Until the holidays arrive, time seems to pass slowly, yet once the break begins, it flies by in an instant.
It seems this is true no matter what world you’re in.
Summer vacation ended quickly, and Older Brother returned to the Academy in the Capital.
The house feels a bit lonelier now.
These days, it’s still hot during the day, but in the mornings and evenings, a cool breeze blows, and you can feel autumn in the air.
I’m happy it’s becoming a more comfortable season.
But, something feels off.
While pondering why that might be, I ran into Sophie in the corridor of the manor.
“Older Brother, it’s another fine, sunny day today, isn’t it?”
Ah, that’s it!
Thanks to Sophie, I realized what felt strange.
Normally, around the end of summer, it rains, but this year, the clear weather has continued and it hasn’t rained at all.
A few days later, at breakfast, Father had an unusually serious expression.
He absentmindedly moved his fork, lost in thought.
“Dear, you seem absent-minded. Is there something worrying you?”
“Ah, sorry. Summer’s almost over, but it’s been clear all this time. The farmers are worried that if this keeps up, even if they sow the seeds, the wheat won’t grow properly.”
So the lack of rain is having an effect after all.
This country’s staple food is wheat, sown in autumn and harvested in early summer.
It seems to be almost the same variety as what was called winter wheat in my previous life.
I remember hearing that for winter wheat to grow strong, there needs to be plenty of moisture in the soil.
Of course, if it starts raining soon, there shouldn’t be any problem, but the unease grows.
The reason is, last year there wasn’t much rain either.
Because of that, this year’s wheat harvest was poor.
Father governs well, so taxes aren’t high, but even so, there are quite a few people who don’t have enough in reserve.
If there’s a bad wheat harvest two years in a row, some people will surely go hungry.
Having to endure hunger is hard.
My memories of my previous life have become vague, but I feel like I also experienced the pain of hunger back then.
Most of the people in our domain are gentle and kind.
When I go into town, they wave and smile, and the lady at the food stall sometimes gives me fruit.
I don’t want to see these good people, working so hard to live, suffering from hunger.
Isn’t there something I can do?
Even after returning to my room after breakfast, I kept thinking.
If I use my Production Skill to deal with the drought, should I build irrigation channels?
But running irrigation channels all through the domain would take too much time.
Besides, since it’s not raining, the river’s water level has dropped, and if I take more water from the river for irrigation, the downstream will dry up even more.
As I was struggling to come up with a good idea, my eyes fell on a basket in the corner of the room.
If I remember right, what’s in that basket is the mysterious plant I found in the Great Forest that caught my attention.
When I took it out, it looked like an ordinary wild grass.
But when I Appraised it, the result was: “Nameless Wild Grass: Resistant to Drought.”
Oh, this plant has the characteristic of being resistant to drought.
Maybe it was a premonition that I found it interesting back in the Great Forest.
Is there some way to give this trait to wheat?
But there’s no time to slowly breed new varieties.
How could I quickly create drought-resistant wheat?
As I wondered, it hit me.
Create it?
That’s right, the Production Skill.
I’ve never heard of using the Production Skill to create a new type of plant, but just as I can combine different materials to make furniture, maybe I can combine the seeds of different kinds of plants, too.
Furniture and seeds are completely different things, so it might be a crazy idea, but I’ll try anyway.
I asked a servant to bring me some seed wheat.
I placed the mysterious plant’s seeds from the Great Forest next to them and focused.
Concentrating on the wish to create a new plant, I activated my Production Skill.
My hands glowed, a magic circle appeared, and when the warm light faded, wheat remained.
Well, at the very least, the Skill activated and I was able to combine the two plants.
However, when I Appraised it, the result was “Winter Wheat (New Variety): Wild Nature.”
I managed to make a new variety of wheat, but what does “Wild Nature” mean?
Unfortunately, the trait of drought resistance didn’t transfer.
Hmm, Erika-sensei taught me that imagination is important.
How should I imagine it?
I tried various things, but in the end, I wasn’t able to make drought-resistant wheat that day.