Chapter 339

Chapter 339: Trouble in the Fields

Translated by Zzonkedd

Edited by Gumihou and Onionpi

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I was enjoying a leisurely breakfast and lazing around comfortably when sounds of hurried feet across the floor alerted me. [8] I looked up to see Alban running over, looking very excited.

“M-mukouda-san! [8] Trouble! We have trouble! The fields! Th-the fields!”

“The fields?” I frowned. “Oh, you mean the vegetable garden?”

“Yes, yes, the f-field! The field!”

[8] “… …” okay, just what is going on? Also, even though our vegetable is not that big, it could still be considered a ‘field’ if one stretches their imagination. I supposed it’s probably a precious field to Farmer Alban.

Let’s roll with that first.

“Is there something wrong with the field?”

Alban nodded many times at that [8] but offered up no explanations.

“… I supposed I should go take a look,”

I’m pretty sure there was nothing to worry about so I went outside without my familiars to check out the situation.

Indeed, Alban led me to the ‘field’ situated next to the servant’s quarters. Nearly everyone was standing around it except for Alban who had left to call me over.

[8] My guards looked surprised but no one had weapons in their hands, so I guess whatever ‘trouble’ it was, it was not particularly dangerous. My anxiety decreased and I walked quickly over.

“What happened?”

“Um…” the people nearest to me moved away, giving me a clear sight of the field…

“W- wait, what’s that? What’s going on?”

I rubbed my eyes and stared again.

The seeds that we had sown yesterday had all sprouted. In fact, they had more than sprouted, the plants had all grown up, especially the vines and a lot of them were sporting flower buds.

“A-Alban, is it normal for plants to grow at this rate?”

“N-No, I’ve never heard of such a thing before…”

Then… was it the power of other world seeds?

Even so, isn’t this too effective?

Although I had some expectations from other world plants I never thought they would grow into mature plants literally overnight! [5]

Wait.

Hold on a second.

Yesterday, in addition to seeds, I also bought something else, liquid fertilizer.

Yes, we sprinkled liquid fertilizer onto the seeds after planting them. I quickly took the bottle out of my [Item Box] and looked at the ingredients list. Then I looked at the instructions on the side and…

“Geh…”

“Wh-what is it?” asked Alban nervously. [5]

“We may have gone overboard with the fertilizer…”

“Oh?”

“Yes, we’re supposed to dilute 1 cap of fertilizer for every 10 litres of water, but we only dilute it in 1 litre of water…”

In fact, I vaguely remember putting four caps of fertilizer into a 4L watering can… [5]

I looked at the densely packed field that was looking more and more like an overgrown weed jungle. The seeds were not the only ones benefitting from the fertilizer, the weeds were really tall too. We’ll have to pull the weeds out to prevent them from sucking out the nutrition and choking my vines and vegetables.

We’ll have to transplant some of those fruit vines and vegetables that were growing too close together and-

“Big brother Mukouda! It’s flowering, it’s flowering!”

Lotte-chan swung my hand excitedly as she pointed at the growing buds.

I blinked.

Nope, they were still literally growing right before my eyes.

“Wait, wh-what should I do? I have to pollinate them, right?” I shook Alban. “Do we need to pollinate Muskmelons and Watermelons?”

“Eh? Polli… what?””

Of course, he wouldn’t know! Or if he did, he probably wouldn’t use the word ‘pollinate’.

“Wait, wait, where’s my seed packet? Wait, I don’t have seed packets for Muskmelons and Watermelons…” I managed to shake out all the seed packets I have and snatched one up. “Cucumber! That’s right, Cucumbers are in the gourd family just like Muskmelon and Watermelon!”

[9] I quickly looked through the instructions on the packet for Cucumber seeds as well as Pumpkin seeds and, well, the general census was that it’s better to pollinate if I want better fruits. Also, considering how fast the flower bud was maturing, natural pollinators probably won’t be able to keep up.

[9] “Right,” I said, as I opened up [Net Super] and tapped the tab for stationeries and bought a box of soft-tipped brushes. “Here’s what we’re going to do.”

[9] “What are these for, Mukouda-san?” Alban was studying the brush in his hand curiously.

[9] “We’re going to pollinate the flowers. It will result in bigger and better fruits,” I said simply. No need to burden them with explanations about Cucurbitaceae plants or the sexual reproduction of flowers etc. “Anyway, take the brush and touch the yellow part here…”

[9] I stroked the tip of the brush against the anther to gather the yellow pollen.

