Chapter 56

Chapter 56: Hungry Recommendation

Under the sinking sun that dyed the earth with a sunset color, Zirconia and Otis arrived at a place where several fist-sized stones were piled up on the ground.Underneath these stones was the place where the bandits were buried. 「Is this the place?」(Z) 「……Yes, Ma’am.」(O)

Ignoring Otis who showed a reluctant expression, Zirconia put the spade he brought from the carriage on the ground and began to clear the stones from the ground.Then, when she picked up the spade again, she began to dig the ground unconcernedly.Since he couldn’t just do nothing while Zirconia herself was digging, Otis also reluctantly dug the ground with the spade.They continued digging for awhile when the tip of Otis’s spade hit something. 「…… I hit the corpse.」(O) 「Is that so? Then let’s take them out.」(Z) Zirconia placed the spade, wore the gloves carried in her waist, kneeled to the ground and cleared the dirt.After removing the soils covering the corpse for a moment, a pair of human feet appeared.Zirconia grasped the corpse’s feet with both of her hand, pulled it out with all of her strength from the tomb and drag it outside.The surrounding immediately filled with a tremendous putrid smell. 「……The head is gone. How many corpses are under this grave?」(Z) 「Th-there are ten.」(O) Otis, who unconsciously covered his nose and mouth from the putrid smell, moaned out a reply.He was doing his best restraining his nausea. Compared to him, Zirconia didn’t have any apparent change in her expression and began to clear the dirt that was clinging on the neck stump. 「……」(Z) Although Zirconia stopped moving for several second to confirm the neck, she immediately stood up and once more entered the grave hole.Then, just like before, she cleared up the dirt and quickly pulled out the corpse from the grave hole.After repeating this with Otis for several times, there were 10 corpses lined up in front of the hole. 「…… If you can’t stand it, you may leave first, you know. I will do the rest afterward.」(Z) 「No…… I’m alright. Is Zirconia-sama alright yourself?」(O) When asked by Otis, Zirconia made a blank expression and then made a wry smile. 「I am not that alright. Even now, I want to throw up. But, since I don’t eat anything this morning, perhaps it’s better than you.」(Z) 「I-is that so?」(O) ‘In that case, please inform me to not eating the breakfast’, criticized Otis inside his mind.However, even if he didn’t eat the breakfast, he didn’t have any confidence that he could do the autopsy in an indifferent manner just like Zirconia. Even afterward, Zirconia continued her examination of the wound in the lined up corpses. There was one corpse that attracted her attention. 「This is……」(Z) Zirconia muttered while touching the corpse hand.The corpse’s right arm had its wrist strangely deformed.It was as if it had been crushed by a tremendous force and bent into unnatural direction. It was the corpse of the bandits that had his wrist crushed by Valetta. Zirconia gazed at the crushed wrist for a few moment, then after letting out a sigh, she stood up. 「It’s enough. Let’s reburied the corpses.」(Z) Zirconia instructed Otis, who was enduring nausea beside her, and they began returning the corpses back to the grave hole. ✧✦✧✦ After Zirconia reburied the corpses, inside a large tent exclusive for her use, she took off the clothes that had been stained by the corpses’ scent and changed into new clean clothes.Then, without taking a break, she went into Grisea Village, but there was an abnormal sight appeared before her eyes in the village. 「What is…… this……」(Z)

In Grisea Village’s fields, the potato plants growing there had huge leaves and vines, the kind she never saw before. The leafy vegetables raised there also was several times larger than usual.It was as if they had been transformed into gigantic by some kind of magic spell. The fields were cramped by huge vegetables that she doubted that what she saw was real.Even though, in the content of Isaac’s report of Grisea Village several days ago, he already mentioned how the vegetables growing in the village fields in front of him was really large.Zirconia unconsciously kneeled down before the potato and try to touch a leaf.The leaf is huge and thick, completely different from potato leaves that Zirconia knew.The vine where the leaf sprout out was as big as an adult thumb, its length also was unusual. The plant was earth-shattering vigorous. Zirconia stared dumbfounded on the crops growing in the fields, but she suddenly noticed the strange noise that’s coming from inside the village and immediately turned her sight towards it.She might forget it due to seeing the vegetables’ gigantic transformation, but the strange noise that she heard when she arrived in the village until now had stopped. Zirconia let go of the leaf, stood up and walked towards the direction of the strange noise. ✧✦✧✦

