Chapter 4: She was beyond greed or whims. Edited*

While the sun reached the top of the blue sky, the girl continued to harvest her section of the field with dedication and pride. She knew very well how to differentiate magical plants from their variations, and how to collect them safely. With her gift for cultivation, and a creative mind.

The girl stopped while securing the huge basket she was carrying. "Very good." Taking the sweat off her face. "Today I have already collected three quarters of the field for iron grass. I even found an iron heart. If I remember correctly, the empire raised the reward for the latter to thirty silver coins."

Now her boots were dirty, her dress splattered with mud, and her tender hands full of earth. As she wiped the sweat from her forehead without realizing that she only got dirtier. It would be disconcerting to see such a beauty working the field, but, the smell of fertile earth, the foliage and humidity that surrounded the girl, somehow managed to make her see more alive, happier, more resplendent. She was the sweetest girl who ever lived, and there was nowhere else where she could belong more.

She was beautiful. Regardless of age, race, and gender. She was beautiful. Beyond lust, greed and obsession. She was beautiful. Transcending what should be possible for mortals. She was beauty. Her kindness was already something that could weigh on the shoulders of those who received it. There wasn't a single soul in the village who didn't love this girl wholeheartedly.

As the girl got closer and closer to the right age for marriage. This had in a way generated its own problems. The girl's mother had already gone through a lot, raising the girl alone after the death of her husband almost ten years ago. So the idea of giving her in marriage, did not produce joy for the mother, not for the people of the village.

The girl's voice was soft as velvet. There was no other voice that could accentuate better with her beauty. There was a clear childish tinge to it, but there was also a serenity that plagued both the voice and demeanor. This serenity was like an aura emanating from her, added to the clear joy of the girl's face. Seeing her gave you a peace with no equal, as if there could be no problem that could not be solved.

It was as if someone had taken a ray of the sun and spun it to create the golden curls adorning her head, forming almost a halo over the girl. This made her look almost otherworldly. Her sapphire-blue eyes were as if the purest, most beautiful and brightest piece of heaven was watching you. Like two precious gems. Her eyes were full of boundless dreams, curiosity and an appreciation for all the mysteries of life. Something that only served to reinforce the belief that she was favored by the gods.

No one really seemed worthy of her beauty and goodness. No one seemed worthy of the favorite daughter of the Village of Palo Verde. So no one had even dared to disturb the girl with those issues. The last thing they wanted was to cause the girl worries, of course. Even her mother rarely heard about it.

"This is the seventh iron-hearted grass I've encountered this year, that adds up to a reward of two hundred and ten pieces of silver, and the people agreed to give me a tenth of the reward, which would add up..." The young woman said with a huge smile. As she stopped for a moment to calculate the total amount she would be given for her efforts.

The peculiar fact was, not that she needed time to calculate, rather it was extraordinary that

she could do it to begin with. Even though the level of education in her home was not very high. She had shown great intellect since she was young, she had learned to reading and writing in a heart beat, and her mathematics were now even better than that of her mother.

Her mother was the one in charge of teaching her to read and write. That, as well as the most basic of math. Something her mother had learned from his grandfather, as was common in the countryside. Thought her grandad used to be the mayor of the village decades ago, before he died.

Part of the reason she was so excited about her earnings was precisely that of her intellect. Added to, her fascination and natural curiosity, this led her to desiring all kinds of knowledge. Sadly, in a place like the Village of Palo Verde, this kind of knowledge could only be acquired from travelers who told stories or from books. Such books only came around int the bag of itinerant merchants, but just sometimes. More over, things were more expensive than clothing or food.

With a smile full of bliss, the girl calculated the profits of the summer harvest. Eager to get her hands on that precious knowledge that eluded her last year. "Mmm, twenty-one silver coins, barely enough for those books of herbology I wanted. Fortunately, I have already finished with the harvest for the summer breath grass. Brought its own surprises. I managed to find ten fiery breath herbs, among all this year's harvest. With the prices offered by the empire, I will be able to earn Forty-five silver coins of the four hundred and fifty that all the lot will generate."

The only thing brighter than her almost heavenly halo was her smile. Even more radiant and warm than the sun. The young girl, of barely fourteen, did not have an exceptional figure, but there was no need. There were simply no words to describe how beautiful she was.

But, as was characteristic of the girl, only the smallest part of her earnings went to her. The girl wanted to buy some good fabrics for her mother, she remembered that she was not had a new dress in years. The fabrics, especially the high-quality ones, being so far south of the empire, they were extremely expensive.

"I should also buy some iron pots, and pay the woodcutters to make us a new bed. Mom has been complaining about her back lately, it must be because of how old and ramshackle the bed is." The girl planned, remembering the sporadic comments of her mother since a few weeks ago. Although she did not want to worry her child, the young lady paid too much attention to these things.

Almost as if she had been invoked by the girl's words, her mother appeared by the edge of the field. Few things made her stop working, the childlike love she felt for her mother was one of them. A warm voice, though with some reproach, soon reached the ears of the girl. "Alice! It's time to rest, tomorrow will be your fifteenth birthday, we don't want you all tired and sore."