The Chronicles of Emberstone Farm [Cozy Fantasy] [Farming LitRPG]-Chapter 257 – The Answer Machine
We were both silent for some time after I finished reading it out loud.
“Please read it out loud again,” he said.
I obliged, and afterwards we sat down on the chairs to think it over, and I told him more about my world. We talked about humans harnessing the power of lightning (electricity), horseless carriages (cars), flying vehicles (airplanes and helicopters), distance communications talismans (phones), and jade tablets that had songs, videos, and libraries inside them (smart devices).
To my surprise, what interested him most was Earth’s political and economic structure, and I tried as best as I could to properly describe democracy, constitutional monarchy, and dictatorship. I was hard pressed to answer his questions about taxes since I had transmigrated into this world at the age of 17 and therefore had never filed taxes for myself, though I knew the basics of income tax, sales tax, and inheritance tax.
After that, we discussed the quest.
“What do you think the answer will be? You must have thought about it a lot,” said Prince Baiyu.
“Well, as I see it, there are two options.” I ticked them off on my fingers. “One: this was totally random and natural, like an accident that just happened, similar to an earthquake or a storm. I mean, maybe I just got caught in the aftereffects of someone’s spell, or there was a rift in space and I got sucked into it. Stuff like that.”
He nodded.
“Or… Two: Someone deliberately did this, and I was the intended target.”
“Which do you think is more likely?”
I smiled and waved a hand around to indicate our surroundings. “All this is very, very similar to Adventure Incarnate. That’s too much of a coincidence for me to think it was entirely random.”
“Then who could be responsible for it and why?”
“I don’t know. There’s no magic in my world.” I sighed. “I’ve thought about it over and over. Who could have done this? I grew up traveling the world with my parents, and we met a lot of really weird people. This includes people who called themselves psychics, shamans, healers, witch doctors, fortune tellers, and so forth. How would I even know if it was one of them?”
“I thought you said there’s no cultivation or magic in your world.”
I shook my head. “That’s what I thought, but maybe I’m wrong.”
“Is there anyone in particular that you suspect?”
“Obviously, if this was deliberate, there is a great likelihood that GodIAm is in on it!”
“I think so, too.”
“As for the rest, I can’t help but think my mother is involved.”
Prince Baiyu looked amused. “Mothers are often involved, aren’t they? But what makes you think that?”
I threw my hands up and rolled my eyes in a very dramatic manner. “My goodness, how can I even explain my mother?! You have to meet her to understand.”
“Oh?” His tone invited me to continue ranting.
“There’s something very, very weird about her!” I should use the past tense when talking about her since she, along with my father, was dead, but it was hard for me to do that. “She’s unnaturally beautiful!”
“Unnaturally?”
“Yes, it’s just too much. My aunts told me she couldn’t go to the Paris Fashion Week because the one time she did, everyone was looking at her instead of the models.” I smiled at the thought. “And I know they’re not exaggerating. Everywhere we went, people’s heads would turn to look at her.”
“But, even so, why would she transmigrate you into my world?”
“I don’t think she did anything directly. It could very well be something like a shaman tried to summon her, but since she’s dead, they got me instead.”
“Did she play Adventure Incarnate?”
“No, never.”
“Then this is based on a feeling, not anything concrete?”
“Yeah.”
“What about your father?”
I shrugged and smiled. “He’s a great guy, but nothing exceptional. He was left outside an orphanage as a baby, but apart from that, he’s normal. Average looks, average height, average intelligence, you know.”
“But your incredibly beautiful mother married him, so he has to have something that attracted her.”
This time, I laughed out loud. “Oh my gosh, you’ve hit on one of our family’s legends! My mom is just too unearthly looking that she had zero suitors. My two aunts, both quite lovely people, but not as ridiculously good-looking as my mom, had dozens of suitors, but no one tried to ask my mom out on a date until she was twenty-five years old and met my dad.”
He raised an eyebrow. “That does seem strange.”
“Apparently, no one thought they had a chance with her since she’s too stunning.”
“Anything else about your family that seemed strange? What did your parents do for a living, since I understand they’re not nobles?”
I had explained that most countries today had no royals or nobles, but there were social classes nonetheless. “My mom used to work as a teacher, but she quit when she got married. My dad loved to travel, and it would have been hard for her to teach when we were always on the go. My father did a lot of things. Sometimes he would call himself a consultant or a project manager, but as far as I could tell, he just did random odd jobs, whatever caught his fancy that year.”
Prince Baiyu frowned. “For example?”
“For example, someone would call him up and say there was a problem with a supplier in Vietnam. We’d hop on a plane, and he would take care of it. Or someone wanted to buy a beach house in the Maldives, and he would go over there to handle the issues they had with the paperwork.”
“And since your mom is a teacher, she taught you at home?”
“Yeah, and we had the internet, which is a huge library that we could use to find any information we needed.”
I took out a notebook from my inventory and showed him some sketches I had made of cars, planes, telephones, computers, etc.
Talk then turned to the many people I had met on Earth who claimed to have some sort of powers, but clearly, I had very little to go on since I had always regarded them as frauds.
“I’ll build the bell tower after we get back from the Booyah event,” I said.
His lips twitched. “Isn’t this more important than the banquet?”
I pouted. “No, what are you saying? I can start the quest any time I want, but the Booyah only comes once every four years! I don’t wanna miss it if the quest turns out to be more complicated than it looks.”
He chuckled and embraced me. “My dear, that’s such a typical Violet answer.”
