pulled out the deed of territory from his storage space. “This area belongs to us now.”
“T-Two hundred miles? Our current vegetable garden is only a few mu...” Melo's eyes went wide, and she almost dropped her notebook.
“Yes, the King of Hella has already granted this land to me. It's just that developing and managing a territory is a massive undertaking, and we don't have enough manpower right now.” Chen Mian put the deed away. “We should have accumulated quite a few gold coins by now, right?”
“Yes, we've accumulated a large amount of Hella gold coins.” Melo nodded vigorously. She then flipped her notebook to a certain page, handed it to Chen Mian, and said seriously, “A total of 178,396 Hella gold coins.”
“Once I've sorted out the territory matters, you all can come with me to get familiar with the place. We'll take it one step at a time. With this much money, we can definitely hire some hands.”
“O-Okay!” Melo quickly jotted down a few notes in her book, then looked up and asked hesitantly, “Then... once those fields are reclaimed, will we still grow magical crops like we do now? Do we need to invest anything extra?”
“They will be magical crops, though their quality will be slightly lower than what we have here,” Chen Mian nodded and said with a smile. “Of course, to the outside world, we'll just say we can only grow them at a special cost.”
“Understood!” Melo blinked. Having spent so much time with Chen Mian, she had already learned not to pry too deeply into how things worked. “I'll go find Uncle Sari right away!”
“No rush. Although we have the deed, we still need to go through some official procedures. Take a few days off. You'll be very busy in a while.”
“Okay!”
Melo turned and ran back toward the village anyway, but after only a few steps, she turned around again, her rabbit ears fluttering slightly backward due to her speed. “Mr. Chen Mian, are we still planting the spice seeds?”
“Yes. Set aside a small plot to test-plant them first, and we'll transplant them once the new land is ready.”
“Okay!”
Rate on N.U.