Zirconia arrived at the entrance of the tree grove where a large number of villagers already gathered.The villagers divided themselves into teams of two, a person who opened the bag’s mouth and a person who put the shoveled compost into the bag. In the middle of that, the agricultural transport tractor that Kazura drove appeared from inside the tree grove while making a loud noise. 「Oh, Zirconia-san also has arrived.」(K) While saying so, Kazura activated the dumping function and poured down the compost to the ground.Seeing such astounding sight, Zirconia couldn’t make any response to Kazura’s greeting, she was just staring blankly at the transport tractor that intermittently produced noise from its engine. 「Zirconia-sama, this is something called agricultural transport tractor, a tool from G.o.d’s Realm that can transport a lot of heavy things at the same time. Surprisingly, even without being pulled by Rata, it can be freely moved just like the coachman’s intention.」(I) 「Is, is that so…… That’s amazing……」(Z) Isaac, who was mixed with the villagers who were putting fertilizer into the bag, noticed Zirconia and then approached her to explain about the tools.Even when Zirconia made some reply to Isaac, she couldn’t take off her eyes from the transport tractor. 「Kazura-san, this, agricultural…… Ummm.」(Z) 「Agricultural transport tractor.」(K) 「So, agricultural transport tractor. How fast can it move?」(Z) 「How fast?...... Umm, I’m sure the maximum speed is 10 kilo, so…… as fast as the speed of a human’s light running. it doesn’t have that much speed.」(K) 「Similar to a light running……is it?」(Z) 「Yes. however, it doesn’t really suited to be of use in the battlefield.」(K) After hearing Kazura’s reply, Zirconia unconsciously made a surprised expression and s.h.i.+fted her sight from the transport tractor towards Kazura.Then when her eyes met Kazura’s, she waved her hand in front of her chest with a fl.u.s.tered expression. 「N-no, I don’t mean it in that way……」(Z) 「Oh, really? Is that so… Then I am sorry for being impolite.」(K) Seeing Zirconia’s behavior, Kazura thought that it was 「Bull’s eye」, even so, he made a token apology. Just like when Kazura first met with Zirconia in Nelson’s Mansion, from the beginning, she desired for military advice.Even if he changed the topic, Kazura could still guess that Zirconia’s interest was still on the integration for military purpose.So it was easy to guess that Zirconia also arrived at such thoughts when she saw the transport tractor. 「Kazura-sama, how much compost you plan to bring?」(I) Throwing a lifeboat for the fl.u.s.tered Zirconia, Isaac inquired Kazura from the side.

