I Met Asheff

Old Farmer Hal hurried back to the village with an iron plow slung over his shoulder.

From far away, he spotted a group of idle men returning from farm work, gathered at the village entrance to chat. This made Old Farmer Hal even more excited.

He was desperate to share what he had seen today.

He dared to guarantee that today's encounter would make every one of their eyeballs pop out in shock.

Thinking of their stunned, envious expressions, Old Farmer Hal found a burst of strength in himself, and his steps became swift and light.

"Hey, Old Hal, why are you back so late?"

Before he even got close, someone at the village entrance called out.

Looking over, he saw a group of villagers gathered beneath the old locust tree. In the autumn wind, they had their hands tucked into their sleeves and their heads hunched down as they chatted.

Every now and then, words like "Empire," "Magistrate," and "policy" drifted over.

Ever since the Empire's Master Mages had sent people to spread the Internet Divine Art to the village, the changes had truly been enormous.

Forget about anything else—just look at the people gathered at the village entrance!

Before there was the Internet, what did everyone talk about when they got together?

How the widow in the west had gone to borrow a pot from someone again today;

How the daughter-in-law in the east was making a fuss and threatening to leave again;

How the unfilial son in the south had flown into a rage and beaten his father again today.

Or how the family in the north had fought their neighbors again over a strip of land taken up by a fence.

In short, it was all trivial gossip.

But now? Who still talked about such things?

The news on the Internet changed every day. It was a dazzling, chaotic flood of all kinds of information, enough to leave people's eyes spinning and their ears thrilled!

From changes in Imperial policy;

To yet another noble family somewhere being executed to the last;

To grain prices falling in the cities;

There was so much news of every kind that no one could possibly read it all.

The adults in the village especially loved discussing Imperial policy. They all put on airs as though they were knowledgeable, professional, and wise.

"Hal, I'm telling you, don't cultivate those wastelands. You'll just be wasting your effort. Who knows, when harvest comes, some noble lord might take it all away!"

"Exactly! Instead of wasting your strength on that, you'd be better off planting more Winter Mallow around your house."

When Old Farmer Hal drew near, the people at the village entrance began advising him.

Old Farmer Hal waved his hands repeatedly and changed the subject. "Hey, hey, let me tell you something. Guess who I saw today?"

"Who? Don't tell me it was a Master Mage?"

"A mercenary?"

The idle men began chattering, and one person's eyes suddenly lit up.

"Could it have been Erni of Daga Village? I heard she's really pretty!"

Old Farmer Hal shook his head at once.

"Then who was it?"

"Just say it already! Stop keeping us in suspense!"

Only after seeing that everyone's curiosity had been stirred and they were urging him on did Old Farmer Hal say mysteriously, "You'll never guess. I'll tell you—it was Lord Asheff."

"Asheff? That name sounds familiar."

"Now that you mention it, it does sound familiar to me too."

"Who is that?"

The villagers all looked blank.

Someone seemed to realize who it was and said in disbelief, "Could it be Lord Asheff, the one who developed Cold-Resistant Black Grain?"

"That's him!" Old Farmer Hal slapped his thigh, his face filled with both excitement and pride.

He eagerly awaited their envious, jealous expressions.

Yet the crowd exchanged glances, then burst into laughter.

"Hahaha..."

"Hal, you really know how to joke!"

"Lord Asheff lives in Willis. Why would he come to this poor backwater?"

"Exactly!"

Everyone laughed, their faces full of teasing disbelief.

Old Farmer Hal grew anxious.

"It's true! Don't you believe me? He was riding in a carriage this big, pulled by two Unicorn Horses. There were over a hundred cavalrymen clearing the way in front, and a whole crowd following behind."

"After he got out of the carriage, he asked whether that field was mine. He even told me Broad Leaf Winter Mallow isn't cold-resistant, so after this harvest, there won't be another one. I specifically asked a young soldier, and he said it really was Lord Asheff."

"Oh, and he was really young, about the same age as Ergoudan. Probably only in his twenties. Black hair, black eyes, and white robes."

Old Farmer Hal explained in a rather incoherent rush, gesturing and describing as he spoke. The way he danced about made it seem as if it had truly happened.

"Impossible. Why would Lord Asheff pass through our place?"

"Exactly!"

"It's true! Why won't you believe me?"

"Stop arguing. How about we go online and ask?" someone suggested fairly.

"Good, good, good! That's a great idea."

