Chapter 211: Foul Odor
Four days had passed since planting the new crops.
Since they were grown in the skill farm, the new crops had already borne fruit.
“So these three are the new crops? They look kind of strange… don’t they smell a little?”
“Yes. They definitely smell quite strong.”
Even though only one of each was planted, the stench was noticeable even from a distance.
Most likely, the source of this smell was Brugard.
“Is it coming from this bumpy one?”
“I think so. Norman said Brugard is a smelly vegetable.”
“I see… I’m not too excited about harvesting it then.”
Because the smell carries even at a distance, the hands are guaranteed to reek when harvested.
I decided to take responsibility and harvest Brugard myself.
I made sure to breathe through my nose as little as possible and harvested all the Brugard at once.
It was squishy and unpleasant to the touch.
As for the smell—it was like rotting garbage, or sulfur turned up strong.
More than durian, it resembled the odor of surströmming.
“Brugard has been harvested. Unless it sells for an amazing price or tastes incredible, I doubt we’ll grow it again.”
“I agree. Considering how strong the smell is even for just a few, imagine an entire field of it—it would be unbearable.”
As Sheila said, the mere thought of a whole field of Brugard was frightening.
For now, Brugard would be a one-time experiment. The important crops were Iceack and Artipassion.
Iceack was a cluster of small, blueberry-like fruits.
As Sheila described, they were bluish, giving a strong impression of blueberries.
While I only expected NP efficiency from Iceack, I had hopes for taste in Artipassion.
It looked like a bright yellow mango, appearing very delicious.
The smell… was hard to distinguish because of Brugard, but it seemed fruity.
Both the look and smell passed the test; only taste remained to be determined.
“Sato, Artipassion looks delicious.”
“Yes. I plan to give it to Norman to see if it’s an edible crop.”
“If it’s edible, wouldn’t that be a major discovery?”
“I think so. Since it’s a crop from this world, it could possibly be mass-produced outside this farm as well.”
Hoping that Artipassion would taste good, I also focused on checking the sale price of each crop.
All three took four days to mature, and none was particularly difficult to grow, so the deciding factor would be their NP yield.
First, I placed the foul-smelling Brugard into a shipment box to see how much NP it would increase.
Before placing it in the box: 18,816 NP; after: 18,846 NP.
The cost of a Brugard seedling was 20 NP, and each seedling yielded three fruits, giving a profit of 100 NP.
By comparison, the main crop Brightvoice yields 38 NP, so Brugard almost doubled the profit.
The downside, of course, was the overpowering smell.
The profit margin was excellent, and with this odor, there seemed to be no risk of pest damage… honestly, I was tempted to grow more.
Despite the unpleasantness, I also checked the NP gains of Iceack and Artipassion.
Iceack: 55 NP; Artipassion: 40 NP.
Compared to Brugard, they earned less, but both exceeded Brightvoice.
However, Brightvoice’s biggest advantage is almost zero pest damage.
Crops susceptible to pests might ultimately yield less NP than Brightvoice, so I couldn’t decide on a main crop yet.
Still, I suspected that even with pests, Brugard would likely earn the most NP.
“Sato, what were the sale prices for each?”
“Brugard was overwhelmingly the highest, followed by Iceack, with Artipassion being the lowest—but all three earned more than Brightvoice.”
“I see. So, we’ll mainly grow Iceack from now on?”
“It depends on ease of cultivation. Brightvoice is still excellent. But… since Brugard sold for nearly twice as much as Iceack, it might still be an option.”
Upon hearing this, Sheila made a briefly grimace, the same expression she had shown when I assigned her as my guard in the royal castle. I could tell she really disliked it.
“Only one of them sold for that much? The smell is unpleasant, but if we can endure it, we could get a huge amount of currency…”
“Regarding Brugard, we’ll only consider it if we can manage the smell. Don’t worry. We might grow a few, but not as a main crop.”
“That’s a relief. I was genuinely worried the entire area would stink if we grew a lot.”
Growing it across the whole skill farm could even make the villa itself smell.
While I want to earn lots of NP, I don’t intend to compromise the environment for it.
We’ll test all possible deodorizing methods, and if effective, consider mass production…
For now, the plan is to focus on Iceack, Artipassion, and Brightvoice.