Chapter 40

Yesterday, I thoroughly enjoyed fishing. I managed to catch one fish, barely saving face. Today is the second day of my vacation. Doing the same thing as yesterday would be boring... and if I don’t catch anything today, I won’t be able to recover. I want to avoid risks as much as possible. On the other hand, if I work during my hard-earned vacation, I’ll just be a workaholic. So, something that isn’t work but isn’t play either...

“I’m going to make a garden today.”

I had reassembled the hoe I had modified when building the room, and I was now at the spot outside the new room’s corridor, which would become a courtyard when more rooms were added.

“Okay.”

Rike, holding a sickle, responded.

“Yeah, that’s good, but why a garden?”

This was asked by Sermia, who was also holding a sickle.

“Right now, we rely on buying vegetables, but I want to be as self-sufficient as possible. Sermia brings back meat, and we can gather nuts and fruits near the lake, but vegetables are the only thing we can’t.”

I think wild varieties probably grow around here, but I believe there are other edible vegetables in this world. The carrots here are closer to the carrots I know rather than the early carrots. So, I think producing those would be a good plan. Also, if I can get my hands on some potatoes, I want to have a place ready to cultivate them. In the previous world, I think potatoes hadn’t spread to Europe by the Middle Ages, but in this world, there are no such divisions as Europe or South America (I know this roughly from the knowledge I have). So, while they aren’t relied on exclusively, they are cultivated alongside wheat and other crops. However, in this area, they don’t seem to be widely available, and the peasants seem to consume them all, so I don’t see them in the market. There might even be a rule that they only produce what they need for their own consumption.

I explained this to Rike and Sermia. Rike, impressed, said:

“I was thinking the same thing during dinner. Master, you know a lot, don’t you?”

“Yeah, Eizou knows a lot of things.”

Sermia said this, but the word “a lot” is unnecessary. No, it’s not entirely wrong, considering the knowledge from the previous world combined with the installed knowledge. I had a complicated look on my face, but I decided to start the work anyway.

Just preparing my own garden won’t violate my rule of “not working today.” It’s like tending to a borrowed garden on a day off in the previous world.

We started by cutting the grass in the courtyard with our sickles. The general models have more than enough sharpness. After cutting a decent amount, it was around noon, so we took a break. This much space should be enough.

“After lunch, let’s make hoes for Rike and Sermia too.”

“Is that okay?”

“Just something that can be used today, that’s all.”

“It should be sufficient.”

In the end, we ended up doing some blacksmithing, but since it’s for the house, I’ll consider it not work.

After finishing lunch, the three of us moved to the workshop. Sermia and Rike heated and shaped the sheet metal, and I did the finishing. When the fire was lit, Rike started heating the sheet metal. Once it was red-hot, Rike placed it on the anvil. Sermia then hammered it into a large square. At this point, even if there were some distortions, I could fix them. Once it reached a certain size, it was heated again, and Rike placed it on a different anvil. I took over and hammered it into its final shape and finish. The force applied was at a high-end level. While I was doing this, Rike and Sermia heated and stretched the next sheet of metal. Sermia hammered while I heated, and I hammered while Rike heated. The work progressed smoothly. Finally, I finished the blade of the second hoe, and the blacksmithing for the day was done. We selected some good wood from the leftovers from construction to make the handles. Now we had three hoes.

The work took about three hours. I could probably spend another 2-3 hours on the garden. However, after completing a task, it’s natural to feel a bit unmotivated. But the ladies seemed eager to try out the hoes they had helped make.

We returned to the garden and started tilling the soil. As I mentioned before, the soil in this forest is generally hard. However, I used the strength I received as a cheat, and Rike and Sermia used the power of the high-end hoes and their youth to turn the soil smoothly.

I once saw a TV program where three people fixed a neglected garden, grew vegetables, and cooked with them. This scene reminded me of that. However, thanks to the tools, the work progressed much faster. After three hours, we finished turning the soil. However, it was getting dark, and we had only turned the soil, so it didn’t feel like a proper garden yet. It was a bit unsatisfying, but this could be a good reason to look forward to the next vacation. ...I’ll need to take the next vacation sooner to prevent weeds from growing, but I’ll consider it a good reason to actively create more vacations.

Thus, my vacation ended, and work started again the next day. However, I didn’t feel the usual gloom of facing a Monday in the previous world. I think I really like this life in this world.