Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Volume 5: Preparation is Key for Farming Work
Chapter 32. Cheap Vegetable Seeds
“Probably. I think the varieties are different, though.”
The fodder they’re using is probably not made from glutinous rice.
Even the corn used for feed is entirely different from the corn we eat on a daily basis.
There are various kinds of rice, too. Was there such a thing as brewer’s rice?
Anyway, I try to recommend the strawberry mochi and tell them to just try it.
“Hmm, it’s delicious,”
Ah, Jude-san’s quick finish-it-all-after-the-first-bite thing— it’s probably a good sign he liked it.
“It’s very chewy and tasty,”
Martha-san seems to have taken a liking to the mochi.
“What is this white powder?”
I think she’s asking about the potato starch sprinkled on to make handling the mochi easier.
I wonder if “potato starch” will be understood. If it’s translated as “starch derived from potatoes,” it might have a slightly different nuance. Well, I trust the translator will handle that properly, but maybe I should try to rephrase it a bit here.
I’ve been talking unconsciously all this time, but now that I notice it, it starts to bother me. Hmm? Wait, something feels off about the translator. But whatever.
“It’s a flour made from potatoes.”
Come to think of it, I’ve heard about something like a potato debate? Potato police? Something along those lines.
It seems potatoes exist in this world too, but I wonder what the vegetation is like.
“Is it different from the corn starch?”
Oh, they even have corn starch?
The powder used when handling mochi should ideally be corn starch, but I only had potato starch at home.
Come to think of it, I don’t recall ever buying corn starch. Wait—was that stuff sold under the name “sticky rice flour” actually cornstarch?
My memory’s pretty fuzzy.
“I think you had to grate the potatoes and soak them in water…”
I feel like I did this in a science experiment or something.
Let’s make warabi mochi!
Or something like it.
I was curious why she was so concerned about that, but it turns out turns out that the staple foods Luna eats without any problems are bread that is as white as possible and dumplings made from white corn flour.
So Martha-san’s reaction was probably to something that Luna could eat.
She really was surviving on carbohydrates. It’s almost miraculous that she’s been able to survive on just that despite her health issues. Luna is certainly thin and small, but she’s not that dangerously gaunt or sickly -looking.
I wonder if it has something to do with the biology of elves or something? I thought I had unraveled the mystery, but there are still many small details that remain.
Well, that’s how the tasting session wrapped up.
For now, I plan to entrust Jude-san with some vegetable seeds so that Luna can continue to grow her own vegetables.
There are two well-known companies from which to buy vegetable seeds, but if you want some unusual or cheap seeds, there’s a lesser-known place that’s a bit of a secret among enthusiasts.
I can’t recall the name right now… It’s that place, yes, that place.
It’s a company in Osaka that originally grew chrysanthemums, and although the prices have gone up a bit now. Back in the day, they sold flower and vegetable seeds for just 50 yen per bag, and I think they sold about 8 or 10 bags at a time. If you buy in bulk, they even offer free shipping—a generous deal.
When a store offers free shipping, it makes you want to buy more, right?
Thanks to that history, I can buy a variety of vegetable seeds for around 50 yen each.
But there’s a reason they’re so cheap—often, the seed packets have no photos, just plain paper bags, and sometimes the contents are wrong. I’ve actually experienced planting something and it turning out to be completely different!
It’s good for trying out more unusual vegetables like kohlrabi, but still—cheap is cheap.
You can also find 2 bags for 100 yen seed packs at 100-yen shops, but these contain less than what I get from this place.
In the past, they used to include more seed than the labeled amount, so when you opened the packet, it seemed like they definitely just poured it in without measuring it out.
It was really cheap and plentiful back then.
Now that I’ve got the land leased, I’ll give Jude-san what I had bought with the remainder of yesterday’s money to get ready.
If we grow broccoli, spinach, cabbage, and carrots, that should be enough—since we already have tomatoes, nutritionally it should be quite balanced.
Oh, there are quite a lot of baby leaf seeds, and there are a wide variety of vegetables, so it might be a good idea to separate the seeds and sow them.
Where do I buy vegetable seeds around here? Probably from the Agricultural Guild.
It’s likely they do self-sowing too.
I’ll ask Regal-san next time.
I think we could use that big pot as it is to grow vegetables in the courtyard.
I’m glad it didn’t go to waste..
While Martha-san is clearing the dishes and washing them, I buy some craft paper with my 1,000-yen repeat, and start cutting and wrapping the seeds. Is it okay to use medicine wrapping paper again? If I use cloth bags, the seeds might spill out or be hard to take out.
I write the names of the vegetables on the packages.
I wonder if it would be dangerous to sell this ballpoint pen in this world.
The tiny ball at the tip is impressive.
You could buy a pack of ten at the 100-yen shop, but those pens were pretty poor in quality.
When I put them at the reception desk, I got a flood of complaints about how hard they were to use.
Sorry, but the ballpoint pens at the reception desk disappear quickly, so I just put some here as a temporary measure. And I did pay for them myself…
I entrust the finished seed packets to Jude-san, promise to come back to check on them, and leave his house.
No, Martha-san, you don’t need to see me off, just go ahead with your work, don’t worry about it.
I decide to visit the Adventurers’ Guild first.
The soil tilling for the field was arranged at a cheap rate, with the condition that the Guild staff would do it during their free time of course. So, it’s uncertain when they’ll do the plowing.
Until then, I want to get prepared or make a little money.
“Ah, Saki-san,”
As I enter, Matilda-san notices me quickly and calls out to me with a smile.
Hmm? What is it?
When I got closer, she lowers her voice and says mischievously,
“It’s not a designated request, but there is something that looks like a designated request.”
What?
I’m sorry that the story didn’t progress at all and I just kept explaining things, but there’s a problem with my plan to use the 1,000 yen repeat to cheat at farming—seeds are too expensive and you cannot buy them.
So, I’m explaining that she’ll buy cheap seeds instead.
Those of you reading this who live in the city or who are not interested in home gardening probably don’t know this, but tasty vegetable seeds are very, very expensive, especially now with prices soaring. And the amount of seed you get is decreasing.
Pumpkin seeds cost about 100 yen each, fava bean seeds and delicious edamame seeds are also expensive, so even at the old price of 1,000 yen, it’s difficult to sow seeds for a large field…
Onions seedlings are costly too. I really don’t understand why farmers are selling vegetables for such prices!
From now on, I plan to avoid mentioning company names directly, making it kind of a riddle, which I find amusing.
If you know, you know!
The protagonist tends to forget names during explanations and is also very weak with Katakana, so I want to set it up so they mistakenly remember company names in a funny way!
I’ll try to fix the earlier parts gradually when I have time, but probably it’ll be slow, so please forgive me if you read it and think, “This still feels the same,” just imagine you’re mentally editing it to hide the names. Thanks in advance (I’m relying on others’ help).