[VIP] (continued)

For a dragon, there weren't many things that were truly troublesome.

Xie Juanhan asked earnestly, "What is it? If I can help, I certainly will."

The Weaving Fairies looked at one another, all too embarrassed to speak.

Luli, a little boy fairy, scratched his head and said in a soft voice, "Well, um, the little messenger birds have gotten quite a bit fatter lately."

The little fairies spoke up and made the request that embarrassed them so: "Could you feed them a little less from now on?"

Xie Juanhan said, "Huh?!"

The little fairies hurried to explain:

"Goddess above, we don't mean to blame you."

"It's just that they can barely fly anymore."

"They've gotten a little too fat, and they're having trouble breathing, so they can't keep getting any fatter."

Xie Juanhan turned to look at the little messenger birds.

Only when he looked closely did he realize that the little messenger birds had indeed grown rounder.

Their chests were plump and round, which could just barely be explained away by new feathers growing in for the summer.

But on their lower bellies, two soft little lumps of fat hung on either side of their protruding keels.

To the naked eye, it looked as though the little messenger birds had grown little butts on their lower bellies.

Xie Juanhan silently raised a hand to cover his face.

He really hadn't expected that to be their request.

Lately, he had often made bread and cakes with Tata Fish milk, adding things like chopped nuts and candied berries.

It didn't matter for him; dragons burned through a lot of energy.

On top of that, he went hunting and foraging every day, so he actually needed a lot of energy.

Even eating those high-energy foods, he was at no risk of gaining weight.

So he hadn't realized that the little messenger birds could get fat.

As a result, he had fed the Weaving Fairies' little messenger birds into little chubby birds.

Embarrassed, Xie Juanhan felt the tips of his ears redden. He apologized to the Weaving Fairies, "Sorry, I didn't notice before. It won't happen again."

As he spoke, something suddenly occurred to Xie Juanhan.

When the Weaving Fairies had said the little messenger birds were fat, Telingewei had glanced at the Dragon Companion Beasts.

So had the Companion Beasts gotten fat too?

Xie Juanhan turned and shot Telingewei a quick glance, then looked down at the Companion Beasts.

The little ones didn't know what he was thinking. They were still circling his feet and enthusiastically rubbing against him.

Xie Juanhan bent down, scooped up one of the little ones and cradled it in his arm, then pinched its belly.

He gave it a squeeze.

Good grief, its plump little belly was so soft that he could grab a whole handful.

It was just like grabbing a cat's primordial pouch.

Xie Juanhan wanted to cover his face again. At last, he knew why Telingewei had looked at him before as though he wanted to say something but held back.

He really had fattened up quite a few of the little ones.

The little one lay with its belly exposed, letting Xie Juanhan squeeze it. Seeing his expression, it chirped in confusion, "Jip?!"

Xie Juanhan's expression turned serious, and with his ears reddening, he said apologetically, "I'll feed the little ones less from now on."

"Both the Companion Beasts and the little messenger birds."

The Companion Beasts jerked their heads up. "Jip?!!"

Even the little messenger birds' beady eyes were filled with disbelief. "Chirp, chirp?!"

The little ones' protests were in vain.

Now that he had been reminded, Xie Juanhan resolved to feed the little ones less refined food of all kinds, such as cakes, ice cream and baked cookies made with lots of butter, sugar and milk.

Besides that, he also decided it was time to start growing vegetables.

If he was going to feed them in the future, he'd give them more vegetables!

He had only been staying by the river temporarily before, but now that he had settled down, it was time to make a vegetable garden.

Xie Juanhan's newly cultivated vegetable garden was right beside the rice paddy.

He tilled the fertile soil deposited by the river along its banks, then brought humus from the Magic Forest.

Perhaps because so few creatures took humus from the Magic Forest,

there was an abundance of it there.

The humus was loose, fertile and soft. As Xie Juanhan turned it over, he could smell the distinctive fragrance of earth, and he couldn't help feeling a little excited at the sight.

Xie Juanhan made a small cart especially for the task. For several days running, he hauled large quantities of humus out of the forest and spread a thick layer of soil over the newly cultivated garden.

The cultivable soil in his vegetable garden suddenly went from a little over fifty centimeters deep to more than a meter.

Orfrey came over to bring him vegetable seedlings. When he saw the newly cultivated garden, he exclaimed, "You know how to grow things too? This is the best-prepared vegetable garden I've ever seen."

Xie Juanhan said, "People in my hometown are very good at growing things, and I learned a lot too."

Orfrey said, "We're not so good at it. The leaves on my lettuce always get spots."

After thinking for a moment, Orfrey added, "They also keep dying for no apparent reason, and sometimes bugs eat them. On the rare occasions they do grow, they aren't very lush."

Xie Juanhan looked at the seedlings Orfrey had just brought him and hesitated. "Is it that bad?"

