“Rather, you’re even more knowledgeable than I thought, Kizuna.”
“It just kinda stuck with me when I was digging into that game’s systems.”
“You know what? How about you major in agriculture at uni?”
“Don’t want to. We’re not a farming family.”
We don’t own land, for starters. And besides, everyone knows farming doesn’t pay well.
I was only a bit more knowledgeable than the average gamer, and that was simply from playing a realistic game. Nothing more. It would be idiotic for me to go into agriculture just for that.
“Anyway, we need to find out why the fields are this far gone... Emoji. What did you plant here before?”
“Hmm? I planted soybeans in the soybean field, of course. Each time I harvested, I planted the same crop again. Ah, but I did remember to fertilize them well.”
“Then did this game include continuous cropping hazard...? Also, from the look of things, you probably planted them too close together. Fertilizer’s good, but fertilizer alone won’t cut it.”
I mean, top-dressing’s still important.
There was apparently a skill called Fertilize on the farming tree. Fish were historically used as fertilizer, so perhaps I could offer some support by fishing at the oasis.
There were probably variables like how much fertilizer to add and how much water to give, depending on the crop.
The fact that this bothersome system is actually starting to look fun to me...is it because I’ve played too many of these sorts of games?
“The insect damage is pretty bad too. What about pesticides? I’m pretty sure the game has them.”
That was information about the game’s farming mechanics that even I was aware of.
“My fields are perfectly pesticide-free!” Emoji proudly declared.
Oh boy... I mean, I get where you’re coming from.
That was usually the right approach in a fun, easygoing farming sim. It was actually rare for a game to lean this far into it. In fact, I had to wonder about a game promoting pesticides, given the controversies about chemical safety we were having in real life.
Or maybe...the intent was to provide a challenge for farming players who wanted to create a perfect environment where they could grow the finest produce without pesticides. Sure, that did sound interesting in the long run—but right now, pesticides were definitely the answer.
“That only works in simplified ranch sims. In realistic games, pesticides are just as important as fertilizer.”
“Huh?! Are you for real?!”
And suddenly, her rigid way of speech was gone. Like she’d forgotten all about it. It was definitely just the character she was playing. Not that I hated that sort of thing.
She reminded me of Yamikage.
“Trying to grow crops without pesticides is like trying to beat the final boss with beginner’s gear at level one. It’s basically the same as telling you to die.”
From all the studying I had to do, I knew just how absurd and troublesome the organic, pesticide-free ideal really was. Real farmers worked themselves to the bone over that stuff...and being pesticide-free didn’t automatically mean better tasting either.
Obtaining safe produce was a lot harder than it seemed.
If I had to put it in RPG terms, if fertilizer was your weapon, then pesticides were your armor.
“I-Is it really that bad?”
“Yeah. This is something from real life, but just using over-the-counter bug spray on crops makes them count as chemically treated. It’s still a pesticide.”
“M-My word...”
“You can also spray diluted milk to kill pests, but that’s not a fundamental solution. If we’ve got safe pesticides around, we’d better use them. It’s the same as the combat teams putting on proper gear.”
Going pesticide-free was just that difficult.
“But I’ve heard that organic farming is much better. And I’ve heard that it works especially well with new fields.”
“That’s a well-known story, but the truth is it’s not completely pesticide-free. More importantly, pesticide-free farming just isn’t possible anymore. Not when the fields are this contaminated. Your crops thrive in new fields mostly because they aren’t suffering from the continuous crop hazard.”
There’s no way anything would grow here. Meaning the fields weren’t contaminated from the start; they were made this way.
“G-Got it.”
Did none of her former guild members notice just by looking at Emoji’s fields? Even if they thought that plants only needed to be watered, shouldn’t they have at least realized something was wrong?
“So we’re lifting the ban on pesticides?” asked Kanade. “Then there’s something I want to try.”
“What is it?”
“Well, you know all those safety measures they have in real life...or at least, the stuff they do to make people feel safe? Well, this is a game, so isn’t this the perfect place to try it?”
“Just get to the point, sis.”
I knew not to expect anything decent out of her, but I had to ask nonetheless.
“Let’s go all in and make some super genetically modified, pesticide-soaked crops and see how they taste.”
Well, yeah...we won’t get a chance in real life. Where would you even buy something like that? But is that the sort of thing you get hyped for even if it is a game?
“See...? This is the kind of family I’m stuck with...”
“Aye...what a cruel world we live in...”
“As for the pesticides, can we just sprinkle some potions around the fields?”
“We’ll have to figure that out. But first, we need to cleanse the fields and let them rest for a few days... Aight, you got the Compounding skill, right? I’m counting on you, sis.”
