Chapter 22
The Mystery of Potato Fields On the next day, after Kazura was almost restrained in Isteria . The moon, instead of the sun, started to show its shiny face towards the earth . Kazura’s group reached Grisea Village’s entrance . They had finally returned home . Compared to the time when they departed from the village they carried much less luggage . They put the things they brought in their own sack-bag, while the goods they bought in Isteria were put on a small cloth bag . In addition to this, Lodurr also carried 2 birds inside a wooden cage .
Because of the steep increase in the price of food, the price of crop seeds were also became expensive . Fortunately with the money from selling Kazura’s red crystal and Almar fur, they could stock several crop seeds that never produced by the village until now . Furthermore, they purchased a pair of Rootcut Bird[1] (that name came because they like to dig earth to eat the root of gra.s.ses), a bird that had an outer appearance of chicken . These birds will deliver 1 egg per week, so it’s easy to breed them . With that, the dining table of the villager could become slightly more plentiful . However, even if the Rootcut Bird’s egg was incubated most of it failed to hatch into chicks . It’s been said that even if only 5 of the eggs could hatch and grow into adulthood on it short 3 years lifespan, it’s already considered as most satisfactory . Furthermore, although they have degenerated wing so they can’t fly, it’s amazing that they haven’t gone extinct until now . Or at least that was the explanation Kazura heard when he purchased the Rootcut Bird . He thought isn’t that because humans find them tasty?[2] By the way, the price of the pair of Rootcut Bird was 800 Ar . In addition, on the sack-bag Kazura carried, were 2 han[3] of fabric that will used to make clothing . The clothing from j.a.pan that Kazura wore until now in this another world were too conspicuous, so Valetta suggested that they tailored new clothes for him . Kazura suggested that they should just buy ready-made clothes, but then Valetta strongly objected and said that this is for showing their grat.i.tude to everything Kazura had done, so he decided to accept her kind offer . Leaving the village’s entrance they arrived at the village chief’s house . Valin and several villagers saw that Kazura returned and greeted them while feeling relieved . 「Kazura-san, you must be tired from your long journey[4] . Now them, come inside since there is warm dinner prepared, leave your luggage and please enjoy the meal . Everyone else come inside and join us . 」(Valin) 「I’m home . . . . Oh, grilled fish and rice meal[5] . This is quite lavish!」(Kazura) Prompted by Valin, Kazura entered the living room on the residence . Everyone dinner had already been prepared and a scent that stimulated the appet.i.te was lingering inside . The skewered river fish was grilled with salt atop of fire in the hearth, while the large pot, where the mountain herbs and meat and other ingredients were mixed with the seasoned rice, was boiling . Since Valetta said that it’s rare for the villagers to fish in the river, Kazura thought that Valin and the other villagers specially caught the fishes for the occasion where they are coming back . Because their meal had been only canned food and salty broth for the last 4 days, they were really thankful for the warm meal on the pot and the grilled fish . 「Kazura-sama, is your foot alright?」(Village Girl) While Kazura was putting down the wooden rack and his sack-bag, one of the village girls that helped to prepare the food stopped her work and came to Kazura, after she noticed Kazura’s bandaged foot while she was looking at him . 「Yes . It maybe because I never walked that much in my daily lives that my foot sole has blister and it was crushed up the other day . Although being wrapped by the bandage reduced the pain, it is still a little painful . 」(Kazura) Kazura answered while feeling embarra.s.sed and scratched his head . Seeing him like this, the village girl became confused and responded with, ‘Is that so?’, as Kazura put the wooden rack on the floor . 「Kazura-san, I have fetched some water, since I will wash your feet, please take a seat in here . 」(Valetta) Kazura was stretching himself after putting down the wooden rack, when Valetta came from the entrance with a pail full of water and soap . It seems that before him aware of it, Valetta had fetched some water from the aqueduct . 「Thank you very much . I will wash it myself, so Valetta-san, please take a rest on the living room . 」(Kazura) Kazura thanked Valetta as he reached out his hand to receive the pail of water, but . . . 「No no[6], isn’t Kazura-san tired since Kazura-san is not used to travel? Well now, please sit down and place your foot here . 」(Valetta) Without letting Kazura give his consent or refusal, Valetta sat down and grasped Kazura’s foot, she unwrapped the bandage dirty with blood and sand that was covering both of is feet, and started gently washing the foot that was placed down inside the pail . When the foot made a contact with the water, the wound at his sole was soaked and it caused intense pain, however he steadfastly endured it . 「To even cause a blister . . . . Unlike the shoes that Kazura-san usually wear, the sandals that we use is not proper for the feet . I am very sorry . 」(Valin) 「No, not at all . [7] It’s my mistake so I’m in the fault . I was the one who selfishly said to take me along, so there is no need to apologize . 