Farmer or Cultivator? Why not both?-Chapter 46: The Milk experiment

The berry bush was a little close to his house. He had not anticipated the seeds sprouting into a tree in a couple of minutes. This wasn’t bad however, he could use a bit of shade with how unforgiving the suns of Enesh could be. He would not need to go into his orchard just to get some shade.

He stood beneath the large berry bush. Some branches jutted just before him. The berry bush, large as it was, wasn’t a tree, it lacked a wide canopy, but its plentiful branches and leaves would suffice. Imbuing the seeds was not all Ren had intended as morning’s practice, he believed he needed to bolster his imbuement with non-living objects, but the growth of this bush threw him off.

’I think I’ll relax for sometime here.’ He laid underneath the tree, and soon fell into a nap. The cool breeze that blew, and sweet smells of leaves, the proximity to nature was an effective drug, and Ren dozed off for some time.

A loud clucking sound blasted from his house, and he jolted awake wondering if that had been from a horn, and it was a warning of danger that was coming, but then the sound came again, and he remembered that he had someone inside.

"Rokku," He got on his feet, and ran into his house. There, he met Rokku seated, with a countenance that expressed pain, Ren wasn’t all too sure.

"Are you okay?" It was so strange to see the bird seating, it felt to Ren like he was hallucinating, or he was in the middle of a dream, but no, this was his reality, it had been since he was forcibly brought here.

"I am healing. I think I heal quite quickly." The evolved rooster answered with its interrupting clucks.

"You should have some food, it will help to heal faster."

"Yes yes, I am hungry from our bout."

Ren proposed that the rooster ate but what did spirit animals eat? Mana? Normal food? Ren wasn’t sure, but he hoped Rokku would settle for a normal meal.

He had made fried potatoes last night, there were some leftovers, and he presented them to Rokku in a tray.

"My oil is almost finished. Do they sell vegetable oils around here." He mumbled. His train of thoughts was interrupted as Rokku began pecking loudly into his food. He turned to watch the spirit animal eat. In as much as the creature looked to be intelligent, and in great control of his new body, his wings were still wings at the end of the day, he could not grab nor hold things. Ren stifled a laugh as he watched his new companion eat, it was adorable, and he was starting to see the appeal of spirit animals, they were so cute and distinct looking that even the gods above wherever they were were quite fond of them.

Ren left his parlor and headed to the kitchen where he had kept bottles of milk for the past three days. The newer milk bottles were kept inside one of the drawers in the kitchen, but he left the older ones in the open. His experiment, should this go as he envisioned, he was fast to becoming a very rich man, but riches would have to wait, his destiny lied elsewhere, at least for now.

"Is it me or do these bottles look even bluer than last time?" The blue color was quite faint previously, and to an extent ignorable, but the color had soon taken a bolder hue.

"It is beautiful." And it was not just that, mana enveloped the bottle, not enough mana that it could force evolution, but a significant amount nevertheless. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Ren uncorked a bottle, and took a sip. A pseudo mustache from the milk remained on his upper lip once he was done drinking. He arched downwards, placing the bottle on the cabinet, and then he raised his head up above, covering his face with his two hands.

"This is the most tasteful drink I have ever had." It sat on the edge of a surgery delight, but it also carried a tinge of tasteful sourness, it was perfect.

"Erigald will run out of business should I make this large scale." He was certain, but lucky for the half-dwarf, Ren was not staying that long.

He had accrued a total of twelve bottles, and he would need to get wineskins to distribute the milk in. He could get that in the market.

Ren filled a wooden cart with three bottles of milk, he suspected he would need to bring even more, but that could wait. The suns were out bright and scorching, and yet it was breezy, and fairly cool—not too hot. Ren urged Rokku to rest some more, the spirit animal was mostly healed, but he could use a little more rest, especially seeing as he had spent his entire night evolving.

Upon getting outside, Ren noticed the tree he had scorched earlier. Its height was cut, and its leaves were all gone, blackened and turned to ashes. He had thought that there was no saving it, it was just one out of tens of them, a dismissible loss. What he did not expect was seeing green leaves sprouting on it once again. At the top of its blackened end, small green leaves had begun growing. Ren had totally forgotten the potency of the water of elaxis. He stood, eyes fixed on the tree, and he uttered, "Color me surprised."

At this point, his farm plants were probably made immortal by the power of the fountain.

He climbed down the mountain, walking for a good ten minutes to get into the village itself, time had passed enough that most people were done with their chores and their work. He passed by the tavern, and glanced at it. It was less rowdy than it was the last time he passed by, but it still had customers. Some old men sat outside, drinking what Ren was almost certain was potato vodka. He spotted a boy that could not be in his teens drinking.

’The village is really struggling.’ More reason to leave.

He got to the market square, getting greetings and invitations from the other sellers. Selling was mostly the woman’s occupation in this village, and although there were a few men who did the selling themselves, most didn’t. This got recently worsened by the fact that many men had died. There was no man selling behind a stall. Most of the stalls were even vacant, and people did not clamor around the market square like they used to. The market square was quite close to Eldrad’s house, and Ren hoped to see Tuarine.

’I want to talk to her.’

Lucky for him though, the woman who sold wineskins was present today, and she had just begun setting them up. She was one of the few whose husband had not chosen to join the armed men in taking revenge.

"How much for a dozen of those?" Ren asked as she begun laying her goods on the table.

"That werd be one silver and three copper coins ser." An accent thicker than most. Ren took the wineskins he wanted, and handed to her the coins.

He took out a bottle of the bluish milk, certain that the pretty color would attract buyers, he placed a wooden cup by its side. The transparent bottle to have the people see what it was that Ren had, and the cup for free samples.

"Free cups of milk. The first bottle is entirely free. Delicious and rich, feed your kids these."

Those by the stalls heard Ren loud and clear, and though food was abundant here in the village, who could say no to free food, especially when it looked so beautiful?