Foreign Land Reclamation By a Vegetable-growing Skeleton

Negris’s worries were not unfounded. As soon as Vania stepped into the house, the floor immediately groaned as if about to break. When she walked up the stairs, the stair treads bent to the point of nearly snapping.

But they’d been living here for a while, and if anything was about to break, it would have by now. Surprisingly, the house handled it all stoically.

Having reached the second floor, soon, Vania came down carrying a fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl in one arm. She brought the girl to Ange and gave her a shake, saying, “She’s passed out from hunger.”

Judging by Vania’s proficient maneuvers, this wasn’t the first time someone had passed out from hunger, and more surprisingly, the Viscount turned out to be a girl. While speaking in the common human language, Vania had always referred to them as ‘he,’ leading Negris to believe that the Viscount was male.

Holding the Viscountess, Vania moved over to the water tank, about to pour water into her mouth.

Shockingly, Negris shouted, “What are you doing!?”

“Huh? Giving her water. We didn’t get any food today, so some water will have to do. Oh, I miss my mom, she could have given her some milk. We both grew up drinking my mom’s milk.” Vania’s eyes welled up as she suddenly thought about her mother.

“Er, calm down. We have food. Also, ‘he’ is for males, ‘she’ for females. Finally, are you not going to boil this water? It’s so dirty!” Negris advised.

“Really!? You have food?” Vania seemed to miss out on everything else he said.

Negris handed Vania two beet roots to sate her hunger, then looked into the water tank. Oh God, it was unbearable, “Ange, purify this water! They’ve been drinking such dirty water, it’s a miracle they haven’t had diarrhea.”

Vania, with beetroot juice all over her face, said nonchalantly, “Not worried. You’ll get used to the diarrhea after a while.” As she spoke, she pocketed the second beetroot.

Upon seeing this, Negris was taken aback. “Why hide it? Can’t you finish one?”

Other than Luther, the Beet Swordsman, and Vania’s Minotaur aunt, no one else could eat such large beetroots. Seeing that Vania is a Minotaur, Negris purposely handed her two beetroots to keep hunger at bay.

“Hehe, saving it for the Viscountess.” Vania responded with a goofy smile.

“We have more, don’t worry. We have grains as well. You are a cook, right? Go cook them.” Negris instructed Ange to bring out two bags of grains.

He had learned his lesson. The Minotaur aunt had an enormous appetite — a single bag of grain was not enough. This Vania would undoubtedly be able to eat even more.

Vania scratched her nose bashfully, “We don’t have any firewood.”

It’s not that they didn’t have any fire, the potion room upstairs had a Magical Crystal Stove which still had half a Demon Crystal left, enough for one round of cooking. But obviously, the Magical Crystal Stove was not suitable for cooking meals.

In the end, Ange cooked the meal. He astonished Vania by purifying the water in the tank with the Holy Light, washing the grains and discarding the rotten ones, then boiling them in clean water.

This was the correct way to cook rice, minus the part where you need to remove husks. But once boiled, the husked grains would burst, and all you’d have to do is bite them a tiny bit to taste the germ inside.

Those with strong teeth, like a Minotaur, could just start munching straight away. They didn’t care if the grains were hot, and within a few moments, half the bowl was empty.

The Viscountess was unconscious from hunger. They squeezed fresh beetroot juice and fed it to her. She woke up in a while. Even before she fully opened her eyes, it seemed like she smelled food. Her eyes shot open immediately.

She’s another glutton. The Viscountess didn’t even bother to greet anyone but lunged for the bowl and started stuffing her face. The other half of the bowl disappeared into her belly in a blink.

It was hard to believe that she, who was less than one-fifth the size of the Minotaur, could put away the same amount of food as Vania. But she ate too fast and ended up with a stomach ache. In the end, it was Ange who came to her rescue.

Clutching her swollen belly, Sava lay sprawled out on a chair in great relief. The warm feeling left by the Holy Light in her stomach made her not want to think about anything else. She waved her hand lazily and said, “Okay, this meal was worth everything. You can take anything you want from the house.”

Negris was taken aback. Was she treating them like trash collectors?

“Miss Potion Maker, we are here to find you,” Negris said helplessly.

“Find me?! No, I’m not for sale.” Sava jolted up, crossing her arms over her chest defensively, “I’m underage and I hold the Viscount title. It’s illegal to buy me, ow~”

Vania slapped her on the head, “What nonsense are you talking about? Lord Negris knows you’ve been developing a pesticide and think it’s a great idea, so he came to check.”

Sava clutched her head, grinning bitterly, “Vania, do you believe this? Do you know my level? Who would be interested in my potion-making level?”

Vania glanced at her, disdainfully snorted, “Nobody is interested in your potion-making skills, and do you think anyone would be interested in you the way you are?”

“Ah! You insulted me. I’ll fight you!”

It wasn’t clear what she planned to fight Vania with but she leapt at Vania, who effortlessly lifted her up with one hand.

Negris sighed. Ever since he arrived in this slum, he’d known that this potion maker would be unreliable. But she turned out to be even more unreliable than he had anticipated. How could such an underaged girl invent a pesticide that could wipe out whole swarms of pests?