With the help of Lagos, the new strawberry field plan proceeded steadily.
Lagos helped preparing for the plan very passionately.
âHow big are you thinking about the strawberry field? Where are you going to plant? Whatâs your budget? If itâs large, itâs better to buy equipment or materials in advanceâŠâŠâ
He didnât become the village chief at a young age for no reason.
When I said the plan I had thought of, he immediately recited what I needed to supplement and what I needed.
Among them, there were many parts that I never thought of.
âI need to check the exact size myself, but I think we need about 10 to 15 people.â
âYes. I think thatâs fine.â
âThe worker has to have some experience in farming. I will thoroughly select residents who are sincere and have no problems with their usual behavior.â
âWellâŠâŠyou donât have to go that extentâŠâŠâ
Lagos was no just enthusiastic, it felt like he was on a blind sense of mission, which was reliable and a little burdensome.
While I and Lagos were talking about a new strawberry field, Ergin, who was watching anxiously from the side, couldnât stand it and intervened.
âSir. Sihyeon, do you need any new equipments or construction engineers?â
â Mr. Sihyeon, most of the equipment needed for farming will be owned by residents. You donât have to buy a new oneâŠâ
âIâm not trying to sell it. If you need it, I will support you at my own expense. Wouldnât it be good to have strong new equipment? In addition, youâll need facilities such as storage, warehouses to increase the number of fields.â
It seemed that he wanted to somehow be part of the new strawberry field.
Unlike his usual relaxed appearance, Ergin had a desperate appearance.
â Mr. Erginâs words does seem to make sense. I donât know if youâre making the facility temporary, but if you want to keep it running for a long time, itâs better to have some construction engineers.â
âThatâs right, Sir, You will never regret it,â
Ergin, who gained strength from Lagosâ words, once again stressed the need for it.
âThen weâll buy new equipments and hire a construction engineers who you recommended. But you donât have to pay for it. Iâll pay for everything.â
Erginâs expression brightened for a while, and then darkened again when I said Iâd pay for everything.
But he didnât give up and talked to me again with a subtle look.
âIâŠSir. Sihyeon. What are you going to do with the strawberries in the new strawberry field? If you leave it to me again this timeâŠâŠâŠ.â
âI donât know if the strawberry field will work out or not yet, so I think itâs a little early to talk about it now.â
I firmly cut off the contract story, which Ergin sneakily brought it up.
From Erginâs point of view, he would have liked to make a contract as soon as possible, but I had no reason to act in a hurry.
I pretended not to see Ergin, who was anxious because things didnât work out as he thought.
I finished talking to Lagos about the preparations for the strawberry field.
A few days later.
Recruitment of residents to work in the strawberry field in Elden Village has ended.
Lagos said the competition was quite fierce, maybe because I paid a generous daily wage.
There were 15 people, who were carefully selected by Lagos.
Among them, there were some familiar faces could also be seen.
âRevillie? Are you working, too?â
â HahahahâŠNo. Iâm here to help just for today. Since itâs the first day, Lagos said that it would be nice to have someone familiar face, so he asked me to go.â
âI see.â
I also thought it would be very helpful if there was someone I knew.
While I was talking to Reville, another familiar face appeared from behind Revilleâs leg.
âHehe, hello, candy Uncle.â
âMiru? Why are you here?â
âWell, I wasnât planning on bringing her. But she was so stubbornâ
âUncle. Can you let me work in the strawberry field, too?â
Miru grabbed my legs and looked up with a sparkling eyes.
I smiled awkwardly at the cutesy attack I havenât seen for a long time.
Huh. Oh, myâŠ
It seemed that Reville couldnât withstand Miruâs cutesy attack and brought her here.
âYou donât have to pay me a lot. Iâll work really hard. UncleâŠâ
â Okay. Okay. Instead, you have to listen to what I say?â
âOf course uncle. Iâll hold even my breath if uncle says so.â
Miru held her breath cutely, wrapping her nose and mouth with both hands.
I smiled and stroked the cat girlâs head.
âHa ha. Why would I make you do that?â
âWhile we are talking here, go and sit with Lia.â
âYes. Iâll go and see Demon sister.â
Miru smiled brightly and ran to the place where Lia was.
