Chapter 12

The next morning, Ichirou was led by Barretta and the village chief to a field where sweet potatoes had survived.

Even amidst the drought, the sweet potatoes, thanks to the villagers' efforts, had managed to survive, their green leaves spread out as much as they could, and their vines were stretching out, looking quite healthy.

"Wow, they all look so green and healthy."

"Yes, it's thanks to the irrigation canals. We can give them plenty of water, so they don't succumb to the drought."

While Ichirou and the others were looking at the field, the villagers who had come to tend to it greeted Ichirou and the others, pulling weeds from between the sweet potato leaves and fetching water from the reservoir.

The irrigation canal leading to the reservoir from the field was dry, so the reservoir must be full of water. From the way many villagers were taking turns coming, it seemed that the whole village was working together to tend to the field.

"How big will these sweet potatoes be when it's time to harvest them?"

"Well, they usually grow to about this size. About five per plant."

As Barretta said this, she made a small circle with her hand. The circle was about the size of an M-sized chicken egg sold in Japanese supermarkets, indicating that the sweet potatoes would be quite small. Even if one plant produces five, it still feels a bit insufficient.

"What kind of fertilizer are you using?"

"Um... what's fertilizer?"

"..."

What could she mean? Ichirou was momentarily taken aback by Barretta's puzzled expression but then realized that the term might be different in this world.

"Well, it's something you mix into the soil to give nutrients to the crops. Haven't you spread anything on the field?"

"Oh, you mean the harvest spell. We pray to the gods for a good harvest, and after planting the seeds, we crush the bones of kafuk, which we hunt in the mountains, and spread them on the field."

"...Do you spread anything else?"

"Um... nothing else... Wait, maybe the gods prefer meat instead of bones? We've been spreading crushed bones as a tradition, but maybe the gods like... meat... better?"

It seems that the concept of fertilizer doesn't exist in this village. They do spread something that acts like fertilizer, but the purpose isn't to nourish the soil, so they probably don't use much. And asking about the gods' preferences is a bit tricky.

"Let's put aside whether the gods prefer bones or meat. To make the crops healthy, we need to make the soil healthy first."

"The soil?"

Barretta tilted her head at Ichirou's words. She probably thought that crops grow thanks to the gods' blessings or favors.

"Yes, to do that, we mix the soil with humus from the forest—like decomposed leaves—and leftover food, which we let decompose and then mix into the field soil."

"Um... won't the gods be angry if we mix such decomposed things into the field?"

Barretta asked with a puzzled expression, likely thinking that mixing things into the field is a way of offering them to the gods.

"Ah, it's fine. The gods will be happy, and the soil will become healthy. The gods use these things to make the field soil healthy."

Barretta and the village chief nodded in understanding at Ichirou's words. They couldn't quite shake the idea that crops grow thanks to the gods, but if they thought the gods were using humus to bless the field, they could accept it.

"So, we need to go to the forest and collect humus..."

"Understood. I'll gather the villagers, and we'll all go to collect this humus."

The village chief said this and called out to the nearby villagers working in the field. The called villagers stopped their work, received instructions from the chief, and ran off to call others.

"Then, I'll go call the others. Barretta, can you get the wheelbarrow?"

"Sure."

"Ah, I'll go with you."

Thus, a large-scale humus collection involving many villagers was set in motion.

About 20 minutes later, Ichirou was digging up the soil near the forest entrance with a shovel, while the gathered villagers watched him expectantly. When he picked up the dug-up soil, it was slightly dry but looked like ordinary humus.

"This is humus. Collect a lot of this and mix it into the field soil. The gods will use the humus to make the field soil healthy."

Ichirou said this and showed the humus to the gathered people. The people who saw the humus exclaimed in understanding:

"That's it."

"If Kazura-sama says so, it must be true."

"Then, let's all dig up the humus and load it onto the wheelbarrows. We'll use about one wheelbarrow per field for now."

Following Ichirou's instructions, the villagers started digging up the soil with their shovels. The forest soil, layered with years of fallen leaves, was soft, and it seemed easy to collect the humus by just turning over the top layer.

"Hey, Barretta, can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Ah, yes. What's the matter?"

Barretta, who was digging up humus next to Ichirou, stopped her work at his call.

