Chapter 6: Mukohda Cultivates a Field

After having breakfast, Dora-chan and Sui were playing in the yard, and Fel was relaxing on the fluffy carpet in the living room.

When I told them that we wouldn’t be leaving today, they all seemed sad about it, but they didn’t complain given what happened yesterday.

There was no way I’d be up for hunting again after yesterday. So, I was going to spend the entire day relaxing at home, and I’d pick out my offerings to the gods while drinking coffee, as I planned last night.

I made some drip bag coffee instead of the instant stuff. The unique smell of coffee wafted through the room.

“Mmm, smells nice......”

I opened up the menu of my skill while enjoying my coffee.

“Ninrir’s share is up first. So I need to look at Fumiya.”

She wanted a lot of dorayaki, right? One a day would mean I need to buy thirty. Wait, there’s no way Ninrir’ll be satisfied with only one a day... Then...... Right, how about this?

I spent an entire gold coin just on her favorite dorayaki. I bought fifty of both kinds, a hundred in all.

“This should be enough. Haha! Next is......”

Fumiya was holding a cheesecake fair, so I got one each of the smooth cheesecake, lemon rare cheesecake, Camembert cheesecake, cheese Mont Blanc, and others. Beyond that, I also added some cake slices and some confectionery gift sets. Since it was quite a lot, when I checked out it came to me in three boxes.

“Right, this should do it for Ninrir’s portion. Next is Kisharle’s.”

Gotta start with the facial lotion and cream.

I bought some slightly expensive ones, like I’d recently started getting her. If I didn’t, she was sure to get really mad. Just two sets of that came close to half her allowance.

Next, I searched for shampoo, hair treatment, and body soap. Even though this was a supermarket, they had quite the selection of that sort of stuff.

Right. Let’s go with this. It says that it moisturizes dry hair and makes it glossy and easy to style. And it comes with refills too.

As for the body soap, I bought something new. It apparently contains elements that preserve body heat and don’t wash off, so it leads to soft and moist skin. It also came with refills, further incentive to buy it.

I managed to get everything Kisharle had asked for, but she still had some allowance left, so I also bought some face washing foam, massage cream, and facial sheet packs from the same line as her facial lotion and cream. I also used up the rest of her allowance with hair packs and bath additives and stuff.

“Next is Agni, so that means beer.”

For Agni’s portion, I bought beer by the case.

First has gotta be Y-bisu beer and the premium stuff from S-company. They’re Agni’s favorites.

Then, I decided based on Agni’s tastes and went with the standard S-company’s black-label beer.

“Next is...... Oh, this looks good.”

I was looking at a Y-bisu beer that was a little pricey and advertised itself as “the result of aiming for the pinnacle of beer.”

I haven’t tried this yet, either... Let’s do that next time.

“I guess I’ll look over here.”

I opened up the menu for Liquor Shop Tanaka.

“Oh, they’ve got local beer comparison sets. Let’s get one.”

It seemed like there were a lot of local beers being produced recently, and there were even people claiming that local beer was better than beer from famous brands. Thus, I decided to buy some of the local stuff. There was also a world beer comparison set, so I got that one as well. And with the rest of the money, I bought several varieties of six-packs.

“Next is Ruka. She wanted cake and ice cream, so it’s gotta be from Fumiya.”

It seemed like Ruka was a big fan of ice cream, so I bought vanilla and chocolate ice cream cakes, as well as lots of ice cream cups in several flavors. After that, I also bought the line of cheesecakes from their event just like I had for Ninrir, as well as a series of cake slices and confectionery gift sets.

*Gulp*...... There’s quite a lot for Ruka, too. I thought the same thing when it came to Ninrir, but is she really going to eat her way through all of this? Well, I’ve heard that since they’re gods, it’s easy for them to store things in spaces that don’t allow the passage of time and are refrigerated on top of that, so even if they can’t eat it all, they could save it for later. I guess it’s not a problem.

“Next is the liquor-loving duo, Hephaestos and Vahagn.”

I can’t not give them their favorite, world’s-best-whiskey, right? After that I’ll just rely on the rankings.

This time I bought all of the first five spots on the daily rankings.

In first place was a Scotch whisky. It appeared in a novel written by a famous novelist, and it was widely known for being easy to drink.

Second place was a Scotch from the only distillery on Scotland’s Isle of Skye. Apparently, it smelled strongly of peat and was quite funky. But, word of mouth was that it was quite addicting.

In third place was a Bourbon whiskey that was favored among Bourbon connoisseurs for its heady fragrance and taste. It was a bit strong, but it was said to be quite delicious on the rocks.

Fourth place was a whisky named after the father of Japanese whisky. When I looked at user comments, I found that there was a drama based on the father of Japanese whisky, and there were people who ended up trying it because of that, and they found it delicious enough that they started buying it regularly.

Lastly, in fifth place was a Canadian whisky that was made to be presented to the king of the United Kingdom, so its bottle was shaped like a crown. Of course it tasted good, but it also looked cool in the bottle, so it was popular for its more luxurious feel.

After that, I also chose several seemingly decent bottles from both the weekly and monthly rankings. That liquor-loving duo would be the ones drinking it, so I figured having enough bottles for the two of them would be prudent. Thanks to that, I ended up with quite the amount of whiskey.

“This should be it...... No, I might as well get Demiurge’s share while I’m at it.”

So, I started picking out Demiurge’s usual share. I was looking at sets this time as well, and... “Oh, so they have something like this too. Right, let’s get it.”

