Water Magician

Chapter 23: Paddy field development

Ryo was not always fighting.

After all, his goal was to live a 『Slow life』.

『A slow life accompanied by constant life-or-death battles』

With such a slogan, no one would even consider living a slow life in the countryside.

First, spices. He had dried the peppers he picked and finally made black pepper.

That was extremely useful in meat dishes.

In addition, salted or freeze-dried peppers are sometimes called 『Green Peppers』.

They are used as an ingredient in stir-fry in Southeast Asia but Ryo salted them to create the green peppers.

Because when he tried to freeze-dry them, it just became dehydrated peppers.

Only the 『Dry』 was performed … and the 『Freeze』 was ignored so the end product was dehydrated goods.

However, the ones that gave him the most sense of accomplishment were the fruits.

『Ichizuku』 that looked like a fig, 『Rindo』 that looked and tasted like an apple, and 『Mango』 which he found recently that was exactly like mango.

Those were the ones listed in the 『Plant Encyclopedia Beginner’s Edition』.

But there were unlisted fruits too.

Papaya, loquat and even watermelon!

He could understand finding wild papaya and loquat but he never imagined that he would find wild watermelon.

They were smaller than any species of watermelon found in Japan, had almost no sweetness, and the external appearance resembled a melon more than a watermelon but … once cut open, the iconic red flesh could be seen. Ryo was moved to tears when he saw the red flesh after cutting it open. Although the complete lack of sweetness also caused Ryo to cry a different kind of tears.

However, there was a huge problem in living his slow life.

Till today, he had not found a single antidote grass.

Failing to find it after searching so hard probably meant that it was an issue with the environment.

Although it wasn’t recorded that it ‘Grows well in cold regions’ …

Perhaps the Rondo Forest was too warm, or rather, the climate could be called an everlasting summer so it could not grow.

And, as feared, that was true for soybeans as well.

He couldn’t find soybeans either.

That said, he had replaced soy sauce with fish sauce.

It was slightly different from the soy sauce that the Japanese eat but it was a difference that could be found if you searched for soy sauces nationwide. There was no problem there.

But there was no replacement for miso.

As long as he couldn’t get soybeans, miso … Ryo had already given up on it.

And finally, the main carbohydrate, rice.

Ryo had a certain project in mind.

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Project name: Paddy Field Development in Rondo Forest

Just like the name implied, the idea was to develop a paddy field to grow rice.

The same plan to establish a paddy field that he failed in the past.

The plan where, without Earth Attribute Magic or tools for creating a paddy field, he tried dropping Icicle Lances from the sky or causing steam explosions to cultivate the land …

At that time, it was a complete failure and he put off the issue … but it was an unavoidable problem that he eventually had to face head-on.

And today was the day to face it head-on.

First, he secured a square piece of land with 60 meters on each side that reached up until the very edge of the barrier.

He made ice spears on all four ends and connected them by tying ivy.

That would act as a replacement for the thread that indicates the water horizon …

The inside of the ivy would be the paddy field.

For the time being, the procedure for cultivating the paddy field was …

Digging up the soil and crushing it into fine pieces to make it look like a field.

And then supplying water to moisten the entire field.

At that time, there would be holes underneath the soil so no matter how much water is added, it will not collect.

While adding water, a tractor or cow would mix the mud and water and seal the holes underneath the soil.

The previous time, he reached a deadlock at the very first step of 『Digging up the soil』.

“I am different from how I was before!”

This time, Ryo was exuding a fighting spirit throughout his entire body.

“<Ice Wall>”

The inside of the ivy border was encased on all sides with Ice Walls.

And then it began, the symposium of water and ice.

“<Icicle Lance 256>”

“<Icicle Lance 256>”

“<Icicle Lance 256>”

“<Icicle Lance 256>”

“<Icicle Lance 256>”

Ice spears were created 40 meters up in the air one-after-another and they free-fell to the planned paddy field.

High-density high-speed continuous bombing.

