Chapter 9 - <1>
Volume 2 begins.
To those who are continuing to read, I'm sorry for being so digitally inept and changing the settings all over the place. I plan to continue writing this as the main story, so I appreciate your support.
Tushil Village, part of the Saradio Autonomous Region in the northeastern Yuresla Kingdom, is a small but prosperous village.
The reason lies in a medicinal herb called 'Arlie,' which can only be harvested in this village. This Arlie, also known as 'Goddess's Palm,' is extremely valuable. Whether due to the soil quality, Arlie is a plant that cannot be successfully cultivated outside of Tushil. In most cases, it either withers or becomes a plant with low medicinal efficacy.
On its own, Arlie is an unremarkable herb used only for flavoring stews and soups. However, when combined with other medicinal herbs, it becomes an amplifier that doubles their effects.
Most of the inexpensive medicinal herbs in Yuresla do not contain Arlie, but without exception, the expensive ones are compounded with Tushil's Arlie. Therefore, the demand for Arlie is high.
That is why the people of this village collectively own and manage a massive Arlie field. Though called a field, Arlie is a short tree. The size and shape of its leaves, as well as its harvesting method, are similar to that of black or green tea, and to the uninformed, it would look like nothing more than a tea plantation.
But what distinguishes it from tea is its harvest season. While tea is harvested from spring to early summer, Arlie is harvested in the fall. The harvest takes place when the Arlie turns red.
This red is not the color of autumn leaves at their end, but the emergence of soft, red new shoots. During the once-a-year harvest season as autumn deepens, the entire village comes out to reap the Arlie. The harvested Arlie is gathered at the village collection point, where it is dried by specialized artisans and shipped out. That's why, during this period, the small village overflows with merchants who have come to buy.
Once the harvest is over and their hands are free, the villagers all become shopkeepers, innkeepers, and restaurateurs, making a living by doing business with the many people who come to buy. And so, the villagers live warmly through the long, cold winter.
In the autumn of the 1572nd year of the Yuresla Kingdom Calendar.
A major incident occurred in this small village, which had been living its usual peaceful life. It was a beautiful, clear morning during the harvest season.
The villagers, who were about to head out for their daily work in the communal farm, learned that their usual peaceful morning had been shattered by the sound of the emergency bell.
The villagers who heard the bell rushed to the farm and were struck dumb at the sight.
"The… the Arlie… it's gone…!"
It was the village chief who had rung the bell. The chief stood frozen, still holding the wooden mallet for the bell, and at his feet lay a field that had been cruelly and utterly ravaged. The red new shoots of Arlie that should have been swaying softly in the wind had all vanished.
In some places, the Arlie trees were broken, and the devastation was too much to bear.
"Chief, what happened?"
A villager asked hesitantly, and the chief, his face pale, slowly shook his head.
"I don't know. I don't know, but it's a terrible sight…"
The villagers silently gazed at the farm.
For medicinal purposes, only the new shoots of the Arlie tree that have grown that year are picked, so only that part is harvested.
But in this field, every single leaf on the trees had been violently torn off. It was as if a tornado had struck this spot alone and carried all the leaves away.
"How tragic…"
No other words could be found. The villagers had lived in this land for many years, but none had ever encountered such a bizarre incident.
The village chief, finally coming to his senses, asked the silent villagers in a weak voice.
"Does anyone… know how this happened?"
The villagers, all with pale faces, shook their heads.
Who on earth had done such a thing, and why? In the first place, what kind of person could possibly harvest all the herbs in a single night?
The village chief clutched his head. The village's only industry was Arlie. Now that it had been taken, they could not survive the long winter ahead.
"What's going to happen to this village?"
Voicing the feelings of the villagers, one man dazedly asked the chief. After a long silence, the chief answered in a heavy voice.
"I don't know. The only thing I know is that things are about to get very bad."
Faced with an unchangeable reality, the villagers were at a loss for words.