by Aneko Yusagi
“You’re welcome. Now get out there and hunt, and don’t come back until evening!”
“Okay!”
Everyone looked more cheerful than they had yesterday as they climbed into Filo’s carriage. I wasn’t letting Filo go crazy with the speed, so I hoped that the slaves wouldn’t get the usual motion sickness common with her carriage rides. It would be good if they reached around level 20, on average, by the time they got back.
Securing food supplies would need to be our immediate focus. There was always that . . . But if I used it and it mutated again, who knew what might happen. Even so, it had helped us out of tight spots before, and it looked like the time to rely on it had come once again.
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.
Chapter Eight: Children of the Sea
Several more days passed.
“Ahahaha!”
The slaves were climbing on the bioplant like it was a tree. They’d all reached around level 30, and their growth had begun to plateau a bit. The thing was . . . For whatever reason, almost all of them looked like they were around 14 or 15 years old. They still looked a bit younger than Raphtalia. Was this the age that they became fit for battle?
I thought they might end up being a bit more attractive, but they were all pretty average. Maybe compared to other kids . . . but none of them could hold a candle to Raphtalia. It almost made me wonder if maybe they weren’t getting enough to eat.
Keel was probably the only boy among them that you could call attractive. He almost looked a bit girlish, but I guess you could call him handsome. Actually, I suppose it was rude to say this about a boy, but if you imagined a cute girl with boyish looks, that would give you a good idea of his appearance.
That mole-type therianthrope—his name was Imiya or something like that—seemed to have come out of his shell a bit. He and Keel had been running around together and the two were getting along well.
“Hey, Bubba Shield! I’m tired of meat and vegetables. That’s all we’ve had to eat lately!”
“Stop acting spoiled!”
Keel was starting to act overly familiar with me lately. I could come down hard on him, but I didn’t feel right scolding him, since he wasn’t slacking off.
I guess it was because they felt more comfortable with me now, but more of the kids had started telling me all about their time as slaves. They always finished it up with a thank you. I was glad that morale was high, but still . . .
“We’ll go to the ocean and catch some fish, so you can cook them up for us, bubba!”
“I don’t remember ever becoming your bubba!”
Now Keel was just being plain cheeky. Maybe it was time for a good chewing out, after all. I could accept “Bubba Shield,” but just plain “bubba” wasn’t going to fly. But he showed no sign of stopping.
“Ahh . . . if only Sadeena were here, we could be having seafood every day!”
Oh? Raphtalia had mentioned that name before, too. I think she mentioned she was an aquatic therianthrope. She must have really taken care of everyone, because it wasn’t just Raphtalia—pretty much all of the kids originally from this village mentioned her from time to time. This was a good chance to find out what kind of character she was.
“Raphtalia. I know you mentioned her before, but just who is this Sadeena?”
“Sadeena was a fisher by trade. She also took first or second place for the strongest fighter in the village.”
“Oh? In that case, she must have fought in the wave and . . .”
My voice trailed off as I was about to say “died.” It made sense that she would have fought in the wave, and that meant the likelihood that she had died in battle was high.
“If Sadeena had been here, I’m sure we would have been able to fight off the enemies from the wave and the slave hunters, too, bubba.”
“Hold on, now. She’s that strong?”
“No doubt! I’ve never seen Sadeena lose a fight. From what I’ve seen, I’d say she’s stronger than that knight lady, too!”
Stronger than Eclair? That would make her a real force to be reckoned with. But if that were true, then it prompted a rather large question.
“Then why was your village destroyed when the wave came?”
“Well . . . Sadeena was far out at sea fishing with the other village fishers at the time.”
That made sense. So she wasn’t around when the wave hit. Not to mention, when the waves occurred, things got wild all over the place and I’m sure the ocean had been no exception. I wouldn’t say it out loud, but there was a good possibility she had died in the aftermath. Assuming someone that strong had survived, I’m sure they would have returned to the village.
Keel and the others may have enjoyed talking about Sadeena, but it was probably best not to continue this conversation, even though I was the one that started it.
“Come on, bubba! Can’t we go down to the ocean?”
“Hmm . . . Do you really want to eat fish that bad?”
Perfect—a chance to change the subject.
“I want to eat fish that you cook, bubba!”
“That’s what I want to eat, too!”
“Me too!”
It was like a bunch of Filos had been mass-produced. Thank goodness I hadn’t decided to hatch even more filolial eggs.
“Fine. We’ll go see what kind of seafood we can catch today. While we’re at it, Filo can go swimming and hunt some monsters.”
“Okaaay!”
