The Farmer

Pfft—

"Woo-ya."

Roundball let out a contented sound, wisps of heat rising from its fluffy body.

Seeing how comfortable Roundball looked, Aurelian finally remembered what it was doing.

Damn, wasn't it taking a dump?!

You little bastard, eating the wheat seeds was bad enough, but now you're taking a dump right in front of me? I can't take this anymore!

You don't want the two hundred biscuits after all?

Roundball let out a loud "Woo-ya!" and he picked it up.

Then a pile of blue stuff fell out, catching the corner of Aurelian's eye.

"What's this?"

Ignoring Roundball's struggles, he crouched down. Without minding the mess, he picked up the blue stuff and examined it closely in his palm.

It was actually the wheat seeds Roundball had just eaten, only now they all glowed with an icy blue light.

He could sense the power of frost magic.

"So that's how it is! The seeds are assimilated by the highly compatible frost magic. That means other seeds can be assimilated too, and sprout in the Frostlands. Even crops that weren't suited to growing in the north can be cultivated here—not to mention magical herbs with extremely demanding growing conditions!"

Aurelian exclaimed excitedly. In his mind, every kind of crop in the Star Empire was growing in vast fields across the Frozen Land, and his warehouse was packed to the brim with magical herbs, flowers, and grain.

"I really did strike gold this time."

Aurelian stared at Roundball, still struggling away, his eyes gleaming as if he were looking at a towering mountain of gold.

He knew that with Roundball, he had the means to establish a foothold in the Frozen Land. It could help him secure his position—and even give him the chance to develop his territory.

With the memories of his past life, he knew that if the Frozen Land could be developed to its fullest, it might be no less prosperous than the Star Kingdom within the Great Wall.

The Frostlands were simply too vast. Even excluding the Abif Mountains, a forbidden zone where no life could survive, the area south of them was still as large as half the Star Empire.

Because of the Great Wall, the Star Kingdom's nobles had little influence here. Only a small number of people lived in the south, near the Great Wall.

"Hume, hurry and bring over all the seeds you can find. Not just wheat—anything else will do, even seeds that need warm temperatures to grow!"

Aurelian turned to Hume and spoke excitedly.

"Of course, my lord. I'll send someone to take care of it right away."

Hume could see that his lord was excited, but he had no idea what had happened. Perhaps the problem of the seeds being unable to grow had finally been solved.

But as a shrewd administrator, he knew that as long as he did what his lord said, he would be fine.

He lifted his wobbling bulk and hurried toward the seed warehouse on his short legs.

Though Hume was fat, he ran surprisingly fast. Fat people really were nimble.

Aurelian turned to the Roundball in his hands, gently set it on the ground, and coaxed it.

"Roundball, work hard. If you get those seeds ready, I'll have the head chef make you a whole room full of bread. You can eat as much as you want."

"Woo-ya!"

Roundball shook its head frantically.

"I'm not exploiting you. This is for our bright future."

Aurelian said it with a perfectly straight face. He absolutely wasn't exploiting it.

How could this be exploitation? It was a difficult but honest enterprise, working hard for a brighter future.

In eight words, it was called self-reliance and perseverance!

As for how Roundball knew what exploitation meant, Aurelian could only plead ignorance. Maybe it had been born with that knowledge. It was a genius, after all.

"Roundball, this is for our future. As long as you work hard, I promise you'll have all the bread and biscuits you could ever eat. You can have whatever flavor you want. So, do you feel like you're reaching the peak of your life as a ball?"

He spoke in a coaxing tone, just like a creepy uncle luring a little girl over to look at some goldfish.

"Woo-ya!"

"What, you want delicious cake too? Of course, you'll get some. I promise you, Aurelian Sol, that day will come."

Aurelian beamed.

Why did he feel a little guilty? Was this the thrill of tricking a kid?

I love it.

Aurelian pursed his lips, feeling pleased.

"Coming, coming, Lord Aurelian!"

Panting, the fat Hume hurried over with a group of serfs, pushing several wooden carts.

"All the seeds are here."

Fat Hume wiped the sweat from his face and spoke as if he were out of breath.

Aurelian looked them over carefully, then said with disappointment, "Why are there only a few bags? And they're all wheat seeds. Don't we have any other seeds?"

"These are all we have, my lord. The serfs planted the rest of the seeds, but they all burned to ash."

Hume shook his head, looking at Aurelian with helplessness.

"Ah, well. We'll just have to buy more from outside when we get the chance."

Aurelian sighed. It seemed he'd gotten excited too soon.

These few bags of wheat seeds probably wouldn't even be enough to fill the fields they'd cleared, and the harvest would likely be meager.

"My lord, I'm worried there may not be enough time for the wheat to mature. Winter will arrive in three months, while wheat in the Star Empire takes four months to grow—and that's in the south."

Hume's fleshy forehead creased as he spoke up in warning.

"We have to try, at least. This is our last chance. Don't worry, I won't abandon the territory."

He said this to reassure Hume, of course. If even the lord had lost hope, his subordinates would be even less motivated, and despair would take an even firmer hold of them.

Then they really would have nothing to do but wait for death!

"Roundball, don't just stand there watching. It's all up to you. Hurry up and eat these, then poop them out."

"Woo-ya, woo-ya!"

Roundball yelped loudly, making its feelings clear.

"Your refusal doesn't count. You have to work."

"Uh..."

Hume watched his lord talking to the strange creature, his face full of question marks. How on earth did his lord understand it? The creature only ever made that one "Woo-ya" sound.

"Less talking, more working. Get to it, Roundball. We don't keep idlers here."

Aurelian did his best to look stern as he urged Roundball on.

Roundball was no less intelligent than a human. Otherwise, it wouldn't have bargained with Aurelian.

Seeing that it had no choice but to work, it sighed and crawled toward the wooden cart loaded with wheat seeds.

The serfs standing by the cart had gone wide-eyed. What had they just seen? This ball-like creature had sighed like a human!

When Roundball approached, the ignorant serfs hurriedly backed away, keeping several meters between themselves and the strange creature.

Roundball merely gave a haughty snort, as if to say, "You don't understand how cute I am."

It pushed off with all four limbs and leaped into a sack of wheat seeds.