Intermission 2: Researching a Certain Line of Research

The research institute in the former slums of Parnam, the royal capital of
the Kingdom of Friedonia.
Ginger’s Training Facility, which had been opened with King Souma’s
sponsorship as one means of securing talented personnel and making it so
that slavery became a thing that existed in name only, now had a great many
subjects which could be studied at it.
With more land being given to the facility, it had come to be called
Ginger’s Vocational School. While retaining the elementary school, they
had also established schools dedicated to various specialized subjects. If a
field of study achieved results here, there would be schools dedicated to it
established in other cities.
There were already a number of fields of study that had gone
independent, and specialized schools for them were being built in other
cities; but the schools of farming and medicine were still here. This was
because the appropriate teachers were here: the Minister of Agriculture and
Forestry, Poncho Panacotta, as well as doctors like Hilde Norg and Brad
Joker. It also showed that Souma, who knew that, historically, the
production of food and knowledge of medicine were directly linked to the
maintenance and growth of the population, placed great importance on
those fields.
Now, there were two man-and-woman pairs facing one another across
the threshold at Ginger’s Vocational School’s main gate. The first pair
consisted of a rotund man who was almost thirty years old, and an
intellectual beauty who was elegant in everything including her appearance.
The other pair consisted of a young man whose face was so gentle in
appearance that he might be mistaken for a girl, and a beautiful raccoon girl
who had an unyielding look in her eyes that left a lasting impression.
The strange thing was, the woman in each of these pairs was wearing a
classical maid uniform with a long skirt.
The two who were about to enter the school grounds were the Minister
of Forestry and Agriculture Poncho Panacotta, and Serina, the head maid of
Parnam Castle who was also the personal attendant of Princess Liscia.
The two who were greeting them at the threshold were Ginger Camille,
the principal of Ginger’s Vocational School, and Sandria, who served him
as his secretary and maid.
Poncho and Ginger smiled and shook hands.
“Greetings, and thank you for coming, Sir Poncho.”
“S-Sir Ginger, it does my heart good to see that you are in such good
health, yes.”
“Um... There’s no need to be so formal, you know? You’re older than
me, and a minister, too.”
Poncho stuttered, “I-It’s a habit of mine. I just can’t seem to shake it,
yes.”
“He is a timid man, you see. Please, give up on him,” Serina chimed in
as Poncho was awkwardly trying to explain himself. “Honestly...
Considering that he’s saved so many of this country’s people with his
knowledge, I wish he would have gained at least a little more selfconfidence.”
“Um, and you are?” Ginger asked.
“Pardon the lateness of my introduction. I am Serina, the head maid at
the royal castle.” She gave an elegant bow.
“Th-Thank you kindly for that. I am Ginger, the principal of this
school.”
When Serina bowed her head to him, Ginger panicked.
Seeing his reaction, Serina chuckled. “Now, Lord Ginger, you needn’t be
so formal when addressing a mere maid like myself.”
“Th-That’s not...”
“My master has a weakness for attractive older ladies, you see,” Sandria
chimed in.
Ginger was bewildered by what she said. “San?! What are you saying so
suddenly?!”
“Nothing that is not a fact, I assure you. When you are in the presence of
Lady Hilde, you are always so tense... Oh, pardon me, I hadn’t introduced
myself yet.” Sandria lifted up the hem of her apron dress and curtsied.
“Greetings. I am Lord Ginger’s secretary, maid, and pet slave, Sandria.”
“Hey, you’re making me sound way too bad! I only tasked you with
being my secretary; you started doing the maid work on your own! Also,
what do you mean, pet slave?!” Ginger protested, but Sandria pretended not
to hear him, bowing deeply to Poncho.
“You must be Lord Poncho. I hear about you from time to time. It’s
thanks to you that my fellow slaves didn’t starve when things were at their
worst. On behalf of everyone, I would like to thank you.”
“N-No! You don’t need to do that, yes!” Poncho panicked when Sandria
bowed to him.
Serina watched him with a slightly chilly look in her eyes. “Sir Poncho,
even if she is one of those ‘underage girls’ you so like, please, don’t lose
your head over a little praise.”
“I-I wish you wouldn’t go putting any weird labels on me, yes!”
“Oh? Is it not the truth, though? I know these things, you realize?”
Serina smiled, but her eyes were not smiling. “Earlier, there was that dish
you developed with His Majesty, the ‘toasted sandwich.’ You only served
the dish to Lady Tomoe, did you not? Without bothering to invite me.”
