Chapter 196

Cultivar (3)

What was the most irritating thing for a farmer?

Creatures that interfered with farming.

Droughts, floods, typhoons, and other natural disasters could at least be blamed on the will of the gods.

However, creatures that interfered with farming could appear at any moment, yet precautions could still be taken against them. That was why farmers regarded them as a particularly shitty nuisance.

Moreover, this was a fantasy world—a land inhabited by all kinds of monsters.

Pack-forming monsters such as goblins, orcs, and gnolls frequently raided farmland.

They were also infamous for their intelligence, earning them the concentrated hatred of farmers everywhere.

***

Title: Look What My Uncle Caught Yesterday

(Photo of a farmer smiling while holding a hobgoblin’s head)

That’s a freaking hobgoblin.

Normally, he would’ve hired an adventurer for the job, but he got so pissed off that he caught it himself.

Are hobgoblins normally this easy to kill? He said he killed it with a sickle.

└ Absolutely not. Hobgoblins are normally something you need a knight to kill;;

└ What class did your uncle have before becoming a farmer?

└ I heard he was training to become a knight, but got annoyed and quit. He became a farmer afterward.

└ Then it makes sense. Yeah.

└ How the hell does that make sense? Lmaooo. It’s still ridiculous.

└ Since ancient times, it was farmers—not knights—who provided the muscle during rebellions.

└ Don’t underestimate farmers. Their stamina is absolutely insane;;

***

Title: At Least Goblins Can Be Exterminated

There’s no answer for these fucking locusts and sparrows. You can only stand there and watch them ruin everything. Fuck.

└ Locusts aside, can’t you deal with sparrows using a scarecrow?

└ Locusts are the real disaster. Even scripture describes them as a plague.

└ There’s a reason the Demon God who fought the Goddess Ares was deeply associated with locusts, lmao.

└ The problem is that they’re impossible to eradicate...

***

A swarm of locusts was a disaster among disasters, but sparrows could certainly be eradicated.

Putting up scarecrows was the most common countermeasure. Of course, that alone couldn’t stop them completely.

But did that mean they couldn’t be eradicated altogether?

Not necessarily.

It was possible if you hunted them indiscriminately. Someone had actually tried it before.

The same person who uttered the historic words, "Those birds are pests."

And the result was tens of millions of people starving to death.

Ecosystems were frightening because there was no telling how they would change once someone interfered with them.

No amount of caution was excessive.

Even so...

Looking at the wheat, of which only bare stalks remained, left me feeling miserable.

The thought, Maybe I should try it too, since this is the Forest of Four Seasons, kept entering my mind.

They had picked the field completely clean. Nothing but stalks remained.

Crunch. Crunch.

Correction.

Largo was chewing up even the stalks.

All the grains had already been stripped away, and I hadn’t planned to use the stalks for anything, so I decided to let him eat them.

Now I understand why they were called pests.

Having every grain stolen right before my eyes left me feeling utterly empty.

But there was another problem.

I had no idea where so many sparrows had come from.

Usually, I heard nothing more than occasional chirping, yet they had suddenly flooded the area in an instant.

No wonder there weren’t many insects around.

Apart from the last time insects had appeared in massive numbers, I had always found it strange that there were so few of them here.

Seeing those birds had given me a rough idea of the reason.

What if all those birds disappeared?

Then we would be attacked by swarms of insects.

The more frightening part was that even with so many birds, insects still multiplied explosively whenever summer came.

"$%%%#"

"What are we going to do? I don’t know either."

That was that, but farming was farming.

I gave Ludwig an irresponsible answer when he asked what we should do.

It was my first time seeing anything like this too. Even installing scarecrows would be meaningless.

The sparrows had devoured the wheat as though we were nothing, despite the fact that we had been standing right beside it.

They had finished so quickly that there hadn’t even been time to confront them.

What the hell am I supposed to do?

Even a farmer with thirty years of experience wouldn’t be able to solve this.

If they had been locusts, I could have treated them as pests and kept them away with insect repellent.

Hadn’t I been receiving a steady supply of repellent from the merchant guild recently?

But these were birds.

Birds that ate both grain and insects.

It’s also amazing that they descended on us the instant the wheat grew.

As expected of the Forest of Four Seasons.

It was filled with things that exceeded all expectations.

Ludwig and I couldn’t solve this by ourselves. We needed the gallery’s help.

Before that, though, I should record a video.

There was also something I wanted to test.

"Mister, let’s try this."

My plan was simple.

We would harvest the wheat the instant it finished growing.

If those bastards descended on us, I would show them my big, beautiful aura and sweep them all away.

Flap-flap-flap-flap!

"Aaaaaagh!"

"Urrrrgh!"

It failed spectacularly.

I had anticipated the wheat growing and the birds descending upon it.

The problem came afterward.

