Chapter 344: Harvest Day
Translated by Zzonkedd
Edited by Gumihou and Onionpi
Please read this at dot com
After breakfast, I headed for the ‘field’ in the back.
“Good morning, everyone.”
The commoner families, as well as the guards, were already in the field, busily harvesting the large muskmelons, watermelons and cucumbers.
“Good morning, Mukouda-san,”
“Good morning everyone!”
“Brother Mukouda!” [3] Lotte-chan hopped up with a tomato so large that she had to hold it with both hands. “Look, look, these are so big!”
“Oh my, it is quite big,” [7] I said, admiring the large red tomato.
“Right~~? The other fruits are really, really big too! Look over here!” [3] Lotte pulled my hand towards a section [6] of the field where Alban was working at harvesting giant purple eggplants.
“Ah, Mukouda-san, apologies for harvesting these without permission. They were growing so fast that I was afraid they would rot if left unattended.” [5]
“Don’t worry about it. It was a good call to make. It would be a waste to let our crops spoil when they grow so well.”
Indeed, muskmelon, watermelon, lettuce, cucumber, tomato, eggplant, corn and pumpkins… in short, everything that we had haphazardly sowed a few days ago was now growing well. Or rather, they were growing a little too well. Everything was at least 1.5 times bigger than the ones back in the other world.
[8] I had heard that fruits that grew too large tended to be tasteless or have a bad texture. There was a reason why heirloom plants, with their smaller, slightly uglier fruits were becoming popular back in Japan. They retain better flavour and texture.
Feeling a little worried, I picked one of the corn to inspect the fruit.
“Yep, it’s pretty large and the beard hairs are quite abundant,” I tried checking its weight with just my hands. “It’s pretty hefty too.”
However, the most important thing was flavour. There was no point growing giant fruits if they ended up being tasteless. I peeled back the husk to reveal the firmly packed, slightly whitish grains.
“I heard that white corn is sweeter [9], well, since corn can be eaten raw. I should…” I tried to pry out a piece of the plump kernel, accidentally piercing some and getting corn juice all over my fingers. I reflexively stuck my finger into my mouth and… “Sweet! What’s this? Why is it so sweet?” [5]
I never had such a sweet corn before in my life. Is it really corn? Let’s try appraising it.
[Corn]
Vegetable from another world. It grew to its highest quality from exposure to plentiful nutrients and demonic essence not found in the other world. Only first-generation seeds would bear fruit.
As expected, the excessive fertilizer I sprinkled on them was part of the issue. [1] As for this ‘demonic essence’ thing, I guess it’s the reason why this world has monsters instead of livestock?
Wait, so, it was also inside this corn?
[8] Should I be worried about this?
[8] With a little trepidation, I [Appraised] all the other crops in the field and each one yielded similar results. All were ‘highest quality’, influenced by ‘plentiful nutrients’ and ‘demonic essence’.
I… guess it was alright since they all yielded delicious fruits?
However, the one drawback was ‘only the first generation seeds would bear fruit’. Meaning if I sow the seeds from these huge fruits, I would get nothing but leaves and flowers?
Still, I could buy as many seeds as I want from [Net Super] so that’s not a problem, right?
“Mukouda-san, we’ve harvested everything.” [3] Alban called over the field. The sack in his hand was filled with freshly harvested green cucumbers.
In fact, there were sacks of freshly harvested produce everywhere.
“For such a small field, the harvest is shockingly plentiful,” [7] said Tony cheerfully.
“Yes, the size is incredible too,” [7] Alban happily patted one of the pumpkins.
“Right, shall we have a taste of today’s harvest?” I asked, already pushing up my sleeves.
“Yay~~ Lotte wants the sweet ones from that day~~”
“Right, the muskmelons and watermelons, right?” since everyone already had their breakfast, we can have fruits as a dessert or a second breakfast.
“Yay~!”
[10] “Alright, I leave you guys to cut up the fruits, I’ll go and call Fer and the other two,” I have people working for me now, they can do things like raising an earth table and cutting up fruits without my supervision.
I had to call the familiars myself since they, aside from Sui who’s friendly with everyone, only listen to me. Free-spirited Lotte had already been warned off by her parents not to bother Fer, though it looked like she was very interested in my familiars.