[9] “…transfer the yellow stuff to the middle bit here…”

[9] I touched the pollen to the stigma in the centre of the flower.

[9] “…and that’s it. Well, it’s best to touch the brush to different flowers from the same type of plant and cross-pollinate for the best result.”

[9] “Hmm, never heard of this method but I guess there’s no harm trying,” said Alban.

“Right, just give it a try. Anyway, all the gardeners please focus on pollinating the flowers today. Since the flowers bloom so quickly, it’s better to give them a little help.” [5]

“Um!” Lotte’s arm shot up and she bounced in place for attention.

“Yes, Lotte-chan?”

“Brother Mukouda, Lotte wants to work in the field too!”

Teresa frowned at her daughter, “This child…”

“Hoho, you want to do field work? Then, you must make sure to listen to your father’s instruction, okay?”

[5] “Okay!”

Well, Lotte wasn’t really registered as a worker, so it’s fine if she does field work today.

Once that was decided, everyone scattered to their own jobs. The ladies to their work in the main building while the guards went off to their posts. I continued to pollinate the flowers with the gardeners for a while. Answering their questions the best I could.

[9] “I wonder if this works with fruit trees too,” mused Tony as he pollinate a Watermelon flower.

[9] “Well, I should think so,” I said. “Normally this job is done by bees, butterflies or the wind. We’re giving these flowers a bit of help since they bloom and wither too quickly for the bees to come.”

[9] “Ah! So that’s why my harvest was so much better when we got ourselves a beehive.”

[9] “Oh, you’ve kept bees too?” I asked, very interested in this topic.

[9] “Not very well, they all flew away a year later…”

[9] “That’s too bad…”

[9] “Brother Mukouda, this one is starting to bloom!”

“Good job Lotte, make sure to keep a sharp eye on those flowers.”

“Okay!”

While Lotte-chan stared earnestly at a patch of pumpkin buds, I left the gardeners to finish the job and made my way back to the living room.

Fer looked up the moment I came back, “Well? What was it?”

“The seeds we sowed yesterday unexpectedly bloomed,” I said. “The plants matured literally overnight.”

“So? What’s wrong with that?”

“There’s nothing wrong, we’re just surprised.”

“And?”

I would have answered him if not for the huge yawn that took over his face.

“…you’re not at all interested in the plants, are you?”

“Umu, not at all.”

“Hey, then why did you ask?”

“If they happened to grow into sentient monster plants, [6] I could go squish them. Anyway, aren’t we supposed to go hunting today?”

Eh? That’s right, I did promise. [1] However, I wanted to drop by the Adventurer’s Guild, maybe visit Lambert’s…

“Oi, you had better not think about stopping me from hunting again. Well?”

Ughhh… Fer’s gaze was a little sharp today…

“Ehhh, of course not. I just have to stop by Lambert’s and the Adventurer’s Guild…”

“You don’t need to take all day for that,”

“Well, I certainly don’t need to…” although I would certainly like to…

“What an indecisive creature. Just get the job done and we can go hunting. Oi, Dora, Sui, let’s go!”

Well, I guess today’s itinerary has been decided.

““Yahoo!””

“”Let’s go~~!””

“Wait, wait, I have to pick up something from the basement first.”

“Slow! Do your thing quickly!”

Yeah, yeah. I went to the basement and picked up the shampoo, soap, Divine Medicine hair restorer etc and stuffed the lot into my [Item Box].

I found Fer and the rest of my familiars were waiting impatiently for me back in the living room.

“Alright, get on. Time to go.”

Pressed by Fer, I had no choice but to get on and we sped off towards Lambert’s.

Fer: I would never use the word ‘squish’

Gumihou: Hmm? What was that?

Fer: You made me sound OOC, I would never say squish

Gumihou: You just said it twice in a row, trololol!

Fer: You!!! Despicable weak human! I shall squish you!

Gumihou: Nyeheh, that’s four times now.

[1] Structural Change: Combine 2 paragraphs

[2] Structural Change: Combine 3 paragraphs

[3] Structural Change: Combine paragraph & dialogue

[4] Structural Change: Change passive sentence to dialogue

[5] Delete Repetitive or Pointless Information

[6] Additional Information for Aesthetic Purpose

[7] Add Dialogue Tag

[8] Creative Licence Taken – fix the hastily written text so that it doesn’t look quite as hurried and abrupt.

[9] Give a slightly more comprehensive pollination explanation. Also, the beehive thing is Gumi’s contribution.