She instructed me as she turned and went inside the house, shutting the flimsy thatched door after her. I took the basketful of rotten fruits and vegetables and place it near the stream, under the shade of a tree. I then arranged the rest of the groceries and placed it on the makeshift bamboo table at the side of the house.
I removed the shawl that was covering my head and saw that my name is still visibly red in colour. "Sigh...how long would I remain in this state?" as I hang the shawl that would be used as my blanket later on in the night.
The clang of my short sword gave me an idea. "How about if I try to enter the Realm of Mind and try to improve this blade. This sword is the basic sword of all swords. I'm sure it could be enhanced." I scooped up the remaining gruel and it made 3 generous helpings. Maybe this is the way the elder wanted to make sure that the food would always be enough on reserve.
After eating and meaning the cauldron, the day had finally given way to dusk. I stoked up the fireplace with huge branches so I won't need to look for more wood in the middle of the night. I chose a place under a tree and sat down cross-legged and starts to meditate while holding the short sword in my lap.
After a short while, I managed to enter the Realm of Mind. The altar was there and the Sekai No Dairiseki had been handed over to Saiki's father before I transmigrated. I squeeze the scene before me and it disappeared. Next, I went to the brick area and I swiped it across. Then I was at the so-called foundry for making the Refined Steel Plates and there are still quite a number of plates uncollected from the last production. This too I swiped it across and came to an empty scene after the essence extraction room.
There, I set up a blade washing grinding stone and running water at the side. I then set up a stool for me to sit while in perform blade washing on this blade of mine. I looked at it and prayed that it would not fail me. This was in fact what the blacksmith commonly termed as a Dull Blade.
The moment the dull blade hits the grinding stone, sparks flew in all directions like it was some kind of sparklers...not fireworks. It is an overstatement if I were to call it fireworks. Hahahahaha.
After half an hour, I was done sharpening both edges of the blade and I had sharpened the tip for stabbing as well. The blade shone with a more vibrant sheen before and it looked sturdier and harder. It would be a tone to test it out tomorrow after I hung some dull foxes and then moved to the normal ones.
I meditated off and returned to the real world. As soon as I was back, a sense of nostalgia crept over me as I remembered the hours spent in the Realm of Mind with Hiko-sama churning out Refined Steel with him and his heavy fireproof gloves. "Sigh...such memories will always be etched in me." I sighed inwardly and rubbed the sudden appearance of dampness at the corner of my right eye.
"Alright...there's no point to be sad. They were not even born 700 hundred years later. Concentrate on the task at hand and see what we could do about it." I saw my short bow and arrows and decided to take a good look at it. The leather quiver held 6 arrows and it had a metal barbed tip. Anyone 'kenna' by this sure is in deep shit. The barbed metal tip of the arrowhead is the killing factor. I wondered how much it would cost to make a few dozen of this.
Worst-case scenario, I design a workshop in the Realm of Mind using the Refined Steel plates to melt down and make into arrowheads, then a wooden workshop to make the shafts and insert the fletching at the back.
"Eeehhhh....why am I so stupid...?!? I've got tons of Refined Steel back there and I could sell it to the Blacksmith for money or trade it with arrows instead. Hahahahaha...why didn't I think of that...?!? My Gosh...lucky i did not crumple the scene away and destroy it...! There must be at least about a few thousand pieces of Refined Steel back there...Hahahhahaa....!!" I slapped myself in the thighs and I laughed out so loud that the elder shouted back to me not be to be crazy like her while talking and laughing to myself....
I ignored her and laughed again loudly and it echoed in the forest and scared the birds who were roosting for the night there.
"All I need to know was the buying price of the Refined Steel Plate and how much the arrows would cost. Definitely, I won't be able to fetch 20 Ryo gold coins each because, in this era, I'm not sure if anyone uses steel at all and production of steel is much more laborious then making cast iron or pig iron due to the carbon content."
"Going to find out more about it at the marketplace which the elder told me it's a trading district. Well, to the trading district after I settled the cultivation for the fruits and vegetables." I thought to myself as I kay down near the fireplace and soon fell asleep before thanking Hiko-sama that my wealth did continue after this series.
=*=
I awoke to the chirping birds in the morning just before the break of dawn. "Good morning birdies, come have some grains here. Thank you for being my alarm clock for 2 days in a row now." I said as I eyed a few chirping birds on a branch as it too eyed me. I pecked my hands into the rice that I had bought last night and place it under the branch where it was chirping.
