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The following is a fan-based
FICTION
Las Lindas and other products set in the same universe are all owned by Chalo/Chalosan and SoulKat.
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Chapter 3: More Strength
Beta-Reader: Ant0nius
Despite our best efforts, a full week went by with little results to show from all of our hard work.
While we had all given it our best, we still fell behind in specific tasks. Even with Miles starting to be less reckless than he initially had been during his first two-three days of work after realizing that any penalties created by his mistakes meant less time spent with the waitress at the bar, things still weren't working out well with our current numbers.
We could barely accomplish roughly half of the tasks within the farm in decent conditions. The real issues were plowing the fields, and getting rid of the various massive rocks limiting the size of the fertile lands. This last problem wasn't one that could be solved without proper equipment since these stones were far too entrenched into the ground. No amount of physical strength alone could manage to get the job done.
With that in mind, two distinct plans came to be through some discussions with Mora about how to deal with the current circumstances. First, Las Lindas needed some extra workers to make up for the current state of work. If we couldn't get it working at 100%, we could at least try to increase the production from the available sectors by getting more people to work here. Then it was about time for someone to go and get some shopping would start with the groceries and conclude with gaining info on the costs for the equipment needed for the rocks removal project.
The owner of the farm decided to be the one to try and accomplish both, switching to the attire she had been wearing back when she had first recruited me and Miles. I was a little skeptical about the usage of that outfit to garner the right people, and I brought this up to the Cow Prime before she could leave for Gossamer.
She snorted at my concern, still giving me a thankful nod for being legitimately worried about her.
"I will be fine. It's not the first time I tried this trick, and I can handle any ruffians trying to get some."
I didn't press further after that. I could tell from her tone that she meant it about this being something she was accustomed to handle. I didn't feel the need to be more of a pest about it, and thus turned my attention back to the farm while she was gone. I was left alone with Miles- or better, I was left alone while also babysitting Miles.
While the Cat Prime had made some decent improvement since day one, he was still far from being an efficient worker. Sure, he had the motivation to get the job done, but he was still a lazy man with an interest in skipping the burdening duties of being a farmhand. Which meant I had to check on him on multiple occasions. I caught him lazing around at least twice in the span of two hours, and that was while I had to complete my own set of chores.
For a moment, I really felt like I should've accepted Mora's advice and had him try and remove the stone while she was busy in the port city. That should've been a simple enough task to keep track of him while also getting him occupied with the nigh-impossible duty at hand. Despite being a smartass most of the time, Miles was still someone that could do anything to flex on people. Especially if that would then be used to make good impressions with a certain waitress.
Still, the logic that opposed this idea lingered on the fact I couldn't exactly have him 'do nothing'. As much as it would be so easy to fulfill, Las Lindas needed everyone available up and running to keep it afloat from the non-negligible amount of debts pending on the property. Speaking of this very matter, I felt tempted to take just a few minutes off from work to try and learn more about the farm's past. There were a couple of rooms that Mora didn't want to be opened. Something about those already being taken by some people that 'were not there yet'.
It was intriguing, and there was reason to believe that at least three of those were once owned by the other primes displayed in the various photos in the main house. But while I felt interested by the chance of doing so without being detected, I knew better than to risk Mora's trust by doing that. I started feeling bad trying to even go through with it. Especially when I was trying so hard to not bring any attention onto myself.
I just couldn't risk it. Not after what happened two years ago.
Still, I still had plenty of things to keep my head busy as I tried to get the entire orchard taken care of. The place was massive, and while Miles had done a good job clearing the apples from one of the many sections of the large area made up by the trees in the last few days, it would take a lengthier shift to get the whole orchard dealt with.
It wasn't a complicated task, and the problem wasn't related to tiredness or fatigue. The issue was the timing and the organization of the full caskets without forgetting where those were before moving on to the next sections. Eventually I decided to stop as I found myself done with three fifths of the orchard, leaving the caskets by the closest entrance to the place before making my way back to the middle grounds of the farm.
A scowl slowly formed on my face, my eyes locked onto a certain Cat Prime that was, in that moment, sitting atop one of the big stones I had mentioned a while ago. He was using what appeared to be binoculars and he was aiming his heightened gaze at the general direction where the main path to town started.
"What are you looking at?" I asked quietly, finding it odd that he had yet to panic to my approach.
"The Cow has found a Bull," The guy replied cryptically. "Let's just say that she found a helluva worker in town."
