Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari (LN) - Volume 10 - Chapter 7

Chapter Seven: Employing the Bioplant 

“We’re back!” 
The whole lot of them had smiles on their faces despite being covered in mud when they got back. They were definitely livelier than they had been yesterday. On the other hand, Rishia looked utterly exhausted. Raphtalia and Filo didn’t really show any signs of being worn out. Then again, they were both pretty strong even with the curse’s effects in place. 
“I see that! Did you all do your best out there hunting again today?” 
“Yeah!” 
“That goes without saying!” 
The adaptability of children really was an amazing thing. It was only the second day and they had already adjusted. 
“Alright then. Dinner is ready, as promised.” 
“Yaaaay!” 
They shoveled the food I had prepared into their mouths. 
“Now then, Raphtalia.” 
“Yes?” 
“After dinner, I’m going to do something . . . something that might make you mad.” 
“Umm, and what is that?” 
“It’s jungle time. It helped us out back in Kizuna’s world, too, right?” 
Raphtalia seemed to understand what I meant. Her face turned pale. 
 
“Are you going to plant that thing?” 
“Yeah. This place is just a barren wasteland, anyway. It’s perfect, right?” 
“But still . . .” 
“It may very well cause problems with the soil down the road, but I did ask the slave trader to choose monsters that could be used to work the land.” 
“Umm . . . Understood. Desperate times call for desperate measures, I guess.” 
“I’m glad you understand.” 
“Considering efficiency, it really is the only choice.” 
Raphtalia was all about efficiency. But she also kind of worried about keeping up appearances. Now that I thought about it, L’Arc and the others had gotten on to me about her upbringing. She had picked up my habit of haggling over prices. Being told about it about it objectively like that did make me feel a little bad about it. 
“I also wanted to take this chance to do a little bit of research. I’m thinking, maybe I can get it to grow some medicinal herbs, too.” 
“Wait a minute. Don’t tell me you plan to modify it even further?!” 
“I do. I want to grow something that can make us some money, if at all possible.” 
That’s right. I needed money if my plans were going to succeed. Rebuilding a village with ten or so slaves just wasn’t possible. And that wouldn’t change much, even if the slave trader did manage to deliver more of the slaves I had asked for. 
 
“Don’t worry. I won’t be making any crazy modifications that might make it difficult to manage. Producing food supplies is the priority until the slaves are grown up enough to handle problems on their own.” 
“Sigh . . . Really, please do be careful.” 
“I know!” 
I couldn’t afford to do anything that might result in a radical failure, but beyond that, I had to do what I could. I planned to have the slaves help earn money, too—not just fight. And while I was mulling over such things, all the food I cooked vanished. 
“Thank you for the meal!” 
“You’re welcome.” 

I could hear a clamor of voices as they all talked to each other excitedly. It had only been a few days since we had arrived, but they all seemed to have adjusted to their new life for the most part. And Keel and the other three from the village were already familiar with the area, having grown up here. I was sure this had to be better for their mental health than living the usual life of a slave, at least. 
“Alright, everyone. I have something important to say, so listen up.” 
“Huuuh?” 
The slaves were listening with their heads cocked to the side, just like Filo did. 
“Everyone come with me.” 

I walked over to the garden and then checked to make sure they had all followed. 
 
“I have a single seed here. It’s a seed from a plant that caused a bit of trouble in a village to the southwest of here.” 
The castle soldiers seemed to be familiar with the story. They started whispering to each other. 
“I made some improvements to that plant, and this seed is the result. You all got hungry last night and ended up eating in the middle of the night, right?” 
“Umm, yeah . . .” 
Keel nodded. 
“You have to understand that I won’t be able cook every day like this forever.” 
“But . . . the Shield Hero’s cooking is so good!” 
“Yeah! I want to eat your cooking every day!” 
“I can’t get any work done if I’m always cooking for you all. Of course, if you’ve worked hard enough to earn it, I’ll indulge you all and cook something up.” 
When it came to development and reconstruction efforts like this, securing food supplies had to be the top priority. That meant that there was only one thing to do. 
“Now then, starting tonight, when you get hungry and I’m not cooking, this is what you are going to do.” 
I dropped the seed onto the soil and poured some water over it. It sprouted and began to shoot up right before everyone’s eyes. The bioplant grew to a height of around three meters tall and began to produce large fruit that resembled tomatoes. 
 
“I’ve restricted the plant’s reproduction to a certain degree, but it should fill this garden before the night has ended. Your job is to manage this plant.” 
“What . . . are we supposed to do?” 
“If it grows beyond the specified area, you trim it. That said, I plan to set aside a good amount of land, so you won’t need to cut it for a while. It’s up to you to pick the fruit.” 
“That fruit . . . is it edible?” 
“Yeah. As far as I know, they’re still producing them in that village to the southwest.” 
I had seen them being sold as a local specialty in the castle town. I’m fairly certain they were cooking with them, too. 
“Feel free to eat some if you get hungry. But if you notice any kind of problem, find an adult and tell them. That’s all.” 
I picked one of the huge tomato-looking fruit and tossed it to Filo. I could tell by her face that she was still hungry, and she gobbled it right up. Several of the slaves followed suit and started eating along with her. 
“This is amazing!” 
“Yeah!” 
“I thought there was no way we were going to rebuild the village at first, but I’m starting to think that with this guy on our side, it might actually be possible!” 
Was it just me or were they looking at me like I was some kind of strange being? If things went well managing this fruit, then our food supply issues would be taken care of. On the contrary, if we didn’t resolve those issues, it would be impossible to build any kind of useful combat unit in the short three and a half months we had. It was time for me to use all of the knowledge, connections, and tools that I had amassed in this world to see just how much I could accomplish. 
 
It was finally here—the moment of truth! 
The next morning came. I ignored the bioplant, which was covering most of the garden, and gave my orders for the morning. 
“Oww . . .” 
The slaves were complaining of aches and pains all over their bodies . . . growing pains, I was sure. Hmm . . . I checked everyone’s levels. Just as I had predicted yesterday, they’d all reached around level 20, more or less. I was excited to see how much more they would grow.