」(Kazura) Hearing Valin’s apologetic words, Kazura became fl.u.s.tered and turned around to calm Valin . The other villagers that entered the living room, was seeing Kazura, who feet was being washed, with two kinds expressions: being worried for him or feeling strange at him . 「Kazura-san, could you take out the bandage and the medicine from the bag?」 While Kazura is calming Valin down, Valetta, who had finished with ashing Kazura’s feet, called to him . Both of his feet had been cleaned with soap and washed . After being disinfected it will then wrapped in bandage again . 「Thank you very much . I will wrap the bandage myself . Valetta-san could go to the living room . 」 「No, I must not . Let me do it, please hand me the bag . 」 「Ah, yes . . . . . 」 For some reason Valetta rejected Kazura’s intention to wrap he bandage by himself, he then reluctantly took out the bandage and peroxide solution from the back and handed it over to Valetta . After she received it, she nimbly disinfected the wound just like what Kazura had done for the last several days, and then she carefully wrap the wound with the bandage . By the way, last night when Kazura as halfway replacing the bandage, Valetta forcefully wrapped the last half, however because the other villagers were observing them while she wrapped the bandage on his feet, he became quite embarra.s.sed . After finishing replacing the bandage, Valetta entered the living room, and just like the other villagers, that were surrounding the hearth[8], Kazura sat down on the left seat from Valetta . By the way, suddenly Myra came and sat down on right seat from Kazura . 「Now, should we start the feast?」(Valin) 「Yes, thank you for the fooditadakimasu[9] . 」 Kazura clap his hand while he said it, and so the other villagers also following him, clap their hand and said, itadakimasu, together . [10] 「Kazura-san, how was the travel to Isteria for you?」 Kazura was biting at the skewered freshly roasted fish and savoring the taste in his mouth, when Valin who sitting at his opposite direction raised a conversation to him . Although the other villagers were eating the rice meal and fish, they became curious and looked at Kazura . 「Well, it was absolutely enjoyable! I could see the wall and the gate of stone that I have never seen before and I watched the commercial district that was bustling with people . I am consecutively astonished and impressed . 」(Kazura) 「Ah, I see, I see . Then did you encounter a dangerous situation along the way?」(Valin) Although Valin was asking Kazura, it’s Lodurr that answered that question . 「No, no, let alone dangerous situation, we were able to hunt an Almar while en route to Isteria . Thanks to that, we can sell it for a large sum of money at the city . 」(Lodurr) 「Almar? You hunted it near the highway?」(Valin) 「Yes, when I and Kazura were taking watch on the resting lodge, it appeared before my eyes . 」(Lodurr)
When Lodurr was narrating his story, Kazura could hear the other villagers that hear the story raised their sounds 「Ooh」or said something like 「As expected from Kazura-sama . 」Since it not different from the usual, he just ignored it . 「Also, when Kazura-san sold the gem that he brought with him, he shared that money with us for the sake of the village . Thanks to that, we could buy rootcut birds and new crops seeds . 」(Valetta) 「I see, when I saw Lodurr carrying two rootcut birds I was surprised, so that’s the reason for it . . . . . Kazura-san, I truly give you my humblest grat.i.tude for everything that you had done for us . [11]」(Valin) After hearing Valetta’s story, Valin bowed deeply while expressing his thanks towards Kazura . Kazura was not surprised by this, because he conjectured that this was because of the amount of money he raised . 「No need for the thanks, since everyone in the village has treated me well . 」(Kazura) Kazura also expressed his thanks for the favor he received everyday to Valin who bowed his head . And thus, while enjoying the lavish meals for a brief period, they calmy conveyed the incident at Isteria (about Kazura getting cheated on the Ocarina’s price and about the encounter with Liese), and so the story reached the conclusion . Incidentally, one of the villagers began to talk . 「It’s about the village’s potato fields, after Kazura-sama and the others departed from the village, it had became amazing . 」(Villager A) 「Amazing?」(Kazura) Hearing the villager’s story, Kazura asked him back, that villager replied with yes and nodded . 「Although the potato is a common breed, it had grown with an amazing vigor and became big . The fertilizer from Kazura-sama’s country is amazing, it has been the talks between the people who work at the fields . 」 「 . . . . . . . . . . . eh?」 Hearing the villager’s words, Kazura couldn’t believe his ear . The fertilizer that Kazura brought was a normal fertilizer that he bought from a Home Center in j.a.pan . No matter how many fertilizers are used on the fields, it’s not possible for the potato that received the fertilizer to have a sudden growth in merely several days . [12] The others who had absence from the village also, look at each other and to Valin when he started talking . 「Yes, I haven’t reported that matter . In spite of not even 8 days having pa.s.sed since the fertilizer was scattered, the potato leaves became more than two times bigger than before . It’s just like the Energy Drink Medicine, the goods from Kazura-san’s country are so wonderful . 