Chapter 52
Shuri has come back.
Thank you.
...That's quite a haul.
More than I imagined.
To start with, there are nearly a hundred potato-like things in about ten varieties.
Are they edible?
I ask with gestures.
The baby ant nods.
Having everyone nod at once is a little...
For now, I'll plant the potatoes in the tilled field.
Speaking of fields, I figured they needed fertilizer, so I tried making organic fertilizer.
The knowledge my father forced me to learn came in handy.
I dig a fairly large hole and place a wooden frame over it.
I put kitchen scraps, dead leaves, grass, and so on inside, then pack it down by stomping on it.
Then I add more dead leaves, kitchen scraps, and so on, and pack it down.
Since the dead leaves are dry, I add a little water.
I search the forest for something called native bacteria and mix it in.
Since this is another world, I was worried native bacteria might not exist, but I found some.
I figured... it would probably be fine.
So, now I have to let it ferment for six months... But I can't wait, so I try fast-forwarding time by a year.
Magic sure is nice. The fertilizer is complete.
And it really was native bacteria.
That worked out well in more ways than one.
I make planting ridges while mixing fertilizer into the soil.
I'm not sure they'll grow, but it's worth trying.
When I plant the potatoes... half of the ridges I made turn into potato beds.
In the end, there are 100 ridges.
The number Boss-san wanted.
Even after making 100, they cover less than half the entire area I've cleared.
Isn't this too big?
Aren't there too many ridges?
Next come seeds, though I don't know what they are.
I check whether these are edible too.
Sorry, but could you choose just one representative from among the baby ants?
I'm starting to get a little scared.
I plant them, and plant them, and plant them... There are still more.
It takes half a day to finish planting them.
This is strange. It's nothing like what I imagined.
I was aiming for a home garden.
A farm seems to stretch out before me.
Where did I go wrong?
...
Shion and the others return with prey in their mouths.
As always, they're carrying prey larger than themselves...??
Huh? Is Shion floating a little in midair?
Is it just my imagination?
...Well, I guess things like that happen.
I feel like I've gotten pretty good at letting things slide lately.
I start butchering them, and before I know it, two have ended up in Shuri's house.
Yeah, good work.
Thanks, baby ants. Eat well.
Baby spiders, wait a bit. You like things better roasted these days, after all.
As I butcher the prey, another stone comes out.
Not every kill has one, but I find a stone about 90 percent of the time.
What do you suppose this is?
Stones don't come out of animals in Japan.
They don't... Right? They shouldn't.
So I suppose it's something that exists only because this is another world.
Hmm... I've saved all the stones I've found so far, so I have quite a lot now.
I wonder if I can use them for something?