Got a Gallery in the Wild

Title) I’m Going to Start Farming

WildGrills

(Picture of Wonmo sitting down.)

Can anyone give me some advice?

ㄴHeavenlyDemon) Wonmo is still adorable every time I see him. It makes me want to hug him.

ㄴSwordmaster) That’s true. Couldn’t someone make a Wonmo plushie?

ㄴGrills should give everyone their own Wonmo!

ㄴI’d rather have a plushie; I don’t think I could afford to feed him.

ㄴBut why farming all of a sudden? Did something happen?

ㄴWildGrills) There are more mouths to feed now, and the old Holy Knight said he wanted to do it.

ㄴSo now you’re making a man with an amputated leg work in the fields. ;;

ㄴAre you even human? What a bastard. Lol

ㄴWildGrills) Oh, come on! He said he wanted to do it. I’m not forcing him.

ㄴPut your hand over your heart and think carefully. Have you really never made him work?

ㄴWildGrills) I already asked for his help when we built the house, so don’t worry.

ㄴ;;;

ㄴTurns out you’re even worse than I imagined. ;;

ㄴYou’re already exploiting him. Hahaha.

ㄴWell, Grills is the owner of the house. He has to obey the owner. Haha.

ㄴLetsPlantTrees) Is there enough land there for farming? A vegetable garden is one thing, but a proper farm requires a lot of space.

ㄴWildGrills) We have enough manpower, so I think we’ll be fine.

ㄴGrowGrow) If that’s the case, then there won’t be a problem. Normally, though, you should spread compost or lime about two or three weeks before preparing the field.

ㄴWildGrills) Two or three weeks beforehand?

ㄴGrowGrow) That way, the nutrients properly soak into the soil. Even for a small vegetable garden, it’s done the same way.

I was looking into farming for Ludwig.

As soon as I posted the question in the Gallery, a lot of people began sharing their knowledge.

Among them, one user helped me tremendously, so I decided to follow their advice since they explained everything in great detail.

‘I had no idea you had to prepare the land two or three weeks in advance.’

I knew farming wasn’t easy.

A lot of people say, “When I retire, I’ll become a farmer.”

But in most cases, that’s nothing more than a hobby.

It’s completely different from actually making a living through farming.

Besides, this world wasn’t as developed as mine.

There would be plenty of tasks that could only be done through physical labor.

Just thinking about it already made me feel overwhelmed.

ㄴBut this is the Forest of the Four Seasons. Shouldn’t it be incredibly fertile land?

ㄴI think so too. Even fully grown mandrakes grow there, so it certainly shouldn’t lack nutrients…

ㄴHonestly, even without compost, the crops would probably grow on their own.

ㄴGrowGrow) I think the same. Simply plowing the soil a bit and planting the seeds should be enough.

ㄴWildGrills) That’s the best news I’ve heard in a long time.

But this was the Forest of the Four Seasons.

A place where extraordinary medicinal herbs and all kinds of plants grew.

To cultivate something as ordinary as wheat…

Simply preparing the soil would probably be enough.

ㄴGrowGrow) But what are you planning to plant? The way you prepare the field changes depending on the crop.

ㄴWildGrills) One moment.

Just as I was about to turn toward Ludwig after reading GrowGrow’s message—

“Chu chu chu chu.”

“Kyuu?”

“#$%%. Chu chu chu chu chu.”

“……”

Could it be that he wanted to hug Wonmo at least once?

Ludwig gestured for him to come over.

Even after an entire day had passed, Wonmo still hadn’t approached Ludwig.

It wasn’t because he distrusted him.

Simply.

As long as I was there, he didn’t see any reason to go over to Ludwig.

On the first day, Ludwig had been far too busy trying to process everything that had happened.

But now it was different.

That meant he finally had a little peace of mind.

And he was trying to become friends with Wonmo.

“Kyuuu~”

Perhaps Wonmo understood his intentions.

Because he slowly walked over to him.

Before long, he settled into Ludwig’s arms and began rubbing his face against him.

Watching Ludwig’s perpetually stern expression disappear, replaced by the smile of a proud father, was quite a sight.

“Kyuuu. Kyuu.”

“Uhehehehe.”

Hmm.

It reminded me of all those parents who say,

“If you bring a dog home, I’m throwing it out.”

But once the dog actually arrived,

They ended up loving it even more than their own children.

