CH 103

Sesame and Wheat

Translated by NotBlueYet

Edited by Kingavent

The “bystander” …… is not an official member of the base, but a provisional member, I suppose.

They’ve been approved as temporary personnel because Ma-chan is working for the base.

Whatever it is, it’s been a while since I’ve leveled up my base.

I plowed the field as hard as Ma-chan did.

After that, we took a short break and finally started the long-awaited sowing.

There are three fields in my house now.

One is growing sweet potatoes, and two are empty.

“Hey, little Leopin, what are you planting?”

I said to Ma-chan, who asked excitedly.

“Black sesame and wheat.”

“Sesame and wheat? They are the flesh and blood of our merchant business!

Oil from sesame seeds and flour from wheat.

Those are the products that merchants continue to handle from the time they start out until they become veterans.”

“Well, I’ll sow the sesame seeds, and you sow the wheatgrass seeds, will you?”

“Yes, yes, yes, yes, let’s sow, let’s grow, let’s reap, let’s sell ……, let’s eat!”

Ma-chan frolics like a child, jumping around the field and spreading seeds.

She’s one of the most energetic and outgoing girls I know.

Ma-chan returned a short time later, looking refreshed, as if she had just finished an early morning marathon.

“Hah, I’m done sowing!”

“Thanks for your help, it’s been a pleasure.

“Now we just need to let it grow.”

“Ehehe, I’m looking forward to it!”

Ma-chan smiles innocently.

But I could see that there was a slight evil intention behind it.

“So, what do you want?

“Huh?”

“They say a merchant can’t hold his tongue, can he?

I didn’t think it was possible to help out in the fields without getting something in return.”

Ma-chan sticks out her tongue, “You found out?”

“Well, I’d like to be able to handle the crops grown in this field in my class’s Merchant Union. ……”

“You mean you want to sell it in a residential neighborhood.”

“Of course, save enough for Leopin-kun to eat, and just take the extra!”

‘Mmm,’ I groaned, and Ma-chan clasped his hands together in worship.

“Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please!

The purchasing department is also run by the “Australian Business Federation” …….

If we don’t do something, our ‘Merchant Union’ will be made to work for them!”

The role of the merchant is ‘distribution and sales’.

They are the intermediaries who sell the weapons and items made by the artisan students to the combat students.

In some cases, such as Akemi and Kurumi, artisans sell directly to the public, but only in the beginning.

As pioneering progresses, so does the division of labor.

An artisan can maximize the profit of the goods he makes by meeting a good merchant.

Merchants can secure quality goods by meeting good craftsmen.

In this early stage of pioneering, both craftsmen and merchants must be desperate to find partners.

And that’s when Ma-chan came forward as my business partner.

Ma-chan continues to speak without taking a breath.

“That’s not the only thing that’s troubling me!

The market price is also controlled by the wealthy merchant union, and the flour in the purchasing department is now 10,000 Yen per kilogram!”

“What, 10,000 yen a kilo? That’s expensive!”

In contrast to my loud voice, Ma-chan’s voice was hushed.

“‘This is what I heard, but the principal has instructed me to try and annoy Class 1-16.

Class 1-16  have refused to play the ‘Cheers Game’, haven’t they?

That’s a class full of cooks over there, so I think they’d be especially damaged without flour.”

“That’s how it is. ……”

Until just now, I was of the opinion that it didn’t matter which way the flour was distributed to the residential areas.

But right now, I don’t give a shit either way.

If even walnuts are in trouble, then by all means my flour should be distributed.

I told Ma-chan.

“I’ll let you handle my flour, but on one condition.

Make sure you distribute them to residential areas at a fair price that everyone can afford.

Can you promise me that you won’t go into business choosing who to sell to, or use it to curry favor with the principal or anyone else in power?”

“I’m going to do it ……, I promise!”

Ma-chan nodded repeatedly with a serious expression.

I decided to trust those eyes, as pure as copper coins.

“Okay, then we have a deal.”

“Ho…… really? Ya…… yay!”

Then Ma-chan’s eyes suddenly change and start shining like gold coins.

I was a little nervous, but she said, like she was taking the initiative.

“I promised you, and I’m not saying no!”

Ma-chan was full of energy all the time, but once she cleared her purpose, she became even more energetic.

“I’ve decided I’m going to help out not just today, but tomorrow, too, because I think it’ll help me grow up faster.

I’ll see you tomorrow then, bai bai!”

I hurriedly stopped her as she tried to leave like a gale.

“Hey, hey, wait a minute! It’s a good opportunity, so wait a little bit.

Then maybe you’ll have something better to do.”

Ma-chan turns around in a running pose, “Huh?”

I had already activated my ‘Dexterous Job Change’ skill and changed my job to ‘Mana Farmer’ at this time.

I spread my hands out towards the field in front of me.

Then I told her.

“Let the light …… be the force that makes new life sprout in this land ……!”

Next thing I know.

They sprout from the ground all at once, as if time was sped up.

The lush stalks grow with such vigor that they impel the heavens.

Sesame fields are overgrown with leaves and the pods are bell-shaped.

The wheat fields had passed through the fresh green and had become a sea of gold.

Sesame and wheat, which were just sown, grew rapidly at once.

Ma-chan, who was watching the scene by the field, was turned over as if she had been pushed up by the growing plant.

Like a vision of twilight, her orange eyes are even more wide open.

“‘Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Why, why does it grow so fast! It usually takes six months for a crop to grow ……!

To grow that in such an instant, it’s like magic ……!”

Ma-chan looks up at me with a huff.

“I’m not sure what to make of this.

These days, unemployed people can do magic.

It’s amazing that you can use magic and have no job!

I did it, I did it, I did it, I did it!”

Ma-chan jumped up and came over to me and held my hand.

“To tell you the truth, I was worried that the Merchant’s Union would be made to work for the Great Merchant Union before Leopin’s crops could grow!

But with this, I can look back at those kids from the Great Merchant Union, I can immediately harvest this and sell it in the residential area!”

Ma-chan stares at the ears of wheat swaying in the wind in front of her like a horse with a carrot dangling from it.

“Don’t be in such a hurry, are you going to take the wheat from the harvest in its original form?

If it’s going to be distributed in the settlements, it’s going to be flour.”

Then Marchan’s eyes, which were just getting bigger, rolled up in wonder.

“Could it be that the wheat and the flour growing right in front of you are two different things?”

I’ll take a guess at that response.

Ma-chan wants to handle the flour, but she doesn’t know how it’s made.

“That’s why you felt like you were helping out by digging a big hole in the field. ……”

“What? What did you say?”

“No, it’s nothing, we can’t just harvest it and market it, it needs some more work.”

“‘Oh yeah, but I get it, what do I have to do, let’s do it now!”

“‘Hey, hey, it’s already evening, it’s late today, we’ll do it tomorrow, we’ve got to get some tools.

“I’m going to go home early and go to bed, and I’ll be here first thing in the morning.

So don’t eat what’s in here yet, okay?”

“I don’t know if I can eat this much by myself. ……”

Before I could finish my words, Ma-chan was running off with the lingering scent of a spring flower.

I look at that bottomless, energetic back and shrug my shoulders.

“Oh dear, it’s going to be a busy morning tomorrow.”