Fantasy Lord: I Have a Moving Castle

Chapter 61: Chapter 14: Vegetable Garden, Chicken Coop, and Pigsty, the Embryo of a Small Manor

Chapter 61: Chapter 14: Vegetable Garden, Chicken Coop, and Pigsty, the Embryo of a Small Manor

Looking at the Peacock Mountain Quail inside the chicken cage, which had beautiful feathers similar to a peacock but the shape of a partridge, Char felt very surprised.

Before he went out this morning, he had instructed Lantern Firefly to try and catch some small, free-range chickens if possible.

After all, he needed to build up a pastoral life to upgrade his carriage.

Although the task of truly completing the construction of the chicken coop still required the blueprints of the coop, couldn’t he at least start preparing in advance?

Waiting for the blueprints, then building the chicken coop, and capturing suitable free-range chickens for taming would be chaos if done without preparation, wouldn’t it?

So, he not only prepared a simple chicken cage in advance, but he also assigned tasks to Lantern Firefly just before setting off.

However, the most important task for Lantern Firefly was still housekeeping.

Therefore, he told Lantern Firefly that it was fine to just look for suitable chickens nearby, and if there weren’t any, it was fine to give up as housekeeping was more important and not to wander too far off.

His ideal target was the Purple Quail.

After all, Purple Quails were not very intelligent, had a gentle temperament, a high egg-laying rate, and their meat was delicious, making them excellent domestication subjects.

Char had not expected Lantern Firefly to complete the task so well, capturing not only the free-range chickens on the first day but also a Demon Beast.

This truly gave him a big surprise.

‘Indeed, he is the most reliable mighty warrior under me before the appearance of the Clover Mantis!’

Char couldn’t help but lament in his mind.

Even now, in terms of reliability, Lantern Firefly could compete with the Clover Mantis, and Char felt especially relieved when tasks were entrusted to it.

Lantern Firefly caught a total of three Peacock Mountain Quails, and Char squatted down to take a closer look.

From the feathers, it seemed there were two males and one female, because the feathers of two of them were significantly more magnificent.

This was ideal as having both male and female would allow them to produce offspring.

His gaze fell on the peacock pattern-like feathers of the mountain partridge, and Char felt a slight dizziness and disorientation, but it was very, very mild and did not cause any impact.

However, his sudden approach and squatting startled the Peacock Mountain Quails, causing the feathers of the two males to burst out in a peacock tail feather-like mesmerizing brilliance.

This mesmerizing brilliance of the peacock tail feathers instantly filled Char’s vision, affecting it. However, it lasted for a very short period, almost instantaneously returning to normal.

Such a brief moment, even in battle, would not cause any significant impact.

Unless an enemy could take advantage of that fleeting moment to land a fatal blow.

But any enemy capable of capturing that moment must be very strong, and such enemies were not ones he could deal with—why then worry about causing his momentary “distraction”?

“You did very well, Lantern Firefly.”

Char stood up, smiled, and praised Lantern Firefly, and then looked around the interior of the carriage.

The large carriage was divided into several areas by him; on the right side, there were several long beds of “vegetable patches” made of wood, arranged in a row, occupying the space along the edge of the right side.

In the vegetable beds, there were not only beets and tomatoes but also some beans, lettuce, broccoli, and other vegetables. Under Betty’s care, they were growing well, lush green dotted with some red tomatoes.

They were comforting to look at, with both wild charm and pastoral poetry.

Next to the vegetable beds was the chicken cage, and behind the chicken cage, a large area was empty, only storing some wood.

His earlier plan was to divide the second carriage into four areas.

They were for growing vegetables, raising chickens, raising fish, and raising pigs.

Of course, it could only be small pigs, as a large pig would not only take up too much space in the carriage but also eat more and defecate more—Char did not want to end up with a stinking carriage.

But now, with Auson and the Mushroom House, he planned to eliminate one option.

The vegetable shed was definitely indispensable as it was his daily source of vegetables.

It was also not easy to eliminate the chicken coop, because, compared to the other two options, it was relatively easy to construct, and rearing chickens was relatively simple and had a higher success rate.

After careful consideration of the remaining two options, Char ultimately decided to eliminate the fish pond.

After all, merely raising a tank or a few tanks of fish would not meet the standards—to accomplish the task, he would need at least a pond full of fish.

Just like a so-called chicken coop, it wasn’t enough just to raise a few chicken cages of free-range chickens.

All farming and breeding had to be done on a sufficient scale to be viable.

Like the urban white-collars in his previous life longing for a pastoral life, carving out a small space in a steel forest to symbolically plant some vegetables and raise some Rhode Island chickens wasn’t going to work.

It’s not that the system was tricking him, because the game was designed this way from the start.

If there was any trick, it was him tricking himself.

At the current stage of the “Castle”, saying he could raise a pond full of fish was quite difficult, even harder than raising pigs.

Therefore, compared to that, it was more appropriate to push back the task of fish farming.

Besides the garden beds, chicken cages, and the wood needed later for building pigsties and chicken coops, Char also hung long flowerpots inside and outside the windows.

Inside them, Betty planted fresh flowers she had dug up from the forest, which either had a rich fragrance, insecticidal properties, or strong antibacterial effects.

Because it was foreseeable that once the pigsties and chicken coops were built, no matter how clean he kept them or how well-ventilated they were, the carriage would definitely smell and be prone to mosquitoes and germs.

These plants served not only as decoration but also had antibacterial, deodorizing, insecticidal, and fragrant effects.

Looking at his modest vegetable garden and chicken coop, a sense of accomplishment welled up in Char’s heart, and then his gaze shifted to the Peacock Mountain Quail.

“I wonder what Peacock Mountain Quail eat.”

Watching the Peacock Mountain Quail cooing in the cage, Char thought to himself.

Next, he would have to try to keep these Peacock Mountain Quail alive—at least he had to figure out what they ate.

“Betty, Auson, do you two recognize this bird?” Char asked, pointing at the free-range chickens in the cage, “Do you know what they usually eat?”

“Mr. Char, these birds are so beautiful!”

Betty, distracted, clasped her hands to her face, her eyes sparkling as she stared at the Peacock Mountain Quail, then remembered to answer Char’s question, and observed them carefully in a proper manner.

“Betty has never seen them before, Mr. Char.”

Just as Char was feeling a bit disappointed, Auson, who seemed rather dumbstruck, spoke up.

“I… I know.”

“Auson, you know?”

Auson nodded, straining to find the right words, and answered Char’s question.

“They… they like to eat insects, grass, and the seeds of the colorful scale grass.”

“You’re amazing, Auson! Thank you!”

Char did not skimp on his praise, Auson’s face flushed red; he was too shy and introverted, but that was all the more reason to lavish praise, to express gratitude directly from the heart.