Chapter 71 Reap Or Demise
"Mr. Jade... I've prepared the seeds and saplings. Can you come and get them?"
Sara called out to Jade. Then, Jade, his wife Elsa, and their 3 kids, including a 10-year-old boy, walked towards Sara. Behind them were Jade's parents, an elderly couple.
"Um, can Mr. Jade read and write?"
"No, I can't, but my wife can. She used to work at a merchant's house, after all."
"I see. Then, Ms. Elsa, can you take a look at this?"
Sara unfolded a slightly large piece of paper in front of them.
"Here, I've written down the instructions on where to plant what in the field, and the cultivation methods I learned from the fairies. Oh, the north side is up. I've also drawn pictures of the seeds and saplings, so please refer to them when planting."
By the way, the illustrations in the instruction manual were drawn by Amelia the Pharmacist Girl. She's skilled enough to be in charge of drawing plant illustrations. Sara is wise, so she didn't try to draw it herself. There's no need for artistic surrealism in the instruction manual, after all.
"Ah, I see. This is very easy to understand."
Elsa replied while glancing at the instruction manual.
"Moreover, the field is already plowed, so we'll start working on it tomorrow."
"Ah, some of the crops need to be planted a bit later, though."
"I see. And according to this instruction manual, we just need to plant them when the time comes, right?"
"Yes. Please take care of it."
Sara suddenly looked up to see the other farmers gathered around, watching them. Behind them were also some guild members.
"Everyone's gathered here, I see. For now, I have entrusted Mr. Jade's family with selecting the crops to plant in the field, so I've prepared the seeds and saplings. And, what's here are the harvested crops. I think it's important to know what you're cultivating, so I asked the fairies who protect the plants to prepare them."
Sara pointed to the harvest piled up like a mountain. Among them were medicinal herbs, which caught the attention of alchemists and pharmacists, who gazed at the harvest with great interest.
"Why don't we all eat together? We've prepared a lot, so it's okay. Even guild members can take a look at the medicinal herbs."
Elsa, who was examining the harvest, asked Sara a question.
"But then, some people might not know which ones are medicinal herbs and which ones are edible, and they might not even know how to cook them..."
"That's possible, Ms. Elsa. So, let me explain the cooking methods and uses of each harvest."
And so, Sara explained the cooking methods and uses of each harvest, one by one. Meanwhile, Alicia the Alchemist Girl and Amelia the Pharmacist Girl had already been instructed beforehand, and they had steamed the potatoes, which Sara had beautifully prepared using water magic, in a large pot with their skins on.
"Would you like to try the potatoes first? This time, we simply steamed them, but there are many variations in cooking methods, and I'm thinking of selling them at the capital's shops."
Sara had made a cross-shaped incision on the potatoes beforehand, and now she topped them with butter and served them to the people. By the way, there were many farmers in this village who raised cows, so butter was abundant.
"Wow, Sara, this is incredibly delicious!"
For some reason, Robert was the first to be impressed by the potatoes, even before the farmers.
"Why is Uncle eating first? This is for Mr. Jade and the farmers to try new harvests!"
"But Sara said it's delicious, so I got curious."
Sara let out a deep sigh.
"Everyone, I apologize for my gluttonous uncle."
Sara bowed her head, and the people around her couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"Haha, so it's that delicious, huh? Even nobles can get obsessed with it."
"I'll have to grow them in my own garden too."
People were one after another trying the steamed potatoes and were moved by their deliciousness. Many people were also interested in other vegetables like burdock, lotus root, broccoli, and peas, aside from potatoes. Of course, alchemists and pharmacists were extremely interested in medicinal herbs.
"If you'd like to cultivate these crops in your own field, please don't hesitate to ask. We'll prepare the seeds and seedlings. And, of course, even if you do cultivate these crops, we'll make sure to compensate you fairly for the wheat, so please don't worry."
"Excuse me, Lady Sara, may I also try cooking other crops? I'll prepare them in my kitchen."
Thanks to Elsa's offer to cook, the other harvested crops were cooked one after another. Before we knew it, the alchemists and pharmacists were preparing for a campout, and each of them started cooking.
Among them, a farmer who provided wheat bread also appeared. Just in case, Sara had the fairy check, and it was confirmed that there was no ergot fungus in the wheat flour, so everyone was relieved and enjoyed eating.
In no time, the atmosphere around them transformed into a festive mood.
'Wow, they even brought out liquor...'
As Sara glanced far away, she saw Rebecca, who was rarely seen laughing without her noble demeanor, approaching Robert with a smile. Robert, who was called out, reluctantly approached the hole with wheat and weeds.
Standing at the edge of the hole, Robert began to gesture towards it with his hand. After a while, a small fireball flew out of Robert's hand and landed on the wheat ears. However, the flames didn't rise, and the fire quickly went out, leaving only a thin trail of smoke. Rebecca patted Robert's back and burst out laughing with an unladylike grin.
'That's the real Little Prince Revi, isn't it? She looks like she's having fun.'
Even after that, Robert continued to shoot fireballs at the wheat, but there was no sign of the flames rising. Feeling a bit sorry for him, Sara timed her magic to coincide with the moment Robert released the fireball and infused it with oxygen using her wind magic.
A massive flame erupted from the hole, creating an atmosphere like a campfire. People cheered as they gazed at the flame. It seemed Robert was more skilled with wind magic. He controlled the wind magic to prevent the fungal spores from spreading.
'Will Uncle's magic hold out until that flame dies down?'
Sara was worried, but a staff member from the Alchemist Magician Guild approached from behind and began using wind magic in Robert's place. It seemed they had decided to take turns to handle the situation.
And so, the fungal chaos subsided.
* * *
The next day, all the farmers in the settlement accepted Sara's proposal. Pochi and Sara spent about 3 days converting seeds and seedlings to the limit of her magical power. They couldn't use the already-burned wheat and weeds, so they converted the plants in the nearby forest instead. As a result, the farmers would be able to plant seeds and seedlings in the expanded fields the following spring, which would take 5 days. But Sara couldn't have predicted this at the time.
Incidentally, just as Sara finished distributing seeds and seedlings to all the farmers, Tax Official Ain arrived with farmers from other regions as assistants. Ain had intended to help with the reap, but contrary to his expectations, he ended up helping with planting instead.
And, as people who helped at that time became interested in the new crops, they gradually began to involve the surrounding lands.
Later, this settlement would be registered as a village, with the name "Barley Village". Barley Village would become famous in Grandchester as the first village to implement crop rotation, and its development would continue to progress.
Incidentally, the first village head, Jade, had a habit of saying, "This is a village saved by an angel and fairies."
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