They even insisted on being the ones to take it for walks.

‘And all they ever told me was to go play on the computer.’

Now all of that was nothing more than a memory.

My parents had already passed away.

And the dog we had loved so much had also reached the end of its life.

Anyway.

I asked Ludwig what crop he wanted to plant.

After thinking for a moment,

He started drawing and then showed me the paper.

“……Bread? Flour? Wheat?”

What he had drawn was a loaf of bread.

Bread is made from flour.

And flour is made from wheat.

I quickly sketched a few wheat stalks to confirm whether that was what he meant.

Ludwig nodded.

So I immediately told GrowGrow which crop we wanted to plant.

ㄴGrowGrow) Wheat? Wheat needs very fertile soil to grow. It also requires a dry climate.

ㄴWildGrills) Well, let’s try it first. We’ll start tomorrow.

ㄴGrowGrow) Understood. This is how you should prepare the field.

GrowGrow explained in detail how to prepare farmland.

I had thought all you had to do was run a plow or a rake over it a few times.

But I was completely wrong.

You had to build raised planting beds.

You also had to dig drainage ditches for water.

There were far more things to do than I had imagined.

I carefully wrote down all of GrowGrow’s advice in my notebook.

I wasn’t planning to do it today.

I’d start tomorrow, so it was better to have everything written down.

ㄴGrowGrow) After preparing the field, you’ll have to plant the seeds. Do you already have them?

ㄴWildGrills) No. Don’t they sell them at the auction house?

ㄴGrowGrow) Most of the seeds sold at the auction house are of very poor quality. I can give you some wheat seeds.

ㄴWildGrills) Oh…! Thank you very much. Is there anything you need?

ㄴGrowGrow) Could you give me some soil from there? Since it comes from the Forest of the Four Seasons, I think it could be used as fertilizer.

That made a lot of sense.

The Forest of the Four Seasons was a place where even mandrakes reached full maturity.

Perhaps its soil was far more than simply fertile.

So I bought an ordinary bucket at the auction house and filled it with soil.

All that remained was to trade it to GrowGrow in exchange for the wheat seeds.

[GrowGrow: By the way, be careful. Wheat doesn’t grow well if it rains too much. If there’s heavy rainfall, you’d be better off planting rice.]

[WildGrills: Thank you very much.]

Even while we were making the trade, he kept giving me advice.

He really was an excellent person.

I looked over the wheat seeds I had just received.

They came in a pouch about the size of a fist.

And there were quite a few of them.

We weren’t planning on planting a huge field, so that amount would be more than enough.

“Sir, here are the whea…”

“Kyuuuu~!”

“Hahaha.”

I see you and Wonmo get along really well. I’d better let you two keep playing.

Only one day had passed, so it was natural that Ludwig’s mind was still in turmoil. He needed a little peace and quiet to recover.

Besides, we had a mountain of work waiting for us. Especially starting tomorrow.

‘A whole month has already passed.’

It had already been a month since I arrived in the Forest of the Four Seasons.

Up until the second week, time had felt unbearably slow, but before I knew it, the entire month had flown by.

I suppose it was because my routine had started to settle down.

Though, in other words.

Starting tomorrow, time would probably crawl by once again.

Now that Ludwig had arrived, a lot of things were going to change.

‘I’ll also have to show him all the places I’ve been.’

Someone might say it would be enough to show him the map.

But that map was only an estimate I had made; the actual distances didn’t match, so it wasn’t very useful.

The only option here was to learn the terrain firsthand.

To make matters worse, the sun rose from a different direction every single day.

‘I never imagined it’d be so annoying for the sun to rise from a different place every day.’

If it always rose from the same direction, I could at least use it to orient myself.

But today it rose to the right of the cave.

Yesterday it had risen to the left.

Just like the area beyond the river kept changing, this place also seemed to shift constantly.

‘I’d better get ready for bed.’

I also prepared a bed for Ludwig.

And since he had taken a proper bath, the bad smell had completely disappeared.

The only problem was his clothes.

I lent him some of mine, but.

‘That deer is about to die.’

Perhaps because he was a soldier, but the size didn’t fit him.

The deer printed on the shirt was stretched so far sideways that it looked like it was begging to be saved.

So I asked DemonPrincess if she could get me some larger-sized clothes.

She happily agreed and said she’d send them soon.

[DemonPrincess: You know how you’re going to repay me for this favor, right? Hehe.]

