Chapter 151 The moon fruits of Lanta Tower City are the sweetest moon fruits...
The flower fairies of the Land of Sin now have a clear division of labor, each performing their duties, and everything is in good order.
The flower fairy commoners who were initially brought to the Land of Sin by the servants of the Flower Castle all possessed talents related to refining magic, and they are still working in the wand workshop.
Magic wands come in both general-purpose and custom-made types. General-purpose wands are further divided into auxiliary and offensive types. Whether the wands are provided free of charge to patrol teams or distributed to civilians free of charge, they are all general-purpose magic wands crafted by the wand workshop.
If an ordinary person wants to use a custom-made staff, they need to pay an extra processing fee, provide their own magical materials, and wait for a certain period of time depending on the difficulty of the task before they can receive a staff that is uniquely theirs.
This processing fee is collected directly by the workshop workers, and Shu Xin does not interfere. After all, she does not pay the workers. The salary she pays the flower fairies is in the form of room and board, plus a reduction in magic tax.
Now that the number of flower fairies in the territory is increasing, the number of magic wands that the workers need to make is also increasing. After the Flower Fairy invented a production-type magic wand that can be used by slaves, the workers in the wand workshop have become even busier.
The second group of flower fairy commoners who moved to the Land of Sin were the merchants and their relatives and friends.
The merchants are all flower fairies with magical talents in the spiritual realm. They form caravans, carrying the produce of the Sinful Land to trade and exchange for goods needed by the Sinful Land.
Shu Xin directly handed over the produced goods to the merchants. She did not set prices; the merchants set their own prices and sold them. As long as they could bring back the goods needed by the Land of Sin, she would not interfere with the price difference the merchants could get, no matter how much it was. She also reduced the magic tax by a certain percentage.
Merchants' relatives and friends, if they have a talent for planting, can cultivate fields; if they have a talent for refining, they can craft wands in the wand workshop; if they have other types of magical talents, they can also help in other places, such as water magic to help irrigate farmland, fire magic to enhance the firepower of stoves, and so on.
Although each magic workshop has its own magic array that operates automatically, the production efficiency of the workshops would be greatly improved if flower fairies or commoners could assist them. Shu Xin naturally welcomed this, and she provided the same treatment as before: free room and board plus a reduction in magic tax.
As the number of flower fairy slaves increased with each batch of purchases by merchants, they naturally had more work to do. They had to do the work that commoners did, and they also had to do the work that commoners did not do. For example, the insecticide that Shuxin was preparing to sell throughout the country of Ganar was now being mass-produced by the slaves.
"Just ten acorns to exchange for a magical potion that can kill wheat weevils?" Papame found it hard to believe. She quickly pressed her husband for an answer. "Dedean, are you sure you didn't mishear? This isn't some lie made up by those deceitful goblins, is it? I saw several green-nosed goblins in the wheat fields outside the city just a couple of days ago. They even tried to trick me into selling Papame to them! I was so angry that I gave them a good scolding!"
Lost in thought, DeDean only snapped out of it upon hearing his youngest daughter's name. He couldn't help but frown: "Those damned green swarms, they're demons in human skin..."
He rubbed his aching shoulder, and finally made up his mind. He looked at his wife, who had just returned home, reached out and plucked a withered wheat leaf from her hair, and said, "Papame, let's move!"
Papamei paused, then worriedly touched her husband's pointed ears: "His temperature isn't high, your fever should be over by now..."
Grasping his wife's hand, Dedean said helplessly, "I don't have a fever, and I'm not talking nonsense. I'm serious, my dear. Let's move. That insect-killing potion is being sold by merchants from our tribe. It really only costs ten acorns to get it, but we don't have a single acorn left in our cellar! Papame, if this continues, we won't even make it to the harvest month, and we'll both become slaves!"
The city of Lantata was built next to the Ganar River and was originally a rich and prosperous city. The wheat fields that Dedean inherited from his parents had incredibly fertile soil that could grow the best quality golden honey wheat. When Dedean was a child, he secretly picked and ate the unripe green wheat kernels, and he can still recall that incredibly sweet taste.
As a child, Dedean couldn't understand why such sweet wheat never appeared on his plate. When he grew older, he learned that the wheat wasn't for eating, but for paying magic taxes.
He still didn't understand why, despite his parents' hard work year after year and the increasing harvest of wheat in the fields, after paying the magic tax, there wasn't even a single ear of wheat left for him to eat. When he grew up, he knew it was because he had older brothers, older sisters, younger brothers, and younger sisters, so the magic tax collected per person naturally became more and more.