I ended up with a three-bottle set of the Niigata prefecture-representing sake from that famous brand I had given him before. It was a set of Junmai Daiginjo, Ginjo, and Special Honjozo sake, all from the same brand so that one could compare the different types of sake. It seemed interesting, so I decided on that. Finally, I of course bought the premium Kantsuma sets that Demiurge enjoyed with his drinks.

“Now this is it. Still......” Since each god had so much stuff, the living room was covered in boxes.

“It might be better to just hand them over in their boxes without opening them so that I don’t mistakenly give stuff to the wrong gods. I bet they’ll be more excited that way, too.”

I figured that I would need a way to differentiate which box went to whom, so I bought an oil-based magic marker with my Skill. Using the marker, I wrote their names on their respective cardboard boxes.

“This should do it.”

Now I just needed to stuff these in my Item Box.

“Hey. I am hungry.” I heard Fel’s voice from behind me.

“Huh? Is it already that time?”

It seemed that I had ended up whiling away the entire morning just ordering things.

“Ahh, so this kind of thing does happen,” I muttered to myself, glancing at the time. Shopping just ended up taking a lot of time. I was right to have the gods wait a day — I figured it would take a while.

Now then, I should make food before Fel’s stomach starts to rumble.

Of course, it would just be stuff I’d already made, just like breakfast.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

After we all had a lunch of blue bull beef bowls with poached eggs on top, everyone lazed around. Fel was once again on his side in the living room, and Dora-chan and Sui were snuggled up to him, taking a nap.

For my part, I looked through my Online Supermarket, shopping for myself as I drank some drip bag coffee.

“I’ll buy ten pairs, just to have extras.” My socks were worn out, so I was buying more.

After that, I went to refill my bath additives since I’d used a lot of my stock from my daily baths. I added some of the usual yuzu-scented stuff with carbonation to my cart.

“I should buy some different ones every once in a while.” I’d just been using this yuzu one lately, so I also tried buying one that was scented with four types of herbs.

Let’s try it out tonight, I thought to myself as I continued shopping.

“Mukohda, we’ve finished repackaging everything you asked us to.”

“Oh, that was fast.”

I had asked the women who worked in the house to repackage the shampoos that I had gotten from my skill, as well as the Divine Medicine: Hair Growth Power.

“We had that ‘dropper’ you gave us, so we completed it without difficulty. And Selja is very dexterous, so it didn’t take long,” Thereza reported; Selja looked downward, embarrassedly.

Selja’s shy and doesn’t like to assert herself too much, but she works well on the spot, I see. It also looks like she’s good at detailed work. Even though she’s so young, she makes sure to properly get all the small and hard-to-reach places when cleaning.

Of course, the dropper Thereza talked about was something I had bought through the Online Supermarket. I thought a dropper would be really useful for adding Sui’s Special Elixir to the tonic, so when I had checked my Online Supermarket hoping it was there, I had found it. I immediately bought one and made sure to give it to them when I gave them their current task.

“There’s still quite a lot left over, so I’m returning it to you.”

Thereza handed back the bottle with Sui’s Special Elixir in it. Just as she said, there was quite a lot left inside.

For now, I had been asked for two hundred bottles of Divine Medicine: Hair Growth Power, including the fifty to be presented to the earl.

So, I can make that much with just this small amount of Elixir, huh?

“I might ask you to do this again, so I’ll be counting on you at that time. You too, Selja,” I said. Both Aija and Thereza replied affirmatively; Selja also nodded bashfully with her “Yes.”

Lotte, too, chimed in: “Lotte will try her best too!”

“Is there anything else you need, Mukohda?”

I gave it some thought. The house was decently clean, and all the repackaging was done. I was planning to just use stuff I had made already for tonight’s dinner — there wasn’t really anything that needed doing right now.

“Not for today. It’s a little early, but you guys can go home if you like,” I said.

“Then let’s go shopping.”

“What’re you going to go buy?”

“We’re running out of vegetables, so we were thinking of going to get more.”

“Huh? I handed you the magic bag, right? You can just buy a whole bunch and put it in there,” I said, and Aija and Thereza looked troubled.

“Even though it’s gotten safer and we don’t need guards anymore, if we brought that with us, we’d be targeted by unsavory sorts.”

“......Ah, right. I see. Magic bags are worth a lot, aren’t they?”

I had an Item Box myself, so I only ever thought of the magic bags as something to give to Fel when he was hunting, but to the rest of the world, they were pretty valuable.

Huh? If that’s the case, then have they been going out to buy vegetables a lot?

I asked, and they confirmed it. They still had a bunch of the flour and vegetables that would keep that I had given them at first, but the tomato-like vegetables, broccoli-like vegetables, and other vegetables and mushrooms that we had gotten in small numbers (because they wouldn’t keep) were something they seemed to be buying once every three days or so.

According to Thereza, who was a former farmer, “If we buy it in town, it’ll be a little wilted and kind of expensive, but there’s no helping that.”

It seemed that Thereza’s family used to raise their own vegetables to eat, so compared to that, food bought from the market in town would be a little lacking in freshness.

“All right then, we’re going shopping so please excuse us.”

“Excuse us.”

Both Aija and Thereza said, with Selja imitating them.

“Bye bye, big bro Mukohda!” Lotte energetically said, waving her small hand.

I saw them off while also waving goodbye.

