Several moments later Arek finds himself trudging through a field, swinging a scythe, chopping large swaths of rice while the supposed witch lazily reclines against a mango tree off to the side, quipping at Arek in between bites of a large, luscious mango clutched in her hand.

"Not bad, not bad! You don't look it but you're not just a pretty boy, are you? There's some muscle in there, although it's not very visible..." She says, scrutinizing Arek's pale, slender frame. 

"You're also too pale, tch, tch, being in the sun a bit will be good for you!" She says, nodding to herself while Arek mobilizes all his self control not to turn and chuck the scythe in the old lady's direction. In between the criticism, audible chewing sounds grate at Arek's eardrums. Hours later, his own stomach joins the chorus as the sun overenthusiastically beats down, reddening and stinging Arek's pearly skin. I've killed plenty of people before but this...Arek gazes at the massive paddy field, his best efforts having hardly made a dent. 

Peering behind him, Arek eyes the witch who has now begun to snooze, seriously contemplating the chances of chucking his scythe over there. As if sensing his gaze, she open one eye, scans the surroundings, and clicks her tongue in disappointment. 

"You've only made it this far? Tch, tch, tch..." Arek feels his brow jump.

"When I wanted extra help I expected more but...tch, tch, tch." Arek's fists clench. Normal people can't even do this much, okay?! And besides, I'm not even here to help!

"Oh well, continue I suppose." The witch finally says, waving a hand at Arek. He grits his teeth, and finally voices a question. "...What about lunch?"

"Huh?" The witch blinks. "What do you mean? It's only prissy city folks who need three meals a day, or can even afford it."

Arek feels his heart leap, did I just give myself away?

"What are you staring at me for? Continue." The witch waves his gaze away and Arek continues, half unwilling and half relieved. He goes on for several hours more. Finally, at 7pm the witch finally calls Arek to head back for dinner. Arek follows her and after nearly twelve hours of  nearly non stop work, his hands are trembling. He hasn't felt this way since he got his roommate, well besides the first times he had to kill or seduce someone. 

"What are you loligaggling for?" Arek blinks, looking up to see the witch watching him with a raised brow. "You already hardly made any progress and now you're dragging behind like this?" Arek opens his mouth for a moment but then simply follows the woman with a bitter laugh.

"What's that for? I'm giving you food and board and everything!" The witch grumbles. Arek decides to just shut his mouth completely. 

After teleporting back to the witch's house Arek feels a familiar nausea however, this doesn't keep him from salivating at the sight of the stew the witch whips out of a large pot on her stove. When did she have time to make that? Arek wonders. But the thought is quickly shoved to the back of his mind when the witch places a bowl and hunk of bread in front of him. 

Arek scarfs it down, his mind giving rise to a vague thought: I've had the finest delicacies while being pampered by the most lascivious nobles, I've even had food made by royal chefs at the prince's palace, however for some reason none of it compares to a simple bowl of stew after an entire day's work.

"It's all fresh!'

"Excuse me?"

"The ingredients, all home or locally grown." The witch proclaims proudly. 

"Oh, uh wow." She looks dissatisfied with his reply so he hastily amends it. "It's delicious, seriously." At this, a pleased smile stretches across the old woman's face and Arek has the strange impression of eating out at the neighborhood granny's house. He quickly brushes it away and buries himself deeper in the food. 

The next day continues in a similar cycle, and the day after that, and the next. Slowly Arek starts to create a sizable dent in the paddy fields although completion of the harvest is still a ways off. At some point Arek briefly wonders how the witch has managed to finish in the past, but he quickly forgets it.

Despite the misery of work, Arek finds himself strangely at peace. Eat, work all day, come back to eat, then sleep before waking to start it all again. There's no time for messy difficult thoughts and no one around but an old granny who, despite working him to the bone, seems kind enough; at least she doesn't want to manipulate, kill, or sleep with him like everyone else.

They days continue until Arek catches sight of the prince's messenger bird, drifting above the field. He feels his back grow cold. He's probably getting impatient, I'm going to need to send him something substantial soon...

"Pesky pests." Arek jumps, seeing the witch look in the direction of the messenger bird. Does she know something?

"Uh, you don't like birds?" 

"Pah! Pesky pests, always stealing my grain." Arek feels his heart drop back down. "Haha, yeah." He returns to his work but remains deep in thought, the issue of what exactly to report to the prince still weighing on his mind. In his distraction, he doesn't notice the witch watching him.

That evening, as Arek is scarfing down his stew as usual, the witch suddenly makes a proclamation. 

"Tomorrow we're going into town!"

"...Huh?"

"Look at that! I think you've gone stupid from not talking to enough people. A young man like you, you need to interact more!"

Who is it that's made me so busy I can do nothing else? Arek internally complains.

"Just today you were all dazed off and distracted! So tomorrow we're going into town."

Suits me, but..."What about the field?"

"Oh don't worry about that." The witch waves a hand. 

"Huh?" But she doesn't answer him, ambling off to her bedroom. 

The next morning Arek discovers what she meant. They walk to the field and with a wave of her hand, the scythe starts chopping by itself: crisp, brisk, and easily faster than Arek who simply stares, his eyes wide.

"There! That'll do, it should be done by the time we're back." The witch notices Arek's expression and helpfully explains. "I've enchanted it."

Arek doesn't respond. If you can do that, then why the heck didn't you do it from the start???