Kent and Caro, guided by the Mayor, headed for the farmland where wheat was being cultivated. Berna had been left at the Mayor’s house, apparently tasked with cleaning the house.
“It seems my daughter caused you trouble. I apologize. As you can see, she has her personality, so she’s not really entertained by those her age, and she’s been isolated in this town without friends, which has been a problem. I know I’m her parent, but it would be a great help if you could become her true friends.”
“That’s fine with us, but…”
“It’s fine with me too.”
Kent and Caro showed understanding towards the Mayor’s offer.
Guided by the Mayor, Kent and Caro arrived at the farmland where wheat was being cultivated.
“It’s unnecessarily vast.”
“Unnecessary, you say… Indeed, managing this much land with so few people is tough.”
Kent was surprised by the overwhelming size of the farmland. If this were cultivated with agricultural machinery, it would be no problem, but managing it by hand seemed to require considerable effort. The wheat had grown to a point where it looked like it was already before harvest.
“Well, hello there, Mayor. Have you come back? Did you forget something?”
“Just tired. It’s not that, but these people wanted to see the farmland, so I’m showing them around.”
“I see, I see. Esteemed guests, it’s just as you see it, but please take your time and look around.”
“Thank you.”
He was called by a farmer in the field. Judging by his speech, the relationship between the farmer and the Mayor seemed good.
“I felt that your relationship with the farmers was good, but what’s the actual situation?”
“Well, I think my relationship with them isn’t bad. However, the relationship between the farmers and the guards isn’t good. This is partly because the guards are fundamentally the ones who collect taxes.”
“I see. Then how do you deal with bird damage?”
Kent fired questions at the Mayor one after another.
“As for bird damage… the young folks there take turns chasing and driving away the birds. But they come back immediately, so it’s endless. As you say, Kent, it’s unnecessarily vast, and we have to continue this work until harvest, so it must be a considerable burden on the young men.”
The Mayor said with a half-given-up expression.
“Kent, can’t you do something?”
Caro asked Kent.
“For bird damage, bird repellent nets are the most effective, but the farmland is too vast, making the cost prohibitive. If you have personnel to drive them away, there’s something called a sonic scare pistol using gunpowder.”
“A sonic scare pistol? What kind of thing is that?”
Caro asked Kent with apparent interest.
“Come to think of it, Mayor…”
Caro, understanding what Kent was about to do, diverted the Mayor’s attention. In that moment, Kent retrieved a sonic scare pistol from his terminal.
“Uh, let’s set this up… Done.”
“It’s an unusual-shaped object.”
Caro’s eyes sparkled at the unfamiliar object. What Kent held was a pistol-shaped tool used for scaring birds. You put a pellet containing gunpowder into it and pull the trigger, causing the gunpowder to explode and make a loud noise. It doesn’t shoot projectiles, so it doesn’t harm birds and is safe.
“Kent, what is that?”
The Mayor, who had approached unnoticed, looked at the object in Kent’s hand with curiosity.
“Well, just watch.”
Kent entered the field and raised the sonic scare pistol. Forgetting to prepare earplugs, he covered one ear and shielded the other with his arm. After confirming there was no one around, he aimed upwards and pulled the trigger.
*BANG!*
A loud explosion sounded.
“Kya!”
“Whoa!”
Caro and the Mayor were startled by the loud noise.
Then, the startled birds took flight all at once.
“The sound was tremendous, but the birds that wouldn’t be scared away even by that much have all fled.”
The farmers who heard the noise came to see what was happening.
“Mayor! There was a loud sound, what happened?”
“I was telling Kent here about our troubles with bird damage, and he showed me this noisy device he had. We tried it, and it seems we’ve startled you. My apologies.”
“It would have been better to say something first. We apologize for the disturbance.”
Kent and the Mayor bowed their heads to the gathered people and apologized.
“Kent, we clearly saw the effect. That sonic scare pistol of yours looks quite expensive. Is it something we can obtain as well?”
“Since I don’t need it at the moment, I’ll give it to you. I’ll explain how to use it later.”
“That’s very kind. Receiving such a convenient item is a great help.”
Kent decided to give the sonic scare pistol he had produced earlier to the Mayor.
Upon hearing this, the farmers were overjoyed. After that, Kent explained how to use it to everyone. (Since it was very simple to set up and pull the trigger, the explanation itself was extremely easy.)
The farmers immediately started using the sonic scare pistols they received to chase away the birds.
“Also, birds learn. If they judge there’s no harm to them, it becomes ineffective. Please be careful to use it only during the harvest season and not at other times.”
“I see. Understood. We’ll be careful.”
After that, Kent and Caro, under the Mayor’s guidance, toured the wheat fields. Caro took out her smartphone in various places to take pictures and jotted down necessary information in a notebook.
In this territory, following the previous lord’s instructions, wheat was cultivated on all fields, with no other crops grown.
“I suppose the idea is that if they make money selling wheat, they can buy other food, but it feels too unbalanced. I think it would be good to have a slightly wider variety of crops.”
“For example, what do you recommend?”
Kent felt uneasy about the current cultivation method, which was entirely focused on wheat. While it seemed likely they could harvest this year as things stood, if any problems arose, not cultivating other varieties could lead to severe damage. Kent recommended cultivating multiple types to diversify the risk.
“I would recommend sweet potatoes, but after harvesting the wheat, we’ve passed the planting period. We could also consider growing summer vegetables like tomatoes and cucumbers during the interval until the next sowing.”
“I don’t know about the sweet potatoes you mentioned, Kent, but I know tomatoes and cucumbers. However, getting seeds now might be difficult.”
The wheat currently being grown was nearing its harvest time. Kent and Caro discussed what to do afterward while inspecting the fields.
“Kent, were you studying agriculture?”
The Mayor, who had been listening with interest to their conversation, asked Kent, appearing impressed by his knowledge.
“No, I wasn’t particularly studying, but I did work at a shop that handled such things before…”
Needless to say, this referred to the Home Center where Kent had worked in his previous world. They had an extensive selection of gardening supplies, so the clerks needed a certain amount of knowledge to assist customers. While extensive specialized knowledge wasn’t necessary, they had to memorize general information (at least the names of the products).
After finishing their inspection of the farmland, the three of them returned to the Mayor’s house.
“Mayor, today was a very valuable learning experience. Thank you very much.”
“Thank you.”
“No, no, I didn’t do much, but I’m glad it was helpful for your studies.”
Kent and Caro expressed their gratitude to the Mayor.
“Father, welcome home.”
“Ah, I’m home.”
Berna greeted them as they entered the Mayor’s house.
“Welcome back. Kent, Caro. You’ll be staying for dinner, of course? I’ve prepared it.”
Berna seemed to have prepared dinner and was waiting for Kent and Caro’s return.
