The Harvest Season

Another week passed.

The trees were laden with blue Orange Fruit, and the busy farmers' faces were bright with the joy of a bountiful harvest.

Yet in what should have been an exceptionally busy season, Uncle Darby and Aunt Irene stood outside the orchard, staring at each other in astonishment.

In the Fruit Grove, Walking Grass darted between the trees. The leaves on their heads were as nimble as hands. They could easily climb the trees by stepping up with their feet, then pick the ripe Orange Fruit.

The farm now had nearly 150 Walking Grass. Working together, they picked the berries one by one.

Uncle Darby and Aunt Irene only had to gather the Orange Fruit and load it onto the carts. Then the Ironclad Rhinoceros would transport it all to the farm's cellar for storage.

"These Walking Grass are pretty capable," Uncle Darby said, his mouth opening and closing. Though he didn't say much, he still didn't quite understand why Aiven had raised so many Walking Grass.

Now, watching the Walking Grass busily at work, he had a much better impression of them. He had to admit they were a tremendous help.

This was only the simplest way the Walking Grass could prove their worth. Watching the scene, Aiven chuckled to himself. He had said it before: in this world, Pokémon were the primary productive force.

Before long, the Walking Grass had finished picking all the ripe Orange Fruit in the orchard. Now they had to wait for the second crop to ripen.

After finishing the work in his own orchard, Aiven led the Walking Grass to help the other farmers in the village. The farmers were delighted to see the Pokémon helping with the harvest.

"All right, I'd better get to work too."

In the farm's cellar, Aiven looked at the Orange Fruit piled up like a small mountain and stretched. He planned to turn all of it into Healing Potions.

With ten times the return, he could almost see gold coins filling the cellar.

Of course, filling the cellar with gold coins was an exaggeration. But by the end of winter, if all the berries in Orange Fruit Village were made into Healing Potions, he could easily earn several thousand gold coins.

"With that much, I should be able to cover the Pokémon's expenses in the orchard." Aiven murmured, suddenly filled with energy, and began preparing the potions.

For now, the Walking Grass were only training in the most basic move, Sleep Powder. All the potion ingredients came from the Black Forest. If he wanted to train the Walking Grass further, even several thousand gold coins might not be enough.

"This winter seems to have come earlier than usual."

"The people of Fruit Village are in for another hard time."

Qiongsen, the tax collector from City of Ambition, entered Persimmon Seed Village. Seeing how dispirited the villagers looked, he sighed.

In this territory, the farms belonged to the villagers, but the land still belonged to the lord. The villagers had only the right to use it.

So every year, they had to pay the lord a certain amount in land rent.

The benevolent lord had already waived a large part of the rent, but the farmers still seemed to struggle to afford what remained. After paying enough to cover the rent, they were left with barely any gold coins.

But there was no helping it. The territory's finances were very tight lately, and they still had to collect some rent. Otherwise, it would be difficult to keep the territory running.

After leaving Persimmon Seed Village, Qiongsen rode his Ironclad Rhinoceros toward the next village. One after another, he passed several villages where the berry harvests had been poor.

"Next is Orange Fruit Village." Qiongsen glanced at the map and continued on.

At first, he'd assumed Orange Fruit Village would be in much the same situation. But when he saw the villagers smiling from a distance, he stopped in surprise. Had Orange Fruit Village had a good harvest after all?

"Lord Qiongsen, you seem to have arrived a little later than usual this year." After hearing the news, Village Chief Darby had come all the way to the village entrance to greet the tax collector.

Qiongsen nodded to Darby, then thought for a moment before asking, "How was the harvest in Orange Fruit Village this year?"

At his question, the simple villagers glanced at one another and grinned, letting their actions speak for them.

It seemed Orange Fruit Village really had enjoyed a good harvest. Should he reduce their land rent, then? Qiongsen wondered. But since the lord had given him instructions, he figured it was best to follow the rules.

Darby escorted Qiongsen into his home, brewed him a cup of tea, then brought out a box he had prepared in advance and set it on the table.

This really is the most straightforward village chief I've ever met, Qiongsen grumbled to himself. Then he opened the wooden box and saw it was filled with gold coins. He counted them; there were just as many as in previous years.

Seeing this, Qiongsen swallowed the words that had been on the tip of his tongue. Suddenly, he didn't know what to do. Should he accept the coins or not?

"Lord Qiongsen, count them if you like. Not a single coin is missing," Darby said eagerly.

I'll accept them for now and report back to the lord. If he wants me to return them, I can make another trip, Qiongsen decided.

Without showing what he was thinking, he closed the box and nodded with a smile. "I trust Village Chief Darby, of course."

After collecting the rent in full, Qiongsen felt a little uneasy and stood up, ready to take his leave.

But just as he said he wanted to go, Darby stopped him with a smile. Qiongsen felt a sudden knot in his stomach. Oh dear, maybe I should just do as the lord instructed.

"Lord Qiongsen, do you know if the lord would buy Healing Potions?" Darby asked with a smile, rubbing his hands together as he looked at the tax collector.

"Healing Potions?"

Darby nodded again, a little proud. "That's right, Healing Potions. My nephew made them."

Qiongsen stared at him in surprise. Was Darby's nephew an apothecary?

"If they really are Healing Potions, the lord will certainly buy them." Qiongsen thought for a moment, then nodded. The lord had recently issued an order to stockpile supplies, and Healing Potions were among the most important.

Hearing that Qiongsen would buy the Healing Potions, Darby let out a sigh of relief.

During this time, Aiven had made a great many Healing Potions using the Orange Fruit he'd harvested.

He had already taken some to sell at the apothecaries' contact point in the city, but they couldn't possibly take such a large quantity. So Aiven had suggested going directly to the lord instead.