How a Realist Hero Rebuilt The Kingdom

Book 15: Chapter 1.2

Gingers Vocational School had an experimental farm near the capital. Being that it was still early on in the year, nothing had been planted yet. Objects were stirring on the lightly snow-covered ground, though. Those objects, with their firm but mutable skins, were the gelins that had played such an active role by becoming udon during the food crisis. However, these gelins were pinkcolloquially known as agricultural gelins.

Poncho, the Kingdoms Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, and Ginger, the principal of the vocational school, watched the agricultural gelins crawl around a field that had been growing tomatoes.

Do you think those agricultural gelins will prevent the damage from growing the same crop repeatedly, yes? Poncho asked and Ginger nodded.

Yes. Theyll be a trump card for the Kingdoms agriculture.

If you keep planting the same crops in the same fields, its not good for the soil. It disturbs the balance of nutrients, and pathogens and insects that prey on those crops spread. The former problem can be managed with fertilizer and new soil, but the latter remains an issue. In Soumas old world, pathogens and bugs were eliminated through the use of agricultural chemicals, but those sorts of things didnt exist yet in this world.

Ginger crouched down and placed his hand on the ground.

Thanks to the microscope that His Majesty directed the development of, which proved the knowledge the three-eyed race had, we learned of the existence of bacteria and other microorganisms. As well as the fact that they can cause illness.

Poncho nodded in agreement.

His Majesty spread ideas about sanitation that only the three-eyed race had before now. I hear that because weve learned to wash our hands and clean our mouths with well water, the number of people who have gotten sick has gone down, yes. When the midwives started to focus on using clean water, the number of deaths during childbirth decreased considerably, yes. I get chills thinking about what might have happened if Serina and Komain had given birth before we knew, yes.

I feel the same way.

Poncho and Ginger let out a joint sigh of relief.

If their wives had been giving birth when the mortality rate in childbirth was high, theyd have been beside themselves with worry. No, they might have been rolling the dice on their wives and childrens lives without even knowing it, and the odds were stacked against them. It was horrifying to think of.

Ginger shook his head to dispel the unpleasant thoughts before changing the subject. Weve learned that bacteria, microorganisms, and insects are the cause of problems with monocropping. And it was known that planting the same plants in the same place repeatedly made them grow less well, but now it feels like we finally understand the reason.

Thats true. The farmers seemed to have an instinctive understanding of it even if they werent aware of the cause, yes. Poncho nodded. They handled it by changing the soil, letting fields lie fallow, or changing the crops, yes.

This world had a system of crop rotation just like Soumas old world. A famous example would be Englands Norfolk four-course system, which cycled wheat, turnips, barley, and clover. However, crop rotation required a sizable area of land, and different methods of harvesting each year. That was the same in this world too.

If we could raise the same crops in small fields, it would let us develop better techniques for cultivating them. We might be able to produce wheat and rice with higher yields, and vegetables that are more resistant to insects and the cold, yes.

You have a point. We have a lot of babies being born healthy in the Kingdom now. We can expect the population to grow. And with Fuuga Haan retaking land from the Demon Lords Domain up north, people are starting to go back there. The demand for food is going to rise even more.

We need to increase our food production capacity, yes. And thats what the agricultural gelins are for.

Ginger nodded in agreement, pointing at the agricultural gelins.

They were a subspecies of the gelin subspecies known as the medical gelin, which members of the three-eyed race like Dr. Hilde used to produce three-eyedine. The agricultural gelin had been selectively bred from the medical gelin, which lived in places with high levels of toxins.

Our agricultural research team worked with the three-eyed race to create these gelins, adjusting them to feed on excessive insects and pathogenic bacteria in the soil. In combination with the fertilizer that the Empire taught us how to make, we can limit the damage done by monocropping, and shorten the time the fields need to lie fallow.

These agricultural gelins killed specific bacteria and insects, thus functioning like agricultural chemicals, in a way. However, unlike liquid chemicals, the gelins maintained their shape to a degree, so even after they finished crawling around there werent parts of them left in the soil. While they were still in an experimental state, Souma was hopeful that there would be no effect on people who ate the finished crops.

This is all sounding good, but are there any drawbacks, yes?

It would be easy to make a gelin that eats every bug and bacteria in the soil, but much harder to make them only eat specific ones. The pests and bacteria that grow out of control vary from crop to crop too, so we also need to make a gelin for each type.

Hmm...that does sound time-consuming, yes.

The only ones we have results for so far are the gelin for tomatoes, and the gelin for wheat, which has been our top priority.

The agricultural gelins were still being tested. They definitely needed them for grains, which were easily preserved. The ones for other crops wouldnt be introduced until after that. It was frustrating, but they had to keep striving towards the dream of one day raising their food production capacity by leaps and bounds.

Suddenly, a voice could be heard in the distance.

Lord Gingeeer!

It was the voice of a woman who was waving from on top of a hill nearby. She was Gingers wife, the raccoon beastman Sandria. Her belly was heavy with child; currently nine months pregnant.

Its about time for lunch, you twooo!

Okay, San! Ginger replied, waving back. Lets get going then, Sir Poncho.

Yes, yes.

They both headed over to where Sandria was, and there were two other women with her. These were Ponchos wives. A sheet was laid out on the ground, and there was a basket of bread along with veggies, cheese, and ham to make sandwiches with.

In the middle of the sheet there were two large baskets, each containing a darling little baby with a round face, sound asleep.

Poncho asked his wives, Are Marin and Maron sleeping, yes?

Yes, dear. They went right to sleep as soon as we finished breastfeeding them, Komain replied with a smile.

Marin and Maron were the daughters that Serina and Komain had given birth to at nearly the same time. Because they were born so close together, they decided to give them similar-sounding names too.

They looked like twins, having both inherited Ponchos round face, but Komains daughter, Maron, had a slightly redder shade of skin, so they never confused the two.

Serina pressed a hand to her cheek and sighed. Its good that they eat well and sleep well, but I worry they may grow up to be built like my husband.

Ulp! I-Itll be fine, yes. I think theyll be just as beautiful as you and Ms. Komain.

Hee hee, its okay, Serina. Poncho was able to lose weight when he tried.

Komain chuckled, perhaps thinking back to the emaciated Poncho of not so long ago. Serina giggled too.

You have a point. Hes already regained his original shape, so why dont we slim him down again? Hee hee, I think Id like a boy this time.

Oh, Id like a boy too, darling.

With his beautiful wives pressing towards him with smiles, Poncho felt a chill run down his spine as he recalled just how hed lost so much weight before.

Ginger and Sandria watched the three of them with wry smiles on their faces.