My frown only deepened at that kind of response, but soon Miles' comments started to make sense as Mora finally returned from her trip back to Gossamer. Much to my surprise, she actually ended up bringing a new worker to the farm and… I wasn't sure how I was supposed to approach the guy.
Standing a little taller than the woman, Minos was a Bull Prime with dark hair and bright red eyes. His fur was a shade close to Mora's, and he was wearing a short green coat, a white sleeveless shirt and a pair of dark-brown pants.
By all means, he looked ready to take on tasks tougher than the ones Miles and I were already capable of doing, and we were proven correct when he literally lifted the rock where the Cat Prime was previously sitting on off the ground. Awed by his strength, I managed to recover from the shock just in time to prevent him from throwing the rock away and onto someone's property. After guiding him to put the rocks right on a big crevice that could easily house all these stones at once, I was left to ponder how it was possible that such a guy could be able to do something like this.
While it was true that Primes were considerably stronger than Humans, there were still some limitations that not even Primes were meant to be able to easily break through. Heck, Mora herself had trouble helping me with the plow, but Minos managed to get done with the first patch of the field with ease, almost making it seem like child's play.
Miles was impressed, but still irritated by the situation now that a 'bigger fish than him' now worked at Las Lindas. It never went beyond snarky remarks directed at the new worker, but I could tell from the Bull Prime's calm but slowly changing demeanor that his patience wasn't as limitless as the younger man thought it was.
Eventually the work day took a sudden positive shift as I managed to get him back to work, leaving me to be the closest to where Minos was while… Mora focused on preparing coffee for everyone. With the big assignments done for today, I decided to have the Bull Prime help me with a particularly easy task. We needed to fix part of the old fence around the main house. Remove the broken bits and replace those with newer ones that I found inside the barn.
It was while we were going through this work that I decided to try and make some conversation with the new guy. While he was particularly silent, he seemed to listen well enough when it was something worthy of his attention. So I decided to start with something simple.
"Do you think we should give it a different color with the final paint job?" I questioned calmly, helping with the fixing of one of the unpainted bars. Minos blinked, glancing at me briefly before giving me a nod.
"White seems… too bright."
"I was thinking about light-gray. Not too gray but-"
"Just enough to not hurt the eyes," He interrupted me and I found myself nodding again.
"Yeah. Also, sorry if I say this but… I suppose you know that the farm isn't going to make money for a couple of months, right?"
The man sighed. "She didn't provide me with much details. But I don't mind."
That response had me frowning again. "That's a laidback response. I don't mean to imply anything since I'm doing this despite that too, but I didn't expect such quick acceptance from you."
Shrugging, he continued to pay more attention to the fence.
"I suppose it's… because I found the work refreshing," Minos admitted. "I've heard farming is a simple and honest job."
I nodded wholeheartedly at that. "It sure is. Once you start putting your heart into it and get the first results, it's all worthwhile."
"You seem rather informed on this," He pointed out with a hint of surprise.
"My grandparents had a farm like this one. I spent most of my childhood there and learned through them about what it took to do this kind of job."
The man nodded, satisfied with the answer I had provided him. Still, despite the fact he didn't seem interested in asking for more, I decided to take this opportunity to finally tackle the biggest question I had in my mind.
"I don't recall you or Mora mentioning how you met each other," I commented quietly.
"We didn't, no," He answered honestly. "I can say that she was having a disagreement with someone when I first approached her."
I frowned once again. "A disagreement?"
Before he could actually provide me with an answer, Mora decided to finally pass by with two steamy cups of coffee, cutting off our private conversation. The discussion continued, but once Miles came to rest from his 'difficult labors', there wasn't much else that could be asked without getting their attention.
Still, the thought of this 'disagreement' kept me interested in the matter until later that day. And it would take until dinner until I finally understood what he was talking about as the conversation about that situation was brought up by Miles.
And boy, I was caught unprepared by what was said…
Preparing dinner for four people proved to be a bit tougher than expected. It was the first time I served so many people at once, but much to my surprise Minos didn't seem to care if his share was the same size as the others. I was still confused by his metabolism, but I decided against inquiring about it. Mostly because a matter more worthy of concern was finally delivered as Miles pressed the Bull Prime with the very question I got no response from mere hours ago.
