Chapter 159: Bet

"That’s good." It seemed this stalk of Doll Grass would be more than enough to save Lady Alina, the rest could be given to other beastmen.

Ethan handed the basket of Doll Grass fruits to Mirelle. "Oh? You’re giving these all to me?"

"I have no use for them."

"If you ever want to assassinate someone, these fruits are the ultimate weapon."

"I don’t use such despicable methods." If he wanted to kill someone, he would just do it directly; he wouldn’t use poison behind the scenes, Ethan shrugged.

Mirelle looked at him with amusement and stored away the Doll Grass fruits. "Then I’ll gladly accept them, once they mature, I’ll collect the seeds and send them to you."

"Then I’ll leave that to you."

"Alright, with the Doll Grass matter settled, shall we go eat?"

"Yeah, it’s almost lunchtime."

"What are we waiting for, let’s go." Mirelle slung her arm around Ethan’s shoulder and walked cheerfully toward the cabin.

...

Returning to the cabin, Zharok and Iris were playing chess. "You’re back? I brought some meat back — let’s have lunch together."

"Sounds good."

Lunch was spaghetti and steak, everyone gathered around the dining table, enjoying the lavish meal.

After finishing, Ethan handed a box to Iris and said, "The Doll Grass has been successfully cultivated, and its quality is excellent, it should be able to cure Lady Alina’s illness."

"R-Really?" Iris’s eyes welled up with tears of emotion.

Ethan handed the box over and said, "You should head back as soon as you’ve finished eating."

"Thank you... thank you..." Iris took the box, overwhelmed with gratitude.

"We have work to do this afternoon," Ethan said.

"What work? What are we doing, meow?"

"What else? Prepare to plant rice."

Winter had passed, warm spring had arrived, now was the prime season for sowing rice.

"Miss Iris, you..."

"Yes, I’ll head back today."

"Alright, I’ll walk you to the exit of the forest."

"There’s no need... I can make it back on my own..."

"Haha, seeing guests off is only proper, don’t be so polite with me."

"Thank you..."

"You’re welcome, once you get back, please give my regards to Lady Witch, if she has time, please invite her to visit us as a guest."

"Alright, I understand." Iris nodded with a smile.

Pearl walked up to her, wagging its tail. "Say hello to Lady Witch for me too, meow~"

"Hehe, alright."

Iris quickly packed her things, when she arrived, she had essentially come empty-handed, furthermore, with Mirelle’s help, the luggage she had lost in the Purple Forest had been recovered, so she didn’t have much to carry back.

"Have these on the road." Ethan still prepared some food for her, including bread, honey sweet potato candy, and some fruit.

Iris took the food and said gratefully, "Thank you all, I’ve gained so much this trip... truly, thank you very much."

"You’re welcome, I wish you the best, Zharok, let’s go."

"Got it."

Zharok pushed the handcart, while Ethan and Iris hopped on.

Arriving at the forest exit, Iris consumed the Wind Blade Banana Ethan gave her. "I’ll be off then, I wish you all the best."

With eyes full of tears, she waved goodbye to Ethan and stepped into the Stormlands.

Ethan watched her leave, crossing his arms and falling into deep thought.

"What’s wrong?" Zharok asked.

"Wondering if Lady Witch will stay there permanently."

"Maybe, after all, she needs to cure that girl named Alina."

"Perhaps she only told them the method and then left... Oh well, let’s head back — we have a lot of things to do."

...

Ethan and Zharok returned to the cabin, picked up their hoes, and headed toward the paddy fields, the others followed along out of curiosity, gazing at the wide expanse of paddy fields.

"What are we going to do?"

"Fertilize the soil first."

"Aren’t you going to use your ability?"

"Of course, but fertilizing enhances the effect, we shouldn’t skip it."

"I see, let’s get started then."

Zharok evenly spread the fertilizer they had acquired from the Kobold tribe across the paddy fields, Ethan picked up his hoe and began tilling the earth.

"Heave-ho, heave-ho."

"So many rocks, meow~"

"Let’s do our best."

Everyone pitched in, starting to till the soil, after some hard work, the originally hardened earth became loose and soft.

Ethan straightened his back. "We can flood the fields now."

