Foreign Land Reclamation By a Vegetable-growing Skeleton

Even if we splurge on a space artifact to transport, it’s hard to contain so much. He had seen space artifacts before, and he even has one. An artifact capable of holding a cubic space is already considered high-end.

Unless they remove the protective shield and use the Teleportation Array for transport, Anthony can’t think of any way to deliver the food needed by tomorrow… which is already today.

If the food does not arrive today, they will be too weak from hunger to dare to leave tomorrow. Every hour that passes each night increases the difficulty of breaking out. It’s uncertain whether they should listen to the unreliable boss’s words. If the food can’t be delivered on time, they will all be doomed.

One of his men ran in with a peculiar expression to report, “Uh, sir, someone is looking for you.”

“Who?! Do they have lots of things with them?” Anthony immediately stood up.

“Not many, only three people, one of them a little girl. They didn’t bring anything.” The subordinate explained.

Anthony was immediately deflated, “Don’t see them, drive them away. What kind of time is this, do people still want to get familiar? They brought a little girl, so they definitely aren’t here to deliver food.”

“But, he said the big boss sent him.”

Upon hearing the term “big boss,” Anthony swooshed out immediately.

Ange came to deliver the grains and ignored Anthony’s probing, upon confirming his identity, he asked him to find a warehouse.

Anthony gulped, they came empty-handed, for a warehouse? Can they produce the food out of thin air?

Anthony instantly thought of the Delivery Magic Circle, and couldn’t help reminding Ange, “The protective shield is up, you can’t deliver anything, can you?”

Ange tilted his head, confused. He walked into the warehouse, and after a short time came out, announcing, “Done.”

Anthony rushed into the warehouse to find it full of sacks of grain, enough for a thousand tons. No matter how they conjured it up, this ability went far beyond what he understood.

This was indeed an important person, one he must get to know. Anthony hurriedly came out, but he only saw Ange and the others disappearing in the distance.

With his mouth agape, he couldn’t deliver the words he had planned to say, only managing to squeeze out, “Uh, don’t you need an invoice?”

Nobody responded to him, as they had already walked far away.

“Alright, onto the next task. There’s a bounty from Earth Hammer, let’s find the Mercenary Guild first. The Mercenary Guild usually sets up near the entrance of the market, where there is a lot of people, definitely a Mercenary Guild.” Negris confidently stated.

The reality soon contradicted him. Due to the insect disaster, many refugees had flooded into the city, and people were everywhere. In the end, they had to ask someone to find the location of the Mercenary Guild.

Upon arriving at the Mercenary Guild, located under a huge sign, a crowd of people sitting or lying down obstructed the entrance and lobby. As soon as they saw someone coming, a slew of them rushed over.

“Boss, boss! Need a hand? Herding sheep, riding horses, hammering iron—I’ve mastered it all.”

“Boss, look at this. I’m a professional mercenary, an intermediate swordsman. I’m good at guarding and fighting, please hire me.”

“Over here, beauty treatments, grooming, and eyebrow shaping.”

“Cook, cook, top-ranking Minotaur cook. I can do anything, including carrying things, milking, roofing, guarding, fighting, grooming, and beauty treatments. Hiring me is like hiring three people.” A louder voice drowned out others’ shouts.

At the sound of that familiar boisterous voice, Little Sky, who was blocked from sight, jumped out from the crowd, waving to Vania.

“Oh, it’s you, young girl?” Vania waved her hand, pushing back all the intermediate-level swordsmen and makeup artists and clearing a path. The advantages of being a particular race sometimes can’t be compensated for, even with a lot of effort.

“Moo!” Little Angel responded.

“Moo? You speak our Minotaur language?” Vania was surprised.

“Moo moo!” Little Angel shook her head.

“Moo moo? What dialect of our clan is this? Why don’t I understand it?” Vania was perplexed.

Negris was losing patience. Letting these two keep chatting probably wouldn’t get anywhere even by tomorrow. Plus, it was troublesome to have Ange relay its words. Ange was not suited to be a ventriloquist.

