Chapter 14 - Enchanted

Sleep was truly a wonderful thing. Things that seemed impossible to deal with or comprehend were easier to understand after a good night of sleep. At least that was how I felt when I finally woke up.

Opening my eyes I sat up and stretched with a smile on my face. I hadn't slept that well in a long time, even before I came to this world. I doubt I slept that well without assistance but I didn't mind.

I looked around the room to see that the orb was back in its original shape while Zephirah was sitting on top of it. She noticed me moving and smiled at me, or at least I think she did. Making out her expressions was difficult when she wasn't flying around in my face. However I could feel that she was happy to see me awake and feeling good. Thankfully she had acquired a blue dress that while clinging to her figure so tightly it was like a second skin, at least she wasn't naked anymore.

Vanessa was sitting at the table with a plate of some kind of eggs half eaten. She had stopped to watch me a nervous look on her face.

"Just so you know, she can't see or hear me. If you need to say something to me, just think it." Zephirah told me.

'Alright.' I thought to Zephirah.

"Perfect! Now get some food and harvest those blue dandelions. Oh and be nice to Vanessa. I found out some things while you were sleeping. There is trouble brewing, but she isn't the problem, in fact she seems to be in a worse position than you." Zephirah told me.

"Sleep well?" I asked Vanessa as I climbed out of the bed. She had changed back into a pair of blue short shorts, and a figure hugging black top that showed off a lot of her cleavage. It was rather distracting but I kept my eyes off her breasts, at least most of the time.

"I did." Vanessa replied.

I nodded then moved to the orb to order some breakfast.

"What about you? You had to water the crops in the night." Vanessa asked.

I nodded. "Yeah that was rough, but I figured out how to get the golem to water my crops for me." I replied after choosing an omelet full of bacon, with bacon on the side, a large glass of orange juice, and coffee, one sugar, one cream, just enough to blunt the bite a bit. After ordering it I frowned then looked at the menu again.

"Problem?" Vanessa asked.

I shook my head. "We are on a different world, yet I can only see normal food. I would have thought there would be food from other worlds available." I replied.

"There is, and even foods from the other countries of your world. The company limited it to food you would be familiar with as you have had enough changes already. Once you have settled in a bit the other unfamiliar foods will be made available to you." Vanessa explained.

I nodded my understanding then headed for the bin on the counter to retrieve my breakfast before joining Vanessa at the table. We ate in silence for several minutes but it was clear Vanessa was feeling uncomfortable.

"Something you want to get off your...um say?" I asked my eyes drifting back to her breasts. I wasn't bothered by it like I was the previous day. I knew she had the rune charm, and it was only affecting me at a level I could handle. Besides even without it I knew I would have been attracted to Vanessa, and with it on display it was hard not to look.

"We aren't going to discuss it?" she asked.

"Is there anything else to discuss?" I asked.

"I'm sorry." she apologized.

I frowned then glanced at Zephirah who seemed lost in her own little world. "Its fine, I can understand you were nervous and got fleeced by an amateur." I told her.

Vanessa was silent for a few minutes as she stared at the remains of her meal. "Thank you." she finally said, but it was barely more than a whisper.

I smiled at her despite the fact that she couldn't see it. "It's fine. We are going to be here together for a while, no reason to get angry over something small like this." I lied. If Vanessa hadn't said to be nice I would still be a bit pissed about it all, however I trusted Zephirah and she seemed to know more about what was going on. I wouldn't have done anything to her, but I wouldn't be so forgiving.

"What about us?" Vanessa asked.

"What about us?" I asked in return.

Vanessa hesitated for a moment then went silent as she stared at her food.

I finished my food then got up and placed the dishes back in the bin. I couldn't see myself buying dishes, dropping them back into the bin was so much easier. 'How nice should I be?' I thought to Zephirah.

"Depends on when you want to sleep with her." Zephirah replied.

I froze in place unsure what to think.

I heard Zephirah snort. "Don't be a prude. I call you husband because for all intents and purposes I consider us married, but I am not nearly large enough to handle all of a wife's responsibilities. Eventually I will be able to, but not for a while. In the meantime I have no issue if you enjoy Vanessa. Just be sure you are gentle with her. When she said she was pure, she meant physically." Zephirah replied.

'She's a virgin?' I thought in shock.

"It is a company requirement for her position. Your world is not the only one the company recruits from, there are plenty of places that aren't nearly as forward thinking as your home country. That mistake was made once, let's just say it didn't end well for the poor girl." Zephirah replied.

I nodded then turned back to Vanessa who had been watching my back as I communicated silently with Zephirah. I was about to speak then stopped and looked at the orb. Zephirah was still sitting on top of it staring off into nowhere. "I have to harvest the blue dandelions." I told her then headed for the door.

Vanessa hung her head at the table.

"Are you coming or going to stay here?" I asked as I reached the door.

Vanessa's head came up and looked at me hopefully.

"The sooner I harvest the sooner I can plant the next set. We can talk while I work." I told her.

Vanessa nodded with a relieved smile then dumped her half finished breakfast and dishes into the bin.

"Don't want me to be a third wheel?" Zephirah asked.

'That orb is observing us.' I replied mentally.

"Oh, yeah almost forgot about that." Zephirah grumbled. "If you need anything from me just think it, I can hear and see you anywhere in the dungeon." she told me.