"I'm going back to my country to get more wheelbarrows and fertilizer for the field. I'd like to ask you and Barin to give instructions while I'm gone."

"Ah, yes. I'll tell my father too."

"Thank you."

Ichirou said this and left the forest to return to Japan.

"Hey, Colt, this is bad. Everyone told us not to follow him..."

"It's fine. Besides, he won't notice us from this distance."

About 50 meters behind Ichirou, who was walking through the woods to return to Japan, two children were following him, hiding behind the trees. The two children, around 5-6 years old, were Colt, a boy with curious eyes, and a timid girl who was trying to stop him by pulling on his clothes.

"But, if Kazura-sama notices..."

"It's fine... Ah, he's entering the woods!"

Seeing Ichirou enter the woods, Colt hurried to follow him. The girl hesitated for a moment but quickly ran after him.

"Huh? He's gone..."

When Colt reached the woods where Ichirou had just entered, he couldn't see Ichirou anywhere. The woods weren't that dense, and it was strange that he couldn't see Ichirou, who had just walked in.

"See, Kazura-sama must be a god. If he wasn't, we wouldn't have lost him."

The girl, who had followed Colt, said this with relief, looking at the puzzled Colt. Although Colt was a bit skeptical, it was true that Ichirou had disappeared.

"But, he just looked like a normal guy to me... What do you think, Mira?"

"Come on, are you still saying that? Let's go back to the others quickly."

Mira, the girl, took Colt's hand and pulled him back to where the villagers were collecting humus.

Meanwhile, Ichirou, who was completely unaware of being followed, reached the stone-paved path through the woods as usual. He passed the white skeleton lying in the corner of the path, saying, "Thank you every time," and crossed the threshold to Japan.

"Well, let's go to the home center again. It seems like I might have a big customer soon."

Ichirou got into his car and drove to the home center where he had bought farming tools last time. The Japanese scenery he saw on the way was different from the other world he had just left, with vegetable fields sprawling everywhere. After driving for a few minutes, Ichirou arrived at the home center and headed to the gardening section outside the store, stopping in front of a pile of fertilizer bags.

"Hmm, there are so many types. Which one should I buy?"

Faced with various types of fertilizer, Ichirou crossed his arms and pondered. He read the descriptions on the bags and muttered to himself:

"It would be nice if there was fertilizer labeled for otherworldly crops... Is this the right one for sweet potatoes?"

While Ichirou was wandering around, a store employee approached him.

"Excuse me, are you looking for something?"

"Yes, I'm looking for fertilizer for sweet potatoes. Which one is good?"

"Oh, this one is good. It's a bit smelly, though."

The employee led Ichirou to a bag labeled "chicken manure." It had a unique smell, but the description said it could be used for sweet potatoes.

"Are you using the fertilizer for potatoes?"

"Um... I guess so."

The sweet potatoes he had eaten in the village last time tasted a bit different from potatoes, but since they were both sweet potatoes, he decided there wasn't much difference.

"Then, in addition to chicken manure, you should also use this. And..."

"Hmm... Then, I'll buy all the fertilizers you recommended."

After listening to the employee's explanation about growing potatoes, Ichirou decided to buy all the recommended fertilizers.

"Ah, thank you. One bag of each, please?"

"No, I'll take all of them. All the bags here."

"..."

The employee, who had been asked to bring all the items, was momentarily stunned, but then said:

"Please, wait a moment."

The employee ran into the store. After about a minute, the employee returned with another employee wearing a name tag that read "Manager."

"Sir, I heard you want to buy all the fertilizer..."

"Yes, all of it. And I also need a few foldable wheelbarrows. Where are they?"

"Um, all of it... Just the chicken manure alone is about 400 kg... For potatoes, 30 kg per 100 square meters is enough."

At the employee's words, Ichirou muttered, "Ah, 400 kg."

The manager, seeing Ichirou's reaction, thought he might have misunderstood the amount needed, but his assumption was quickly proven wrong.

"Can I borrow the store's truck? And I'd appreciate it if you could help me load it."

The manager, taken aback by Ichirou's request, realized he was serious. The manager instructed the employee standing nearby to calculate the total cost of the fertilizers and led Ichirou to the section where the wheelbarrows were sold.