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Minasan Oidemasu! This is Yukkuri demasu!
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Author:
すずの木くろ (Susunokikuro)
Translator:
Yukkuri Oniisan
Editor, Proofreader:
TheDefend
Chapter 83: Mass Consumer
Kazura ate the lunch leisurely for about 1 hour andafter putting the dishes away, he and Valetta went together towards theresidence garden.
In front of both of them, there were numerous herbs growingfrom the seed they planted before on the ground.
Next to them, was the lemongrass and peppermint thatKazura bought as seedlings and then numerous herbs that were planted in thepot.
The agricultural tractor that Kazura had driven herewas parked at the corner of the garden.
「They have become bigger, but as expected, their growth rate is slower than whatis written in the book.」(V)
Valetta said so as she squatted down and looked at theherbs.
Kazura also squatted down and try to take a look atthe herb, but sure enough, it seemed to be not that big.
However, they didn’t look to be diseased, it wasindeed a bit frail, but the leaves were healthy green.
「Even when they didn’t get any disease, their growth rate is slow, wonderwhat does this mean…… The Peppermint seems to be a bit bigger though.」(K)
Comparing the herbs growing on the ground and theherbs planted in the pot, the peppermint that grew in the pot had faster growthrate, even if it was just a little bit.
Since the pots with the peppermint were given fertilizer,this difference in growth rate was without a doubt came from the presence offertilizer.
However, the peppermint growth rate was relatively slowerthan the growth rate of a normal seedling.
「I thought that perhaps the problem lies in the fertilizer, but the growthrate is still slow even though it had been given fertilizer, so I don’t reallyknow why…… The herbs that are planted in the pot and given fertilizer are alsohave a slow growth rate.」(V)
「When you observe the herbs daily, did you noticed something?」(K)
「Something…… Hmm.」(V)
At Kazura’s question, Valetta put her hand over hermouth and start thinking.
「Nothing at all…… I watered them frequently, I pulled out the weed when Inoticed them growing around…… I didn’t find anything particularly strange.」(V)
「Hmm, is that so…… No, wait a minute.」(K)
「Ah, do you realize something?」(V)
Kazura made an expression as if he realized something,so Valetta turned her gaze, filled with expectation towards him.
「I want you to tell me, how big is the weed that grows in the peppermintpot?」(K)
「The weed? Since I pulled them out as soon as the sprout out, they weren’tthat big. About 1 centimeter.」(V)
「Did it always look like that recently?」(K)
「Yes, it never change.」(V)
At Valetta’s reply, Kazura focused at the peppermintinside the flower pot, crossing his arms as he thinking.
After several seconds of silence, he turned back atValetta as if he had settled his thoughts.
「…… Perhaps, there is almost no nutrient left inside this pot? If there are nutrientsthen the weed will become big quickly, so it seems that the nutrients have beencompletely exhausted.」(K)
「Eh? But, it can’t be……」(V)
The conjecture that Kazura thought up sounds crazy, thenutrient from the fertilizer put into the pot had been absorbed by weed, so thenutrient inside the pot had been completely exhausted.
Valetta opened her eyes wide from surprise, but whenshe quickly fix her expression and thought about it before speaking.
「But that won’t explain the growth of the vegetables in the field. The weed shouldhave been sprout out in great number every day, so before the nutrient went tothe vegetables that were planted individually, it should have been taken by theweed that grows in its surrounding.」(V)
「That might be true, but didn’t everyone in the village immediately pulledthe weed out as soon as it sprouts? If you pulled it out immediately then theweed’s root will still be shallow so the deep soil that had been mixed with thefertilizer’s nutrient will still untouched. Since the vegetables still growingtheir roots, then just as they reached the untapped fertilizer and took up thelarge amount of nutrient, they grow immediately. Or so I thought.」(K)
As far as Kazura know, the villagers went to the fieldeveryday and pulled absolutely every weed that grows around the vegetables withtheir hand and then stirs the ground with triangle weeding hoe.[1]
Kazura often helped when living in the village, so heknew how thorough the weed removal is.
