NOVEL NEXT Episode 15: The Soil Professional Appears
When I thought that Musubi flew out of nowhere, I saw that it was holding an armadillo in its legs.
“…… huh?”
As I tilted my head, the armadillo responded with a squealing sound.
He stood up on two legs and waved his arms at me. Some kind of gesture.
I don’t understand anything.
…Could it be that he is a member of the spirit beasts?
A promise when you see a mysterious creature. I decided to ask Mystia.
“Wow! When I’m with Soujiro, the existence of folklore gradually comes to mind!!”
“Are you sure you’re a spirit beast or something?”
“That’s what it is!”
Well, it looks like an armadillo, but no matter how you look at it, it’s a different size. I have a handful.
“It’s a spirit beast called ‘Riddles’. It makes good soil.”
“Soil?”
The armadillo puts its hand in the dirt and takes a staring pose. Yes, is it soil?
“Yeah. He’s good at things like farming and digging holes.”
The armadillo stuck its three claws into the ground and scratched it. Then, the ground becomes soft.
It seems like there is some kind of force at work above the claws. Well, it’s magic again.
“…Is it because I said yesterday that I wanted to start a vegetable garden?”
When I asked Musubi as she turned around, she was waving her fluffy white paws.
Apparently so.
“So… your name is Ukatama. It’s the god of fertility, is that okay?”
Let’s omit the usual flow and give it a name. I won’t say things like “Ukatama” because it’s a body that can be turned into a ball.
The armadillo spirit beast nodded its head. An easy-to-understand gesture.
Hmm, the trick is very detailed.
Ukatama looked at Mystia and pounded the dirt. Then, look back somewhere far away.
I wonder what?
When I looked at Mystia, she pointed in the same direction as Ukatama was looking.
“They said they wanted something to take care of, like seeds and cuttings. They wanted to use it for that, and they wanted to use part of the sacred tree and the toilet to return it to the soil.”
That’s when I noticed. What I’m pointing at is a toilet hut in the distance. I see.
“You mean, it’s composted?”
“I think so.”
“…Are you going to pump it out?”
“Since you’re good at digging holes, I think you can dig an underground passage and do something about it yourself, right?”
“Is it so?”
When it saw Ukatama, it nodded and immediately disappeared under the ground. It’s so fast. It looks like a mole.
“That’s an unexpected offer. It would be helpful. …What should I give Ukatama food?”
“It must have been wood, water, and fruit…”
“There are plenty of trees. Fruit…wild strawberries can probably be found in the forest.”
While we were talking, Ukatama suddenly popped his head out of the ground and looked up at me.
“It’s like you’re saying let me cultivate that too.”
Are you self-sufficient?
No hassle. So, what you need is no effort.
“In other words, we need some land. We’re going to cultivate a little bit of land over there, but would you like to do it with us?”
Originally, I was planning to create a vegetable garden, or rather a field. If you could lend me a hand, I would be grateful.
Ukatama nodded.
The number of people in charge of vegetable gardening has increased at this base.
A soto recipe made with vegetables freshly picked from your own garden…you might even be able to make something like that someday.
Nice. It looks really delicious.
For Ukatama’s sake, I did the root removal work that I had been putting off.
This is the process of literally uprooting the stump that remains after a tree has been felled. If you want to create a field, you won’t be able to create a large area of land in the forest unless you do this.
As anyone who has done it before will understand, removing roots is hard work and is quite troublesome.
First, it was difficult to dig up the soil around the stump.
The roots of the tree get in the way of digging up the soil, so you have to use force to penetrate the soil with a shovel. If thick roots are in the way, forcefully break them off using a tool called a root cutter or a pickaxe.
I kept digging, exposing the roots, cutting them with a saw, digging further, getting in the way again, cutting them again, and so on.
Then, you have to dig around the stump and finally pull it out by force.
Even a tree as thick as your foot can’t be pulled out unless you dig it up properly. If you simply pull it, it often won’t come out even if you pull it with a car.
It’s really annoying. Especially when it comes to human power.
One small stump can cause a lot of trouble.
If you want to do it easily, you have no choice but to use heavy machinery.
However, because I was not good at it, I put it off until later.
“If it’s
I went.
A shovel that easily digs up the ground including roots without using a chainsaw or saw.
Even without setting up a tripod, the stump was easily pulled out of the ground by “fixing” it in the air and pulling it with a floating chain block.
It’s more powerful than Yumbo, and I feel like I’m cheating on physical phenomena. Or rather, I am doing it. surely.
The hole created by pulling out the stump was backfilled with soil, and Ukatama took over the stump.
Ukatama happily rolled away the stump, which still had clods of dirt attached to it. It’s powerful despite its size.
In any case, it helps that it’s easy.
I proceeded with the work of uprooting the roots and cleared a certain amount of land in the forest.
“If I were to ask you to turn this area into a vegetable garden, I wonder what it would be like at first. Maybe I could have you grow some delicious wildflowers.”
Ukatama nods solemnly and immediately begins digging up the soil.
When I went to check on the situation again after a while, I found that what was once just a forest floor had turned into a field with rows of ridges.
I work fast.
After completing his work, Ukatama was crunching on one of the stumps with roots he had piled up nearby.
They eat wood. Looks like a beaver.
That day as well, Mystia returned with her prey.
I often do this even though I don’t have a bow.
“The fur goes to Musubi, the internal organs and bones go to Matsukaze…I don’t have anywhere else to throw it away.”
If you put the parts of the disassembled monster in their respective containers, the recipient will take them away.
The only thing left on hand is the meat.
While making this carcass, I also threw small pieces of liver and scraps to Matsukaze, who looked at me expectantly.
“You’re spoiling me.”
“There are so many…”
Mystia, who was disassembling it with me, was laughing funny.
“Good. Because I’m feeding you a lot of magic stones, you’re growing fast. Even if you eat a lot, you’ll still grow.”
I eat a lot of meat every day, so maybe that’s the reason?
Now that you mention it, I feel like he runs well. I’ve only seen it for a few days though.
When I threw the bone to Ukatama, Matsukaze ran towards me and the two stared at each other.
Ukatama runs with a bone in its mouth. Matsukaze follows.
He’s not serious, he’s just playing around, so I’ll leave him alone.
“They’re all rare creatures, aren’t they? Why do they gather in such large numbers?”
“I think they’re here to bask in Soujiro’s divine energy.”
“Divinity?”
“It’s only natural that a divine spirit dwells in a temple where a divine seal offers prayers.”
“…I don’t really get it, but it’s not a bad thing, right?”
“Of course. In fact, it’s a good thing.”
I decided not to think deeply about that.
I suddenly remember the goddess. Anna said, “In modern Japan, we couldn’t interfere.”
This world may be one in which the proportion of God’s intervention has increased.
“Soujiro has such a fate, I’m sure. After all, the first person you met was an elf, a rare creature.”
“If that’s your fate, I’d welcome it.”
Since I grew up in the countryside, I ended up making a little more than I expected.
Besides, there are many things that taste better when you make them in large quantities, not just soto recipes.
“I’m glad Mystia is with me.”
“Huh? Ehehe, is that so? I’m pretty happy right now, too… I guess. I’ve been alone for a long time.”
On the day we talked about this, Mystia brought down a large boar.
He said that it was a prey that could only be hunted with enthusiasm.
Good things happen one after another in this other world.