**Early Spring**
In the beautiful little village of Palo Verde, far from the major cities of the empire and without any particular points of interest, a magnificent clear sky decorated the scene. Barely visible clouds hovered in the distance against a pristine blue background. A radiant and intense sun illuminated the farming lands with its warm light, not overwhelming but not ideal for those working the fields, though the crops appreciated its caress. The small village could exist without any concerns about the eternal rivalry between their empire and the kingdom of Zark.
A small rural village dedicated to cultivating the fields, like an emerald prairie stretching as far as the eye could see. There was no wealth to speak of, no comforts, no extravagances, but there wasn't a single person in the village without a smile.
With only a tiny forest on the side, from which the village obtained its wood, there was no need for more, not for such a small population of no more than thirty families. Two or three dozen houses, arranged beside the fields, with a well in the center for drawing water. The people of Palo Verde didn't need much—a good day's work in harmony with nature's gifts and their lives were complete.
The village lived on what it produced, which didn't amount to much wealth. Such goods weren't very suitable for trade, not when nearly every corner of the empire was filled with fertile lands and people willing to work them. Agriculture and livestock, though not highly remunerative, offered a comfortable and accessible way of life. Without hunger, even in winter, and facing no particular dangers, the people were happy with the few coins they earned annually.
To be honest, not all needs are met by growing your food. Goods from blacksmithing, textiles, or other artisanal works are also indispensable for life, even if not luxuries. These were of interest to the people of Palo Verde, though even then, their need for them wasn't something they couldn't satisfy.
While the empire demanded tribute and taxes from villages, it was different with this particular village. As long as the village cultivated a couple of herbs for the empire and delivered them entirely as tribute, there was no need to pay further taxes. Strange as it seemed, the empire was quite strict about those two herbs, which appeared to be best suited for the region's soil.
The empire placed no irrational requirements on production volume. As long as there were herbs on the agreed date, no one in the village could recall a single instance of trouble with the person sent by the empire to collect them. With virtually no taxes to pay, everything the village produced, besides the herbs, was for themselves. The people of Palo Verde were happy.
Summer Breath Herb and Iron Herb. These were the two herbs the empire required them to cultivate. Unusual herbs by common standards, as they did things ordinary herbs didn't. While the villagers didn't know much about them, they had learned a lot through practice and the teachings of previous generations.
The Summer Breath Herb, for example, emitted a faint warmth similar to being under the summer sun, hence its name. The Iron Herb, on the other hand, was quite passive, its unique trait being how hard and inflexible it was—a trait to be careful of when harvesting. Additionally, the empire rewarded the village if they managed to produce or find a magical variation of the assigned herbs.
Beyond their unique characteristics, these plants had another special trait that the villagers didn't notice until a very special girl pointed it out. For some reason, these plants attracted fertility or somehow enriched the soil in which they were planted.
She was the village's favorite child, their little jewel, their pride and joy. As long as it wasn't excessive, she could do whatever she wanted in the village. Although not a scholar or an expert in herbology or anything similar, she seemed to have a gift when it came to cultivating. The villagers firmly believed she was blessed by the Mother Goddess, goddess of the sun and life, which explained her gift... and her beauty.
It was as if someone had taken a piece of the sun and spun it to create the golden curls adorning her head, forming almost a halo around the girl that made her look otherworldly. Her sapphire blue eyes were like the purest, most beautiful, and brightest piece of the sky watching you. Like two precious gems, her eyes were filled with boundless dreams, curiosity, and an appreciation for life's mysteries—something that only reinforced the belief that she was favored by the gods.
Her smile was even brighter than her almost celestial halo. The young girl, barely fourteen years old, didn't have an exceptional figure, but it wasn't necessary. Simply put, there were no words to describe her beauty.
Being the one who discovered how to use these two plants to increase the fertility of the field, the young girl dedicated herself to their collection, thus clearing the field while the rest of the village prepared to start planting this spring. This was due to the life cycle of the herbs the empire tasked the village with cultivating. Other farmers merely watched the girl from a distance while they worked in another section of the fields. It might seem excessive to give the girl such a large task, but she had insisted on it.
With her young age and small body, the girl didn't make much progress, but no one could take away the joy and happiness she felt in harvesting the fruits of her labor. The actual crop given to the kingdom was planted in a separate area of the field, more for what the girl had discovered, to prepare the soil for planting. The magical richness of the plant allowed almost anything to be planted afterward, without restrictions or conditions of climate or proximity. The only rush to finish the harvest was before the planting festivals, and even for that, there was time, so the village just let her be.