Still, vegetables huh? It’s true that for vegetables, the fresher the better. Especially for ones that don’t keep well. Why don’t we just go all the way and make a field? My land is big enough for it.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“So I just need to till it like this, Alban?”

“The ground has become soft, so that will be enough. Magic really is amazing, isn’t it? I never thought it could be used like this.”

Using Earth magic, I was tilling a plot of land next to the three servant’s houses behind the main house. Making a field could potentially yield a lot of food if it was taken care of properly, and I thought it was interesting, so I decided to get on it right away.

This is still kinda just a hobby, though.

Of course, I had the former farmer Alban with me as an advisor. As soon as I talked to him about starting a field, he agreed enthusiastically.

It seems like he really does like to work with the earth, thanks to being descended from generations of farmers.

At first, I had considered making the field in front of the main house, but my familiars had objected. I figured it would be fine since the grounds were so wide so they could spare a little bit of space, but they still refused. So I had decided on this spot.

Now that I thought about it more, having the field right next to the servant’s houses would be best. I was planning to leave most of the field maintenance to Alban and his family anyway, and the field would provide food for them, so it would be better for it to be closer to their houses anyway. But given the location, it could only be about as big as a tennis court, so it might be really small from Alban the former farmer’s perspective.

Well, I guess it’s just fated to be something like a kitchen garden.

So I started making the field with that mindset, and I had to start with tilling the land. And because using a hoe would take too long, I decided to try doing it with magic — I figured it had to be possible. Magic was all about the caster’s mental image, and when I imagined tilling the earth and making it softer, it worked out.

I still couldn’t do all of it at once, though. After pouring in my magic power, I managed to do a patch three meters square with a single spell. Taking breaks in between, I repeated the process of imaging and casting twenty times.

“Whew~, this should be about it. Heyyy, I’m counting on you to form the ridges,” I called out to Alban, Oliver, Erik, Tony, and Kosti who were on standby. They all took their hoes (which they had gone out to buy while I was using my magic) and started making ridges for the field. Naturally, Alban the former farmer was good, but so were Oliver and Erik, who helped out, and for their part, Tony and Kosti were also learning from Alban as they went.

“Wowww~, it’s a field! There’s a field here now!” Lotte, who was back from shopping, was bouncing around excitedly.

“Mukohda, this is......”

“My......”

“It’s a field......”

Thereza, Aija, and Selja were surprised seeing the sudden appearance of a field.

“Oh, well, you used to be farmers, so I kind of thought that if you had a farm you could grow some fresh vegetables.”

It will help everyone eat, so it’s not wasteful.

“Hey hey, big bro Mukohda, what’re you gonna plant in the field?” Lotte asked innocently.

Oh yeah, I haven’t thought of that yet. I just had a vague idea to make a field for vegetables. “What do you want me to plant, Lotte?”

“Mmmm... my old field had lots of potatoes.”

Potatoes, huh? So they’re popular in this world too.

“Then maybe I’ll plant some.”

“Okay!”

“Other than that......”

It might not be a bad idea to just go all out and try raising some vegetables and fruits from my world.

While I mulled that over, Alban called out. “We’re done, Mukohda.”

“Oh, good work. All right, this is a good place to stop, so let’s take a break for now.”

I looked through my Online Supermarket thinking that I wanted to serve something as a snack, and melons topped the Deals menu.

Melon, huh? It’s got seeds. That might be good. Maybe they’ll really thrive thanks to the power of being from another world. And even if they don’t sprout, I can just have Alban plant something else. It might be worth a try, at least.

I’d decided, so I went with my favorite: watermelon.

The Online Supermarket’s inventory didn’t really reflect the seasons, so they were selling watermelon like it was just natural that it was there.

By my reckoning, the Online Supermarket didn’t connect to the “real” one in Japan, but was more like some sort of magic that recreated it. So, I figured that the skill must just be showing me the same inventory from back when I was using the “real” one.

I mean, even though there is some indication of seasons changing, like with events and stuff, they still sell stuff that’s out of season like it’s normal too.

Well, that was nothing more than speculation, and I was just happy that they sold me stuff regardless of the season. Thanks to that, I could buy anything as soon as I got the idea. All that aside, I bought some honeydew and watermelon as everybody’s snacks.

At some point my familiars, who were sleeping, had come over.

“You guys are here too? Want some fruit?”

“Of course.”

《Totally.》

《Sui wants some~.》

I had Aija and Thereza help me cut up the honeydew and watermelon. Meanwhile, I had the children go call over the security team. For Fel and the others, I cut away the rind and served it to them on a plate.

“This is honeydew, and this is watermelon. The honeydew is sweet, while the watermelon is both sweet and watery.”

Fel and the others were scarfing the fruit down.

“All of you should eat too. Ah, this watermelon has black seeds, so save those. We can plant those in the field. I’m thinking of using half this field to raise fruits and vegetables, watermelon included, from my world. Alban, what do you think?”

“Of course that’s fine. I’m interested in that, too.”

I’d already separated out some honeydew seeds. Now that I’d gotten Alban’s go-ahead, I decided to look through my Online Supermarket after we were done snacking. It had a gardening section, so I figured they should be selling vegetable seeds too.

“So sweet~!” Lotte seemed happy, with her mouth full of honeydew.

“This red one is so juicy, on top of being sweet. I’ve never eaten anything like this before.” Alban’s eyes opened wide after trying the watermelon.

Yep, that’s right! Both honeydew and watermelon are technically vegetables, though.

Everyone else was also exclaiming about how sweet they were.

