Chapter 18: First, tell me if it exists, then talk about whether it's good or bad. What do you take me for...?
Following Shu Xin's gaze, Mu Mai casually introduced the situation, saying something unimportant:
“That’s not a crop, sir. That’s ground grass, a plant that loves sunlight. The more sunlight it gets, the more flowers it blooms. It’s perfect for testing the terrain. After all, we wheat herders not only have to cultivate and select wheat seeds, but we also need to find out which land is suitable for planting.”
Shu Xin blinked and tentatively asked, "Can I come closer to take a look? I've never seen such a tiny plant before."
"Of course, sir!" The shepherd was worried that he couldn't repay this overly distinguished official. "If you like, I can give you some seeds!"
She quickly flew over with Shu Xin: "This kind of ground grass is very easy to grow. Just scatter it in a sunny place. Even adults who don't need to water it every few days will have no problem. I can guarantee you that even the laziest slave can keep it alive!"
The plant called creeping grass has fine, dense, thread-like stems and leaves, and it grows very short—even from a flower fairy's perspective, it is exceptionally short. If it is a single plant, its presence would probably be quite faint, but when it grows together, it looks fluffy and somewhat cute.
However, what caught Shu Xin's attention was not its slender, peculiar stems and leaves, but its flowers, which were truly tiny five-petaled flowers, almost the same size as the flower fairy slave.
The creeping grass, which was raised as an indicator plant, was covered with a thin layer of green velvet on the soil. When Shuxin and Mumai passed by, a flower fairy slave was flying in the air, carrying a large wooden bucket and watering the creeping grass.
The flower fairy slaves in Maijili looked much better than those in the Land of Sin. Although they were still naked, bald, and emaciated, their eyes at least had light, their skin looked clean and fresh, and they were even much bigger.
Upon seeing the shepherd and a nobleman approaching, the flower fairy slave hurriedly carried the wooden bucket and flew away, afraid that her appearance would offend the noblemen's eyes.
Shu Xin carefully observed these low-lying grasses, and the more she looked at them, the more she felt they were suitable—whether it was the delicate, silky leaves or the thin, miniature petals, they were perfect for making clothes for the flower fairy slaves!
With the permission of the shepherd, Shu Xin picked a root grass. It must be said that the root system of the root grass was unexpectedly large, two or three times larger than the stems and leaves on the ground.
The leaf, as delicate as a thread, had a supple texture far beyond Shu Xin's imagination. It took her some effort to tear this thin leaf, which seemed as if it would break in the wind at any moment, in two.
The petals of the creeping lily were not as thin as they looked. When Shu Xin held them in her hand, she discovered that the seemingly light and thin petals actually had a layer of shiny wax on their surface.
The presence of this waxy layer makes the petals of the ground grass not as soft as they look, but correspondingly, it also makes the petals less fragile. Shu Xin twisted them hard, only managing to curl and wrinkle the petals, but she couldn't completely crush them.
After thinking it over, Shu Xin still felt that this plant was quite suitable for making clothes for the flower fairy slaves. However, given the current situation of the land of sin and the flower fairy slaves, she decided to first consider whether it was available before deciding whether it was good or not.
Moreover, Shu Xin could smell a faint sweetness emanating from the roots of the creeping grass—when it was pulled out, a small part of the roots broke off, and the sap oozing from the broken surface smelled sweet. Shu Xin thought that if these roots were edible, they would be much better than the leaves of bitter wheat.
Finally, Shu Xin left Maiji with a large quantity of wheat seeds, including Golden Crispy Wheat, Golden Honey Wheat, and Brown Crispy Wheat, as well as grass seeds of Ground Grass, a gift from the Wheat Herder. She left with a bountiful harvest.
Sitting in the carriage, Shu Xin handed the creeping grass she had picked in Maiji to Xi: "Try it. I want to know if its roots are poisonous. It's not dirty, you can eat it directly. I've used a cleaning spell on it."
Xi was completely bewildered: "What do you mean, 'Let me eat it to see if it's poisonous'? What do you take me for, Shushuxin! Why don't you eat it yourself!"
Shu Xin corrected him seriously: "First of all, my name is not Shu Shu Xin, but Shu Xin; secondly, I regard you as a reliable partner, a loyal friend, and a trustworthy collaborator; and finally, I have already eaten myself."
The half-succubus stared speechlessly at the flower fairy for a long time. Under the fairy's self-righteous and unwavering gaze, she finally grabbed the clump of weeds, stuffed it into her mouth, and began to chew it vigorously.
