Volume 2 Chapter 9-2 Royal Botanical Garden
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
Ms. Floria says something a bit scary.
”No matter how much money you have, it’s never enough. If it weren’t for that annoying wall barley, we wouldn’t have this trouble.”
Ms. Hóa really hates that wall barley.
Why does she hate wheat so much?
wall barley grows everywhere and produces a lot of grain, like a cheat.
It doesn’t need to be cultivated or fertilized; it even grows by itself from dropped seeds.
People just need to harvest the wheat when it’s ready.
It’s totally a cheat.
”Isn’t wall barley a gift from the Goddess of Fertility, Belzea?”
”What kind of fertility? In lands polluted by wall barley, only plants allowed by Belzea can grow. Do you understand how terrible that is, little boy?”
Calling me a little boy… Well, Ms. Hóa is probably over a hundred, so it’s fine.
Still, wall barley has some crazy side effects.
It’s like a genetically modified plant, but it kills off all but certain plants.
That seems really bad.
Well, you could say it’s convenient because you don’t need herbicides?
”Can’t we do some breeding to not lose against wall barley?”
There are plants that can grow with wall barley, so can’t we somehow breed tomatoes too?
”Breeding, huh? I hadn’t thought of that… The main problem is that a foolish goddess treated some plants as weeds, putting them on the brink of extinction, which includes valuable herbs known only to elves.”
”So, that’s why you keep the wall barley seeds from coming here?”
”Yeah, I even set up a big barrier for that.”
I see, this garden is like a plant ark.
If I look closely, there’s all sorts of weeds in the field.
Is this the original form of the ecosystem in this world?
I found corn and pumpkins apart from tomatoes.
And finally, I discovered a rice field.
”Isn’t this rice?!”
They have rice in this world too!
I want to eat onigiri!
”As expected, Japanese people love rice. Your reaction is so easy to read.”
When Ms. Hóa signaled, a woman in armor approached.
Hey, wait a minute.
That’s not a human.
What I thought was armor is actually a shell.
It’s an insect-person.
That waist is so slender, it’s like an ant’s.
Ant-Man?
Or maybe Ant-Woman, since it’s a female.
The only thing that looks human is the face, but the eyes are covered with something like goggles, so I can’t read the expression.
The whole goggle thing has a mysterious glow, like a dragonfly’s eye.
Could it be compound eyes?
I’ve seen shadows of people tending to plants here and there.
Could it all be them?
When Ms. Hóa gives an order, the Ant-Woman quickly moves away.
”Is this your first time seeing an antfolk?”
”An antfolk?”
That’s right.
But are they monsters?
They don’t look dangerous, but should monsters be in such a place in the capital?
”There are some violent species, but these ones have served the elves for thousands of years, bearing the load of labor.”
”…They seem like hard workers.”
Only ants.
”They’re good at work and house chores, and they’re even skilled at cooking. If you like, I’ll give you one. It seems you have the qualifications, young boy.”
It’s a bit awkward to be treated like a dog or a cat.
What do you mean, ‘qualifications’?
Ms. Hóa seems to know me already.
It’s a bit unsettling.
* * *
Along the path, there are big sunflowers blooming.
It’s sunflowers in the summer, after all.
I like how strong sunflowers are, and their seeds are delicious when roasted.
”About half of the plants grown here were brought from another world. Many are unnaturally excellent as crops, probably because they were made by human hands. In that unnatural aspect, they’re like wall barley. What do you think of wall barley, young boy?”
Ms. Hóa’s gaze is serious as he asks.
I have a lot of thoughts about wall barley too.
”Thanks to it, the people of this world don’t have to worry about hunger. But relying on just one species is dangerous. If something happened and all the wall barley plants died, everyone would starve.”
”Hmph, don’t think such interesting things, young boy.”
Ms. Hóa was lost in thought.
Sometimes, I hear scary mumblings about diseases.
They wouldn’t create a germ to defeat the wild barley, would they?
Still, many plants have been brought to Earth as a byproduct of summoning Heroes.
* * *
The antfolk from earlier came to call me for lunch.
Maybe it’s not the same one, but I can’t tell the ant people apart.
As I got closer to the dining hall, a tempting smell tickled my nose.
Could this familiar smell be… curry?
Is it curry?
Please bookmark this series and rate ☆☆☆☆☆ on here!
Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
Leave a Reply