“Is that why you’ve seemed so upset lately?!”
If one were to ask who was the biggest glutton in all of Parnam Castle,
that would be Aisha, of course; but Serina would have to be the runner-up.
But there was a slight difference in the nature of their gluttony.
Unlike Aisha, who would eat anything (especially sweets), the more of it
the better... Serina didn’t demand quantity, but she had developed a taste for
the junk food and B-grade cuisine that Souma and Poncho created.
Souma and Poncho had put together a lot of different dishes. To be
precise, they were recreating dishes that had existed in Souma’s former
world. Of those dishes, it was things like spaghetti and yakisoba buns, the
sort of things you wouldn’t see in a fancy restaurant, that had captured
Serina’s heart.
The thing was, Serina came from a distinguished family that had turned
out many maids and butlers who went on to serve the royal family. Because
of that, they had worked to instill cultured tastes in her from a young age, to
ensure she would be presentable and wouldn’t embarrass herself in front of
royalty. They’d paid close attention to her diet, and she had always been
expected to eat good food, and to use the proper etiquette. Of course, that
meant she’d never been allowed to just go out and buy food from a cart and
eat it there. For Serina, having grown up in a house like that, Souma and
Poncho’s dishes had made quite an impact on her.
There’s a staple food on top of another staple food!
When Serina had first came into contact with a spaghetti bun, that first
bite had destroyed all established notions she had about food. How could
such a vulgar dish be so delicious?
Ever since, Serina had made a habit of following Poncho around. That
was because if she was at his side, she was treated to delicious samples. The
dishes Poncho made were the one thing other than cute girls that caught
Serina’s interest. Which was why, when she was unable to try them, she
held a grudge.
Sensing her displeasure, Poncho hurriedly tried to explain himself. “I-It
was still just an experimental dish, so there weren’t enough of them...”
“Knowing you are unused to going out in front of people, under the
orders of His Majesty and the princess, I have worked with diligence and
sincerity to assist you,” Serina said coldly. “Yet, you did not allow me to
sample the dish. Could it be because I am already a grown woman?”
“When we get back! When we get back, I promise I’ll make one for you,
yes!” Poncho hurriedly said.
The somewhat sad expression disappeared from Serina’s face.
“That’s a promise,” she said, looking perfectly fine.
It had apparently all been an act to get him to agree to it. Poncho’s
shoulders slumped.
Ginger wasn’t sure how to react as he watched this exchange, but
Sandria was nodding along.
“I can see your relationship has a lot in common with ours.”
“Oh? But my master is Princess Liscia,” Serina said.
“I didn’t mean it in that way...”
When Serina tilted her head to the side quizzically, Sandria just smiled,
not sure what to say. That exchange left question marks floating over the
two men’s heads.
With the formalities out of the way, Ginger took Sandria, Poncho, and
Serina to a place outside of Ginger’s Vocational School. There was a
building for studying farming techniques at Ginger’s Vocational School,
and they mostly focused on the study of crops, compost, and selective
breeding. However, there were no fields on the school grounds to
demonstrate their results. The former slums were near the city walls, so the
fields had been planted on the opposite side. The research building and
fields were separated by the city wall, but in terms of distance they were
close, and it was easy to get from one to the other.
Once they passed through the gate, Ginger led Poncho and company to
the fields owned by his vocational school. When they finished greeting the
guards who watched the fields, the four arrived in front of two particular
fields. Neither field had anything planted in it, but one looked like ordinary
black soil, while the other was dry and cracked.
With these fields in front of him, Ginger asked, “You’ve come here
today in regards to that line of research, right, Sir Poncho?”
“Yes,” Poncho nodded. “Both His Majesty and I have great hopes for
that line of research, after all.”
Ginger shook his head apologetically. “...Let me say this up front. We
were unable to achieve the sort of results you’re hoping for.”
The field of research Souma and Poncho had great hopes for was
research on one of the “failed experiments” of the overscientist, Genia
Maxwell.
Back when the former king had ruled the country, Genia had developed
arrowheads with seeds inside them with the hope that the sites of battles
would be covered with greenery. With the effect of the light elemental
magic the arrows were imbued with, the seeds grew at an alarming speed,
and it’d been a massive failure that had resulted in half of her research
building nearly being engulfed by plants. The result was that Genia had
been transferred to the Forbidden Army, and her research suspended.
