Chapter 161: Issues Related to the Magic Tax for Settling Newly Arrived Commoners...
The flower fairies were lucky enough to arrive in the Land of Sin before the true arrival of the Harvest Month.
Along the way, they encountered several attacks from alien monsters, but each time a pure black magical cat would descend from the sky, open its mouth wide, and devour the alien monsters that were not yet fully formed. However, before they could even go up to thank it, the magical cat would fly away.
When the flower fairies, after overcoming countless hardships, finally caught sight of the white walls of the Land of Sin in the distance, members of the patrol flew over to greet them—
Even though they firmly believed in the abundance and prosperity of the land of sin throughout their journey, when the flower fairy commoners saw with their own eyes the patrol members, who had been described by the merchants as wearing high-level magic cloaks and wielding advanced magic wands, actually flying towards them, they couldn't help but burst into tears.
The Land of Sin is truly unlike any other territory!
The newly arrived flower fairy commoners only had time to catch a glimpse of the magic tree that seemed to support the entire sky before being transported to the teleportation array.
When the brief dizziness from the teleportation subsided, they found themselves in an underground space.
Besides the shimmering underground lake, what comes into view is a large patch of neatly arranged glowing moss and an equally large patch of lush, snow-white mushrooms. A huge miniature magic circle drawn on the ground is regulating the light and temperature of the entire space, making this underground space not only look spacious and bright, but also very warm.
The flower fairies from the south never expected the Land of Sin to be so cold. Not only that, the wind outside the Land of Sin was as strong as a typhoon!
But this underground space was calm and warm.
On the other side of the underground lake, there were huge stoves, each with wisps of steam rising from it, and the aroma of food wafting through the air, allowing the flower fairies and commoners by the lake to faintly smell the sweetness.
The hungry flower fairies couldn't help but swallow, and were about to take out their last remaining food from the space stone to share when a towering figure appeared in the teleportation array amidst faint magical fluctuations.
A woman with vibrant, bright blue hair and blue eyes was holding a large soup pot in both hands. She smiled gently at the awe-inspiring yet fearful gazes of the flower fairies and commoners: "Good afternoon, welcome to the Land of Sin. I am Memeline, a servant of the Flower Castle. You must be starving. Come and have some soup!"
The servants of the Flower Castle? They thought she was the Flower Fairy!
One after another, servants claiming to be from the Flower Castle appeared from the teleportation array. Some were carrying a large stack of wooden bowls, some were carrying a handful of wooden spoons, and several headed straight for the mushroom field. Each of them was as tall as the legendary Flower Fairy.
If it weren't for the fact that the servants of the Flower Castle in the Mushroom Garden brought with them a large number of flower fairy slaves, the common people would really think that all the flower fairies in the Land of Sin were this tall and big—after all, anything can happen in dreams.
The appearance of those flower fairy slaves gave the common people a sense of reality, but when they saw what the slaves looked like, they doubted their eyes once again.
The flower fairy slaves, whose hair and eyes were incredibly dull and whose figures were tiny, now all have eyes and hair that are so bright they almost glow. They are also much larger and bigger than the slaves that the common people remember. Not only that, each slave is wearing a magic cloak and holding a magic wand!
After the slaves flew into the mushroom field, they formed small groups of two or three and began to wave their staffs and cast spells at the plump, white mushrooms.
...Are they really not dreaming?
However, the merchants did say that as long as one is willing to work for the Flower Fairy, even a slave can regain their magical talent with the Flower Fairy's forgiveness, and may even regain their freedom and become a free citizen again.
—This is actually true!
Wooden bowls filled with steaming sweet soup were served to the flower fairy commoners along with wooden spoons. After drinking their fill of the hot, sweet soup, the commoners, guided by the servants of the Flower Castle, flew towards the Mushroom Land.
It was only when they saw the extra doorways and windows on the giant mushroom that the commoners realized that the reason the slaves had landed in the mushroom field to cast spells was to build dwellings for them.
Round doors and windows opened out of the thick, plump mushroom stems. The flower fairies went through the doorways and found that a large space had been carved out inside, where they could sleep comfortably on the ground.
The mushroom pieces cut off by the slaves were not wasted. The commoners noticed that the large pot that Meimeilin, who claimed to be the cook of the Flower Castle, brought over was now piled high with clean white mushroom pieces. She also told the commoners that they could drink a very delicious mushroom soup tomorrow.
Warmly and cozy in the mushroom house, with soft and springy mushroom floor beneath them and the fresh scent of mushrooms filling their air, the flower fairies and commoners drifted off to sleep with smiles on their faces.
What the merchants said is true. The Flower Fairy is indeed the agent of the Flower Goddess, and she has truly transformed the land of sin into a divine kingdom on earth!
Harvest month has arrived once again.
But this time Shu Xin wasn't so nervous. The flower fairies in the patrol team had become able to cooperate well with the demons through day-to-day training, and the Tree of Life in the Land of Sin had grown from a solitary tree into an entire forest. Even if the Phantom Beast broke through the patrol team's and the demons' defenses, she would have enough time to transfer all the flower fairies into the dungeon.
