The noise outside made the children nervous; they stopped playing and subconsciously clung to the two adults. This made Ayan frown. Judging from the children’s reaction, there is no way that those visitors have a pleasant relationship with the people of Lassa. 

“Who are they?” She asked Tet. 

“People from Kildare Village, they came for the payment of the grains we borrowed ten nights ago.” He said glumly. “The harvest was poor this year because of the sparse rain. We only managed to get by when the adults and children helped together to fetch water from the loch two kilometers from here to water the plants.” 

“How much do you owe them?” 

Tet looked down on his toes, “Four bags of wheat, three bags of rye and a bag of salt but the payment has to be doubled.”

“Some of the grains were even moldy.” The smallest boy sniffed.

“What?!” Beatrice jumped in anger. “This is too much!”   

The more she looked at the children thinner than firewood sticks, the angrier she became. 

“Don’t other villages have spare food to lend you?” Ayan asked. 

Tet clenched his little fist and said aggrievedly. “Only Kildare has the capability to lend other settlements with extra grains because they have a larger territory.” 

Ayan bit the side of her cheek. Her eyes then landed on the door of the underground cellar attached to the village chief’s house. 

“Coco, Green…” 

Grandpa Fulio came out with Lady Tatiana and Dianne as soon as they heard the harsh shouts. Ayan patted Tet to be at ease then gestured for Beatrice to follow the elders. The men who are left to guard were also alerted and came to the village entrance as well as the busy wives. 

Outside the fence, five men wearing a mish mash of protective clothing stood by smugly. Some wore leather vests, chainmail, breast plates, iron toed boots and even helmets. No wonder they dare go out before sunsets, it appears they are confident enough to fight with the monsters. 

In Beatrice’s eyes however, they look like a band of robbers.    

“Is the payment ready yet?” Fritz, the leader wearing a bucket helmet demanded. 

The crowd inside were silent. Anxiety was on their faces. 

“Two days, we ask for two more days to wait for the return of my son and the others.” Grandpa Fulio replied calmly. “It’s only been a week, didn’t we agree to pay the grains after a full fourteen days?”

A rusted broadsword shot out and pointed at the old man’s forehead. 

“We make the rules, naturally, we can change them as we please.” Fritz sneered.

Grandpa Fulio did not flinch, surprising the four ladies. 

My goodness, this old man is not simple!  

A thin buck-toothed fella with slit-eyes walked forward arrogantly, “Have you forgotten that noone in this barren land would want to lend food to mud-lickers like you? Only my brother is benevolent. If you cannot pay what you owe we will be forced to confiscate your land!”

“That was not in the agreement!” 

“Oh, what agreement?” Bucktooth laughed out loud with his tongue sticking out. He pulled out a paper saying grandpa Fulio acquiesced to using Lassa village as payment for several bags of grains they owed. 

The only thing missing to make it formal was his signature or thumb print.  

There were sharp inhalations from everyone. Vile. This is too vile. Are they not going to leave them a room to survive? 

Blood drained from the old man’s face. “Master Fritz, you are going too far! The whole village is more than enough for a few bags of grain.” 

“Without those grains you could have long starved and died.” Fritz replied mercilessly. 

The men laughed seeing the despair on Fulio and his villagers' faces. 

These mud-licking trash should vacate the land soon!  

“How many bags of grain in total does Lassa owe you? Five? Ten?” Ayan spoke coldly. 

The raucous laughter stopped abruptly. The villagers looked at her nervously. 

“If you want grain as payment then grain it is. We will double it!” 

Beatrice, who rushed to stop her from talking, dropped her jaw in shock. 

Sister, what are you talking about?! 

Lady Tatiana on the other hand looked at the child with indignant posture and stubborn gaze. 

“M-Miss, don’t do this. This is our village’s problem.” They must not get involved in this conflict. 

Ayan turned back and smiled at him, “It’s alright grandpa Fulio, I have thought about this a hundred of times before making a decision.”  

Fritz and his men thought they found a solution, it turns out they were just bluffing so they laughed once again much louder than the previous ones. 

“Do you think I was bluffing?” Ayan questioned with the same cold face and tone. 

Fritz shrugged, “A woman without strength to truss a chicken is claiming to pay the village debt? I’m not as gullible as you thought.”

He was about to wave his rusty sword to intimidate the woman when he was frozen by the killing intent in her eyes. Fritz felt his insides squeeze. 

How… How could a delicate woman have such an intimidating gaze? 

“If you irritate her further, you’d be no worse than those monsters in the Crucible Mountain she killed.” Coco muttered to himself. 

Three months of journey in that place coupled with Clayton’s brutal training, could Ayan still come out the same? Though she had temporarily forgotten her previous life as the earl’s daughter, her body remembers the experience she went through in order to be worthy of her commander fiancé. 

Breaking an adult man’s arm is as easy as breaking a toothpick for her. 

Fritz felt cold fingers sliding down his spine. 

