kscans

Chapter 61 - The Mysterious Boy

The old man shot him an apologetic look, as if ashamed of his granddaughter's inability to read the room, but Yuri was prepared for just such an occasion. He let out a light sigh, for dramatic effect, and began to speak falteringly. It was the cover story he had spent five years thinking over and refining.

"...To be honest, I don't remember where I came from. By the time I was old enough to remember, it was just my grandfather and me, living a traveler's life. He taught me many things I needed to survive, but he told me almost nothing about my past. He would just say he'd tell me when I was older. ...About five years ago, we drifted here, and since we could shelter from the wind and rain and there were fields, we decided to settle down. My grandfather took care of the fields, but... one day, he just didn't come back... He wasn't the kind of grandfather who would abandon me in silence, so something must have happened to him where he went... but I was younger then, and I had no way of finding out what…"

This was the cover story Yuri had devised. He conveniently piled all the inconvenient parts onto his "grandfather," and in the end, made that grandfather disappear. His intention was to hide everything in a fog of mystery, in darkness. In Japan, he would likely be criticized for using such a convenient plot device, but he figured it would pass in this world. It was a fact that he was, appearance wise at least, just a young child, and it was also a familiar fact in this world that people who went into the mountains sometimes never returned.

"...Something like that happened…"

"...I'm so sorry…"

Just as he had planned, the two of them seemed to believe him. He almost felt guilty at how easily they were fooled.

As if to dispel the somewhat somber atmosphere, Old Man Audel spoke up. He asked if it wouldn't be too much trouble to show them the fields. Yuri had no reason to refuse.


"Well now… this is…"

Old Man Audel was so impressed he was at a loss for words. Dona, beside him, was also wide eyed and silent. Yuri had given a single nod to the old man's request and led them to the field behind his house. He had fields in other places too, but it made sense to start by showing them this one.

What captivated the two of them was not only how well tended the field was, unbelievably so for someone working alone, but above all, the condition of the soil. It was black and soft, a quality of soil they could only dream of in End Village.

There were several reasons for this.

First, Yuri constantly plowed compost into his fields. In the beginning, he had carried leaf mold from the mountains and fields, but later, he composted anything that could be nutritious using Earth Magic, not only the weeds and trees he pulled, but also food scraps, night soil, and even the unusable parts of magical beasts. The Composting Earth Magic seemed to artificially replicate fermentation, and it generated a considerable amount of heat in the process. Any parasite or pest eggs that might have been in the raw materials should have been killed by the heat. Well, just in case, Yuri had also tried a sort of sterilization using Light Magic. In any case, he plowed the resulting compost into the soil after each harvest. He even mixed in things like bone meal, so the nutritional content was perfect. Since different crops had different nutritional requirements, he varied the amount of fertilizer he applied each time.

Second, to avoid the problems of continuous cropping, Yuri changed the crops he planted every year, but he always included Soya Beans in the cycle… in other words, a nitrogen fixing legume. In this way, he prevented the soil from becoming depleted.

That was about it for soil preparation, but Yuri had also tried various other innovations, making full use of the knowledge he had gained in his previous life.

First, Yuri had read books on natural and organic farming in his past life in Japan. In some of his fields, he tried no-till farming, letting the vegetables and grains wither after harvest and adding compost on top instead of plowing it in. He changed the crops he planted every year, but even when planting, he didn't till the soil, simply making a hole and planting the seed or seedling. In the fields where a near natural soil environment was maintained, a rich ecosystem including the natural enemies of pests was nurtured, keeping pest outbreaks to a low level, though not zero.

Second, though it could be considered a part of organic farming in a broad sense, was the concept of companion plants. These were plants that grew better when planted near each other. He had only read about it in a book, but he recalled combinations like tomatoes and potatoes with marigolds, or carrots and turnips, and there were many others. Yuri didn't remember all of them, but this was a different world from Earth anyway. He decided it was better to borrow the wisdom of his masters, Appraisal and Rural Life Guide, rather than rely on his past life's memories. He looked it up and found that there were indeed several such combinations listed, so he immediately incorporated the ones he could use. He hadn't conducted a proper controlled experiment, but he did feel that there were indeed fewer pests and diseases.

Third, he created an environment around his fields that would attract the natural enemies of pests. He maintained vegetation that could serve as a habitat and hiding place for predatory insects, and set up nesting boxes and perches for insectivorous small birds. To the uninformed, the former would look like nothing more than a thicket, and they might tilt their heads in confusion at the latter's nesting boxes. But in fact, Yuri had listened to the opinions of the small birds through his Language (Mastery) skill, regarding things like the design and location of the nesting boxes, before making and setting them up. However, it seemed there were limits even to his cheat like Language (Mastery) skill, and he couldn't communicate well with insects. Still, when a species resembling hornets built a nest under the eaves of an empty house, Yuri, hoping they would prey on pests, left it alone. Since then, a relationship that could be called one of benevolent indifference had been established between the hornets and Yuri, and they continued to coexist peacefully.

Finally, and this was something he couldn't be too open about, Yuri had made a secret pact with the small birds and mice. In exchange for them not damaging his crops, he provided them with various conveniences, such as actively increasing the types of plants they requested in the meadows outside the village, creating hiding places and watering holes for them, and providing them with food in winter when supplies were scarce.

All of these efforts had borne fruit, and Yuri's fields had reached a level that left the two of them staring in wonder.