The last two days in Winterseed have been highly productive, with many interesting developments in important sectors of the village.
Most of the soldiers who received the skill books from Rowan have reached peak comprehension of their various skills. The swordsmanship of the swordsmen has become more refined, the aim and precision of the archers have improved significantly, and the bodily strength of the martial artists has increased.
Those who have finished mastering their skills have voiced their readiness to hunt and grow stronger.
Sadly, Rowan had to delay the hunting a little bit.
The work at the farmlands has been completed already.
The farmers only go to the farm in the morning to water the crops.
Currently, only some grapes and mango trees have harvestable fruits.
In the past, Winterseed's practice was that anyone could pluck as much fruit as they liked since it was mostly seasonal and in small amounts.
However, for other crops, they would harvest them in bulk and distribute them among every household in the village.
This practice came to a quick halt after Glenwood took over their village and seized most of their harvests.
Now that everything has returned to normal, the bulk harvesting and distribution practice will soon resume.
Aside from the farms, the tailors have made major advancements in their craft thanks to the sewing machines that have slowly become popular among the villagers.
In the last two days, everyone—even the men and little children—rushed to the Tailor Home to look at the item that works magically. They were all dazed by the design and function of the machine. Sadly, Rowan didn't earn any evolution points from them.
The tailors have mastered the basic usage of the machines and are advancing rapidly daily.
Riela was able to learn everything twice as fast as the others thanks to her Arcane Threadmaster occupation.
While learning how to use the sewing machine, she didn't stop working on her enchanted embroidery mastery.
The rainy and cold season is less than a month away. She had to improve as fast as she could.
Riela also did not stop practicing the Light Ball spell.
She noticed that she could only activate the spell two times a day because of the low amount of mana she possessed.
It was a new morning, and Rowan had just woken up beside Riela, who was deep asleep.
The last two days have been very hectic for her as she had to juggle three tasks at the same time.
"Hmm, if this was Earth, we would have gone on a vacation already. She stressed herself too much," Rowan smiled as he looked at her.
Rowan rose and went to the kitchen to prepare something for both of them to eat.
He had just finished preparing the meal and was about to wake up Riela when loud knocks came at the door.
Rowan frowned; these kinds of frantic knocks don't always end well.
"What is it this time?" he sighed disappointedly as he went to open the door.
He was quickly greeted by the faces of Elara and Brandon.
Rowan hadn't seen both of them together before and thus found it a little bit odd.
"Lord Rowan, Liara is missing!" Elara reported.
"What?" Rowan wasn't expecting such news this morning.
"Yes, Lord Rowan. Elara came to me and the soldiers this morning and told us she couldn't find Liara in her room. We went around the village searching for her, but she wasn't around, and none of the soldiers saw her leaving at night," Brandon reported.
Brandon was still speaking when Bruce and his wife rushed onto the scene. They are the closest family of Liara and are really worried about the news circulating.
Both of them voiced their concerns.
Rowan listened attentively and fell into deep thought, pondering the issue at hand.
'Liara has a strong curiosity for herbalism; she is either resting or picking and mixing herbs. Could it be that she has left the village to go look for herbs alone?' Rowan wondered.
"You all shouldn't worry; she might be out looking for herbs as usual. I'll go look for her myself," Rowan assured them.
He was certain she was very much alive since there hadn't been any reduction in the population displayed in his status window.
"Liara would've told me if she was going out to look for herbs, but she didn't. She only told me she was going to relax for the day," Elara replied, sounding really worried.
Suddenly, the urge to ask a question appeared in his mind, and he asked without hesitation.
"Did she inform you about anything before leaving? Aside from going to rest, of course."
Brandon, as well as Bruce and his wife, looked at Elara.
Elara paused for a second before replying, "She did mention something about testing a new concoction she had prepared."
"A new concoction? Was she ill when she visited?"
"Not really. She was really healthy last night. She even mentioned that the concoction wasn't for treatment. I tried asking what it was for, but she told me she would reveal it in the future," Elara replied.
"Could this be related to her missing?" Elara looked at Rowan and asked.
The others also looked at him.
"I am not sure yet," Rowan replied.
"But I assure you guys that she is alive and okay, and nothing will happen to her," he assured them.
"You can go back home and continue with your day. Liara will be back before you know it," Rowan concluded.
They nodded and left.
Rowan went back inside.
Riela was already awake. She had heard all the discussion earlier and was pretty worried as well; Liara is her friend, so she naturally became concerned.
"Are you sure she is okay?" she asked worriedly.
"One hundred percent," Rowan replied while picking which robe to wear for the day.
He picked the one with boosted luck and got dressed.
"I will be back very soon," Rowan bade her farewell.
He called out Blaze, and both of them set out for their first destination of the day.