But......

“Tabatha, why’re those two crying?”

The idiot twins were crying while they ate, saying, “This sweet stuff hits hard, don’t it?”

“Oh... I’m not sure, but I think it’s probably because they haven’t had meat yet today.”

I inquired further, and learned that those meat-loving twins had only had bread and eggs for breakfast and lunch. Today’s menu was soup with orc and lots of vegetables made by Aija, but just hearing the word “orc” caused the idiot twins to go pale and refuse to eat.

“The soup Aija made was really good though...”

Orc meat huh? I get it. With how desperate that fight was against the orcs yesterday, it’s understandable that they lost their appetite after hearing about orcs.

I had worried over that last night too. In the end, I decided on just doing rockbird yakitori rice bowls.

Well, I did eat orc like normal this morning in the form of a meat soboro bowl, though. But those twins were covered in wounds caused by those orcs... It’s easy to imagine how little they want to remember what happened. I figured they’d be a bit hardier than that, though. They’re more sensitive than I expected.

Even though I knew I shouldn’t laugh, I couldn’t help but let out a little snort.

Once the break was over, I bought seeds using my skill. Just as I suspected, there was a wide variety for sale. For now, I bought everything that caught my eye: lettuce, cucumber, tomato, eggplant, corn, and pumpkin seeds.

Once I showed Alban and the others the packages with the pictures of the vegetables on them, it turned out that they’d never seen any of the vegetables other than the lettuce and tomato.

Actually, cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplants, and pumpkins should be planted after sprouting, but since we were just testing things out, we planted them as seeds. From what I’d heard, this town stayed warm all year, so it would be fine to plant them even now.

Along with the honeydew and watermelon, we tried planting each type of seed in its own row. Everyone helped, so the work was quickly done.

Once we finished planting the seeds, we spread some fertilizer. I had picked out some liquid fertilizer at the same time I was buying seeds.

I handed Alban, Tony, and the others their watering cans, and I mixed in some of the concentrated liquid fertilizer inside. Then each of them took turns watering the field.

“It’d be great if we can raise those swee-eet fruits~!”

Lotte was all smiles as she talked. It seemed like she had really taken a liking to the honeydew.

“Yeah. It’d be great if it goes well.”

I hope the power of the other world gets these things to grow well.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“Aaahh~, I love baths!”

《They feel so good every time~!》

《So good—!》

This night as well, I was taking a bath with Dora-chan and Sui. I soaked in the waters and relaxed my body, which was tired from making the field.

I was trying out the herb-scented (chamomile) bath additives that I had bought in the afternoon. The scent was on the sweeter side, but it wasn’t bad.

As a Japanese person, every day I once again appreciate how nice baths are. I’d be fine just staying here forever, but that’s not gonna be possible with Fel and the others around, is it? They all have the idea of going to a new dungeon in their heads, too. I won’t be able to avoid it. They’ll probably make a huge stink about it soon.

*Sigh* I don’t wanna go to a dungeon...

While I was thinking deeply about the subject, I continued to leisurely soak in the bath.

“Ahhh~...”

《Huaahhh~...》

Was that Dora-chan? He sounds like an old man.

I opened up my eyes just a pinch to take a peek, and saw Dora-chan, floating in the water and looking like he was really enjoying it. The sight of him floating along while scratching at his belly exactly resembled that of an old man. I couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight as I closed my eyes once again.

Right before I was about to fall asleep because it felt so good, I managed to force myself out of the bath. I called out to Sui, who wasn’t coming out.

“Sui, we’re getting out.”

Sui just kept floating along, giving no answer.

《Hey, is Sui asleep?》

“Huh?”

《Zzzzz......》

“He totally is.”

《Thought so. Geez, that kid......》

I dried Dora-chan off with a towel before doing the same to Sui while it was still asleep.

《I’m tired too, so I’ll take Sui and go on ahead to bed.》

“Hey, you sure you’re all right?”

《Ha! I can at least carry something that weighs as much as Sui, dumbass,》 Dora-chan said, before picking up Sui, who was a little bigger than him, with both arms.

“Oh, looks like you’re fine. Then I’m counting on you.”

《Sure, sure.》

Dora-chan flew up to the second floor while carrying Sui. I changed into some sweats instead of my usual pajamas and headed for the living room. I actually wanted to just head straight to sleep, but I had made a promise.

Sitting on a chair in the living room, I called out to the gods.

“Are you all there, everyone~?”

＜We’re here! We’ve been waiting!＞

＜We’re here!＞

＜Yo! We were waiting for you!＞

＜Yes. Waiting.＞

＜Ohhh! F-Finally!!＞

＜Indeed!＞

It seemed that everyone was waiting on standby, on edge for just when I would call.

But they couldn’t have been waiting this entire time, could they?

＜We waited! We waited allll this time! We were watching while you picked out our offerings, you know?! Ever since then, we’ve been so excited, we just couldn’t help it~!＞

O-Oh... Th-That long? Doesn’t that mean you watched me the entire day, Ninrir?

＜Sorry. But we were really looking forward to it, you know?＞

＜Exactly. We were so excited, we just couldn’t help ourselves. Please overlook it.＞

＜I was looking forward to cake and ice cream.＞

＜I’ve been itching all day to try out the whiskey you picked.＞

＜Yeah. We noticed you got quite the selection. We couldn’t help but be excited to drink them.＞

Well, when they put it like that, it’s not like I don’t get it. Especially since I just handed them their special bonuses that had been taken away yesterday. If they were looking forward to it that much, then I guess I should hurry up and send them their stuff.