」 「More than two times? . . . . . . . Umm, could I go together to the potato field tomorrow morning? Since, I want to confirm it with my own eyes . 」 「Yes . We will appreciate it if you accept . By all means . 」[13] In any case, Kazura couldn’t imagine how much the potato had grown only by hearing it . Although actually tomorrow morning he wanted to go check the progress of waterwheel parts production, but he was quite bothered by the matter of potato growth . No matter how you look at it, it’s hard to believe the two folds increase, so Kazura was wondering if Valin was only exaggerating . First of all, the first thing he will do in the morning tomorrow is to go to the potato field, after that he will begin the production of the waterwheel parts . ✦✧✦✧ The next morning . Kazura, who was worn out from the long journey, was still sleeping like a log while wrapped inside the futon when he was woken up by the piercing metallic clatters alarm from the a.n.a.log clock that he had set up before, since he antic.i.p.ated that he would oversleep . After having a breakfast with Valin and Valetta, he exited the residence to go towards the potato fields . By the way, there was an event that, immediately after the alarm rang, Valin and Valetta, who were already woke up and were preparing the breakfast, were surprised by the sound and barged into the room . After explaining their reason and gave their earnest apology, they are pardoned with a laugh . Even though he was so tired that he was muddleheaded, after a brief comment about how glad he had set the alarm, Kazura reflected about it .
After they exited the house, they walked for awhile, and arrived at the potato fields that had been scattered with fertilizer, Kazura couldn’t believe the spectacle that was in front of his eyes . 「What happened in here . . . . . 」 Kazura remarked in astonishment . 「As you can see, thanks to the fertilizer, the leaves and the vines have grown to this big size . That has never happened before . At this rate, we could harvest a lot more potato than the average year’s harvest . 」 Valin was not exaggerating yesterday as the leaves really became two times bigger . The potatoes, which were planted on the fields in front of him, had longer vines than the time Kazura had previously seen them . The leaves even covered the ridge between the potatoes while its vines jutted out magnificently . Beside Valin, who was nodding in satisfaction, was Valetta, who was viewing the fields with delightful expression . However Kazura was’t so pleased about as much as he was questioning the situation . The potato leaves at the time when they were scattering the fertilizer 8 days ago, had the same size as a desktop mouse[14] . But now it size had became equal to an adult palm while the vine stalk size became thicker . To put it simply, this was abnormal . 「Even if you said that this is the result from the fertilizer that I brought, no matter how you think about it, this is impossible . What about the other field?」(Kazura) Kazura kneeled on the ground, while holding a potato leaf on his hand with puzzled expression, he asked Valin . Different from Kazura, Valin and Valetta is wondering if there is something wrong . 「The other fields are also similar, the potatoes and the vegetables become bigger, but is there a problem?」(Valin)「No, I don’t mean like that, but I never hear about vegetable that can became this big in merely a few days . 」(Kazura) While Kazura was saying those words, he dug one potato that was in front of him . If the potato leaves had grown to this big size then wouldn’t the potato tuber inside the ground also become bigger? So Kazura thought . 「Yoisho[15] . . . Wow! As expected even the potato became big . 」(Kazura) He dug the potato root, and perhaps it should be said, that it already had the appearance of a big potato that was ready to be harvested . The potato size was approximately the size of an M sized egg that was sold in the supermarket, just like what Valetta said about the size of the potato at the time it was harvested . 「In spite of recently withering because of the drought, the potatoes had grown into the same size when they can be already harvested . . . . . . It maybe because of the scattered fertilizer, that the difference is this big . 」(Valetta) Valetta said it delightfully, but for Kazura, this is already a beyond bizarre occurrence level . However, if he was not mistaken, then maybe the accelerated potato growth could be said as a serendipitous miscalculation . It wasn’t something awful, since it’s just like the effect of Lipo-D[16], the fertilizer that he brought might contain something that exhibit special effect towards the potatoes . Kazura optimistically thought . In any case, he didn’t accurately know the cause of it, but it certainly was because of the scattered fertilizer . For now he just accepted this as a good thing . 「Well . . . . . This is not something bad , so I think it’ll be fine . Well then, I’m off to make waterwheel parts . Valetta-san, please come together with me . 」(Kazura) 「Then, I think I will weeding this field . 」(Valin) Thus, Kazura and Valetta bid farewell to Valin, and went towards the lumbering spot at the forest to produce the waterwheel parts . ✦✧✦✧ Kazura and Valetta arrived at the lumbering spot . At that place 10 villagers had already a.s.sembled . The villagers were divided into people that were felling the tree and people who were manufacturing waterwheel parts, while working they were chatting with each other . After they saw Kazura’s and Valetta’s figure, they stopped their work and a.s.sembled . 「Good morning, Kazura-sama . You have returned from Isteria!」(Villager B)
