Haku wasn't seen again for all the night. He didn't return to the cave and no one knew where he had gone. However, his siblings were quieter: now that the sandstorm had passed they were sure he wasn't taking any chances. Also, Misune had revealed to them that he had something to do, and that he would be away for a while; so it was something he had planned, so they had no reason to worry. Only at dawn did he finally reappear; he was walking along the lakeside towards the village. As he walked, he realized that another six hours had passed and that it was time to commune with Rhaegal; so he took the communication device that he had retaken the night before and he turned it on. He had already missed a communication, and surely his brother was worried. And in fact he immediately answered: "Haku! Finally, what happened to you?"
"Rhaegal, sorry I didn't answer you last time. It's been a… very busy day" Haku said. "I'll explain everything to you when I get back. For now, be satisfied with knowing that we're all fine, that no one has been hurt and that the village is exactly as it was yesterday"
"Uff! Thank goodness, I feared the worst! The others will be happy to know, we were already starting to imagine unpleasant scenarios" Rhaegal said. It was clear that he wanted to know more, but he avoided asking questions. "Anyway, we have found the cure"
Haku froze. "Really!?"
"Well… the substance needed for the cure. In any case, we're coming back with it, even if it will take us a while to go all the way up all the caves" Rhaegal explained. "We should be on the surface in ten days at the latest"
"This is great news" Haku said satisfied. "We will wait your return"
"I will inform the others of your words. They will be pleased" Rhaegal said. "Is there anything else you want to tell me?"
Haku thought back to what Tzegorn had told him and a strange sensation formed in his throat, but then he shook his head. "We'll have time to talk about everything when you get back. For now, you'd better focus on getting back here with the cure"
"Got it. Bye brother! And don't make me scare like yesterday again!" Rhaegal saluted him and then switched off the communication device.
Haku sighed as Tzegorn's words echoed in his mind. He put away the communication device and was about to resume his journey, when suddenly he was joined by Darbi: "Brother! I was looking for you, where were you gone?"
"I just wanted to tell you about it" Haku answered. "I have a new plan, but I'm going to need help from..."
"Not now!" Darbi stopped him. "I was looking for you because you have to come quickly! The village is in an uproar because one of the farmers we hired just revealed our secret farm!"
Haku's eyes widened. That could be a problem. "Why did he do it?"
Darbi looked a little embarrassed. "Well... we told them that we were working on behalf of Zamor, and that the aim was to demonstrate that plants could grow in the desert... and apparently yesterday's sandstorm didn't damage them. For the farmers we hired, that was the proof we needed, and so without warning us, they sent one of them to warn the whole village..."
Haku's body relaxed. He had feared for a moment that his plan was ruined, but that mistake could easily be corrected. In fact, it was even more positive. "Let's go now! We must all get ahead of everyone!"
The two dragons ran and reached the farm just as the crowd was starting to gather. In fact what Darbi had said was true: the plants seemed not even to have been touched by the sandstorm, thanks to the protections that the farmers had prepared in advance for similar eventualities. These protections were based on wooden planks that completely covered the farm, but which had several openings that filtered the light; this prevented the plants from being subjected to too much sunlight and refreshed their air. By means of a system of ropes and levers, however, these openings could be closed at any time, and this was just what had been done during the sandstorm. And so now the farm was there, apparently not even touched by one of the most destructive and devastating forces of nature. People were amazed at the plants that looked very strong and healthy despite the scorched environment they lived in.
When Haku arrived, the eyes were immediately fixed on him and on the other dragons that were there: in fact, the farmers were loudly declaring that they had been hired and helped by the dragons to build that farm. While that was a good thing, since those medicinal herbs would be very important to a village infected with a deadly disease, the inhabitants couldn't help but wonder what the dragon's intentions were, even if there was still a small fraction of them who believed the dragons had acted out of pure disinterest. The Council members were there too, and of course as soon as they saw Haku they demanded an explanation. "What does this mean!?" Yuko exclaimed as soon as he was in front of the dragon. "You know very well that farming without permission is forbidden! You had no right to do such a thing! A member of the Council, indeed, one of our provisional leader's advisers, who commits such a transgression is a shameful thing!"
Of course, hostile Council members wouldn't hesitate to use that situation against Haku; Tzegorn wasn't the only bad apple after all, and the dragon knew it well. He didn't blame them for that: exploiting opportunities for one's own profit and to make the unwanted party lose consent was simple politics. However, Haku certainly wasn't going to stay passive and let them stomp; on the contrary, he knew exactly how to react. "How dare you!?" he exclaimed in feigned indignation. "I have committed no wrongdoing! I had the right to create this farm, for I acted in my full powers as adviser to the provisional leader, and under his specific orders! Before making senseless accusations, perhaps you should wait to hear my explanation! A Council member who wrongfully accuses another is just as shameful!"
