Chapter 7: Let"s cultivate Jack O" Lantern (1)
「Why…Why did you venture into the forest to find monster seeds? Why? That"s not what we"re supposed to find! 」
「You"re noisy. That"s not monster plants. These are another kind of aggressive monsters. How about you raise them? 」
Lilly drew her sword to the pack of Killer Wolves that were about to devour us.
This remote area was the forest near the town. They called it "dungeon". No wonder huh. I heard through Lily that newly appointed adventurers who begin their quests come regularly to this forest to eliminate some goblins or grab medicinal herbs.
But that part of the story doesn"t really matter that much.
「Let"s start with Jack O" Lantern. 」
「What? 」
What is this girl trying to say? Jack O" Lantern? That"s right, maybe she"s referring to a pumpkin monster, am I correct? What"s up with this girl?
「First of all, the killer plant that you raised before is the most violent of all plant-type monsters. It will attack people without hesitating. Compared to that, Jack O" Lantern is relatively safe. That thing won"t attack people unless you do something to it. 」
So, that thing will attack once I touch it, won"t it? Moreover, it"s a living pumpkin for G.o.d"s sake. I wouldn"t want to eat that.
「If we don"t make a mistake during the harvest, we will be able to get the monster before it gains personality. Timing is crucial. I"ve seen that happened a few times during the harvesting season, so, there"s no doubt about it. 」
I beg your pardon? Then, that means that the people of this world are somewhat familiar with harvesting monsters, even if it"s difficult to cultivate or even rare to eat. This is a very dangerous world after all.
Therefore, we came to the forest in search of Jack O" Lantern seeds. I wanted to go home if it"s going to be like this.
「Kyou. 」
I tried to ignore the alarming voice on my head as I ventured through the forest. Suddenly, Lily called my name as if she was thrilled. Ah, she started to call me Kyou instead of Kyouji by the way. I told her to call me Kyou because it would be easier to p.r.o.nounce instead of using my full name.
「I found a Jack O" Lantern dead body. 」
There was something shattered in the ground. Looked like it was dissolving and rotting simultaneously. Was this a pumpkin originally? Probably, but I couldn"t see any resemblance to a regular pumpkin.
「Maybe another monster caught it. On the other hand, it could"ve been slain by adventurers or its lifespan came to an end. Either way it"s fine. 」
After saying that, Lily bended down on her knees and took something out of that rotten remains. She took something brown. Yeah, they could be pumpkin seeds.
「Okay. Kyou, give me your hand please. 」
「Eh!? I"ll be the one to take it!? 」
「Of course. You"re the one doing the cultivation. In other words, you"ll be the one to take care of the seeds. 」
Lily threw the seeds to me after she said that. The seeds were sticky since they were taken out of that mushy and rotten thing on the ground. Whatever, it was a lot of seeds, and yes, they were pumpkins" seeds.
Will they grow fast when I plan them just like the other time?
We don"t have time to waste! Let"s start digging!
The last time I planted the seeds, I forgot to dig the soil. But this time I tried to acclimatize the soil in order to cultivate properly! It was great that Lily became my a.s.sistant in cultivation, because, with her help, I managed to buy some agricultural tools! Everything was ready for my farming life to start smoothly!
I also tried using natural fertilizers! I used a rusty caldron to collect garbage dumps from the town. If I mixed garbage dump with dead leaves, I wonder if this mixing paste will become a proper fertilizer? I don"t know. But its better try it instead of doing nothing.
Afterwards, I used the seeds of Jack O" Lantern that Lily picked the other day and threw them into the well-prepared soil. The next day I saw that the seeds had sprouts coming out already! Incredible! Every plant in this world has a demonic growth! Ah!
Lily came during the day to see how it was going. She was utterly surprised to see how great the plants were growing.
「I thought it was surreal, but seriously, you can really grow monsters. What kind of magic do you use? 」
Well, I just cultivated normally, didn"t I? The fertilizer? Maybe it was because of the well-prepared soil and fertilizer? Somehow, I was surprised by the insanely growth rate. However, I did the regular things without much thinking such as watering and stuff. Ah, but this time it was not the water of the fountain, but water for public usage. I did everything proper this time.
After a few days, we had a beautiful pumpkin field! We did it!
「Jack O" Lantern grew beautifully into delicious round pumpkins. 」
Lily was absolutely overwhelmed. Maybe the people in this world didn"t have a particular talent for agriculture? Ah, that"s right. I forgot that there are no regular vegetables on this world, only monsters. Still, I don"t want to plant and raise monsters that are enemies of human beings. Maybe that"s why n.o.body likes to do farming in this world.
On that moment, Lily took a pumpkin of an affordable size right in front of me.
「Yeah, this looks good. We need to take them before they gain a personality. I"ll take this. 」
So, that"s how she cut Jack O" Lantern. I see, so it was okay to take it directly by judging its size. They are not that huge in the first place, but they are not insignificant either. That"s okay I guess.
If we let the pumpkins grow larger than the harvesting size, it will become troublesome because they will gain a personality of their own, right? Anyways, I took with me other ones that were the same size as Lily"s.
「Ah, this was the first time I harvested. We took four of them at the same time. 」
There were more of smaller sizes, but it would be better to wait for them to grow a bit longer than harvest them now.
「Okay, we harvested some of them successfully. We could use them to cook some delicious dish. 」
「That sounds great. Then, you should do something about it! 」
Hmm? There was something off with this conversation. Don"t tell me that…
「…Lily, you can"t cook? 」
「…Well…And you? 」
Actually, I did some cooking before. But right now, I don"t have a stove, or gas, or a proper place to set fire on. Ah, that"s right. I completely forgot, I don"t even have cooking tools since I was stealing from the trash pin not too long ago. Even if I have some ingredients, I won"t be able to make an edible dish if I don"t have a place to cook.
What are we going to do? I was feeling troubled.
One more chap coming up . 1/2