“An entire month’s worth of offerings is too much to parcel out, so I’ll be sending them to you still in their boxes. Once you receive them, make sure you check the contents carefully. Now then, starting from Ninrir...”

I took out the cardboard boxes labeled with Ninrir’s name from my Item Box.

“If you were watching, then you should already know that I chose a selection of sweets and confections centered around dorayaki. Please receive them.”

＜Thank you—! Waaah! I-It’s been so long since I’ve had dorayakiiiii!＞

The cardboard box disappeared in time with Ninrir’s cry. Right after that, I heard the sound of the cardboard box being ripped open. Then......

＜Dorayakiiiiiii! It’s so goooooood!＞

............Yeah, I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.

“Uhhh, next is Kisharle. Please accept this.”

I retrieved the cardboard box marked with Kisharle’s name from my Item Box.

＜Th-Thank you! I ran out of facial lotion and cream! You’re my savior. I’m so glad... so glad......!＞ Kisharle said, sounding relieved from the bottom of her heart.

Then, Kisharle’s box disappeared. Just like with Ninrir, I immediately heard the sounds of the cardboard box being opened.

＜Facial lotion and cream! Finally, I finally got what I wanted!＞

Just how dependent are you on those things, Kisharle?

“N-Next is Agni, right?”

As soon as I retrieved and put down Agni’s portion from my Item Box, it disappeared.

＜Thanks, man! Yes~! You totally know what I like! That beer I got yesterday was so mind blowing that I already finished it. Now I’ll have enough cold beer to last me a while!＞

Whaaat~? Y-You already drank it? There was quite a lot in what I gave you......

I was a little worried that what I just gave her wouldn’t last her a month given how much she managed to drink in a day, but she had no choice but to make do.

＜I’m next. Please give me ice cream.＞

S-Sure. Did she run out?

“Uhh, this is your share, Miss Ruka.”

Once again, I took a cardboard box out from my Item Box and it, too, quickly disappeared.

＜Thanks. Ice cream~ ice cream~...＞

Heheh, she must have really wanted ice cream.

＜＜We’re next!＞＞

“Yeah yeah, I know already. This is Hephaestos and Vahagn’s portion. Hup.”

I lined up some boxes that were quite a bit heavier than the other goddess’ portions.

＜Ohhhhh! It’s the whiskey we’ve been waiting for!＞

＜Yesterday’s whiskey was good, of course, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to taste all these too!＞ At the same time Hephaestos’ and Vahagn’s excited voices rang through my head, the boxes disappeared. Then came the sounds of the cardboard boxes being ripped open.

＜Ohh! You totally get us!＞

＜Yeah. You really do get that we want to try a whole bunch of different whiskeys. As expected!＞

＜Hey, War God! This one and this one are new!＞

＜Oh! You’re right! Right, we’re starting from these!＞

＜Of course!＞

＜Ah, by the way, if you ever need anything, give me a shout. I’ll be sure to help you out.＞

＜Indeed. The same goes for me. I’ll do anything.＞

“O-Okay. I-I’m fine for right now, so......”

......Hephaestos and Vahagn are way too excited. Well, the same goes for all the gods though. They were all starving for this, after all.

“Well, I’m done now, so let’s just hurry up and sleep.”

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

After waking up and enjoying a hearty breakfast, I heard a panicked voice calling out for me.

“M-Mukohda! It’s terrible!”

“Hm? Oh, it’s Alban. Morning. What’s got you so panicked?”

“Th-The field! The field!”

The field?

Alban was so panicked that he just kept repeating that, so this conversation was going nowhere.

“Did something happen to the field?”

Alban nodded frantically.

“Then let’s go take a look.”

I told Fel and the others that I’d pop outside for a look. When I headed for the field we had just made yesterday with Alban in tow, I found everyone else there, staring at the field.

“What’s wrong? Why’re you all here?”

Even while thinking this was strange, I looked over at the field. Then......

“W-What the hell?!”

I couldn’t believe my eyes. Surprisingly, the seeds we’d just planted yesterday were all nearly grown with a thick set of fresh, healthy-looking leaves and buds.

“A-Alban, is the land here incredibly fertile or something?”

“N-No, I’ve never heard of anything like that......”

Then is this really through the power of the other world? But...... isn’t this way too much? I never even imagined it would grow this much in just one night. All I was hoping out of the otherworld bonuses was maybe something like slightly faster-than-normal growth, or like, growing even when it normally wouldn’t, like with the out-of-season honeydew and watermelon I got with my skill.

No matter just how much stronger stuff from the other world is, this is really unexpected. Are the seeds I got that full of otherworld power?

......No, wait a second. Maybe it’s not the seeds, but the fertilizer we used yesterday?

Plagued by the possibility, I took the fertilizer bottle out from my Item Box. Then, when I looked closely at it......

“Gah......!”

“What’s wrong?” Alban called out to me, noticing I was frozen and staring at the bottle of liquid fertilizer.

“The liquid fertilizer we used yesterday... it was too strong...”

I thought it was one cap’s worth for a liter, not one cap’s worth for ten liters.

Oh maaan......

It was ten times stronger than it should have been. I had used a four-liter watering can, so I’d put in four caps’ worth. And I sprayed the fertilizer on extra-thick......

