Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 19. Let’s Grow Vegetables and Do Some Farming
After confirming with Jude-san, I learned that there are four seasons here, and right now it’s early spring. From what I hear, the climate around here is mild- neither too harsh in winter or summer, making it quite comfortable to live. That’s probably why he is living here with his sister.
I didn’t probe into too many details, but since he didn’t mention their parents, I figured there must be some reason. It seems there’s someone who looks after his sister regularly, but I didn’t get a chance to meet them this time. I’d like to consult them about something that Luna can eat next time.
After careful thought, I decided to have Luna grow cherry tomatoes.
Thinking about starting from seed means a longer cultivation period, but I forgot that I’ve bought seedlings before. I’ve purchased a no-name Cherry tomato seedling for 58 yen and some discounted brand cherry tomato seedling for 150 yen.
It’s better to go with the brand seedling here. Since it was leftover stock, it already had flowers and the lower leaves were slightly yellowed, but cherry tomatoes are hardy, so it’s a healthy seedling that should grow well in a garden.
They were sweet. Not exactly fruit, but close enough. They were still tomatoes, after all. But even someone like me who usually dislikes tomatoes could eat them.
As for other sweet vegetables, I thought maybe we could try planting— sweet potatoes. I plan to plant some soon just to see how they do.
They can be grown in bags, which is convenient. They take some time but are relatively easy to cultivate, and they’re perfect for making snacks!
After all, I need to keep my promises.
There were two kinds of sweet potato vines: ten for 500 yen, and ten for 100 yen that were slightly wilted and thus discounted—10 for 100 yen? Which should I choose?
Although they look like they’re almost dead, sweet potatoes are quite resilient and can root easily. If I can salvage even half of them, the 100-yen pack is the better deal. Maybe I’ll buy the 10 for 100 yen and plant the two best-looking ones in bags. The rest, I wonder if I can plant somewhere else.
And then, there’s strawberries too. Should I grow those?
It’s a bit of a debate whether strawberries are vegetables or fruits, but their flowers and fruits are adorable. They’re sweet, delicious, and packed with vitamin C.
The only strawberry seedlings I’ve bought before were a discounted 98-yen kind, so that’s what I went with.
That said, strawberries are kind of tricky to grow. If you want tasty fruit, it takes a lot of effort and time. It might be best to just treat strawberries as mainly ornamental.
So, I asked Jude-san to prepare a deep pot for the cherry tomatoes, a sturdy sack for the sweet potatoes, and a cute pot for the strawberries.
I want to try growing vegetables myself too. And now I kind of feel like growing flowers also, so I started thinking about how I should go about it.
Now that I think about it, I remembered that one of the guild requests involved working on farms or similar places. I hadn’t accepted one before because the timing and location weren’t ideal, but maybe if I took one of those, I could get to know some local farmers.
“Farm work? There’s an urgent request from Nia Farm right now. They need help with soil prep, planting, setting up support poles, and so on. They’re busy, so they’re desperately asking anyone to come help.”
When I asked Mathilda-san, she told me there was a promising request from a nearby farm.
Ah, maybe they’re falling behind on their spring tasks. There are so many spring and summer vegetables that need supports.
“I would like to accept this request.”
I asked for the location, got the request slip, and headed to the farm.
“Great, this really helps. Over there’s my nephew, please listen to what he tells you to do!”
When I arrived at Nia Farm and explained I was here on a guild request, I was warmly welcomed. Apparently, the farm owner, Dawn-san, had injured his back, and his wife, Milia-san, had hurt her knees, so they couldn’t move around much.
The person I was sent to was—
“Byrne?”
It was Byrne-san, the person who helped me when I entered the town. I was surprised. Wait, wasn’t he a soldier at the gate?
Now here he was, swinging a hoe with his muscular arms, quickly making ridges. It was amazing watching him finish preparing a whole row of beds. So fast.
“Hmm, yeah. Um…”
“It’s Saki. We met at the gate the other day.”
“Oh, that time. So you came on a guild request?”
When I asked him about it, it turned out his uncle asked him to help on his day off, so he really is a soldier by profession. It’s pretty common for relatives to get called in to help with farm work when things get busy.
“The beds are already made, so I’d like you to plant those seedlings over there.”
Hmm, that looks like lettuce or something similar. I asked Byrne-san to plant one of the seedlings for me. I watched him to confirm his technique.
Well then, I’ll get started.
I planted lettuce, then broccoli, then set up supports for the beans. Between tasks, I weeded and plowed the soil. I also cleaned up leftover debris from the winter crops. There’s a mountain of work to do.
Both Dawn-san and Milia-san were doing what they could, despite their back and knee pains. I wish they could rest, but I guess that’s not an option.
“You’re pretty skilled. Think you can handle seeding too? And water the plants over there?”
I could,… but is it okay for me to do that?
Sowing seeds and watering may seem simple, but it’s actually quite difficult. At this time of year, if you water them too much or too little, vegetable seedlings can grow too fast and start to rot.
I’d do it if I was told to, of course.
So, I just kept working as I was told—doing this and that.
“Hey! It’s about time for a break!”
Byrne-san called out.
You really need to take proper breaks when it comes to physical labor. Especially busy seasons, rest is essential.
I snack on the tea and snacks that Milia-san had prepared for me.
“Thank you so much for coming. Please eat as much as you like!”
It was a hearty soup with barley and lots of vegetables.
I dipped slices of light rye bread into the soup and ate it.
It was delicious. It’s true, vegetables here have a slightly bitter or pungent taste compared to Japanese vegetables, but this also means the flavor is stronger—more taste.
As you grow older, you start to find vegetables incredibly tasty.
I remembered when I was a kid, someone told me to try boiled radishes because it was delicious, but when I tried it, it tasted terrible. Now, I love simmered daikon, but back then I thought it was gross and wondered why adults pretended that something so unpalatable was tasty. I thought they were lying.
Thinking about those days made me smile.
“Delicious,” I said, savoring every bite.
Now, about that back pain and knee pain—I’ve experienced them too. It’s really painful. The basic thing to do is to rest, but when that’s not an option, then I rely on a corset, some ointments, and painkillers.
If you go to the doctor for back pain, you’re usually given a bunch of ointments and painkillers prescribed and told to wait and see if it gets better. Though I heard they’ve started limiting how many patches you get these days.
A corset costs more than 1,000 yen, so I can’t buy one for just that.
Patches would probably look really out of place here and their film layer too—same with the tube-type ointments.. The containers they come in is also a little too small.
What I really want them to try is the painkillers, but I’m not sure if it’ll be okay.