Foreign Land Reclamation By a Vegetable-growing Skeleton

Soon enough, Negris understood. “What? A Holy War? These are heathens?”

Negris stared at the farmers in the teleportation array, his eyes bulging in surprise. Humans, heretics in fact, were also present on the Master Plane?

“Of course there are, plenty of them. Some small countries have exceptional terrain and sturdy defenses. Their faith is steadfast and it’s difficult to convert them. These folks are Followers of the Harvest Goddess,” Saint Patri, an old friend of Silver Coin’s and the one responsible for shipping people over and explaining Anthony’s plan, chimed in.

“However, they’ve also suffered a calamity this year. They moved to the Eastern Diocese, where it wasn’t easy for the Lord to support them. After all, both the Eastern and Western Diocese were affected. If the Lord aided the heathens, his own people within the Church would dispute him,” she said.

Negris nodded in understanding. The issue with the heretics was complex. Even though the Followers of the Harvest Goddess were unharmed, aiding others in their time of need was likely to infuriate his people and lead to backlash for Anthony.

“But His Majesty doesn’t wish to see them die too. So, he’s benevolently sent people to spread rumors that we intend to exterminate all of them to avoid wasting food, causing these heretics to live in fear,” Patri said, her tone a bit incredulous every time she mentioned ‘heretics’.

It was apparent that she was the type that didn’t care much about heretics and was merely fulfilling Anthony’s orders.

“At the same time, His Majesty rallied the Church internally, announcing a Holy War against these heretics. He found a channel where one healthy heretic could be traded for a tonne of grain. So, he instructed the pious in the war not to harm the opponent’s life or body,” Patri added.

Negris burst out laughing. “What? That’s possible? Two birds with one stone, shameless Anthony!”

Patri pretended not to hear as she continued speaking, “Dyson found this trade to be profitable and demanded to be involved, but was rejected by His Majesty. Dyson then asked whether the deal should not be limited to heretics. He said that even if he could exchange a person for a tonne of grain, why not exchange believers? So, His Majesty wanted me to ask you, do you want the Followers of Light?”

Negris responded with a smile, “No, Anthony again wants us to raise and take care of people for free, how shameless.”

Pretending she hadn’t heard again, Patri continued, “Then His Majesty sent people to the Followers of the Harvest Goddess to spread rumors that the Harvest Goddess was located here. Anyone arriving here could be well-fed and serve the goddess. His Majesty asked me to query if you would show a miracle for these people to misinterpret that you are the Harvest Goddess.”

“We can do that, but Ange would definitely not be so idle — Lisa, Lisa, come here, you are the best at playing these tricks.”

….

High Priest Dakwen was in despair as he eyed the sand dunes, waterways, adventurers, and all the strange beings around him. He knew he’d been duped by the Church of Light.

These people were here to trick and confuse, luring them here to face their doom. There’s no way the Harvest Goddess could have left her footprints in this desolate world, right?

As a priest of the Harvest Goddess, Dakwen’s faith was unwavering, and he would happily give his life for the Goddess without hesitation.

However, this year, for some unknown reason, the goddess did not bless them, and their land did not yield a bountiful harvest. Could it possibly be that the Harvest Goddess had abandoned them?

For ordinary believers, faith cannot be eaten. Hungry as they were, they felt no god was effective. Under their influence, Dakwen had followed them and escaped to the land of the heretics.

The state of affairs for the heretics didn’t seem to be any better. Rumors of them being wiped out were spread, then it was said they’re being traded for foods. In the end, the rumor had become: the Harvest Goddess offered food to exchange for these devout believers.

Dakwen scoffed at the idea. If the Goddess really wanted to swap these believers, why not directly communicate with this high priest? Why involve heretics as the mediator?

But did Dakwen have a choice? No. The only thing he could do was to tell everyone that he would go and look for the goddess first, then return to inform them.

If he doesn’t return, they must not step into the teleportation array, better to fight the heretics than enter the array. At least then they would die on the Master Plane, their bodies becoming nutrients for the ground.

Of course, he also held a slight glimmer of hope. What if the rumors were true?

Alas, any trace of hope seems to have completely shattered. In this barren world full of infertile sand, how could the Harvest Goddess have left her footprints?

Just as Dakwen was indecisive about whether he should simply keel over right then and there, a long chain of gelatinous panels, each sprouting rice stalks, slowly sailed past him in the waterways.

On the first panel stood a young woman, clad in a green dress, her complexion fair and beautiful, sharing a resemblance with the Harvest Goddess herself.

As the panel glided past Dakwen, the lady flew up and floated before Dakwen and the others. Holy radiance shone from her, a loving smile adorning her face as she slowly said, “You’ve arrived.”