44-The crab and the monkey

"Grow ~ big ~ quickly~"

Gently water the saplings you just planted and talk to them out loud to help them grow better. Were the lemons of this world sweet or sour? When I remembered the refreshing acidity, I began to salivate.

The reason I planted the fruit trees on the opposite side of the field farther away from my house was to surprise Krish-san. Since you couldn't see this place from the road leading to my house, I thought it was the perfect place to secretly grow the fruit trees. Starting from the right, there was an apple, a pear, a peach, an orange, and a lemon tree in a row. But what I was looking forward to the most was planted next to the lemons on the far left. This tree was called "Kukuri" and was a fruit that didn't exist in my original world.

I heard that Kukuri produced small purple fruits with a very nice fragrance. I was told that they didn't appear in the market very often because they get damaged very fast after harvesting. It's a hard fruit to grow, and you didn't see many of them around here. But Genett found a rare seedling for sale at the market, and bought it for me.

Genett-san had only been able to eat Kukuri a few times, so he requested that I shared some fruit with him once it was ready to harvest. He said he wanted to share it with his family.

It's so delicious that Genett-san's eyes were sparkling with excitement in anticipation. I wondered if Krish-san had tried Kukuri before? He said that he had been to many different places while traveling, so perhaps he's eaten it before.

"Since it's so valuable, maybe I should start an observation diary?"

As I examined the leaves of the Kukuri sapling, Pochi was sniffing the sapling with interest.

Observation Diary: Day One

"Whoa, did it grow a little bit?"

Observation Diary: Day Three

"It's grown quite a bit. It's grown to the height of my chest. It looks like it's got more leaves."

Observation Diary: Day Six

"Ohh! It's exceeded my height, but it doesn't have any flowers yet."

Observation Diary: Day Ten

"Wait a minute, if it gets any bigger then..."

Observation Diary: Day Fourteen

"It's good for the tree to have flowers, but..."

On the fourteenth day after I started my observation diary, the fruit saplings all started to flower at once. As I flipped through the diary, I found that the rate of growth per page was unbelievable. This was caused by the "plant-based cheat" that I was blessed with, but it's not the best way to record plant growth. I recorded every single day, but if other people looked at my diary they would think that I was slacking off on my observation diary.

I wasn't very good at drawing, but for the sake of my observation diary I did my best and drew a picture of the tree growing each day. Even though it's only been fourteen days, the growth was tremendous; it couldn't even be used as a flip book.

The sapling I planted had grown very big. It had produced many flowers, and the air was filled with a sweet fragrance. I thought it was almost ready to bear fruit, but there was an unexpected problem.

"How am I supposed to harvest this?"

The saplings I had planted had grown up so well that there was no way for me to reach where the flowers were blossoming on the trees. That was to say, the truth of the matter was that when they do bear fruit I wouldn't be able to harvest any of the fruit. I was thinking of surprising Krish-san by making lemon honey, but I couldn't even harvest it by myself. Even the lowest branch was out of my reach, so climbing the tree was impossible. I had no confidence in my reflexes. I was nervous to climb up that high, and I was scared when I thought about falling from the tree.

"Hmm, I guess I'll have to get a ladder."

I had really forgotten. Everything in the world was bigger than those in my original world. When I was thinking about harvesting the fruits from the trees, I was picturing a TV program I had seen where they were picking cherries. The branches of the trees were closer to the ground, and even a woman could easily reach out and pick the fruit. So, I thought that if it were me, then it would be fine.

The other fruit trees were in the same situation, so I thought hard about how I would be able to harvest them. It reminded me of the folktale "The Crab and the Monkey," and I felt like I was the crab, not being able to reach the fruit I grew. I wish a monkey with a good personality would come along and help me harvest.

The next day, when Genett-san came to pick up vegetables I consulted with him about how I should go about harvesting the fruit.

"Genett-san, do you have any good ideas?"

"It's amazing how much they've grown. Shinobu's 'plant-based cheat' is really a big deal."

The two of us looked up at the large Kukuri tree and groaned. The base of the flowers were starting to swell with new fruits; at this rate it might be ready to harvest the day after tomorrow.

"Looks like I will need to climb a ladder after all." I sighed.

"But if you do that every time won't that be difficult? If you work alone that will be dangerous. If you fall from such a high place you won't just get bruises," Gennet-san told me.

"Yeah, I know."

The two of us folded our arms and said, "Hmm" at the same time. I didn't think that this would happen when I had planted the saplings.

"By the way, are you going to sell this fruit to Couge's store?" Gennet-san asked me.

"Huh? Oh, I didn't think about doing that because I planned on having the fruit at home."

"If you aren't going to sell the fruit, then it's okay if it has a few scratches, right? How about setting up a net? We can tie the net to the branches, and then when the fruit ripens and naturally falls you can grab it without having to do the dangerous work with the ladder."

"That's really good!!"

As expected of Gennet-san. Sure enough, consulting with Gennet-san was a good idea. I wouldn't have been able to come up with this idea myself.

"We'll need some help setting up the net. I'll talk to Couge about it."

"Well, can I ask you a favor? Also, I'd like to order some more of that liquor you bought me before," I said. "The kind that smells sweet."

"Ahh, I got it. I'll bring you some next time I see you."

The liquor was for Krish-san. There were two types of liquor I had bought from Gennet-san before: One was a light brown color like whiskey and the other was a sweet smelling pink-orange colored liquor. It seemed that Krish-san preferred the sweeter kind more.

Although the alcohol smelled sweet, it didn't taste sweet at all. It seemed to be a liquor where you enjoyed the fragrance as you drank it.

I only drank one cup every day with dinner, but I was running low, so I thought I'd get some more.