I soon left and proceeded to wash up my face when I saw the birds flew down and pecked at the grains that I had left in the ground for them. At least they had their breakfast, I thought as I washed my face and hair. I scooped a mouthful of water and gargled it before sitting it on the ground.
I dusted my blanket off the ground and aired it at the back of the thatched house. I stoked up the fireplace and hang a pot to boil some water. I then went to fetch my basket of rotten fruits and vegetables, the cutting board, the broken hoe and my utility knife and went to the herbs patch. I marked the ground with several vines that I had attached together and placed a stake on both ends to make a straight line.
After I had marked the ground, I picked the hoe and began to loosen the soil deep enough using the vine as a guide. Then I loosened the earth around it and make a straight mound. This process was repeated until I've got 10 straight mounds of earth about 10 meters in length and was separated by at least a few paces in between each mound.
I took several trips to the stream to fetch water and I watered and softened the mounds first. Once I had done so, I took a tomato and sliced it roundly and placed it in the mounds and covered it with some loosed earth. Each tomato was good enough to make about 6 plantations and I decided to cover at least 2 lines for plantations.
Carrots were a bit difficult to cultivate. I had removed the leafy part and then I measured about 2 inches from the top of the carrot and cut it off before I plunged the whole carrot into the ground. The carrots could only make one line of plantations. After the initial harvest, it could be extended into the next line so I decided to keep it bare first.
Next, I worked in was with the potatoes and I had about 5 rotten ones and I halved them with my utility knife before I buried it with the cut part facing downwards and the eyes are being covered with the loose soil. "Good...we going to have potatoes in due time..." I thought to myself as using organic soil for plantation is the best.
I had a few strawberries with me and I sliced them. Knowing that each slice of strawberry would have their seeds in them, I made 2 lines of plantations for it. "Great...now for the last part...my humble string beans. I need to make a trellis for this as I walked to the forested area and saw some yellow bamboo and cut a few pieces down. I saw some bamboo shoots and I removed it from the base of the bamboo plantations. " Another source of free vegetables..."
I dragged the bamboo over to my patch and set it aside and used my utility knife to scrape away at its leaves and twigs. I chopped away at the ring of the bamboo about a length of 1 meter and then make strips out of it. These bamboo strips were then placed into the ground to where I wanted the string bean tendrils to grow and climb.
Since the 2 mounds were selected by a few paces, it enabled the climbing string beans to climb from each side end then form a trellis in the centre. It was alright for me to walk through and soon after making the vertical, horizontal and overhead trellis, I proceeded to peel away at the dried strong beans and discovered that I had a handful of those seeds.
"Hahaha...this is better than I thought. This is a fast-growing type of string beans and once the flower had turned into a baby pod, it would be able to harvest in 3 to 5 days time. Yes...! We going to have string beans stir fry with the gruel. it would be fantastic...! Gruel... I won't mind eating it every day as long as we have variations of dishes."
I stepped back and view my work and am satisfied with it. It would take some time for the sprouts to show and would need constant weeding and watering. "Steady boom peep peep la...Now I would get is some livestock and make this place livelier.
But getting livestock also require their feeds and it costs money to maintain them. Maybe in later stages..." I thought to myself and I went to wash my hands and by that time the water in the pot had boiled and inset it aside.
The elder came out just when I had placed the pot aside and she sat down after she peered at my handiwork of the new vegetable garden that I had cultivated.
"Hmm...not bad. I was halfway thinking that you might be squirming and screaming like a little girl if you saw a fat juicy earthworm or a hairy caterpillar. Hahahahahaha. Good work, my child. So you need to take care of the garden in order to make it produce good results. Do good to mother earth and she will reward you with bountiful reaps."
"Hahahahah. I won't squirm like a small girl if I see those things. I've done boiling the water for tea. I would be preparing the bread later on so I would need about a cup of hot water, to begin with. I would be using the mixing bowl later to mix half of this flour."
"Alright, child, do as you wish as long as you don't burn the house with me in it.Hahahaha." the elder laughed as she was in a good mood as she watched me fetch the mixing bowl and placed half catty of flour and a pinch of salt. I brought it over the fire and scooped 1 cup of hot water and poured it inside and I put a dollop of animal fat and began to stir and knead the flour into a dough.