The pulled out weed would be left on the groundsurface, where it will dry up under the strong sunlight.
「B-but, that might be the reason why the herb planted from seed had slowgrowth rate, however, it won’t be the reason why the peppermint seedling hadslow growth rate. Since I pulled out the weed every day, there should be nutrientleft in the pot.」(V)
「Yes. That might be true, ever since Valetta-san returned to the village.But, during your absence from the residence when you went to Isteria, only thevillagers who were asked to take care of the herbs, knew about the potsituation, right?」(K)
「…… Ah.」(V)
When Kazura pointed this out, Valetta made a surprisedexpression.
「Furthermore, you watering the pot everyday so the soil is always wet,right? If the soil is wet then when the shallow rooted weed absorbed the water,the nutrient at the bottom of the pot get absorbed too. That’s why, the smallremaining nutrient left in the pot had been absorbed by the weed, so this pot doesn’thave nutrient anymore. The vegetable field also watered, but the wateringfrequency and the blazing sun prevented the field’s soil from being constantlywet. More importantly, the vegetables are growing fast and so defeated the weedin the competition for nutrient.」(K)
「Eh…… Then that means the plants of this world……This is, this is no matterhow you put on it, it is absurd……」(V)
「Ah no, this is only a conjecture after all. It doesn’t mean that this isthe truth……」(K)
Valetta eyes were looking at the weed that was growingin the garden as if they were a frightening thing.
If Kazura’s conjecture was correct, then the plant ofthis world would absorb absolutely every nutrient that its root could reach andit growth could continue without limit as long as the nutrient last.
Of course, depending on the plant there might be alimit on the growth, but based on how the village’s vegetables looks like, itwouldn’t be strange to think that they could become even bigger.
Furthermore, Kazura already confirmed that he couldn’tobtain any nutrient from eating the abnormally quick growing vegetable, so evenwhen the vegetable became bigger, there was still little nutrient in it forsome reason.
The nutrient inside the Japanese fertilizer might beused up only for the vegetable huge growth, so it resulted in a strangesituation where the nutritional value of the vegetable itself didn’t change atall.
Perhaps, if these vegetables died and returned to thesoil, those nutritions didn’t return into the soil at all.
If this cycle repeats, then as the result, the soil ofthis world might end up with almost no nutrients.
In that case, it was understandable why the concept offertilizer was unknown in this world.
Since it had hardly any nutrient from the beginning, theconcept of fertilizer never arises.
However, this was still no more than Kazura’sconjecture.
Unless Japanese experts investigate this world’splants, the truth might still be unknown.
「……Then, so that no weed seed could enter the peppermint pot next time, let’stry to put it inside the house. If Kazura-san’s conjecture is correct then ifwe give it new fertilizer then this peppermint should grow just like whatwritten in the book.」(V)
「Yes, there is no other way to confirm it but this, right?」(K)
Kazura nodded to Valetta’s proposal, then he stood upand stretched his back.
「Now then, I will return to Japan once more. Since I will buy a lot ofbooks, please look forward to it.」(K)
Kazura said while smiling, so Valetta also stood upand smiled.
「Fufu, then I will look forward to it. Will you return at dinner time?」(V)
「Yes, I will return around that time. Then, if it possible, I want to eatValetta-san’s omelette again……」(K)
Kazura spoke embarrassedly. Valetta blinked her eyesin surprise for a moment but then she immediately made an honest delightedsmile towards Kazura.
「Yes! Just wait, I’ll make one which is extremely delicious, so come backquickly, okay?」(V)
「Roger that. Then I will finish this quickly and return.」(K)
After Kazura said this, he boarded the agriculturaltractor in the corner of the garden and started the engine.
As the engine was started, a roaring loud noise filledthe surrounding.
At the sudden noise, the Rootcut Birds inside thefence at the back of the residence was raising a cry and flapping their wingout of surprise.
Then, the tractor in the residence grounds beganmoving.
