"Huh?" Ashina hadn't caught up yet.
Field fell against her, burying his face in her neck, the fragrance unique to a Chosen seeping into his very heart.
Then Field pressed in, hard.
Her waist was soft and slender, slim enough to hold in one hand.
"My lord, don't!" Ashina felt the hot, damp breath at her neck and looked around in a fluster, but for all her words she didn't shove him off with any force.
She even had to rein in the fierce divine power inside her, or the surging energy might hurt her own lord.
Feeling Field's breath, Ashina felt a tingle race up her spine, her legs going weak. The next moment, Field's hand went groping toward the mosaic.
"How did things end up like this?!"
Ashina didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She had to fend off the pleasure washing through her and keep her divine power in check to stop it from running wild at once.
Splitting her focus two ways only made her more sensitive.
"You can't do this."
Ashina bit the tip of her tongue, and the flash of pain bought her mind a sliver of clarity. She darted back fast.
"Mm — oddly comfortable. No! That thought's far too strange!"
After all, content that goes too far is something nobody likes to read.
"That plant's the problem. In the gray mist, of course there'd be nothing but a devil's things."
Ashina kicked herself; if she'd known, she'd have burned the suspicious thing earlier.
"Lord Field! Where are you?" The guards, finding Field gone from the village center, had come searching in a panic.
"Heavens!" Alarm flashed across Ashina's bashful face.
In her fluster, Ashina broke free of her restraint and tapped divine power to Field's brow. The pure power instantly dispersed the magic plant's effect.
"Ugh, so dizzy."
Field steadied his head and gradually came to, reason pressing the beast in his chest back down. Ashina's face was red enough to drip, yet she was still pretending to admire the scenery.
"I'm fine."
The guard had found them; Field waved a hand, signaling him to wait outside.
"I don't think I've finished studying that bok choy yet." Frowning, Field had the vague feeling he'd done this before. He shook out his sore arm, bent down at once, and reached to pick one as a sample. "So — is this a magic plant?"
"Don't! Winter Goddess above." Ashina nearly lost it. One more round and she might not hold out; she'd practically have to go change her skirt back home. How could she let Field play around like that again? "You already studied it just now. This plant is extremely dangerous."
Helpless, Ashina leaned to Field's ear and quietly told him everything that had just happened.
"What a perverted plant." Field was shocked, then sighed. "Pity — I've got no memory of it at all."
"What do you mean, pity?! You scared me half to death. If this plant devoured souls, what would become of the territory?" Ashina huffed and wagged a finger. "Even if you wanted me, there's no need to go about it through — er, ahem."
Realizing she'd misspoken, Ashina clamped her mouth shut at once.
"Right — burn it! Burn it and the devil's scheme comes to nothing." Ashina gritted her teeth, her red eyes seeming to blaze, like a fervent villager at a witch-hunting rally.
Watching Ashina fluster about, Field found it rather funny. "Don't be hasty. New things deserve patience and an open mind. Think about it — what if we gave this to the horses and cattle?"
Ashina's beautiful eyes went wide, and she crossed her arms in an X. "How perverted! No crossbreeding! Er — I mean, cattle and horses can't, but humans and demi-humans can."
"Pfft." Field burst out laughing; clearly his earlier antics had knocked Ashina's wits offline. "It's about livestock breeding. With an herb like this, breeding the animals will be far easier from now on."
"Once the cattle and sheep multiply, we'll have more meat than we can eat." Field snapped his fingers happily.
A Chosen's magic resistance was very strong. Royal scholars had run tests: an ordinary Chosen could shrug off 35%–70% of magic damage, and a defense-specialized Chosen could even achieve total magic immunity, or reflect magic outright.
Field handed over a jar and had Ashina collect three samples along with their soil.
The money haul was bleak.
The guard searched all of Rum Village and turned up a grand total of twenty-one silver and eighty-seven copper.
"The village is too poor. We're not its first visitors." Field pinched an old silver coin and gently brushed the dirt off; the pretty patterns showed again. "When the Empire warred with the beastmen, both sides came to loot Rum Village. Few coins is only to be expected."
As for the rest of the spoils: one barely usable chair, a chest, a dozen-odd broken clay pots, and a great heap of firewood, pried off the furniture inside the houses.
Mercifully the return trip went smoothly, with no monsters blocking the way.
The instant he stepped back into his domain, Field's eyes lit up: no writhing tentacles or lumps of flesh in the fields — clean, like the relief of a thorough back-scrub that washes away every last speck of grime.
Only the toxin-laden soil remained in the fields, along with the ash of burned corrupted creatures.
"My lord, we've cleared all the corruption inside the territory and burned it to ash." A slave wore a fawning look, bowing low.
Field, mounted, gazed around a moment, then nodded. "Well done. Every one of you will be paid."
The slaves beamed.
"Your next task is to repair my Grand Winery — clear out the corruption's leavings, replace the rotted timber, patch up the cave-ins and holes." Field had long since planned it; living in a place full of drafts and reeking of monster piss was a torment to the body, even if Field's quarters were the finest spot in the Nightfall Territory.
"But my lord, I don't know carpentry."
Field paused; he seemed to have forgotten that point, and called out loudly, "Anyone here skilled in carpentry, masonry, or smithing?"
Dead silence. The steward, Kao, said bluntly, "My lord, those with a trade are all free folk. Slaves are good for nothing."
"Then we'll go recruit some. As it happens, I plan a trip to a city beyond the gray mist. The nearest city — what was it again? Right, Maplewood City in Highcastle Province. They'll have what we need."
Kao looked rueful. "Every city's craftsmen belong to an exclusive artisans' guild under the lord's direct jurisdiction; you can't simply hire them with money. And I doubt any craftsman would be willing to come to the Nightfall Territory."
"I'll go in person." Field shrugged. Kao only ever raised objections, never thought about solving the problem; Field had gotten used to it.