However, after the throne had changed hands, Souma had seen a
practical use for her research and ordered Genia to resume it. He wasn’t so
interested in the arrowhead part; but with plants that grew so fast that they
could engulf a building, he could make the desert bloom, and he’d had
hopes that it would lead to an increase in the food production rate.
However, Genia the genius had already lost all interest in the subject, so
Souma had ended up ordering the School of Agricultural Technology at
Ginger’s Vocational School to do it instead of her.
But... Ginger explained that they hadn’t been able to produce results.
“We were certainly able to make fast-growing plants. Those plants had
two special qualities: growth and proliferation. We were able to eliminate
just the proliferation, which meant that the area would no longer be
engulfed in green.”
“You were able to control them? Isn’t that a success, then?” Poncho
asked, seemingly mystified: but Ginger shook his head with a wry smile.
“We were carrying out this research in the hopes of increasing food
production and making the deserts bloom, but... from the results of our
research, we learned this won’t be of any help with either of those things.
Genia’s spell only speeds up the growth of plants. Sir Poncho, do you know
what is needed for plants to grow?”
Poncho thought for a moment, then replied, “Fertile soil and water... as
well as sunlight, yes.”
Ginger nodded. “Yes. Of those, the sun is no problem. With some work,
the water issue can be managed well enough, too. The problem was fertile
soil. Though we’ve accelerated the plants’ growth, the quantity of water and
nutrients they require from the soil hasn’t changed. Madam Genia must
have known that, too, because her spell included a function for sucking
water and nutrients out of the soil.”
With that said, Ginger pointed to the dried and cracked field. “This is
what the field looks like after we harvested our fast-growing wheat.”
“...It’s almost like a sandy desert, yes.”
“No matter how much we can accelerate the plants’ growth, fertilizing
the soil takes a lot of time,” said Ginger. “As a result, the plants suck all the
nutrients and water out of the soil, leaving it dry and cracked like this.
Nothing will grow in soil that’s ended up like this.”
“Is there no way to provide a steady supply of nutrients to the soil?”
Poncho asked.
“I doubt it. Water, maybe. But continuously supplying fertilizer at a rate
that matches their growth just isn’t realistic. I mean, we have a limited
supply of fertilizer, anyway. If we exhaust it to raise growth speed, we may
not see any growth in productivity at all.”
“Well... That’s no good,” Poncho said.
If the plants that grew were allowed to rot, they would return their
nutrients to the soil, but they couldn’t do that with crops that were meant to
be eaten. They couldn’t possibly have people return all of the excrement
from what they’d eaten to the field, after all.
“That’s why we determined it was a poor fit for growing food,” Ginger
said. “Now, as for making the desert bloom, there isn’t the water there to
begin with, so it’s impossible. Even if we were to install aqueducts, the
speed at which the plants grow would present another bottleneck. They’re
just as fast to rot, you see.”
“We can’t always get our way, I suppose, yes...” Poncho slumped his
shoulders. With the high hopes he’d had for this research, he couldn’t help
but be disappointed that there had been zero payoff for it.
But Ginger shook his head again. “No, it’s not like we have absolutely
nothing to show for all our work. Look at the field next to it.”
“...I’m not seeing anything other than soil in it, though?”
“Yes. The only thing here is ordinary soil. We’ve made it into ordinary
soil.” Ginger bent down and scooped up some of the soft soil in his hands.
“This soil was brought from a dungeon inhabited by many undead
monsters. Naturally, when we first brought it here, it was contaminated by
the miasma that undead monsters release.”
“D-Did you say miasma?!” Poncho cried out despite himself, his voice
unsteady.
Just by existing, undead monsters like skull dragons and zombies gave
off a miasma that was harmful to living creatures. Miasma caused disease to
spread and things to rot, making it impossible for living creatures to live in
that area. What was more, it would get into the soil and stay there for a long
time. Because of that, lands where a skull dragon had gone on a rampage or
where a horde of zombies had appeared would become unproductive lands
where crops wouldn’t grow for a long time.
However, Ginger had picked up a handful of that soil, which should
have been dangerous, without any hesitation.
Poncho looked carefully at that soil. “Is this soil... safe?”
“Yes. The miasma is completely gone from it now.”
“How did you do it, yes?”
“It was an applied use of those fast-growing plants we were talking
about earlier. There are flowers that bloom only in dungeons with a lot of
undead-type monsters.”