The crowd let out a surprised 'oooh'; even if not all of them were experts in the maneuvers of the Council, they knew that an adviser to the provisional leader had total freedom as long as the latter allowed it. Some members of the Council looked at Zamor looking for explanations, but the lizardman, very cleverly, remained impassive and showed neither surprise nor approval; basically, it was impossible to tell if what Haku said was true or not. Zamor continued to remain silent as if he wanted to give Haku the chance to speak and justify himself, just as if he actually already knew everything; obviously he had already understood that it was better to let the dragon act, since he would be able to find a plausible explanation. After all, if Haku proved guilty, Zamor would also suffer the consequences as he would prove he can't handle his advisers. Therefore, even though he didn't know anything, he thought it best to pretend that he was actually the one who ordered Haku to do this.
And of course, Haku immediately took advantage of Zamor's (false) approval: "As you all certainly know, we managed with great difficulty to stem the epidemic and create an efficient medicine production system. Unfortunately, however, we still have an obstacle, namely the ingredients for these medicines: they are not infinite and even if the infections are decreasing there is the possibility that they will not be enough until the end of the epidemic, and this would inevitably cost many lives. And even if we managed to resist until the end of the epidemic, you know we would be totally helpless in case another one occurs in the future. Our noble provisional leader Zamor did not want to risk this and so he entrusted me and Tzegorn with the task of identifying all possible solutions to this grave problem, and of course he invested us with all the necessary powers to do so. We had the right to try any means as long as it was aimed at curbing the epidemic. I would say that a medicinal herb farm serves the purpose, don't you think? All the farmers who worked on it had been informed of this, as they themselves can confirm; and of course Zamor was also aware of all this, since I had to constantly report to him. The reason Zamor didn't reveal this is because he feared raising false hopes, since farming in the desert was no guarantee of success. But now, we have concrete proof that this is possible!"
Haku's lie made perfect sense as long as Zamor confirmed it; no one could find any fault with it. The members of the Council knew that Tzegorn and Haku had been charged with finding further remedies for the epidemic, and it was not so impossible that Zamor had preferred to keep this news hidden due to the need to maintain order. Haku knew this and had built his lie on top of this concept. "Observe! Look at these plants: green and thriving! They are proof that growing medicinal herbs in the desert is possible! And this special structure you see allowed them to withstand even yesterday's devastating sandstorm! If we start intensively growing these herbs in the desert using this same system, we will be able to create a stable supply of ingredients for the remedies against the disease, thus being sure that even if the disease occurs again in the future we will be able to stop it! We will no longer have to fear either blood death or a great many other diseases thanks to this! Isn't that wonderful?"
Haku's words were made to leverage people's imagination: he was inviting them to think about the future and above all outside the box. If you really could grow medicinal herbs in the desert… why not edible plants? Why not vegetables? Why not fruits? They just had to ingenuity and get busy. All their problems could have been solved very quickly... that's what people were thinking, and that's exactly what Haku wanted them to think.
Zamor was smiling now. It didn't take him long to understand everything and he fully understood what Haku had in mind. And he was ready to take the opportunity: after all, he too wanted the same thing, so why not take advantage of the opportunity? He certainly wasn't irritated because Haku had acted behind his back and had used him as a scapegoat: that was the dragon's way after all and as long as he didn't risk being unjustly accused of something, he was fine with it. After all, no one could blame him for anything: that farm officially served only to produce medicinal herbs to deal with the epidemic, and therefore fell into the category of things over which he had unlimited powers. And now he was ready to use those unlimited powers once more. "Haku is telling the truth" he declared solemnly. "He acted on my orders, and as you can see, my trust has been well placed. Now we have proof that we can produce all the ingredients for all the potions we could ever need, and we will never again have to fear powerlessness in the face of blood death. Therefore, with the power vested in me by the Council itself, I intend to use this discovery to start large-scale medicinal herb production, using this particular design to build numerous farms. We will widen the canal that we have already built and let it flow into the desert, and with it we will create fertile land and make whole fields grow!"
People rejoiced at that news: beyond the fact that these fields would have been used to produce medicinal herbs, many of them were already thinking about how to exploit them for other things as well. The members of the Council looked at each other, but it was evident that they too were thinking the same thing; now that they had proof that farming in the desert was feasible, it no longer made sense to beat around the bush to face the food emergency. And with Zamor already ordering to build all the necessary infrastructure for that, why keep arguing about it? It was much better to employ all the farmers in the village. Even though they understood very well that that had been Haku's and (from their point of view) Zamor's plan from the beginning, they were willing to give them that small victory if it meant obtaining a greater good.
Haku grinned satisfied. "In that case, I have a project here that could be great for this initiative" he said, pulling a large sheet of paper from his dimensional bag. "I started planning it after seeing that the farm worked, but I preferred to wait before exhibiting it because I didn't know if it would really hold up against sandstorms... but since we now have proof that it can do it, I have no reason to wait any longer. My plan is to continue with the construction of the canal in the southern part of the village, extending it until it exits the oasis, and there create numerous systems of canals and reservoirs that..."
Haku continued to speak for a few minutes, explaining the details of his project very well, which as he had foreseen soon Zamor approved and began to recruit workers for the construction. The dragon couldn't be happier. He made a mental note to ask Rhaegal to take his time before returning with the cure, so as to ensure that such construction ended.