A Single Mother's Farm of the Gods
Chapter 209: The Winter Drought

Chapter 209: The Winter Drought

The incident did not cancel the Harvest Festival. Although the explosion and the freezing incident happened, the situation was immediately resolved. Princess Margaux and Curaj helped the people who suffered some injuries from the ice. Although not too serious, they needed some healing. Thankfully, the healing magic of Princess Margaux seems to be enough for it.

The cooking was also halted temporarily after the flames underneath the big pot were extinguished and the entire pot was frozen in the process. Fortunately, Douglas and Marigold checked the stew and reassured the people that it could still be salvaged as long as the flames were rekindled immediately. The heaters that exploded and malfunctioned are being changed as well. In short, things are still going well so far and the festival continues. Although not as happy as before but a celebration nonetheless.

On the other hand, Elaina couldn’t help but rest a bit outside and lean on the spot on the rooftop that had not been frozen. The battle did not last long but she got exhausted very fast. Her previous endurance is very high but now, it has been reduced to normal and she will exert more force than usual. She will have to retrain her body a bit more just to return to her prime abilities. She got nerfed hard and needed to reacquire her power once again.

"Now, can you please explain everything to me? That attack earlier was devastating and if it happened below ground, the situation would be much worse than what just happened. What was that? And why do most of you seem to have some slight idea of how that monster came to be? Can you share the information?"

"[This isn’t exactly a hidden thing to the humans but it was considered as a lost history that would have changed this world to a more hostile situation where only the strong can survive and farming will not be happening."]" The God of Farming started to explain.

"What do you mean?"

"[Humans who only know this information should be the people who are directly involved in the quest of slaying the Ice Lord and the Gods who directly supported the people involved in dealing with the Ice Lord. As for the Ice Lord, he is one of those entities that are considered as ancient as the history of man. No one knows how he was born and how he came to be. One thing that we know is that he is not a god like us. He craves destruction but unlike the God of Destruction who does this to balance the world and also as an act of punishment, he does this with the intent of destroying everything without leaving anything to rebuild what was broken.]" The God of Farming explained.

The God of Fishing sighed. "[Due to his presence and his influence back then, the oceans froze every time he was near. Fishermen like me back then were in big trouble and this extended even to humans as the ocean freezing became hard enough to do anything. As for the land, winter never ceases.]"

"Winter never ceases?!"

"[Yes. We call it the Winter Drought. It is a phenomenon that occurs in winter and extends winter by almost two seasons as both spring and summer were skipped and things were always set to fall. As a result, things are always dire as the only time to even grow food is during fall it is almost time for winter once more causing things to be very hard for everyone. Even hunting is hard as well since the plants barely even grow and those plants that do grow have become resilient enough to be able to withstand winter at the expense of becoming a regular shrub rather than plants.]" The God of Farming explained. Due to his status as the God of Farming, he has the most extensive knowledge of the winter drought back then.

"But as a result of our war against the Ice Lord, we slowly retrieved Summer from his control with the help of the people that would originate the heroes today and slowly drove the army of the Ice Lord and weakening his power. But the Ice Lord didn’t want to be bested as a result. He started to do some relentless attacks. Even the heat and the flames that were given by the Sun God for men have no use as it is also getting targeted and are always being attacked by that cold. We thought it wouldn’t be able to finally defeat him until one day, the hero got fed up with the almost eternal winter and decided to finish it once and for all.]"

"So he fueled the Ice Lord and won?" Elaina is curious now as to who won the battle.

"[We have no idea as the result was not something we know. After all, the hero disappeared after the battle and the only one left on the battlefield is the corpse of the Ice Lord surrounded by monsters the same as what you fought just a few moments ago and are carrying a few essences of life and dropping them to the corpse, trying to revive the dead Ice Lord. The sword of the hero is lodged, right into the Ice Lord’s heart which means he successfully slays the Ice Lord. But the hero is gone causing his survival, unknown.]" The God of Farming seems dejected.

"[The disappearance of the hero was mourned by the populace and soon enough, we decided to pronounce him as deceased who fought and brought back peace to the land. As for us Gods, we helped the remaining heroes to clean up the Snow Men who are now trying to keep the power of their master active while also trying to revive him. With the help of us Gods, the numbers of the Ice Men were culled to zero before we ascended and sealed the body of the Ice Lord to ensure that no one else would be able to revive him again. As for the origin of the Ice Men, we suspect that they came as the remnants of the Ice Lord’s power to keep his legacy alive.]" the Goddess of Taming explained.

Elaina frowned and stood up. She has finally recovered her energy and now that the truth has been revealed, she is not sure about this matter anymore.

"If the situation was indeed the main case and those Ice Men were the minions of the Ice Lord back in the day, seeing them again here...means the Ice Lord is once again receiving sustenance and is about to return?"

"[Although we would like to say that is impossible, seeing the Ice Man just now and targeting humans means that it is indeed possible. Perhaps we are even experiencing his power right now due to the abnormal levels of snowfall even without a blizzard. Pretty alarming.]" the Goddess of Medicine answered.

"God of Farming, if the situation hypothetically returned to the same as before where only the fall season remains, does that mean we will return to the time where farming is a nonprofitable job?"

The God of Farming gave a nodding gesture(Emoji) to the chat bubble which means things are not looking good.

"No way I wanted that to happen! If the Ice Lord decided to interfere with my peaceful life of farming, I would make sure to fight him for the sake of my farm! Where can I find his lair? I will personally visit and ensure that his body will remain destroyed to the point that it will not even be capable of reviving himself!"

"[Calm down, woman. As much as I like your enthusiasm for planning on bringing down the harbinger of Eternal Winter who might be potentially alive, I forbid you on doing so.]" the God of Farming said firmly.

"What?! Why? He is threatening the situation of my farm and I don’t want to experience the situation back then!"

"[I would agree if you are in your prime form Elaina, but that is not the case, Elaina. And you are not even halfway as strong as the hero back then. With your power, you will only be a nuisance to the enemy and will be destroyed before you know it. I advise you to not bother with it right now.]"

"No way in hell I would just sit this one out. If the Ice Lord thinks he will be bringing his Winter Drought with him and incorporate it again, I will ensure that will not happen again!"

"[Dear Elaina, as much as we Gods appreciate your enthusiasm, we advise against it. You have not seen the power of the Ice Lord back then but we Gods who are not specialized in combat were not capable of dealing anything on him. If not for the hero who stood up when the time was needed, the situation would not have improved. Instead of trying to do it yourself, I suggest you ask your Grandpa and Grandma about it. Since they are the current heroes who recently succeeded the Evil Lord’s suppression, they must be strong. Perhaps they will be a better choice than you.]" the Goddess of Taming suggested.