Chapter 10

A wife is something to be caught.

And so, the wife I caught, Plat, the mermaid.

Well, to be honest, she’s more like a live-in wife, but how will my life change with her around?

First, I asked her a few questions, and it turns out she’s an expert at making potions.

“Potion magic is an original magic of the mermaid race!”

That’s what she says.

Plat took off her pants, revealing her lower half, and transformed back into her mermaid form. She went into the sea, and for a couple of days, there was no sign of her. When she returned to land, she had brought various alchemy tools.

“I brought them from home. They feel like wedding gifts!”

Flasks, test tubes, mortars, and pestles. Things I hadn’t seen since my school days, long forgotten, were now lined up before me.

It seems that alchemy tools are not much different even in another world.

“By combining various herbs and fruits with magic power, you can create potions. These completed potions have various effects and can be used even by those without magic power, making them highly valued!”

“I see.”

However, it’s a relief to have access to potions.

In the future, I might get sick, and it’s bound to happen eventually.

I did buy some potions from the capital, but they will eventually run out. Being able to make them as needed is reassuring.

“Oh, it’s a shame to think of my potions as just that!”

“What do you mean?”

“Anything.”

Plat’s vague answer is hard to understand.

“There’s nothing my potions can’t do. Just tell me what you want, and I’ll grant your wish immediately!”

Her confident declaration made me want to test her skills.

“Hmm…!”

I thought about it.

What concerns me the most right now is the vegetables in the field.

If these little ones, which I have nurtured, can grow healthily and bear fruit as soon as possible, I would be very happy.

I’ve heard that there are nutrients to maintain the health of plants and medicines to combat plant-specific diseases.

Can Plat make such potions? I asked her somewhat provocatively…

“I can do it!!”

She replied in a rough tone for some reason.

“Basically, you want to make the crops in this field grow and bear delicious fruit. In that case, the best thing is the fish fertilizer called B-Nishin G.”

“B-Nishin G? Fish fertilizer?”

“Just wait a moment.”

Plat took off her pants again, revealing her cute bottom, and dove into the sea.

She seems to transform into a mermaid while swimming.

Is she in such a hurry?

This time, she returned even faster than when she went to get the alchemy tools.

It took about an hour.

But what she brought back was a surprise.

It was an incredibly large fish.

“This is B-Nishin G!”

The length from its nose to its tail was longer than an adult male.

At first, I thought it was a shark and was extremely scared, but it seems to be different. Although it’s huge, upon closer inspection, it looks like a blue fish you might see at a fish market.

Or rather…

“Herring?”

“B-Nishin G!”

After hearing a detailed explanation from Plat, it turns out that this fish is classified as a fish-type monster.

She caught it and immediately chopped off its head with a hand strike.

Scary.

It seems to be a kind of magic, and Plat efficiently cut up the giant fish, chopped it into pieces, and threw it into a large pot.

The large pot she brought back with the alchemy tools looks like something a witch would use to make potions.

Well, it probably is.

She boiled it, bubbling and bubbling, and during this time, Plat muttered something that sounded like a spell.

When the boiled fish meat was scooped up, she squeezed it with some kind of device.

A squeezer?

Did I have one of those before?

“It’s done! This is the magic fish fertilizer B-Nishin G!”

“Is the squeezed residue the fertilizer? Not the juice?”

I remember hearing about this in the previous world.

In the old days, before chemical fertilizers were developed, people used fish to make fertilizer.

It was quite effective and cost-efficient, and some people who specialized in this business even built mansions because of its success.

“I’ll dry this, crush it finely… and spread it in the field!”

This process will probably take a few days, but Plat used some kind of magic to complete it instantly.

“With this, your field will be fine! The crops will grow faster!”

That’s reassuring.

Looking forward to the harvest is a common trait of a cultivator.

Since it took quite a while to make the fish fertilizer, I decided to end today’s work and rest.

I had dinner with Plat, eating seaweed and shellfish we had set aside, and we slept together in the same small hut.

Well, as a married couple, it’s natural, but living in a makeshift hut with two people is a bit challenging.

A man can sleep on a blanket on the floor without any problems, but I can’t make a girl do that.

I need to either renovate the hut or build a new house… but thinking about it, have I already accepted living with Plat?

And sleeping next to a girl under the same roof… my rationality is about to collapse.

It did.

* * *

The next morning.

When I checked the field, the crops were already bearing fruit.

Each branch and ear was filled with abundant fruit, reaching the final stage of growth.

“They really grew so fast!?”

And at a speed beyond my imagination!

They’re almost ready for harvest!

Before I fertilized them, they were still in the middle of growing!

This fertilizer is too effective!

“That’s what I said, didn’t I? My potions are useful.”

Plat, who woke up after me, puffed out her chest proudly.