Unable to hold back anymore, it spoke up, “Aren’t you a cook from the Viscount’s family? Why are you here looking for a job?”

When Negris spoke, the voice came from Ange’s body. Vania turned her head in confusion upon hearing the voice but not seeing a mouth move. It was very strange.

But in this day and age, stranger things had happened. Ange’s case could be ventriloquism, which was not strange at all. She just realized, “You were just here too. Are you the family of the little girl?”

“Yes, earlier, we didn’t get a chance to thank you,” said Negris gratefully.

“No need for thanks, we Minotaurs are the kindest, just a little favor,” boasted Vania while thumping her large chest. Her well-endowed physique jiggled with each beat.

The Swordsman and Shepherd, shunted to the side by her, didn’t see it that way and protested loudly: “Warm-hearted? You are stealing our lines!”

Vania shot them a fierce glare, instantly silencing them.

“Hold on, little girl, why are you here? Looking for work?” Vania turned back and asked warmly.

“We came to the Mercenary Guild to post a reward. What is happening?” asked Negris.

The Swordsman mercenary interjected, “The Guild leader ran off with all the reward money. Damn him, all the mercenaries in the world won’t forget this!”

Vania nodded, “That’s right, everyone has lost their job because of it.”

“What about you? Didn’t you say you were a cook for the Viscount?” asked Negris.

“It angers me just talking about it. My lord, the Viscount, not only does he not pay me any salary, he spends his entire day at home concocting some sort of pesticide. And then he has me, his cook, go out to work and make money to support him. I’m absolutely livid.” Vania spat angrily.

After her explanation, Negris had a general idea of the situation.

Vania was the cook for the Viscount family, a position held since her great-grandmother’s generation. But compared to her ancestors, the current Viscount’s family had fallen into decline. Other than a noble title, they were so poor they could barely afford to eat.

The current Viscount was a Pharmacist, always trying to concoct some unique formulas every day. But none of his potions had any appeal or could be sold, resulting in him having no income for many years. He resorted to selling household items and servants to make ends meet.

During the bug infestation, he had the absurd idea to invent a pesticide to exterminate bugs. All his wealth was spent on buying materials, to the point of not having enough for food.

Everything that could be sold was sold. Even the servants were sold off. But Vania could not be sold because for a long time, she wasn’t a servant anymore; she worked for a wage.

However, after spending so much time together, Vania’s relationship with him had evolved beyond simply employer and employee, and they were more like family. She couldn’t just watch him starve to death. If Vania didn’t look after him, the Viscount, who was completely clueless about anything other than potion making, would likely starve to death.

What to do? Find a job, of course. Hence, the Viscount’s cook was forced to work to support the useless Viscount who didn’t even pay her.

“You… you really have it rough…” Negris said sympathetically. Although Ange never paid it a salary, it hadn’t been reduced to working to support Ange. On balancing it out, it seemed it wasn’t the most pitiful one here?

Just then, Vania’s stomach let out a loud rumbling.

Embarrassed, Vania tightened her belt.

“Um, have you not eaten anything for a long time?” asked Negris.

“I haven’t eaten since yesterday, but it’s fine. I have plenty of fat to burn, going a few days without food is no big deal, consider it dieting,” Vania said nonchalantly. But her expression turned gloomy as she added:

“I just hope the Viscount had something to eat. He’s quite skinny and could easily faint from hunger. He said he wants to invent a pesticide that won’t kill bugs instantly. Instead, any bug that comes into contact with it will be infected and then go back to its colony, spreading the infection until all of them die together. I really hope his pesticide can be invented soon so that this pest infestation can end.”

At first, Negris wanted Ange to take out some food for them, but upon hearing this, its eyes lit up, “There’s a pesticide like that? That can infect the bugs and cause them to die together? That’s a great idea! It seems we need to pay a visit to your Viscount.”

Suddenly, a blaze streaked across the sky, falling at high speed. It crashed into the protective shield, causing a burst of sparks.

“Huh? A level 7 Flying Fire Meteor? Isn’t this a pest plague? Why is there a fire magic? Are wizards mixed with exterminators?” exclaimed Negris in surprise.