The sky was dark and multiple stars covered the black canvas like a beautiful painting. Amongst all the stars, one especially stood out today. It was glowing with a reddish light that gave the canvas a vermillion hue. The village, Bulios was covered all over by the light. Not only did it slightly lighten up the night but it also provided slight warmth to the dying hopes of humanity.
The star was called 'Guide Anufa', a deity who guides the people of this planet through a cycle of 7 days or a week. Anufa would glow for about 17 to 18 hours with an interval of 7 days. The vermillion hue, also called 'Anufa's Guidance' is considered to mark the end of the week and the beginning of a new cycle.
I was roaming in that vermillion hue around the whole village in search of something very important. I've finished my half-day shift earlier today and right after having lunch, which was around 12 o'clock, I set out to wander the village. Slaves were only given two meals, lunch at noon and dinner at night. There was no breakfast for slaves.
The village was more crowded today as many people were bathing in the vermillion light. The princes, princesses and the nobles would also be roaming around the village today. But the lord would only enjoy the 'Guidance' from his palace.
'That's none of my business.'
Currently, I was moving towards the river that flowed through the village from east to west. There were many guards roaming around the river. I ignored them and moved in the west direction, towards the clothing area. It was the area where the clothes were manufactured and maintained from scratch.
The river called 'Systrus' divided the whole village, which covered an area of 100 km², into two parts: the northern part and the southern part. The smaller northern part was completely occupied by the lord and his children. The larger southern part held everything else. There was a single bridge on the river which was heavily guarded. Without permission and proper checking, no one was allowed into the palace of the lord.
In the southern region of the river, on the eastern part of the riverbank was the farming area where the farming of crops, primarily a wheat-like crop, was done. Rice or a similar crop either didn't exist here or the conditions weren't favorable for its growth. The western part of the river bank was the clothing area. In the south of the farming area, animal breeding was done and further south of which was another farming area. In this farmland, only fruits and vegetables were grown. The old man also grew the starlight fruit in this area.
To the south of the clothing area, in the south-west direction of the village, lied the quarters of the managers. Their quarters also surrounded the entrance to the village, which was to the west side of the village. The southernmost side of the village held the mine of the shiny stones.
The slaves lived in stables, industries or huts made in the farmlands. They were divided into multiple groups with one group focusing only on one task. The nobles lived in the central area of the village and enjoyed most of the profit obtained from a slave's labor.
As I was going through my memory of the village's infrastructure, I crossed through the clothing area and stood infront of a slightly damaged fence which was part of the boundary surrounding the village. With some difficulty, I moved out of the fence and exited the village.
Infront of me was a plain, grassless ground with the same length as a soccer field. Beyond the field, there was a never-ending forest. It was filled with various types of trees with various heights. The only thing common among them was their brown leaves.
After absorbing the sight, I took a deep breath and ran with my full speed towards the forest in the vermillion hue.
"Huff…Huff." Taking in heavy breaths, I was sitting infront of a medium sized tree with a black trunk and brown leaves. "Now I just need to climb the tree and I'll have my seeds."
'I came so far for the Starlight seeds.'
Actually, it wasn't just because of the seeds. This area was very lightly guarded, so I planned to do hide here for the day and have some privacy.
I climbed up the tree with some difficulty after falling a few times. Although the wound at my back wasn't bleeding anymore it was still hurting. Also, I was pretty sure that if I would do some strenuous activity, the wound would open.
After I climbed on top of the tree and hid myself into the leaves, I drank some water from my inventory and rested for a few minutes. "Okay, I've rested enough, let's check the seeds.' I moved towards a corner of a branch where a small bag was tied to it. I picked up the bag and opened it.
The starlight fruit which looked like a yellow apple with a glowing crown in a star shape actually had no seeds. The way to plant the fruit was to first extract the crown carefully without damaging it. If it was even slightly damaged, it would lose its glow and will become unusable. It was easier said than done, extracting the crown was a very difficult and intensive task which demanded precision. This was why only the old man was able to do it so fluently due to his many years of experience.
The next step was to place the stalk of the fruit into the soil with the star shaped crown facing up towards the stars. Then, just wet the soil with water and within a few hours, a new stalk will grow from each corner of the star shaped crown. Soon a cleistogamous flower would be born on the stalk and a single crown would give five new fruits. The amazing part was that it only took one or two days from planting to fruiting!
As I looked inside the bag, there were eight star shaped crowns and a handmade knife to remove the crown. I placed the bag altogether in my inventory. Nobody knows how long it has been since I smiled so genuinely!
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