「Then, I’m off…… Perhaps I ought to park this somewhere else next time.」(K)
Kazura said his farewell and then drove the tractortowards the stone-paved corridor that leads to Japan.
Valetta saw Kazura off, turned around to enter theresidence and then she stopped.
Then, she looked at the weed growing near her feet andthen at the herbs that were growing in the garden.
「……」(V)
Perhaps there was something on her mind, but Valettakept looking at the herbs.
On her eyes, just for a while, there was a sadnessfloating by.
✦✧✦✧✦
One hour later.
Kazura, who returned to Japan, arrived at a largebookstore in the city.
Inside the shop there were several hundred thousandbooks lined up on the shelves, the genre collection was also very plentiful.
For someone who buys a lot of books, the shop had preparedshopping carts.
So accordingly, Kazura was strolling in the shop rightnow while pushing one.
The location that Kazura headed first was the historybook corner, mainly the shelves that cover European history book.
At its left were the shelves for Japanese history bookand they had regional history too.
Behind Kazura was the flat stand that displayed alarge amount of stacked light novels, there was a board where 『This Month New Release!』 written on it beside thestand.
The board also pasted with poster promoting the lightnovel, with an illustration of a kind-hearted looking young man and a blond beautiful girl, sat back to back.[2]
「Hmm, I wonder what kind of history book that I should buy? …… PerhapsEurope BC Era? Or Ancient Rome?」(K)
He reached out to the history shelf related to AncientRome that he saw by chance and then try to skim the pages.
That book depicted the daily life of Ancient Romans,the technologies they employed and mundane tools that they use in an easy tounderstand manner.
「Oh, so the Ancient Romans lead such kind of life.」(K)
After reading while standing for a moment, he put thebook into the cart.
Afterward, he skimmed several books about Ancient Romeand then put them into the cart one after another.
The technology and tools that were used in AncientRome seemed to be relatively more advanced than the ones used in the otherworld, but the variety of the books related to Ancient Rome history was so muchand complete.
Since only Valetta who will read this book, he didn’t payany special attention to matter like it might advance the technology of thatworld, et cetera.
About people daily life and clothes, since it hadconsiderable similarity to the other world, it might satisfy Valetta’s thirstfor knowledge to some degree.
For the military related book, he purchased the militarystrategy history that centered around Ancient Rome.
Historical important war and battle, how the battle progressedor why the battle happened and its background were described using an easy tounderstand illustration.
Also, on the Japanese regional history at the nearbyshelf, he put several books that explain the history of the region nearby his homein Saitama into the cart.
After that, Kazura walked around the shelves fortechnical books and put technical books related to metal smelting, agriculture,surgery, nursing, and others into the cart.
Several of the books inside the cart have secondcopies, since it was for his own use in case it was needed at Isteria
Since only technical books might not be thatenjoyable, at the hobbies corner, he put cooking magazines, room designmagazine and various other magazines that have lots of photos into the cart.
Some time ago, Valetta seemed to enjoy reading thebook with photos,「How to start a popular Café」, so she will surely bepleased with these magazines.
「…… How should I say this, it ended up as an amazingly chaotic selection ofbooks. I wonder how much these will be?」(K)
The content of the books that he had put into the cartone after another, had become a chaotic mess with zero uniformity.
To see a military strategy history placed atop a booktitled, 「How to make a delicious herb-tea」 was truly surreal.
To pay for the cost, Kazura pushed the heavy cart towardsthe register.
☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽
YES. All the plantsin this world are just a greedy selfish parasite. Even the people too are justa greedy selfish parasite, suckling our naïve MC softhearted nature to death……
Yes Valetta… You arethat WEED!
Also, next chapter:Kazura Shopping like a Boss.
[1]Stirringthe soil with the weeding hoe was to destroy the shallow root of the weed.Since the crops usually have deeper root system, it will destroy the weed,after all: No Root No Life. “rm -rf /” is deadly…
[2] (ED: Look at thevolume 1 of the LN cover, blatant advertising lol)