“Huh...well...fine, got it. If you’re that serious about it, it must be serious.”
“Do we have anyone else who can make potions? If we don’t, I’d like someone to learn it.”
“Yeah, we do. A few other people have Compounding too.”
Good, it all works out, then.
We seemed to have enough people capable of procuring recovery items. And that meant that securing medicines and pesticides was most likely possible too.
What we really needed was manpower.
Doctor Pekkle might be able to do it too, so let’s start with that.
“C’mon Pekkle.”
“Pennnn!”
Before picking out which Pekkles I’d summon, I first called on Chris.
“This is...an unreclaimed frontier, pen!”
Oh? He’s got some special lines.
Chris waddled up to the Santa Hat Bunowny and began cycling through talking animations.
“Pen pen.”
“Bun bun.”
He came back to me.
“I talked it out with the local frontier fairy, pen. We Pekkles will help with the development too, pen. But here, we can’t use our powers to their full potential, pen. The stronger the Bunownies get, the more power we can draw out, pen.”
“Hmm...” said Emoji. “It looks like the Pekkles are linked to the growth of the Bunownies.”
Checking the Pekkles’ stats, I saw that all the development values had dropped significantly. It really seemed like they’d become nothing more than helpers.
Makes sense; otherwise, the folks who already have their own territories would have way too much of an advantage.
“Looks like it. So, I get that the Bunowny food supply’s run dry, but how bad are we talking here?”
“We can’t afford most of them. They have to stay on standby, or they’ll keep turning Karma.”
Ow...what a vicious cycle.
The devastation of the fields, coupled with a lack of manpower, had caused things to spiral bad.
“Beating them in battle after they went Karma would bring them back for a while, so everyone would exploit the Karma transformation. Defeating them would cause some crops to drop, you see. But with that method, the Bunownies never grew stronger.”
That was one way to keep a business going, albeit a cruel, exploitative way. Their only fun must have been to grind on the Karma-fied Bunownies.
There was no way that was what the devs intended.
“Though if you’re strong enough to beat them, I guess it kind of works.”
Meaning up until recently, this frontier had been an absolute hell for Bunownies.
Not that I was one to talk—not after I had the Pekkles run a crab cannery ship operation.
But I could see why their growth would stagnate like that.
It was a land that had been kept afloat by brute force. There was a fail-safe that let them manage to some degree while their necessary farming skills were less than sufficient. It wasn’t the proper method—rather, it was a boneheaded one. But they at least had the option.
Let’s check the Pekkles again... Yep, still the same. Their stats are down across the board. We’ll have to start by raising the Bunownies.
“Can I borrow the item you use to keep track of the Bunownies?”
“This one, yes? I heard the island master could control Pekkles without any special tools, though.”
Emoji handed me something called the Buno-no-meter, but as soon as I reached for it, it shot off like we were two opposing magnets and clattered to the ground.
“Penster can’t control Bunownies, pen,” Chris cautioned me.
So you’re saying I can only manage Pekkles? Penguins can’t be bunnies, pen?
“Well, whatever...even if the Pekkles’ abilities are down, at least I can control them...”
I pulled the Pekkle-o-meter out from my inventory and passed it over to my sister.
The Seven Tools of the Pioneer...still seem usable.
Unlike the Pekkles, my pioneering tools actually seemed to be getting buffed. But the buff was mostly boosting fishing; farming wasn’t seeing much benefit.
I guess it’s telling me to go fish my heart out.
“For the time being, I’ll summon the Pekkles we can actually use. I can’t bring too many, though—I don’t want to cause any issues with Cal Mira’s management.”
To start with, I called out Doctor Pekkle and Farmer Pekkle.
“Pennn!”
As for smithing... It doesn’t look like we have a smith here, so I’ll have to borrow the hammer-wielding Pekkle Romina uses. I’ll bet he’s got a high smithing skill.
I could almost feel the vein popping on Romina’s forehead.
If only there was some way to send her a message.
But right now, what mattered most was hammering the basics of agriculture into Emoji’s head and finishing the development. For what it’s worth, it seemed like I was able to return Pekkles if needed. That was a nice bit of leeway on the system’s part.
“We’ll need fish to feed the Pekkles... Do you have any stockpiled?”
“We do not...”
“That’s about what I expected. I have some fish on hand, enough to last until I can restock. For now, I’ll set some crab traps in the oasis and cover the rest with fishing.”
I already had some fish reserves. With the development zone modifiers on top of my personal skills and equipment, I’d be able to farm some good proficiency on my own.
“I take it we can leave the Pekkles to you?”
“Pretty much. On that note, I should summon Brave Pekkle too.”
“Pennnnn!”
Brave Pekkle rushed to the scene.