Breakfast continued in a relatively peaceful atmosphere, though the undercurrents from the previous evening and Adrian's vivid dream still lingered beneath the surface.
Mara ladled more stew into Adrian's bowl, smiling warmly. "Eat up, dear. You'll need the energy. The south fields are becoming drier every day. It's going to be much harder than simply filling containers."
Adrian nodded as he ate, feeling more grounded now that food was in his stomach. "I'll do what I can. Just don't expect me to fill an entire pond."
Lina, seated across from him, rested her chin on her hand and watched him with that same playful gaze. "Nobody is expecting that from you. This isn't the work of some grand mage. Just do what you can~"
Elena's hand tightened slightly around her spoon. She shifted closer to Adrian until their thighs pressed together beneath the table, a silent claim. Her golden eyes flicked toward Lina with a clear warning before returning to her food.
Mara either failed to notice the tension or simply chose not to comment on it. She finished eating, wiped her hands, and stood.
"Adrian, when you finish, I'll take you to the south fields and show you the irrigation system. Elena, Lina—you two stay behind and clean the kitchen properly."
Elena clearly disliked the idea of staying behind again, but after a brief pause she nodded reluctantly.
"…Understood."
Lina smiled brightly. "We'll take care of it."
Adrian quickly finished the rest of his stew before standing up. He gave Elena a small reassuring glance before following Mara outside.
The moment the door closed behind them, the atmosphere in the kitchen changed completely.
Elena slowly turned toward Lina, the calm look she had worn during breakfast disappearing entirely.
Lina, who had started gathering the empty bowls near the washbasin, paused briefly before looking back at her.
"Should we start cleaning?" she asked casually.
"Stop flirting with him," Elena said immediately.
Lina blinked once.
"With Adrian," Elena continued coldly. "Stop smiling at him like that. Stop trying to get close to him."
A faint smile appeared on Lina's lips.
"So that is what this is about."
Elena crossed her arms tightly beneath her chest.
"Yes. He is my boyfriend," she said firmly. "So stop acting familiar with him."
Lina rested one hip lightly against the table, looking far more amused than threatened.
"You keep saying that," she replied. "But from my perspective, he looks more afraid of you than attached to you."
Elena's expression darkened immediately.
Lina continued before she could respond.
"You act more like some jealous guard dog than a wife or a lover " Her smile widened slightly. "Are you sure you are not just a violent girl forcing him to stay beside you?"
The room suddenly felt colder.
For a moment Elena simply stared at her.
Then metal flashed.
Lina's eyes widened as a sword suddenly appeared in Elena's hand before slamming into the wooden floor beside her foot with a loud crack.
The impact startled her enough to make her body stiffen instinctively.
For the first time since the conversation began, the amusement on her face faltered.
Elena stepped closer, one hand resting calmly on the sword's hilt while her golden eyes stayed fixed directly on Lina.
"I am warning you seriously," she said quietly. "So do not test my patience."
The pressure in the room became suffocating.
Lina remained silent for a moment before slowly straightening herself again. To her credit, she recovered quickly despite the obvious shock from earlier.
"You just proving my point." she muttered.
Elena did not deny it.
For several seconds the two women simply stared at each other across the kitchen.
Eventually Lina sighed and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear.
"So are you planning to glare at me all morning," she asked casually, "or are you finally going to clean yourself properly?"
Elena's expression twitched slightly.
Lina gestured vaguely toward her.
"As a girl, not cleaning yourself properly is pretty bad," she added teasingly. "Especially if you start smelling bad. He might run away from you."
For a moment Elena continued holding the sword.
Then, with a faint metallic sound, the blade vanished back into the storage ring.
The pressure in the kitchen eased slightly.
Lina watched her carefully for another second before turning toward the hallway.
"Try not to stab me before lunch," she said lightly.
Elena narrowed her eyes again but said nothing.
A few moments later, the two women headed deeper into the house while outside Adrian followed Mara along the narrow dirt paths stretching between the fields. The morning sunlight spread warmly across the farmland, illuminating rows of green crops swaying lightly beneath the wind.
Now that he was paying closer attention, Adrian realized Mara's land was not the only one being worked this early.
Other villagers were already outside.
Some carried farming tools over their shoulders while others pushed small wooden carts filled with supplies. A few people were checking the irrigation trenches running between sections of farmland, carefully pouring measured amounts of water into crystal holders connected to the channels.
The moment Adrian noticed that, his attention lingered there slightly longer.
Even the way they used water felt controlled.
Careful.
Nobody wasted even a single drop.
As he walked beside Mara, several villagers glanced toward him with obvious curiosity before quickly returning to their work. News about yesterday had clearly spread faster than expected.
Mara eventually slowed near a wider section of farmland before stopping completely.
"This side is ours," she explained, gesturing toward the long rows of crops stretching ahead. "Compared to filling containers, watering the fields properly is much more difficult."
Adrian looked across the farmland.
"Yeah," he admitted. "I was wondering about that."
Throwing water balls into storage containers was one thing, but there was no realistic way he could stand in the middle of the fields tossing them everywhere all day. The impact alone could probably damage the crops.
Mara seemed to understand his concern immediately.
"You do not need to water the crops directly," she explained. "We use irrigation trenches."
Adrian glanced downward, finally paying proper attention to the shallow channels dug carefully between the crop rows.
Mara pointed toward several crystal holders fixed near the beginning of the trench system.
"Normally, we place filled water crystals there," she explained. "Once activated, the crystals slowly release the stored water into the channels, and the trenches carry it through the fields."
Adrian crouched slightly, studying the setup more carefully.
"So the water just spreads naturally through the trenches?"
Mara nodded.
"Yes. The real problem is obtaining enough filled crystals. Even small ones are expensive, and larger ones are not easy to buy regularly."
Her hand rested lightly against one of the empty holders.
"But with your magic, we no longer need to buy filled ones anymore," she continued. "If you can fill empty crystals directly, we can simply reuse them."
Adrian looked toward the crystal holders again before another thought crossed his mind.
"How much water can one crystal hold?" he asked.
"Around fifty liters," Mara replied. "To properly manage all these fields for a month, I would need around two hundred fully filled crystals."
Adrian stared across the farmland again.
Then he started doing the math in his head.
If filling one crystal with fifty liters already took him over an hour, then filling two hundred of them would take at least a month.
His expression twitched slightly.
Suddenly, the payment Mara had offered did not feel nearly as worthwhile as it had yesterday.
At that point, this was less a simple farm job and more long-term forced labor disguised as helping the old lady.
Authors note : I feel like the story is going into the Slice of life direction which I really do not like need to do something serious but don't have time to think about a proper plot . I should just continue till I get enough chapter and then rewrite them . as planned I converting into a proper light novel format. 🤨