Chapter 13 : The Start of Town – 3At last, farming began in the town. The fields were being plowed, and the seeds were being sown.
Honestly, I don’t have any choice but to rely on the shallow textbook, so the agricultural process was still not out of the experimental level yet. But, at least we are at the starting line.
I will acquire experience little by little and develop better agricultural skills as time goes by.
That’s not all; the wolfman tribe had also spent their days in trial and error, trying to adapt to the new life in this town.
Time pa.s.sed, and it has been one month since the wolfman tribe became residents of the town.
The sunlight was glaring down dazzlingly. According to the [Thermometer] hung outside, the temperature was above thirty degrees celsius. Because this place is dry, I can say that it’s much better than j.a.pan’s summer season.
However, the place next to this land is a desert. Thus, I am worried about how much the temperature will increase from now on.
Another month pa.s.sed by, and my town’s residents seemed to have gotten used to the life here.
On that day, we were harvesting radishes.
Outside of the town, a thin cloth screen was spread around the field. The cloth screen was used to adjust the temperature for the wolfmen who were lining up in rows in the field.
“Now then, shall I pull it out?” Chief Jiharu grasped the leaf that extended from the earth while being watched by the spectators who were filled with antic.i.p.ation.
He pulled carefully. When he pulled it, there was not much resistance, and a round, red radish with small roots came out. When it was pulled out over his head, cheers of joy and clapping resounded.
It was the first crop that they’ve cultivated by themselves. Even the children and females who didn’t usually partic.i.p.ate in farming came out to see the results.
I, who was looking from outside of the cloth screen, was happy. I held a banquet on the occasion of the first harvest.
I took the [Meat] out. This was the ingredient that I have never taken out till now. Because the j.a.panese were under the influence of buddhism, eating meat was considered taboo, and it continued till the late Tokugawa era. As result of that, I couldn’t purchase any edible meat other than [Chicken Meat]. But, of course, I can purchase any [Meat] from the modern era.
I purchased a lot of [Chicken Meat]. As for the seasonings, I purchased [Soy Sauce], [Salt] [Pepper] , et cetera, and I also purchased [Sake] by the barrels. In addition, I constructed [Desks] for the venue, and placed [Iron Plates] for roasting the meat. [Stone] and [Oil] were prepared too.
I place all of that in front of my house’s gate. Afterwards, I entrusted all the work to Chief Jiharu.
I didn’t have any intentions to join the banquet. I never did like banquets even before coming here, since you need to socialise with other people.
Because I was the most important person here, I didn’t need to care about someone else. But, in this case, other people will need to pay attention to me. Well, my position here is something similar to a popular boss after all.
However, because everyone was drinking liquor today, I would feel lonely if it was only me who didn’t drink it, so I intend to celebrate today’s harvest with Catherine inside my house.
Before long, night fell, and I could hear the lively voices from the banquet in the town at my home. I was sitting down on the ground with Catherine at my back while staring at the cloudless starry sky, drinking chuhai little by little.
The telephone’s ringing sounded inside the house. I’ve connected a telephone cable from chief Jiharu’s house to my house. I wondered why he was calling me, and went inside my house to pick up the receiver.
“Ah, is it Fujiwara-sama? This is Jiharu.” The chief greeted.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Everyone said that they wanted to see Fujiwara-sama by all means…” Jiharu sounded awkward.
I thought for a little bit. If they want me to go, then I think it is much better if I go. I tell them that I will go to the banquet venue immediately, and hung up.
After changing into my usual clothes, I went to district 13, which didn’t have even a single building, and was thus used as the banquet venue, by foot.
“Ooo! It is Fujiwara-sama!” The chief, whose face has already become red, found me and called my name.
“Fujiwara-sama has come!”
“It’s Fujiwara-sama!”
All the people here called my name when they saw me visit.
I feel a little embarra.s.sed. My cheeks have already become hot under my face mask, and this wasn’t because I was just drinking alcohol up until a moment ago.
When I sat down at the seat of honour, a dish was carried to me immediately.
However, I noticed something. I was hiding my face, so, I can’t eat like this. Then, what should I do?
Do I need to open a s.p.a.ce near my jaw and force the meal from there to eat? But, my nose and mouth will become visible… However, even for the wolfman tribe, their faces didn’t differ that much from a human’s, so, I don’t think there would be any problems in particular.
But, at that moment, a thought was raised inside my mind. Is it already alright to show my face? Honestly, it is troublesome to cover my whole body with protection whenever I need to go outside.
