Summer was drawing to a close. However, it hadn't exactly cooled down yet. It was still sweltering, and it felt as though the summer heat intended to linger a while longer.
That didn't matter to the fields I had created with the Universal Farming Tool, though. The crops were ready and waiting for harvest. It was time to get to work.
Zabuton's children were the stars of the show during the harvest. They worked in perfect coordination to gather eggplants, tomatoes, cucumbers, pumpkins, and more. What was truly impressive was their ability to properly select only the best produce. While the crops in the fields created by the Universal Farming Tool generally grew well, they didn't all mature at the same rate, so someone had to distinguish between what was ready and what wasn't. Even I often agonized over the selection process, but the judgment of Zabuton's children was flawless. They were incredibly reliable.
The High Elves, Lizardmen, Dwarves, Beastman Race, and Mountain Elves were all well-accustomed to the routine, bringing in the harvest one after another. They were equally dependable. Giral and the three other dragons offered their assistance as well. I gratefully accepted and assigned them to cabbage duty. To be honest, I would have preferred to have them help with root vegetables like carrots and daikon, but I knew Draim was looking forward to harvesting those himself. I left the task of instructing the dragons on how to handle the cabbage to the beastman girls.
After putting in a bit of harvesting work myself, I used the Universal Farming Tool to till the cleared areas and prepare them as new fields. I was fine because I had the tool, but I made sure to warn the others to be careful of the lingering heat. I told them they mustn't forget to stay hydrated and keep up their salt intake.
Then there was the matter of disposing of the crops that had been crushed or broken during the harvest. It would have been a waste to simply throw them away. They were perfectly edible, even if they weren't fit for sale. Kuro's children were happy to help consume the leftovers. Since there were so many of them, even the pickiest eaters among the pack couldn't put a dent in the surplus. Still, it was always better to have as little waste as possible.
"Village Head, do we not need to harvest that field over there?" one of the High Elves asked, pointing toward the potato field.
"That's the private potato field for Zabuton's children. They want to harvest those themselves... see?"
Having finished their work elsewhere, Zabuton's children gathered at the field and began digging up the potatoes individually. They worked carefully to ensure they didn't nick the tubers. Once they had unearthed a potato, they would hold it high in the air, seemingly deliberating for a moment whether to eat it right then and there before ultimately deciding to take it back with them. Seeing them use their silk to strap the potatoes to their backs was a truly heartwarming sight.
The Civil Official Girls checked the final count of the harvested crops. We secured the portions needed for each sub-village, the gifts for Draim, Dos, the Demon King, and Progenitor-san, and the supply required for Big Roof Shashato. The remaining crops were transported to Village Five to be sold to the Goroun Company. Unlike the early days, buying and selling had become much easier thanks to the Teleportation Gate. Rather than cash, we accepted payment in the form of goods, such as seafood.
"There are so many fish I've never seen before!" the children exclaimed, their eyes sparkling as they looked at the haul brought in from Village Five. My eyes were sparkling right along with them.
"This is..."
The first was roughly eighty centimeters long... but was it a sanma-like fish? The other was about a meter and a half long, but no matter how I looked at it, it was a sake-like fish. They were truly giant versions of sanma and salmon. We had two hundred of the sanma-like fish and fifty of the sake-like fish. Apparently, they had been caught in the waters near Shashato City. They hadn't been caught with nets, either; they were individually caught. I was deeply grateful that they had prepared so many for us.
Sanma-like fish and sake-like fish. While it was a bit early for the flavors of autumn, this wasn't Japan, after all. I knew exactly what needed to be done. First, I asked for some daikon to be grated. I recalled that we were growing several sudachi trees, and they should have been bearing fruit by now. I asked someone to go harvest a few. With soy sauce—thanks to Flora—and plenty of freshly cooked rice, we were ready.
Now, the first challenge was practicing how to grill these giant sanma-like fish. I knew it would be difficult due to their size, but we were determined to make it work.
As it turned out, grilling the sanma-like fish whole was physically impossible given their size. I ended up having to fillet them. They were delicious, but I felt a lingering sense of frustration that I couldn't roast them whole.
The sake-like fish was undeniably salmon. It was fantastic. It might have been a bit selfish of me, but I wanted it served with my rice every morning for the foreseeable future.
The fish was a massive hit among the villagers. However, the children seemed to prefer the sake-like fish over the sanma-like fish.
"It has too many bones," Nart, the children’s representative, explained.
I had tried to remove as many as I could while filleting them, but some small ones inevitably remained. Of course, Urza and Gral didn't care at all, happily munching through the bones and all. Still, I would have preferred if they at least left the larger bones behind.
Aegis, the phoenix chick, was incredibly fastidious about it. He meticulously removed every bone from his sanma-like fish and left them behind. I didn't mind him not eating them, but I wasn't sure what to make of the way he lined the bones up so neatly on his plate. I wondered if that was some kind of phoenix instinct, or if he was just particularly eccentric.
As for the sake-like fish, the seared skin became an instant favorite among the village adults. The Dwarves were especially delighted by it. I was glad they liked it, but I had to remind them to keep their alcohol consumption in moderation.
Since fish doesn't stay fresh for long, we moved to consume it quickly. Even though these fish were large enough to overwhelm a single household, they disappeared in the blink of an eye when shared with the entire village.
...In hindsight, I really should have saved a little bit more for myself. I’ll have to put in another request with Michael-san.
On a side note, the village was split on whether or not to eat the innards of the sanma-like fish. The children were firmly in the "do not eat" camp. They were quite bitter, after all, so I didn't try to force them.