By the time I returned with my familiars, Aiya and Teresa had already set out large plates of cut-up melons. With three large plates set out especially for Fer & Co.
“It’s our first harvest so let’s give it a taste!”
Everyone had a slice of muskmelon or watermelon in their hands. The moment I gave the okay, everyone took a large bite and…
“Sweet!”
Lotte-chan was chomping right into her muskmelon and wriggling with sheer delight.
Sui, who also adores sweet things, vibrated happily, ““It’s sweeter and tastier than before~~””
Fer and Dora-chan were silently chomping into their plates.
I chose to try muskmelon. The muskmelon from [Net Super] was already pretty sweet and delicious but this one… I took a bite and the firm flesh gave way easily under my teeth and seemed to dissolve in my mouth into melony sugar water…
“Woah, this is insanely sweet and delicious. Even better than before!” [5]
The watermelon was also refreshing and sweet. The texture was nice and sandy, sending shivers down my back.
Everyone appeared mesmerized by the melons, but after tasting these, I was eager to try the other crops as well.
Right, the sun is shining, we have sacks of freshly harvested vegetables around us, everyone had just worked hard…
“Okay, we’re taking a day off today. Everyone, let’s celebrate our first harvest with a barbecue!”
“Muu, a barbecue. That’s the fire-grilled meat, right? That one’s delicious. Make lots of it.”
““Grilled meat? Yaaasss!!”” [5]
““Meat, meat, Sui likes meat~~””
“We’ll have both grilled meat and vegetables,” I said.
“Excuse me,” said Tony. “Uhm, by day off, Mukouda-san means…?” [5]
“It’s exactly what it means. Everyone did a very good job keeping the house and garden neat and tidy, so it’s fine to take one day off,” I said.
“Oohh,”
“That sounds great!”
“Heh, I doubt there’s any idiot stupid enough to attack during broad daylight,” said Tabasa. “Thanks to Mukouda-san, the problematic people who had been watching this place were gone too.”
“In the first place, only the stupid would attack an S Ranker’s mansion. Especially when the S Ranker is at home,” said Bartel sagely.
The others nodded in agreement.
“Ahaha, in other words, it’s perfectly fine to take the day off. Teresa, Aiya and Celia, I’ll need your help preparing the BBQ.”
We’ll have to prepare large amounts of food for everyone.
“Uhm, I shall go and take care of the field…” Alban said. Clearly itching to tend to the soil again.
“Oh, be sure to clear out whatever’s left in the field,” I said. The vines had withered after the fruiting but there were still some plants sticking around. “Put those aside and use them for fertilizer later. I shall provide you with new seeds for the field.”
With the help of the guards, it won’t take the men long to clear the field.
[4] “Uhm, some of our potatoes have sprouted. Since we can’t eat them, would it be alright to plant them?”
“Of course, you’re in charge of this field so feel free to plant whatever you like. Oh, you can have these too,” I said, handing over the leftover lettuce, cucumber and other seeds as well as the liquid fertilizer to Alban.
“Oh, is this really alright?” [7] Alban held the seeds as though he was holding something precious.
“Yes. Oh, but seeds from the other world only produce fruit in the first generation. So there’s no need to save the seeds for sowing. As for the fertilizer, you should put only half a cap of it into the watering can before watering, alright? This is important.”
“Alright, I’ll remember,” said Alban seriously.
“Right, let’s get our BBQ started, ladies!”
“Yes!
[5]
[Gumihou: Deleted the ending because it’s too anti-climactic]
[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
When Tony and Alban, the owners of the families heard my greetings, they greeted me back.
…seriously, are you paid by word count?
[6] Additional Information for Aesthetic Purpose
[7] Add Dialogue Tag
[8] Creative Licence Taken – Give some better explanation for Mukouda’s worry over the fruits.
[9] White corn are sweeter – actually this is not true. Sweetness depends on the variety of the corn rather than colour. Just chalk it up as Mukouda believing in a perpetuated fruit myth
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/white-corn-vs-yellow-corn#what-is-corn
[10] Adjusted the sentence so that it flows in a more logical manner