"You were attacked?" I reiterated calmly as I felt my interest in my delicious steak waning as I heard the topic being brought up. One moment I was being delighted by the meal, and then I found my brain snapping away from my food to handle this very odd topic.
"It wasn't that bad. Just a bunch of dumbasses trying to annoy me and didn't go too far."
I stared at her a little more seriously, but I wasn't able to ask for more as someone else spoke up.
"Because your knight in shining armor intervened," Miles quipped mirthfully. "Like seriously, I don't see what you get by acting tough about this-"
"Shut it."
The glare provided by the woman was enough to curb any interest from the lazy worker to poke more fun out of this situation. Instead, I decided to speak up again, feeling the need to ask this very detail.
"I don't want to sound like an annoyance, boss, but… you weren't hurt or anything, right?"
At first Mora regarded me with a surprised look, then she seemed a little gloomy and finally gave me a serious sigh.
"I'm fine," The Cow Prime answered curtly. "I don't mind the worry, but I'm not made of glass."
Minos sighed at the response, seeming unimpressed from the looks of it.
"I don't think he's wrong in being concerned," He remarked calmly. "From what I understand, he has a genuine sense of caring aimed at you, so he has some right in being worried no matter how strong you are."
I was relieved to know that he was more than keen to offer that kind of support when needed. I quickly nodded at him, but then I looked back at Mora. A blush appeared on her face, but I wasn't sure if it was because she was embarrassed by that indirect call out, flattered by the explanation aimed to elaborate on my concern, or just endeared by Minos' speaking. Maybe these three all at once since she really had trouble coming up for a reply to that.
"I… I guess you're right," Mora ultimately conceded. "I'm sorry."
"It's alright," I returned with a sigh. "I understand it's easy to take anything like that as some act to get something out of it."
"Yeah, I was worried too," Miles added with an unconvincing voice. "Can I get a raise, boss?"
"…Are you kidding?" I quietly asked, getting a snort from the Cat Prime.
"Of course I am. I might be unlucky at times, but I know how to not chew bullets like that."
Mora looked calm despite the joke, and she gave me a look.
"But I might end up giving a raise to Declan here if he keeps up helping me with you, Kitty."
Miles groaned at the cheeky remark, almost face-planting onto his dinner as everyone chuckled at his reaction to it.
The rest of the dinner went with little issue as a comfortable silence descended onto the room. But while Miles and I were more than happy to enjoy that moment in pure quiet, the same wasn't true for Minos as the Bull Prime was still 'targeted' by Mora's questions about himself.
He was rather reserved on a normal predicament, but I was sure that some of that unwillingness to give up answers was more attached to the woman's insistence rather than his personal disinterest in speaking with others. I knew from our previous interaction that the guy wasn't shy from making conversation, only that he didn't like it when he was put under pressure for no apparent reason.
It seemed clear to me, just like it was for him, that Mora was trying to hook up with him as something 'more' than how a boss should see a worker under her care. That intrigued glint within her eyes was laced with some loving and attention, and that was more than enough to make her intentions evident to anyone giving it enough attention.
Instead of thinking too much about it, I merely shrugged about this matter. It wouldn't be the first time I heard of a farm owner trying to get together with a worker, but I was perplexed by the suddenness of such attraction. It was clear that Minos had yet to give her a romantic reason to make her attracted to him. And I knew from the way he tried to deflect most of the queries that he was really trying to not be rude about this matter and hurt Mora in the process.
A good guy's move, but one that I knew wasn't going to last long considering how determined the woman was when she wanted something out of life itself. Despite this knowledge, I knew I couldn't exactly intervene or do anything except hope for things to not escalate too abruptly and in an ugly situation.
Many unfortunate things could happen if someone didn't pay close attention to these kinds of warnings, and the farm wasn't ready to endure drama of this magnitude. I had to keep an eye out if anything bad happened, and hopefully move in just before things become too heated.
With nothing else but thoughts about the future left me to comfort me that night, I quickly found rest the moment I settled my head on my bed's pillow. Tomorrow would be a tough day as usual, but maybe things were still going to look up with Minos now working at Las Lindas despite the unexpected issue that was Mora's romantic thoughts about him.
I still prayed for brighter days. And I ended up enjoying those for a couple of weeks, until a curious night happened and brought novelty to the status quo. A night that put everything in perspective and… came close to shredding that state of peace and hope that existed at the farm.
AN
The first challenge comes up. Let's see how things go this time around.
