Chapter 3 - The Farm in Irtatt
Because she had gone to sleep so early last night, Lucita drowsily opened her eyes just as the horizon was showing the first pale light of dawn.
She tidied her bedding and drew a bucket of water from the well by the door to wash up. The well water in the early morning was bone-chillingly cold. When it touched her skin, she shivered, and her whole body snapped awake from her drowsy state.
There were many things to do today. Having arranged for Javena and the others to come help tidy the yard in the afternoon, Lucita decided to go buy some grain and daily necessities in the morning, and take the opportunity to explore this small town.
Also... she looked at her clothes resignedly.
She had worn this riding outfit to work all day yesterday and had sweated a lot. The clothes were already dirty. But when she arrived here, she had only brought a small trunk with no daily necessities or change of clothes whatsoever. The wardrobe in the house, apart from bedding, was completely empty. All of these things needed to be acquired.
The trunk she'd brought contained a money pouch filled with thin silver coins about the size of fingernails. There were roughly over a hundred of them. The front was engraved with a crown, the back with crossed swords and a shield.
She guessed these should be currency, but wasn't clear about their purchasing power, so she simply grabbed a handful of silver coins into her pocket.
The first stop was the mill situated by the river.
The Valen River originated in the mountains to the north and passed through the northwest part of the town. The mill was located at the foot of the mountain along its course. Borrowing from a steep slope, large blocks of dark, sharp rock jutted out from the riverbed. Clear water splashed, and the water wheel turned slowly. In front of the mill was a small unfenced vegetable garden surrounding a stone house in the middle.
The mill owner, Aurora, was a middle-aged woman with blonde hair and blue eyes, tall and thin in build, wearing a white apron with some flour stains on it. Seeing Lucita arrive, she stopped her work and raised her eyebrows slightly: "An outsider?"
"Hello, I'm Lucita from Sandy’s family. I just came back yesterday," Lucita ventured. "Auntie Aurora, do you remember me?"
"Oh, I remember." Aurora seemed to realize, untying the dirty apron from her body and saying warmly: "In the blink of an eye you've grown so much. You're back to stay this time?"
"Yes, I've already registered my residence with Mayor Javena. I'll be living here long-term from now on, so I need to get some things." She held out a silver coin: "Auntie, do you accept this kind of silver coin?"
"Javena, tsk." Aurora let out a cold laugh and took the coin to look at: "These are silver coins from outside, right? I do accept them. Sometimes outsiders come to town. These silver coins are different from the ones we mint ourselves in town, but the silver content is about the same, so they circulate the same way."
It seemed Aurora and Javena didn't have a good relationship.
Lucita speculated, while saying: "I'd like to buy some flour and vegetables, and also oil, sugar, salt, honey, cheese. I'd like a bit of all kinds of spices. How do you price your goods here?"
"Flour is two silver coins per bag. Green vegetables and spring radishes are six copper coins per pound, buy two pounds and I'll take off two copper coins, so it's just one silver coin total. Things with lower yields like endive, luo flowers, peas, and asparagus are two silver coins per pound. But it's not the season for luo flowers and peas right now. Would you like some fruit? I have mulberries, cherries, and strawberries, two silver coins per pound. Salt, sugar, honey, and milk are two silver coins per pound. Butter and cheese are a bit more expensive, three silver coins."
"As for spices, the price differences are quite large. Leeks, wild ginger, and coriander are also three silver coins per pound. Black pepper, marjoram, basil, bay leaves, cloves, these are ten silver coins, which is one gold coin per pound. Of course, one pound might be too much. I can sell them by the ounce, one silver coin per ounce."
Taking into account that Lucita had just arrived, Aurora quoted prices very carefully, and concluded: "If you don't have money right now, you can put it on credit and pay me back after spring passes and you have a harvest."
"Thank you, but I still have some savings," Lucita politely declined. After careful consideration, she bought a bag of flour, a pound each of oil, salt, sugar, and milk, an ounce each of various dried spices that was non-perishable, packaged in small jars, but didn't buy any vegetables or fruits that required freshness.
Hefting the weight of these items, one pound was about the weight of one liter of milk, and one ounce was one-tenth of a pound.
Her house wasn't organized yet, so she had no leisure to cook for the time being. Therefore she only bought some supplies that wouldn't spoil easily to store first. She had no memories and didn't even know how to bake bread. When the time came, she would probably need to consult that book "Bread Baking Techniques" in the study, or ask Javena for advice, learning and applying it on the spot.
These purchases cost her twenty-three silver coins and six copper coins in total. Aurora gave her four copper coins in change.
The copper coins were about the same size as the silver coins, but engraved on them was a sword wrapped with flowering vines—the same symbol she'd seen on the carriage yesterday. Perhaps it was the town's unique emblem.
She made a trip home first, then went to Irene's general store.
The general store was located near the town center. A wooden sign reading "General Store" hung by the door, and on the wall facing the street was a glass display window showing various cloth dolls, vases, music boxes, and wood carvings. Pushing open the door, shell wind chimes by the entrance jingled, and inside she could see several rows of wooden shelves.
Hearing the sound, Irene came out to greet her. She was a petite red-haired woman with gentle features and iron-gray eyes that seemed shrouded in a layer of mist.
Besides the sturgeon-eye lamps she'd seen yesterday, the shelves also displayed many things that felt unfamiliar to her.
She picked up a square wooden box inlaid with copper wire. Complex patterns were drawn on the surface of the box. Upon closer inspection, they were actually composed of feather silk.
