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Vol 01 Chapter 05-1: Agriculture and Livestock

Clearing the land for farming sounds simple, but it’s an incredibly laborious task.

First, we have to chop down trees, remove grass, and dig up the hard soil mixed with a mass of roots. Only then can a field be born.

But a field alone isn’t enough for plants; water is crucial. This means we have to draw water from a river somewhere. I don’t want to bother with such a tedious task, so we’re planning to work on land near a river.

I have no real knowledge or experience, but I expect to have some arable land in a year. Or rather, we need to be able to do that much or we’ll have a problem.

I plan to also do some hunting, but providing for thirty people solely through hunting is tough. Relying only on agriculture wouldn’t also be enough. We need to do both.

Now, the main issue is where to start clearing the land. I have no idea what kind of land is suitable for agriculture. And I need to ask Griffon whether it’s okay to cut down trees in this forest. If it’s not allowed, we’ll have to look for another place.

「So, what do you think about that?」

「It doesn’t matter to me. My territory is deep in the forest. As long as you don’t disturb that area, you can set fires or chop trees as you like,」

Griffon surprisingly gave permission easily. It is a bit anti-climactic.

「You humans really do love scratching the earth. I couldn’t be bothered with such tedious work. Oh, now that I think about it…」

「Now that you think about it?」

「About thirty years ago, humans built a village in this forest. They abandoned it because of an epidemic or something like that. Those bastards even said something about the epidemic being my fault. Ridiculous.」

Griffon started grumbling. But what’s important for me isn’t the reason the village was destroyed.

「If there’s such a convenient place, why didn’t you mention it earlier? Where is it?」

「Hmm… It’s been a long time, and my memory isn’t clear. Besides, I had no interest in it. Just get on my back. You should be able to see it from the sky. If you can’t, give up.」

Saying that, Griffon showed me his back.

Ride him, he says… I could die if I fall.

「Hurry up.」

「Understood!」

I’m scared, but he might change his mind. The lives of thirty people are at stake. I need to find that village, I have no choice but to ride.

I clambered onto Griffon’s back, as I was climbing up like this, I realized just how big he was.

If I had looked tasty the first time I met him, he could have swallowed me in one gulp…

「We’re going now.」

「Eek!」

A strange sound escaped my mouth. I felt a flutter in my lower abdomen.

I really don’t like roller coasters…

Griffon, unconcerned about me, kept gaining altitude.

I accidentally looked down.

「Whoaaaahhhhh!」

「Hey, don’t make noise. Don’t strangle me!」

I instinctively gripped Griffon tighter. Flying through the air without any safety harness was terrifying. My teeth clattered involuntarily.

「What if I… what if I wet myself?」

「I’ll drop you.」

As we were having this exchange, Griffon suddenly stopped.

「It should be around here… Ah, there it is. Rejoice.」

I looked down cautiously. My insides felt fluttery again.

But the fear was worth it. Indeed, there was an area with unnaturally few trees and what looked like the remains of houses.

「We’re landing.」

「Wait, too fast. Too fast!!!」

「Hmm. As expected, part of it is reclaimed by the forest… but it’s still better than starting from scratch, right?」

「Yes, it is.」

The site of the old village is much better than I had imagined. There is a river running through the center of the village, making it easy to access fresh water. Most of the pit dwellings are destroyed, but some seem repairable.

Of course, the fields are overrun with weeds, but they can be cleared. At least it will be easier than starting from scratch.

The fundamental question is whether children alone can manage farming, but I think it’s probably doable. In Japan’s ancient field allotment system, fields were given to both men and women over the age of six. I remember reading in textbooks that they were about twenty ares in size. I believe one ‘koku’ (the amount of rice a grown man eats in a year) corresponded to about one ‘tan’ (around ten ares).

Given that ancient Japanese six-year-olds could manage twenty ares, we should, theoretically, be capable as well.

Well, in reality, the parents probably did most of the tilling… But still, maybe the kids tilled about one-third of it themselves. It’s unlikely that the parents alone tilled all the fields for a large number of children.

We have iron farming tools, which ancient farmers probably didn’t have. Plus, I plan to acquire cows or horses later for plowing.

It should work.

If it doesn’t, I’ll ask Griffon for help. He can easily dig up a field.

「Wow, thank you. We would have had to start a field from scratch otherwise.」

「I didn’t till it, though.」

「But isn’t it thanks to you that those people left?」

All hail Griffon-sama! If it weren’t for him, none of this would have started. Well, since he asked me for help, he’s somewhat obliged to help sometimes.

「By the way, may I ask you something?」

「What is it?」

「There’s a famine outside the forest, right? Do you know what caused it?」

I have always wondered about it. From Tetra-chan’s words, I know there is a famine in the neighboring countries, but famines can have various causes.

Crop diseases, damage from locusts or other pests, direct damage from storms, poor harvests due to climate…

If we start farming without knowing the reason, we might repeat the same mistakes.

Asking the children seemed a bit insensitive, so I decided to ask Griffon.

