I was deeply moved when I saw the hard soil, which previously had weeds grown on it, turned into a beautiful ridged field, as if the harvest of healthy crops was guaranteed already.
It was actually a small feat, considering the first magic that I succeeded with effort was in the world where magic existed, different from my previous life.
Yet, I felt content with that.
I even wondered if I really did accomplish something with my effort this far.
To think about it, it was possible to search for almost everything during my previous life.
Being able to use magic from zero was definitely a big step of my life in this world.
As I was thinking about that, I heard a rumbling noise coming from my stomach.
I, who was still immersed in my emotions, was brought back to reality as I got reminded of my empty stomach.
Right.
There was something more important than magic right now.
I had to produce something to eat no matter what.
"Alright, let's plant this thing right away."
Even now, my body kept on making sounds as my empty stomach insisted.
I barely held down my appetite, one of the three major desires striking from my body, with my reasoning as I picked up the crops I had prepared.
What I intended to plant in this field was a kind of root vegetables.
A vegetables that grew in a short period of time, which were found in most fields of poor farmer families.
They surprisingly could be eaten in about twenty days.
However, this vegetables called 'hatsuka' were also infamous for being not popular.
Because, they tasted terrible.
They didn't look appetizing as it grew as a blackish lump of roots attached to their hard stem, that it was commonly used as a food for cattle.
Therefore, it was considered as a scrap vegetables for poor farmers.
I planted hatsuka in uniformed distance according to the ridges plowed by magic.
I didn't care how infamous hatsuka were.
I was hungry to that extent.
To be honest, I probably would regret the fact that I had reincarnated to this world if my magic didn't end up in success today.
Being in such a young body, I experienced how cruel poverty was in the first hand.
**"
"Huh? How strange."
I involuntarily muttered when I came to take care of the field, as it already became my daily routine.
Several days had passed since my first successful magic.
I poured my magic to the field about once a day.
Thanks to that, those large spaces that were once a desolate land had been reborn to be a soft rich soil.
However, a problem started to appear as the range was expanding.
Water.
There wasn't any water supply that would flow out as I turned on the faucet, not even a hose.
Water was drawn from the water jug at home with a worn out bucket, and I needed to go back and forth to the field.
Watering the field was extremely hard labor for me, who only possessed an immature small body as a three-years-old.
It would be best if I could pour out water by using magic, but I was left confused because it didn't work.
Today as well, I managed to finish watering the field while being out of breath. [1]
And then, I, who was still panting, noticed something.
It was hatsuka that I planted in the field on the first day.
Hatsuka were a root vegetables that grew as several small spheres of roots attached under its thin, hard stem.
After about twenty days, flowers would bloom on their stems, which was the sign for harvest.
However, flowers were blooming on those hatsuka planted on the first day.
It was obviously early.
It wasn't even strange for me to say that it was too fast.
They were hatsuka with their flowers blooming at an obviously abnormal pace…
However, I didn't have an option to leave them be, even if they turned out to be abnormal.
I placed my hand on my chest to hold down my pulsating heartbeats. Adjusting my breathing, I reached for the stem.
As the roots were firmly attached to the ground, I put my strength while gripping on its stem.
Putting my entire weight to my small body as I bent backward, I pulled it out at once.
"Wow… it's a lot."
I was surprised when I saw hatsuka that were pulled out all the way from ground.
Normally, hatsuka only had a few edible lump of roots attached to the tip of its stem.
However, hatsuka that were pulled up from this field had more than a dozen spherical roots.
I tore up one of them by hand and slap it with my hand.
The remaining soil was then falling off.
I soaked it with the remaining water in the bucket to remove all the dirt on its skin.
Crunch
I resolutely slammed my teeth together as I took a bite into that hatsuka.
At that moment, an unpleasant bitter taste spread in my mouth.
It tasted so terrible that I almost spat it out from my mouth.
Though, I never did that.
Because I already knew that it wouldn't taste good.
"Ugh….. it tastes terrible."
I said, almost unintentional.
However, contrary to my words, my eyes were smiling.
Because, I finally had hope to escape from starvation.
This was how the agricultural revolution within me began.
[1] The original phrase is "while saying hi- hi-" which I believe is an expression to be out of breath. It is weird cause it is the first time I've seen such expression in a novel. But well, I can't say that this author is using novel-like writing too so far.