Returning to the Harlasia Kingdom to report back. This was something I knew the beginning. It had also been planned that a few people, including myself, would accompany her to report.
However, I didn’t expect to hear about it now. I thought the trip would happen a few years later since we had just settled into our new living environment.
“Isn’t it quite early?”
“It is really early, but I have been thinking about something.”
“What is it?”
“It’s about the souvenir.”
When returning to report, I was asked to bring back something from south of the Shumie Mountains as a souvenir. At that time, Chris wanted to take sand fish.
This part was understandable, but the request became challenging. Chris wanted to bring the sand fish back alive.
“I know that this is an unreasonable request, but I owe the young lady more than I can repay.”
“That’s probably right.”
“The evaluation of what we bring will directly reflect on the young lady. The sooner the report and the rarer the souvenir, the higher the young lady’s evaluation will be. I thought we should take a risk for the young lady… is it no good?”
After expressing her feelings, Chris looked up at me nervously and said so. Seeing an expression she usually didn’t show, I couldn’t help but smile wryly. However, it seemed my smile displeased her, as she furrowed her brows and glared at me. Even though she was glaring, I didn’t find it particularly scary, probably because I had seen her truly angry face before.
“Don’t glare at me like that. Alright, let’s give it a try. Marcellus also mentioned that we should try something called aquaculture. It’s probably similar to that.”
Though the grains were still being cultivated, we still had some left and had secured sand fish as food. Nevertheless, having as many stable food supply methods as possible was a good thing. If we had an abundance of food, we could compensate for any shortages during bad harvests.
One method Marcellus proposed was aquaculture. He said that in the empire, freshwater fish had long been farmed in ponds and shellfish in the sea. It was perfect for a stable food supply.
Neither Marcellus nor Decius nor Lorenz had any specialized knowledge. But the basics of capturing and breeding live animals were similar to agriculture. Although the care shifted from plants to animals, the tasks required would be different. It would be a trial-and-error process, but I don’t think it’s impossible.
“…Thank you. You really are kind, Antares.”
“Not really. Kind people don’t kill others on the battlefield, do they?”
“That’s not true. Everyone here knows about your kindness.”
“Hmm, is that so?”
“Oh, are you embarrassed? Hehe.”
Suddenly praised face-to-face like this, I didn’t know what kind of expression to make, so I could only groan. Chris found this amusing and chuckled. Just a moment ago, she was the one angry at being laughed at, and now here I was being laughed at by her.
After laughing for a while, Chris returned to the children to continue their training. After seeing her off, I started moving towards my own destination. My destination was the fields outside the city walls.
The sun was still strong, but I could handle the heat and move around normally. The dry land was well-suited to my spiritual arts, so there was always plenty to do.
“Alright, let’s get to work.”
I gathered my spiritual power and transformed the ground next to the rice paddies into sand. The paddies were neatly arranged in a square pattern, lined up in rows. To increase their number, I changed the ground into sand in an area exactly matching the size and depth of the other paddies.
Once the designated area turned into sand, I made all the sand float. It seemed that the rice of the sand sea could only grow in the sand of the sand sea, so just turning the ground into sand wasn’t enough to create a paddy. It was quite a hassle.
I flung the extracted sand far away. It was a considerable amount, but there was no need to worry as it would soon be scattered by the wind.
Next, I moved to the sand sea and used my spiritual arts to lift its sand. In that state, I poured the sand into the square hole I had made in the ground. I repeated this process until the hole was mostly filled and the paddy was complete.
Though it might seem like a simple task, it was actually quite labor-intensive. The amount of sand needed for one paddy was huge, and even someone like me, with a lot of spiritual power, would get tired from the repeated effort.
“And now… as expected, there it is.”
With this, the paddy was complete. However, if left unattended, problems would arise. When the sand was removed from the sand sea, rice would inevitably be mixed in, but at the same time, tiny sand fish, so small that they could hardly be felt without concentration, would also be mixed in.
If left unchecked, the sand fish would devour all the rice. With no additional rice available, the sand fish would eventually die as well. To avoid this mutually detrimental situation, it was important to eliminate all sand fish at the moment of adding the sand. For this reason, I jumped into the paddy.
I sharpened my senses to detect the presence of the small sand fish inside the paddy. Then I created numerous tiny sand hands, each the size of a baby’s hand, and sent them towards the presences I detected.
The small hands swiftly moved through the sand and started capturing sand fish one after another. I continued moving the hands through the sand for a while and managed to capture all the sand fish, or so I thought.
There was a reason for my caution. The sand from the sand sea often contained sand fish eggs, which I could not detect even when fully concentrating my senses. Because of this, there were times when sand fish would appear in the paddy where I had supposedly captured all the sand fish.
In other words, I had to check for sand fish every day. After leaving the newly made paddy, I dove into the other paddies to capture sand fish. As expected, sand fish had been born in a few of the paddies, so I captured them all and enclosed them in a sand ball.
“Alright. I’ve gathered them all.”
I wouldn’t waste the small sand fish. They were also a valuable food source. We still prepared meals at the same time for everyone, and these sand fish were perfect for that.
I floated the sand ball containing the sand fish and returned to the city. On the way, I crossed the wall on a sand platform, as it was inefficient to have the city gates opened for me. Though it might seem like the walls were failing to serve their purpose, I was a resident of the city, so it wasn’t a problem.
It was nearly lunchtime, and many people were gathering around the pond. Smoke was already rising from the cooking fires, and it seemed like preparations had begun. Since the timing was perfect, I decided to hand over the sand fish and wait for the meal to be ready.
I entrusted the sand fish to Mika and sat by the pond. Then, without looking at anything in particular, I observed my comrades. Almost without exception, their skin was more tanned than when we were north of the Shumie Mountains. It was only natural since we were in the sun-drenched desert.
Their faces were not only covered in sweat from the heat but also brimming with smiles. Just seeing everyone’s smiles made me feel at peace. Surely, this was the view I had longed to see.
“Lost in thought? What’s on your mind?”
“Huh? Oh…”
While I was staring at everyone, Chris who had finished training and brought the children with her sat next to me and asked. I simply voiced the words that had come to mind.
“I used to think this world was hell. No, it probably really is.”
“Well, yeah. For us who started at the bottom, that’s obvious, but I doubt there are many people so fortunate that they’ve never experienced hardship or suffering.”
“That’s true. But seeing everyone smile like this makes me feel that this world isn’t so bad after all.”
“Yes, I think you’re right.”
My life so far has been a series of battles. I had killed countless enemies and lost precious comrades many times. To survive in such a blood-soaked world for a hundred years often felt like nothing but hell.
But now, I don’t think that way anymore. Just being able to think differently makes me feel incredibly happy.
“Then we have to work hard to keep this place where everyone can smile. I’ll lend you my strength as much as you need.”
“Yeah. I’m counting on you.”
While Chris and I were talking, it seemed the meal preparations had finished. And we went to enjoy our meal together.
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