Chapter 37: 37. Greenwood Village.
Time passed, and now Austin and Legolas could see a couple of armed guards waiting in the distance.
From the look of it, the guards were clearly waiting for them, so Austin and Legolas instantly urged their horses to close the distance.
But as they did, Legolas couldn’t help but turn toward Austin to ask in a whispered tone.
"About the potion...." Legolas began saying.
"What about it?"
"Does the Countess know about it?"
"No, she doesn’t."
"Then it means this potion must have been what you said you were working on." During one of their trips to buy ingredients together a few weeks ago, Austin had informed Legolas of his desire to get something different from the usual things they would buy for brewing the stamina-enhancing potions.
"Maybe."
"And you’re handing one to me so easily?"
"Of course."
"But isn’t a potion like this supposed to be worth a fortune?" Although Legolas hadn’t used the potion yet to be certain of its authenticity, since it was from Austin himself, he had no doubt that Austin’s version would be of a higher quality than those sold in the market.
"Look, Legolas. If you don’t want it, just give it back to me."
"Huh? Of course I want it. Why would you think I’d return it to you?"
"Nah, I changed my mind. Give it back to me." Austin jokingly demanded.
"Oh come on, Austin. I thought we were friends."
"Oh, so now we’re friends, huh. Then you wouldn’t mind doing a thing or two for your good old pal Austin, right?" Austin asked with a sly grin.
Seeing that familiar grin, Legolas could already guess the number of errands Austin was preparing for him. "I knew it. This is why I really do not like you."
"Yeah, I know, and like I’ve always said, the feeling is mutual." Austin winked with a grin as he looked forward to sending Legolas on more errands in the future.
And so, with that out of the way, the two finally approached the garrison guards.
Looking at them closely, Austin noticed there were only eight of them, with the most intimidating one slowly approaching as well.
Just by looking at this particular elf, Austin needed no introduction to confirm that this had to be the commander of the guards.
"I take it you’re Sir Austin, am I correct?" Aldren asked as he extended his arm for a handshake and Austin replied with a similar gesture.
"Yes, I am."
"Then it’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Sir Austin, and let me be the first here to thank you for helping us exterminate these vile vermin from our home." Aldren muttered, and the two exchanged pleasantries.
Just by being near him, Austin could see that Aldren was a tall dark elf with an intimidating presence that spoke of the many battles he must have taken part in over the years.
The battle scar on Aldren’s face, along with the firm grip of his handshake, certainly didn’t go unnoticed.
But since the two weren’t gathered here for idle chitchat, they immediately set off toward their primary target.
And so, everyone urged their horses to move.
Now riding next to Aldren, Austin couldn’t help but ask a question that had been at the back of his mind for a while.
"Is it just us, or are there others waiting nearby?" Austin asked, wondering if their numbers would be enough to face the goblins.
"It’s just us for now, but we’re heading to the outpost to meet up with the others. Our main priority is to ambush them at their hideout, so we’ll meet up with the rest at the outpost, but before that, we’ll be making a slight detour." Aldren explained, and Austin finally noticed the two wagons behind them, each pulled by individual horses.
One wagon contained weapons and crates of potions, whilst the other was filled with fruits and grains for food.
Austin wasn’t sure what they were going to do with the latter or why they had brought it along, but he stayed silent and followed the rest of the group.
While traveling with them, Austin got to learn a lot of things.
The first was the name of Rowena’s county, which happened to be Elmfield County.
Elmfield County was a large territory made up of one town, three villages, and three outposts.
The town was called Rothenburg, whilst the three villages were called Greenwood Village, Arkgard Village, and Dustmoor Village.
As for the three outposts, they were in the most southern part of the territory, which also happened to be the southernmost part of the kingdom.
Beyond the outposts was a huge forest called Blacksand Forest, and it happened to be one of the most dangerous forests within Greymoor Kingdom.
Anyways, after traveling for almost half an hour, Austin and the group finally arrived at Greenwood Village.
Upon arriving, Austin was instantly surprised by what he saw, because the first thing he noticed was the silence.
Unlike the usual bustling sounds he had grown accustomed to in towns like Tarot Town, this village was extremely quiet.
But that wasn’t the only thing he noticed, because aside from that, Austin also noticed how the houses in this village weren’t built in straight lines like the human settlements in Tarot Town.
Instead, the houses were built in a way that had them curving around an enormous tree at the centre of the village.
The houses were mainly small and round, and many of their roofs were covered in ivy, vines, and moss.
In fact, some homes almost looked buried in the ground, whilst others looked as though they had been built around trees, with the walls of each house curved to accommodate the roots and trunks rather than cutting them down.
There were also no towering walls or merchants nearby, but seeing all of this, Austin was left short of words.
Of course, Legolas noticed his expression and offered a little explanation, letting Austin know that Greenwood Village was once referred to as home to some of the best farmers in the kingdom.
The farmlands had once been the best in the kingdom.
However, what Austin could see right now was the exact opposite.
Not only were the crops in the farmlands appearing thin, but most of them seemed to be in poor condition as well.
And this allowed him to finally understand a few things based on the memories he had acquired in his new body.
First of all, the former glory of this village that Legolas had mentioned was probably how the village was viewed centuries ago, because as far as he knew, this village and Elmfield as a whole had been dependent on imports for its residents to survive, and this could only mean one thing.
’The soil for planting wasn’t in the best of conditions unlike other soils in the kingdom.’
’It probably lacked a lot of nutrients, which prevented plants from growing properly.’ Austin pondered to himself as he noticed the walls of the houses in the village looking cracked in several places.
Then he noticed how some roofs sagged slightly, while the individual gardens of each resident looked poorly maintained and devoid of vitality.
At first glance, one would think the farmers here didn’t care about their gardens or what they were trying to plant, but it wasn’t like that at all.
The elves truly cared about their crops, but since the soil was in poor condition, they had no choice but to watch their plants struggle with stunted growth.
Anyways, Austin glanced around and noticed an elf sitting outside his house, staring into space.
Another could be seen watering what might have been vegetables, but they were barely even recognisable at this point.
Others tried watering their crops as well, but it didn’t seem to be changing the condition of the plants, even though it looked like the elves were used to watering them at least twice a day.
Seeing all of this reassured him that the reason this county had been dependent on imports for years was most likely because of the soil.
So, didn’t that mean if there was a way to heal the soil, it would revitalise the crops growing within this county?
’Hmm, wait a minute.’
’Now that I think about it, if I’m able to somehow heal the soil, won’t that mean I’ll be able to improve the lives of the elves here?’
’And if that happens, won’t Rowena be attracted to me for caring not only about her but also her people as well?’
’Oh my goodness, I’m a genius!!’
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A/N: Sighs, four Chapters I wrote yesterday got kaput and vanished out of thin air when the app I was using to write crashed yesterday. Aside from those four Chapters, all the pre-planned scenes and Chapters I had jotted down to help me stay consistent in the world building got vanished as well.
Now, I’m back to square one again.
Seriously, things just haven’t been great these past few weeks but I’m definitely going to keep writing.
I’m just using this medium to inform you guys that Chapters might be a little late than usual in the next couple of days as I try my best to pick up the pace. Thanks.