'It's a farm.' I replied. There was nothing about this place that I considered to be dungeony.

"Yet." Zephirah replied as I stepped out of the little house with Vanessa at my back.

The underground had changed a lot since I planted the crops. Now a little over twelve hours later everything had at least sprouted. The blue dandelion was already fully grown while the silver shamrock and blue grass were half grown. It wasn't a mesmerizing sight by any means, but in comparison to where I had been before the Neglism, it was an impressive sight that shook my emotions for a second. It pass quickly though.

I retrieved the scythe from the shed then made my way to the blue dandelions. Vanessa followed close behind me but remained silent.

Reaching the closest field of blue dandelions I knelt down by the closest plant. The blue dandelion looked similar to the dandelions of my own world except they were three times the size with a baseball sized dark blue flower. The stem was wider than my own thumb while the leaves were long, wide, and emerald in color. I reached down to the base of the stem without concerning myself with the rest of the plant then cut the stem.

"What Are You Doing!?" Vanessa yelled as I held the flower in one hand and the scythe in the other.

"Harvesting the blue dandelion." I replied.

"By butchering it?" Vanessa asked as a retort.

"Huh?" I asked uncertainly.

"Even on your world you can use the rest of the dandelion!" Vanessa yelled at me.

"Huh? I thought it was just a weed." I replied.

Vanessa groaned. "Its leaves and roots are edible. Not enough to live on by themselves but still something you can eat. As a magic plant the leaves and roots are just as useful and desired as the bloom." Vanessa explained then knelt at my side taking the scythe from my hands and carefully started to separate the leaves from the plant then cut the stem. "We can come back to pull the roots out with the hoe." Vanessa said then returned the scythe to me.

I took the scythe then stared at the neat pile of leaves and the perfectly harvested flower. "You have some experience?" I asked.

"I did mention that my family was poor." Vanessa responded.

I nodded. She had, but that didn't guarantee she had any knowledge about plants, at least not on my world.

"Alright, then correct me when I make mistakes." I told her.

Vanessa smiled at me and nodded cutely.

What I thought would be a quick harvest took a great deal longer as I harvested the complete plant. There were only four tiles of blue dandelion on the lower level and one of the surface level, but each tile had twenty five plants. I hadn't even finished the first tile when I started to feel tired and sore.

"Now you know why we need minions." Zephirah said appearing out of nowhere. I jumped at her sudden appearance.

"Something wrong?" Vanessa asked looking confused.

I shook my head then glared at Zephirah, "No just a bug." I replied.

Zephirah glared at me then stuck her tongue out at me as she crossed her arms under her breasts. However despite her appearance I could feel she was more amused than angry.

With great determination I kept working until I finished the second field. The second field went a bit faster as I was getting familiar with the way to harvest the plant. Then Vanessa volunteered to let me have a break and took up the scythe to harvest the third field. Seeing her quick effective movements I realized I was still slow. In a tenth of the time it took me to harvest the second field Vanessa had cleared the third field, and the crops she harvested seemed to look healthier and more vibrant than the ones I harvested.

Taking back the scythe I determinedly harvested the last field on the floor before we headed up to the surface level. Once there we were greeted by six of the giant mice we had seen earlier, and an even larger mouse that was at least twice the size of the others. They were all scratching furiously at the shield around my farm as the golems systematically attacked them one by one.

"What is going on?" I asked surprised by the fierceness of the attack.

"Look." Vanessa said pointing.

Following her finger I saw the last of the blue dandelion fields. Like the other plants they were a dark blue flower on top of an emerald plant. However unlike the ones on the lower level, the blue flowers glowed gently as they swayed in the wind. Obviously these plants were different from the ones below. Was that from the slime fertilizer?

"Enchanted!" Vanessa yelled out in surprise.

"Huh?" I asked.

The golems were working quickly to eliminate the mice, and it was taking even less effort than the one time I had tried to help. Probably because of the increase in the golems levels.

"With the magic plants, there are different degrees of magic saturation. Normal plants have at most ten percent magic saturation. Enchanted have between ten and thirty percent magic saturation. The higher the saturation the greater the effects of the plant." Vanessa explained.

"Can't we just absorb the magic inside the plants instead of the energy from the currency?" I asked.

"A normal dungeon could, but I doubt it would be worth it. The energy in the currency is purer than what you would find in a plant." Vanessa replied.

I grunted unhappily wishing I had found a way around the company. Unfortunately it seemed I hadn't.

As we moved toward the field of enchanted blue dandelions the remaining mice became more frantic. The larger rodent screeched out unhappily. Initially I intended to ignore everything and trust in the stability of the newbie shield after what Vanessa had said, but the screech from the larger mouse seemed to be a call. A large number of mice appeared around my farm glaring at me angrily. A mouse of that size was already a bit intimidating, I preferred my rodents to be of the squashable size. A horde of over thirty large mice was more than a little intimidating.

"Maybe we should come back for them later." Vanessa suggested nervously obviously affected by the horde of mice despite what she had said about the newbie shield.

I didn't want to appear to be a coward, but I decided waiting wasn't a bad idea.

A sharp spike rose up from the ground impaling a mouse killing it instantly.

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Level Up!

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