When I talked to Alban about it, he told me that, in this world, farming relied on the land a lot more. They basically just tilled the land and planted the seeds. Once that was done, at most, they would make sure to weed the fields.

So even when I asked them about the nutrients in the soil, it didn’t really click for any of them. They just figured that having more nutrients would be better than less.

“Big bro Mukohda! The buds got bigger!”

While I was racking my brain over what to do, Lotte came over and tried to pull me somewhere by the hand.

I couldn’t believe it. The buds were growing before my very eyes.

“Whoa! W-W-What do we do?! U-Uhh, you have to fertilize stuff in the gourd family like melons and squash, right?!” I asked Alban.

But there was no way he’d know. After all, all this stuff was from the other world.

“Calm down, Mukohda. The bag the seeds came in should still be here; it has to say something......” I said to calm myself.

I took out the packet of seeds we had planted yesterday.

“H-Huh? Cucumbers are gourds too?”

The packet had a set of instructions written on it. It looked like cucumbers didn’t need to be fertilized. I checked the instructions for the squash too, and confirmed that they needed fertilization, as I had expected.

“The way to do it is......”

The flowers with a swell at the bottom are female, while those without the swelling are male.

Pick the male flower, then remove all the petals so only the stamen is left. Then, gently poke the stamen into the female flower’s pistil until pollen is left on it, and it’s done...

Also, it seems that if you only allow around three gourds per stem, it’ll produce sweet squash.

As for the honeydew and watermelon, I hadn’t bought the seeds directly, so I had no instructions to read off of. However, I figured that since they were all in the gourd family, they should probably be cared for the same way as the squash.

At any rate, with how much they had grown in a single night as well as how large the buds were, there was no doubt they’d bloom today. The plants wouldn’t produce fruit if they weren’t pollinated, so I needed to do it.

“Alban, all of you stop your yard work for now and work on this field for the day. Other than that, the rest of you resume your normal duties,” I declared. Lotte raised her hand, responding with an energetic, “Here!”

“Lotte, what’s up?”

“Big bro Mukohda, Lotte wants to work on the field too!”

Her mother, Thereza, had a troubled expression as she exclaimed, “This child!”

“Haha! Field work, huh? Then make sure you listen to your father.”

Lotte responded to that with a smile and a nod. Lotte didn’t really count as part of the working force no matter what she wanted to do, so there wasn’t really a problem with allowing her to join the guys.

After that, the women returned to the main house, and the security team went back to guarding the gate and patrolling the grounds.

As for me, I stayed and taught the remaining men and Lotte how to pollinate plants. I also told them to only allow three buds to grow on each stem. Since they used to be farmers, they understood immediately. It’d probably be fine to just leave it all up to Alban.

“From the looks of things, they’ll bud really soon, so watch it closely. Once buds start to form, pollinate them,” I told them, to which they all replied affirmatively.

“Lotte will watch for the buds too!”

“Yeah. If you see one, tell your father.”

“Got it~.” As soon as she said that, Lotte held a staring contest with one of the stems.

“Right then. Alban, I’m counting on you.”

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“What happened?”

“Oh, uh, you see... the seeds we planted yesterday......”

I told Fel about what I saw at the field.

“I understand, but what is wrong with it growing fast?”

“It’s not bad, but it’s definitely not normal. Wouldn’t you be surprised?”

“Is it that sort of thing?”

Uh, “that sort of thing?” You know, anybody’d be surprised if something they planted yesterday was already flowering.

“I mean, Fel, you have absolutely no interest in plants, do you? Judging from how you just said, ‘that sort of thing?’”

“Indeed. None at all.”

Oh, he went and declared it.

“Come on... why did you even ask, then?”

“Mm, I just felt like it. More importantly, we are going hunting today, yes?”

Oh right. I did promise to take them. But I need to head to Lambert’s store and the Adventurer’s guild today too......

“Hey, you cannot be planning on telling me that hunting will be delayed again. Hm?”

Urggh...... Fel’s look is scary.

“Uhhh, no, it’s not like that. I was just going to go to Lambert’s to drop off some product and then we needed to go to the Adventurer’s guild after that......” I glanced over at Fel as I spoke.

“Even so, that will not take the entire day, no?”

“W-Well, that’s true, but......”

Personally, I wanted to take today easy if at all possible.

“Why do you not just say things clearly? We are going to hurry and finish your errands before we go hunting. Dora, Sui, we are leaving.”

Oh... so Fel’s already decided we’re going hunting huh?

“Hey, we are going.”

“Wait! I need to go get the stuff I’m delivering, so just wait a second.”

“You are being too slow. Hurry it up.”

Yeah, yeah. Damn.

I asked the women to bring the shampoo and Divine Medicine: Hair Growth Power up from the basement. I stored the items in my Item Box, and when I climbed up the stairs, I found Fel and the others waiting for me.

“All right, let us go. Get on.”

Fel didn’t let me get a word in edgewise as he hurried me on to his back, and we headed for Lambert’s store.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

When we arrived at Lambert’s store, it was so early that we found it empty. I asked one of the employees to call Lambert.

“Good morning, Mukohda.”

“Good morning. I came to deliver the product.”

“Ohh! That’s great! Come, come, in here.”

I followed Lambert to a room in the rear of the store.

“Okay then. I believe the order should have been for two hundred bottles, including the portion to be presented to the earl.”

I retrieved the boxes with the shampoo and Divine Medicine: Hair Growth Power packed inside from my Item Box. Lambert planned to sell both the shampoo and the Divine Medicine: Hair Growth Power as a set, since the shampoo strengthened the effect of the hair tonic.