I hugged him back. “A girl has to have her priorities straight.”
***
That night, I dreamed of a dragon boy and told him about my quest for all the answers about my life here.
“Mom, why don’t you use the answer machine?”
I picked him up and kissed him. “There’s an answer machine?”
In the way of dreams, we walked through a long corridor until we found the room with the answer machine, which turned out to be a computer. When I turned it on, a chat window appeared and I typed in my question, “Why am I in this world?”, and waited with bated breath for the answer.
A line of dots slid across the screen monitor. Then the message I was waiting for appeared.
[42.]
I woke up feeling refreshed as always after a dragon dream, but I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at the concept of the answer machine. Why was my own subconscious trolling me?
I rolled out of bed and went to brush my teeth and go through my morning routine of fixing myself up to look presentable. A cup of coffee and a pork bun later, I went to an empty field north of the river that ran through the farm to wait for my apprentices to arrive. I made Mr. Bear turn human-sized and leaned against him as I relaxed.
My boots sank slightly in the dark, rich, and damp soil that we had tilled and fertilized the day before. Now the empty expanse of land spread out in front of me in all directions, ready for today’s planting. To my south, I could hear the gentle gurgling of the river as it wound its way through my property, the water reflecting the pale orange and pink hues spreading across the sky.
The morning air was still and cool against my face, carrying the clean scent of turned earth and the faint sweetness of wildflowers growing along the field's border. Dew clung to the leaves of the plants growing along the edges of the field, each droplet catching and scattering the early light like tiny prisms. I yawned as the sky above me turned from deep purple to a soft blue-gray, with streaks of gold, orange, and pink spreading from the eastern horizon.
Lari, Kharli, and Mo arrived with Yinuo and Cutie. My little slime pet bounced around happily, making soft “chu” sounds now and then and poking at random plants and flowers with her tentacles.
“Good morning,” I said.
We exchanged greetings, and Yinuo offered me a fresh, hot cup of soy milk, which I slowly drank as we discussed today’s task. Of course, as usual, we were planting the vegetables we wanted to eat next season, along with our main crop, rice, and our luxury crop, tea.
I finished the drink, and we got started, but just as I was about to start planting a row of [Chili Peppers], I got a new quest.
[Quest Available: No Pests Allowed!]
I called the others over and read the quest text out loud to them.
[No Pests Allowed!:
Pests are threatening your precious crops, their relentless nibbling jeopardizing your hard-earned harvest. If left unchecked, your entire field could be ruined.
To safeguard your livelihood, you must implement a clever two-part strategy. First, cultivate a border of Silverleaf plants around your field. They give off potent chemicals that act as a natural pest repellent. Then, plant two rows of Elephant Grass within your field. They give off potent chemicals that act as a natural pest attractant, creating a trap crop that will attract and contain the remaining pests, keeping them away from your main crop.
Reward: Farming Exp]
“Yes! More exp!” I high-fived Mo. “I’m close to a level.”
“Let’s goooooo!” said Kharli.
Lari grinned. “I’m also close to a level.”
“Lucky us,” I said.
The quest text had the words “Silverleaf” and “Elephant Grass” underlined. When I mentally clicked on them, a pop-up appeared, and I was able to buy seeds with gold coins.
[Silverleaf:
A striking herbaceous perennial known for its distinctive silvery leaves and potent natural pest-repellent qualities. It emits unique organic compounds that deter a wide array of common agricultural pests, making it invaluable for crop protection. This resilient plant grows in spring, summer, and fall, taking seven days to mature. Harvested stems can be processed into Dried Silverleaf, a valuable crafting ingredient for pesticides and remedies. Its dual utility as a pest deterrent and a marketable cash crop makes the Silverleaf a highly desirable addition to any farm.]
“I see we have a new crop we can sell,” I said.
[Elephant Grass:
A fast-growing, hardy plant characterized by its thick, jointed stalks and broad, serrated leaves. It subtly emits potent chemical pest attractants that will draw swarms of unwanted insects away from your more valuable plants. By concentrating pests within its dense thickets, this hardy plant acts as a living "trap crop," allowing them to feed on its abundant growth and sparing your primary crop from devastating infestations.]
“I think I get it. The border crop will repel insects, and the ones that make it through will be attracted to the trap crop, right?” I gave a few packets of [Silverleaf Seeds] to my apprentices. “We should plant the border first, then the [Elephant Grass].”
“The System is very clever,” said Lari. “I like these quests that give Farming exp.”
“And they’re easy,” said Mo.
“Yes, we get extra exp just for planting more seeds,” said Kharli.
Some quests gave exp and rewards only to me because I was the only one who could do the given quest tasks. However, the quests that could be completed with the help of my apprentices gave all of us exp. This was one of them.
We each walked to a corner of the field and started sowing the [Silverleaf Seeds]. Then we moved on to planting the [Elephant Grass Seeds] into two rows that neatly cut the field into thirds.
[No Pests Allowed!: Quest Complete
Reward: Farming Exp]
[Congratulations, you just advanced a Farming level!]
[Your Farming level is now 39.]
“I’m level thirty-nine!”
“Congratulations, Teacher!” said my apprentices.
Kharli put her arm on my waist, and I put mine on hers, and we twirled around in celebration. Not one to be left behind, Mo also put her arm around my waist, and I did the same to her. The three of us spun around until we got dizzy.
“Life is awesome!” I proclaimed, but our celebration was interrupted by another System popup.
Chapter 257 – The Answer Machine
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