Chapter 48: I Met Ajef

Chapter 48: I Met Ajef

Old Farmer Har hurried back to the village, carrying his iron plow with urgent steps. From afar, he spotted a group of idle men who had finished their farm work gathered at the village entrance, chatting. This sight only fueled his excitement further.

He couldn’t wait to share today’s encounter with everyone.

He was certain that his story today would make their eyes pop out in shock.

Just imagining their stunned and envious expressions filled Old Farmer Har with renewed energy, and his steps became even more brisk.

"Hey, Old Har, why are you back so late?"

Before he could even get close, someone at the village entrance already called out to him.

Looking over, he saw a crowd of villagers huddled under the old locust tree, hands tucked into their sleeves against the autumn wind, heads slightly bowed as they chatted.

Occasionally, words like "Empire," "Magistrate," and "policies" drifted over.

Truth be told, ever since the Empire’s mage lords sent people to spread the Internet Divine Technique to the village, the changes had been anything but small.

Forget distant matters—just look at the folks gathered at the village entrance now!

Before the internet, what did people even talk about when they got together?

How the widow from the west went to borrow a pot from someone again today;

How the daughter-in-law from the east threw another tantrum and threatened to leave;

How the unfilial son from the south lashed out and beat his father again today;

How the family from the north got into a fight with their neighbors over a tiny strip of land taken by a fence.

In short, nothing but trivial nonsense.

But now? Who even talked about that stuff anymore?

The news on the internet changed every single day—so varied and dazzling it left people breathless, so thrilling it made them exclaim in excitement!

From high-level shifts in the Empire’s policies;

To which noble family had been executed down to the last member;

To the drop in grain prices in the city—

There was so much news, it was impossible to keep up.

Especially when it came to the Empire’s policies—the adults in the village loved discussing them, acting as if they were experts brimming with wisdom.

"Har, listen to me—don’t bother plowing those wastelands. It’s a waste of effort. Who knows if the noble lords will just seize the harvest when it’s time?"

"Yeah, yeah! You’d be better off planting more winter mallow around your house instead."

As Old Farmer Har approached, the villagers at the entrance offered their advice.

Old Farmer Har waved his hands dismissively and changed the subject. "Hey, hey, let me tell you something. Guess who I saw today?"

"Who? Could it be the mage lord?"

"Mercenaries?"

The idle men buzzed with speculation, and one even brightened up:

"Don’t tell me it’s Erni from Daga Village! I heard she’s drop-dead gorgeous!"

Old Farmer Har shook his head at this.

"Come on, who was it?"

"Spit it out already! Stop keeping us in suspense!"

Seeing their curiosity thoroughly piqued and their impatient urging, Old Farmer Har finally put on a mysterious expression and said, "You’ll never guess. I’ll tell you—it was Lord Ajef."

"Ajef? That name sounds kinda familiar..."

"Hey, now that you mention it, it does ring a bell."

"Who is that?"

The villagers all wore blank expressions.

One person seemed to have figured it out, his face twisting in disbelief. "Wait… you don’t mean Lord Ajef, the one who developed the cold-resistant black grain?"

"That’s him!" Old Farmer Har slapped his thigh, his expression both excited and proud.

He eagerly anticipated their looks of envy and jealousy.

But instead, the crowd exchanged glances—and then burst into laughter.

"HAHAHA—"

"Har, you must be joking!"

"Ajef-sama lives in Willis! Why would he come to our backwater village?"

"Exactly!"

The crowd burst into laughter, their faces full of mockery and disbelief.

Old Farmer Har grew flustered.

"It’s true, I swear! He was riding in a carriage this big, pulled by two unicorn horses, with hundreds of cavalry leading the way and a whole crowd following behind!"

"When he got off, he even asked if that field was mine! He told me broad-leaf winter mallow isn’t frost-resistant—once this harvest is done, there won’t be another. I even asked one of the soldiers, and the lad confirmed it was Ajef-sama!"

"Oh, and he’s so young! About the same age as Er Gouzi, maybe twenty or so, with black hair, black eyes, and wearing a white robe—"

Old Farmer Har babbled excitedly, gesturing wildly as if it had really happened.

"No way! Why would Ajef-sama pass through here?"

"Right, right!"

"It’s true! Why won’t you believe me?"

