"..." The silent atmosphere made Kayal extremely awkward. He felt like dying. Lately, he was truly experiencing a 'peach blossom tribulation'! Artoria was a mutual love, so she didn't count, but with Nero and this girl causing such awkwardness, for a proud man like Kayal, it was simply… "I'm sorry." Although embarrassed, Kayal was still a true man. He decisively let go of the incredibly soft, tender shoot and apologized.
"It's nothing." With a peculiar accent, the girl swept her brown long hair, not caring at all that Kayal had seen her naked. Her two adorable ears, cute enough to stop a heart, twitched, and then she giggled, "What, are you smitten with me?"
This question made Kayal very awkward. He never expected that she would, without any worldly sense, blurt out his thoughts. Completely ignoring her strange self-address "nujia" (Slave, a humble feminine self-reference), Kayal just awkwardly scratched his sideburns and readily nodded, "Yes, because I'm in my youth, so facing a beautiful naked girl, even I would be smitten."
"Eh~" She let out a surprised cry, the girl scrutinized Kayal up and down with pure eyes, finding him simply curious, "You, you're different from others!"
"Hehe, how so?" Kayal finally regained a trace of composure. With a light sweep of his sleeve, the moss on the tree root was cleared, revealing a fresh section of root before him. Lightly patting the slightly damp root, Kayal sat down on it.
"I've seen many humans." Showing no embarrassment whatsoever about her nakedness, she even spun around in front of Kayal, her beautiful hair forming a lovely circle. What caught Kayal's attention was… a tail, the same color as her hair?!
Kayal looked at her ears again, and suddenly, he had a flash of understanding about her earlier transformation.
"After those humans saw me, they were all filled with naked greed and lust, but when I asked them, I always got hypocrisy. I have to say, humans are very peculiar. Either they are very greedy towards me but hypocritical, or they completely disregard me. There hasn't been a single one like you, who is full of desire for me but directly admits it~ You are truly very peculiar!" The tail behind her swayed gently, her exquisite, jade-like body constantly tempting Kayal's nerves in the air.
"Hehe…" With a wry smile, Kayal sat on the tree root, his neck still a bit sore. He couldn't help but complain about Nero's heavy-handedness as he organized his thoughts and asked, "Um, may I ask your name, Miss?"
"My name is Holo," she said, hands on her hips, with a very proud tone, "I came from the northern forest, you see. I followed a merchant caravan all the way to this city, known as the 'City of Prosperity,' Red Leaf City. I want to see just how great this Red Leaf City truly is."
"You are… a wolf?" Kayal found it incredibly mystical. As a materialist, even though he had witnessed magic, he fundamentally treated magic as a science to be developed. In fact, after ten years of unremitting effort, his magical attainments had surpassed those of his teacher, Merlin. But even so, he still didn't believe in those supernatural things. Science originates from everything! Science bestows everything!
"Indeed~" With the cunning and beauty unique to females, the girl hugged her large tail to her chest, concealing her graceful figure and face, preventing Kayal from seeing her expression.
"Hehe…" Kayal didn't dwell on that topic. He changed the subject and asked, "Miss Holo, what do you think of Red Leaf Ridge?"
"I haven't really studied other aspects, but let me tell you my feelings about the wheat here." Holo parted the forest leaves, looking through a bush at the farmland on the other side of the official road. The farmland, which had been bustling, was now completely devoid of activity. The wheat had been harvested the day before the Harvest Festival, and now the fields were covered in stacks of straw bales. These straw bales were excellent for burning as fuel or as animal feed: straw mixed with leftover food and soybeans was a pig's favorite.
"Very happy." Gazing at the farmland, which had entered its resting period, Holo suddenly spoke. Her words utterly confused Kayal.
"The wheat here is very happy, because they grow freely and develop full grains. The land here is very happy, because every year they don't suffer from thirst. They provide abundance for humans for two years, and then they rest for one year. They are very happy." Gazing at the land lost in thought, Holo murmured, her large ears twitching. This not only brought her an undeniable beauty but also made her seem as if she were listening to the whispers of the earth.
Kayal, of course, wouldn't idly believe she was listening to the sound of the earth, but he still stood up in an uncharacteristic manner: "You, you can actually tell that?"
This matter, of course, was Kayal's invention. Kayal's theory of land fatigue was astonishing. No one viewed the earth, plants, or beasts as living organisms; they only took, never gave. Even in later generations, people continuously used pesticides, fertilizers, and growth hormones to extract nutrients from the earth, yet never gave them a moment's rest. This was truly... Since the invention of greenhouses, the land had lost the right to recuperate. In fact, Mother Earth bestowed this right upon everyone, but humanity did not bestow it upon her.
Kayal would not let such a thing happen, so two rice crops in two years, one wheat crop until September, and one soybean crop that could be harvested before December.
In a three-year cycle, planting for two years and resting for one, coupled with ample various manure fertilizers, Red Leaf Ridge's crops were always the most abundant and best in the world!
This was the secret of Red Leaf Ridge, yet this girl saw through it at a glance. How could Kayal not feel a chill run down his spine!
"Indeed, I used to be called the Wise Wolf, you know. Listening to the voice of the earth is no problem at all for me." Stroking her magnificent and soft tail, she spoke in her unique, soft tone, Holo had not yet realized that she had revealed Red Leaf Ridge's biggest secret.
"Hahahaha…" Kayal suddenly burst into a hearty laugh. The biggest secret of Red Leaf Ridge had always been out in the open, completely hidden by a blind spot in thinking, but this girl had instantly seen through it. How interesting! Truly, one should never underestimate anyone in the world!
He had underestimated Nero before, almost making Kayal's ten years of hidden efforts go to waste.
Now he had underestimated a Wise Wolf, so what would this Wise Wolf bring him?