To me, who was looking at her with a pleased look, Reville, said with an awkward look.
âIâm sorry. Because of me, the lump increased by one.â
âItâs okay. In addition, Speranza also wanted to see Miru.â
âIâll introduce you to the people who will work today first.â
Reville headed to the side of the villagers who were waiting with me.
The people who were waiting began to bow their heads, one by one when they found me.
It seemed to show courtesy for the employer.
Except for about 4 people, all of them were men.
Among them, a very old-looking goat Beast-person could be seen.
âSihyeon, this is the Elder Poco. He has the most experience in farming, so he will help you a lot.â
âHello Sir. I look forward to your kind cooperation.â
âYou can speak comfortably Elder.â
âHaha. How can I do that to a savior of the village. In addition, didnât you create a job for this Elder who was nothing left.?â
I had no choice but to back down at the tough attitude of Elder Poco.
After a brief greeting, we left the village and headed for the place to be made a strawberry field.
The necessary equipments were loaded into the luggage compartment of the wagon.
Lia and Miru sat on the drivers seat, while Elder Poco, who had difficulty walking long distance, sat on the back of the luggage compartment.
I was walking side by side with Reville.
Suddenly, I remembered the two people I didnât got to see.
âOh, Reville. Didnât Heron and Greg apply for this?â
âThose guys? Of course they applied.â
ââŠ?â
âBut they got immediately eliminated because of their bad character.â
Lagos probably didnât pick them since they didnât have much farming experience in the first place.
âHahaâŠâ
Still, Heron is Lagoâs sonâŠ
Lagos, who relentlessly eliminated even his son, felt great in many ways.
A little closer to the farm than Elden Village, we arrived at the place I had seen in advance to make a strawberry field.
While the villagers unloaded the equipments.
Elder Poco began to look around.
I approached him and asked.
âElder, is it okay to make a strawberry field here?â
âIâm not sure because Iâve never grown a strawberry crop myself. But I donât think this is a bad place to make a field.â
âIs it?â
âHowever, the slope of the surrounding land is a little severe, so we have to prepare well for rain. It will be okay if you work thoroughly on drainage and pay attention to soil loss. And⊠after that, how to expand the field, how to build facilities around it, and how many people will be needed.â
Elder Poco poured out explanations without hesitation.
âIf youâre okay with it, Iâd like to start working right away.â
âOh! Of course itâs okay.â
âOkay. Hey! Come here!â
According to Elder Pocoâs instructions, the villagers began to move in earnest.
âLetâs do our bestâ.
â Puk
â puk
The physical abilities of the Beast-people were so excellent that the ground was dug out every time they swung the equipments lightly.
Even female residents cleared the land more skillfully than I did.
Originally, I was going to help with my work, but now seeing them work I thought I might be a hindrance with their work.
As I was standing awkwardly, someone pulled my clothes.
âUncle! Uncle! Pick out rocks with me.â
âUhâŠâŠâ
I had no choice but to work with Miru to pick rocks.
Around lunch time.
Land reclamation proceeded much faster than I expected.
I thought it would take at least a few days, but we were about to finish clearing within today.
If I had done it alone, it would have taken a yearâŠ
As I was looking around the reclaimed land, I heard a voice calling me from afar.
âPapa!â
âSperanza?â
Speranza waved sitting next to Lia, who had went to the farm building with the wagon.
Speranza, who jumped out of the wagon that was still moving, ran straight to me and hugged me.
âDarling. Itâs dangerous to jump off a moving wagon like that.â
âHehe. Itâs okay.â
âItâs not okay. What if something goes wrong?What if you get hurt?â
As if she couldnât understand my worried mind, Speranza just laughed in my arms.
âHey Speranza is here. I missed you so much.â
âHi. Sister Miru.â
Speranza, who was in my arms, was sent to Miru for a while, and I approached Lia, who had returned with a carriage.
âLia, thank you for your hard work.â
âNo, I brought it comfortably because Sihyeon prepared it meticulously.â
âCan you get off the luggage first? Iâll bring the people who are working.â
I approached the Beast-people who were still clearing the land.
I talked to Reville, whom I felt comfortable with.
