However, despite the success of the farm, the day had a grim ending. All but one member of a hunting party were slain by players. The survivor returned with a fractured arm to relate the fate of his companions.

I made a resolution to myself that I would make numerous farms, so many in fact that the Skhites and the Hornies could quit engaging in violence. The ministers, their views changed after seeing the potential of the first farm, agreed and supported my decision.

The zombies gave us more seeds. Forty in total, which was double the previous time. Perhaps they were feeling generous, they didn’t charge extra. The Evil Crops produced only one fruit after which they bent and died, so we were able to uproot the old plants and put new seeds in their stead. We placed the seeds closer to each other to accommodate them all.

Every day early in the morning, before departing to the real world, Kiara would cast her spell on the farm, owing to which only four guards were required now. Two during the day and two for the night shift. Sometimes I would see the Mantures circling overhead in the sky. Sometimes they would even fly down for the farm, but Kiara’s spell repelled them and they would change direction midway and harm no plant.

The sounds created by her spell were of such a low frequency that the Skhites and the Hornies were thankfully unaffected by it.

About a month later, we were able to harvest the second batch of crops. Not a single fruit was lost. Now we had so much evilese that I declared that no party of Skhites or Hornies should go hunting at least for a while. The trust and faith levels rose so much that I leveled up. But, meh! No new abilities this time.

It was early morning the day following the second harvest, I was still in bed and even Kiara had not left and she was still quite asleep. I was looking at the ceiling of my chamber and wondering how to irrigate the farms if I created more of them. The second batch of crops had required twice the amount of water than the first one. The plants needed to be watered on a daily basis and they absorbed water at an incredibly fast rate.

The village could only provide so much water to a certain number of plants on a given day. To create more farms I would have to find alternative means of sustaining the evil crops.

The zombies were able to fulfil the huge water demands of their plants because they lived close to a tributary of the big river, from which Nora and Nadir had rescued me. While there was a small stream near the village of the Skhites, it was one and a half kilometers away and asking the Skhites to carry water from the stream on a daily basis would be a bit too much. It would be back breaking work.

I was thus lost in thought when a head peeped into my room and then another. Nora and Nadir. While I wouldn't have minded if my chamber had a door for the sake of privacy, I was used to the couple enough that I wasn’t abashed by them seeing me lying with Kiara, one of her legs over my waist.

“Ah, you are awake,” Nadir said.

“Good morning, Vicky,” Nora chirped brightly. “I hope we are not the ones who broke your sleep?”

“I have been awake for a few minutes,” I said to them. Nadir and Nora smiled widely at me, as if very excited about something.

“Well, if you want to tell me something, then you can,” I said. Their smiles continued to expand until I felt uneasy. Why were they acting so weird?

“Your new home is complete!” They chorused like they had practiced.

I remained staring blankly at them. I was so absorbed with irrigation that the other project had fallen out of my mind.

My new residence, large enough to be called a palace, was apparently ninety nine percent done, with only a few small touches left. Nora, Nadir and the other builders were very insistent that I should go and see it. Kiara tagged along too, even though she had office.

“Boss would be late anyway,” she said. “Plus, I am always punctual. Going to work late for one day wouldn't hurt.”

For about two kilometers we marched through the forest. It had been a while since I had left the immediate premises of the village and I found the walk refreshing.

We arrived at a massive clearing. I was blown away when my eyes fell on the new home that the Skhites and the Hornies had unitedly constructed for me. An enormous square shaped monument. There was something very appealing about the minimalistic design of the building.

Nora told me that for security and to keep unwanted intruders at bay, the Skhites had bewitched the location, utilising traditional Skhite magic, which involved drawing complex patterns on a large canvas and then burning it and sprinkling the ash all around the premises.