“I-I… can’t feel my legs or my arms…” Zinnia lay helplessly on the sofa.
Her expression truly looked like that of someone who was completely exhausted.
Anna even had to apply a hot compress to Zinnia’s legs because of it.
“Isn’t this a bit much, Miss?” This time Anna was genuinely worried; she hadn’t expected her young mistress to push herself this hard.
At first, Anna thought Zinnia was just playing her usual tricks to get what she wanted; she’d assumed Zinnia had ulterior motives when she said she wanted to live in Greenmarch.
Anna never imagined that Zinnia would be this serious about developing her own plot of land.
“What’s so excessive about it? I could only plow one meter of land today!” Zinnia was furious, but she couldn’t do anything about it since she couldn’t even move her cramped legs and arms.
“B-but…” Anna didn’t know how to counter Zinnia’s argument either.
“Tell me what’s wrong with what I’m doing? Didn’t I follow the instructions in that book? Why isn’t it working?” Zinnia clenched her teeth tightly.
“Err, this is your first time doing manual labor like this, Miss. Your muscles aren’t strong enough for work like this,” Anna chirped timidly, afraid of offending Zinnia.
“But I’m a Beast!” Zinnia still couldn’t accept the fact that she lacked strength.
“Still, all you’ve ever done is go shopping and attend parties,” Anna replied with a faint grimace.
“…” Zinnia fell silent, realizing her mistake.
No wonder the workers had been giving her strange looks today; at first, Zinnia had ignored them, but now she understood what those glances meant.
“Looks like I’ll have to get used to this starting now,” Zinnia said with determination.
“Miss!” Anna unconsciously raised her voice in surprise.
“Huh?!”
“You… don’t plan on quitting?”
“Quitting? Of course not! Didn’t I promise Dad I’d develop Greenmarch?” Zinnia replied casually.
For a moment, Anna fell silent, realizing a change in Zinnia that she hadn’t noticed before.
“Stop staring at me like that. Help me stand up,” Zinnia said afterward.
“Where do you want to go now?” Although she furrowed her brow in confusion, Anna still did as Zinnia instructed.
“I want to see the well at the manor,” Zinnia replied softly.
With Anna’s help, Zinnia slowly made her way out of the Manor toward the well located to the east of the Manor, on the side adjacent to the river that flows through Greenmarch.
[Water Source: Contaminated]
[Warning: Dangerous to use!]
“No way! I’d completely forgotten about this,” Zinnia exclaimed in shock.
At first, she’d wanted to water the fields tonight so that the soil she’d be tilling tomorrow would be softer.
But after seeing the System’s warning, Zinnia realized that using this water would actually endanger her fields.
“We need to resolve this issue immediately, Miss. The stored water at the Manor will only last two to three weeks,” Anna explained anxiously.
“I’ll figure out a solution,” Zinnia replied softly.
After that, they returned to the Manor, and Zinnia felt even more overwhelmed because she now had yet another problem on her hands.
.
.
.
“Did Miss Zinnia really do it again?”
“I thought she was just messing around yesterday.”
“Trust me, she’ll stop soon enough. There’s no way a spoiled girl like her would enjoy doing such rough work.”
Whispers could be heard from the workers bustling around the Manor’s front yard.
Zinnia was too exhausted to listen to what people were saying because today she had to plow even more land than yesterday.
.
.
.
All day long, Zinnia hoed the land and managed to plow five meters, earning her 2 Proficiency points that day.
“Miss, your hands?!” Anna stifled a scream when she saw the state of Zinnia’s hands.
Only then did Zinnia look down at her hands.
“Oh!”
“Oh my gosh! How did you manage to get your hands all cut up like this?!” Anna hurriedly guided Zinnia to a chair in the kitchen.
Anna quickly went to get a basin and a small towel, then applied a cold compress to Zinnia’s arms.
“Aww!” Zinnia winced slightly as she felt a stinging pain in her hands from the hot water.
“How come you only just noticed these cuts?” Anna began to scold her, but her hands gently cleaned Zinnia’s hands.
“How was I supposed to know that just digging with a shovel could do this?” Zinnia replied, her cheeks flushing.
That night, Anna ended up forcing Zinnia to soak in a herbal bath.
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.
.
It was already Zinnia’s fifth day in Greenmarch, and she was still struggling with the hard soil in the Manor’s yard.