「From the children’s conversations, it’s probably a disease affecting the crops.」

「What kind of crop does it affect?」

「All of them.」

「All of them?!」

A disease that kills all crops? What is that, invincible much?

「Do you mean everything? From wheat to fruit?」

「That seems to be the case.」

What’s that? I can understand similar crops like wheat and barley getting the same disease, but wheat and grapes, which are completely different, getting the same disease?

It’s like humans getting a fish disease.

「I pondered over it and have a theory. Want to hear?」

「Please.」

「I think it’s a curse.」

I shouldn’t have asked…

「What’s with that look? Curses do exist.」

「What’s the evidence?」

「The fact that you and I are having this conversation.」

When he says that, I have nothing to reply. Well, indeed, if otherworldly reincarnation and blessings exist, then maybe one or two curses aren’t so far-fetched.

「But who would cast such a curse?」

「Your kind loves to fight and kill each other, don’t they? Isn’t it plausible for one flock to try to weaken another one through a curse?」

「Hmm, when you put it that way, yes.」

If you could weaken an enemy nation with a remote curse, it would be a delightful tool to have. If it exists, any country would be glad to use it.

「Such a wide-ranging curse must require a very powerful magician.」

「Isn’t this a problem? If the curse strikes again, all our work will be pointless.」

「Hmm? It should be fine. Humans are cowardly. I doubt they would dare to curse my territory or the forest near it. Besides, curses aren’t something that can be cast repeatedly.」

So that’s how it is… This guy knows more about this world than I do. If he says it’s fine, then it probably is. Probably.

「Then should we call the children here?」

「Yes. But it’s better to move them tomorrow. If we start now, it will be dark by the time we’re done.」

Griffon said this while looking at the sun. The sun is slightly past its zenith. Probably around two in the afternoon.

This place is quite south of the cave. With the slow pace of young children, it will be dark before we return here. If Griffon let them on his back, it won’t take any time, but this guy probably wouldn’t like to do that much work. And the kids will probably hesitate to ask.

「Then get on my back.」

「Ugh… I have to ride again…」

I groaned as we began our journey back.

◇

「And so, this is our new home.」

「Wow!」

The children cheered with excitement.

「So, Leader, what do we do first?」

Ron-kun asked.

「Leader?」

「Hey, it’s not like I’ve completely accepted you as our leader, okay? Just a bit. I’ve only acknowledged you just a little bit!」

「Ron-kun… you should be more honest,」

Ron-kun and Soyon-chan started to argue again in front of me.

Why have they accepted me already? I haven’t really achieved anything yet. All I did was exchange iron swords for iron farming tools.

As I was thinking this, Tetra-chan whispered to me.

「Before you came, this group was a mess. Whenever someone had an idea, it would be shot down by the others, but those who opposed never presented any alternatives. The younger children would cry for their mothers, and Ron and Roswald would fight. But since you came, we’ve got a lot of things done.」

「It feels more like the situation before was just bad, rather than me being good.」

I smiled wryly.

Honestly, I think anyone could have done what I did. But that’s an adult’s perspective. It’s not something children could easily come up with. To me, the idea of trading iron swords seemed natural, but it must have seemed like an innovative idea to Ron-kun and the others.

「You’re giving me too much credit. We found this abandoned village thanks to Griffon,」

「So, what are we going to grow?」

Roswald-kun glared at me as he asked.

Why is this kid so confrontational…? Is this just how children are?

「We’re going to practice crop rotation.」

「Crop rotation? Is that tasty?」

No, probably not tasty.

「To put it simply, we’ll plant in this order: barley (planted in spring) → clover → wheat (planted in autumn) → turnips, and we’ll repeat this cycle every four years.」

According to the kids, it’s currently the wheat harvesting season, so unfortunately, we’ll start with wheat next year.

Considering the current season, it looks like we’ll start with turnips.

「Why do we have to do something so complicated?」

「You know that if you use a field for a long time, the crops start to grow poorly, right? Clover has the effect of healing the field. This way, we can grow crops all year round.」

I don’t know the details myself, though. I only learned about it in history and geography classes, so my practical knowledge might be less than the children’s. My experience with agriculture is limited to the small vegetable garden at the orphanage.

Roswald-kun still looked doubtful. His expression said it all. But since I’m not confident about explaining in detail either, the only option left is to let them learn through experience.

「So, are we growing anything else?」

「Grapes and olives, if possible.」

I answered Gram-kun’s question.

From what the children said, the climate here seems to be Mediterranean.

Frankly speaking, crop rotation might not be the best fit for a Mediterranean climate. But fortunately, this village is in a good location near a river, so we should be able to cultivate wheat well enough.

What really suits this climate are grapes and olives. However, it takes time for grapes and olives to grow, and it’s questionable whether those can feed thirty people. Additionally, the best terrain for growing grapes and olives is a well-drained slope. This village is on flat land. It’s not impossible to cultivate them on flat land, so I hope to do so eventually.

「So, now that we’ve decided on our plan…」

All the children’s eyes turned to me at once.

「First, let’s repair the houses.」

I pointed at the dilapidated pit dwellings.