After seeing off the departure of Zabuton's Children—a seasonal event I had unilaterally decided was the herald of spring—Kuro and the others began shedding their horns.
After that, it would be time to find partners.
Good grief.
The pack was going to grow to an incredible size.
I decided to avert my eyes from that particular reality for now.
Instead, I set to work on improving the reservoir.
Until now, the water had flowed in a straight line from the waterfall at the source, through the waterway, and directly into the reservoir. Because of this, any debris that entered the waterway ended up straight in the pond. It was easy enough to fish out trash, but it would be a problem if living creatures started washing in.
To prevent this, I decided to build a water reservoir in front of the main pond to act as a buffer. While the reservoir was shaped like an inverted pyramid reaching five meters at its deepest point, I made this new water reservoir a uniform fifty centimeters deep. This way, any debris or creatures that washed down would likely be caught in the shallower pool.
Of course, a fence was necessary between the water reservoir and the reservoir. Wire mesh would have been ideal, but since I didn't have any, I fashioned a fence out of bamboo poles. It looked like it would do a fine job of filtering out the trash.
I applied similar improvements to the drainage waterways. I had already built a drainage pool for the wastewater from the bath, where I kept slimes to purify the water. I installed a similar system for the drainage path leading out of the reservoir. This was a measure to clean the water and to ensure that anything accidentally dropped into the reservoir wouldn't be swept all the way to the river.
I also installed a bamboo fence between the reservoir and the newly created drainage pool. This wasn't to keep debris out, but rather to keep the slimes from wandering out of the drainage pool.
Speaking of which, I realized the slimes had grown quite numerous. I often saw them moving around on their own these days. I had panicked the first time I saw them migrating, but once I realized they were just heading toward places where they were needed and were otherwise harmless, I left them to their own devices. Occasionally, I spotted a few with different colors mixed in, but I chose to believe it wasn't an issue.
While I was occupied with these projects, the season for Kuro’s pack to find partners arrived. However, almost none of them left the village this year. It seemed that pairings had been established among the wolves already living here. I wasn't sure if that was a good thing for their genetic diversity, but I decided to let it be.
In their place—though I wouldn't call it a direct trade—we decided to dispatch a group to invite other High Elves wandering the forest to migrate here, just as Ria and her group had done. Rief and Rasa were chosen for the task, accompanied by ten of Kuro's children as guards. They planned to return by winter at the very latest.
At the same time, we moved forward with building log houses to accommodate the potential newcomers. One way or another, I stayed busy.
The wine grapes reached their harvest window in the blink of an eye. Once they were gathered, I tried my hand at making wine. According to old traditions, you were supposed to tread on them with your feet, but personally, I couldn't stomach the idea of kicking food around.
Instead, I took a more straightforward approach and crushed them roughly using a mortar I had carved from stone. After they were crushed, I sealed them in barrels for storage. That was it. It was so simple it made me anxious about whether it would actually turn into wine at all.
Despite the simple process, the sheer volume made the work exhausting. I prepared sixteen large barrels, each big enough for a person to fit inside. Since it would be heartbreaking if the whole batch failed, I tried slightly different crushing methods for each barrel. I really hoped it would turn out well.
Then came a dilemma: what should I do with the wine grape field? Normally, I would till the land again to grow the same crop or rotate to something else. However, with it still being uncertain if the wine would be a success, I wondered if I should keep dedicated fields for wine grapes. Considering our food stores, it might be better to plant wheat, soybeans, rice, or corn instead.
Unable to decide, I consulted the others. Their consensus on the wine grape field was absolute.
"I have high expectations for the wine, Village Head."
"I hope we can drink it soon."
"Make sure to call me when it's time for the tasting."
"I'm quite the connoisseur when it comes to wine, you know."
"Hehehe."
"With that much, we'll have plenty to drink."
"Leave the barrel making to us."
It turned out everyone was just hungry for alcohol. I didn't know how the batch would turn out, but we decided to keep the wine grape field as it was.
The fields weren't limited to grapes, of course. After harvesting the grains—wheat, soybeans, rice, and corn—we moved on to the root vegetables like carrots, potatoes, daikon, garlic, and onions.
I categorized the crops based on whether or not Zabuton’s Children could harvest them. The spiders could handle anything that could be picked with scissors, but tasks requiring a sickle or heavy lifting were too much for them. Therefore, I left the tomatoes, cabbage, pumpkins, cucumbers, eggplants, and various fruits primarily to them.
I personally handled the spinach, sugar cane, and tea, which required human hands, and then harvested the canola to secure our oil supply. Having more hands around was a true blessing. While our consumption had increased, we weren't in any danger of starving, thanks to either the [Universal Farming Tool] or the supernatural growth speed of the crops.
I was truly grateful.
On a side note, I conducted a few experiments regarding the crops. I wanted to see if the plants I grew would survive elsewhere. I used onions for the test. The results showed that they would grow as long as they were in soil I had tilled, but they rotted anywhere else. I also tried growing onions using only water, but that failed as well; they rotted almost immediately after sprouting.
I wasn't sure if my method was poor or if the water was the issue, but it was a major discovery to learn that crops would grow in soil I had worked even without the direct use of the [Universal Farming Tool]. However, the growth rate in those cases was slow. Well, "slow" in the sense that it matched the natural growth speed I remembered from my previous life.
In other words... the incredible growth speed was definitely thanks to the [Universal Farming Tool].
I offered my thanks to God once again.
Incidentally, it seemed that fruit-bearing trees grown with the [Universal Farming Tool] grew rapidly until they reached maturity, but their growth stabilized to a normal pace once they began to bear fruit.