157-141 Gardening (2)

I've improved it.

The next morning, Haruka left her early morning training alone.

The next morning, Haruka left the early morning training early and was fixing the composting system she had made yesterday.

I've added a key and a bio-reactor as well. If there's a living thing in there, it won't move.

A fail-safe. I don't think we'll have a problem without it. ......

I don't know what the future holds, but there's always the possibility that someone will get married and have a baby, right?

Marriage, huh.

I don't know about the future, but there is a possibility that someone will get married and have children.

And from the child's point of view, this compost is a good item for hide-and-seek.

Even if the door is locked, a child who lives in this house can easily take it out.

If you think about it, it might not be a waste.

By the way, we're using the magic circle from the magic bag, so anything that fits in the magic bag is excluded.

Magic Bag ...... means that you can move fish even if they are still alive.

Yes. If you eliminate them completely, even if they contain insects, they won't move.

That's not very practical.

It wouldn't be able to handle the dead leaves and branches we collect in the garden.

So, why don't we go hunting so we can test drive it?　Maybe we could go hunting for a sculpted ape.

"Test run ......, I know what you're thinking .......

It's natural to want to run it once you've built it.

And since the only things in the magic bag are things that have already been processed, there are no things that can be thrown in there.

Haruka, why don't you look for a magic weapon first?　I can go hunting whenever I want, but the weapon will require more time and help from Gantz-san, right?

"Hmm, that's true, isn't it ......?

In the event that you've got a lot of time, you'll be able to take a look at a few of the best ways to get the most out of your time.

I'm not sure what to make of it.　You can hunt with me, Nao, and Natsuki while you're making them.

I'm not sure what to do.　Goblins or something like that would be fine.

Oh, no pressure.

I'm sure it'll be fine, but there's no need to go and kill a scarp-ape when there are so few of us. The only thing you need is materials for a test run, and non-monstrous task boars and brown aukes will do just fine.

"So, metals for magic weapons?　What kind of metal is that?　Isn't it magic iron?

"You know that magic iron, the blue iron and yellow iron we use in our weapons, as well as black iron, white iron, and red iron, are all alchemical metals, right?　And the metal that is a little better than magic iron is "attribute steel". This is where they start using it for magic weapons.

By the way, the famous mithril and adamantite were also listed. It didn't say how to make them, though.

Oh, ......, that tickles my boyish fancy!

"It's more of a second childhood thing. But it sure sounds like something I'd like.

I'm a boy myself. I'm sure you'll be able to find something that works for you.

I don't need to be told that the etymology is wrong.

I don't think it's that easy to get, you know?　The book I have only lists attribute steel.

It's not like you have mithril ore to make it with alchemy, right?　Hmmm ......

In the event that you're not sure what you're looking for, you'll be able to find a lot more information on the web.

Is the base metal different for mithril?　I'm curious, but it's not something I can do anything about at the moment.

"Attribute steel is a metal with attributes?

Yes. Fire, water, wind, earth, and light. It's a metal with attributes of each. Light is the most effective for our purpose of fighting the undead, but other metals can do damage as well, so you can choose the one you like best.

In addition, we need the help of a wizard who can use that magic to create it, but as far as we're concerned, that's not a problem.

I'm not sure what to make of it, but I think it's a good idea.

You don't need to worry about finding wizards.

I'm not sure if there are any other weaknesses besides undead?

If there are advantages of attributes, you should take them into account. If there are some undead monsters that can only be affected by certain attributes, it would be too costly to change weapons every time.

It was Natsuki who answered my question.

It usually doesn't seem to have much of an effect, but for demons that don't have any substance, like ghosts, it seems to be important. The chances of encountering them seem to be slim.

So, since there are five of us, should we split them up?

What do you think?　I think it's better to have more light. It's the ghosts that are the problem now, and we can make our own attribute steel.

I'm sure you'll be able to find something that will help you out.

That's right. I have the best chance of hitting it.

What about me and Yuki? ...... Yuki, what do you think?

Well, ...... if I'm going to use it, it's going to be a dagger, right?　If that's the case, I'd prefer something other than light. ......

