With more mouths to feed, I decided to expand the farm.
The day the waterway would finally be finished slipped further into the distance.
To be honest, we had enough food to get by for now, but I wanted to plan ahead for the coming winter.
Besides, I expected their appetites to surge as their due dates approached.
I remembered how Kuro and Yuki had devoured nearly an entire giant boar between the two of them when we first met.
It was definitely better to be prepared.
I cleared a new area south of the existing fields, the same size as the Dog Area—sixteen plots arranged in a four-by-four grid.
I decided to call it the New Field Area.
Once the initial tilling was done, my main tasks were just watering and occasionally running a hoe between the furrows.
Zabuton’s children were a huge help, keeping the birds and pests away.
On that note, the spiderlings and the mates brought back by Kuroichi’s group were getting along famously.
I was stunned to see several of the spiderlings hitching a ride on Alice’s back one day.
It seemed Alice was helping them move around.
I kept it to myself, but for a split second, I’d actually thought Alice was being eaten.
I kept the original plots in use too, though I mostly used them for my experiments.
I wanted to see if things would grow even if I tilled without a specific image in mind.
Or what would happen if I manually planted seeds and seedlings in a tilled spot.
I had a fair number of things I wanted to test.
I continued to grow the standard crops in the New Field Area.
The fruit trees hadn't produced anything yet, but they were starting to blossom.
Even if it’s impossible this year, I might be able to expect a harvest by next year.
The spiderlings even helped me with the harvest.
While they couldn't handle root vegetables or anything that needed to be cut at the base, they were excellent at picking tomatoes, eggplants, and cucumbers.
They even went the extra mile, carefully placing the produce onto the boxes and trays I'd set out.
I was so grateful for the help that I turned a blind eye whenever they snuck a snack for themselves.
Seeing the spiderlings helping with the harvest, Kuro and his pack tried to pitch in too, but...
Having only their mouths to work with, they weren't exactly delicate. They ended up eating more than they gathered.
Eventually, they just gave up the pretense and started eating the crops openly.
I scolded them, naturally.
Seeing them look so genuinely dejected after my lecture was actually pretty funny.
Work on the waterway ground to a halt.
Part of it was the time I spent on the Dog Area and the New Field Area, but the real reason was that Yuki and the others were due any day now.
As their bellies grew larger, the females stepped back from hunting and other duties.
The males worked overtime to compensate, but the expectant mothers had truly voracious appetites.
They could barely keep up with the demand.
Zabuton ended up with a mountain of pelts, and I even lined part of my sleeping area with fur.
Anyway, I was now spending most of my time processing the game the males brought back.
Normally, the wolves would have just eaten the meat raw, but they’d clearly grown accustomed to the taste of properly bled meat, because they started insisting I prepare it for them.
One look at those big, pleading eyes from the pregnant females and I was powerless to say no.
I spent my days like a professional butcher, processing everything the males caught.
Then, the birth rush began.
Elis was first.
Four healthy pups later, I barely had time to celebrate before Alice went into labor.
Kurosan, Yuki, and Iris followed in quick succession. Suddenly, the farm was very lively.
Until now, we usually ate near my house, but with Yuki in her old doghouse and the others in their own huts in the Dog Area, the pack was scattered. For a while, they couldn't all gather in one place.
This meant I had to prepare meals in two different locations.
Surprisingly, Kuro and the others preferred cooked meat over raw.
It was unexpected.
I’d always pictured them as savage beasts devouring raw flesh...
Actually, they were tearing into that boar meat when we first met, weren't they?
Uno seemed to have matured overnight now that the pups were here. He looked quite dignified.
I thought I was imagining it until he took down a Giant Boar entirely on his own.
Impressive.
The kill was magnificent, but he couldn't actually carry the thing back. He had to come find me for help, which was pretty funny.
I headed to the river for a change of pace, hoping for some fish.
That's when I made a discovery.
The Universal Farming Tool could not turn into a fishing rod.
I wondered why.
Maybe it was a matter of jurisdiction? Perhaps I needed a "Universal Fishing Tool" for that.
The tool didn't speak, obviously, but it felt like it was apologizing. I told it not to worry about it.
It had done so much for me already; I wasn't about to complain over a little thing like that.
Besides, even without a rod, I could use a hoe and shovel to build fish traps.
No problem at all.
...Except for the fact that I didn't catch a single fish.
My failure stemmed from the fact that the fish here were incredibly active.
Apparently, fish in another world don't just give up when they find themselves out of water.
They were remarkably gutsy, but the way they defied my common sense was a little unsettling.
Some of them even had fangs.
That was genuinely scary.
A few days later, I refined my traps and managed to catch a few fish about thirty centimeters long.
I tried tasting them immediately, but they were awful.
They tasted like straight mud.
I should have known something was up when Kuro and the others showed zero interest in my catch.
Hmph, what a shame.
Field Field Field Field Under Construction Pond Pond Field Tree Tree Field Dog Drainage Pond Pond Field House Tree Field Field Field Field Field New Field Area
The river is about five kilometers that way.