Inside the house, Elena took charge almost immediately. Ignoring Adrian's attempts to downplay the small injury, she sat him down and carefully wrapped strips of clean cloth around his bitten finger. The bandaging was simple but effective, completely covering the marks.
"There," she said after tying the final knot, her voice softening with quiet satisfaction.
Adrian flexed his finger experimentally and nodded. "Thanks. That'll do."
As Mara busied herself with a nearby crate and Lina stepped out of the room for a moment, a faint warmth spread beneath the layers of cloth. As adrian quietly used his staff in it's miniature form to repair damage completely this time he didn't hold back as the bandage could cover everything He had no intention of revealing the full extent of his abilities — not when he was already worried about being targeted for his water magic if he reveal he was also a healer he would be far too valuable for anyone to ignore.
A few moments later, Lina returned carrying a large wooden bowl filled to the brim with water crystals. Dozens of them gleamed softly under the light. Unlike her usual cheerful demeanor, she looked slightly embarrassed as she set the bowl on the table and stepped back.
Adrian glanced down at the impressive collection before looking up at her. The faint flush on her cheeks only made him more suspicious.
"How many crystals are there altogether?" he asked.
Mara answered without hesitation. "A little over two hundred in total. We only brought this batch because there was no point carrying all of them at once. The rest are still stored safely away."
Adrian stared at the bowl. Earlier, when Mara had explained the irrigation system, two hundred crystals had sounded like a large but manageable number. Now, seeing them piled in front of him, the reality finally sank in. Each crystal could hold around fifty liters. Two hundred of them meant ten thousand liters — enough water to keep the entire farm running for a full month.
He leaned back in his chair, rubbed his forehead, then looked directly at Mara.
"I feel like there's a very important detail we need to clarify," he said carefully. "You offered me five gold coins for helping with the fields. I assumed that meant assisting with watering the crops. But what you're actually asking for now is enough water to keep the entire farm running for a month. That sounds significantly different from the job you originally described."
A heavy silence settled over the room. Mara listened quietly, her expression calm even as Adrian finished speaking. Lina shifted uncomfortably beside the table, clearly wishing she could be anywhere else. After a long moment, Mara finally folded her arms.
"Yesterday, I thought you could fill a few containers," she admitted. "After seeing how much water you produced, I realized you were capable of far more than that."
Adrian met her gaze steadily. "So you changed the job."
"I expanded it," Mara replied evenly.
"Without changing the payment."
The silence that followed was answer enough. Mara let out a slow sigh and looked toward the bowl of crystals. "You aren't wrong. I simply thought it would be wasteful not to make full use of your ability."
Adrian rubbed his forehead again. He understood her perspective — she had found a solution to a major problem and naturally wanted to get the maximum benefit from it. From his perspective, she was trying to turn five gold coins into a full month's worth of water for the farm.
Lina finally spoke, her voice carrying genuine embarrassment. "To be fair, Mother was very excited after seeing the amount of water you created yesterday."
Adrian glanced at her. "That explains why you're looking guilty."
"I am... a little guilty," Lina admitted.
"A little?"
"Maybe more than a little," she conceded with a small, sheepish smile.
Adrian looked back at the bowl. Just this single batch represented an absurd amount of work, and there were still over a hundred more crystals waiting elsewhere. The five gold coins had sounded generous yesterday. Today they felt considerably less impressive.
"So," he said, turning to Mara again, "what exactly happens now?"
Mara remained silent for several moments before finally speaking. "What if we reduce the number?" she asked. "Instead of two hundred crystals, make it one hundred."
Adrian barely needed a second to think about it. "And the payment stays five gold?"
Mara nodded.
"No," he said. The answer came so quickly that even Lina looked surprised.
A small frown appeared on Mara's face. "One hundred crystals is already half of what we need."
"And still far more than what we originally discussed," Adrian replied, pointing toward the bowl on the table. "If you want me to fill crystals, then I want fifty percent of whatever you would normally spend buying the water."
The old woman's eyes widened slightly. "Fifty percent?" she repeated, letting out a dry laugh. "Even if I sold Lina, I couldn't afford that."
"Mother!" Lina's face immediately turned red.
Adrian ignored the interruption and kept his attention on Mara. "Before I arrived, how were you planning to get water for the farm?"
The question made the older woman hesitate.
"You were going to buy it," Adrian continued. "Which means you were already prepared to pay the full price. The only difference now is that you've found somebody who can provide the same thing cheaper."
Mara opened her mouth to argue, but the words never came. Adrian pressed on before she could recover.
"If I hadn't shown up, you would still have paid one hundred percent of the cost. Now you're asking me to do the work while paying a fraction of that amount. From my perspective, that doesn't sound like a fair deal."
The room gradually fell silent. Lina lowered her eyes toward the table, suddenly finding the crystals far more interesting than the conversation. Even she couldn't argue with the logic.
Mara eventually exhaled through her nose and rubbed her forehead. Her mood had visibly worsened, but not because Adrian was wrong — the problem was that he was right.
For several moments, the older woman remained silent before finally speaking. "My husband is dead. My son is dead. Everything this family has left depends on this farm surviving." Her gaze briefly shifted toward Lina. "I have to think about next month. Next year. Every coin that leaves my hands is a coin I might desperately need later."
Adrian listened without interrupting. The situation was genuinely unfortunate, but it didn't change the problem. After Mara finished speaking, he slowly nodded.
"I understand." He paused. "But that's your problem, not mine."
The words were blunt enough that Lina visibly flinched.
Adrian continued before either woman could respond. "I don't mean that cruelly. I understand why you're worried. If I were responsible for an entire farm and the future of my family, I'd probably be worried too. But none of that changes the value of the work you're asking me to do."
The room grew quiet.
"I don't disagree with anything you said," Adrian went on. "The problem is that none of it changes what you're asking from me. You're worried about spending too much money. I'm worried about being paid too little. Why is your concern supposed to matter more than mine?"
Mara's expression tightened slightly. She already knew where this was going.
"You need water," Adrian said. "I need money. Both of those things can be true at the same time."
Neither woman spoke.
"The fact that you're worried about spending money doesn't mean I should be the one paying that cost instead."
Mara rubbed her forehead. "I still don't understand why you're making such a big issue out of this. You have abilities most people can only dream about," she continued. "It's difficult to believe a few gold coins matter that much to someone like you."
Adrian shook his head. "You're missing the point."
Mara frowned. "Am I?"
"Yes." He gestured toward the bowl of crystals on the table. "Whether I have money or not doesn't change anything. Whether I'm rich or poor doesn't change anything. The amount of work you're asking for stays exactly the same. If a job is worth a certain amount, then it's worth that amount. My personal finances don't suddenly change the value of the work."
Lina quietly nodded before immediately pretending she hadn't.
Adrian noticed. Mara noticed too. Unfortunately for her, neither of them could find a flaw in the argument.
Authors note : Situation of this novel is really disappointing there is almost no reader or somebody showing any interest which really makes me feel not want to upload here.
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