I'm not sure what to do, but I'm sure I'll be able to do it.

Well, if you have a weapon that is effective against the undead, you'll have to fight in close combat. And with a dagger, you have to get pretty close.

If it's just skeletons or ghosts, but if there's a possibility of zombies or something, you'd certainly hate it. On the other hand, I use a spear, so it's a little better.

All right. I'll take the light. The rest is up to you.

Thank you. --Haruka, Natsuki, what should we do?

After some discussion, Yuki and the others decided that Haruka would use fire, Yuki would use water, and Natsuki would use wind steel.

I'm sure you'll be happy to hear that.

I'm not sure what to say.

The meeting with Mr. Gantz was over quickly.

Basically, it was just a matter of changing the materials, and the shape of the weapon would be based on the one we were currently using, so there was almost no need for a meeting.

Once the meeting was over, Haruka and Yuki went back to the house to work on making the attribute steel, while the three of us headed for the forest.

Our target was hobgoblins, but there was also a straggling orc walking around, so we hunted that as well, and ended up with six hobgoblins and an orc by noon.

It's not a lot of money, but there's no point in sticking around, so I just went home.

At home, Haruka and the others were waiting for me, having already finished delivering the attribute steel.

It took you a while, didn't it?　They said the weapon would be ready in three or four days.

The hobgoblins are a bit of a pain to find.

I went to the North Woods out of habit, but if I wanted to find hobgoblins, I might as well have gone to the South Woods. I couldn't find any in the north woods, so I moved to the east woods and had to search a good deal of ground there as well.

More importantly, will it be ready in three or four days?

"It'll take about a day, plus the alchemy that needs to be done after it's finished. The reason it's shorter than expected is because Tommy will be helping out, not just Mr. Ganz.

Tommy. I haven't seen him lately, but I wonder if he's gotten better.

I haven't seen him in a while.

I'd rather do a trial run on the compost. You brought it back, didn't you?

"Of course. That was the purpose of my visit. But why don't we have lunch first?

Sure. I'm pretty hungry. I'm fine with whatever you've got.

Sure. Yuki, Haruka, let's eat first. It won't take too long if we make something from scratch.

Haruka and the others agreed with Natsuki's words, and we quickly finished our lunch.

It's easier than instant food, because you can take it out of the storage and eat freshly prepared food right away. Cleanup is also a snap. If this were available in Japan, it would be a great ally for the busy mothers of the world.

The only drawback is that, unlike instant food, it requires someone who can cook to stockpile it beforehand, but in our case, Haruka and the three of us are good cooks, and they cook quite frequently, so we never have trouble even when we are hungry. I'm very grateful for that.

...... Well, sometimes Toya eats something that looks like a main dish, and Haruka and the others get mad at him for messing up their plans.

I'm not sure.　I've been thinking about it, and I'm trying to make sure that I have a few small plates, small bowls. I don't want to be the only one without a main dish at dinner.

Well, let's give it a try. It's probably fine. ......

We haven't run it yet.

After lunch, we moved to the backyard and came to the composting area.

He had already checked the composting system with nothing in it, but since this was the first time he had actually used it with food scraps in it, he was a little worried.

Anyway, unlock the door, open the lid, and throw in ...... Toya, the hobgoblin.

"Here we go.

Toya casually replied, taking the headless hobgoblin corpse out of his magic bag and throwing it into the compost.

Let's get rid of the orcs while we're at it.

"Yeah, sure.

If we all work together, we'll be able to dismember an orc in no time, and all the unwanted parts will be in the compost.

Then close the lid, lock the door, and turn on the ...... switch.

Crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch.

The moment Yuki turned on the switch, an indescribable sound echoed out of the compost, and all of our expressions hardened.

"This is .......

I don't want to imagine what's going on in there.

I was expecting a certain amount of noise, but it's pretty graphic.

It seems to be working fine, but the sound is terrible.

It seems to be working fine, but the sound is terrible.

The sound is quite annoying to the neighbors. I don't care how much you use it for business, are you really using this thing?