The instant I swung my aura-coated sword, the birds scattered in perfect unison.

They moved like a school of fish in the sea evading a predator.

Seeing them perform the same maneuver not in the ocean but above the ground—in midair, no less—was enough to drive me insane.

What happened next?

The birds descended upon Ludwig and me.

Fortunately, they didn’t peck us with their beaks. They simply swept us away.

No, rather than pushing us away, it would be more accurate to say they dragged us down.

In the end, we failed to harvest anything and couldn’t catch even a single bird.

Ludwig and I looked terrible.

Feathers clung to us all over, and we had suffered a few minor scratches.

I could only hope those birds hadn’t infected us with any diseases.

"Kyuu?"

"...Yeah. Thanks."

Nothing was better than Wonmo when it came to soothing my troubled heart.

I sighed as I stared at the wheat, which had once again been stripped bare.

I had thought everything was going smoothly for once, but apparently not.

As expected of the Forest of Four Seasons, even tending a small vegetable garden was extraordinarily difficult.

***

Title: Know What’s Scarier Than a Swarm of Locusts?

Wild Grylls

(Video of the birds stripping the wheat)

(Video of the birds descending upon Grylls, accompanied by screams)

(Photo of the bare wheat stalks)

(Photo of Ludwig sitting with a devastated expression)

A flock of sparrows from the Forest of Four Seasons.

These fuckers are even worse because repellent doesn’t do anything to them.

So I tried to catch them, but they grabbed Ludwig and me and threw us aside;;

We got robbed blind while standing right there. Does anyone know what I can do about this?

└ Heavenly Demon: What an astonishing sight. They truly resemble a swarm of locusts.

└ SwordMaster: Do birds really gather in flocks that large when they aren’t migrating? I’ve never seen anything like it.

└ They do form flocks, but they don’t normally travel in numbers like that. Those are basically locusts;;

└ Even the birds have evolved in a completely abnormal direction now;;

└ What kind of birds are those? They look like sparrows.

└ All-Father: They are indeed sparrows. However, sparrows do not normally form flocks in that manner.

└ Wild Grylls: It’s been a while. You said you were busy.

└ All-Father: I’ve mostly taken care of the urgent matters. However, if I fail, I will become busy again.

└ Wild Grylls: Do you know any way to drive those birds away?

└ All-Father: Problems like this are usually resolved by the presence of a predator... Do you have one nearby?

└ Wild Grylls:(Cute photo of Wonmo) Would this little guy work?

└ All-Father: Some problems can be solved through cuteness. Others cannot.

└ Wild Grylls: I give up.

└ Give up, my ass, lmao.

└ Maybe if Wonmo were a little bigger, but he’s way too small right now, lmaooo.

└ Grow Big and Strong: Sparrows normally aren’t numerous enough to be a serious problem, so farmers usually tolerate them. But that flock... I’m not sure. Killing the birds wouldn’t be a good idea either.

└ Wild Grylls: Because the insect population would increase?

└ Grow Big and Strong: You know your stuff. How about putting up a scarecrow?

└ Wild Grylls: Would you like to watch the video again?

└ Grow Big and Strong: That’s not what I mean. Cover the scarecrow in the blood of a carnivorous animal. Wouldn’t the smell make them avoid it?

***

That suggestion made quite a bit of sense.

In the end, those birds were still merely sparrows forming a flock.

If they believed a predator was nearby, there was a good chance they would retreat.

The problem is where I’m supposed to get the blood...

What creatures around here could be called predators?

There was only the adorable little Wonmo.

But Wonmo was still far too young.

If he grew two or three times larger than he was now, then perhaps he could do it. But for the moment, he was still at an age when he needed protection.

└ Wild Grylls: What animals prey on sparrows?

└ Grow Big and Strong: Snakes are a common example. Birds of prey such as eagles and hawks are also their natural predators.

└ Sparrows are near the bottom of the food chain, so practically any large animal will eat them.

└ They’re normally terrified by the mere sight of a snake.

Hiss, hiss—

Speak of the tiger and it appears, as the saying went.

While browsing the gallery, I spotted a snake climbing a tree.

As expected of a creature living in the Forest of Four Seasons, it was quite large.

It looked to be roughly three meters long.

Slither—

The snake stealthily crept toward a bird perched on a branch.

The bird noticed it belatedly and tried to escape, but the snake was too fast.

"Hissss!"

Crunch!

Just as the bird tried to take flight, the snake shot its head forward like a bullet.

The bird struggled desperately to avoid being eaten, but it was already too late.

In the end, it became the snake’s meal and disappeared into its stomach.

...But why aren’t the others fleeing?

There was one strange thing about this.

Even though one of their greatest natural predators had appeared, the other birds didn’t flee.

Instead, every bird was staring sharply at the snake.

The atmosphere felt strange.

"...#%#"

"...Exactly."