If one spear was not enough, he could fire a ton of spears!

Basically a brute force solution.

Of course, he didn’t think that would be sufficient to solve the problem.

“<Water Jet 128>”

“<Water Jet 128>”

“<Water Jet 128>”

“<Water Jet 128>”

“<Water Jet 128>”

Thick Water Jets that were also continuously fired crushed the soil chunks into tiny pieces.

Ice spears dropped from the sky and water jets were fired from a close distance.

If seen from afar, it would probably be quite a surreal sight.

But the actual situation was … erupting soil, soil, and more soil …

The soil blown upward was crushed by the water jets.

That scene lasted for about ten minutes.

Hundreds of continuous creation was a strain even for Ryo.

He knelt and adjusted his breathing.

He had never used such an attack in waves even against monsters.

Well, it was probably possible because his target was the stationary ground.

The common expression in battlefield reports was that the ground at the bombing site was scooped out but the original ground in Ryo’s paddy field could no longer be seen.

As though it was scooped up, crushed, and mixed up and down by a tractor.

“Yeap, that’s how it is done.”

The first step was complete.

Next was to add water to moisten all the soil.

In places like Japan with improved paddy fields, there would be faucets where you can get as much water as you wish by twisting it open.

Of course, the people would continue to pay for land improvement fee for decades, generations and pretty much forever.

Naturally, in addition to that, there would be a water usage fee too.

Nevertheless, not having to worry about water was a great thing for farming.

Famines are often caused by water shortages in the east and west.

However, here there was a man who could provide water freely.

What a pairing!

Undoubtedly, the vocation of a Water Attribute Magician is agriculture!

“Let’s get this done in one go. <Squall>”

The Squall that he used to wash away the poisonous fog from the Kite Snake and used to water plants such as the Ichizuku in the garden.

It was quite a violent sight to see that fall onto the 60-meter squared land.

That violent sight continued for about two minutes.

It was sufficient to cause the soil to become considerably muddy.

There was some pooling of water as well.

But if left alone, the accumulated water would quickly flow underground and it would return to an ordinary field.

Normally, a tractor would be used here to scrape the soil and mud.

But Ryo didn’t have such a machine.

But of course, he didn’t need one!

“<Ice Wall 2 Step>”

An ordinary Ice Wall was 2 meters high but this Ice Wall 2 Step was twice as high at 4 meters tall.

Of course, with that, it should be fine to prevent mud from flying out.

“<Icicle Lance 256>”

“<Icicle Lance 256>”

“<Icicle Lance 256>”

“<Icicle Lance 256>”

“<Icicle Lance 256>”

He created Icicle Lances one-after-another at about 30 meters from the ground, lower than before, and dropped them onto the paddy field plot.

The thought process was the same.

If there was no tractor, firing a ton of spears into the ground would achieve the same purpose!

Then, from time to time, he would chant <Squall> to replenish the water and once again fired <Icicle Lance> to stir the mud.

Ryo continued to fire Icicle Lance for 30 minutes at a much slower pace compared to when he started the land cultivation.

With this, Ryo didn’t actually know how much the stirred up bottom was clogged up.

However, the mud seemed to have become quite fine.

Finally, the mud surface in the water must be level.

Otherwise, when the rice seedlings were planted, some of the seedlings will be submerged underwater in some places.

Flooding and tilling the soil were extremely important steps before planting the seedlings.

“Right, they are important for the seedlings … eh? Seedlings …?”

Ryo was stunned.

“I didn’t … prepare seedlings …”

That’s right. Usually, before preparing the paddy field, it was necessary to grow the rice husk into seedlings in a different location for a month before replanting the seedlings.

But … Ryo didn’t prepare the seedlings.

He fell to his knees crestfallen.

The preparations for the paddy field today were completely wasted.

“N-no, I was able to verify that I can prepare the paddy field so it was not a complete waste. Yup, it wasn’t a waste … it shouldn’t be … I hope it wasn’t.”

With his head drooping down, Ryo could not stand up for some time.