Let’s rewind a bit.
I was actually quite surprised by something right after Ria and her group arrived.
"Wait. You guys use fire and eat things like meat?"
"Yes. Was using fire forbidden here, by any chance?"
"No, it's not that... It’s just that when people think of elves, they imagine a tribe that lives in harmony with nature in the forest and despises fire."
"Hahaha. How are we supposed to survive without using fire?"
"Well, you know, in harmony with nature..."
"For example?"
"Uh... waking up with the sunrise and sleeping with the sunset. Eating the fruit that grows on trees. Cherishing the forest, never harming the trees, and never wearing anything made of iron."
"U-um... My Lord."
"I’ve told you many times, please stop calling me 'Lord'... What is it?"
"Please don't underestimate nature. If you tried to live like that in this forest, you would die immediately. You wouldn't last a single day."
"Y-yeah, you're right."
While nodding in agreement with Ria’s reply, which was heavy with the weight of experience, I abandoned the internal image of elves I had been holding onto.
I thought I had abandoned it, but then...
"Mining and smithing?"
"Yes. We’ll handle the mining ourselves, so we'd like your help setting up a smithy... primarily building the forge. We’d appreciate your cooperation. Once the forge is finished, we can manufacture all sorts of things out of iron."
"I'd be happy for the help, but... smithing?"
"Is there a problem?"
"No, it's just... you can actually do smithing?"
"Of course. If we don't make our own knives, machetes, and especially arrowheads, we have no way to get them, right?"
... It looked like there was no room for a dwarf to make a debut here. Yeah.
Following the instructions from Ria and the others, we began building the forge. It was a great learning experience. Apparently, because they had been wandering as nomads for two hundred years, they could do almost anything. The only things they couldn't manage were a permanent settlement and reproduction. A permanent settlement was difficult because securing a stable food supply was a constant struggle, and reproduction was dangerous because being pregnant without a home base was a death sentence. I wondered what they had planned to do about the lack of men even if they did find a place to settle, but it seemed they had simply intended to "procure" one from somewhere. I decided not to ask for the details. In reality, it seemed I was currently the one occupying that "procured man" position.
Ria and her group were also a massive asset when it came to the harvest. They were particularly skilled at handling the wheat, which I had been procrastinating on.
"You even have wheat?"
"Is this it... I see."
I had intended to harvest the ears after they were completely dry, but apparently, I was a bit premature. It turned out the wheat needed to be dried even further before threshing and milling. When I asked about the process, it followed the same flow as the rice.
Ria and the others threshed and milled the wheat that I had in storage. As if it were the most natural thing in the world, they used a bonfire to bake fresh bread for me.
"You need this to make bread properly."
Rief showed me a small jar she was holding with great care. Inside was something that looked like fermented fruit. Based on the memories of my previous world... right, I remembered someone saying bread wouldn't rise without yeast. This was it.
"Even though you weren't settled anywhere, you're knowledgeable about so many things and carry so much with you."
"We did all of this before we became nomads."
I see.
"I'm just happy to be able to work in the fields again. Is it alright if I start a personal plot?"
"I don't mind, but... do you have seeds or seedlings you want to grow?"
"Yes. I have seeds I collected during our travels."
"Understood. In that case, please set it up in a spot where it won't affect the other crops."
"I won't grow anything that might cause problems. I'll start small, right behind the house. If there's an issue, just let me know."
"Got it."
The Universal Farming Tool was convenient, but there were limits to what I could do with my imagination alone. Thinking about potential emergencies, it was for the best to have someone who could farm manually. I hoped she would do her best with that first step.
I already knew Ria and the others would be a help, but they even cooperated in building the waterway. Combined with Zabuton's children, our efficiency skyrocketed. At this rate, by the end of the year...
No, that was being too optimistic. After all, between building houses for Ria’s group and various other tasks, the season was already changing.