「Umm…… Perhaps there is still eight-tenth (80%) of it to be brought……」(K) Kazura, who was soaked with a cheery mood, returned to the reality when he heard Isaac’s question and his eyes become just like a dead fish’ eyes.The bravado he showed at first, seems to be already used up.The beginning of the penance. 「Ei-eight tenth? It wouldn’t be finished before the day is over……」(I) 「You’re right……Let’s take a break when it becomes dark……」(K) There are still other goods other than the compost, Kazura murmured in silent, before once more disappeared into the tree grove while producing loud noises. ✧✦✧✦ Several hours had pa.s.sed.The work had been interrupted by the sinking sun and come to an end, everyone returned to their camp or abode in the village. Kazura and Valetta returned together to Valin’s residence and like always, the three of them sat surrounding the hearth.Valin already prepared the dinner. 「Kazura-san. You must be tired from the work, please eat a lot.」(V) 「Thank you very much…… Oh, fish flakes in cooked rice? This seems delicious.」(K) Receiving the rice on the bowl from Valetta, Kazura cheek loosened delightfully. Facing Kazura, Valin showed a relieved expression, perhaps because he was glad that Valetta’s condition had returned. The dinner menu was, fish flakes in cooked rice, vegetable soup, boiled potato, boiled egg, and the desert were canned pineapple.Half of the vegetables used in the soup was from the ones harvested in the village, while the other half came from the frozen vegetables that Kazura brought from j.a.pan.The only food in the menu that exclusively used ingredients from the village was the boiled root-cut bird’s egg and the boiled potato.The fish in the cooked rice was something that Valin caught from the river at the noon. 「By the way, during the time I’m not in the village, the vegetables had become quite big. It had grown at a rather frightening rate.」(K) Since it was on his mind since he returned to the village two days ago, Kazura begun to speak about the huge crops growing on the fields. Valin and Valetta nodded at the same time. 「Although it seems that the growth rate had already slowing down, but even now, it still continue to grow.」(V) 「Eh, it will become even bigger?」(K) 「Perhaps. Also, it’s not only the size that becomes bigger…… Each of the potatoes perhaps had reached the size of an infant’s head. If this potato is boiled, even half of it is more than enough for 3 people.」(V) 「Whoa, it had become so big that it’s scary…… Or rather, for it to become this big in short time span is……」(K)

When they dug out the potato 20 days ago, the potato was only as big as an M sized egg on the supermarket[1].Even so, currently it had grown into as big as infant’s size.If he visually examined the potato in front of him, he would only thought that the potato was something that become bigger with a slower growth rate, not under 20 days.The potato skin seems to grow together with the potato tuber itself, so it was curiously lacked any crack or fissure. From the story he had heard from Valetta, one seedling of this type of potato could bear 5 tubers.Even if the number of the tuber didn’t increase, he had no doubt that currently the soil under this village’s field were packed full by giant potatoes. Kazura scoop out the boiled potato with his spoon, moved it towards his mouth, and then stopped.He placed down his spoon and stared at the potato. 「Is something wrong?」(V) 「No, I am just a bit bothered……」(K) Valetta tilted her head as Kazura begun to speak seriously. 「…… If I feel full after eating this, then doesn’t mean that this food will have the same effect as the food I had brought? I am bothered by this.」(K) 「Same effect……」(V) Hearing Kazura’s explanation, Valetta immediately made a surprised expression after guessing the meaning of those words.Perhaps he was thinking about what will happen if the vegetables grown using the fertilizer that Kazura had brought and it have the same effect as the food that Kazura brought from j.a.pan. 「By eating it, you become less likely to be fatigued and have increased strength, this effect, right?」(V) 「Yes. If it really have this effect then we need to be careful in how we use the crops from this village…… Oh no, what to do with the agriculture revival that I had promised. It will become impossible to distribute the compost……」(K) If the village crops also exhibited the same effect with j.a.pan’s food, then it will be bad if the crops were collected as the village’s tax to Isteria.The people who ended up eating it would acquire an extreme physical recovery effect and ended up with a physical enhancement. However, from the experience of the villagers who had eaten the j.a.pan’s food, he understood that the physical enhancement didn’t happened immediately after consuming the food.When the villagers first mentioned, 「We hardly feel tired」 and 「We can transport heavier things than before」, it was when they had consumed the food for more than 2 weeks.Furthermore, when he travelled to Isteria together with Valetta, Lodurr and the others, Lodurr’s daughter Myra who accompanied the group also showed some degree of fatigue when walking. Taking these events into the conclusion, it can be surmised that the physical enhancement need at least several days of continuous consumption of j.a.pan’s food.There might be individual variation, but it was clear that the immediate physical enhancement didn’t occur immediately after eating it. 「……Kazura-san, are your stomach is hungry right now?」(V) 「Yes, I’m hungry.」(K) 「Then, can you try to eat several potatoes and boiled egg and then observe if there are any change? If you feel full after eating them, then it can means that the food’s nature has changed.」(V) Kazura nodded at Valetta’s suggestion and brought the spoon with the potato to his mouth.