Chapter 394 Animal Reproduction

"I know that you are busy, and this Hilda thing has you tied up, but this help would mean a lot to me," Mother Shallot said in a soothing voice.

"Why, the walls?" I asked, looking back to Kia and then back to Shallot. "I am assuming that you are having a monster problem?"

Mother Shallot nodded. "We have had some issues with monsters lately, and I want to make sure that they don't get too close to my lands. The walls will help give the girls peace of mind while they work and keep me from losing livestock. Both things cause me to lose money, but if it is gold you want, I can work out something, but I am sure that there are other things that I might have that you would like."

As Mother Shallot mentioned gold, her face seemed to get serious for a moment, but it was back to the smile right away. This woman had no intention of separating from her gold if she didn't have to.

"Let me look around first and figure something out before we talk about anything like that, but I will not charge you for this. I don't go around helping people to get paid unless you are going to feed me. I will not say no to a free meal," I smiled, and Mother Shallot stood up with a very warm smile, still holding my hands.

"I heard that you do enjoy a good meal. I am sure that can be arranged, and since the Grashalor family offered you a place to stay for the night, I will offer the same to you. This will give you a chance to really see everything that this farm has to offer, and it will also let you confirm that Hilda isn't here. You are a very interesting creature, Galio, and I hope that I can get you to also visit my other farm in the future. I also heard that you are working on the biggest boat in the world, so I think that I could possibly provide you with certain trades because of your ability to create portals," Mother Shallot explained, the dollar signs back in her eyes, and I was forced to grin. This woman was more than prepared for me to come and visit.

"I'll take your offer for the night since I feel like it might take a while to go over everything. As for the boat project, I think that it is more than reasonable to figure out what trades could be made between us," I replied with a warm smile, taking my hands away from her grip before standing up to try and look around.

Mother Shallot returned to her seat, and Kia stepped forward. "I will show you the rest of the property if you wish," she said in a much more civil tone than before, and I nodded with a smile before motioning for her to lead on.

Kia took me outside and showed me around the farm while pointing out various highlights that they had going on, but once we got out to the corals, I stopped her.

Since coming to this world, I have overlooked some things, and animals were one of them. I only just recently discovered that all animals had Mana. That was strange, but with how rich the world was with Pure Magic in the air, it wasn't unreasonable. There was also the question of reproduction, another mystery, and I really didn't know how that was going to go after learning about the golden eggs.

"How does calving work?" I asked, and Kia looked at me with a frown, but I put up a hand. "Remember that I am not from this world, so think of me fresh out of the egg for some things."

Kia nodded and then started to explain. "Each animal is different, but cattle have a month once a year, 3 months after they last calve, or after they are born, that they start to Gather. This happens for 9 months, and then they birthed condensed Mana that become another cow."

"Wait! Full grown? From condensed Mana?" I asked, my eyebrow-raising. That seemed a bit odd, but this was a world filled with the strange and powerful.

Kia nodded again before continuing. "Yes, each cow is born full-grown with some basic knowledge about how things are to be done at our farm."

"That's...amazing," I said, and then turned on my Mana Runes and looked over the animal.

Sure enough, there were different intensities of yellow to each of the cattle, but the ones with the more intense light had it mostly come from where a calf would be held inside the cow. This was not what I expected, but it made sense, given the way that this world worked. Since there were no males, there had to be a way for animals to reproduce, or the entire ecosystem of this world would fail.

"Thank you for the explanation," I said with a smile before turning back to Kia. "Another question that has been on my mind is where all you girls sleep? Or spend your free time?"

Kia pointed to a large building at the back of the property. "That is where we all used to sleep before mother decided it was time for us to move into the barns. We normally stay up until late and then rise with the sun, but most of us are working during that time."

"I see," I said, nodding before looking away and walking back to the house with Kia. We talked a bit more on the way, but nothing of too much use came up. Inside, we found Mother Shallot talking with a younger woman I assumed was Sabrina, who fit the description Lutha had told me over breakfast of one of Hilda's best friends perfectly.

When we got closer, I saw that Sabrina was crying, and mother Shallot looked like she had been trying to comfort her. I walked in and introduced myself before asking if everything was okay.

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