Shu Xin was staring at Xi when she suddenly felt most of the tension and anticipation in her heart disappear. Realizing that Xi had stolen her feelings again, she chuckled to herself.
Watching Xi swallow the creeping grass, Shu Xin asked him, "Do you think it's poisonous? I can't taste it, it just feels a little prickly in my mouth, but it tastes sweet when I chew it, and the flavor is not bad. Whether it's the root, the leaves, or the flowers, the magic inside is much more than that of bitter wheat."
"You're taking this herb back to feed your insect-like kin?" The half-succubus's expression was complex. "Whether it's poisonous or not, it doesn't matter to them, does it? I should have told you, their essence is alchemical lifeforms. I don't know how your race manages to allow alchemical lifeforms to reproduce, but—"
"Alchemy life is still life," Shu Xin interrupted him, continuing her previous question, "So, did you find it poisonous?"
Xi wisely shut her mouth and shook her head.
Shu Xin was very satisfied: "That's good."
After thinking for a moment, Shu Xin explained to Xi: "You said they are my kind, like insects. Xi, maybe in your eyes they are like insects, humble and insignificant, utterly worthless and not worth dying for. But in my eyes, even if they are like insects, they are still my kind."
The flower fairy before me was beautiful and radiant. She was so dazzling and luminous, yet she stated in a calm tone: "In essence, they are no different from me. If you say they are little insects, then I am just a big insect."
The half-succubus looked away and curled her lip: "But you are fundamentally different from them."
"How are we different?" Shu Xin countered. "Are you talking about the past or the present? The past is the past, and how are we different now compared to them?"
【Damn it, why don't we have a king like this!】 Xi shut her mouth and closed her eyes: "I'm sleepy, I'm going to sleep."
The next second, a snow-white lamb appeared in the carriage, snoring loudly.
What does "Why don't we have such a king?" mean? Shu Xin heard the mysterious and ancient language again. She glanced at the feigning-sleeping lamb inquisitively but didn't delve into it further.
Shu Xin was quite satisfied with the results of this trip. However, neither Golden Crispy Wheat, Golden Honey Wheat, nor Brown Crispy Wheat could be planted yet. The current soil fertility, or rather the magic, of the Land of Sin was not enough to support the growth of these two types of wheat.
Back in the Land of Sin, Shu Xin stored the crispy wheat seeds in the warehouse. She went to the rooftop terrace to check on the bitter wheat seeds that were still basking in the sun. After confirming that the magic power within the seeds was still slowly increasing, she went to find Nonori and asked this wise old man how to plant Earthgrass in the Land of Sin.
Unaware of Shu Xin's plans regarding the creeping violet, Nuonuo only thought that the flower fairy wanted some ornamental plants when Shu Xin said that the better the sunlight, the more flowers the creeping violet would bloom.
Nono then summoned several servants and instructed them to plant the creeping grass on the sunny side of the Sun Spring.
Sun Spring is the name of the spring at the foot of the Tree of Life.
According to the information in the Key of Life, it is a hot spring overflowing with magic, giving it a pale golden hue. Every time an elf is born from the Tree of Life, it falls into the warm spring. When the sun sets and night falls, the spring shines like another sun, its soft yet bright light enough to illuminate the entire elven land, hence the name Sun Spring.
Of course, the Tree of Life could no longer nurture elves, and the Sun Spring, apart from its name, bore no resemblance to the sun whatsoever, and its water had long since turned emerald green and icy cold.
As the creeping grass by the Sun Spring struggled to stretch out its slender, thread-like leaves, and the bitter wheat planted by the slaves also desperately sprouted its tender green shoots, it was at this moment that Nonori found the flower fairy on the terrace, his expression solemn:
"My lord, the current state of magic in the Land of Sin requires you to prepare patrol teams."
A note from the author:
----------------------
The prototypes of "ground-attached grass" are ground ivy and silk stalk sedge.
Wildflower is a relatively common type of small wildflower that produces very small and delicate blue flowers, which are really small, only three or four millimeters in size.
As the name suggests, the silky stalk grass has "silky stalks" and leaves that are as thin as silk, although in reality they are definitely not as thin as described in the text.
By the way, you can check out the floral dress series by a Twitter user named Fairys_Dress. They are truly ethereal and fairy-like!
Also, when I was writing about Sun Spring, I did a quick search and found a Buryat folk song called "Sun Spring." I found two versions, listened to both, and they were quite beautiful.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com