Flooding the fields would drown out soil pests and weeds, following Ethan’s instructions, Zharok opened the sluice gate of the irrigation channel, and river water flowed into the paddy fields.

"What’s next?"

"While the paddy fields are filling with water, let’s select our rice seeds."

Returning to the cabin, Ethan poured clean water into a large basin, added salt, and adjusted the water’s density, then he poured the rice seeds into the basin.

"Is it really okay to soak the rice seeds in salt water, meow?"

"Of course it is, this will filter out the shriveled and empty seeds, leaving only the high-quality ones."

Ethan scooped out the rice seeds floating on the surface and set them aside, he then washed the remaining seeds thoroughly.

After washing them, he brought out a wooden tray.

"What is this?"

"A seedling tray, we’ll cultivate the seedlings here first, once they’ve grown to a certain extent, we’ll transplant them into the paddy fields."

"Oh." Everyone watched Ethan curiously.

They saw him evenly scatter the rice seeds into the seedling tray, the others joined in to help sow the seeds.

Once the sowing was complete, Ethan extended his hand and said, "Growth Acceleration."

The rice seeds in the seedling tray rapidly sprouted, growing tender green seedlings, even though they had seen it many times, Zharok, Pearl, and Liora still found it incredibly magical.

Ethan set the seedling tray aside, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and said, "For the rest, just follow these steps."

"It’s different from planting wheat."

"Planting paddy rice is inherently more complex and difficult, however, if we run into any problems, we can just use my abilities to solve them, so there’s no need to worry." He smiled.

"Alright, let’s call it a day for now."

They would have to wait a while after the paddy fields were fully flooded before they could proceed to the next step.

Ethan smiled and said to everyone, "Let’s go get something to eat."

"Yay~"

"What are we eating, meow?"

"I want something delicious."

"Hmm... what should we have?"

Just then, a voice suddenly rang out from behind them. "I want to eat strawberry cake."

Ethan hurriedly dodged to the side just in time.

Mirelle walked into the cabin yard, saw the various farming tools piled up, and couldn’t help but burst into laughter. "It sure is lively around here, by the way, where is that elf? Where did she go?"

"She went back, why are you here?"

"What? Can’t I come over if I don’t have a reason?"

"That’s not what I meant..."

"I’m just here to play."

"Is that so? Then Zharok—"

"Oh, do you know how to play chess? Or cards would be fine too."

"Play cards? What kind of cards?"

"Poker, of course." Zharok brought out the beastman poker cards the elves had gifted them, he skillfully shuffled the deck and asked.

"Want to play a few rounds?"

Mirelle smiled, crossed her arms, and confidently said, "Sure, let’s bet something on it."

Pearl hopped onto the table, rubbing its paws excitedly, Liora also sat down by the table.

Zharok turned to Ethan and asked, "Do you want to play together?"

"No, you guys go ahead, what should I make to eat?"

"Something simple."

"Then I’ll make sandwiches." Ethan sliced the bread he had baked that morning, toasted the slices until golden and crispy, then layered them with ham, vegetables, and sauce to create delicious sandwiches.

He plated the sandwiches, brought them over to the group, and, looking at the cards in their hands, smiled and said, "Why don’t we raise the stakes a bit?"

"Raise the stakes? Sure." Zharok turned to Mirelle.

"Hey — what are you betting?"

"How about this?" Mirelle said, bringing out a purple bead, everyone looked at it curiously.

Mirelle proudly declared, "This is a bead condensed from my power, as long as you throw it, it will release a deadly toxin."

"Alright, I’ll bet a treasure I found in the ruins last time."

"I bet Ethan’s special cooking, meow~"

"I never said you got a share."

"Please, meow~" Pearl wagged its tail and acted spoiled.

Ethan smiled and nodded.

The gazes of the three players instantly fell upon Liora.

Liora remained silent for a moment, then covered her cards and said, "I fold."

"Alright then, let’s show our cards."

Pearl had a three-of-a-kind, Zharok had a four-of-a-kind, seeing their hands, Mirelle smiled triumphantly.

"What? You only have a pair? You really dare to bet on that?"

"Such courage, meow~"

"My bluff actually failed..." Mirelle dejectedly handed the bead to Zharok.

Zharok took the bead, burst into a hearty laugh, and then tossed it to Ethan.