But Dedean still doesn't understand why, even though his parents are dead, his brothers and sisters are dead, and even his two children have died in battle, he still has to pay such a high magic tax.
The once bustling streets are now quiet and desolate, with only the wind howling outside the window.
Dedean earnestly shared his thoughts with his wife. He had encountered the caravan selling insecticide on his way back after delivering water to her. The merchants looked very robust, with full cheeks, ruddy complexions, and bright, vivid hair and eye colors. They were also wearing cloaks made of reed leaves—it was the first time Dedean had ever seen such a large amount of reed leaves that could be made into a large cloak!
He believed the insecticide's effectiveness almost immediately. If it weren't for the magical potion that could kill insects, Dedean would have found it hard to imagine how the leaves of the reed could grow so large.
Unfortunately, when Dedean asked the merchants about the insecticide, he was told that it was sold out. Perhaps because he looked so desperate at the time, the kind merchants gave him some food and told him that if he really couldn't survive, he could go to the Land of Sin. A noble and great flower fairy had descended on that land, and under the flower fairy's blessing and forgiveness, the cursed Land of Sin was redeemed and has become rich and beautiful.
Dedean had heard of the Land of Sin, where guilty nobles were exiled. A former lord of Lantata had once been captured by a patrolman and sent there. That unfortunate lord had all his magic tax share stolen by a passing goblin merchant. Even though the patrolman arrived and killed all the green-skinned goblins, the stolen magic tax was never recovered.
The young city lord never returned after leaving, which made Dedean somewhat uneasy. However, he decided to trust these merchants. They seemed to be living very well. There were merchants in Lantata City, but compared to these tall and strong flower fairies, they were as thin as if they had a fever!
“My dear, I don’t want Papave to become a slave…” Dedean choked up, wiping away his tears. “She’s so young, she’s never had a proper meal since she was born…”
Pulling her husband into her arms, Papame patted his thin back: "Okay, then we'll move. Don't cry, or your head will start hurting again. I promise I'll listen to you. If you hadn't saved me, I would have died in the storm. I've actually wanted to move for a while now; the magic tax in Lantata City is getting heavier and heavier. But Papave is too young, and you've been sick all this time. Now that you're better, and Papave has grown a bit, I'll go rent a white-feathered bird tomorrow..."
That very day, Papame packed her things swiftly, and the next day she carried her youngest daughter, shouldered a large bundle, and helped her ailing husband onto the back of the white-feathered bird, and left Lantata City.
Dedean turned around and gazed for a long time at his hometown, which was becoming increasingly distant.
He knew Papame had indeed always wanted to move, but even if they did, where could they go? He had inquired around, and it wasn't just the nearby cities; even in more distant cities, the magic tax was the same as in Lantata City, and some even higher. If they stayed in Lantata City, the land he inherited from his parents was quite fertile and close to the Ganar River, so he could help with the irrigation. But if they moved elsewhere, his body wouldn't be able to help at all. Was Papame supposed to cultivate the land all by herself?
Before leaving, he knocked on his neighbor's door, trying to persuade his only remaining neighbor to leave with him. The elderly flower fairy, who had lost all her children and recently her husband, shook her head. She smiled and said, "I'm old, let me rest. I'll water your moonfruit. When Papawi grows up, remember to call her back to taste it. The moonfruit from Lantata City is the sweetest moonfruit."
Not only moon fruit, but also the golden honey wheat from Lantata is the sweetest golden honey wheat.
Dedean withdrew his gaze and looked ahead.
He didn't know if the Land of Sin was really as beautiful and rich as the caravan had described; he didn't know if the magic tax in the Land of Sin would increase year by year like in Lantata City; he didn't even know if he would develop a fever on the road and die on the back of a white-feathered bird.
But he still made up his mind and left his hometown, perhaps he could go back, perhaps he would never be able to go back.
Dedean turned to look at his youngest daughter, who was sleeping in his wife's arms, but met a pair of wide, watery, emerald-green eyes. He smiled slightly: "Papave is awake?"
Papawi couldn't speak yet, and could only babble in response to her father's questions. As she spoke, she would drift off into thought and start reaching out to grab her mother's long, flowing hair. She played with her hair with great interest for a while, becoming happy on her own. Under the bright sunlight, the little flower fairy revealed a big smile.
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