Ludwig seemed to have sensed the same thing I had.

How could I know when I couldn’t understand what he was saying?

Well, it probably meant something along the lines of, This feels ominous.

Meanwhile, the snake began targeting the other birds.

Given its size, a single sparrow apparently hadn’t been enough.

Flap!

However, the birds moved first.

As though acting on a shared signal, they all took flight.

Just as I expected, they headed straight for the snake.

Even in a flock, they would surely struggle against a predator—especially a snake so much larger than them.

"Hisssssss!"

"Chirp! Chirp!"

"Chirp!"

Sure enough, the moment the snake lunged with its mouth open, several birds flew straight into its jaws.

But the other birds didn’t give up. They clung to the snake.

Before long, they had covered its entire body, just as they had done to us.

I wondered whether they intended to peck it to death when—

Riiiiip!

The sound of something being pulled apart with tremendous force reached my ears.

At the same time, the birds covering the snake scattered like magnets with matching poles repelling each other.

The instant I saw that, I could roughly guess what would happen next.

Rrrrip! Tear! Rip! Rip!

The snake was literally torn to pieces.

Its severed remains fell to the ground with soft thuds.

As snakes were prone to do, the pieces continued writhing even after the entire body had been torn apart, making the sight even more grotesque.

Neither Ludwig nor I could say a word.

Who could possibly speak after watching a snake get reduced to pieces in an instant?

If I had killed any of those birds, I might have ended up like that snake.

"Kyuuuu!"

Wonmo seized the opportunity and hurried toward the pieces of snake.

Perhaps he knew the head was dangerous, because he started eating from the tail.

There were a few dead sparrows scattered among the remains, but fortunately, he didn’t even look at them.

"Chirp, chirp."

"Chiiirp. Chirp."

As though nothing had happened, the birds calmly returned to the tree branches.

I watched them for a moment, then silently scattered more wheat seeds across the field.

Flap-flap-flap!

"Chiiirp! Chirp! Chirp!"

"Chirp, chirp!"

The birds descended the instant the wheat grew, as though it were only natural.

I didn’t try to stop them.

Instead, once they had eaten everything, I simply scattered more seeds.

Flap-flap-flap!

Perhaps they possessed some sense of conscience, or maybe they simply decided they had eaten enough.

After consuming a certain amount of grain, they began leaving one by one.

As time passed, their numbers gradually dwindled.

Ludwig quickly realized what I was doing and began assisting me.

Fine. I’ll fill your bellies first, so please leave afterward. Just don’t hurt us.

There was something I had learned during my month in the Forest of Four Seasons.

Unless the other side attacked first, I should maintain a friendly stance.

That way, at least my life wouldn’t be snuffed out for nothing.

"#$%#"

"I know. Me too."

Once again, I had no idea what he was saying.

But I understood the general nuance.

He was probably asking whether this was how I had managed to survive until now.

I really hope those sparrows are migratory birds.

I had no idea whether sparrows migrated.

All I could do was pray.

No matter how desperately humans struggled, it was meaningless before the power of nature.

Only after the birds had eaten their fill were we finally able to harvest some wheat.

The seeds had produced a fairly generous amount, so the harvest itself wasn’t bad.

"Munch, munch."

I gave the remaining wheat stalks to Largo.

He ate them happily.

It felt less like I was raising a giraffe and more like I was raising a cow.

"What should we plant next?"

Ludwig showed me by drawing a picture.

He wanted to plant sweet potatoes.

Since birds would strip rice and wheat from the fields, he apparently intended to switch to a hardy famine crop.

I felt the same way, so I asked Grow Big and Strong for help.

***

[Grow Big and Strong: I have seeds, but wouldn’t seedlings be better for sweet potatoes? Would that be all right?]

[Wild Grylls: I’m sure they’ll grow just fine if we scatter the seeds.]

[Grow Big and Strong: Understood. In exchange, could you send me some more soil?]

[Wild Grylls: Of course.]

***

Perhaps because he was a farmer, he had all kinds of seeds.

Apparently, sweet potatoes were normally grown from seedlings, but... well, they would probably manage on their own.

This time, the crop grew underground, so there was no need to worry about birds stealing it.

Swoooosh!

"Ooh!"

"Oh."

Not long after we planted the seeds, the plants began growing rapidly.

Now all we had to do was dig up the sweet potatoes underneath them...

Swoooosh!

"?"

The plants that had been growing so well suddenly began sinking into the ground.

And it wasn’t just one. The same thing happened to all of them.

We continued watching, wondering whether this was somehow part of their growth.

But instead of sweet potatoes, we were greeted by nothing but empty holes.

Only then did I understand.

Moles had stolen them.

I had heard of such things happening, but I had never imagined I would experience it myself.

This world is full of thieves.

It seemed I would have to modify the field as well.