In this one month, I have tried to win their favor. I think the time for it is ripe.
[ED: Shouldn’t it be two months? Eh, whatever…]
[TL: I didn’t know why it only one month here, probably the author made a mistake]
When I think about this, without asking for the chief’s opinion, I took off my goggles, helmet and face mask.
“Ah…”
“Eh…?”
Some people noticed my appearance.
“Fu-Fujiwara-sama!” Chief Jiharu called my name, fl.u.s.tered.
“Hu….man….?”
Some people muttered.
There was a large disparity between the location of my ears and the wolfmen’s ears. My ears were at the side of my head while theirs were at the top of their head. It was obvious when I took off my helmet.
They were surprised when they saw that I am a human, and commotion spread out like a ripples on clear water.
But, I’ve already expected this.
“That is right. As you can see, I am a human!” Somehow, I shouted.
I might be excited because of the liquor.
[ED: This idiot… *facepalms*]
I continued my speech. “But, I am different from other humans! I am a human that came from a different continent! I showed my face today because I want you people to trust me!”
That reminds me, I forgot to use polite speech. It seems like I am drunk; as expected.
“I want to develop this town with everyone! However, that is not-”
-my only wish.
However, when I wanted to say that, I was disturbed by a banging noise.
Everybody, including me, turned their eyes to the source of the sound. There, a desk and a dish were turned over. The preparator was a girl who has an adult’s build, but still with a trace of innocence on her face.
It was a face which I have seen several times. There was always a shadow of grief on her face. That girl glared harshly at me, and said.
“We can’t trust what the human says! Because of hunger, my mother became sick and died in the middle of the journey! If the humans didn’t take our home, my mother would not have died!”
I see. I can understand the reason behind her grieving face now. However, it was still within my expectations.
However, as I wanted to retort back…
“How can you treat food poorly like this?!” The fist of a young man sent the girl flying.
Eh…?
I was stunned by this excessive response. I will say it once more. The young man ran to the girl suddenly, and beat her up.
The man didn’t seem to be going easy on her. Strong punches were dealt to this weak girl.
For me who was against violence, I wanted to look away from something this intense. But, I didn’t, and unconsciously placed my hand on the gun holster on my waist in fear that something might happen.
The man grasped the lapels of the girl, and was still trying to hit her.
“You… You don’t need to go that far! Someone stop him!” I shouted hurriedly.
Following my voice, the chief instructed people to stop him, and all the people who were stunned began to move.
The young man, who was. .h.i.tting the girl, yelled while being grabbed from the back.
“How can you treat food this poorly even though we have trouble finding food to eat?!”
It was the truth. Food means life.
Back in my previous world, people tend to forget the importance of food. A person will die easily if they don’t eat for a few days. Then, in this world where it was much more difficult to obtain food, the value of food was more precious than in my previous world.
[TL: another lesson why you shouldn’t waste a food]
By the way, I have heard that the lump on the camel’s back stores fat. Because it can drink dozens of liters of water at the same time, it will not die even if it doesn’t eat or drink for a few days.
Catherine sure is awesome.
“Gu… Kuu… Uuuu…!” After the young man yelled about the importance of food, the girl couldn’t hold her tears anymore, and began to cry.
It was intense.
In addition, the younger children seemed to be frightened by the young man’s voice, and began to cry as well.
“Um, I wonder if it is okay..?” I moved to break this situation. When I raised my voice, everyone turned their attention to me. “There might be people who don’t trust me! I am sure of it! After all, I am a human! Even though I said that I wasn’t from this continent, but, it’s a fact that I am of the same race as the humans who have hurt you!”
I spoke without hesitation, even though I didn’t know if my words fit the seriousness of the situation. This was the skill from being drunk. No, it’s because I am drunk that I can say something from my heart.
“That is why I will not blame you if you want to leave this land! But, I would prefer to develop this town together with you. That is what I think!” After I said this, I left the place.
They will need time to think on this calmly.
“Fujiwara-sama!” After a slight delay, the chief ran after me.
I could see the uneasiness on his face.
“I will not cut you people off from the supplies. So, I hope that everyone won’t blame that girl.” I said without waiting for the chief’s words.
I think it was too early to show my face, but sooner or later, I will need to do this. I pray that it will be like the proverb “adversity strengthens the foundation”. It would be good if this incident managed to strengthen our trust in each other.