Having said that much, Ginger had Sandria go and fetch a single flower.
That flower was reddish-purple with greenish-black spots; colors that
screamed it was poisonous. It wasn’t the sort of flower you’d want to
receive on a celebratory occasion, not even by accident.
“The adventurers who go dungeon crawling call these miasma flowers.
They say that if these flowers are growing somewhere, it’s proof that
undead-type monsters are active there. That’s why, when they find these
flowers in a dungeon, they know to take precautions against miasma.”
“Hm, so there are flowers like that out there,” Poncho said. “I never
knew.”
Poncho knew a lot about edible plants. He also knew a lot about plants
that were similar to edible ones, but that weren’t edible themselves. That
was because Poncho’s knowledge was rooted in his appetite.
That was why, when it came to plants like this one, which was and
looked blatantly inedible, he had no interest in them, and wasn’t that well
informed about them.
Ginger chuckled. “These miasma flowers, like their name might suggest
to you, are nourished by the miasma. That’s why they grow in clusters in
dungeons where there are undead monsters. If we use Genia’s spell to
accelerate plant growth on these miasma flowers and plant them in
contaminated soil...”
“Oh?! I get it! They quickly suck all of the miasma out of the ground!”
Poncho clapped his hands.
If the growth-accelerating spell was used on regular plants, they rapidly
sucked the nutrients out of the soil. However, the miasma flowers only
sucked out miasma.
Ginger nodded. “So we only have to harvest them when they finish
growing and dispose of them in an incinerator. They’ve already used up the
miasma for their growth, so when we burn them, all that’s left behind is ash.
If we do two rounds of that, it goes back to being this sort of ordinary soil.”
“Th-That’s an incredible discovery! With this, we can curb the effect
that undead monsters have on our fields and crops, yes!” Poncho reacted
excitedly.
Not only had the research he’d had such high hopes for not been in vain,
there was even a useful application for it! Then a thought occurred to
Poncho.
Come to think of it... When he recruited me, His Majesty said something,
yes. That “we will decide if something’s useful or not.” He may have meant
to say that there aren’t many things in this world that are completely
useless. Like how even I, a person whose only talent is for eating... was able
to help this country somewhat...
Poncho was able to feel a little more confident in himself.
While Poncho and Ginger were having a lively conversation like that,
Serina and Sandria looked on in exasperation from a short distance away.
The two men didn’t so much as glance in their direction, having fun
exchanging opinions about research. The two maids had no doubt they’d
ceased to exist in the men’s minds.
While looking at her master, Sandria asked, “...Do you suppose all
gentlemen are like this?”
“You might be right about that,” Serina said. “I’ve often seen the
princess watching His Majesty anxiously like this. I feel like when His
Majesty is applying himself to the work of governing, she must find it both
reassuring and frustrating to watch him.”
“How is it for you, Serina?”
“Me?”
“Do you feel anxious and impatient right now?”
“Hm? My mistress is the princess,” Serina said without batting an eye.
“It’s true that I am close to Sir Poncho, but I would never feel anxious and
impatient because I saw him talking to someone.”
Sandria thought about it for a moment and then asked, “...Then, how
would you feel if Lord Ginger were a woman? If it were a woman that Lord
Poncho was having such a good time talking to right now, would you still
not feel the least bit anxious about it?”
Having asked that, she stared hard at Serina.
In response to the question, Serina looked at Poncho and Ginger. What
if, right now, Poncho were talking to a woman instead...?
Having pondered the question for a while, Serina finally opened her
mouth to answer. “No matter who he was talking to, I don’t think I would
think anything of it.”
“...You’re sure?”
“Yes. ...However, if Sir Poncho were to let that person do all of his tastetesting... well... I wouldn’t like that. Even if it were someone like a member
of his family, or his wife, a person it was perfectly natural for him to be
doing his cooking with... I might still be upset by it. Now, that is odd. I
wonder, why would I feel that way?”
Judging by her expression, it seemed even Serina didn’t understand her
own feelings. Sandria was a little surprised, but she didn’t ask anything
more.
Even Serina herself wasn’t sure if her words just now had come solely
from her gluttony. She placed her hand over her chest, which was filled
with pent-up emotions.
When I get back to the castle, I will have to have him make me the
toasted sandwich he promised. That will help dispel this hazy feeling, I’m
sure.
Those were Serina’s thoughts.

Chapter end