“I was planning to send you a messenger to ask about your progress tomorrow. To be honest, the earl is waiting anxiously for the results of his request......”

Apparently, the earl’s huge change had sent waves through the nobility, and he’d been inundated with questions from other nobles demanding to know what happened. And since answering their questions would be mostly impossible without the products at hand, the earl seemed to be keen on hurrying Lambert. For that reason, Lambert was going to quickly depart to the capital to deliver the hair tonic in person.

“Now I’ll be leaving within the next couple days for the capital.”

Lambert told me that he’d go as soon as his preparations were finished. A prospective buyer would need an introduction from the earl, but Lambert expected the earl to be swamped with people who wanted to buy, so he told me he would be bringing an extra fifty sets on top of the fifty reserved for the earl.

50 gold for a bottle seemed pretty exorbitant to me, so I started to worry about whether or not the tonic would actually sell, given how many Lambert was bringing along. But Lambert himself was fully confident that he’d sell out.

“You’ve seen its effects, right? No one who’s even a little worried about their hair will hold back on this.”

I mean, sure, but it’s just hair, right? Like, whether you have hair or go bald, it doesn’t affect your life, you know? And we are asking 50 gold for just a bottle. I can only imagine that people would hesitate.

But according to Lambert: “Those who are worried about their hair will pay anything to fix that. If you look at it from the other side, this is a cheap price to pay to get rid of one of your worries.”

Now that he mentioned it, that might be true. But it wasn’t something I had to worry about, so I couldn’t relate anyway.

Oh right, I need to tell Lambert about the guildmaster, since he was the guinea pig for the Divine Medicine: Hair Growth Power instead of me.

“Lambert, I need to tell you something......”

I told him about the guildmaster, who was the first to try out the tonic.

“I see, the guildmaster...”

“That’s right. So, he wanted to be able to buy some if I were to sell it...... He doesn’t have the earl’s introduction, but could you make an exception for him?”

Lambert told me that since the earl learned about it through the guildmaster, it should be fine to sell to him.

That’s great. The guildmaster really wanted it, after all. It’s expensive at 50 gold a bottle, but the guildmaster earns a lot, so he should be fine. Well, I’m leaving all the sales stuff to Lambert, so it’s all up to him and his endeavors if he wants it anyway.

“All right then. I’ll get your payment ready, so please wait a moment,” Lambert said before leaving the room. After a while, he came back with a bag in hand.

“Here it is. Please confirm the amount.”

I looked inside and found 51 platinum coins.

Huh? Isn’t this too much......? From my agreement with Lambert, I should be getting 5 silver for the shampoo and 33 gold for the hair tonic per bottle. Outside of the portion for the earl, I should be getting paid for one hundred and fifty sets, which would make 75 gold for the shampoo and 4950 for the hair tonic for a total of 5025 gold. But 51 platinum coins means he just gave me 5100 gold. That’s an extra 75 gold.

“Lambert, there’s too much money in here.”

“I couldn’t stand for not paying you for the earl’s share, so I added a little extra. Sorry for it being too little.”

“No no, that was the deal to gain the earl’s backing. I can’t take this money and cause trouble for you, Lambert.”

“Trouble? Not at all. It’s thanks to you that I’m selling soap and shampoo and have earned so much. I’m attracting more customers now, too, which raises the sales of my leather goods. Not only that, but you’re even allowing me to sell this hair tonic, which is a surefire hit. This money only represents a small portion of what you’re giving to the earl would be originally worth, but please take it,” Lambert said, smiling.

Hmmm, he’s never going to take back the extra money, is he? Oh fine. I’ll just take it this time.

“Then I’ll gratefully accept it.” I stored the bag of platinum coins in my Item Box.

After that, we made small talk for a while before I made my leave.

“All right then, be careful out there Lambert. Give my greetings to the earl.”

“Yes, thanks for your concern. Depending on how well sales go in the capital, I’ll be asking you for more bottles. I’ll be counting on you when that time comes.”

I exchanged parting words with Lambert before leaving the store. Lambert asked me to guard him until the capital, but I politely refused. After all, the capital just seemed overly troublesome.

“Right. You are done, yes? Next errand.”

Hurried along by Fel, who wanted to get to hunting, we headed off for our next destination: the Adventurer’s guild.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

As we entered the Adventurer’s guild, the guildmaster came to see us immediately. Someone must have tipped him off.

“Yo, you’re here. Right then, to the 2nd floor.”

“No, that’s......”

“Hey. We are going hunting after this. Make it quick.”

《Yeah, since we’re going hunting.》

《Hunting—!》

“Well, that’s how it is.”

The guildmaster and I looked at Fel, who was acting like this was a matter of course, as well as Dora-chan, who was flying over Fel, and Sui, who was riding on top of Fel. He couldn’t hear Dora-chan and Sui, but it seemed he understood that they all wanted to go hunting.

“Haha! Hunting, huh? We’ll profit from that too, so I’ll have to make this quick, won’t I? Right then, let’s go to the storehouse directly.”

With us in tow, the guildmaster headed for the storehouse.

“Hey Johan, we’re here.”

And of course, Johan was there to greet us.

“You’re here, bro. The orc general and leader are done. I have the meat ready.”

I received the meat for the orc general and leader.

It’s impressive how fast old man Johan works. Though he was complaining about how he still needed to dismember more orcs after this as well.