“Very well… since you want to pay then, open the cellar.” 

“Brother, are you letting this go so easily?” Bucktooth complained. 

Fritz was not feeling better and he had no way to vent the anger rushing to his head so when Bucktooth approached, he lifted his foot and kicked him.

“Do you question my decision?” He roared.

The stunned Bucktooth took a while to recover. “B-Brother…”

“Stop fucking questioning me! Get your ass up and do your part.” He then looked at the other three and spat. “The same goes for you, follow inside and take the grains out. Useless trash!”   

The villagers shrink their necks in fear and have a way for the people of Kildare to enter. Grandpa Fulio looked at Ayan anxiously.

“Girl, we—”

“Everything is going to be fine. When we said we will pay, we are not going back on our word and those parasites will be out before we know it.” 

Ayan did not know how to appease people. She did not know how to make everyone believe in her in a short span of time. She could only look at Lady Tatiana hoping she could support her. She has everything in the fairy ring but none of her three companions knew about it. Today Lassa urgently needed help, she could not just turn a blind eye to it. Earlier, she had the fairies fill the cellar with the needed grains for payment and a little surplus. 

She stared at Lady Tatiana like a stupid child who made a mistake. Originally, the old lady wanted to scold her for joining in the feud but realizing that the situation could lead to the disaster of the whole village she understood Ayan’s hasty decision. 

“What? Are you reluctant to lend them our food?” The old lady said quite naturally. 

The folks looked at the four women collectively. 

Aren’t these the visitors the children were talking about? 

“Ahem! In exchange for kindly taking us in, our family decided to help by lending you our rations.” 

The crowd began to stir asking questions. Some are embarrassed. Some are crying and thanking them.  

Lady Dianne and Beatrice: ( ・◇・) ...？

Ayan breathed a sigh of relief the moment the old lady opened her mouth. Thank God for giving this ace teammate! 

Fritz opened the cellar beside the chief’s house and frowned at the several bags of grains and crates of odd looking fruits stored inside. He was fully expecting it to be empty but this… 

“Humph, you clearly have enough for payment.” He said sourly. “Why did you have to make things difficult in the first place?” 

These meek sheeps of Lassa really know how to act. He was still annoyed at what happened earlier so he dawdled a little longer. He eyed the remaining ten bags of assorted things and felt it was a pity to just leave them all to these mud-lickers. The contents were enough payment but will this satisfy him? Of course not. Fritz barely concealed the malice in his eyes. He came here specifically to make trouble and failing to satisfy himself frustrated him. He wanted to sweep everything and watch them weep in despair!

“Keep your end of the agreement.” Lady Tatiana spoke authoritatively. Her strong gaze does not encourage objection and Fritz felt it. 

A rebellious thought came but then disappeared abruptly because he felt threatened. 

Damn old hag… 

Unfortunately, he did not bring enough men. Fritz convinced himself. He’d rather not underestimate the power of these a hundred or so farmers.

“Take eight bags of wheat, six bags of rye and two bags of salt. No more no less.” Ayan said from behind.  

Fritz gritted his teeth and roared again to his men to load them in the cart they parked outside. When he turned back to face Fulio and Ayan, he restrained his hatred and squeezed out an ugly smile. 

“The debt was collected.” 

“Not so fast.” Grandpa Fulio said. “Please take out the previous document we signed and break it in front of everyone.”

“You…”

Ayan frowned, “Follow what the village chief says.” 

This woman again! For some reason her deadpan look makes him hairy all over. The eerie grey eyes the same as that old hag made him feel like he was staring right into a sharp edge of a blade. Cold sweat rolled down the side of his face. 

Fritz reluctantly took the agreement from his satchel, showed it to everyone present before tearing it to pieces. 

“Lassa village no longer owes Kildare several bags of grains.” He said between clenched teeth. 

After hearing the declaration, it was as if a thorn was pulled out in everyone's heart. The folks of Lassa rejoiced and had another round of crying. Shortly after the bags were collected, Fritz and his dogs left hurriedly.

It was completely dark now. Lady Tatiana looked at the crowd with a mild gaze before turning to Fulio. 

“You understand what happened tonight.” 

The old man nodded slowly. She was reminding him. 

“My niece and granddaughters came from outside. We brought in our remaining rations with us which was used to help pay the debt.” The lady emphasized.  

Surely she was talking nonsense. They came with nothing but weapons and their fancy dresses; however, the seriousness of her tone and the solemnity in the grand duchess' face convinced him. These noblewomen are their lucky stars. He knew that life outside the Plaguelands was a comparison between heaven and mud. There are miracles that exist in faraway places they had never seen but today, he witnessed it firsthand. Who is he to question it?

The reason why Lady Tatiana repeatedly cleared out the origin of the grain is not only to help Lassa but also to help the village chief. If they let him handle the grain it will cause doubts in the hearts of the villagers. They will begin to question why he has such an amount in his cellar while everyone else starves. 