Krish-san, would you be pleased?

Gennet-san delivered my message to Couge and returned with his reply. Three days from now he would come over in the morning to help since his restaurant would be closed that day. When Couge heard that he could harvest the Kukuri fruit, his eyes lit up. He told me that if I could harvest a lot of fruit, he would like to serve them as a dessert at the restaurant, and I gave him my OK.

The lemon tree I planted for Krish-san was also doing well, and green fruits were coming out. As I watered the tree, I told it to soak up the beautiful sunshine and water to grow delicious fruits.

The vegetables from the farm were finally ready to be sold to Couge's store. I'd been working on it while taking breaks, so the amount was still small. It seemed that the regulars at the store had been waiting for my vegetables, and they were happy that they could eat them again.

Couge told his customers about the bandit attack on my house and they were very worried about me. Did you remember the bearded man who helped Couge keep his store open? He was the first customer that Couge, Norn, and I welcomed.

The bearded man had continued to come to the store, and now at lunch at the store once every three days. He told Couge that the vegetables served at the store tasted different from usual, and he asked Couge if something was wrong with Shinobu.

Couge once told me that the vegetables I grew were exceptionally delicious, but I thought he was flattering me. When I think that there are people waiting for my vegetables, I put a lot of effort into my work and end up losing track of time. But if I overdid it, Krish-san would see right through me and scold me. I wondered how he could tell?

"The fields seem to be doing well."

"Yeah, thanks to Krish-san helping me every morning."

"No, I've only been able to help by fetching water. It's only because of Shinobu's hard work that you were able to restore the fields so soon. In fact, I'm sorry for making you do the laundry and prepare the meals."

"It's okay. I'm doing it because I like doing chores."

This was really true! Washing Krish-san's shirts and cooking dinner was really fun. When Krish-san smiled, when he wore his clean, wrinkle-free shirt, and when he asked for another bowl of rice I rose my arms in triumph and yelled, "Yosh," in my heart.

Lately, it's become natural for us to be together, or rather, we'd gotten used to each other's presence. For example, my timing for grabbing the plates from Krish-san when he washed the dishes had become perfect.

"I'm going to have a day off in a little while. When that day comes, I'll help you with whatever you aren't able to do, so just let me know if there's anything you need me to do," Krish-san told me.

"Yes, thanks for offering to help me."

Krish-san took a bite of a thumb-sized bean on a small plate. These beans, which were also in the kakiage donburi we had for dinner this evening, were delicious boiled and sprinkled with salt. I had prepared it as a snack for drinks, and it seemed like he enjoyed it.

These beans were the first thing I planted when I reopened the farm. The seeds had been in the barn for a while, but they were bigger than I knew, so I didn't recognize them and left them there. But one of the young knights had a background as a farmer, and after talking to him, I realized that these beans were most likely fava beans.

Fava beans were so delicious and crunchy. I was looking forward to planting them and getting to eat them, and it seemed like it was a good decision. It's nice to learn what Krish-san liked and didn't like each time I brought something new to the table like this.

"What, you're interested in alcohol too, Shinobu?"

I was staring at him so much that Krish-san misunderstood me and thought I was interested in drinking the alcohol. The sweet smell made it seem like it would be very delicious, and I wondered what it would taste like. But I was more interested in you, Krish-san, than in alcohol. I was just too embarrassed to tell you.

"Would you like to drink some?" Krish-san pushed the cup he was drinking from towards me. In my original world, you had to be 20 years old before you could drink. But in this world, I was old enough to be an adult, so I thought I should be fine to take a sip. I hadn't had a drink since I sipped my grandpa's sake as a prank. If my grandpa were here right now, would my grandpa be mad at me for drinking some now?

With that in mind, the beautiful color and sweet smell lured me to pull the cup closer and put my nose near it. If you just smelled it, you would think that it was juice. However, when you drank the alcohol, it didn't taste sweet at all. I wondered how it could smell sweet, but not taste how it smelled?

I took a small sip, making the excuse that it was just a little bit to try out the taste. "It's really not sweet, that's weird."

Contrary to the smell, the liquor was slightly bitter. Was this what people call "an adult taste?" I guess I still didn't understand the taste of alcohol. But it didn't burn my throat like I had imagined it would, so I took another sip, a bit more this time.

The good smell went through my nose, and a few seconds after I swallowed it with fascination, the back of my throat and stomach area feeling hot. When I came to my senses, it was morning, and I was asleep, hugging Krish-san tightly.

"How are you feeling? Do you have a headache or feel sick?" he asked.

"No, I'm fine. I feel a little heavy, though." But I don't remember anything from the time I drank to the time I woke up. "Krish-san, did I say or do anything strange?"

"... No, nothing."

What, what was that pause?

Krish-san flinched and averted his gaze. I was pretty sure I did something. "Eh, Krish-san, are you sure?"

"Yeah. You fell asleep right after drinking. That's all."

I was convinced by Krish's terse answer to my question. I... I had done something that he was afraid to talk about.

When I heard the word "drunk," what came to mind was either a businessman with a tie wrapped around his head scooping up loaches or a young man who repeatedly behaved strangely, taking off his clothes, shouting and rioting, as seen on that TV program that closely followed the police.

No way, no way, did I do something similar to that?

"Krish-san, um..."

"It's good if you don't feel bad. Now let's go get some water."

"Yes..."

I couldn't ask Krish-san any more questions, who was trying his best to divert the conversation. I really wondered what I had done?

I wanted to know, but I also didn't want to know.

Translated by FrankenWife

The chapter should have been out earlier, but I (Sleepchaser) was too unwell to post it for her. Sorry for the inconvenience!