kscans

Chapter 20 - I Want to Eat Wheat, The Harvest

The naked barley was about ready to eat, so I decided to go around the fields and harvest it. I planned to let a few of them ripen completely for seed, but even without those, it looked like I would get a larger yield than I first thought. The fields were spread out all over the village, and the plants were scattered with one stalk here and two stalks there, so I had initially underestimated the amount growing. But after taking another look around the village, I found that they were growing in more places than I had expected. So I changed my plans and decided to consume most of it as food, leaving only a portion for seed.

I couldn't stand the thought of the little birds eating the nicely ripened barley, so after some negotiations, we reached an agreement. They wouldn't eat what had grown this year. In exchange, I would provide them with old grain that was probably meant for seed, which was actually a larger amount. Also, I would sow some of the newly obtained seeds in an open space outside the village and let them multiply. That part would be the birds' share. The Language (Mastery) I got from the god was proving useful in unexpected ways, even before any negotiations with humans.

And so, for the naked barley harvest...

"I guess I have no choice but to cut it down steadily with a sickle..."

There was a reason Yuri looked a little disappointed. He had been thinking of using the Wind Magic he had just received to cut it all down at once. But unfortunately, the barley was growing sparsely here and there, so it wasn't possible to harvest it all in one fell swoop. Even if he had, the effort of gathering the scattered ears would have remained the same. And so, he had no choice but to harvest it steadily with a sickle.

Yuri steeled himself and began cutting them down one stalk at a time, but this was surprisingly hard labor. Even though his stats were higher than average, Yuri was still seven years old. He couldn't do anything about the size of his hands. The number of stalks he could grasp in his small hands was far fewer than an adult's. On top of that, the naked barley here had an unusually large number of tillers, and the size of each plant was clearly larger. As a result, it took him nearly twice as long as an adult, and probably even longer considering his inexperience, to cut a single plant. After bundling a plant's worth, he would put it away in his Storage each time. In this way, he went around the fields scattered throughout the village, took a break for lunch, and by the time he finished harvesting the naked barley, the sun was already beginning to set.

Normally, this is where you would do 'hazakake' and dry the cut wheat on racks. But Yuri wanted to save time and also wanted to see to what extent magic could be used in farming, so he tried drying it by activating Water Magic, Wind Magic, and just in case, for sterilization purposes, Light Magic.

Putting aside the fact that he was using it for farming, which would likely draw a storm of boos from the mages of the world, the very act of casting three different types of magic in parallel was extraordinary. But there was no way for Yuri, a novice reincarnator, to know such common sense. He made full use of the enormous MP and proficiency he received from the god and proceeded to dry the naked barley by casting three spells in parallel.

"This took longer than I thought. I wonder if I can finish threshing..."

To say it took a long time when he had finished in less than an hour what would normally take about a week of drying was absurd, but unfortunately, there was no one here to point that out.

"Now then, will this work?"

Yuri brought out the senba he had made as a prototype with Earth Magic. The gaps between the teeth were made wider for wheat. This was knowledge from a gardening book he had read as a hobby in his previous life. He had never thought it would come in handy in a situation like this.

The threshed grain needed to be dried for a while, but he quickly took care of this with magic, just as before.

"There's no time left. I guess I'll do the husking and winnowing tomorrow."

However, preparing just a little bit for an immediate taste test was not much trouble at all.

The naked barley porridge, harvested and cooked for the first time, was not as delicious as he had hoped, perhaps because he had skipped the proper 'hazakake' drying. But it had a certain indescribably profound taste.