Volume 2 Chapter 8 (2/2)

The amount of potatoes that could be harvested were at least three times that of wheat.

It was a crop that often lead to continuous cropping [1] hazards but with Ancient Elf here, those shouldn’t be a concern.

Also, potatoes were used in a lot of cuisines. It could be eaten boiled, in a soup, as a bread or even as noodles. It was a food that could more than likely revolutionize this world’s eating habits.

Building and running an inn in my city had always been a part of my plans but what if I served some potatoes there and made the immigrants realize how delicious it was? And what if I then told them of how easy it was to grow the crop and of how many could be harvested in a short period of time? Surely they’d fight among themselves on who could grow it first, wouldn’t they?

“Master”

Elder Dwarf, with a sad look on her eyes, called for me as she casted her eyes downward.

Unlike Kuina and Ancient Elf, she was too shy to be able to straightforwardly tell me her requests so I decided to stroke her head without her asking me. Her face slackened as a result.

“Elder Dwarf did great too. Alright, we’ll put the apples and potatoes on sale and make them our specialty products.”

The three girls nodded their heads in assent.

And so, we had now decided what our first actions shall be.

◇

The following morning, we readied ourselves to leave our dungeon.

To that end, we came to the farmlands which was a portion of the first room we modified.

Although I said farmlands, it was still as of yet nothing but empty—albeit fertile—plots of land. To make it into fully-pledged farmlands, plowing it, removing stones and other unnecessary things, installing canals and wells, and many other things still needed to be done. Unfortunately, those things had to wait until our return.

At the moment we were at a slightly elevated hill. I wanted to first make the apple trees grow before we left.

Elder Dwarf and Ancient Elf put their hands on the ground and checked the land’s status while also doing some repairs to the land.

They did so in order to make the apples grow healthy.

Ancient Elf then dug a shallow hole, put in the apple seed, and covered back the hole.

And when she clasped her hands together, rainbow-colored water sprung out and was sprinkled into the covered hole little by little.

“You’re a good kid, right? So you’ll show us your vigorous form, right?”

The moment she said that, the plant vigorously sprouted from the ground and stretched to reach the sky.

It grew thick and entangled. And before long, it was an actual tree and grew branches and leaves.

The unripe fruits attached to the tree then turned red.

I knew she was capable of doing such things but I was still amazed by her abilities.

“You did it. You’ve become the first tree to fully grow in this city!”

Ancient Elf, proud, then turned around and flashed a smile.

I looked at the apple tree and noted that it was a splendid tree teeming with vitality. It would surely become the symbol of this city.

I then gently placed my hand on the tree and felt a beat from it. At that exact moment, a red apple fell and caught me by surprise.

Was that just a coincidence? No, it couldn’t have.

I picked up the fallen apple and bit on it.

It didn’t just tasted deliciously bittersweet, it felt as though it energized me up.

I handed the apple I took a bite from to Kuina.

I looked at her and then to the other two.

It looked like what I wanted to say was properly transmitted to them.

Kuina took a bite from the fruit and passed it to Elder Dwarf. Elder Dwarf also took a bite and passed it to Ancient Elf who also took a bite.

The first tree to grow on this city; the first harvest; the special apple we all ate… Some mysterious and strong emotions welled up in my chest. I then realized that it was because I finally built my city.

“Oto-san, I won’t ever forget the taste of that apple.”

“Me too, Kuina. Me too.”

Elder Dwarf and Ancient Elf both nodded. It seemed like everyone felt it too.

Now that that was done, we were ready leave.

I made the crow monster make a magical array so that it may be used for [Transfer].

I had heard that [Transfer] could only be used from array to array when outside of one’s own dungeon.

So if we laid down an array here, our journey back would be much easier.

“I’m sorry but Kuina, can I ask you to guard the dungeon until we return?”

“Of course! El-chan and Elf-chan already did their best for the city so it’s now Kuina’s turn to do her best and protect the dungeon!”

I needed someone to remain and guard the crystal. And Kuina had volunteered herself for this task.

Maybe it was because she wanted to be of help to me and that it was her duty as the head monster.

And so, I decided to return as soon as possible and mounted the Griffon as we left toward Marcho’s dungeon.

[1] Continuous cropping: The growing of a single crop species on a field year after year. Apparently, this leads to multiple problems.