Angel Little Sister 359

 

Chapter 359 : My Vegetable Field…

 

「Aa! Those statues! Did you make them?」(Nei)

Nei had been in this town for a while, but this was her first time here.

She approached the animal statues I made in the playground area and hopped onto the stone statue of a cute panda.

「Yeah, but don’t punch them, okay?」(Mark)

「I, I won’t! I learned my lesson!」(Nei)

When we were in Sadola, I showed Nei my earth magic by creating a horse statue. She punched it with all her might to see if she could break it, but she ended up hurting her fist. (ch 154)

「I might offend you, but, Mark, that doesn’t look like a vegetable field at all.」(Nei)

While sitting on the panda statue, she looked at my ruined vegetable field with an unimpressed face.

If there were no wooden fences surrounding it, she might not have noticed there was a field there.

「It looked completely different before I left. There used to be lots of fresh vegetables here.」(Mark)

「I see.」(Nei)

「Yo, Mark. Did I make you wait?」(Gill)

While Nei and I were talking, Gill oji-san appeared from the street and approached us.

「No, we just got here.」(Mark)

「I see. Alright, first, let me explainー」(Gill)

After that, Gill oji-san started explaining what happened to this place.

He had been taking care of this field for me while I was gone and he never slack off.

All this wasn’t his fault. It was my fault for neglecting it for a long time.

Before I left this town, I made a water tank and filled it with water mixed with my mana and D-grade potion. I asked Gill oji-san to water my field with that mana water every day. (ch 105)

However, the amount of mana water I made was limited. It only lasted for a few weeks. I didn’t prepare the water that much in the first place because I planned to return home immediately after Celine completed her mission in Sadola Town.

Because of the accident in the Sadola mine, we had to teleport to Schultria Village which caused us not able to return home for a few months.

Gill oji-san ran out of my mana water long ago. He tried his best to keep tending to my vegetable field, but the soil gradually lost its quality and the vegetables lost their flavor.

He tried a traditional method by fertilizing the soil with fertilizer. As a matter of course, it wasn’t as good as fertilizing it with mana, but it worked.

He kept tending the field, which was too large to be called a home garden, all by himself. It must have been very difficult for him to take care of a vegetable field this large without using magic.

Honestly, I felt really bad for him. I felt guilty to leave that kind of hard work to him. However, when I apologized, he replied to me with a smile and said he didn’t mind.

So, if he had been taking good care of my vegetable field, how did it end up becoming like this?

The answer was… Because it was vandalized…

One day, Gill oji-san came to take care of the field like usual in the morning, but he found that the field had been sabotaged by someone or… something.

The neatly arranged ridges and furrows were ravaged, the plants were ruined, and the vegetables were all gone, even the unripe ones.

He thought it might be stray animals at first, so he built wooden fences around the field before he replanted the damaged vegetable plants and continued tending the field.

However, a few weeks later, the same thing happened. The field was vandalized again.

Gill oji-san did an investigation after that and found out that only my vegetable field was vandalized while other fields in the town were untouched.

It then became clear that the culprit was not a stray animal or something like that, but human. Either some jerks trying to pull a prank or someone with a grudge against me or Gill oji-san did this.

When I looked closely at the field, certainly I could see some traces of it being vandalized by someone.

「I told the town guards about this. They have been investigating this matter for a while now, but they still haven’t found anything. I thought it would be dangerous for people to be here, so I banned everyone from entering this vacant lot for the time being. I decided to seal this place off and wait for your return.」(Gill)

This place used to be a lively place full of children, but that explains why there’s no one here now.

I built the secret base for our gang, The Moonlight Wolf Gang, on the corner. I used to play with Delica and other children a lot there. It was also closed for a while. I could see the furniture was covered in dust.

「I see. So that’s what happened… I’m sorry for troubling you so much, Gill oji-san.」(Mark)

「Don’t worry about me. So, what are you gonna do now?」(Gill)

I put a lot of effort into this vegetable field. Gill oji-san too.

I can’t help but feel irritated knowing that someone who destroyed this field is still around.

I’ve decided what I’m going to do.

「If the guards can’t catch the culprit, then I will.」(Mark)

When I said that, Gill oji-san raised the edge of his lips, smirking.

「Haha! I knew you would say that. Of course, I will help. Just tell me when you need me. But, first, let’s fix this place, shall we?」(Gill)

「Un. Thank you, Gill oji-san.」(Mark)

I think the best way to catch the culprit is to lure them, and to lure them, first I need to restore my vegetable fields.

Now that I’ve decided what to do, I climbed over the fence, stood in the center of the field, and started working.

First, I collected the damaged plants by sucking them into my Item Box. This way, I was able to clean the field from dead, withered plants in no time.

After that, I used earth magic to soften the soil and fix the ridge and furrow, and at the same time infused the soil with earth-attributed mana.

「Whoa… It’s been a while since the last time I saw you use magic. I feel like you’re doing it much faster and tidier than before. Mark, you’ve really gotten better at magic.」(Gill)

「Is that so?」(Mark)

Watching me working on the field with magic, Gill oji-san was impressed.

So many things happened during the journey. I defeated some powerful monsters too.

I do feel like I’ve gotten much better at using magic than before.

「Well, I’ve been practicing a lot. Practice makes perfect.」(Mark)

「You’re right.」(Gill)

「Speaking of practice, Mark, you know? I’ve been practicing to make armors under your grandpa’s guidance. You can say I’m his disciple now.」(Nei)

「Really? That’s great.」(Mark)

Nei’s family is a family of blacksmiths. Most dwarves work as blacksmiths after all.

Other than working at my parents’ inn, sometimes she also visits my grandpa to learn to make armor from him.

She’s still a child, but she’s a hard worker.

「Nei, let me know if there’s anything I can do for you. I heard from Mom that our inn was saved thanks to you. You’ve been very helpful, she said.」(Mark)

「Haha! What are you talking about? Your mom paid me very well, so don’t worry about it!」(Nei)

While talking to me, Nei jumped over the fence and approached me.

「Well, I’ll let you know if I need your help, but for now, let me help you. Next, we need to sow the seeds, right? Can I help with that? Or are you gonna do it with magic too?」(Nei)

「Nah, I can’t manipulate hundreds of seeds at once with magic. It will be done manually by hand.」(Mark)

「Great! You can leave it to me then!」(Nei)

「Let me help too.」(Gill)

Just like that, the three of us spend our afternoon at the vacant lot, reviving my vegetable field and cleaning up the entire place.

While sowing the seeds, I prayed that they would grow into fine and delicious vegetables that looked appealing… Appealing enough to lure out the culprit.

 

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