Living In Another World With A Farm Chapter 1

“Young Master, Young Master, it is time for your morning meal.”

An aging but formal voice reached Zhao Hai’s ears. Zhao Hai paid it no mind, distracted by a throbbing headache. He assumed he had left his computer running and the noise was merely coming from a television program.

However, the speaker persisted, “Young Master, you must rise. For a member of the nobility, punctuality is a vital habit to uphold.”

Zhao Hai was startled; the voice didn't seem to originate from a computer. It felt as though someone was speaking directly into his ear, sounding far too crisp and real to be coming from his low-quality speakers.

Fighting through the pain in his skull, Zhao Hai forced his eyelids open. Instead of the familiar white ceiling of his apartment, he found himself staring at a bed canopy.

Dazed, Zhao Hai turned his head and realized he was resting on an expansive bed. Standing beside him was a man in his fifties, his gray hair meticulously groomed, observing him with a composed expression.

Zhao Hai stared blankly at the stern-looking elder before surveying his surroundings. He was in a sparse room constructed from stone. Aside from the large bed, the only furniture consisted of a single desk and chair. The walls and floor appeared recently scrubbed. The window was a simple wooden frame covered with white paper, and a glowing stone fixed to the ceiling provided light. There was nothing else in the room.

At that moment, the elder spoke once more, “Young Master, your health has returned. As a noble, you must adhere to a strict routine. Breakfast is ready, so please get up immediately.”

Zhao Hai’s gaze shifted back to the old man as a realization struck him like a bolt of lightning. He had transmigrated! Suddenly, a violent surge of pain tore through his mind, and he lost consciousness.

Grimm Buda stood frozen for a second upon seeing Zhao Hai faint before hurrying out of the room. Four individuals were waiting outside: two men and two women. The men were young, likely in their teens, yet both stood two meters tall with dark, iron-like skin and short-cropped hair. They were identical twins with rather vacant expressions.

One of the women was middle-aged, around forty, with a stout build and blue hair. She possessed a motherly face that was currently twisted with worry.

The younger girl appeared to be sixteen or seventeen. She had long green hair, a delicate oval face, and a slender frame with pale skin. Despite her beauty, her expression remained wooden as she looked toward the floor.

When Grimm emerged, the older woman quickly inquired, “Grimm, what is the situation? Has the young master woken up?”

Grimm nodded at first, then shook his head. “He regained consciousness briefly but fainted again. Merlyn, is your magic failing? Could there be an issue with the medicine? Has someone tampered with it?”

Merlyn’s expression turned icy. “If that is true, I will personally settle the score with those people. Even if the Young Master is a bit of an a*shole, he is the final descendant of the Buda family. Have those imperial b*stards forgotten the sacrifices Master made for the empire? Those ungrateful wretches.”

Grimm spoke with gravity, “You should go inside and examine him. If something is wrong, use your water magic to stabilize the young master. Regardless of the circumstances, we must safeguard the last bloodline of the Buda family.”

Merlyn nodded in agreement, but then shot a sharp glare at Grimm. “If the Young Master recovers, you must stop pestering him about noble etiquette. We are stuck in this godforsaken wasteland; what use is noble decorum here? Let it rot. Thinking about the faces of those nobles makes me sick.”

Grimm looked at her with a sense of helplessness but remained firm. “No, regardless of our location, the Young Master is a Viscount. He must conduct himself like a noble. I must mold him into a true aristocrat so as not to betray the legacy of the Buda family.”

Merlyn snapped back, “If you continue to treat the Young Master that way, I will stop cooking for you. I doubt we can survive long in this place. Given the people in the capital, do you truly believe the Young Master will ever return to the empire? You are dreaming.”

Grimm offered a bitter smile and fell silent, knowing Merlyn spoke the truth. Their exile to this desolate place was orchestrated by the Emperor and the high-ranking noble families. Had the Buda family’s military history not been so legendary, the family would likely have been executed outright.

Even though the Buda family survived, their path back to high society was blocked. People would intentionally erase the family’s existence from memory.

What truly crushed Grimm’s spirit was the Emperor’s fear of a Buda resurgence. To ensure they never rose again, he had forced the Young Master—the sole heir and the family’s last hope, Adam Buda—to consume the Void Water.

The Void Water was a legendary magical treasure of immeasurable value, but its only purpose was to nullify one's power entirely.

A single drop of Void Water could instantly strip a Mage God of their magic, a Martial God of their strength, or a God-level knight of their prowess, turning them into a commoner. Once consumed, they could never again utilize magic or battle aura; there was no known antidote.

While the potion destroyed the ability to use battle aura and magic, it left the physical body unharmed, essentially turning the victim into a regular human.

For a commoner, the potion was as harmless as water. But for a noble or a powerful Cultivation expert, it was a sentence to become trash in both martial and magical arts, casting them from the heights of glory into a dark pit of despair.

Under the Emperor's command, Adam had been forced to drink it. He would never be able to learn magic or battle aura for the rest of his life. He was destined to be ordinary.

In any other noble household, this might be manageable; one could simply live a quiet, comfortable life until the end. There would be no need to chase power or status.

But for Adam, the situation was dire. He was the final hope of the Buda family. He needed strength to restore their honor and return the Buda name to the grand stage of the Aksu Empire. Having been forced to drink the Void Water, his path to power was severed. The future of the Buda family had been extinguished.

If lack of personal strength was the only issue, Grimm wouldn't be so concerned. He was a level-eight warrior himself, his wife Merlyn was a level-eight water mage, and their granddaughter Meg was a level-six wind mage. Their combined strength was significant. Had they remained on their original fief in the south—a prosperous region with a major city, four medium cities, a large population, and rich soil—the Buda family could have thrived through quiet development.

Instead, the Emperor had relocated their family lands from the lush south to the northern Black Soil Wilderness.

The Black Soil Wilderness was notorious across the continent as a land of death. Despite its vast size—roughly a third of the Aksu Empire—not even the hardiest desert plants could survive there.

Rumors claimed it was once fertile, but a catastrophic battle involving several Mage Gods using massive forbidden spells had blighted the earth forever.

Grimm might have managed if it were just a wasteland. With good trade routes, they could have survived on commerce. However, the Black Soil Wilderness was hemmed in by a range of abandoned dwarven iron mountains. Beyond those mountains lay the Carrion Swamp, one of the continent's five great forbidden zones. This swamp was technically part of the Buda territory, making their fief the largest in the empire, yet entirely useless.

The only way out was through the lands of the Versailles family. Even though there was a marriage contract between the two families, the Buda family was currently in no position to discuss such matters with the most powerful clan in the empire.

Fortunately, the area had once been an imperial outpost, so an old castle remained on the dwarven iron mountain. Because the mountain itself was untouched by the ancient forbidden spells, there were small patches of arable land they could use to avoid starvation.

Upon learning of their new location, Grimm had liquidated the Buda family’s remaining assets to purchase slaves, supplies, seeds, and equipment. He then transported the unconscious Adam, who had recently ingested the Void Water, to this crumbling but functional fortress.

Accompanying Grimm were Merlyn and Meg, along with Wood and Rock—twins who had been taken in by Adam’s late father—and a hundred slaves.

Throughout the trek from the empire to the Black Soil Wilderness, Adam remained in a coma. Merlyn’s water magic had been the only thing keeping him stable during the journey. She had predicted he would wake today, which was why Grimm had been at his bedside. However, none of them suspected that the person inhabiting Adam's body was no longer the original heir. It was now Zhao Hai, an otaku from Earth, wearing Adam’s face.