Chapter 509
A low stone wall traced the gentle curve of the valley, marking a boundary as it followed the road. Beyond it, trees rose at regular intervals, spaced appropriately. They all looked like fruit trees.
"Quite the scale," Ian murmured, proceeding along the road in the middle of it all. He had put the wine bottle away in his pocket dimension and was holding only a cigarette between his fingers.
"It's thanks to the blessing of the Tree of Life," answered Diana, walking alongside him. She took a deep breath as if savoring the fresh air.
"There must be a Tree of Life nearby."
"If you go straight west, you'll find a forest. It's somewhere in there. Only the elder and a few guardians can set foot in it," Diana answered, tilting her head forward.
So that's why it's particularly green around here.
Ian brought the cigarette to his lips again, leisurely looking around.
Different kinds of trees lined both sides of the road. Between the branches, he spotted unripe fruit that looked a bit like plums. Farther off, the occasional wooden building, likely storehouses or distilleries, peeked through the trees.
"No matter how I look at it, it seems more efficient to grow things like wheat rather than fruit," said Ian.
"If you go straight northwest from here, there's also an area where they farm wheat on a large scale. I don't know if it's still the case, but when I was here, they sent most of the wheat harvested that way to the capital," answered Diana, shrugging.
She held a bluish, unripe fruit in one hand, something between a plum and a peach.
"Of course, that goes the same for the fruits harvested here."