Alexia's Past

I followed Alexia to a small shed situated near the fields.

She explained that it was a gesture of consideration for the children working the land; by placing the schoolhouse here, she ensured they didn't have to travel far to transition from manual labor to their studies.

"Education... there are so many children who desire it, yet never receive the chance," Alexia said, her gaze drifting toward some distant, invisible horizon.

She seemed to be lost in a memory, or perhaps a regret.

"True enough. For most children, just surviving the day takes everything they have," I replied.

The reality was cold. Even in my own territory, children were often factored into the manual labor force. It was a grim necessity, though still a far better fate than watching them wither away from hunger.

"The children in this territory seem truly happy, though," Alexia added, her expression softening into a smile.

Just then, a boy came running toward her. He wore a serious, focused expression that was betrayed by the massive, beaming grin on his face. It was Al.

"Boob Big Sister! Come over here!"

Well, Al is still Al.

I couldn't help but let a small smile slip at the sound of that familiar, ridiculous greeting.

"What is it, Al?" she asked.

"It’s finally done! My field!"

"Oh? Well, congratulations are in order. Shall we go take a look?"

Alexia glanced at me, silently seeking my approval. Naturally, I had no reason to refuse. I couldn't even begin to imagine what kind of field would make Al this ecstatic, and curiosity was starting to get the better of me.

Considering the boy used to think Meat just naturally grew in the dirt, this felt like significant personal growth. Perhaps Alexia’s influence was already paying off.

I’d like a refund on my sentimentality.

The moment we reached the field, I instinctively buried my face in my hands.

Spread out before us was a patch of land where dozens of small Rams had been planted directly into the Earth.

"My, my. Look how much they've grown," Alexia chirped.

"Yeah! I tried all sorts of things to see what would make 'em sprout," Al said, beaming as Alexia praised him with a hand to her cheek.

I stared at the Ram Field stretching out before me. Without a word, I grabbed Alexia’s hand and hauled her a safe distance away from the boy.

"How? Why is this happening?!" I hissed. "Al’s common sense has completely fractured again!"

"Now, now. It’s important to value a child’s autonomy, don't you think?"

"There’s a limit to autonomy! Why are there sheep growing out of the ground?!"

"...Effort?"

"Effort doesn't grow sheep!"

"But," Alexia said, her tone suddenly turning pragmatic, "if Meat could be harvested from a field, our food security issues would be solved in an instant, wouldn't they?"

I choked back my retort. She was right.

This land was a wasteland, a barren stretch of Earth where vegetables barely clung to life. Currently, we were only scraping by because our population was low and the Mercenaries were hunting Monsters for food. But that wasn't a sustainable strategy; we were one bad season or one migration away from disaster.

We could buy supplies, but relying on outside trade meant leaving our lives in the hands of others—a thought that sat poorly with me. In that light, an infinite supply of Meat was a blessing for the territory.

If you can ignore the absolute insanity of how it looks.

"Even so, once you harvest them, they won't grow back, right?" I argued. "They're living creatures. You can't just plant them like seeds."

It seemed more efficient to just let them graze like normal livestock.

"Big bro, you're still too soft," Al interrupted. "Just watch."

Al reached down and 'harvested' one of the small Rams. As the plump creature was pulled from the ground, it left a hole in the dirt. Al reached into a pouch and tossed something into the opening.

"It’s that white stuff I made with you before," he said proudly.

He was talking about the powder we'd developed. It was a growth stimulant—utterly tasteless and useless for anything other than accelerating crop cycles. Or so I had thought.

"By tomorrow morning, there'll be more Meat planted right here."

So it’s not a farm. It’s a trap. He was using the powder to lure them into the ground. When I looked at it that way, a shred of logic returned to the situation.

As long as I don't look at the field of buried sheep...

I looked toward the back of the patch and noticed one Ram that was significantly larger than the others.

"...Why are you planted in there too?!" I yelled.

It was the real Ram—the individual, not just the species.

"The food in this dirt is delicious, baaa," he replied contentedly.

"Amazing, right?" Al added. "With this many, we’ve got enough food to last a week."

Al looked genuinely happy. Ram seemed happy too, though I questioned the sanity of a creature that was perfectly fine being viewed as a seven-day food supply. Still, he didn't seem to mind, and if things ever reached a true state of emergency, we might not have the luxury of choice.

Besides, Ram’s ability to move around was impressive enough that if he wanted to spend his downtime acting like a vegetable, I suppose that was his business.

"Fine. Whatever," I sighed. "Do you at least know why the... sheep are gathering here?"

"Nope! No clue!"

So the 'completed' field was just a result of trial and error, not actual understanding.

"They are likely being drawn in by Magic Power," Alexia interjected. "I can sense a faint trace of it within these 'meat-trees.' In a sense, they might be akin to spirits."

I recalled Al mentioning something about Meat Spirits before. It seemed he hadn't been hallucinating after all.

"Are you an expert on spirits?" I asked Alexia.

"I happened to meet a Great Spirit once," she replied. "I was very young at the time, but..."

For some reason, she placed a hand over her chest as she spoke. Was she implying the spirit had something to do with her... development? No, she said it happened when she was a child.

I fell silent, bracing myself for whatever she was about to tell me.