Now she had dirty boots, her dress splattered with mud, and her tender hands full of soil. She wiped the sweat from her forehead without realizing she only made herself dirtier. It would be disconcerting to see such beauty working in the field, but the smell of fertile soil, the foliage, and the humidity surrounding the girl somehow made her look more alive, happier, and more radiant. She was the sweetest girl that ever existed. It was as if she was beyond greed or whims.
She was beautiful, beyond age, race, and gender. She was beautiful, beyond lust, greed, and obsession. She was beautiful to the point of transcending what should be possible for mortals. Her kindness was something that could weigh on the shoulders of those who received it. There wasn't a single soul in the village who didn't love the girl with all their heart.
This had somehow created its own problems, especially in recent years, as the girl approached the appropriate age for marriage. The girl's mother had already gone through a lot to raise the girl alone after her husband's death almost ten years ago, and the idea of giving her away in marriage brought no joy to either the mother or the village.
No one seemed worthy of her beauty and kindness; no one seemed worthy of the village of Palo Verde's favorite daughter. So no one had dared to bother the girl with such matters; the last thing they wanted was to cause her any worries. Even her mother rarely heard about the topic.
When the sun reached its highest point in the blue sky, with her gift for cultivation and a creative mind from which everyone had benefited, the girl continued harvesting her section of the field with dedication and pride. She knew very well how to differentiate the magical plants from their variations and how to harvest them safely. The iron heart herb, for example, was commonly cut when interacting with it. But the kingdom paid a lot for them.
The girl stopped, securing the large basket she carried. "Very well, today I've already harvested three-quarters of the iron herb, and I even found an iron heart herb. If I remember correctly, the empire raised the reward for this one to thirty silver coins."
The girl's voice was as soft as velvet; there was no other voice that could better accentuate her beauty. There was a clear childish tone in her voice, but there was also a serenity that pervaded both her voice and her behavior. This serenity was like an aura emanating from her, combined with the clear joy on the girl's face, seeing her gave you unparalleled peace, as if there could be no problem that couldn't be solved.
"This is the seventh iron heart herb I've found this year, which adds up to a reward of two hundred and ten silver coins, and the village agreed to give me a tenth of the reward, which would amount to..." said the young girl with a big smile, even as she paused for a moment to calculate the total amount she would receive for her efforts.
The peculiar thing wasn't that she needed time to calculate, but rather it was extraordinary that she could do it in the first place, despite the low level of education in her home. She had shown great intellect since she was young, had learned to read and write in a short time, and now excelled in mathematics even better than her mother, who had only taught her to read and write, as well as the most basic mathematics, something her mother had learned from her grandfather, who used to be the village mayor decades ago before he died.
Part of the reason she was so excited about her earnings was precisely that her intellect, combined with her natural fascination and curiosity, led her to desire all kinds of knowledge. But in a place like the village of Palo Verde, knowledge could only be acquired from travelers who told stories or from books brought by occasional traveling merchants, and such things were more expensive than clothes or food.
With a smile full of joy, the girl calculated the summer harvest earnings, eager to get her hands on that precious knowledge that had eluded her the previous year. "Hmm, twenty-one silver coins, just enough for those herbology books I wanted. Fortunately, I've already finished harvesting the summer breath herb, and it brought its own surprises. I managed to find ten fire-breath herbs among this year's harvest, and with the prices offered by the empire, I can earn forty-five silver coins from the four hundred and fifty the whole lot will generate."
The girl had discovered that the fire breath herb was a variant of the summer breath herb, it was even more intense in expressing its individuality, as the heat it emitted was quite uncomfortable in proximity. But with some practice and without fear, harvesting it no longer presented any difficulty.
But, as was characteristic of the girl, only the smallest part of her earnings was for herself. The girl wanted to buy some good fabrics for her mother, remembering that she hadn't had a new dress in years because fabrics, especially high-quality ones, were extremely expensive for the more distant villages in the southern part of the empire.
"I should also buy some iron pots and pay the woodcutters to make us a new bed. Mom has been complaining about her back lately; it must be because of how old and rickety the bed is." The girl planned, recalling the sporadic comments her mother had made in recent weeks, which, although she didn't want to worry the young girl, she paid too much attention to these things.
Almost as if she had been summoned by the girl's words, she saw her mother appear at the edge of the field. Few things made her stop working; the childish love she felt for her mother was one of them. A warm voice, though with some reproach, soon reached the girl's ears, coming from her mother.
"Alice! It's time to rest, tomorrow will be your fifteenth birthday, and we don't want you to be all tired and sore."