On the contrary if they were to take responsibility for it, the villagers will only think they received a blessing and lower their guard on them. After the ruckus, Lady Tatiana told Fulio to divide the remaining food to each household as ‘compensation for frightening them’. The folks gratefully accepted and returned to their homes to continue making dinner.  

Dianne came to tap Ayan in the shoulder, “Are you alright?”

“Huh?” Ayan looked blankly. 

“You made us worry a while ago.” 

Beatrice jumped in, “By the way, Her Ladyship said we brought food with us but I couldn’t seem to remember we—”

“Hush, good girls should not ask.” Dianne covered her mouth. “And mind your address. We are a group of suspicious people who suddenly came to this place. If we were not women, I doubt anyone would easily take us in. Remember to call grandma, aunt and sister.” 

“I remember.” Beatrice nodded and patted her mouth repeatedly. 

“I’m sorry I did not consult you firsthand.” Ayan reflected embarrassedly. “The situation was tight but if I were to choose, I would still do it again.”

“We know you will.” Dianne said, patting her head gently. “We might have done the same if we had as much assurance as you.” 

By assurance she meant the method she used to take out grain out of nowhere. 

“Are you not curious?” 

Lady Tatiana looked at her seriously, “I knew a magic bag is a rare item amongst Warlocks of the Holy Temple.”

The other ladies who hadn’t spoken opened their eyes wide. So that’s it.

“Recently, the elders gifted one to the current Diviner for her personal use. Later I heard news that shoddy imitations of the said magical item somehow spread in the capital and leaked into several noble families.”  

“Is this true, aunt?” Dianne exclaimed.  

“The dreadful things cost ten thousand greis at least”

“Ack,” Beatrice vomited. “That’s highly expensive for an imitation.” 

“The original ones have a space about fifty square meters while they say that the replica only has ten. Anyway it was still functional so those who are interested would surely come to purchase them.”  

Ayan: I shouldn't have called Her Ladyship grandmother. I should have called her master! 

They strayed out of the topic, making Ayan smile helplessly. The old lady was obviously covering up for her and she felt touched by this subtle concern.

“Fortunately Ayan has such a useful item.” Beatrice patted her chest. 

“Y-Yeah…” she replied awkwardly. 

“It’s alright Ayan.” Green whispered. “We can make it so you were indeed using a magic bag. This way, no matter who you meet later they wouldn’t be suspicious.” 

When Beatrice poked her head into the satchel hanging on her waist she saw a void and several colorful things floating in them.  

(〇o〇；) Ah, what are those?!

“Some snacks for the twins and miscellaneous things I keep for emergencies.” 

“Oh dear, I thought I was hallucinating when I saw a whole roasted chicken.” 

The older ladies could only hold their foreheads. This child’s focus was on an entirely different subject. 

 

Dinner was made by Ayan. With the magic bag as cover, she took out ingredients for beef pot au feu and simple  pan roasted bread. 

The carrots, potatoes, cabbage and thick slices of beef were plentiful to each serving while the broth was separated in a different bowl. This warm beef soup paired with crunchy bread filled their shriveled stomach in no time. 

Fulio had never eaten such a rich dinner before. More than the deliciousness of food, he was more curious about the ingredients he saw on his plate. This round yellow crop, the orange one longer than his fingers and the leafy cabbage. Were these things planted outside the Plaguelands? 

If only they could grow this, the harvest will be richer and the food will be enough to eat. By then, they can avoid sickness and death of the young ones. Alas, he could only dream. 

       

In the depths of the night, Ayan woke up and walked to the yard to blow air. She raised her head looking at the starless skies. She worried about the children and Clayton. Though she tried to keep herself calm since their arrival, the worry began to set in as soon as her head cleared. 

What are they doing at this minute? Are they safe? 

“Old White said everyone in the palace was not harmed. Clayton on the other hand encountered masked assassins during the hunt. Don’t worry he is safe.”

Ayan’s eyebrows are knitted in anxiety. Thinking of masked assassins, she only has one in mind: Datura. 

Have they extended their claws as far as the empire? 

“We have to find a way to return soon.” They cannot stay here for long while not knowing the situation back home. 

Yellow came out in his tiny form, “Perhaps if we can help the spirit guarding this land we may be able to find a way home quickly.”  

Ayan perked up, “There is still a spirit remaining here?”

“Yes.” Yellow nodded. “I can still feel most of them. They are just weakened and have not completely vanished. Those poor things, they have been sick for so long.”

Oh, right! Yellow’s power is closely related to the land and its minerals that is why he had a much clearer understanding of the Plaguelands’ condition. 

“Spirit, what kind are they?” 

Yellow turned to Green, “Wood sprites just like Green.” 

Coco tapped the two of them, “This is perfect, if Yellow can alleviate the condition of the land then Green will be able to help his brethren heal!”

The three balls of light circled Ayan happily. 

They might have the solution to return home as soon as possible!