CH 4

Chapter 1 Episode 4

Iron Farming Tools

The self -introduction was over. All of them were abandoned one way or another, but it was definitely their parents that abandoned them. They came from all over the place. Seems like I have made some friends these past several days. In other words, there was space for me to be close to them. It was a total relief. The gender ratio here was fifty-fifty. Normally, girls take more precedence, but somehow those weren’t followed since it was fifty-fifty. Even so, it does not matter now. For now, let me only introduce five most important people. Ron-kun. 12 years old. The oldest among them. Taller than the current me. He was slightly contentious, but he had a sense of responsibility. Soyon-chan. 12 years old. Born from the same village as Ron-kun. Very cute. Will probably be Ron-kun’s wife in the future. Always speaks respectfully to me. Ron has his uses, but he has the biggest attitude among the children. I felt lonely by how close they really are. Roswald-kun. 11 years old. He was the number two guy until I came. He was more high-handed than Ron-kun. He doesn’t really mind me. Tetora-chan. 10 years old. Taciturn. Basically doesn’t speak. Gram-kun. 10 years old. Petite and timid. These five people are the central figures of this group. “Still, I cannot think of anything other than working on a farm.” I spoke in front of these 5 people about my plan. Frankly speaking, it’s meaningless to inquire the opinion of a kid, it would be better to start it by myself without considering their opinion. I was just a stranger who acted along the flow. Still, declining them just because they are 10 years younger than me was out of the question. “But you know, isn’t working on the field extremely hard? How are we going to do it?” That was Ron-kun’s opinion. I totally agree with him. The uncultivated land was extremely hard to begin with. Because the roots of vegetation are stretched all around, removing them would be hard work. To all of the children, it’s on a level that would be fatal. Besides, among the children that can be useful, there are only six of us including me that are 10 years or older. This would be reckless.

But it’s better than not doing anything. “It’s impossible I tell you. Let’s just stop.” Roswald made the remark indifferently while stretching out his legs. And then stared at me. “I’m not convinced that what this guy had said is good. Isn’t that right, Tetora? “…… On the other had, there is only agriculture to obtain a semblance of a stable food supply.” Tetora seems to agree to my opinion. “What do you think, Gram?” “Eh!? Well, that…… I don’t know.” Gram had a scared expression. Oh well, it’s only natural he doesn’t know. He was only a kid after all. “So, how are we going to cultivate the land?” “We need to buy some iron farming tools. If we have that I think it will considerably be easy.” “Buy? What do you mean by buy?” Ah…… They don’t know currency. Then it’s the wrong word to use. “It means we have to trade something for it.” “If there was something to trade for iron farming tools, it would have been on my stomach a long time ago. You’re an idiot.” Roswald-kun, that was a harsh comment coming from you. Oi, only someone stupid can call someone stupid. “There is something we can use to trade. Unfortunately, you can’t eat it.” The five people were at once dumbstruck at my words. How cute. “Hey, I have brought it.” I heard the Griffon’s voice. It seems it was able to bring the objective. “Thank you very much. With this, we’ll manage somehow.” I received a huge amount of swords and spears from the Griffon. 70% are made of Iron, and 30% are made from bronze. All of these weapons came from the brave people from all over trying to beat the Griffon. These have been rusted from exposure, but these are still valuable metals. “I don’t really mind. These tusks and nails are unnecessary for this one. It doesn’t easily return to the ground, and I’m troubled that these were stinking the place. Quickly dispose of these things. Now then, there is still a huge amount remaining.” The Griffon flew away as it said so. The human sense of value was totally different from a beast. “Areー are we going to war?” “This is different.” I rebuked Gram-kun’s remark. I mean, Gram-kun, your imagination was somewhat radical. In spite of being a coward.

“Surely this will make us powerful, but there is no way a child can beat an adult. Even if a child has a weapon to swing around, they can still be defeated by an adult barehanded.” It’s clearly evident who’s going to win a match between an adult and a child. Don’t act so rashly. Even if you are at the death’s door from starvation. “Are we trading it for iron farming tools?” “It is as you said, Tetora-chan!” I was going to pat Tetora’s head but she dodged. Oniisan was sad by that. “Shouldn’t we trade it for food?” Tetora-chan answered Ron-kun’s question. “If you only buy food. We can’t secure a stable food supply.” “Ah, is that so?” Ron-kun quickly backed out. Ron-kun being obedient was a good Ron-kun. “But how can we easily dig up the soil with only iron farming tools? The soil here is terribly hard.” Tetora-chan said it. “We will have to look for a place with soft soil. Worst case, we will have to employ adults. But it might be futile as they may not be willing to help us base on the condition we set.” Using Griffon-sama’s authority would be great. Even so, this will be only used as a last resort. There are other ways for the Griffon itself to help me. Trading the iron swords for food would only delay the inevitable. For now, the discussion has been settled to exchange these weapons for farming tools as the plan. There were no objections. Oh well, I would be troubled if there were objection as I don’t have an alternative plan. “Now the problem is where to trade these…… Is there anyone who knows the geography around here?” I looked at Ron-kun as I said it. Ron-kun shakes his head at a tremendous speed. “It’s impossible. I don’t know any villages nearby. Soyon?” “I’m sorry…… I don’t know either.” “Roswald-kun?” “Eh!? I…… That…… I know but I can’t really say……” “In other words, you don’t know. Gram-kun? “Iー, Iー, Iー, Iー, I’m sorry……” Oh well, it can’t be helped. Their culture level is on a level that doesn’t know currency. It was unlikely for a farmers child to know what’s outside of their village…… “Tetora-chan?” “I know.”

