Willowglen Village sat to the northeast. The ginseng grown here - called "water ginseng" or "Koryo ginseng" - needed five to six years to mature. The older, the better. Each acre yielded around 800 to 1000 kilos.
In the old days, people prized it for its dicinal value - boosting energy, calming the mind, even helping with stuff like diabetes and high blood pressure. But now, none of that mattered. In the apocalypse, it had one real use - give you strength. And that was enough.
Magnus kept pacing inside the shack, running the numbers. Say 800 kilos an acre. 30 acres gave 24,000 kilos - 24 tons. 60 acres, 48 tons. If production reached 1000 kilos per acre, that’d be 60 tons.
His group had over 2400 people. If each person carried 10 kilos, they could haul away the output from one Earth Crystal’s worth of ginseng. Two Earth Crystals’ worth ant 20 kilos per person.
Doable.
He kept calculating until dusk. That’s when the Ice Regint girls arrived back, towing prisoners behind them. After dinner, it was free ti as usual.
Ian sent word - there were plenty of hills around the village, but they’d need to start burning them tomorrow morning. Magnus called in the ten or so squad and team leaders from the Ice Regint to his room. He briefed them on the Earth Crystals and laid out the plan for planting ginseng.
The won buzzed with excitent. Everyone had felt the effects of low energy and poor nutrition. Knowing ginseng could help was a big deal. The room filled with murmurs, so laughing, so thinking out loud.
Magnus broke down the task schedule. So folks would stay behind to help Ian burn the hills; the rest would keep digging for teorite fragnts.
Later that night, Magnus tucked away the day’s dig - another stash of crystals safely hidden. He slipped outside, took a quick shower with lted ice water, then crept back into the room.
Nine won lay sound asleep on the bed - they’d been out all day, breathing steady now. He climbed onto the northern edge of the heated bed platform, his usual spot. Who slept next to him wasn’t fixed. Lucy had been there the night before. Tonight, it was Molly. No clue how they decided that.
He quietly slipped under the covers. The blanket had belonged to the ho’s forr owners - still decent, didn’t stink, soft enough.
Just as he settled in, a small hand slid in after him. Then Molly’s head followed, burrowing close. Magnus whispered a warning, "Cut it out - we’ve got a full room. What are you trying to pull?"
The two had already crossed that line, so he didn’t fight too hard. Molly, completely bare, curled up like an octopus on top of him. She held up a finger and whispered, "Shh... Say a word and I’ll tell everyone you tried to force ."
Force you? Yeah... they’d probably believe that, too.
Magnus snorted quietly. She was full of nonsense, but pinned beneath her, fire stirred in his gut. Then Lucy stirred - apparently awake - slowly creeping over and resting her head on his arm. Molly scowled at that and started gently pushing her away...Lucy whispered, "Molly! If you push one more ti, I’ll yell out loud. Let’s see who wins then - mutual destruction!"
At that, Molly stopped right away. She turned, about to kiss Magnus’s face, but then paused. She sniffed. It slled good. Like body wash. Her eyes narrowed, and she whispered, "Magnus, you took a bath? When? Why didn’t we know? Spill it!"
Truth was, the scent on both girls wasn’t exactly pleasant. But won’s sweat didn’t stink like n’s - maybe just a faint feminine musk. Not fragrant, but definitely... distinctive.
Magnus pretended ignorance, saying he didn’t bathe. But neither of them bought it. They quickly connected the dots - Magnus had used Crystal to stop its power, just like before.
Compared to physical intimacy, the two clearly wanted a bath more. Right there, they started pestering him to take them outside to wash.
Magnus could stop the Fire Crystal while washing with the Water Crystal - wasting nothing. But they couldn’t. If they went outdoors, they’d burn a whole Fire Crystal, no way to stop that. Too expensive for just a bath.
But they weren’t giving up. Whining and coaxing, determined as ever. Magnus finally caved under the pressure. He glanced at the seven other won still sleeping in the room and gave in with a sigh, "You can bathe, but only indoors. No wasting Fire Crystals outside. That’s my bottom line."
"Fine, fine, indoors is good enough! What’re we afraid of..."
With that, Molly and Lucy leapt off the bed, excited and barefoot. They weren’t even dressed. They urged him to hurry up.
Worn down, Magnus sighed, stood carefully, opened the cabinet tucked into the bed fra, and took out shampoo and body wash. Then he placed them by the bed’s edge, walked softly to the side, and, while standing on the bed, gently crushed their bathing Water Crystal. He controlled the flow to make sure it wasn’t too strong and poured it over the two won.
Water stread down with a splash, and the two scrubbed with glee. Molly even began humming a tune quietly. Before long, the other seven won in the room woke up - those not yet awake were nudged up by others.
One woman scrambled off the bed and lit the two candles in the room.
In the dim light, all of them saw Magnus standing by the bed, bathing Lucy and Molly.
Chaos broke out.
Everyone wanted a bath. Voices rose at once - except Ashton. She bit her lip but stayed silent. Still, the way she gazed at the bathing duo made it obvious - she wanted a bath, too.
But Ashton wasn’t like the others. She’d been married. Her husband died for her. In her heart, she still held a place for him. She didn’t want another man seeing her body - that last bit of purity was her way of honoring her late husband’s mory.
Still, with Molly and Lucy already doing it, Magnus couldn’t turn the others away anymore. He only warned them, "Don’t blab. If word gets out and all 600 won co knocking, we’re done for."
Thus began the impromptu bath session. He stood by the bed for over an hour as the eight won took turns washing in batches, drying their hair, chattering away.
At last, Magnus looked at Ashton, who had sat silently by the bed the whole ti.
She always stayed wrapped up tightly, more reserved than the others. Yet despite her quiet presence, she was, hands down, the most beautiful among them.
Seeing her still unwilling even now... Magnus couldn’t help but feel a twinge of disappointnt.
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