A Single Mother's Farm of the Gods
Chapter 163: Autumn, The Beginning of the Fall

Chapter 163: Autumn, The Beginning of the Fall

The winds start to get colder now and the leaves of various trees are slowly transitioning from green to brown. People are starting to chop down some trees so that they have firewood to use, and other people are starting to prepare their storage rooms to prepare for the upcoming cold season fully. Yes, autumn has finally arrived.

This is the busiest period of everyone’s lives, not only the humans but animals as well as they are preparing to enter the state of hibernation by the time the winter starts rolling around and it is also the time when many people are beginning to grow crops in bulk before storing them for good during the winter. In other words, the season for preservation.

Elaina woke up much earlier than before. Her morning sickness has slowly disappeared as her belly grows in size. As suggested by the doctor, she has to take her morning walks as an alternative to any workout. It’s only yesterday since the summer ended but the transition of the season is way quicker and way more noticeable in the Darcero Kingdom compared to when she was in Luminiera Kingdom. The latter has a slow transition in that the beginning of the autumn season is still hot while here in the Darcero Kingdom, the wind blowing is already cold and it seeps through the bones the chilling temperature it brings.

Still, a new day is a new day. Even with the new season coming in, that doesn’t stop Elaina from working. Now that it is the season for preservation, the more Elaina needed to start growing her new crops.

Just like many farmers, Elaina is eyeing growing some wheat as during the winter, Wheat will become one of the valuable resources as it is the fastest to grow out of all the crops that grow during autumn. Some wheats grow during spring and winter but the current seeds available that are on the Ledger and the market are wheats that only grow during autumn and early winter.

It is one of the seeds that she will be going to ask the Feys to plant. However, Elaina is not focusing on that one as she decided to focus on the grapes. However, the grapes she got are not the grapes that are normally bought in stores but the ones on the ledger. It is a variant of grapes that fully grows in 10 days and gives fruit every 5 days onwards. It might seem cheating to the other farmers but compared to other farmers that’s how it is, she doesn’t abuse it, but she does use it.

"Morning boss!" Poe waved at Elaina as she passed by with the Fey family as she circled the fields for her morning walk and inspection.

"Morning everyone. Have you guys already started the work or are you guys still doing the preparations?"

"We are already working on it, boss. Currently, we are still determining the quality of the soil at the moment whether we need to put more humus or not. Some of them needed to have some mixes to ensure the quality and nutrients of the soil did not run out," Bam explained as he pointed to both his son and daughter who were inspecting and mixing the soil before tilling them again.

"I see. Then keep up the good work. Don’t work too hard now," Elaina reminded them.

"Yes, Boss!"

As Elaina continued to walk around and inspect the changes in the surroundings, the gates clanged as the voice of Curaj rang outside. Elaina then opens the gates and the Halfling arrives, wearing a jacket. From the looks of it, he newly bought the jacket and perhaps one of the things he bought from his salary.

"Good Morning, Boss Elaina!"

"Morning, Curaj. Seems like you are in good spirits today," Elaina smiled as the young man entered the farm.

"Yes. Thanks to the advance wage I received, I finally got a good lodging to stay for the night and I could finally feed myself and buy some of the things I needed. I greatly appreciate the help, Boss!" Curaj enthusiastically revealed.

"You earned it yourself, so no need to be thankful. If you work like before consistently, you will surely receive a good wage as well so it is natural that your wage is big."

"Even so, just having this job is something that I only dream of. So, I think that I still need to say thank you for accepting me for this job."

"Alright then. Now, go and get ready to begin your day. Lots of work to do early in the morning."

"Yes!"

Elaina likes the energetic vibes that Curaj is giving. Perhaps because he is a half minotaur which is why he likes to work a lot. She doesn’t know much about Halflings but perhaps that is one of the main reasons, so she gave up thinking about it and moved on.

The surroundings have changed and although the transition is a lot faster than she expected, Elaina doesn’t hate it, she loves it especially since in the Luminiera Kingdom, once autumn begins, no one can tell it has started without looking at the calendar and the dates due to the summer vibes remaining. Here, only 24 hours tick by, and the changes are already noticeable in the eyes of many.

As she continued to walk around, Elaina noticed a few mushrooms growing on the ground and a few fallen nuts on the ground. Elaina looked up and realized that one of the trees that were just at the edge of the farm and the gates to the forest was a Hazelnut all this time. The mushrooms, based on the Almanacs, this mushrooms are edible and can be sold for a good price as well.

"Well, looks like it is indeed the time when most plants and trees bear fruits for people to receive. If the Hazelnut trees here and somewhere else around the forests are all full of fruits, then this is going to be a great time of the year."

As a result of the discovery, instead of Elaina walking around to continue her walk, she was interrupted by her discovery of the Hazelnuts and mushrooms. As a result, instead of having a full circle around the farm, she completely forgot about her walk and instead, started collecting the Hazelnuts and mushrooms she found.

By the time Elaina realized it, it was already lunchtime and even the others were already taking a break. Realizing this, Elaina remembered that she had yet to cook anything for lunch due to her being occupied with gathering the Hazelnuts.

"Oh my goodness, I got so absorbed from doing the gatherings I didn’t realize it was lunchtime already. No wonder I already felt hungry."

Elaina rushes to return to the farm when she hears the familiar bell ringing once again. The Wandering Merchant has arrived once again at the farm. Although he didn’t appear in a few months, Elaina thinks that there are reasons this guy is missing for a few months like he always does.

But Elaina decided to ignore the Wandering merchant for now and visit him later. For now, she should quickly make her way to the kitchen and prepare for lunch. Thankfully, Elaina has already set up a few items she needed to cook for lunch. She just needed to cook it to finalize everything.

Thankfully, Julia understood what happened and was more than happy to see a lot of mushrooms and hazelnuts in the basket that Elaina filled them with. So she understood why she was late.

"Well, it didn’t matter much, Sis. You don’t need to apologize for being late. Everything is fine."

"It’s not fine for me to neglect cooking. So I needed to apologize for the delay. Thankfully, it’s just you at the moment and not with Princess Margaux," Elaina sighed.

"Speaking of Princess Margaux, did you receive anything from her?" Julia asked.

"None that I can think of? No updates either," Elaina frowned.

"That’s strange, shouldn’t she be returning soon? I heard that she plans to reconcile and talk to her parents about her reasons but for some reason, I am getting worried," Julia said as she pulled out the letter that Princess Margaux left before she left.

"Perhaps something happened?"

Julia can only shrug. As they don’t know what is currently happening.

...

...

...

While Elaina and Julia are wondering what happened to Princess Margaux, the latter is currently undergoing something that requires intense focus on herself as she is currently facing a battle of her own.

"Sis, do I need to do this? I hate the guy in every possible way! And his family! Those guys are the worst!" Princess Margaux complained to Princess Tabatha who is currently helping her with her hair ornaments as they are currently styling her out.

"What can you even do? As much as you try to oppose what Father wanted, it seems that your fate of marrying that guy is the only possible way for you."

Princess Margaux grits her teeth. If not for the help that the royals received from the family of her fiancee, then she would not be forced into this matter right now. However, it seems these people are requesting Princess Margaux to marry their son as a way of repayment for everything.