No, they don't usually throw whole goblins in there.

This one has a reinforced shredder part. You can't crush them as it is.

Haruka denies Toya's question, and Yuki adds.

It's not going to break, is it?

Haruka dismisses Toya's question and Yuki adds, "It won't break? If it's too hard to break, it will just come out.

Is that so? That's a relief.

Because the structure of the shredder is different from that of mechanical shredders, it is said to be maintenance-free, requiring no lubrication or blade replacement.

The only thing you have to do is remove the compost, or it will clog up.

In the meantime, since this is a test, Natsuki and Nao, can you try pouring in a lot of magic power?　You don't have any plans today, do you?

Yeah, that's good. Here?

I put my hand on the spot that Haruka specified and poured magic power into it.

I'm not sure if this is a good idea, but it's a good idea.

If you pour in three times the standard amount of magic power, the processing time is cut in half, and if you pour in three times more, it's cut by a quarter.

So twenty-seven times is an eighth?

No, after that, double it, half. You can inject up to 144 times. In that case, the process will take less than half an hour. By design.

I don't think there's any need to rush it, but ...... let's give it a try.

I'm not sure what to do, but I'm going to do it.

I'm not sure what to make of this.　I'm not sure what to do.

I'm not sure what to make of this.

I'm not sure if that's enough or not.　Now we just have to wait.

The processing time is about a day if you fill it to capacity.

In this case, it's not that packed, and I've poured a lot of magic power into it. If it works according to the specifications, it will take less than 20 minutes to complete the process.

I took a break with a cup of tea.

A "ding! sounded from the compost.

Looks like it's done.

Haruka opened the bottom door of the compost and stuck a shovel inside.

Out of the compost comes a black soil ......?　Or should I say fertilizer?

It's freshly made, so it's a little warm.

It's a little different from my idea of compost, isn't it?

"Maybe it's because I didn't add any branches or leaves?　I don't know, but I feel like if I put too much of this in my compost, I'll end up with too much fertilizer.

Nao's image is more like humus, isn't it?

Well, humus is more of a soil conditioner than a fertilizer, so I guess it's a little different.

Well, I don't understand.

Well, I don't understand. At least I can't use it as soil to plant seeds.

Well, it seems to work fine, so I guess the trial run was a success. Now we need to try it out.

"Let's start with less.

Under Yuki and Natsuki's guidance, we applied the compost to the flower beds and vegetable garden.

You can't just scatter it around. Dig a trench a little bit away from where you planted the seeds, put a small amount of compost in it, and cover it with soil.

Since the seeds will not be consumed by themselves, you can put them at the base of garden trees as well.

Last year, it produced very tasty nuts, so I'm hoping for the same this year.

However, I don't want them to die, so I don't consume as many as I should.

...... quite a bit left over, huh?

The amount of compost is less than half of what we put in, but we still have about 200 kilos of compost.

Even though we have a large garden, we only use a small portion of it for flower beds and vegetable gardens, so we used less than half of it.

For the time being, I should make a magic bag for compost and store it there. We can't use the compost if we leave it in there.

That's true. But it's a luxury, isn't it, the Magic Bag?

We can make our own.

"We can make our own," Yuki says with a slight chuckle, and Haruka also chuckles.

It's not easy to buy a magic bag, even if you have the money, and it's hard just to get one, but now we can use one for each purpose.

But now we can use one bag for each purpose. It's too much trouble to embroider everything, so depending on the use, we can only write magic circles with ink, but in exchange for the deterioration of performance, the production time can be greatly reduced, so we can use them in a very luxurious way.

So-called "producer's privilege.

It is often heard that the producers of crops and fish catches, which are precious and expensive in the world, are so common that they eat enough of them.

I'm sure other people are jealous of this, but ...... it's convenient and I have no intention of restraining myself from now on.

I'm sure you'll be happy to know that I'm not the only one who has a problem with this.

...... It was only natural that the amount of compost produced would be out of proportion to the amount consumed, and the day would come in the relatively near future when we would have to worry about disposing of the accumulated compost.