The day was very fruitful, and Elaina and Julia are happy with the results. Although the precious stones gathered were not that many, Julia and Elaina had harvested quite a lot for the small amount of time they did the mining process.
"You are not tired, Julia? I thought that spell you used earlier was something huge and you spent quite a lot of mana?" Elaina asked as she gathered the remaining ores.
"Don't worry sis. It's negligible and easily recoverable. And besides, this is one of the spells I can easily use without any problem since it is a one-time spell compared to continuous usage spells. So you don't have to be worried about it, Sis!"
The two continue to gather all of the things they can say to be valuable or will be useful once processed. It took them about an hour before they finished the whole process. There are no more nodes that are ready to be mined in the quarry and entering the nearby mines is not a good idea right now so both agreed that they should return once the nodes reappear again.
"I am still wondering how these nodes reappear after a few days. Do they just spawn randomly like monsters? Or they are built over time?" Julia wondered as she looked at the remaining mess that was all pure rocks with no value and was meant to be discarded.
"From what I read, they are regenerating every time due to the power of the earth but it is still an unexplained phenomenon. But it doesn't matter too much, as long as we can come back here again and mine here for quite a while for more resources, then that is a plus compared to risking your life entering the mines," Elaina explained.
"You have a point there, Sis. Mining inside the mines carries the risks of danger though it also carries the chances for good rewards as well. You can say that this alone is what pushes others to venture inside rather than wait for the quarry to finish itself generating the nodes to be mined."
"To each and their own," Elaina smiled before she stood up. "Looks like we are done for the day. How about we head back now?"
"Good idea, Sis. I am also starving, We should head back."
The two nodded and made a final survey of the area before they left and returned to the farm. As they arrived at the farm, Elaina noticed a few people standing by the gates of the farm. Based on how they dressed, Elaina immediately deduced that they were from the Adventurer's Guild.
"What are they doing here?" Elaina frowned as she tried to look at how many people were at the gate.
"Sis, I will carry the bag inside, it seems you have some visitors."
"Yeah, go ahead," Elaina handed the bag to Julia as she headed to the gate and meet the people of the guild.
The people of the guild saw the approaching Elaina and all of their eyes landed on the sword that was on her hip. The creaky gate slowly opens and Elaina finally meets all of the guild members outside the gate. The one in the middle is an older man who has a lot of scars and an eyepatch on his right eye and seems to be the one who is currently leading these people.
"Uh...hello? Who are you people?" Elaina asked as she tried to think and guess what is the reason why they were there.
"Are you perhaps the owner of this farm, Elaina Blois?" one of the female workers who looked like a guild secretary asked Elaina.
"Yes. I am Elaina Blois. Uh, what can I do for all of you?" Elaina is a bit confused.
"We apologize for suddenly arriving, Ma'am. But we wanted to conduct a bit of a survey in the area and also to ask a few questions from you. May we enter the premises?" she asked.
"Ah yeah, sure. Please go inside," Elaina said as she let the people of the guild enter. Although she is not yet sure why they are here, she cannot think of what reason they are here.
The guild workers started to conduct a survey around the farm. They made sure to check the area. They didn't venture around the farm plots but they only observed in the distance. The others just started to explore the area, testing the waters on the spring and other things that Elaina is a bit not sure what they are doing. The only one who is not doing anything is the old man with an eyepatch and the woman who looks like a secretary.
"We apologize for this sudden intrusion but we just needed to look at this place carefully," the old man said with a gruff voice. It seems he is a higher-up in the guild but for Elaina who doesn't know him, she is not sure who he is.
"It is fine. But what is the reason for this sudden survey thing? There are no sightings of enemies that are of concern for safety here as far as I am concerned," Elaina tried to pry more questions.
"Oh, we are not. But we just wanted to do one survey as well to ensure that it is a safe place for you because this farm is near the dungeon. But we actually have other main reasons why we are here. Judith, ask her the questions.
The woman who looks like a secretary named Judith pushed her glasses and started to ask questions.
"The first question is the one that we recently saw from one of your shipped products. You have sent us a dozen of eggs in a tray that we received. However, one of the workers failed to categorize. It is much bigger than Extra Large eggs and even the Jumbo-sized eggs failed to match the eggs that you have shipped. According to the people who have examined the eggs said that these eggs were not actually chicken eggs. Is this claim true?"
Although Elaina was not surprised about this, she was just surprised at how fast these people were in inquiring about the source of the eggs. But Elaina has no reason to lie and besides, she might even try to tame other monsters as well so this will not be a big problem as she will soon be shipping goods from monsters in the foreseeable future.
"Yes, it was not a chicken egg. It was an egg that was laid by a Hencluckle, a monster commonly found in dungeons and sometimes in the wild."
"Hencluckle...those little monster alarms? Do you manage to harvest a lot of their eggs and ship them? I am impressed. But I am not sure how you managed to do that. I am pretty sure those monsters are pretty much semi-hostile to humans and will start calling for reinforcements and they are usually very protective on their nests. Not only that but the eggs you harvested seem to be unfertilized eggs that are meant for consumption, which is not usually the case found in the wild," the old man immediately started talking straight, laying down all of the things they knew.
"Oh, I didn't venture into the dungeon to get them. I have a tamed Hencluckle inside the Chicken Coop and lays an egg every day for me."
The statement that Elaina made caused the two to be on guard. But Elaina immediately dismissed them.
"Don't worry. As long as you don't go hostile on the Hencluckle inside the chicken coop, they will not become a hazard. They are perfectly tame, here, let me grab them for you all to see."
Elaina headed inside the chicken coop while the two were still stunned and a bit slow in loading the situation to their minds. It only took a few seconds before Elaina went out with a Hencluckle on her hands acting like an innocent chicken.
The two immediately returned to be on guard after this and the other people who are surveying the area immediately started to gather.
"Relax. This is a tamed Hencluckle. Unless you become hostile to it openly and attack it, this one will remain docile and sleep as always. Don't worry about it."