kscans

Chapter 24 - A Story Without Mosquitoes, Pyrethrum

On a clear day in May, as Yuri was looking around the mountains and fields for useful plants and animals, a white flower caught his eye. Intrigued by the rather large flower, which was unusual for a wild grass, Yuri used Appraisal, but he ended up tilting his head at the result that appeared.

《Pyrite: An annual grass that grows in sunny grasslands. It produces toujoukajo in early summer. The petals of the peripheral zetsujouka are white, and the central kanjouka are yellow. The flower part contains satchuuseibun, making it effective as an insect repellent. It is roughly equivalent to what is called jochuugiku in the otherworld of Nihon.》

The appraisal result had parts like toujoukajo, zetsujouka, kanjouka, and satchuuseibun written in grayed-out katakana. Come to think of it, this had happened before. He had thought it was just some kind of glitch, but wondering if there was a reason, he looked into it and found that these were apparently places where words from Japan were used as is because the concepts did not yet exist in this world. He managed to figure that much out, but he didn't know what kind of Japanese words they were. After consulting the explanations in his Rural Life Guide, it was translated as follows.

《Pyrite: An annual grass that grows in sunny grasslands. It produces a 'head-shaped inflorescence' in early summer. The petals of the peripheral 'ligulate flowers' are white, and the central 'tubular flowers' are yellow. The flower part contains insecticidal components, making it effective as an insect repellent. It is roughly equivalent to what is called pyrethrum in the otherworld of Japan.》

Among these, he didn't understand the meaning of 'head-shaped inflorescence,' 'ligulate flower,' or 'tubular flower,' but after pulling out the explanations from his Rural Life Guide and old memories from his time in Japan...

(Come to think of it, I feel like I heard somewhere that the flowers of the chrysanthemum family are actually a collection of many small flowers. The small flowers on the periphery have one petal each, and the small flowers in the center don't have petals, was that right? What we normally call chrysanthemum petals are actually the petals of the small peripheral flowers, which are the ligulate flowers, and the yellow part in the center is a collection of tubular flowers that don't have petals...)

It seemed the Appraisal had gone out of its way to explain it accurately, but incomprehensibly, using academic terms, where a normal person would just say 'a white flower with a yellow center.' Appraisal is a mixed blessing, Yuri thought leisurely, but a moment later, he froze.

"...The flower part contains insecticidal components, making it effective as an insect repellent..."

Insect repellent.

In other words, without using an insect repellent, insects will approach.

So, what kind of insects?

Thinking in the same way as in Japan, it would probably be blood-sucking insects like mosquitoes, which carry diseases like malaria, Japanese encephalitis, and dengue fever...

(You've got to be kidding me...)

Yuri had just arrived in this world. In other words, his resistance to the diseases of this world was extremely unreliable. In such a situation, to be attacked by mosquitoes that carry dangerous infectious diseases...

"You've got to be kidding! Not allowed!"

Considering the risk of infectious diseases, it was not a story he could accept. Moreover, this was an abandoned village. There was no doctor or neighbor to help him in case of an emergency. He had to come up with countermeasures as soon as possible.

"I was aiming for some kind of slow life, but this isn't slow at all..."

He grumbled resentfully, but this was essentially a drawback of him specifying an uninhabited place. It was wrong to resent the god. Realizing this, Yuri then cursed his own thoughtlessness and agonized over countermeasures.

"Pyrethrum, which means mosquito coils. Is there a recipe in the Rural Life Guide? There is!!"

Fortunately, it seemed the helpful skill Rural Life Guide had done a good job once again. It had a simple method for manufacturing mosquito coils.

"With this, I can make it in time for summer... Wha-?! The picked flowers need to be aged for half a year?! I won't make it in time!"

Yuri held his head in his hands, but deciding he had no other choice, he resolved to make them from unaged ingredients. For next year's batch, he would use properly aged ingredients.

"No, wait, can I even make enough for this year?"

Although there were flowers that looked like it blooming here and there, it was a far cry from being in full bloom like on a certain island's fields.

"I'll search for as many as possible, and I'll bring some back to the village to cultivate. And I'll cut the weeds around them. I'd like to give them fertilizer if I could, but..."

Unfortunately, he hadn't gotten around to fertilizer yet. Besides, if he carelessly applied fertilizer at this point, there was a risk that pests would swarm the now healthier pyrethrum.

"For now, I'll just weed and maybe put up some supports so they don't fall over..."