The next day, after cultivating the land within the planned area, Kousuke headed to the field with Silvia and was dumbfounded.
“Uhh… Just to confirm, this isn’t some kind of delusion, right?”
“Please don’t worry. I believe I’m seeing the same scene as you.”
Silvia, who had become accustomed to Kousuke’s actions and was rarely surprised anymore, revealed her astonishment.
Before Kousuke and Silvia lay not just a planned field site where the soil had been dug up, but land that had been transformed into a usable field, ready for immediate cultivation.
It goes without saying who had done such a thing.
“Ah, right. Well, I mean, this is beyond unexpected.”
“I couldn’t believe it, but I didn’t expect results overnight.”
Kousuke and Silvia knew that the slimes were transforming the soil, but they had only thought it would make their next task easier. They never imagined that the land would be ready to be used as a field by the time they opened their eyes to it.
Since there was no point in just standing there, Kousuke decided to move up his schedule and begin working.
“…There’s no point in avoiding reality forever, so maybe we should start by making ridges.”
“…Yes, that’s right.”
In a sense, the most difficult part of farming, the soil preparation, seemed to have been completed by the slimes. Kousuke proposed this, and Silvia nodded in agreement. To Kousuke and Silvia’s eyes, there was no further improvement that could be made to the soil. They had a premonition, or rather, a realization, that if they were to tamper with it carelessly, it might head in the wrong direction.
Since the slimes had prepared what seemed to be the best soil, Kousuke and Silvia used it to create ridges that day. The only work they did was creating the ridges. They would have planted seeds immediately if possible, but they hadn’t anticipated being able to plant so soon and hadn’t decided what to grow. Therefore, they discussed and decided to just create the ridges and plant the seeds the following day or later. Both Kousuke and Silvia had things they wanted to grow, but since the farmland could be expanded indefinitely, they weren’t arguing over specific spots. For Kousuke, this was his first time, so he thought it would be fine to grow a few crops in a small area.
After creating the ridges, Kousuke asked Sura to convey to the slimes that they should not destroy the ridges. Although he wasn’t sure if the message would be conveyed properly, Sura, who had been instructed by Kousuke, eagerly headed towards the other slimes, so Kousuke and Silvia decided to believe it would be fine.
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Having finished making the ridges by noon, Kousuke decided, since they had finished so early, to investigate the mansion’s surroundings with Nana and Wanri. However, when he announced this at lunch, Floria declared that she would join them. Her stated reason was that she wanted to “move her body since it’s an opportunity,” but from her attitude, Kousuke could clearly tell that she mostly wanted to be with him. Kousuke, understanding this, glanced at Silvia to check her reaction, but she seemed completely unbothered. Kousuke, at that moment, realized for the first time that some kind of agreement seemed to have been reached between Silvia and Floria.
After that, Kousuke left the mansion with Floria, Nana, and Wanri. Naturally, their escorts, Kouhi and Mitsuki, accompanied them. Kousuke, passing through the barrier surrounding the mansion, looked at Nana and Wanri as if he had just remembered something.
“Speaking of which, where do you wolves and foxes hunt? You don’t overlap, do you?”
Even as familiar beings, if their hunting grounds overlapped, a territorial dispute would surely arise. It was already known from the Tower Management Layer that if familiars overpopulated, they would not exceed a certain number without sufficient food. With the regular supply of food from the summoning circles around the mansion absent, the struggle for food should be even more intense.
Kousuke asked this question, but for some reason, Nana and Wanri exchanged glances. Then, Wanri, who had become a fox, transformed into human form and said, “Not everything overlaps, but I think quite a bit of it does.”
“Oh? Is that so?”
Kousuke had expected them to have different territories to avoid trouble, but it seemed that was not the case. Seeing Kousuke’s bewildered expression, Wanri nodded and continued her explanation. “Since we rarely target the same prey, there’s no need to deliberately separate our territories.”
“Ah, I see.”
After all, wolves and foxes hunt different beasts and monsters. That’s why there was no need to think of their territories as separate. Of course, there were some prey that overlapped, but since they never targeted the same prey at the same time, it hardly ever became a problem.
After hearing about the territorial situation of the wolves and foxes in their new location from Wanri, Kousuke headed towards where they were actually hunting. The first place Kousuke’s group visited was where a group of wolves was hunting.
“Oh. They’re targeting a Black Bear.”
The wolves were hunting a monster that was very nostalgic for Kousuke. Kousuke’s group stayed a certain distance away so as not to interfere with the hunt, but they could still clearly see the battle. The wolves, excellent at group combat, were systematically cornering an opponent far larger than themselves. Finally, the wolves bit into various parts of the Black Bear, causing it to collapse.
“Hmm. They seem to be hunting stably.”
As Kousuke said this with admiration, Nana, as if seeking praise, wagged her tail vigorously and rubbed her head against him. As Kousuke was petting Nana’s head, Floria, who was observing the scene next to him, suddenly turned her gaze elsewhere.
“Oh? Are those fox familiars?”
“…Hm? Ah, yes.”
Kousuke, who could recognize them even from a distance as familiars, nodded at Floria’s words. There, three foxes were chasing something.
“What do you think it is? Maybe a rabbit?”
Kousuke casually mentioned rabbits, but in this world, rabbits are not mere small animals; they are proper monsters. Underestimating them could lead to a painful counterattack. The three foxes, unlike the wolves earlier, didn’t seem to be coordinating their actions precisely. Nevertheless, they successfully cornered the rabbit and finally secured their prey. What caught Kousuke’s attention more was that, unlike the wolves, the three foxes didn’t eat their prey on the spot but instead picked up the prey and started walking.
“Huh? Are they taking it back to their base?”
“Probably so. They’ll eat it in a safe place.”
Unlike wolves, which move in large packs, foxes hunt in smaller numbers. Therefore, to avoid being attacked by other monsters, they don’t eat their prey on the spot but take it back to a safe base to eat. Kousuke discovered an unexpected difference between wolves and foxes. Afterward, as a form of exercise, they proceeded to hunt down a nearby Black Bear. Kousuke’s group no longer needed materials from Black Bears, so they sent the materials back to the wolves and foxes as food. In various ways, Kousuke spent the day without incident (?).
This is a belated observation, but it was about the difference between wolves and foxes lol. By the way, not all of them are like this; hunting methods also vary depending on the environment. In this case, they are choosing hunting methods suitable for the surroundings of their new base.