「Yes, I returned during yesterday evening . I have obtained the nails, so with this we can perfectly make the waterwheel . How is the progress state of the work?」(Kazura) Kazura inquired to the villager that came to address him, that villager then puffed his chest with pride . 「We do as what Kazura-sama had instructed before departing to Isteria . The waterwheel’s blade[17] and the rim frame board[18] had been completed . Since the lumber for material have been prepared beforehand, it looks like the other parts may be completed in 1 day . 」(Villager B) 「Eh? Is that true? That’s very fast . 」 (Kazura) Before Kazura departed to Isteria, he had drawn the blueprints of the necessary parts needed for the a.s.sembling of waterwheel on a large notebook . He entrusted it to the villagers that were tasked with waterwheel production after teaching them how to read the blueprint, however he never expected that the work would progress at such high pace . The villagers that were tasked with waterwheel production during Kazura’s group absence numbered 10 . Though these 10 villagers were reputed to be excellent people, there was not enough wood to make the parts . That’s why it was necessary to cut the trees in the forest . Because it was quite a hard task, Kazura thought that it would be good if by the time they came back, at least half of the work had been completed . But this current situation betrayed his expectations in a good way . 「This is all thanks to Kazura-sama . Though the tools that Kazura-sama bestowed to us were easy to use, after having rice and canned food as our meal, it became more difficult for us to get tired compared to before, even if we worked for a long period of time . Even if we get tired, with just a little rest we will get refreshed quickly . Furthermore, compared with our power before, we now can carry heavier object . 」(Villager B) 「 . . . . . . . . what did you say?」(Kazura) To the villager that lightly smiled while saying unthinkable things, Kazura unconsciously asked him to repeat his explanation . 「Which reminds me, I also didn’t became tired at all recently . Even after walking that far yesterday, almost no tiredness remained this morning . 」(Valetta) Instead of the villager Kazura asked for a re-explanation, this time it was Valetta who started saying something unbelievable . If he thought about this again, the only person who showed tiredness on their face on the journey to Isteria was Kazura . Even if Myra showed a little tiredness en route, but she still a 6 years old so that’s expected . However, even if she showed tiredness, after drinking one gulp of Lipo-D, she quickly regained her stamina back . On the journey home, compared to Kazura she was more energetic . One way travel to Isteria took about 20 hours, the time for the rest or break had been deducted, and if this was converted into distance then they had walked for about 80 km . If it was the adults, their body might be used to farming works . But if she drank the elixir equivalent Lipo-D, then it wouldn’t be strange for the 6 year old Myra to exhibit such stamina . 「(Is by any chance . Does this mean that the rice and the canned food also have the same effect as the Lipo-D? The fertilizer scattered fields were also strange, perhaps the things that were brought from j.a.pan have some special effect on this world . Excepting me, that is . )」 While Valetta and several of the villagers were talking to each other about their increase in fort.i.tude, Kazura folded his arms and began pondering . However, he really couldn’t understand what could cause these phenomenons to occur . He was certain that the food that he brought from j.a.pan had some effect . If that was the case then he thought that he should exert more caution with the medicine . Though he had finished confirming the special effect of Lipo-D on the villager, he only gave the medicine he brought from j.a.pan to a few of them . When he arrived at this village, he gave antipyretic[19] and stomach medicine[20] to Valin and other villagers that were dying from fever . But because they were given along with Lipo-D, the effect of these drugs was not very well understood . Since there was no evidence of strange reactions or excessive drug effects on the body, perhaps there will be no problem for the people of this world to consume the drugs . Even so, he ought to use the medicine more prudently hereafter . If there were villagers that laid on the bed because of fever, it was possible to see the effect of giving only a small quant.i.ty of medicine . However, for now every villager was the personification of health itself . It will be unlikely for them to catch a cold, let alone a fever . 「Kazura-san, is something wrong?」(Valetta) Valetta came and peeked at Kazura who still looking downward while folding his arms in contemplation . Kazura raised his head when he heard that voice . The gathered villagers had already resumed their works, the only person beside him was Valetta . 「Ah no, there is none . Shall we also partake in making the parts?」(Kazura) Kazura said that to Valetta and walked towards the villagers that were working . For a little while, Valetta saw the back of Kazura that began to walk with the expression as if examining him for something, before she made a half run and followed him .