Everyone agreed at once. A literate villager immediately summoned the Internet and, after great effort, made a post on the local Forum.

"No, you need to ask on the Willis Forum. What would anyone here know?"

"That makes sense."

Everyone offered suggestions, and the man hurriedly made another post on Willis.

They had all expected to wait a while for replies, but not long after the post went up, someone responded.

There were even replies on the local Forum.

"Lucky you. You may really have met Lord Asheff. He's escorting the Vias delegation home and just happened to pass through our area."

"What a coincidence. I saw the Vias delegation during the day too, but unfortunately I didn't see Lord Asheff! Sigh!"

"Lord Asheff has black hair, black eyes, and is in his twenties. Those features are rare in our Empire. I heard he has Devil blood, and Devils are always by his side."

"The person above is talking nonsense. Lord Asheff is clearly a Summoning Mage. It's perfectly normal for him to have Devils around him."

More and more replies like these appeared.

Some people shared that they had seen the Vias delegation;

Some discussed Lord Asheff's purpose in visiting abroad;

Others gossiped and speculated about Lord Asheff's unusual appearance;

The villagers reading those replies were completely dumbfounded.

"Oh, my mother! Hal, you... you really did meet Lord Asheff?!!"

Everyone stared at Old Farmer Hal in shock, their faces full of envy.

If one were to ask who held the highest prestige in the hearts of the Empire's Farmers, it would probably be none other than Lord Asheff!

He was the Agricultural God who had saved countless lives and delivered people from suffering!

To meet such a man—what an immense honor was that?

For a time, Old Farmer Hal became the center of the crowd. Everyone questioned him about the details of meeting Asheff.

How large had the convoy been? How many people were there? What had Lord Asheff said? They kept asking, determined to get to the bottom of every detail.

Under their questioning, Old Farmer Hal's weathered face reddened with excitement as he launched into an animated description, spittle flying everywhere.

He even embellished the story and fabricated several details of their meeting out of thin air.

For example, Lord Asheff had praised him for growing Broad Leaf Winter Mallow well;

And had kindly spoken with him, teaching him techniques for growing Broad Leaf Winter Mallow and so on.

This drew everyone's envy, jealousy, and resentment.

The atmosphere at the village entrance grew ever livelier.

Until a group of hurriedly arriving farm women not only interrupted the cheerful mood, but sent everyone's spirits plunging from heaven into hell.

"Something terrible happened! Something terrible happened! Bince and the others got lost and can't find their way back to the village!"

"What? They got lost?"

"Yes! They sent a voice message saying they chased a moose and accidentally ran too far. By the time they caught it, they realized they were lost. Look, it's already dark—what are we supposed to do?!"

The farm women stamped their feet anxiously, on the verge of tears.

Although the beasts nearby had mostly been killed off by the village hunters, that did not mean the Forest was safe at night.

Many beasts, especially magical beasts, were nocturnal.

Nighttime was when they began to stir.

Without absolute strength, spending the night in the Forest was gambling with one's life!

"Don't panic, don't panic. I'll ask Bince," an Old Hunter quickly comforted them.

He opened the Internet and called Bince by voice, asking about the terrain around Bince and the others.

Unfortunately, because they had chased the moose too urgently, Bince and the others had paid no attention to the terrain along the way.

Now that it was night, visibility was less than ten paces. Even though the Internet had recently added the Lighting Function, they still could not find the way they had come.

Worse, the Illumination might attract beasts to attack them.

"Oh, what do we do? What do we do?"

The women were as frantic as ants on a hot pan, pacing in circles.

"How about we ask the noble lords to send people to look for them?"

"Don't count on them. When have you ever seen a noble lord save anyone?"

"I'll go! I know the mountains well." The Old Hunter gritted his teeth and spoke up.

"No! They're already trapped out there. You can't get trapped too!" someone objected.

"If this won't work and that won't work, then what are we supposed to do? Pray to the gods?" The Old Hunter's face darkened.

The village entrance became increasingly chaotic. Some Old Women, in their panic, began muttering prayers to the only god they knew—the God of the Internet.

Old Farmer Hal watched the chaotic villagers, listened to the Old Hunter's agitated words, and saw the women praying. When his gaze fell on the Internet screen, a bold idea suddenly came to him.

"I have an idea!"

"What idea?"

"Use that..."

Under everyone's hopeful gazes, Old Farmer Hal suddenly pointed at the Internet's Virtual Scroll.