Chapter 236: Aren’t they too large though?

“Ahm, so, according to what Lala-oneechan told me, you seem to have some problems in pillaging crops this year, is that right?”

I decided to change the topic in order to distract them.

Nothing good could come from them getting suspicious and trying to confirm my gender, after all.

“…yeah. Apparently, not much crops have been harvested this year. Thanks to that, every human village is more vigilant against us than normal.”

“There are more traps than normal too. It’s why I was caught, you see.”

“You were caught because you were being stupid!”

“Hiiii!”

Please stop quarreling!

“In that case, all the better to grow your own crops, right?”

“Ha? We’re taking the risk of the raids precisely because we can’t do such thing, you know. The land around here’s no good in growing crops.”

“Let me take a look.”

I persuaded Lili-san to let me borrow a plot of land within their settlement.

It wasn’t a large space, but if things go smoothly here, they should be able to trust me more easily.

“Alright, let’s make a field.”

{{Field: A cultivated land with good quality soil. Speeds up the growth of crops as well as improves their quality.}}

The plot of land that was dotted with grass instantly changed into a highly fertile field.

“…huh?”

Ignoring the dumbfounded Lili-san for now, I used Facility Upgrade to greatly improve its capabilities to [make the crops planted on it grow faster], [make the crops have better quality], and [improve the workers’ labor efficiency].

“Alright, now to plant the seeds. Lala-oneechan, can you help me with that?”

“Ah, yeah, sure.”

Lala-san has seen me build the roads from before, so she recovered right away.

As such, I decided to ask her to help in planting the seeds I brought from the village.

“Woah, what the heck!? I’m moving so much faster in this field too!?”

Thanks to our improved labor efficiency, we finished in just a few minutes.

“I think it should begin to sprout in 30 minutes. As for the harvest, we should be able to do that in 3 days.”

—After 3 days.

In the plot of land that I turned into a field, a large number of crops have grown enough to be harvestable.

Not only were there more crops than what one would usually expect, each one was bigger than normal as well. Thanks to that, the ground couldn’t even be seen anymore.

There were supposedly about 300 beastmen in this settlement, so even this small of a field might be able to feed them for a while.

“Crops really grew…aren’t they too large though?”

“See, Lili-neesan, what did I tell you? Luke’s amazing!”

“M-maybe the large size is the only good thing about these crops. Like, maybe they’re hollow on the inside or maybe it tastes awful?”

Lili-san plucked a bright red tomato and bit on it as it was.

“~~~~~~~~~~~~!?”

“Lili-neesan!? Is it poisonous!?”

“It’s, it’s, it’s so gooooooooooooodd!!”

“!?”

Lili-san, her eyes wide open, shouted so.

“What, this is so sweet!? And yet, it’s also quite sour! What’s more, it’s fresh and pulpy! I’ve never eaten a tomato this good!”

After hearing her shout so, the other beastmen scrambled to grab a crop of their own.

The food shortage must have left them terribly starved.

“““Sooooooooooooo gooooooooooooodddddddd!!?”””

Upon biting into the raw vegetables they picked, each of them let out a voice of amazement similar to Lili-san’s.

“I couldn’t have imagined that we will be able to get this many vegetables!”

“And we didn’t have to risk our lives too!”

“And it’s so, so delicious!”

“We don’t have to worry about the coming winter anymore!”

The female beastmen said so as they harvested the crops and prepared them to make a meal.

“Oh, in that case, you should use this.”

I then built an outdoor kitchen.

{{Outdoor Kitchen: a roofed kitchen installed outdoors. Improves labor efficiency as well as the food’s taste.}}

“Where did all these come from!?”

“What is with this place!? Everything seems so easy, plus I somehow work so quickly!”

“At this rate, we’d be able to make lots of tasty dishes!!”