Chapter 1374: Chapter 1374

One day was spent in a daze from the hangover; another was filled with unease. It was not until three days after the night of drinking that Priest Mekate received the formal royal decree, entrusting him with the full responsibility of negotiating the surrender of the Black Serpent. The trusted aide responsible for delivering the order also brought a message from Your Majesty to forget the complaints heard that night, pretending nothing had happened.

Only then did Priest Mekate breathe a long sigh of relief, feeling as though he had run around on the edge of an endless Black Abyss, unexpectedly returning alive.

"Chief Divine protect us! Being in the company of Your Majesty... feels just like accompanying a Jaguar in the jungle!"

Priest Mekate shook his head quietly, holding the royal decree from Your Majesty, as he went to seek out the old militia Chiwaco. He searched around the city before heading outside it, finally spotting the old militia, dazing in a field of beans in the nearest garrison village.

"Mekate, you’ve come at the right time! Help me assess the divinity of these three types of beans... Oh! Which one is better for fertilizing the fields!"

The old militia wore a straw hat and had a long grass stem in his mouth. Since returning from Cuba, Your Majesty assigned him to research the planting of various crops, the water and fertilizer, growth, breeding, pest control, and such.

Your Majesty called this "agriculture" and appointed him as the head of the Divine Power University’s Department of Agriculture, supposedly equivalent to a Second Level Divine Revelation Priest. Apart from this, Your Majesty presented him with a textbook on agriculture and a scripture of divinity on breeding, instructing him to find a literate priest to often read aloud to him.

Among these two books, the agriculture book was more approachable. Selection, germination, water and fertilizer, climate—having farmed for so many years, he somewhat understood, albeit not systematically learned before. As for the breeding "Divine Revelation Scripture," reputed to directly address the essence of all things, it sounded abstruse and mysterious, much like the priests’ ancestral wisdom.

The old militia hired someone to read it once, which only resulted in dizziness, with contents like "light and dark divinity entwined in pairs," "light’s divinity surpassing darkness, manifesting," "light and dark divinity freely colliding yet independently arranged, determining appearances," "twenty-three laws gather in the body, twenty-seven thousand pairs of divinity condensing into humans"... such incomprehensible and indeed awe-inspiring stuff. When he had courageously consulted Your Majesty about it during the drinking nights a few days ago, Your Majesty had suggested him to plant beans, stating that "beans are simpler, and reveal the divinity and laws better." ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ novel※fire.net

"Captain Chi, why are you here? I searched for you in the city for ages; had Didi not informed me, I’d have never known you were here!"

Priest Mekate wiped the sweat off his forehead and crouched next to the old militia beside the field, intimately leaning on him.

"Staying in the fields is always better than in the city! Saves us from being called to drink by Your Majesty, only to be tasked with perilous errands..."

Upon speaking of this, the old militia Chiwaco shook his head, his aged eyes full of regret. He had initially planned well; returning from Cuba, he vowed never to go out to sea again! Yet he hadn’t anticipated needing to make another voyage to the distant Southern Continent, uncertain if he would return alive... this thought made him sigh, his eyes fixed on the three types of beans, speaking of the relaxing rural farm tasks.

"Priest Mekate, you see, these three types of beans are the most common in the land. The slender vine, climbing upward, is the lima bean (green bean), coming in green, yellow, and purple-black varieties. The Kingdom, the Alliance, every piece of Milpary grows them, and the village eats them as a staple. They are pretty easy to grow, though they need cooking before eating..."

Upon hearing this, Priest Mekate considered speaking but refrained. Glancing at the focused old militia Chiwaco, he echoed in agreement:

"Indeed! Chief Divine protect us! These easy-to-grow lima beans are the Divine’s bounty to the world... and the beans for the commoners!"

"Hmm... beans for commoners, easy to grow and survive..."

The old militia’s aged eyes flickered as he extended his hand to touch another type of bean. This bean shared pinnate leaves with the lima bean, had butterfly-like purple and white flowers, and its long flat pods resembled obsidian knives, thus named "sword beans" (Phaseolus lunatus).

"These sword beans bear resemblance to lima beans, favoring warm moist soil. However, they grow much taller than lima beans! They can grow indefinitely, towering over humans! They resist pests better, but despite growing taller, they produce fewer beans..."

"It is indeed so! Chief Divine protect us! These tall sword beans are likewise bestowed by the Divine... and are the beans for the samurai!"

"Beans for the samurai!... sharp like knives..."

The old militia slightly shook his head with an uncertain thought as he continued to extend his hand carefully towards the last type of bean.

This bean resembled the other two, with slender vines and pinnate leaves, no apparent difference. Its pods were smooth to touch, slick under the fingers. The old militia peeled open a pod, revealing flat and round beans, in white or pale red, appearing quite exquisite. He tasted one, chewing it, noticing the significantly reduced beany taste.

"Chief Divine protect us! These are delicious fine beans, sacred priest beans! They are quite tender and lack earthy flavor..."

This time, Priest Mekate started the conversation. He was familiar with this bean, having eaten it for years. Before becoming a priest apprentice, during his farming days in his village, such quality beans were collected as tribute, handed over to the samurai squad for provisioning!

"Yes! These priest beans are very tasty... though not plentiful, not resilient to pests, and birds love eating them..."

The old militia Chiwaco nodded as he handed one to Priest Mekate. Priest Mekate chewed on it, ready to speak, but then heard the old militia speak softly:

"Mekate, do you know where these beans come from?"

"Huh? These beans... well, aren’t they one of the Divine’s gifts to the world?"

Upon hearing the question, Priest Mekate displayed some bewilderment. However, he soon realized. Although everyone says so, indeed there are many crops, just like potatoes and sweet potatoes, that originate from...

"Captain Chi, do you mean, these beans also come from the Southern Continent?!"

"Yes! That’s what Your Majesty said..."

The old militia scratched his head, sighing wistfully.

"Your Majesty mentioned these fine priest beans... in truth, they are called lima beans. And not far into the future, during our southward exploration, the furthest place we must reach... is this legendary place where the Divine bestowed the beans!"

"We are to carry these fine priest beans all the way south, inquiring tribes along the way... until we reach a seaside land traversed by a Great River... ’Lima!’ There, we shall encounter a powerful kingdom revealed in prophecy that worships the Sun... Yes, a kingdom, not tribes. It will be exceedingly vast, ruling the inland highlands, and the coastline seaside, larger than both the present Alliance and Kingdom combined!"

"And the name of this kingdom... as per Your Majesty’s words... is ’The Realm of the Sun’s Children,’ ’The Four Region Alliance’... what is it, oh!... ’Tawantin Su You’... Tawantinsuyu!"