"Enough arguing. Why don’t we just ask online?" someone suggested reasonably.

"Good idea! Great idea!"

The villagers cheered in agreement. A literate villager immediately summoned the internet and, after much effort, posted on the local Forum.

"No, no, you’ve got to ask on the Willis Forum! Who here would know anything?"

"That makes sense."

After some brainstorming, the villager hurriedly posted on the Willis Forum.

They expected to wait for a reply, but to their surprise, responses poured in almost instantly—even on the local Forum.

"Lucky you! You might’ve really met Ajef-sama! He’s escorting the Vias delegation back home and just passed through our area."

"What a coincidence! I saw the Vias delegation today too, but I missed Ajef-sama! What a shame!"

"Ajef-sama does have black hair, black eyes, and is around twenty. That’s rare in the Empire! Rumor says he has a demon bloodline, with demons always by his side."

"Nonsense! Ajef-sama is a summoner mage—of course he’d have demons around!"

More and more replies flooded in.

Some shared sightings of the Vias delegation.

Others debated Ajef-sama’s diplomatic mission.

A few even speculated about his unusual appearance.

The villagers were stunned.

"Good heavens, Har… you really met Ajef-sama?!"

They gaped at Old Farmer Har, their faces filled with envy.

If you asked any farmer in the Empire who held the highest prestige, the answer would undoubtedly be Ajef-sama!

He was the agricultural god who saved countless lives!

To meet him in person—what an incredible honor!

Instantly, Old Farmer Har became the center of attention. Everyone bombarded him with questions:

How big was the convoy? How many people? What exactly did Ajef-sama say? They interrogated him relentlessly, digging for every detail.

Flushed with excitement, Old Farmer Har launched into an animated retelling—even embellishing with a few fabricated details.

For example, Lord Ajef praised him for cultivating broad-leaf winter mallow so well;

He even spoke to him kindly, teaching him techniques for planting broad-leaf winter mallow and so on.

This sparked envy and resentment among the crowd.

The atmosphere at the village entrance grew even livelier.

Until a group of hurriedly arriving peasant women not only disrupted the cheerful mood but also sent everyone's spirits plummeting from heaven to hell.

"It's terrible! It's terrible! Binse and the others are lost and can't find their way back to the village!"

"What? Lost?"

"Yes, they called via voice communication, saying they were chasing a deer and accidentally ran too far. After catching the deer, they realized they were lost. Look, it's already dark—what are we going to do?!"

The peasant women stomped their feet anxiously, on the verge of tears.

Though most of the nearby beasts had been hunted down by their village's hunters, that didn’t mean the forest at night was safe.

After all, many beasts, especially magical beasts, were nocturnal creatures.

They only became active after nightfall.

Without absolute strength, spending the night in the forest was nothing short of gambling with one’s life!

"Don’t panic, don’t panic. Let me ask Binse," an old hunter quickly reassured them.

He opened the internet and contacted Binse via voice communication, asking about the geographical features around them.

Unfortunately, because they had chased the deer in such a rush, Binse and the others hadn’t paid any attention to the terrain along the way.

Now that it was night, visibility was less than ten paces. Even though the internet had recently updated its lighting function, it was still impossible to find their way back.

Worse, the light might even attract attacks from beasts.

"Oh no, what should we do? What should we do?"

The women were as frantic as ants on a hot pan, pacing in circles.

"Should we go beg the noble lords to send people to search?"

"Don’t count on them. When have you ever seen noble lords rescue anyone?"

"I’ll go! I know the mountains well," the old hunter gritted his teeth and spoke up.

"No! They’re already trapped—you can’t get stuck too!" someone objected.

"This won’t work, that won’t work—so what do we do? Pray to the gods?" The old hunter’s expression darkened.

The village entrance grew even more chaotic. Some elderly women, in their panic, began murmuring prayers to the only deity they knew—the Internet God.

Old Farmer Har watched the disarrayed villagers, listened to the old hunter’s frustrated words, and observed the women’s prayers. When his gaze fell on the internet screen, a bold idea suddenly occurred to him.

"I have a solution!"

"What solution?"

"Use this..."

Under the hopeful gazes of the crowd, Old Farmer Har suddenly pointed at the Virtual Scroll of the internet.