And so I ended up taking the slaves to the ocean. It had gotten warmer lately anyway. So it was good weather for a dip in the ocean. The kids that had grown up here would be familiar with the ocean, so I was pretty sure they would know how to swim.
After walking for a bit, we arrived at the beach.
“Wheee!”
The slaves all took everything but their underwear off and started jumping into the ocean excitedly with fishing spears in hand.
“Rafu!”
Oh? There went Raph-chan, too, running toward the water excitedly. I wondered if I should use the familiar power-up function to raise her aquatic aptitude. I wouldn’t have minded seeing her spin her tail like a propeller to swim.
I was thinking about Raph-chan when I noticed we had a little problem.
“Filo! Grab Keel!”
“Huh? Okaaay!”
“Wha?! What are you doing?!”
Filo turned into her filolial form and grabbed Keel just as he was about to jump into the ocean. He was floundering about between Filo’s wings, having suddenly been snapped up unexpectedly.
“What’s the idea, bubba?!”
“We have a problem. We’re going to have to completely rethink how you should be handled.”
“What does that mean?!”
The other slaves noticed the commotion and were looking our way. It looked like they had caught on to what was happening. Imiya, who had Raph-chan on his shoulder, approached Keel and asked.
“Keel-kun . . . or should it be Keel-chan?”
“Rafufuuu?”
“Huh? What does that mean? I’m a boy!”
Keel’s chest was wrapped in a sarashi cloth, and down below he was wearing . . . a loincloth? Raphtalia walked over and reached her hand out toward Keel’s crotch, as if that were something normal to do. She was acting more and more unpredictable lately.
“Keel, do you know the difference between a boy and a girl?”
“Huh?”
“Well, you see . . . boys have . . .”
Raphtalia whispered something into Keel’s ear.
“That’s ridiculous. If I were god, I sure wouldn’t make being a boy or girl that complicated.”
“Look at the other boys. No, look at Mr. Naofumi. You see differences, right? His chest is flat, isn’t it?”
“What’s your point? That thing down there doesn’t grow out until you’re an adult, and my chest is just a bit swollen. It should heal soon.”
Grow out? The kid had quite the imagination. Just what kind of home environment had Keel grown up in before becoming a slave?
I started to envision one of those little girls who talks like a boy. And then an image of Kizuna popped into my head, raising her hand, saying, “You called?” “Sorry, but no one called for you,” I yelled back at the imaginary Kizuna and told her to go away. She disappeared after telling me how mean I was.
Kizuna was no doubt that type, but at least she knew that she was a girl. How on earth did Keel not notice during her time as a slave? Maybe it didn’t really matter either way? Or maybe the
slave trader that sold her kept quiet about it to make her more appealing to a certain kind of twisted clientele?
This country was rotten, after all. There was certain to be plenty of trash with depraved fetishes. Those kinds of perverts would consider someone like Keel a rare find, so they’d probably be willing to pay a hefty fee. That despicable nobleman that we fought had apparently gotten off on abusing children. Then again, all the slaves showed signs of abuse. A sadistic streak was probably something that all of the slave owners shared.
“But . . . but dad used to say that if a boy considered himself a man, then he was a man no matter what anyone else said.”
He meant a man of the sea, right? Like a sailor or fisherman? So that’s how it was. Daughter wanted to be like daddy and ended up not knowing the difference between a boy and a girl. Actually, the fact that he even said something like that was probably his way of telling her she was a girl.
“I thought Keel was a really cool boy . . . but I guess she was a girl all along.”
“I still think she’s great. Gender doesn’t matter!”
The slave girls were whispering to each other excitedly. I knew girls really went for the whole pretty lady dressed like a man thing, but a girl that wanted to be a man of the sea?
“Come on . . . What’s the point in differentiating between boys and girls in the first place?! It doesn’t make any sense!”
Keel’s gender identity had been shaken to its foundations and she didn’t know how to react.
Hmm? Was that Filo jumping in . . . ? Why was she intervening now?
“Well, you see . . . the reason that animals are divided into males and females is so that they can mate. Also . . .”
Filo answered the confused Keel. She went on to eloquently describe the role of man and woman, dressing it all up in rich, luscious language—not as a simple fact of life, but as a sweet, romantic ritual that bordered on the realm of art.
I looked straight at Raphtalia, but she shook her head violently. Was it Rishia, then? I looked over at Rishia, and she screamed, “It wasn’t me!” Filo was terrible at explaining things, so the fact that she could go into so much detail meant that someone had to have told her all of this. That left Kizuna’s group. It must have been L’Arc, considering what a lecher he was.
