kscans

Chapter 160 - The Letter

"...Well, I have put off the main business, but I came today for no other reason than this. A letter arrived from Adon."

"Is it about the Great Market?"

"Yes. It seems he will arrive at the village in about three days. I am also holding a letter for you, Yuri-kun."

"I’ll take a look."

Adon’s letter stated that he wanted to unveil the pencils and Magic Stone Tools at the Great Market in the spring, and asked Yuri to come to Laurenzen beforehand. Yuri had already promised Adon this when he left Laurenzen, and they had exchanged several letters since then to make arrangements, so Yuri had no objections.

"And also… Yuri-kun, before you go to Laurenzen, I would like you to meet with the lord…"

Old Man Audel was asking Yuri to make a small detour to Darrens on the way to Laurenzen to meet the local lord, Baron Darren. In any case, Yuri had already agreed to meet the lord when he returned to the village last year. Yuri had no objections, but…

"If I just show up, will he really agree to see me so easily?"

"As soon as we return to the village, I will send a messenger to the magistrate in Han. If he sends a letter from there, it should arrive well before we do. If by some chance we go and the lord’s schedule is inconvenient, we can just reschedule… though I do not know when the next time will be."

In short, the old man's stance seemed to be that they would be at fault if they did not request a meeting on this occasion, but if the lord could not conveniently arrange it, that was his reason, and they would have no cause to be blamed. In this world, the relationship between a lord and his people seemed to be surprisingly businesslike.

"Well, the lord seemed to be quite helped by your suggestions, Yuri-kun, so I doubt you will be treated poorly."

"Is that so?"

"It is. Due to the recent food shortages and poor harvests, it seems that in other territories, some people are abandoning their villages or starving to death. But thanks to the leaching method you taught us, no such damage has occurred, not only in our village but in others as well."

According to Old Man Audel, the lord, Baron Darren, was amazed by the series of knowledge Yuri had taught and, on the condition of returning a portion of the taxes collected, dispatched several of his people to other villages to provide technical guidance. The people of the other villages, who had heard that they would be eating the nuts of the supposedly poisonous Dag and Shika trees, were hesitant at first, but when they tasted the starch that was actually produced, they all changed their minds completely. Since they had not yet secured a sufficient amount of Soya Beans, they decided to keep them in End Village, but they had already begun to use the leguminous plants that perform aerial nitrogen fixation as green manure.

Incidentally, this weed resembled a member of the alfalfa family from Earth, but here it was treated as a useless weed and apparently had no local name. However, the name "umagoyashi" that Yuri had let slip was translated into the local language and seemed to have stuck as its name. Therefore, to Yuri's ears, this plant was translated and heard as "Umagoyashi."

"...We won’t know if the soil fertility is really recovering until a little more time has passed, you know?"

"...Or rather, it seems the goats and horses are fighting over it… so there are voices saying that its effect as a green manure can no longer be expected. ...Though it seems to be an undeniably excellent pasture grass…"

"Wow…"

"In some villages, they collected seeds in the fall. They said they would try growing it inside an enclosure."

"...It’s a weed, isn’t it?"

"Well, all crops were once weeds if you trace them back. I suppose things like this can happen."

Incidentally, this Alfalfa Mimic grew in relative abundance around the village. It originally preferred sunny places, but near the village, the farmers periodically cut the grass and trees, so tall grasses did not flourish, creating a sunny environment for the Alfalfa Mimic. In addition to that, since the villagers did not let wild beasts or magical beasts near the village, and kept livestock like horses inside fences to protect them, it had flourished, spared from being eaten by herbivores. But now, it seemed its usefulness had finally been discovered.

"We only keep goats in our village, and there aren’t many of them, so we’re managing… but it seems to be a big deal in villages that keep horses and such."

"If horses like it that much, maybe someone is growing it as pasture somewhere."

"Hmm… that’s not an impossible story. ...Maybe I’ll look for some at the Great Market."