Chapter 9 The Barren Land of Peanut Village

The chestnut-colored Fire Dragon Horse carried the Earth Knight, Liszt, across the muddy terrain and arrived at Peanut Village. It was a settlement much smaller than a village, with only seven or eight thatched cottages scattered sparsely.

"You fools, why are you standing there? Bow down to Lord Liszt at once!" The town scribe, nimble on his feet, knocked on each farmer's door energetically.

All who lived here were serfs.

Exiting their drafty homes, their faces wore the dullness of life's oppression. Standing numbly at the doors, they didn't know what to do. Only under the scribe's loud reprimands did they kneel one by one, bowing in Liszt's direction.

Adults' actions were all robotic.

Only a few bare-bottomed children would occasionally lift their heads, using their dirty but bright eyes to size up Liszt. Then, they too would have their heads slapped down by the adults, kneeling just like them, their foreheads almost touching the ground.

"Who's in charge of Peanut Village?" asked Liszt.

Gort sat on his horse, seemingly uninterested, for he had no idea who the supervisor of Peanut Village was. A scribe spoke up, "In response, my lord, it's the lame old George."

"Ask him to come over."

Very soon, the scribe dragged an elderly man with a limp, whose walking was unsteady, over. The old man wore patched clothes, and his emaciated body seemed as if it could extinguish at any moment like a lamp running out of oil.

"Milord, Old George has arrived."

The scribe nudged the old man, seemingly urging him to pay his respects promptly. However, the elderly one appeared exceedingly nervous, standing stiffly and unsure of what to do.

Liszt waved his hand, dismissing the scribe politely. He spoke warmly, "Old George, there's no need to be nervous. I am Liszt von Tulip, the Baron of Flower Town. I've heard that there's an issue with the peanuts in Peanut Village. Take us to the fields and let's see if we can resolve this problem together."

"Ahh, oh, Baron... Lord... Sir," old George stammered nervously, "I'll lead the way immediately... Thank heavens... Peanut Village is saved... The Lord has come to rescue us!"

Excited as the elderly George was, he seemed to bring a gust of wind with his strides.

Liszt had inspected the farmlands before, but only from a distance. It was now that he was truly observing them closely. As they belonged to slaves, there were no dikes between the long, rectangular fields; only a single trench served as a delimiter, dividing the plots that different slaves cultivated.

Ninety percent of the harvest belonged to the nobles, and in this case, Liszt.

The remaining ten percent was their meager sustenance.

At this moment, what should have been a lush peanut field was a patchwork of green and yellow. All the peanuts had withered, listlessly sprawled on the ground. The soil was moist, indicating that the slaves had not spared any effort in watering the plants. Unfortunately, water alone could not revive them.

Tears glistening in his eyes, Old George said emotionally, "Lord Liszt, we haven't been lazy at all. We water the fields three times a day, but the peanuts are still dying. Only Achib's field is still holding on, but it won't be long before they wither too; some of the leaves have already turned yellow."

Following Old George's gesture, Liszt saw the long field located in the middle of Peanut Village's farmland.

The central part of the long field was still green, looking much healthier than the surrounding wilting peanut plants.

Liszt dismounted and walked into the field, bending down to pull out a yellowing peanut sprout, ready to examine it closely. Gort suddenly spoke, "Liszt, you shouldn't touch these dirty things. Let the slaves do it if there's anything that needs doing." Although he was a destitute knight, Gort looked down on commoners even more than most nobles.

Liszt ignored him and instead studied the peanut sprout in his hand, trying to determine the cause of its condition.

He wasn't an agriculturist, but he had helped with farming when he was young, so he wasn't unfamiliar with agriculture. While there were similarities and differences between the peanuts of the two worlds, he could still roughly identify the problem. "Have you used wood ash or manure to fertilize the fields?"

"What?" Old George was confused. "Lord Liszt, we've been watering them, three times a day!"

Liszt asked, "No fertilizer?"

Old George was taken aback before he asked in return, "What is fertilizer?"

Not knowing what fertilizer is... Liszt felt speechless. "How do you plant peanuts then?"

Old George rambled on, explaining that they would burn the weeds that grew during autumn and winter the following year, then start planting peanuts. Afterward, they would water and weed the fields. Generation after generation had followed this method, resulting in meager yields. Only nobles could use elves to influence plant growth and achieve bountiful harvests.

Understanding this, Liszt couldn't help but shake his head.

Without fertilizing, even the best land would eventually become barren after a few crops. The vast fields before him were almost turned into yellow earth; no wonder the peanuts were dying – they were "starving" to death.

However, a question arose in Liszt's mind. "Why didn't they starve to death before, but now the peanuts are?"

According to Old George, they had always farmed this way. Apart from droughts and floods, nothing like this had ever happened. Thus, the nutrient deficiency in the peanut field likely had another cause.

"What could be the reason?"

His gaze fell upon the green expanse in the middle of the field as he pondered seriously.

Suddenly, an idea struck him, reminding him of the reward for the mission – the request was to save the peanut field, and the reward would be an elf worm. Based on how he received the reward for his first mission, Liszt believed that the elf worm wouldn't just appear out of thin air; it might be something he stumbled upon during his journey.

"Rewarded with an Elf Worm... malnourished peanut field..." Standing up, Liszt had already found the answer in his mind. "Perhaps, the Elf Worm that the mission intends to reward me with is the very cause of the peanut field's malnutrition. Elf Worms are born from plants, so my Elf Worm should be a Peanut Elf Worm."

Waving his hand, he called out to the group, "Let's go take a look at the center of the field."

They tiptoed through the field and arrived at its heart, where the peanut sprouts were still thriving. Liszt recalled his childhood memories of observing Elf Worm collection; typically, these worms, like tender jade silkworms, were hidden within the flowers or buds of a plant.

Each Elf Worm carried distinct patterns.

He currently possessed four Elf Worms – a Tulip Elf Worm, a Thistle Elf Worm, a Maize Elf Worm, and an Alfalfa Elf Worm. Raising Elf Worms required coordination with farming, and Gort was still searching for suitable fields for breeding them.

After a brief search, Liszt couldn't find any peanut sprout nurturing an Elf Worm.

"It's probably too early, and the lack of nutrients means this peanut worm might not survive," Liszt couldn't help but clench his fists. Elf Worms represented productivity, and he couldn't afford to fail this mission.

With this thought in mind, he said to the group, "I believe I understand the issue now. Old George, follow my instructions to save this peanut field."

"Praise Lord Liszt!" Old George wept tears of joy.

Gort looked surprised and asked, "Liszt, have you really found the problem? Do you know how to cultivate peanuts as well? What made them wither?"

"It's still uncertain for now. We'll know in a few days," Liszt replied cautiously. He was worried that he might be wrong. If there were no fairies at all, it would be an embarrassing misunderstanding.

Thus, he decided to tend to the peanut sprouts first.