Chapter 48: I t Ajef
Old Farr Har hurried back to the village, carrying his iron plow with urgent steps. From afar, he spotted a group of idle n who had finished their farm work gathered at the village entrance, chatting. This sight only fueled his excitent further.
He couldn’t wait to share today’s encounter with everyone.
He was certain that his story today would make their eyes pop out in shock.
Just imagining their stunned and envious expressions filled Old Farr Har with renewed energy, and his steps beca even more brisk.
"Hey, Old Har, why are you back so late?"
Before he could even get close, soone at the village entrance already called out to him.
Looking over, he saw a crowd of villagers huddled under the old locust tree, hands tucked into their sleeves against the autumn wind, heads slightly bowed as they chatted.
Occasionally, words like "Empire," "Magistrate," and "policies" drifted over.
Truth be told, ever since the Empire’s mage lords sent people to spread the Internet Divine Technique to the village, the changes had been anything but small.
Forget distant matters—just look at the folks gathered at the village entrance now!
Before the internet, what did people even talk about when they got together?
How the widow from the west went to borrow a pot from soone again today;
How the daughter-in-law from the east threw another tantrum and threatened to leave;
How the unfilial son from the south lashed out and beat his father again today;
How the family from the north got into a fight with their neighbors over a tiny strip of land taken by a fence.
In short, nothing but trivial nonsense.
But now? Who even talked about that stuff anymore?
The news on the internet changed every single day—so varied and dazzling it left people breathless, so thrilling it made them exclaim in excitent!
From high-level shifts in the Empire’s policies;
To which noble family had been executed down to the last mber;
To the drop in grain prices in the city—
There was so much news, it was impossible to keep up.
Especially when it ca to the Empire’s policies—the adults in the village loved discussing them, acting as if they were experts brimming with wisdom.
"Har, listen to —don’t bother plowing those wastelands. It’s a waste of effort. Who knows if the noble lords will just seize the harvest when it’s ti?"
"Yeah, yeah! You’d be better off planting more winter mallow around your house instead."
As Old Farr Har approached, the villagers at the entrance offered their advice.
Old Farr Har waved his hands dismissively and changed the subject. "Hey, hey, let tell you sothing. Guess who I saw today?"
"Who? Could it be the mage lord?"
"rcenaries?"
The idle n buzzed with speculation, and one even brightened up:
"Don’t tell it’s Erni from Daga Village! I heard she’s drop-dead gorgeous!"
Old Farr Har shook his head at this.
"Co on, who was it?"
"Spit it out already! Stop keeping us in suspense!"
Seeing their curiosity thoroughly piqued and their impatient urging, Old Farr Har finally put on a mysterious expression and said, "You’ll never guess. I’ll tell you—it was Lord Ajef."
"Ajef? That na sounds kinda familiar..."
"Hey, now that you ntion it, it does ring a bell."
"Who is that?"
The villagers all wore blank expressions.
One person seed to have figured it out, his face twisting in disbelief. "Wait… you don’t an Lord Ajef, the one who developed the cold-resistant black grain?"
"That’s him!" Old Farr Har slapped his thigh, his expression both excited and proud.
He eagerly anticipated their looks of envy and jealousy.
But instead, the crowd exchanged glances—and then burst into laughter.
"HAHAHA—"
"Har, you must be joking!"
"Ajef-sama lives in Willis! Why would he co to our backwater village?"
"Exactly!"
The crowd burst into laughter, their faces full of mockery and disbelief.
Old Farr Har grew flustered.
"It’s true, I swear! He was riding in a carriage this big, pulled by two unicorn horses, with hundreds of cavalry leading the way and a whole crowd following behind!"
"When he got off, he even asked if that field was mine! He told broad-leaf winter mallow isn’t frost-resistant—once this harvest is done, there won’t be another. I even asked one of the soldiers, and the lad confird it was Ajef-sama!"
"Oh, and he’s so young! About the sa age as Er Gouzi, maybe twenty or so, with black hair, black eyes, and wearing a white robe—"
Old Farr Har babbled excitedly, gesturing wildly as if it had really happened.
"No way! Why would Ajef-sama pass through here?"
"Right, right!"
"It’s true! Why won’t you believe ?"
