"Money?" Dust's eyes focused on the people walking outside on the streets. "You've got a small fortune after selling those gold coins. What do you need money for?" he asked, turning around.
"Actually," Inox approached the tomato plant, "I want to buy a farm." His hands brushed against the plant's slightly prickly leaves.
The blond took a few steps forward, observed the potted plants, glanced around the room, and noticed that, aside from the plants in the pots, there was absolutely nothing else that belonged to Inox. "Didn't you buy a change of clothes?" he asked.
"My clothes have a cleaning enchantment; they'll always be clean." However, Inox's explanation just seemed weird to Dust.
"I guess that's tough for the prince of fashion, hahaha. Come on, I want to meet this Aqua girl!" The blond quickly headed for the door, ready to leave.
A while later.
"Would you like to try my vegetable?"
There was a moment of silence following Inox's words. He and Dust had met up with the girl calling herself Aqua, along with a teenager named Kazuma. They had introduced themselves as potential allies for an adventurer party, and right now, they were sitting at a table in the adventurer's guild tavern.
"..." Kazuma narrowed his eyes at Inox, Aqua tilted her head, and Dust turned to look at his friend, a growing smile on his face.
"Ahem, I mean, Miss Aqua, this is a special tomato I grew in my garden. Would you like to try it?" Inox pulled a half-ripe tomato from his pocket and placed it on the table.
Aqua's eyes locked onto the tomato. Even though the vegetable's appearance suggested it was only half-ripe, it still looked like it was about to burst, and its brilliance caught the eye of anyone who looked at it.
Not only that, but the tomato also gave off a fairly concentrated aroma, just enough to grab the attention of the people nearby.
Aqua looked at the tomato, then at Inox's smiling face, and back at the tomato a couple of times before grimacing. "Why are you looking at me like that?" she patted the table, a faint blush on her cheeks.
In reality, Inox just wanted to test something: Can half-ripe fruits provide the same physical boost as fully ripe ones? It was a question that had suddenly popped into his head, though, of course, he would love to test the effect on other people.
"What kind of person offers you a 'tomato' the very first time you meet?" Kazuma chimed in, a weird look on his face.
"Me!" Inox puffed out his chest. Dust, to his right, simply let out a light chuckle before composing himself. "Forgive him, Miss Aqua, Mr. Kazuma. My friend here is known as a 'Divine Farmer,'" he emphasized the last words before grabbing the tomato off the table.
"Though, of course, you aren't obligated to do so." His face morphed into a slight grin before he opened his mouth and took a bite out of the tomato.
Just the smell alone is so intense it's making me hungry, the blond thought before he started chewing. His taste buds were bombarded by a unique combination of flavors. The crispy tomato offered a slight resistance against his teeth, and as he chewed, every single fiber exploded with flavorful juice.
That first bite was a revelation for the blond. His eyes shot wide open in absolute disbelief, his pupils dilated, and before he could even utter a single word, he devoured the tomato in massive bites.
"Mmm..." Dust let out a soft groan, closing his eyes for a moment before snapping them open. "Incredible!!!" While everyone was focused on Dust's reaction, something particular unlocked inside Inox's mind.
"Congratulations on completing the system's first hidden quest. The system shop is now open. You have been awarded one random Grade 1 Corn seed. You have been awarded one Grade 1 Papaya seed."
"Huh?" Inox looked left and right, trying to see who had spoken, then quickly grasped the meaning of the words before checking his system.
Name: Inox Stylish Sword Belzerg.
Profession: Divine Farmer.
Profession Level: Apprentice.
Available Seeds: Random Grade 1 Corn, Grade 1 Papaya.
Farmland: None.
Sure enough, is that the voice of this mysterious thing? he wondered as he noticed he now had two brand-new seeds in the system's storage space.
However, he noticed something else in particular. In one corner, there was a button that said "Shop." He focused on it, and the screen in front of him shifted, displaying several pictures of seeds.
Each seed icon had a price tag attached, ranging from five gold coins all the way up to a billion gold coins.
Inox's eyes practically bugged out of his skull like a cartoon character. He focused his gaze on the final seed, the one priced at a billion gold coins.
"Grade 5 Primordial Tree of Eternity Seed: Concentrates the energy of the universe, brings forth new life loyal to the owner of the Tree of Eternity. But beware! This plant is considered one of the primordial gods. Being its master is no easy task."
A smile crept onto Inox's face. He licked his parched lips before thinking, Hahaha, a billion gold coins and there's not even a guarantee I'll be the master... He shook his head.
Regardless, he let out a heavy sigh before closing the window. Actually, I could try exchanging my current Eris back into gold coins. Thinking about the commission fees for exchanging gold to Eris and vice versa, Inox couldn't help but wince.
He made a mental note to punch the money changers later before closing out the system's holographic screens.
Back at the table, everyone was focused on Dust, whose face looked like he was in absolute paradise. His lips were puckered like a grandpa's, and he was nodding repeatedly. "Good tomato, good tomato, good tomato." However, there were no physical changes to his body beyond his sheer excitement.
Aqua turned her head to look at Kazuma, extending a hand as if begging for spare change.
"..." The Japanese boy made a rather weird face as he watched the girl's antic. "What? You want money?" he retorted.
Aqua shook her head. Her hand remained outstretched, her face almost completely deadpan, her posture rigid, and her eyes locked onto her target.
A moment later, Aqua's stomach growled. She pressed her lips together tightly before grabbing Kazuma by the collar. "You jerk!! You were supposed to guess that I was hungry!!" she yelled.
Kazuma had no idea how to respond. He simply tilted his head, while Inox broke into a light laugh.
"It's your job! Your job! You dragged me to this world against my will... Can't you at least indulge me with some food?!" She tried to sound threatening, but as she spoke, her stomach kept rumbling like background music.
In the end, Kazuma tried to borrow some money to buy food since his own stomach had started growling too, but Inox refused the loan and simply bought a meal for everyone instead.
"By the way, about that tomato..." Dust paused, a bit of drool slipping past his lips as he stared at Inox the way an anime fan stares at their favorite waifu.
Inox quickly backed away from Dust, cornering himself against the wall. "Grown by me," he replied. Dust wiped his mouth with a napkin before clearing his throat. "Is this what you meant when you called yourself a Divine Farmer?"
Inox took a slow breath before sighing. He looked around the table: Dust was zeroed in on him, waiting for an answer; Kazuma was eating slowly but still paying close attention; and Aqua was completely hyper-focused on her food.
"Actually, I'm here to propose a deal."
Dust's ears twitched slightly, Kazuma swallowed before looking Inox straight in the eye, and Aqua—with her cheeks stuffed full like a hamster, lifted her head to look at Dust, her commercial instincts suddenly kicking in.
"I have 450,000 Eris, well, 440,000 after paying for the food. I need another 600,000 to buy a hectare of arable land," he explained his situation in a nutshell.
"Ahem. Dust, Mr. Kazuma, Miss Aqua. There's a quest for an adventurer party. It's about killing the Goblin Lord just outside of Axel City. My deal is this."
Inox narrowed his eyes, pausing to look at everyone before speaking again. "The reward is only 200,000 Eris. It's a special quest. But, goblins are known for hoarding valuables. My estimate is that they have a treasure stash exceeding half a million Eris..."
Inox was slightly confused. "I need my cut of this quest to be 600,000 Eris so I can buy that hectare of farmland. In exchange, within two months, no, exactly one month after I secure the 600,000, I will give each of you a grand total of half a million Eris."