According to him, when I had left the orcs here the day before yesterday, he had worked with the other butchers to get my order done in a hurry. I still had quite a lot of orc meat in storage, after all, so I had only asked for the meat from the elite variants and just sold off everything from the run-of-the-mill orcs.

It might be a lot of work, but do your best.

“As for the breakdown of this sale: all the orc meat and testes comes out to 2 gold and 2 silver per orc. For a hundred and thirty-six orcs, that’s a total of 299 gold and 2 silver. Then, there’s the orc leader and orc general testes. Right now, the demand for the testes of elite orc variants is high, so those are worth a little more. The orc leader is 11 gold and the orc general is 12 gold. All told, you’ll be getting 322 gold and 2 silver.”

Old man Johan put a bag of money down on the table.

“I prepared the money for you in large gold coins this time. Inside you’ll find 32 large gold coins, 2 gold, and 2 silver. Check it, please.”

I checked inside the bag.

One, two, three............ Yep, it’s all here.

“It looks good.”

“Right. Then next is your reward for the extermination. It was a sudden request, so I added a little extra on top, another 200 gold. I also prepared that sum in large gold coins, so please check the amount.”

I received a bag of money from the guildmaster and found all twenty large gold pieces inside.

“Yes, it’s correct.”

As soon as I stored both bags of money into my Item Box, Johan spoke up, seeming like he had found an opening.

“Hey by the way bro, did you manage to get anything unusual?”

“Well, a little...... Ah, can I get you to take care of it?”

I thought of the gigant mimic chameleon and garuda that Fel and the others had caught the last time they had all gone hunting.

No matter how I look at it, that thing isn’t edible. This’ll be better than just letting it sit in my Item Box forever.

“Well, maybe after I look at it. You bring some good stuff, but you also have crazy stuff like that orthrus, chimera, and earth dragon. You easily produce stuff that a guild our size just can’t really deal with,” said the guildmaster.

Crazy? That’s not my fault though... Fel and the others just kill them on their own. I can’t stop them.

“If you put it like that, that makes it harder for me to bring them out... These’re S-ranks too......”

“Geez. S-ranks? Well just show us for now.”

“Uhhh, then......”

I brought out the gigant mimic chameleon and garuda from my Item Box and set them out in a free spot in the storehouse.

...............

““PFFFFFT!””

Both the guildmaster and Johan did a spit take.

Filthy!

“A-A gigant mimic chameleon?!”

“This one’s a garuda! This is the first time I’ve ever seen one in the flesh. Ever since I met you, bro, I’ve been seeing monsters I only ever thought I’d read about in books one after another. Hahaha!”

Don’t laugh like that, old man. Aren’t you the one who wanted me to get rare stuff? You too, guildmaster. Don’t be so surprised. I already told you they were S-ranked.

“So, will you buy it......?”

“Yeah, no. It’s impossible.”

Thought so.

“Well, we might be able to do something with the gigant mimic chameleon in a little while. I mean, we just bought a chimera off you, y’know? It’s too bad, though.”

The guildmaster claimed that he’d be able to do something about the chameleon after the money for the chimera came in, but it would be impossible at the moment. The gigant mimic chameleon’s meat wasn’t fit for consumption, but aside from that, its hide, organs, tongue, and blood were all usable materials. On top of that, the chameleon usually lived camouflaged deep in the forest, so it was apparently hard to find in the first place. That was why, whenever one appeared on the market, it was always expensive, and the guildmaster always felt disappointed that he couldn’t afford it.

“Well, this time we have to let it go. If you don’t manage to sell it somewhere else, come again later.”

“Okay.”

According to the guildmaster, the garuda was “only sellable at the capital or in a dungeon city.”

I guess this one gets to stew in my Item Box for a while too.

“Oh right, do you have a minute, guildmaster?”

“What is it?”

“Uhh, it’s about......” I looked up at the guildmaster’s hair, and he seemed to get it.

“Ohh, that!”

“Yes. I’m starting to sell it at Lambert’s store. So......”

I told him that it was set so one had to have the earl’s introduction to buy it, but I made sure the guildmaster was an exception.

“Ahh, izzat so? Still, 50 gold, huh? Well, I guess it’s cheap for how much it does. I’ll just have to work hard even during off days...”

“‘Work hard on off days’? Are you going to take up a second job or something?”

“Well, rather than a second job, it’s more like I’ll be coming out of retirement a little.”

From what the guildmaster said, even if an adventurer retired, their registration was still kept on record, so if they ever needed money, they could just hunt some monsters and sell them. This was especially true for high ranking adventurers.

“I used to be an A-ranked adventurer, you know?” The guildmaster grinned.

If that’s the case, he’ll probably be fine. Work hard and buy all the Divine Medicine: Hair Growth Power you like.

“All right then, we need to leave. Fel and the others are starting to look very impatient.”

“Sure. You’re going out hunting now, aren’t you? Be careful. Well, you’ll probably be fine.”

As soon as we left the adventurer’s guild, Fel and Dora-chan started complaining.

“Sorry, sorry.”

“For crying out loud, how many times have I told you to make it quick? You...”

《Fel’s right. Sui’s fallen asleep and everything.》

Dora-chan was right; Sui had dozed off in my bag at some point.

“I said I was sorry. But I didn’t take as long as you’re all saying. There’s still more than enough time to go hunting. Let’s just go.”

“Hmph! Get on.”

“Fine, fine.”

As soon as I was on top of him, Fel walked briskly towards the gates.