"Enough arguing. Why don’t we just ask online?" soone suggested reasonably.
"Good idea! Great idea!"
The villagers cheered in agreent. A literate villager imdiately summoned the internet and, after much effort, posted on the local Forum.
"No, no, you’ve got to ask on the Willis Forum! Who here would know anything?"
"That makes sense."
After so brainstorming, the villager hurriedly posted on the Willis Forum.
They expected to wait for a reply, but to their surprise, responses poured in almost instantly—even on the local Forum.
"Lucky you! You might’ve really t Ajef-sama! He’s escorting the Vias delegation back ho and just passed through our area."
"What a coincidence! I saw the Vias delegation today too, but I missed Ajef-sama! What a sha!"
"Ajef-sama does have black hair, black eyes, and is around twenty. That’s rare in the Empire! Rumor says he has a demon bloodline, with demons always by his side."
"Nonsense! Ajef-sama is a summoner mage—of course he’d have demons around!"
More and more replies flooded in.
So shared sightings of the Vias delegation.
Others debated Ajef-sama’s diplomatic mission.
A few even speculated about his unusual appearance.
The villagers were stunned.
"Good heavens, Har… you really t Ajef-sama?!"
They gaped at Old Farr Har, their faces filled with envy.
If you asked any farr in the Empire who held the highest prestige, the answer would undoubtedly be Ajef-sama!
He was the agricultural god who saved countless lives!
To et him in person—what an incredible honor!
Instantly, Old Farr Har beca the center of attention. Everyone bombarded him with questions:
How big was the convoy? How many people? What exactly did Ajef-sama say? They interrogated him relentlessly, digging for every detail.
Flushed with excitent, Old Farr Har launched into an animated retelling—even embellishing with a few fabricated details.
For example, Lord Ajef praised him for cultivating broad-leaf winter mallow so well;
He even spoke to him kindly, teaching him techniques for planting broad-leaf winter mallow and so on.
This sparked envy and resentnt among the crowd.
The atmosphere at the village entrance grew even livelier.
Until a group of hurriedly arriving peasant won not only disrupted the cheerful mood but also sent everyone's spirits plumting from heaven to hell.
"It's terrible! It's terrible! Binse and the others are lost and can't find their way back to the village!"
"What? Lost?"
"Yes, they called via voice communication, saying they were chasing a deer and accidentally ran too far. After catching the deer, they realized they were lost. Look, it's already dark—what are we going to do?!"
The peasant won stomped their feet anxiously, on the verge of tears.
Though most of the nearby beasts had been hunted down by their village's hunters, that didn’t an the forest at night was safe.
After all, many beasts, especially magical beasts, were nocturnal creatures.
They only beca active after nightfall.
Without absolute strength, spending the night in the forest was nothing short of gambling with one’s life!
"Don’t panic, don’t panic. Let ask Binse," an old hunter quickly reassured them.
He opened the internet and contacted Binse via voice communication, asking about the geographical features around them.
Unfortunately, because they had chased the deer in such a rush, Binse and the others hadn’t paid any attention to the terrain along the way.
Now that it was night, visibility was less than ten paces. Even though the internet had recently updated its lighting function, it was still impossible to find their way back.
Worse, the light might even attract attacks from beasts.
"Oh no, what should we do? What should we do?"
The won were as frantic as ants on a hot pan, pacing in circles.
"Should we go beg the noble lords to send people to search?"
"Don’t count on them. When have you ever seen noble lords rescue anyone?"
"I’ll go! I know the mountains well," the old hunter gritted his teeth and spoke up.
"No! They’re already trapped—you can’t get stuck too!" soone objected.
"This won’t work, that won’t work—so what do we do? Pray to the gods?" The old hunter’s expression darkened.
The village entrance grew even more chaotic. So elderly won, in their panic, began murmuring prayers to the only deity they knew—the Internet God.
Old Farr Har watched the disarrayed villagers, listened to the old hunter’s frustrated words, and observed the won’s prayers. When his gaze fell on the internet screen, a bold idea suddenly occurred to him.
"I have a solution!"
"What solution?"
"Use this..."
Under the hopeful gazes of the crowd, Old Farr Har suddenly pointed at the Virtual Scroll of the internet.
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