Orfrey said, "Maybe? I still prefer raising sheep. It's much more comfortable than growing vegetables. My lord, would you like to raise sheep? Or calves?"

Xie Juanhan politely declined. "I'm not considering it for now. At the moment, I only want to grow vegetables."

"All right," Orfrey muttered. "Growing vegetables is good too. If you start planting now, you can harvest all the vegetables before late autumn."

Orfrey had brought quite a few vegetable seedlings and seeds.

Cauliflower, lettuce and epimedium.

There were also some vegetables Xie Juanhan had never even heard of.

They were all common varieties in Ailan Village.

Before this, Xie Juanhan had only planned to grow a few vegetables for salads.

After hearing Orfrey say he wasn't good at growing vegetables,

Xie Juanhan looked through the seedlings and seeds and found that their quality really was rather ordinary.

These seedlings and seeds certainly hadn't all been saved by Orfrey's family; he had collected quite a few from the village too.

It seemed the people of Ailan Village weren't very good at growing vegetables.

When Telingewei heard what was troubling Xie Juanhan, he said, "I have adventurer friends who like collecting things. Shall I ask them to help collect some?"

Xie Juanhan agreed. "Sure. Help me ask if they can collect good seeds. If they can, have them collect plenty, and I'll pay them for it."

Xie Juanhan figured he would be living here for quite a long time.

In that case, collecting good seeds was necessary.

After agreeing, Telingewei wrote to his friends.

When the Weaving Fairies heard about it, they said they would ask their friends to send over good-quality seeds.

Even the dwarves, upon hearing about it, said they also had excellent vegetables and could collect and send him their seeds.

Xie Juanhan asked in surprise, "Aren't you craftsmen? Do you grow vegetables too?"

The little dwarves puffed out their chests:

"We're craftsmen, but there are many kinds of craftsmen."

"Our Dwarf clan has the finest brewing craftsmen."

"If you want to brew the finest Dwarf sacred wine, you need the finest ingredients. We grow many of our ingredients ourselves!"

Xie Juanhan understood. "That sounds like something to look forward to."

The little dwarves said, "Don't worry. We'll write right away and ask the brewing dwarves to send the seeds over!"

Xie Juanhan was collecting all sorts of crop seeds.

His friends' friends received word and sent him seeds from all over.

So during this time, all kinds of little messenger birds came to his courtyard.

Flapping their wings, the little messenger birds brought seeds from nearby villages and towns, and even from various counties.

Whenever the little messenger birds arrived, Xie Juanhan always treated them to food and water.

Once the little messenger birds became familiar with him, they would stop by for free food and water whenever they flew nearby, even if they weren't delivering him a letter, and play with their other little friends while they were there.

Xie Juanhan kept the disaster of fattening up the Weaving Fairies' little messenger birds firmly in mind.

When the little messenger birds came by, he fed them natural grains or strips of natural meat, so even if they ate a little more, they wouldn't get fat.

That way, he could avoid receiving another complaint.

With so many little messenger birds coming by, Xie Juanhan went to the forest for wood and nailed little shelters to the fence, like stables, to give the birds a temporary place to rest.

Telingewei helped him nail them together.

The two dragons worked in the courtyard with a clatter of hammering, and the little messenger birds flew in to the sound.

As he worked, Telingewei looked up. "There are still so many little messenger birds coming?"

Xie Juanhan raised his head and saw the little messenger birds flying in from every direction. "Yes. The fairies and dwarves have lots of friends, and those friends contact new friends, who send me seeds from all over."

Telingewei thought for a moment. "It's because you always send gifts in return after receiving the seeds. That's why they're so enthusiastic."

Xie Juanhan smiled. "They're enthusiastic races to begin with. Maybe they rarely make friends with creatures of other races, so they're a little more enthusiastic than usual."

Telingewei said, "Has sending you seeds become a trend among the dwarves and fairies now?"

"I don't know. Maybe?"

As Xie Juanhan worked, he saw Telingewei pick up a new piece and hurriedly said, "That's a bird toilet. It needs to be nailed up farther away. I'll do it."

Xie Juanhan had prepared little shelters, little water bowls and little food bowls for the messenger birds, as well as a toilet.

The bird toilet was on the other side of the fence.

The little birds would perch in the toilet to relieve themselves, and their droppings would fall onto a pile of ash Xie Juanhan had prepared for the purpose. That way, they wouldn't soil the garden.

He could also shovel up the droppings and compost them for fertilizer.

It killed two birds with one stone.

Xie Juanhan took the bird toilet and was just about to nail it up when an unfamiliar little messenger bird flew over.

"Over here-" Xie Juanhan called, extending his arm toward the little messenger bird. "You can give the letter to me."

The newly arrived little messenger bird was a magical owl.