[Farming Proficiencies: 5]
[Farming effectiveness increased!]
“I shouldn’t have had to go through hell today if it’s going to be like this, right?” Zinnia grinned happily.
The workers who took care of the Manor also began greeting Zinnia that day.
Until, at one point, a scream from Zinnia caused everyone there to turn toward her.
“What’s going on, Miss?” But only Anna approached her.
“T-there’s a w-worm!” Zinnia pointed toward the mound of dirt she’d just dug up.
“Congratulations, Miss! This is a good sign!” Instead of being frightened, Anna actually congratulated Zinnia.
“What do you mean?” Zinnia didn’t understand why Anna was reacting that way.
“It means the soil at this Manor is actually fertile. No worms would live in poor soil,” replied a middle-aged worker who had been watching them.
A glimmer of hope arose in Zinnia’s heart as she realized that what she had been doing these past few days hadn’t been in vain.
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.
.
It took Zinnia a week to finish plowing the field, though in the end, she was only able to plow a quarter of the land she had cleared.
“This is enough to start planting seeds. Anna, let’s go to the town square!” Zinnia enthusiastically invited Anna to take a walk around Greenmarch.
“Isn’t this your first time walking around Greenmarch, Miss?” Zinnia was in a great mood today.
Zinnia nodded slowly, and they began walking from the Manor toward the village square.
It was only then that Zinnia realized Greenmarch was very quiet; there were many unoccupied houses.
Even when she arrived at the square, most of the people passing by were middle-aged and elderly.
Zinnia couldn’t find a single young person there.
“Didn’t you want to buy some seeds, Miss? I saw that old lady had some,” Anna said, breaking Zinnia’s train of thought.
“Oh…” Zinnia, who was being pulled toward the old lady’s stall, simply went along with it.
[Potato Seeds (Poor Quality)]
[Carrot Seeds (Poor Quality)]
[Tomato Seeds (Poor Quality)]
Zinnia fell silent when she saw that the quality of the seeds there was truly poor.
“I heard you’re planning to farm, Miss? Is that true?” the old woman asked Zinnia skeptically.
“Hmm… That’s right. That’s why I’m here to buy seeds,” Zinnia replied, trying to be friendly.
“So the rumor is true. But farming is hard, you know, Miss.”
“I know,” Zinnia replied with a soft sigh.
“Give me all the seeds you have; I’ll buy them all.” Zinnia finally decided to buy all the old woman’s seeds.
Instantly, the old woman was delighted, and her attitude toward Zinnia changed immediately.
“You must still want to look around. I’ll prepare your order and have my grandson meet you when you head back to the Manor later,” the old woman explained.
Finally, Zinnia and Anna continued their journey to explore Greenmarch.
.
.
.
“Are you the young lady who bought these seeds?” A 10-year-old boy stopped Zinnia and Anna.
“Yes. Come with me!” Zinnia told the boy to follow her.
“Ugh! You snobby noble,” the boy muttered sarcastically, clearly displeased with Zinnia’s presence.
“You didn’t really come here to farm, did you?!”
Zinnia stopped in her tracks and turned to face the boy.
“Kid, what’s your name?”
“Stuart!”
“You talk way too much for someone who isn’t even as tall as my waist.” Zinnia glared at Stuart, then continued on her way.
Upon arriving at the Manor, Anna was the one who received the seeds Stuart had brought.
However, the boy didn’t leave right away.
Instead, he watched as Zinnia immediately tried to plant the seeds she had just bought.
“Looks like she really is stupid. How can she just plant those seeds without soaking them first?” Stuart muttered, shaking his head.
.
.
.
That night, thunder clapped loudly, accompanied by a heavy downpour; everyone in Greenmarch pulled their blankets tighter as they slept.
No one in Greenmarch realized that the night had brought something that should never have been there.
The next day, Zinnia woke up early; she immediately ran out of the Manor to check on her seeds.
“Hehehe… I can’t wait to see my seeds sprout,” Zinnia murmured with a chuckle.
However, her laughter stopped when she saw the state of her plot, which had been swept clean by the rain.
“My seeds!”
But just then, her keen sense of smell picked up the pungent scent of blood lingering in the air.
“Blood?” Zinnia looked down at the ground and followed the trail of blood left behind.
“Arghh! How dare you lay on my seeds with that blood!” Zinnia screamed hysterically when she saw an unconscious man lying on the plot of land where she had planted her seeds.