Enemies Are All Nourishment for My Fungi

"Are you the one who attacked us?"

"Correct."

"Why did you bring us here?"

"A labor camp, of course. As prisoners, I can't just support you for free; you'll have to work for your food. Otherwise, starve."

"We are wizards."

"So what? Want special treatment? Prisoners need to be aware of their status. Even Duke Akeley's family has to honestly clear land for me, so who do you think you are?"

Upon hearing that even Duke Akeley's family had been captured, the wizards instantly fell silent. Some even silently tried to summon their powers, testing whether they could escape on their own.

The next second, a scream.

Ye Nai glanced over, nonchalant, and saw a wizard writhing in pain on the ground.

"I'd advise against any rash actions, oh. I've locked away your powers. If you resist, that man's fate will be yours."

Ye Nai's words were clearly not believed, causing all the wizards to try to summon their powers.

As a result, both the witches and wizards were rolling on the ground in agony, the more fiercely they tried to summon their powers, the more intense the pain.

"How can this be? How can you lock away our powers?" The previous female voice screamed in disbelief.

"And why can't I? Controlling the power of nature is not some unique skill only you possess that others can't learn. When it comes to communicating with nature, our side is the ancestor. You see, your bodies are covered in Witch Patterns to enhance your communicative powers, right? But we don't need them at all. Understand now?"

In the East Ridge Secret Realm, which also followed the climate of Blue Star Dahua Country, it was naturally summer. Ye Nai, wearing short sleeves and long pants, revealed smooth arms without a single tattoo.

Meanwhile, the wizards on the ground, dressed warmly due to the cold weather turning in Duke Akeley's Main City, had Witch Patterns on the parts of their bodies that were exposed: their heads, faces, backs of hands, and fingers.

Ye Nai sneered openly.

"Enjoy your new life, prisoners."

Ye Nai left the wizards, whose powers had been locked, and walked towards the servants huddled on the other side.

The servants, having seen and heard everything, knew that this Great Witch who had captured them was more formidable than the wizards they had served, and they couldn't muster any will to resist.

As soon as Ye Nai approached, they collectively prostrated themselves in a sign of utmost respect.

"Who among you held the highest position before?"

"That would be me, Great Witch. I am the head of the servants, my name is Fro."

"That's Mr. Fro, the chief manager,"

A male voice rang out in unison with a chorus of others, all saying the same thing.

Ye Nai walked over to Fro, who had a Mediterranean haircut, salt-and-pepper hair, and his entire face was clean-shaven except for a little stubble on his chin, looking very spirited.

"Then continue as the manager. Not only will you manage these people, but those wizards will also be under your command."

"...Ah?!" Fro recoiled in fear, waving his hands frantically, "No no, I can't manage them, they are wizards, they won't listen to me."

"Their wizard power is locked away. They have nothing left but physical strength. If they don't obey, beat them until they do. Your task is to clear the land for me. I'll provide tents and the necessary supplies. How to assign tasks daily is entirely your responsibility; just don't delay the plowing next spring."

Fro found the very thought terrifying—beating wizards, even if their powers were locked away, he wouldn't dare with a hundred-fold the courage.

But he didn't dare to repeat what he just said, for fear of being hit by the Great Witch.

Pretending to shift his attention, Fro looked around with the help of the off-road vehicle's headlights.

"Great Witch, is all this land going to be cleared? How much exactly?"

"You start clearing. Whatever you can clear counts, I'll give you a three-month novice period, and then we'll set a new standard. You clear in that direction, the other side is the pasture I've already cleared, you don't need to worry about that; stay a bit away from there."

As Ye Nai was speaking, she threw out a pile of farming tools.

They were all collected from the village encampment on Blue Star. Since they didn't farm, there weren't many tools, but there were hoes, axes, shovels, and the like.

"There aren't many tools, just make do with these for now. I'll bring more later."

"Yes, Great Witch."

"Work hard, and I'll provide comfortable living conditions, ones you've never seen at the Wizard Academy. Once I'm done with my current affairs, I will prepare the tools and measure the land, and then we'll determine the final amount needed. My language isn't very good, do you understand?"

"Understood, we understand very clearly, Great Witch. Don't worry, we will work hard."

Ye Nai nodded, tentatively trusting these people.

Then, she threw down a pile of tents, clothes, and other supplies for daily needs.

There was no more dry wood for fuel, so she directly took out a full ton bag of biomass fuel pellets and three water towers, each holding a ton.

"This is all clean water. Keep one tent separate to cover the water towers and the fuel from contamination. You know what contamination means, right?"

"We know, we know, the term pollution is mentioned in alchemy."

"Good, then settle down first. Just use your tents as a boundary and start clearing the land on the other side."

Lastly, Ye Nai took out enough food for them to feast for several meals, including fresh ingredients and big pots of cooked food. Watching them use what was locally available, picking up stones to build a fire pit, and starting a fire with the biomass fuel pellets, she finally turned off the vehicle's headlights, stowed away the car, and stepped out of the Secret Realm.

Without her vehicle's lights, the place immediately darkened, and Fro led the servants to light several more campfires. By the light of the fires, they distributed the food, planning to feast and then pitch their tents.

The cooked food left by Ye Nai was the same as what had been divided among the nobles, which was originally breakfast for an entire military fortress's soldiers. With just a handful of nobles, there was no way they could finish it all, and a lot was left over, with only a part given to Fro.

The weather inside the Secret Realm was hot, and giving it all to them would have spoiled it. This also meant Ye Nai couldn't simply run around freely in the Otherworld; she needed to remember to return to the Secret Realm to feed them.

Fro and his servants still dutifully remembered to show their respect for the wizards, first going to inquire where they should pitch their tents.

The wizards behaved just like the Duke's family, having not yet accepted their new reality, and none of them showed good temper.

Fro, therefore, paid them no mind and turned to instruct his subordinates to settle themselves down first.

The servants resigned themselves to their fate, conscious of their new status, thinking that it didn't make a difference whom they worked for, though they did miss their families a bit.

But thinking of their captive status, they didn't miss their families that much.

After leaving the East Ridge Secret Realm, Ye Nai returned to Blue Star, outside the borders of Northeast Country in Dahua Country, standing where she had started.

Going back and forth between the Otherworld, the Secret Realm, and Blue Star several times, she was completely confused about the time difference, only knowing it was early morning now, without bothering to calculate the date on Blue Star.

Ye Nai first looked for her spores and was happy to see that a thick fungal layer had grown beneath the soil all around.

Under her command, the Fungal Mycelium sprayed a massive quantity of spores into the air, tracing a path by following the biological traces left on the ground.