I guess that’s it…… Eh!? “You know?” “A little.” And so Tetora-chan told me the area around the forest. It seems the name of the forest was Romano Forest. On the east side of the forest, there was a country which was ruled by King Rosaith. A large country on the northwest was ruled by King Gilberd. A large country on the northeast was ruled by King Domorgal. And to the north of the country by King Gilberd and King Domorgal, was the country ruled by King Faludam. “The country ruled by King Rosaith is not that big. It doesn’t have a proper iron farming tools, and they don’t have many iron weapons. I think there would be iron farming tools in the country ruled by King Domorugal and King Gilberd because they are quite big countries. Because there is famine currently, it was an excuse for both the country of King Gilberd and King Domorgal to wage war against the country of King Faludam.” “I see. In other words, now is the best timing. On the contrary, if we don’t go quickly, those farming tools will be melted down and converted to weapons. We must hurry.” Why do you know so much? I want to hear where you came from but now was not the time. It would be rude if I poke while not that close to her. If we can be on a more friendly terms then it would be all right. “Since I’m the adult……” Tetora-chan stared at me and said, “Taking only all the weapons, How are we going to do it? Hmm, she has a point. An adult will not directly speak to a child immediately. It’s different during peacetime, but even more so, it’s now an emergency. It’s important to win the war, but it’s also equally important for the next harvest to be abundant. They won’t easily trade the iron farming tools. “Don’t worry, I have thought of it properly. I will use this thing.” I show to the five of them a big feather. It was a beautiful shiny gold feather. “Thaー, isn’t that from Griffon-sama?” Gram’s voice was trembling. “Yoー, you, did you stole it!” Roswald shouted. It’s rude to say I stole it. I only picked up what fell. “What are you going to do with it?” Soyon tilts her head in confusion as she asked. Soyon-chan, you’re the best for being obedient and cute. “We would show this to them as messengers of Griffon-sama!! It won’t be a problem then, don’t you agree?” “Wouldn’t the wrath of heaven descend upon us?” Ron-kun asked with anxiety written all over his face. Although Griffon was certainly magnificent, it was not a god. The wrath of heaven will not befall unto us. At least, I thought so. But it seems the children thought differently. Except Tetora-chan, all four of them was very anxious. There was a difference on the sense of values between me and them due to a gap in knowledge. “I asked for permission.” When I said so, the four of them showed an expression of relief. The Griffon was certainly scary, but I felt that it wasn’t an existence to be afraid that much. Whether it was this or that, it’s still troublesome.

“Well then, we have to leave soon. For now, we will trade 10 iron swords and 6 bronze swords from this place. It would be troublesome in the case of emergency if we trade all of it now.” For now, we will trade just this much. It’s really important to have farming tools immediately, but there was one more important thing. “It would be dangerous for all of us to go. So I want one person to go with me!” Both Gram and Roswald raised their hands when I said so. “Alright, let’s go Tetora-chan!” I grabbed Tetora-chan’s hand. Tetora-chan looked puzzled. “I didn’t raise my hand.” “What are you saying? Other than you, there’s no one here who knows the surrounding geography. You are forced to join!” When I said so, Tetora-chan heaved a big sigh.

“We would like to trade these.” The village chief looks suspicious from my words. They will be suspicious to a child who suddenly identified himself as a messenger of the Griffon and wants to trade iron and bronze swords for farming tools. I can understand their feeling. The village chief looked at the swords and the Griffon’s feather alternately. He seems to be troubled. “Village Chief! I brought the blacksmith!” Two guys ran towards us. One of them began to examine the swords closely. The man who I believed to be the blacksmith showed a surprising color on his face. These swords were all brought by people to instantly defeat the Griffon. It was rusted but it was still excellent swords. Will it be able to trade for farming tools? Will it be a cheap trade? “What do you want?” “Let me see, 10 plows, three axes, and probably around eight sickles is what I wanted to trade.” Even though they are called iron farming tools, it’s only the tip where iron was used. Compared to the iron sword that we brought, aside from the handle, everything was made of iron. We can probably demand more from the amount of iron, but we are just kids here. We can only demand just below of what I really wanted. As a result of having been completely troubled, he agreed with the trade. Even so, it was a good trade because all the iron farming tools will be traded for weapons when the war situation turns for the worst. For that place too. We hinted that we might come for another trade sometime later and left the place.