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"Field! Field! Fieeeeld!!"
I dug into the dirt using Tria-chan’s body. The tool of choice was, naturally, the hoe Pen-pen had crafted.
I’d been eating nothing but meat lately, and the craving for a stomach full of vegetables had hit me hard. If I was going to do it, I wanted an all-you-can-eat feast of fresh, homegrown greens.
"Hyahha! Tilling the earth to make a field is perfectly normal!!"
"Tria is saying 'normal' for no reason-o," Alto remarked.
"It’s pretty much a regular occurrence-ssu," Pen-pen added.
As I happily continued tilling, the two of them started chiming in.
"What? It’s not like I’m saying it’s some masterpiece. It’s just a normal field, so I called it normal. Calling something normal 'normal' is a normal thing to do, isn't it?"
"O-o-o... 'Normal' is having a total gestalt collapse-o."
"What even is 'normal' anymore-ssu?"
"Oh, come on, Pen-pen. 'Normal' just means typical or average."
"By that standard, isn't this already far from normal-ssu? At least for the scale of a personal home garden."
Pen-pen shot a skeptical look at the field.
The area I’d tilled around our base was, in fact, quite vast. To be precise, I’d cleared away the forest and dug up enough land to establish a fairly impressive farm.
A single 'Home' plot was roughly the size of a house with a yard. I’d tilled an area ten plots long by ten plots wide—in other words, a field equivalent to 100 'Home' plots.
"When I used this place as a base, it was just a regular forest, but you’ve completely developed it-ssu. This is big enough to build a village—no, a town-ssu!"
"Well, when I tried to make a field inside the 'Home' area, there wasn't much land left. I started leveling the ground outside, and I guess I just got carried away and made it huge."
"Going overboard during ground leveling is a total classic-o," Alto agreed.
For the record, I’d had Alto use an 'Elemental Cartridge (Fire)' in her gun to perform a sweeping slash-and-burn of the forest during the initial clearing.
Despite having literally been caught in a fire just the other day, Alto didn't seem to have any trauma from it. She had a blast, shouting, "Hyahha! Disinfection-o!" I suppose people in sales really are built tough.
Once the forest was roughly cleared, actually digging it up was surprisingly easy thanks to Tria-chan’s boosted stats.
Honestly, you can't go around committing this kind of environmental destruction in reality. This is definitely one of the best ways to play a game! It’s great!
"I mean, if you just wanted vegetables, I could have provided some for you-ssu," Pen-pen offered.
"O-o-o. I was bored anyway, so this is perfect-o," Alto said.
"Right? I was getting tired of leveling, too. And there’s still no sign of the Third Character being unlocked."
It was a bit of a luxury problem, but we had plenty of meat in stock from hunting edible monsters like Boars, Orcs, and Minotaurs. We even had a surplus of fish like Devil Salmon sitting in our inventories.
Which meant it was finally time for the vegetable turn!!
Wait, why didn't I just hunt plant-type monsters that looked edible? Well, it seemed those kinds of monsters didn't really exist around here...
"Alright, that should be enough tilling for now... Time to sow the seeds!"
"Wait, Tria-shi, you have to make furrows first-ssu."
"Furrows...? What are those?"
"Haven't you seen them in my field-ssu? The little rows of mounds and valleys."
"Ah, those! ...Wait, don't those just get made automatically when you plant the seeds?"
"That's how it works for fields inside the 'Home,' but outside, you have to make them properly-ssu."
Apparently, I’d have to plant the seeds manually, too. ...This was starting to sound like a massive pain.
"Lord Spirit. Should I do it-o?"
'Lord Spirit, Tria can do it too. Please, give the order.'
"Oh, right. We have Auto Mode."
"If you'll share the harvest with us, I'll have Nika-chan help out too-o," Alto offered.
"Please. I definitely made this place a bit too big for one person."
With a field this size, we’d end up with more than I could ever eat alone anyway.
"Then I'll go whip up some Liquid Fertilizer-ssu. The kind you just have to spray. Miti-chan should be able to spread it effectively in her slime form-ssu."
"Leave it to me-ri! If it's Penpen-sama's medicine, there's no doubt it'll work-o!"
"By the way, what kind of vegetables are we planting-ssu? I'll need to fine-tune the mix."
"Cucumbers and tomatoes. I figured things you can just pick and eat on the spot would be best."
"Plant cabbage too-o! I want to eat salted cabbage-o!"
"Understood-ssu. I'll make sure to have some mayonnaise ready, too!!"
She really knew her stuff. As expected of Pen-pen. Classic Pen-pen.