Another Harvest

By the time that I had completely milked the Wolfkin and drank down her cream, the sun had already reached halfway towards its zenith, leaving us with barely enough time to do everything that we wanted to do today, especially if we wanted to be efficient; I was a tad irritated with myself for putting Crima out of commission for a few minutes and giving her a sufficient 'debuff' to her abilities for today, but...

Honestly, I would do it again without hesitation, that thrill that came alongside her long ejaculation being more than enough of a reason to milk her again and again like that no matter what, and so I decided that she could take her time getting outside as I left her on the table, naked and entrenched in her bliss.

Pulling on my shirt and red pants, I donned my denim overalls and grabbed my tools before heading outside, where the sun was shining and heating up the entire mountain with its bright rays.

It was a warm, breezy day, and as I readied my sickle and placed a large tub beside the field, I got to work harvesting the various shoots of wheat and filling my storage containers with one of the many kinds of gold that made the world go round; it might not be worth its weight in real gold, but it was still needed by everyone for a healthy diet and for many other things, so I took pride in my work as I gradually harvested the entire field.

Each slice of the sickle through the stalks of wheat, followed by the need to use my gloves and spade to dig up the roots and prepare a small well to be utilized again was straining work, but it was good work; honest work.

This was how I was going to make my living for years to come, and while many people in the cities viewed farming as a dirty, bland job that they never wanted to do, I was more than happy to ensure they had food on their tables even if they never personally thanked me or even viewed me as an 'equal'.

Many people thought of farmers and Ranchers as lower than themselves for doing something so primitive and dirty, but we were the ones who kept them fed and made sure they could do the things they wanted; after all, who was going to mine if there was no hearty loaf of bread waiting for them back on their dining table?

Who was going to crunch the numbers to ensure the economy was doing good if they were distracted by the grumbling of their stomach?

This was a job that did so much for the world, and while it wasn't given its due flowers all the time, we didn't care for that; we wanted to be appreciated, yes, but more often than not we wanted to be left alone and allowed to do our jobs without needing to see those people, and that was what I loved about being a Rancher.

I only needed to communicate with merchants and other Ranchers most of the time, and occasionally I would need to talk to Guild and Government representatives about various things, like my taxes or the current situation in the surrounding area; otherwise though, I was on my own, doing whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted.

These thoughts made harvesting the wheat easy, and I had filled up two separate kinds of containers with different things; the first had the top half of the wheat, which contained the heads, whilst the other had the lower half and the roots, which would be made into compost fertilizer.

Crima came out about a quarter of the way through the harvesting of the wheat, looking slightly drained and tired but extremely content as she took up the hammer and nails, getting to work building the large compost bin and preparing it for use now that we were harvesting a lot of things at once.

This distribution of labor without needing to speak was excellent, and as I made my way over to the corn next I grew happy once more; they weren't as well 'evolved' as the wheat had been, but the husks were a verdant emerald color, and when I peeled it away, another form of 'gold' glittered beneath the green leaves.

Lots of kernels there too, maybe more than usual, but they weren't extremely large or more bountiful than normal; still though, they were healthy and fat, ready to feed my growing Ranch and provide us with even more nutrients.

They were a good step in the right direction though, as were the potato plants, which weren't ready just yet but were close; the flowers were still budding on the top, but they were a vibrant purple and much larger than I remembered, so perhaps that was some good news as well..?

I would certainly take that in addition to the wheat, especially since I could fill bellies easier with potatoes; they were heavier and easier to work into being a staple compared to wheat and corn, albeit just barely.

Going from each portion of the field to the next took time, and the sun was starting to beat me down as it reached its zenith before slowly descending, its rays harshening a tad and making me sweat, though all that meant was that the bath tonight would be absolute bliss...

Harvesting obviously took more effort than planting, so I went back and popped a seed into each well of soil I had made, patting them down and watering them before I could forget where they were, preparing the field for the next yield.

Out here, with the mana rich soil, I didn't need to worry about sapping too many nutrients from the soil, so long as the things I planted weren't of either a different mana type or were magical crops, which could require a large quantity of mana to grow.

Currently though, I didn't have anything like that to grow - besides the Sangroot that Lady Von Goldiue wanted me to grow, but that wouldn't be until I could guarantee it would receive all of my attention and care.

I wasn't going to waste seeds that valuable or seeds that had been given to me to fulfill a request!

So until then, I was going to stick to the normal crops until I had some more hands to help me, which wasn't for another few days... but the moment I had them, things would go much smoother.