I Just Want to Farm, But My Beasts Keep Evolving!!

Chapter 171: A Very "Normal" Afternoon

The morning sun had barely risen when a miserable cry rang out across the farm.

"AAGGHHHHH!!!"

A second later, Raiden fell backwards while smoke rolled off his body, his face twitching in pain as he glared at the culprit in front of him. The culprit, on the other hand, looked entirely unapologetic.

"Woolie!!"

The little menace puffed out his chest proudly and shook his fluffy body once, making a few arcs of violet lightning crackle around his wool. His face clearly said, You asked for it, human.

"I asked you for a small bolt! A small bolt!! Not this— this attempted murder!! You almost burned down this tree!!" Raiden snapped, trying to move his twitching body. "Do you know how much money this tree cost me? If you burn it down, I am feeding you to the bank myself."

"Woolie."

It was a very shameless sound. One that roughly translated to: ’If it breaks, then it was too weak to deserve me.’

Raiden looked at the Lightning Canopy standing in front of them and felt a little relieved. The black-charred patch on its trunk had not spread any further.

In fact, after taking in the earlier lightning, the strange tree seemed to have become even more lively. Its silver-blue leaves rustled quietly in the wind, and faint sparks kept dancing along the veins of the bark like tiny snakes of light.

Neva, who was hanging upside down from a nearby branch by a thread of silk, tilted her head curiously. Her large pink eyes moved from the tree to Woolie and then to Raiden, as if trying to determine which of the three was the dumbest. After a short silence, she let out a soft cry.

"Shaa."

"That’s right," Raiden muttered while pointing at Woolie. "He is the dumbest."

"Woolie?!"

Woolie turned toward Neva at once, looking deeply betrayed. It had not expected its little sister to side with the enemy.

Ignoring the hurt expression on the sheep’s face, Raiden carefully stepped closer to the Lightning Canopy and touched its trunk. It felt warm. No, not just warm.

There was a strange throbbing sensation inside it, as if something was slowly gathering within the tree. He narrowed his eyes. The workers had told him it needed lightning to grow.

He let out a sigh and stepped back. "Alright. Enough experiments for today. Woolie, no more lightning. Neva, no chewing on the leaves. I don’t know if they are poisonous for you, and more importantly, I cannot afford to test whether they are poisonous."

"Shaaa~"

Neva immediately looked away.

Raiden’s eyes twitched. "You already thought about it, didn’t you?"

Before the little spider could continue pretending innocence, a sleepy voice drifted over from behind.

"Brother... why are you shouting so early in the morning again?"

Raiden turned around to find Sylvia walking toward them in her nightclothes, rubbing one eye with a face full of sleepiness. Her silver hair was a mess, and her expression looked so listless that anyone seeing her for the first time would never guess this was the same genius girl who acted like a refined princess in front of the rest of the world.

Seeing her, Neva’s eyes lit up at once.

"Shaa!"

A white blur shot through the air and landed directly on Sylvia’s shoulder before the girl could even react. Sylvia flinched, then looked at the little spider clinging to her and immediately softened.

"Ah... good morning to you too."

Raiden looked at the traitor on her shoulder and clicked his tongue. "Amazing. So she acts cute with you and acts like a little bandit with me. She doesn’t love me anymore~"

"That is because I am more trustworthy than you," Sylvia said calmly before yawning. She then looked at the tree, then at Woolie, then at Raiden’s slightly smoking body. "Did he shock you again? What did you do this time??"

Raiden’s face darkened. "Mee?? I did something?? I am starting to think this whole family has lost its respect for me."

"Brother, respect is earned."

"What kind of nonsense are they teaching you in that school of yours?" Raiden grumbled before glancing toward the sky. "Forget it. Since you are already awake, go wash up. I’ll make breakfast."

At the mention of breakfast, Woolie’s ears perked up instantly, and Neva, still on Sylvia’s shoulder, also turned her head toward him. Sylvia looked between the two gluttons and then at her brother and suddenly asked, "Do you think we still have enough food left for all of them?"

The question instantly hit Raiden harder than lightning.

His expression stiffened.

Silvia noticed it at once. "...That bad?"

Raiden slowly looked away. "Let us just say if those two continue eating at this speed, then in a few weeks I may have to place myself on the market."

Sylvia glanced at him with scrutiny before expressing her opinion. "You are worth fifty thousand at best."

Raiden clutched his chest in fake pain. "Heartless. Truly heartless. Your brother is breaking his back for this family, and this is how you speak to me."

Sylvia walked past him without even sparing him another glance, but the faint smile on her face still gave her away.

The morning passed the same way many of their recent mornings had passed, noisy and busy.

Raiden cooked while Woolie kept trying to sneak bites when his back was turned, Neva sat near the window and watched the oil splutter with deep interest, and Sylvia sat at the table pretending to study while actually staring at the two Terra Beasts more than her notes. From the outside, it looked peaceful. Normal, even.

After eating, the family sat together, and they all started playing with some cards, where all three teamed up against him. Sylvia only came home once a week, so Raiden had decided to make that a holiday for himself, where he just relaxed with her and his Terra Beasts.

It all felt like a normal afternoon in the Ashford family home. Way too normal. But Raiden felt a faint sense of unease with it, like something had gone really, really wrong.