He grabbed the small watering can and glided it over the plants with mastery. He shifted his slightly tired body and looked with bright eyes at the two new pots on his table.
"Grade 1 random corn, Grade 1 papaya," he murmured. These two new seeds had barely been planted yesterday, and they were already slightly sprouting.
"Fast-growing," Inox muttered. After his watering can brought forth a light rain over his plants, a small rainbow appeared above each pot, making him smile.
A few days had passed since Dust's visit, and they hadn't spoken since then. In the end, the former knight didn't say much; after reporting his condition for collaborating, he calmly left, stating, "Whether it's worth it or not, you will decide."
Inox shook his head slightly. At this point, he only had 430,000 eris left. If he couldn't find a new way to earn an income, the money he had would run out, and he would end up on the streets.
He thought about taking some quests himself and trying to gather the money little by little. However, he clenched his hands into fists; after all, he hadn't even completed the most basic knight training in the kingdom by his twenties.
"Report: Grade 1 Tomato has fully ripened. It is recommended to harvest as soon as possible to maintain its quality."
"Grade 1 Tomato: Incredible flavor, increases strength and agility by 10% for one hour after consumption."
"You have unlocked a new quest: 'Tomato Party' have 10 people taste the Grade 1 Tomato. Reward: Ten Grade 1 tomato seeds"
Inox's eyes flickered with a strange light, a smile forming on his face before he let out a heavy sigh.
"Ten tomato plant seeds? Wait, the tomato plant has ripened." He turned his head to see the bright green-stemmed plant with small thorns spreading out in all directions like a bouquet of roses.
The tomatoes had a plump appearance, their bright red dazzling with a unique shine. Every single one of them looked like a work of art; water drops from the recently sprinkled water cascaded down the smooth, red skin of each tomato.
"Heh-heh-heh," Inox let out light chuckles. His arms dropped into a relaxed position, his gaze softened, and he couldn't help but let out a coarse laugh, "Hahahahaha!!!" He remembered, for a moment, all those times he had dreamed of being a divine farmer, just as the system said.
Condensed into a single image, each of those memories—of the people in the kingdom looking down on him for refusing to practice the sword and choosing to cultivate some unremarkable plants, of his father hanging his head—finally shattered like a pile of glass crashing to the ground.
He gave a great leap, and after a moment of euphoria, sat on his bed before beginning to harvest the tomatoes quickly and delicately.
He dusted off a wooden basket he had bought not long ago and a small pair of farmer's shears. He gently grabbed a tomato from the plant and snipped it, leaving a bit of the stem on the tomato.
He repeated this action fifteen times, harvesting fifteen Grade 1 tomatoes. He gently placed the basket on the floor before sitting back on his bed.
"This system is a bit..." He narrowed his eyes. He felt the divine farmer system was weird. All the quests or unlocked features weren't written down; he himself didn't know he would unlock a reward when the Grade 1 tomato ripened.
He sighed a little before standing up, grabbed the basket of tomatoes, and headed for the exit. "I wonder if I'll receive more seeds when I harvest the corn, the papaya, and the carrot."
At a construction site where several workers toiled under the daytime sun of Axel City.
Aqua wrapped her soft, radiant, and meticulously cared-for fingers—with slightly pink fingertips, perfectly trimmed nails, and flawlessly smooth, pale, and rosy skin—around the brush in the paint bucket.
Even the slightest ray of sunlight could have burned such perfect, smooth, and soft skin. However, Aqua moved not only her hands but her whole body without even worrying about her femininity.
The skin on her face—smooth and perfect, without a single trace of dark circles, not even a small cut or sunburn—should have already been ruined by the UV-heavy sun of Axel City.
The girl had been working as a painter at old Jim's construction site for the past few days. Curiously, despite her almost hypnotic beauty, she didn't draw attention because of it; people simply ignored her or treated her with basic courtesy.
Aqua moved the brush, painting a wall with practiced mastery. She saw an unpainted corner, stood on her tiptoes, and stretched her body like a cat. But the tip of her brush, spilling some paint down her arms and face, couldn't quite brush against the corner.
"Tsk..." she clicked her tongue. Just as she was about to call Kazuma to help her, a hand grabbed the brush and glided it smoothly over the corner, painting it.
The girl's eyes widened. "Hehehe, it is an honor for you to help the great goddess Aqua paint this dirty wall, don't you think? Believer..." she said before grabbing the brush again. She spun around, ready to show off a little, but the person behind her wasn't who she had expected.
Inox, holding a basket full of tomatoes in his right hand, observed the girl closely—her face, her appearance, everything about her—before speaking. "Ahem, Miss Aqua, we meet again."
He was just passing by when he saw this girl painting the wall. Then, he remembered his failed negotiation with Kazuma and Aqua, and he wanted to drop by out of curiosity to see how she worked. He hadn't expected to stumble upon such a peculiar scene.
"Hmph, do you work for Jim too?" Aqua asked with slight annoyance. She didn't have a good impression of Inox. The man shook his head and cleared his throat before taking a tomato out of his basket. "Actually, I'm giving away tomatoes. Do you want one? Of course, everything I harvest is of high quality," he emphasized the last words.
Aqua, however, looked at him with questioning eyes. "Are you an idiot?" she asked. "What kind of man gives tomatoes to girls?" She wasn't buying it.
Inox smiled, pointed at himself, and said, "A man like me, obviously," flashing his white teeth.
Aqua was about to turn around and ignore the foolish man before a distinct aroma entered her nose.
Immediately after, her body was invaded by a specific craving. Her eyes lost focus, and she instinctively moved her head to zero in on the basket full of bright red tomatoes.
The scent was obviously coming from there, a blend of notes that caressed her nose and stole her attention.
"Tomatoes?" she repeated. Inox nodded slowly. She licked her lips unconsciously before looking away. She took a couple of steps back and stared at the man suspiciously.
"What is that?!!!" She glared at the man with suspicious eyes. "Did you put some kind of perverted enchantment on those tomatoes?!!" Her shouting began to draw the attention of the construction workers.
One of them, a stout and burly guy who was walking by, didn't hesitate to approach. "Aqua, who is this person? Mr. Jim doesn't let us have visitors in the middle of work." The guy sounded concerned.
The goddess quickly ran to hide behind the man. "He, he's trying to seduce me using those weird tomatoes!!!" she yelled.
Her body was trembling in a different way, her eyes on high alert. As a goddess sent to the mortal realm, she still retained some of her divinity, so she could sense a strange energy in the tomatoes—one just as powerful as divine energy, but in an infinitely lower concentration.
It was like a cat encountering a dog; she felt instinctively intimidated, yet at the same time, tempted by these vegetables.
The man quickly grew furious. He tightly clenched his fists, about to punch the guy who dared to bully one of his coworkers, only to see that Inox had vanished from the spot.