Therefore, Shu Xin stopped guarding the defensive barrier and stayed in the Flower Castle, working as usual.
"Once this harvest month ends, the year will be over, and the magic tax should be paid, is that right?" Shu Xin asked the two subordinates for confirmation.
Nonoli and Pengpengan nodded in unison.
"The patrol envoys will be on patrol again. This time, they will not only inspect the territory but also collect the annual magic tax." Nono said, a hint of hesitation in her voice.
Shu Xin reassured us, "Don't worry, even if there are quite a few civilians in the Land of Sin right now, I can guarantee that the magic tax will be paid in full. Don't forget, the Snow Clan still has plenty of Snow Dragon Fruit to give us!"
“Your Highness, we are not worried about the magic tax,” Peng Pengan said bluntly. “We are worried about whether His Majesty the King is still angry with you.”
"Your Majesty," Shu Xin paused for a moment, then smiled, "Don't worry about me. Your Majesty won't be angry. I have already purified the curse of the Land of Sin and redeemed the flower fairies of this land, haven't I?"
Even if the king is angry, she doesn't care anymore. Having clearly understood the nature of the Tree of Life, Shu Xin is now fearless. No matter how powerful the king is, can he bypass the Tree of Life to deal with her? Unless the king is the creator god himself, she fears no one.
As for the patrol envoy, that's even less of a problem. She still remembers that when she sent the patrol envoy away, she was thinking that once all the flower fairies in the Land of Sin had a magic wand and all had the size of the patrol envoy, she would remove her disguise and openly meet the patrol envoy.
Now, the flower fairies of the Land of Sin do indeed each have a magic wand, and the flower fairies on patrol even have high-level magic wands. Although the flower fairies' bodies have not all been restored, the servants of the Flower Castle have all been restored to their true forms as river elves.
When the patrol envoy comes to visit, she will swagger out to greet him with her servants, each an average of 1.8 meters tall!
The clover is growing so well that the underground warehouse is now overflowing with green fodder. Relying solely on the few snow sheep in the Land of Sin will take forever. Even if the snow sheep have offspring next year, they still won't be able to eat it all, because Shu Xin plans to continue planting clover next year. She intends to develop green fodder into another flagship product for the Land of Sin, and that vast clover field is not easy to disguise.
Therefore, she not only doesn't intend to conceal it, but also openly displays the current state of the Land of Sin to the patrol envoy. Next year, even more flower fairies and commoners will surely come to the Land of Sin, and she will definitely open up more land—
Even though it's harvest season, the flower fairies who were assigned to live in the underground city haven't been idle. Shu Xin has asked them to cultivate new fields in the planting area.
To be honest, Shu Xin was very willing to let the patrol envoy and the king see the current state of the Land of Sin.
Despite the fact that the Garnar Plains possesses the incredibly powerful Harvest Month buff, which is practically a natural, large-scale ripening magic, and as long as manpower is sufficient, the yield can keep up, the king only knows how to increase the magic tax, forcing the flower fairies to either become slaves and suffer a fate worse than death, or join the patrol team and be sent to their deaths.
If Shu Xin hadn't confirmed with the somewhat restored Tree of Life that the king was indeed a true river elf, and the only river elf to survive the great calamity three thousand years ago, Shu Xin would have suspected that the king was a spy sent by the human race!
It's really hard not to be suspicious!
The more Shu Xin thought about it, the more confused she became, so she stopped thinking about it. She instructed Nuonuo Li to keep an eye on the food supply and provide as much food as possible for the demons; Pengpeng An was to strengthen the patrols along the border of the Tree of Life Forest, and to deal with any demonic beasts from other continents that came over as soon as possible.
Shu Xin herself went to the conference room, intending to go through all the goods that the caravan had traded back, to see what could be used in the Land of Sin.
She had been busy preparing for the arrival of the Harvest Month. The sudden appearance of flower fairies and commoners outside the Land of Sin the day before the Harvest Month kept Shu Xin extremely busy. She wished she could stretch every minute into two and hurriedly settled this large group of flower fairies.
Therefore, Shu Xin had no time to look at the various goods that the flower fairy merchants brought back from other territories and the Wind Market.
While everyone was focused on fighting the phantom monsters during the harvest month, Shu Xin ordered her servants to collect all the space stones that the merchants had filled with goods and bring them to the conference room.
Pushing open the conference room door, Shu Xin saw that the space stones had been piled up on the table into a small mountain.
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Author's Note: A sudden drop in temperature → bitterly cold, inkstone frozen solid, fingers stiff and immobile [...]
My brain works really slowly, and I was worried about not writing well, so I made a lot of changes, like shifting perspectives and arranging the roles of main and supporting characters. I don't write fast to begin with... I also wanted to keep my reward points and didn't want to stop updating, so I kept posting replacement chapters. I'm really sorry TvT
...I fell asleep while writing...I was just woken up by the sound of a power drill from the renovation downstairs. Luckily, I had the foresight to take a day off from work...
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