âReville, letâs stop here and eat.â
âHuh? What are you talking about?â
âWhat? Itâs already past Lunch time. We should have lunch, right?â
He scratched his head with an incomprehensible look.
âWe donât usually eat lunch when we work. We didnât even bring lunch in the first place.â
âOh! Donât worry. I brought Lunch for everyone.â
âWhat?â
Beast-people in Elden Village sometimes go to work in the cities.
Most of the time, they would be treated badly.
Even though they would be made to work very hard, they get paid very poorly, and even that pay was often not given properly.
From morning to sunset, not even a little break time would be given to them while making them work, and they never even dreamed of eating Lunch at their work.
This was mostly the way employers treated Beast-people, and the reality was that many people took it for granted.
However, their new employer was somewhat different.
He asked them to stopped working because it was lunch time, and then he took something out of the wagon and began to distribute.
The Beast-people accepted it with a puzzled look.
When they peeled off the thin film flashing silver, a savory scent came out.
Food that was in a round shape with a black outer.
It was filled with white grains and various vegetables.
âWhat is this?â
âIt smells really good.â
A moment of vigilance filled their eyes against the new type of food.
It was difficult to reject the delicious smell from the food when their hungry stomach fluctuated due to hard work.
A quick-tempered Beast-man picked up a piece of food.
Munch munch.
â Gulp!
âItâs very deliciousâ
When one hurriedly picked up the food, the others also began to eat along.
Fresh vegetables and soft white grains chewed in the mouth.
The savory and appropriately salty taste led to an addictive touch.
The more they admired the food, the more questions arose about the employer in their eyes.
âWhy is he giving us this kind of food?â
âDidnât the merchants from the Golden Clock chamber bowed to him before speaking? He must be a great aristocrat.â
âMaybe heâs trying to let our guard down and sell us as slaves?â
âHey, hey! Donât say anything weird and finish the meal. Sihyeon will never do such a thing.â
Even with Revilleâs words, they could not rub off their doubts.
Elder Poco was no exception either.
He stared at the employer who was far away.
Although he came to this place at the chiefâs strong recommendation, in spite of the chief and Revilleâs words, he was still suspicious of the employerâs behavior.
It was the theory Elder Poco gained through long experience â No one would be nice to Beast-people without any ulterior motives.
Elder Poco thought that helping Elden Village in a crisis was actually an act to deceive the Beast-people.
Thatâs why he followed him here today to check with his own eyes.
âElder Poco. Did you like the food?â
The young employer came to Elder Poco and talked to him.
ââŠâŠyes. Itâs very delicious.â
âThatâs a relief.â
The employer then poured a warm soup in a bowl and handed it over to him.
âWhat is this?â
âItâs called fish cake soup in the place where I live. Try it Elder.â
Slurp.
When Elder Poco swallowed the soup, he felt a strong warm taste passing through his throat.
The chewy solid ingredients were also very delicious.
âThis is not bad either.â
âIâve prepared it in large quantity, so let me know if you want some more.â
The young employer smiled at Elder Poco once again and left along with the Maid, while distributing food to other Beast-people.
Elder Poco watched it with blank expression.
Speranza, Miru, and Lia started having lunch after finishing distributing lunch to Beast-people.
Yum.Yum!
Speranza filled her mouth with Kimbap and inflated both of her cheeks like a squirrel.
I took the warm fish cake soup to Speranzaâs mouth just in case she had an upset stomach while eating in a hurry.
âMiru, is it good?â
âYes, itâs really good.â
âOkay. There are a lot, so eat slowly.â
I gave Miru my share of kimbap and patted her head lightly.
â Thank You Lia for carefully bringing all the food.â
â No no. What I did canât be compared to what Sihyeon did. You prepared all this food. All I did was just bringing it here..â
â Thank you for saying that Lia. By the way Lia, donât you think the way the Beast-people looking at me has gotten weirder?â
âIs that so?â
âI think so. I donât knowâŠwhatâs making them uncomfortable.â
What is it?
Is it just me?
I think the way they look at me has changed.
Is it because they donât like Kimbap?
Should I have prepared pork cutlet Kimbap?
I was troubled by the changed gaze of Beast-people for the entire day.