By the way, Kuro and the wolves were having another birth rush this year. I couldn't keep track of which pup belonged to which parent anymore. Kuro and the others were smart enough that they would bring their children to me if I asked, but I simply couldn't tell the black puppies apart. I would have been grateful if they stood out as much as Fubuki... but they were all fundamentally pitch black. The only individual characteristics appeared in the horns on their foreheads—it was technically possible to identify them by the shape of the horn or the color and shimmer of the light deep inside it, but... Newborn puppies didn't have horns yet. Besides, if I relied on that for identification, I’d be in trouble during the season when they shed and regrow their horns. Since Kuro and his pack are so intelligent, they actually sulk if I call them by the wrong name. Meanwhile, the ones who hadn't been named yet were working extra hard to get my attention so I’d give them one. No, really, I have my limits.
Regardless, the amount of food we needed was increasing again. I had to keep working hard.
I expanded the field area further to the south of the New Field Area. The New Field Area now consisted of thirty-two plots, arranged four across by eight down. Since one plot was roughly fifty meters, the farmland in the New Field Area was two hundred meters by four hundred meters. In terms of area, that was 80,000 square meters. If I recalled correctly, one hectare is 10,000 square meters, so... eight hectares. I didn't really know if that was a large or small area for a single farmer. However, since the crops grew so fast with the Universal Farming Tool, I could harvest three to four times a year.
There was me, Lu, Tia, Ria, Lise, Liri, Rief, Ricotto, Rize, and Rita. Then there was Kuro and his pack... there were over a hundred of them now. Since Kuro and the others are family, I sometimes try to use the counter for "heads" of livestock to show respect, but since I’ve known them since they were puppies, it doesn't quite feel right. I keep accidentally counting them as "animals" out of habit. Then there was Zabuton. And her children, who were too many to count.
...Since the number of residents had surged, I was starting to worry if our harvest would be enough. I was also starting to get concerned that we might eventually hunt the animals in the surrounding forest to extinction. If only Kuro and the others could find a crop they liked as much as tomatoes, I could just grow a massive amount of that.
Around the time the autumn chill began to set in, the fruit trees I had planted as an experiment bore fruit. It wasn't a bumper crop yet, but we harvested a decent amount. Apples, pears, mandarins, oranges, persimmons, and peaches. I wondered which would be the most popular, and it turned out they were all hits. Kuro and the wolves ate the peaches quite skillfully, leaving only the hard pits behind. I had hoped to save the mandarins to eat while huddling indoors during the winter, but Tia was devouring them with such intensity that her hands were turning yellow. At that rate, none would survive until winter.
Ria and the elves mainly focused on the apples and pears. When I carved the apples into rabbit shapes or did decorative cuts, they were actually troubled, unsure if it was okay to eat something so ornate. Lu seemed to have taken a liking to the peaches, competing with Kuro’s pack to get her share. I really wished she would eat them while in her adult-sized body. When she does that while looking like a middle schooler, it really sets off my protective instincts.
By the way, I gave a portion of the harvested fruit to Zabuton and her children. The success of these fruit trees was largely thanks to them. For a while, it would only be the trees I planted as an experiment, but the trees in the dedicated Fruit Area should start producing in earnest the year after next. I'm just glad everyone liked them.
For the record, I personally love persimmons. I prefer the hard, crisp ones over the mushy, overripe kind. The freshly harvested persimmons were exactly like that, which made me very happy.
One square represents an area of roughly 50x50 meters.
□□□□□□□□FruitFruit □□□□□□□□FruitFruit □□□□□□□□FruitFruit □□□□□□□□FruitFruit □□□□□□□□FieldFieldFieldField○○○○ ━Building━PondPond□Field◇◇Field○Dog○○ ━Drainage━PondPond□FieldHouse◇Field○○○○ □□□□□□□□FieldFieldFieldField○○○○ □□□□▼▼▼▼△△△△ □□□□▼South▼△New△ □□□□▼west▼△Field△ □□□□▼▼▼▼△△△△ □□□□□□□□△△△△ □□□□□□□□△△△△ □□□□□□□□△△△△ □□□□□□□□△△△△
←The river is about five kilometers in this direction.