Chapter 6: Opportunity and Encounter
I woke up.
I washed my face and eat the roasted rabbit for breakfast as usual. I’m all fired up today.
The immediate objective is to obtain something that can be grown in the field.
I took the all-purpose farming to start plowing in high spirits.
And, I was surprised to see the field.
There were small sproutlings on the ridge.
Moreover, in a regular interval.
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Did somebody sow seeds?
Who?
Even if someone sowed them, they’ve grown too early.
Is it God?
I looked at the all-purpose farming tool in my hand.
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I ran into the forest, took a large wood, and carved the figure of the gods I met before I came here.
Thinking about it, one looks young but feels old and the other one looks old but feels young.
This is mysterious.
They are not perfectly made but I feel that their images are similar.
Speaking of which, the god who gave me the all-purpose farming tool is different.
I don’t know how he looks so I carved him using my imagination.
Because he is the god of farming, is he plump?
Since farming is tough, is he slender?
As a result of various thinking, I made a statue that resembles hanasaka jiisan.
***TN: Hanasaka jiisan is a japanese folklore of a man that can make withered tree blossom. ***
I made an altar with the excess part of the tree I cut down and enshrined the wooden statue of the gods there.
「Thank you, God!」
After a long prayer, my goal changed.
I need to protect the field.
For now, let’s assess my present condition.
A big tree shelter.
Well, fire, toilet, log fence and moat that surround them.
One fifty by fifty farm fields around it in all directions, 12 in all.
The size of the residential space is about four of those.
TN: image last chapter was one chapter too early.
There are sproutlings in every field.
And it is up to me to protect that field.
First, I need to prepare a fence around the current field.
I won’t let anyone approach.
Beast?SHMTranslations.com
I’ll make a fertilizer out of them with this all-purpose farming tool.
Fufufufu.
I made a fence with logs and enclosed the field in high tension.
I also dug a moat.
Furthermore, I plowed and smashed the place that was close to the forest.
Though obtaining wood will be troublesome, it can’t be helped considering that one might invade from the tree.
I prepared boards to act as bridges since I made an entrance from all directions.
It took five days to do those work.
Meanwhile, as the sproutlings grew rapidly, six rabbits with fangs and one puppy size rat invaded the field. They became fertilizer of the field.
I didn’t even think about making them food.
It’s because there is already a huge boar for food.
Its height is about two meters as seen from the front and its width is about the same. Its total length is about 4 meters.
I was pretty scared but as it approached the field, I resolved myself.
I transformed the all-purpose farming tool to a hoe and cut its neck.
Its meat is delicious.
Fufufu.SHMTranslations.com
The present things I have are substantial.
I’m happy.
For the time being, my anti beast measures are thorough.
However, the enemy of the field is not only the beast.
There are birds and insects.
Unlike the rabbit, rat, and wild boar, I haven’t seen any birds or bugs but I’m sure they exist.
They are not putting their hands on my field yet because they still don’t see its value.
But when they start to bear fruit, they’ll attack.
Somehow, I need to decide a measure…
Are?SHMTranslations.com
Speaking of which, what kind of produce are they?
They are the same in one field but they are of different types for each field.
It is something you can eat.
I want them to be something that can be eaten.
If those are ornamental plants, I’m confident that my knees will collapse.
And, should I support them with a splint?
Kuh.SHMTranslations.com
It is I who want to try farming but my knowledge is too insufficient.
I should have studied more than I sleep when I was in the hospital….
There is no meaning in regretting it now.
I’ll just do what I can.
Anyway, as a measure against birds, a scarecrow?
While I was thinking, I heard sounds from a beast from the field.
It sounds like a dog.
It feels like the dog is trying its hardest to bark.
I approached the sound while holding the hoe form of the all-purpose farming tool.
There was a big dog on the other side of the log fence and moat that surrounds the field.
It’s a black dog.
Its size is similar to a large breed dog.
I felt like my heart is as high as my head. If it manages to cross, it will surely get me.
That big black dog is barking at me.
What is it?
I wonder why but I don’t feel any hostility.
There was another black dog of similar size behind that black dog.
Looking at them closely, I noticed that the two of them are full of injuries.
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I opened the nearby entrance and put the board over the moat.
The barking dog shuts up and stares at me.
I am a little scared.
But as I’m holding the all-purpose farming tool.
My heart calms down naturally.
As I calmed down, I looked at the dogs again and noticed the dog behind is female.
It even has a big stomach.
Is the dog in front a male?
That means they’re a couple.
Let’s see……
It is no good to drive them away.
The female dog walks unsteadily like it was dizzy.
The male dog sometimes looks back anxiously while glaring at me.
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Dogs are farmer’s ally.
When I was a child, I wanted to have a dog but I never got one.
Thinking about the reasons to take in the dogs, I relaxed my posture put down the hoe form all-purpose farming tool.
It seems that the dog understood and stopped glaring at me.
I don’t know if they understand words so for the meantime, I invited them with the use of gesture.