Chapter 4 – A Seed of Hope
After a long silence, Ashton finally spoke.
"Elder… can I ask you something?"
The old man, still seated on the dirt floor, raised his tired eyes. "Yes, child. Speak."
Ashton leaned forward, his tone careful.
"Earlier… you said the village doesn't have food. What exactly did you mean?"
The elder's shoulders sagged. His voice was low, heavy with shame. "It is as I said.
We have stores enough to last… perhaps one month. No more."
Ashton frowned. "That bad?"
The elder nodded, his hands trembling slightly in his lap. "Our fields are raided by demi-humans. What little we manage to gather is taken. We keep only scraps to survive the days."
"I see…" Ashton murmured, brows furrowing. He leaned back, staring at the dim ceiling of the hut. One month… and then they starve.
No wonder they thought I came to take from them. They don't have anything left to give.
He exhaled slowly, then rose to his feet and stretched. "Elder, do you mind if I take a walk? I need to clear my head."
The elder shook his head. "No… not at all."
Outside, the air was still and heavy. The sun was sinking toward the horizon, casting long shadows across the miserable huts.
Everywhere Ashton walked, eyes followed him. The villagers whispered, their gazes filled with both awe and unease.
He rubbed at his temples in frustration. "Damn it… they really are looking at me like I'm a god."
He walked the length of the village slowly, letting his eyes take in every detail. Men too weak to lift tools. Mothers cradling hollow-eyed children. The air of despair clung to everything like smoke.
"Damn…" he muttered, his hands curling into fists. "They look lifeless. Like dolls… like the world already gave up on them." His teeth clenched. "It's infuriating."
Ashton forced himself to keep walking. He passed the crude wooden fence at the village's edge, his mind clouded with restless thoughts. Ten meters beyond, the forest grew thick and wild, sunlight bleeding between the branches. He stopped suddenly, blinking.
There, sprouting from the ground, was a patch of green. He knelt closer, brushing soil aside. What he uncovered made his heart skip.
"Wait… no way…"
It was a simple plant, its leaves broad and green. He pulled gently at the stem, and with a soft tug, undearthed what grew beneath: three plump, golden-brown roots.
"…Potatoes."
For a moment, Ashton just stared, dumbfounded. Then a wild laugh burst from his throat.
"Hah—haha! You've got to be kidding me!"
The sound startled nearby villagers, who turned their heads in confusion. Ashton didn't care.
He clutched the potatoes to his chest like treasure, spinning around and sprinting back toward the elder's hut.
"I found it! I found a solution to your hunger!" he shouted, his voice echoing through the streets.
Villagers stepped aside quickly, staring at him as though he had lost his mind. Whispers spread.
"…What is he saying?"
"…A solution?"
"…Has the god-child gone mad?"
The elder hurried out of his hut, eyes wide with alarm. "What is it? What are you talking about?"
Ashton skidded to a halt in front of him, grinning ear to ear.
He thrust out the plant, dirt still clinging to its roots.
"Look! Potatoes!"
The elder blinked, bewildered. "…What?"
"Food," Ashton said firmly, holding up the roots. "These can be planted, grown, harvested.
If we make fields of them, you won't just survive a month—you'll have enough to feed the whole village!"
The elder stared at the roots in his hand, then up at Ashton, still confused.
Around them, villagers began to murmur louder, edging closer to see.
"Potatoes…?"
"…Is that truly food?"
"…He pulled it from the earth…!"
The elder's hands trembled as he held the plant. Slowly, his lips parted.
"If this is true…" His eyes shimmered with something Ashton hadn't seen in any villager yet—hope. "…then perhaps… perhaps we may live."
Ashton grinned, planting his hands on his hips. "Not 'perhaps,' elder. Definitely. If the demi-humans don't steal it first… we'll turn this whole place into a farm."
Gasps spread through the crowd. For the first time, heads lifted. Shoulders straightened. Children peered out from behind their mothers' skirts, eyes wide with wonder.
Ashton looked at them all, his heart tightening. This… this is what they've been missing. Not just food. Hope.
And yet, even as he smiled, a quiet thought whispered at the back of his mind:
"…If I change too much, too fast… the gods might notice me."
He shook his head. "One problem at a time. First… we make sure no one here starves."