[WildGrills: I wish Chayu United great success.]

[DemonPrincess: Not like that! Sir Ludwig has to say it! I’ll be looking forward to it!]

[WildGrills: ;;;]

It seemed Chayu would have one more fan starting today.

After receiving the outfit from DemonPrincess, I handed it to Ludwig.

He accepted it with his usual serious expression, apparently quite satisfied.

“Kyuu?”

“No, come on. That’s for a person to wear. Don’t put it on Wonmo.”

“#%%^$”

It turned out he was putting the new outfit on Wonmo.

Wonmo already had his own clothes, and he was still doing things like that. He was starting to spoil him too much.

That was how a much noisier night than usual passed.

And when dawn broke the next day.

The first thing I did was prepare breakfast.

‘…I’m starting to feel more and more like the one who cooks for the whole family.’

Shaking off that strange feeling, I got to work.

Today’s task was to head downstream and collect sand.

While we were at it, I’d also take the opportunity to show Ludwig the way.

‘He really treats the giraffe like a horse.’

Just before we set off toward the lower part of the river, Ludwig climbed onto Largo’s back as naturally as could be.

It was quite a bizarre sight.

Fortunately, Largo obeyed him perfectly.

“Let’s go.”

“Mm.”

And so, a new day began.

***

The true birth of human civilization began with agriculture.

In the beginning, humanity survived through hunting and gathering, living a nomadic lifestyle.

But thanks to agriculture, it became possible to establish permanent settlements.

However.

Agriculture also unintentionally gave rise to a side effect.

Social classes.

Agriculture created surpluses.

And surpluses led to trade.

In a world where one had to eat to survive, production meant survival, and therefore power.

The land, the source of all production, eventually became a source of power as well.

And so those who cultivated the land appeared.

As did those who ruled over the farmers.

Social classes arose naturally.

For that reason, some historians consider agriculture to have been both humanity’s greatest achievement and its greatest mistake.

ㄴSo you’re not going to farm?

ㄴHistorically, countries that oppressed their farmers ended up disappearing.

ㄴWithout farmers, an entire nation eventually starves to death. Hahaha.

Farmers were so important that they formed the very foundation of a nation.

No matter how powerful a kingdom was, a famine usually marked the beginning of its downfall.

An empire defeated by foreign invaders could rebuild itself.

But an empire that collapsed from within was doomed to disappear.

For that reason, a wise ruler did not oppress farmers.

On the contrary.

He granted them all kinds of benefits.

A very clear example was the previous emperor of the Messiah Empire, Robert.

Robert lowered taxes for farmers and granted them numerous privileges, increasing their motivation.

Many nobles protested.

But as abundant harvests continued year after year, even they eventually fell silent.

In that sense, the farmers of the present-day Messiah Empire could work each day with smiles on their faces.

“Ah, damn it. This is seriously exhausting.”

“I hate farming.”

“What’s the point of having an ox if you still have to spend all day bent over?”

…Apparently not.

No matter how many benefits they received, farming was still a primary industry.

It required an enormous amount of physical labor.

There was no way your body wouldn’t end up exhausted.

Even with oxen, it was still people who had to sow the seeds.

Even so, the reward made it worthwhile.

That was why they kept planting while complaining.

“Hey, Roy.”

“Yes?”

“What the hell have you been spreading over there? Is it fertilizer?”

asked a middle-aged man with an annoyed expression.

Roy, a young man with an honest appearance, replied with an awkward smile.

“Uh… Something like that. In the end, it doesn’t really matter, does it?”

“As long as you’re not spreading poison, it’s fine. But be careful.”

“Yes, I understa—”

BOOOOM!!!

Just as Roy was about to answer.

An enormous stalk violently burst out of the place where he had scattered the soil.

The same thing happened everywhere else.

Every spot where Roy had thrown that soil began producing gigantic stalks.

“W-What… what the hell is this?!”

“What’s happening here?!”

As everyone stared at the scene in complete shock.

The growth finally stopped.

The plants now towered well above a person’s height.

Roy could only stare at them blankly.

At first glance, they looked like wheat stalks.

Yes…

At first glance.

“Hey, Roy! What the hell did you spread over there?!”

At the old man’s shout, Roy answered with an awkward expression.

“Well… soil.”

More precisely.

Soil from the Forest of the Four Seasons.