“Hero Candidate?”
Fragments of memories surfaced in Celia’s mind. In novels and anime, anyone labeled as a candidate usually met a bad end.
Either they were cannon fodder in the selection, or got caught up in some conspiracy and became a stepping stone for others.
Celia turned her gaze back to the so-called Hero beside her.
Her eyes drifted from his mess of brown hair, down to his still-youthful face, and finally to his sturdy-looking body—which, judging from the look of it, probably didn’t house the sharpest mind.
No matter how she looked at him, he didn’t seem like someone who could survive to the end of a Hero battle royale.
A wave of pity rose in her heart. Poor Hero, his script for the future seemed already written before he’d even started.
“Is there something on my face?” Elent shifted uncomfortably under Celia’s gaze.
Being stared at by such a petite and adorable Priestess, with such a complicated look in her eyes, he didn’t know what to do.
“No.” Celia withdrew her gaze.
“The hoe’s ready, let’s go back.”
Elent let out a quiet “Oh,” trailing after her, still trying to figure out what that look was supposed to mean.
The two returned to the Church one after the other. The half-tilled plot in the backyard awaited its cultivator.
“Well then, Hero, I’ll leave it to you.” Celia handed over the new hoe.
“Leave it to me!” Elent’s spirits lifted as he took the new hoe. He swung it twice—it was much lighter than the last one.
Elent strode into the field and resumed work. With the improved tool, his efficiency more than doubled; clods of earth were easily turned and piled neatly to the side.
Celia also picked up a new hoe, trying to copy his movements. She managed to turn the soil a bit, but within moments, she was out of breath.
Forget it.
Celia set down the hoe. Leave professional tasks to professionals. Besides, this Hero couldn’t just freeload at the Church; exchanging labor for room and board was only fair.
With that thought, Celia felt completely at ease. She pulled up a small stool and sat in the shade under the eaves, supervising with perfect justification.
The sunlight wasn’t harsh, and the wind was just right. Watching Elent’s sweating back in the field, Celia felt like her retirement plan had taken another big step forward.
But as Elent worked, she soon noticed a problem.
The newly turned soil looked off—it wasn’t black, but a deep brown.
That was a bad sign.
Barren soil meant low yield. Low yield meant they’d need to plant even more land just to be self-sufficient.
But what could they do with a backyard this size? They couldn’t count on the Creator performing a Miracle to magically make the soil fertile, could they?
They needed to raise the yield per unit of land. How? With science.
Celia didn’t know agriculture, but she had knowledge from another world.
As everyone knows, plants need sunlight, water, air, and nutrients from the soil to grow.
Nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium.
These are the foundation of plant growth.
A genius idea took shape in her mind.
Divine Light Magic, according to the Doctrine, is pure life force. Could she use Divine Light as a catalyst to inject these elements directly into the soil?
It would be like intervening in the life and death of land in the way of the Creator.
Sounded interesting.
No time like the present.
“Elent, Lynn! Stop for a second, come help me with something.”
Elent, who was working hard, and Lynn, who hurried over at her call, both looked at Celia in confusion.
“I need you two to go around the village and bring me some plant ash—the more, the better,” Celia ordered, “the kind left over after villagers burn firewood.”
Although neither understood what she was up to, they set off anyway.
Celia herself went into the storage room. She needed to find something else.
Decayed plant roots and stems, plus a pile of some kind of white stones dug up from the mountains stacked in the corner.
Before long, Elent and Lynn returned carrying several large hemp sacks. Elent hefted one with one hand and asked easily, “Priestess, is this enough?”
Celia was struggling to drag a bundle of dry vines out of the storage room. She glanced up at him but said nothing.
Everyone has their own strengths, after all.
With the materials ready, the sacred “ritual” began in the backyard.
Celia instructed Elent and Lynn to stand aside and watch, not to say a word.
They watched as Celia dumped the plant ash into a large wooden basin, tossed in some crushed white stones and dried plant debris, then added water and slowly stirred it with a wooden stick.
“Priestess, what are you doing?” Elent couldn’t hold back any longer, nudging Lynn with his elbow.
Lynn shook her head, her eyes full of confusion. She’d never seen a ritual like this.
Celia heard their murmuring and felt it necessary to educate these two curious kittens.
“All things grow, each in their own way.”
“What we are doing is awakening the sleeping Spirit of the Land.”
Celia pointed at the plant ash in the basin, speaking solemnly.
“This is the ‘Root of Life, Salt of the Earth.’ It contains the essence of plants burnt to ash.”
In plain language: potassium fertilizer.
Next, she grabbed a handful of foul-smelling black soil from another bag and mixed it in.
“This is the ‘Breath of Green Leaves.’ It comes from decay, yet brings forth new life, allowing the future leaves to flourish.”
In plain language: nitrogen fertilizer.
Finally, Celia sprinkled in some crushed white stone powder.
“This is the ‘Bones of Root and Stem.’ Buried deep in rock, it is the firmest support given to plants by the earth.”
In plain language: phosphorus fertilizer.
Elent and Lynn stared in bewilderment. They understood every word separately, but together it sounded like some profound theological prayer—even more mysterious than the sermons at the Cathedral.
In Celia’s mind, it all translated automatically to—
“Add plant ash for potassium, compost for nitrogen, and phosphate rock powder for phosphorus. All right, homemade fertilizer complete!”
Once the mixture was ready, Celia closed her eyes and summoned the power of Divine Light.
A gentle white glow lit up her palm and poured into the basin of mixed materials.
Celia used Divine Light to catalyze the fusion and breakdown of these basic elements, making them easier for plants to absorb.
This process consumed much more mental energy than healing spells. Before long, Celia’s face turned a little pale.
When the light faded, the dark lump in the basin had transformed into a uniformly textured, deep-colored fertilizer.
“Done.” Celia withdrew her hand and let out a breath. “All finished.”
She took a small handful of the homemade fertilizer, went to the freshly turned soil, dug a little hole, put in a single carrot seed, scattered the fertilizer around it, and covered it with soil.
“Now, we wait.” Celia looked at the small marker and announced to the two behind her, “Tomorrow, we’ll see results.”
……
The next morning, Elent was jolted awake by a shriek from Lynn.
“What’s wrong? Is it a monster?!”
Elent rushed to the corridor, only to see Lynn standing at the back door, pointing toward the field, her mouth open wide enough to fit an egg.
Elent followed her gaze—and froze.
On the patch of ground they’d just tilled yesterday, a giant orange-red object had burst from the earth.
It was half as tall as a person, crowned with a tuft of green, and emanated a sweet fragrance.
A carrot.
A carrot so massive it was absurd.
Elent thought he was still dreaming. He rubbed his eyes and pinched his thigh.
Ouch.
Not a dream.
The gigantic carrot still stood in the earth.
“Wh-what is that?!” Elent’s jaw nearly hit the ground.
The scene before him shattered everything he knew in his seventeen years. Carrots could grow this big? This was nothing short of a Miracle!
Just then, Celia walked out of her room, yawning. Seeing the sight in the yard, she paused, then broke into a satisfied, knowing smile.
Even better than she’d expected.
“This is the confidence science gives me!”
Elent turned to Celia, his eyes brimming with admiration.
“Priestess! You’re amazing! This Miracle is even more incredible than the divine arts I’ve seen the Bishop perform at the Capital!”
“Mm, it’s not bad.” Celia nodded, as if she’d done something entirely trivial.