Chapter 72 Saved By An Angel And Fairies - Side Jade -
"Why do we have to reap all the rye?!"
"It's the lord's order. We'll be compensated, so don't complain and just harvest it!"
Since the tax collector, Ain, came to our village early in the morning, it's been a huge commotion, like a beehive that's been stirred up.
My parents and I were the first settlers to come to this region. When I was still young, my parents and I came to this region together. Originally, in the region where my parents lived, the eldest son would inherit all the land, and the second and third sons wouldn't even have their own land. As a result, they would be treated like tenant farmers for their entire lives.
Disliking this treatment, my parents and their friends, who were in the same situation, decided to settle in this region and cultivate their own land. Moreover, because of their own bitter experiences, when a second or third son was born, they would cultivate new land for that child.
Although we cultivated the land with all our might, the crops wouldn't grow as we wanted. We had to eat wild grass to survive, and there were days when we had to go hunting to feed our families. When a large monster appeared in the village, we were prepared to face extinction. Still, we didn't give up on cultivating our land and lived by helping each other.
In reality, this area is a small settlement that hasn't even been recognized as a "village" or "town". There's still a lot of unexplored land, and people who want to have their own land, like my parents, come from various regions. However, most of these settlers give up and leave for another land. Only a handful of people remain and continue farming.
The first settlers, including my parents, provide various forms of support to help the people who come later to settle in this land. Even so, the number of people who can't endure and leave is overwhelmingly high. That's how harsh this land is.
In short, the population fluctuates greatly, and there are many abandoned lands that were given up during the cultivation process, which is why it can't be registered as a village or town.
It was clear that growing wheat in this region would be difficult, and we knew that from a pretty early stage. However, most of the settlers were born and raised as wheat farmers, so they didn't have much knowledge about other crops. That's why they didn't have the courage to try planting other crops.
So, I decided to search for alternative crops to wheat and started experimenting with various crops on a corner of my field. Most of them ended in failure, but rye, which has a similar cultivation method to wheat, produced plump grains.
I decided to cultivate rye on a large scale. At first, my neighbors looked at me with skepticism, but after seeing my success, they started to cultivate rye little by little from the following year. And finally, this year, the entire village decided to cultivate rye on a large scale.
Before I knew it, over 10 years had passed since I started experimenting with various crops on a corner of my field. I gazed at the wheat ears, which were about to be harvested, with a sense of accomplishment.
But then, I suddenly felt a sense of unease. There were black seeds mixed in with the rye ears. Some of them were even as large as an angle.
"What's this?"
I felt uneasy because I had never seen this before, so I cut down a few stalks with black seeds and sent them to the bureaucrats in the capital for analysis. When there are signs of disease in plants, it's standard procedure to send samples like this. The experts in the capital will examine them and teach us how to deal with the disease. If the disease is too severe for the capital's experts to handle, they'll send it to the Academy in the royal capital for further analysis.
Three days later, the tax collector, Ain, came early in the morning. The order was to cut down all the rye, which made me think, "So it was a disease after all." But even if some of the rye was diseased, I didn't think it was necessary to cut down the entire field, including the parts without black seeds. And to make matters worse, they were prohibiting us from planting rye again next year. I just couldn't understand why. This would be unfair to my friends who had trusted me and started planting rye.
The entire village was in an uproar, and then a group of alchemists and pharmacists arrived. They didn't even bother with greetings, and immediately began observing the entire field. It seemed like they were checking the spread of the disease. I felt a glimmer of hope. If the experts confirmed that there was no problem, maybe we could salvage some of the fields.
Later, the lord and his family came to our village, and he spoke directly to us commoners. However, the lord refused to budge from his opinion that all the wheat should be cut down. I was devastated. Tears started flowing from my eyes uncontrollably.
Then, a girl who was standing behind the lord suddenly spoke up.
"If you cry now, you might not be able to hear the rest."
She was an angel with hair that shone like moonlight. She was a beautiful girl who could say impertinent things to the lord and still look lovable. She was probably younger than my eldest son.
The angel took my hand and helped me stand up, saying, "Don't worry, we'll compensate everyone for their losses."
I was taken aback for a moment, but the lord also agreed with the angel's statement, promising to provide compensation for this year and next. I was extremely grateful, and even more apologetic. It was all my fault for growing the wheat in the first place.
"Could you tell us why you decided to cultivate wheat here?"
Ah, I had committed a sin worthy of blame from the angel. I felt despair.
"I was the one who pushed for it. If I need to take responsibility, please punish me alone."
However, she didn't blame me. Instead, she bowed her head deeply and expressed her gratitude to us. It was unbelievable. She was a real angel, and even the lord and his family, who were experts in their field, couldn't help but look up to her.
The angel's magical powers were also incredible. She finished a task that would have taken us days to complete in just an instant. Moreover, she summoned a fairy and received plants to be planted in the field from it.
After this, the lord came and told us to keep the angel's power a secret. We all nodded in agreement. For pioneers who help each other survive, there's no one who would betray their benefactor. Even my wife Elsa was telling the chatty women to keep quiet.
I think I had given up on thinking halfway through this commotion. I mean, isn't that right? Human logic doesn't apply to angels and fairies anyway.
It's enough to just know. We were saved by the angel and fairies, that's all.
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