Chapter 108 - Watering The Farm

After a few more words, Alyx broke off to study her spellbook in the courtyard. As for me, I went to the palace entrance, as it was the room that had the spells. There was the consideration to join Alyx, but there was also the fear of tearing the paper as well as being a bother.

And so, I ended up just sitting down to continue to memorize the spell. As expected, my mind was now up to the task.

Every few moments, I would need to take a break. With how slow and torturous the process was, I could easily notice when it was becoming night. For a moment, I thought about continuing, but it was probably too much for me.

After all, not only would I make little progress, but there was still the farm work to do. With that reasoning, I went up to my room while clutching the side of my head.

In the distance, I could see Alyx. She was yawning while rubbing one of her eyes. Alyx noticed me and gave me a small wave.

"...Night."

A small smile formed on my face.

"Night."

With that, I went into my room and plopped onto my bed.

Like turning off a light, it went black.

...

"Mm..."

My head felt a little fuzzy, along with a faint ache of pain. My body was facedown on the bed, the same position I was in when sleep had come to me.

With a groan, I raised my head and looked towards the curtains.

"Ah, shit."

The sun was shining brightly, signaling that it was roughly noon. Although my body was unwilling, I pushed myself off with the power of panic.

After freshening up, I hurried out into the hall and down the steps. Before long, I found myself near the palace entrance.

"Eh? There you are, Jay!"

I spun my head to the side to see Erin. She had a curious expression on her face, as though it was surprising for me to be here.

Although my farming duties were waiting for me, it was my fault for being late in the first place. And so, I responded while scratching the back of my head.

"Oh, hey Erin. I'm just on my way to do some farming. Unfortunately, I ended up oversleeping a little."

Erin tilted her head to the side.

"Eh? You were sleeping?"

I raised an eyebrow.

"Hm?... What else could I be doing?"

Erin tapped her chin with her index finger.

"Were you sleeping in your room?"

An awkward cough escaped me.

"Well, yeah."

Erin pouted.

"So you ignored my wake up call?"

I blinked a few times in confusion.

"Huh?"

Erin pouted and pointed towards me accusingly.

"You ignored me, didn't you!"

I raised my hands as though I wanted to surrender.

"What? No, I don't even remember hearing a wake up call."

Erin stamped her foot on the ground, letting out light tapping sounds.

"But it was so loud! It even hurt my own ears!"

Suddenly, memories of how Erin screamed before came to my mind.

'Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!'

The corner of my lip twitched.

Did I really sleep through something like that?

I raised my fist to block my mouth and coughed awkwardly.

"Um... I guess it was just too hard for me to notice how deep my sleep was."

Erin hummed with dissatisfaction.

"Ok..."

She looked up at me and pointed a finger at my face. Then, she waved it around, nearly hitting me in the process.

"You still have time for lunch, though! It's not good to skip meals!"

The corner of my lip twitched.

Well... I was feeling a bit hungry.

"Alright, alright."

A small smile formed on Erin's face.

"Hehe, then let's go!"

She grabbed the cuff of my sleeve and proceeded to run to the kitchen, dragging me along with her.

Right when we were at the entrance of the kitchen, Alyx came out while holding two plates. She was looking to the side, slowly turning towards us.

"Ah, Erin. Did you find out where Jay went off-"

Alyx looked at me and blinked a few times.

"Oh, there you are."

I scratched the back of my head and smiled awkwardly.

"Accidentally slept in a bit."

From inside the kitchen, Ned poked out his head while holding two plates of food.

"Wow, you slept in while Erin was screaming like that?"

Erin crossed her arms.

"It was a reasonable volume!"

I tilted my head to the side.

"...Didn't you say that it hurt your ears?"

Erin shook her fist at me.

"It was reasonable because you didn't answer!"

I coughed.

"Haha, I guess."

With that, we went to the dining room and ate the food. I felt a little bad for not helping out with the cooking, but it was already done by the time I got there.

Alyx, Erin, and Ned were having their own conversation. As for me, I was zoning out a little.

For the farm, I just needed to water this time. So where do I get this water?

It probably wouldn't be so convenient as to rain once more.

Hmm... hopefully I wouldn't have to rely on casting the water spell.

But there should be a way!

I assume Mildred did this before, so she had to have gotten the water from somewhere-

"Jay?"

I flinched and turned to Erin. She had her head tilted to the side and an eyebrow raised.

"Are you there?'

I scratched the back of my head.

"Haha, I was just thinking about my farm duties."

Erin pouted.

"Ok..."

Other than some small talk, nothing much really happened. It was hard for me to focus on the conversation, since my focus was still on the work I needed to do.

Once we were done eating, I said my goodbyes and hurried off to the farm.

By the time I reached the hoed plot of land, my lungs were strained from panting while my hands were on my knees, using them to support me.

There were still a few of my footprints in the ground, but already dried and hardened. As for the soil in the farm itself, it was not so different.

After heaving a soft sigh, I made my way to the little shed built into the palace. After scanning the room, the only thing water related I could find was an old metal bucket.

Since that was the only real option, I picked it up and went back outside. I cast my eyes on the horizon, slowly scanning my surroundings.

That's when I saw a tiny bit of water splash upwards.

The sight was fleeting, almost like an illusion, but I made my way towards it. After a few minutes of jogging, a small river was laid out before me. The width was only perhaps a meter wide, but the water enthusiastically rushed downwards, occasionally splashing water to the sides.

I walked over, letting some of the water sprinkle on me. I held the bucket with two hands and scooped up the water like my intention was to get sand for a sandcastle.

The new weight of the bucket was immediately apparent. However, it wasn't too hard for me to carry, which came as a surprise. As the bucket was lifted up, some water splashed onto the floor.

My initial desire was to run, but the water would probably slosh out, making my efforts counterproductive. And so, I briskly walked back to the plot of land, trying my best not to spill any of the water. Unfortunately, by the time I made it back, some of the water still ended up spilling out.

With what was left, I cast it upon the plot of land. A small section had been darkened, turning the dry soil from light brown to dark brown.

Then, my eyes were set upon the rest of the farm.

...This was going to take a damn long time if I just relied on the bucket.

With a bit of hesitation, I made one more round with the bucket. Despite the amount of time I put in, only a small part of the farm had been covered with water, once again.

With a soft sigh, I set aside the bucket back into the shed within the palace. My mind began to gather mana slowly, eventually forming the water spell.

I let the ball of water splash onto the farm. It was in essence, the same amount of water that the bucket would've brought. However, instead of making a round trip that took a couple of minutes, it only took twenty seconds or so to do it.

And so, I continued casting the water at my own pace. 

After I finished one strip of land, I found my sides were aching painfully. It was only now that I remembered that my body would be strained from casting spells.

...But now that I think about it, my constitution has increased tremendously. My initial constitution only let me cast a few foundational spells before this pain arrived.

It was because of the healing spell.