"This is a message feather box." Irene's voice sounded behind her: "The feathers on it come from a bird called Kong Cui. They have a trace of dragon bloodline and possess special spatial talents. Feathers shed by Kong Cui can be used to draw spatial magic arrays, even people without magic can use them. Therefore, everyone in the whole town uses message feather boxes to pass items and information to each other."
Dragon? Magic?
Lucita whipped around, looking at Irene in astonishment. The impact of this unfamiliar knowledge felt almost tangible, and for a moment she felt somewhat dizzy.
She had a vague sense that even her former, unforgotten self would not have possessed this knowledge.
"Your mother was too playful. No matter what, she really shouldn't have taken you away with her," Irene said, seeing her reaction and sighing. "Lucita, didn't she tell you? Irttat is different from other places. We... can't be considered pure-blooded humans. It's good you came back. Otherwise, when you reach fifty, a hundred, a hundred and fifty years old, everyone around you would have aged while you still had a young face—that would be disastrous in the outside world."
"We? Auntie Irene, I don't understand." Since Irene was only telling half the story, Lucita asked directly.
"This goes back to the origins of Irttat. I can't explain it all to you in a moment. Go back and look through the town chronicles. Your house should have a copy." Irene patted her shoulder: "Afterward, if there's anything you don't understand, you can come ask me, or ask Javena and the others, that works too."
Lucita nodded thoughtfully in agreement, then asked: "Besides this message feather box, can you tell me about other things? I think I'll need them in my life, right?"
"Smart little girl." Irene smiled and walked around to the large shelf behind, pointing at a transparent glass box: "This is a frost box. The lower layer is planted with frost-heart grass, which continuously releases cold air to maintain a low temperature inside the entire box. It's usually used to preserve food."
Irene added: "Maintaining a frost box is quite expensive. Frost-heart grass needs very special nutrients. You need to supplement it with silver powder once a month, about ten silver coins' worth each time, that's one gold coin."
Good grief. Although the food preservation function was very tempting, she really couldn't afford to get one now.
Irene went on to introduce many tools involving magic or magical materials. Lucita was very tempted, but these intricately-crafted items were all very expensive.
In the end, she spent twenty-two silver coins to buy eleven sturgeon-eye lamps, just enough to fill all the lamp holders in her house. Additionally, she bought some daily necessities like towels, soap powder, fire pith for starting fires, a kettle, and so on, spending another ten silver coins.
She jingled her pocket. The silver coins were already reduced by half compared to when she first went out this morning. Thinking about how she still needed to buy clothes and some vegetable seeds, she reluctantly gave up on the message feather box and said goodbye to Irene.
When she walked out carrying a large package, the sun was already high in the sky.
She made a detour to Garcia's seed shop.
Before reaching the seed shop, she could already see from afar the small wooden house painted sky blue, the three-tiered steps in front of the door filled with bluebells and yellow primroses, the pebble wind chimes hanging by the door plaque, and the small attic window covered in creeping ivy.
She suddenly understood the praise Javena had said with eyes full of smiles when mentioning the seed shop: "a very beautiful store."
The shop owner, Garcia, was a girl about her age with two golden braids, wearing a pair of daisy hair clips. She wore a cherry-red striped shirt and sky-blue overalls, and her green eyes were like translucent gems. Her features bore some resemblance to Elsia, whom she'd met on the first day.
Lucita couldn't help but blurt out: "Elsia is your...?"
"My older sister." Garcia smiled shyly: "We look a bit alike. Are you here to buy seeds?"
"Yes," Lucita asked for advice: "My family's land has been fallow for two years. I want to plant things on it again. I don't know what would be best to grow in this situation, what would survive easily?"
Garcia thought for a moment: "At this time of year, for a first-time planter, grow some peas. They can nourish the soil, are relatively hardy, and mature quickly. Or radishes and greens would work too."
Lucita asked a few more questions and, following Garcia's suggestions, spent two silver coins to buy some pea seeds.
Then she stopped by Elsia's tailor shop on the way. Probably due to the two sisters' relationship, the tailor shop and seed shop were very close to each other. When she entered, Elsia was weaving cotton cloth at a loom.
Actually, very few people in town bought ready-made clothes. Usually everyone bought fabric and made their own clothes, unless they occasionally needed formal wear for celebrations.
Therefore, Elsia seemed very happy that someone was buying ready-made clothing. She held up garments one by one, comparing them against Lucita's body, muttering as if she were creating some kind of artwork: "This one is too loose, lacks energy; this color doesn't match well; that water-green shorts are okay... No light colors, they get dirty easily? That's true, then these brown cargo pants? No good either, you already have brown pants..."
After satisfying Elsia's desire to dress her up, Lucita bought a deep blue pocket shirt and a pair of primrose-yellow pants at a twenty percent discount. Elsia also gave her a sun hat as a gift.
Elsia was still chattering: "This primrose yellow is my proudest dyeing achievement, so soft and natural. The sofa at your house is this color too. Little Sandy asked me to dye the upholstery fabric back then..."
Little Sandy?
Lucita looked at Elsia's young face with mixed feelings. She opened her mouth wanting to ask how old she was, but felt it wouldn't be polite. She swallowed the words on her lips and decided to go back and properly read the town chronicles in the study.
Leaving the tailor shop with both host and guest satisfied, Lucita stopped by Aunt Teresa's bakery and bought two long loaves of bread and a piece of cocoa cake, returning home with a full load.
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