The Elven Country (6)

One day, three years after I came to the country of Shiyo, I received a report from Thule.

The report concerned this year's crop yields.

The paper was hardly substantial enough to call a document, but its contents were nevertheless summarized clearly. As I read it, I felt both relieved and afraid.

I was relieved because the shortfall in the food the elves needed had been covered.

What frightened me was that the shortfall had been covered far sooner than expected.

Of course, this was surely good news.

It was the result of the elves involved in agriculture, including Thule here before me, giving it their all.

However, there actually weren't all that many elves involved in agriculture.

If humans were to grow crops on the same area of farmland, they would probably need several times as many people—perhaps even ten times as many—as there were elves involved.

...And yet, this was the result...