Chapter 698 — After the Burning
Blade of Dawn · Page 1 of 4
A crisp wind swept across the vast wasteland, stirring up dry dust and brittle fallen leaves and grass fragments. On the abandoned land, the irrigation channels that had once watered the fields had run dry when the upstream flow was cut off, and a collapsed, crumbling wall lay in the mud, more than half buried under yellowing weeds.
An abandoned old mill stood alone by the roadside; a huge windmill blade that had fallen from it hung tragically over a half-collapsed red-brick wall like some severed limb. Everywhere around the mill were traces of burning and explosive attack, and a scorched road sign stood askew at the crossroads before the mill, its blurred lettering faintly legible:
"Longtail Woodland - Kabray Town"
A rough hand with thick, knobby joints brushed across the road sign, wiping away a layer of charred ash.
Norris glanced at the black ash smeared on his hand, then rubbed his fingers together and looked toward the abandoned old mill not far away.
A gust of autumn wind blew over, and the cold air it carried poured into Norris's no-longer-healthy lungs; he could not help but bend over and break into a fit of coughing.
Several young people accompanying him hurried forward at once, and someone steadied the somewhat swaying Minister of Agriculture: "Minister, are you all right?"
"It's nothing. I'm getting old, and the wind this season isn't exactly kind to me," Norris said, waving his hand and declining the support of his subordinate and apprentice. His gaze slowly drew back from the mill. "I've heard of this place... They say the most fertile land around Longtail Woodland was right here..."
"All abandoned now," a young official said with a sigh. "When the troops fought their way here, the whole of Longtail Woodland had already been occupied by the Crystal Cluster Legion. Fewer than a hundred survivors were rounded up. To wipe out those monsters completely, the soldiers carried out bombing runs and then burned every town and village, including the settlements around them."
"Abandoned... abandoned isn't what's frightening. Abandoned land can still be saved," Norris said slowly, looking toward the weed-choked fields nearby. "What I fear is contamination left behind. Let's go have a look over there."
The young official turned, ordered several magic-guided vehicles to park by the roadside and stand by, then strode after Norris.
The once-fertile fields had lain abandoned, grown weeds, then suffered a round of bombing and burning; after the burning, several rains and winds had brought up new weeds. From a distance, the fields today barely resembled farmland at all. Norris crouched beside a furrow that could still just be made out, reached down, grabbed a handful of soil, and rubbed it lightly between his fingertips.
The black soil mixed with plant ash had a slightly damp, clinging texture, and it crumbled to the ground as he rubbed his fingers.
"What wonderful soil..." Norris held out his hand and let his companions see the earth left on his palm. "Where in the south could you find land like this?"
After that sigh of admiration, he clapped his hands and began instructing the sampling staff to collect local soil samples. A clerk accompanying them took out the document folder he carried and found the corresponding report: "This place and the surrounding fields are part of the 'Velvet Sedge Manor,' the private property of Viscount Kabray. But it's already hard to determine how many people lived in Kabray Town as a whole; one can only roughly estimate around three hundred households, not counting the more remote villages and a mine."
A young technician in field work clothes, wearing the Empire's standard vine-ring druid badge on his chest, said as he examined the soil: "The soil here still looks healthy, and quite fertile—much better than the two contaminated zones we found earlier..."