Seiun wo Kakeru Chapter 35

Chapter 35 – The Beginning of the Animal Shed Construction.[1]

Outside, the snow piled up with the cold weather. The men, who were drenched with sweat, exhaled white breath while exerting themselves in an engineering work.

The men now dug up the soil not by using hoes but with pickaxes.

One of them was digging holes, whereas, the other gathered the excavated soil into the wheelbarrow, and yet another person transported the lumps of earth and sand.

– Hey, you’re slow! Thomas, don’t slack and give them properly the instructions.

Fernando, who wouldn’t lose that easygoing attitude of his, threw out severe rebukes while continuing the demarcation of the planned construction area.
He was properly dealing with the work and didn’t seem to the same problematic person who caused the reversi incident the other day.

Eiji, Mike, and Bona were staring at the situation from a distance.

It had a shape of a rectangle and was 6 meters wide in the north-south direction and 30 some-odd meters long in east-west direction.

Bona was in charge of the whole project.
Holding a cane in one hand, she directed her sharp eyes toward the working villagers.

– Today we are going to distribute lots of wheat bread.

– They’re doing a group work for the sake of the village, so I have to reward them a little bit. You too, If you want your share, you better work!

– You really are all talk and no action.

– I know about that. I’m just telling that you’re going too far with your mouth.

It seemed that Mike was weak against women.

His hunting skills were superior, and when it was important, he would have enough guts to take the initiative and get going.

– Speaking of which, why is it necessary to build this animal shed?

– No you see, I thought it would be fine to leave things to you, so I neither paid attention nor listened at that time. Sorry.

– Awwie, please don’t hit me with that cane!

No, as expected, will that person really be fine? – Eiji wondered.

Despite them trying to deal with Mike sincerely, they breathed a blatant sigh.

– …..Please brace yourself, because we need Fero [2] to move around as well.

– I’ll take your word for it’ works better.

– Please, won’t you explain to this fool, so that he understands?

There was probably not much of relationship between a hunter and urban planning.
Suppressing his urge of wanting to retort, Eiji explained to Mike about the reason behind building an animal shed.

– Well then, shall I give you some questions regarding the present condition?

– Mike-san, can you grasp how many eggs one chicken in this village can produce in a single year?

– That’s right. What’s more you remembered well, didn’t you?
– That’s because we eat eggs as well, so even I ought to remember.

Ahem – Mike puffed his chest out with pride.
No, it’s nothing particular to boast about. – Eiji thought.

A domesticated chicken is an unusually excellent animal.

Furthermore, it cannot fly far like a normal bird.
And once it becomes night, it will obediently return to its shed, so it’s easy to control.

– I’ve checked and it seems that every household has roughly 5 chickens. 1 of which is a rooster and the rest, hens.

– Had I not investigate it beforehand, I wouldn’t have been able to suggest the plan. Not to mention, the number of roosters is scarce, isn’t it?
– Well, you can only make a rooster that can’t produce eggs into meat. For mating, only one will be enough.

– And then, the number of eggs which a single household can get yearly is around 80. Because several of them might hatch, if there are 6 households, a single person can eat about 16 per year, right?

Of course it varied depending on each household’s structure.

Eiji forecasted that each of them could eat 1 per weekend; nevertheless, since there were many family households, eggs were considered as highly valuable products.

Still, if a food shortage occurs due to a bad weather, the chicken will be digested before the increase can even take place.
During the festival of abundant harvest, lots of eggs were used; however, that many would only amount for a single day in a year.

– This is how it presently looks. By the way, the talk now was just a speculation. Do you know that depending on the type of chicken, there are ones which can lay a lot of eggs, but also ones that will only lay some?
– Oh, if some clever guy tries to steal  eggs, the chicken will notice that.

A chicken has a strange nature.

Perhaps, it can be due to them being only able to count till 5.

Saying that, an owner of chickens will secretly try to steal one, making the chicken, which hasn’t noticed, lay an egg again while thinking that there are only 4.

If there are chickens that will notice and stop laying after 2-3 thefts, there will be as well those that can continue to lay more than 30.

As expected, it could be due to it being unable to count above 5.

– That’s what I mean. Let’s make it so that there are only chickens which can lay lots of eggs.
– Uh, I don’t understand the meaning behind your words.

What Eiji thought was to crossbreed chickens that can lay lots of eggs as much as possible and raise the ones which can be fecund.

– If we do so, this is raising the chickens in a shed, will the number of eggs produced till now become double as many?

– Somehow it feels like a talk pulled from a dream, doesn’t it? Is it really possible to force a fecund chicken to produce even more eggs?

– I wonder if there were people back in my country that would eat at least one egg per day.

For people here, it felt as though they couldn’t comprehend what he said, just like Eiji the law of genes from Mendel’s laws.[3]

Hearing Eiji’s words, Mike was left open-mouthed.
Probably he wouldn’t imagine that to be possible as he shook his head from disbelief.

– That would be nice, wouldn’t it?

– Oh, me too, I want this to happen.

– If you can achieve that, I shall revere you as a god.

– No, for there to be no one to starve, that’s my dearest wish. This much alone is incredible.

Eiji didn’t particularly consider that as amazing.

It just happened to be that the environment, in which Eiji grew-up, was more advanced He’s being praised for having knowledge outside of his craft, knowledge which is not his own findings. Eiji felt guilty no matter what he would try to do.

Were he to be praised as a blacksmith, he would accept that genuinely, however…

He didn’t know how much use his knowledge would become, however, passing down what he knows and the items he creates will probably lead to this village’s development.

– Despite saying so, we still have to feed the chickens?

– At that rate, won’t the the chickens mixed with each other, making it difficult for us to discern?

– Is it really going to prevent that from happening?

– Haa…. I wish it would be much more comfortable.

Good grief – once Mike shrugged with his shoulders, the cane was swung at him again.

– Speaking of which, Eiji, thanks for the explanation. Please treat me well from now on.

– Well, I wonder if it won’t be too much for him. This guy is an idiot after all.

– Then at least remember the talks during the meetings, will you?
– Gu… got it.

Eiji and Bona’s laughing voice reverberated through the surrounding.

——

– Ugh, so heavyyyy!

– Hey, Eiji. Don’t force yourself. Because you normally lack power, you will just kill your back

– On the contrary, you will become a burden. Nuoooh [4]

We are short of people, so how about you help us.
Being told to help in the animal shed construction, Eiji was now driving a huge pillar into its foundation.

The pillar that was raised inside the shed was big enough to be carried completely under arms by 2 adults.

If he meddles, or if the pillar collapses, the work won’t meet its aim. Thinking so, he put all his effort into this laborious work.

Eiji was much tougher than he was originally, still, his body hadn’t undergone any physical labor besides smithing.

To think that Philip would cut and carry off this unprocessed lumber every day.

As expected, forcing oneself to do manual labor for a long time would be seen as a hindrance by those muscular farmers around him, who decided to replace Eiji.

Just where did the chilly weather vanish to? – While wiping his sweat and loosening the fatigue from his arms, Fernando approached.

– Hey Eiji-kun, are you able to use the saw?

– If so, then come assist me.
– Got it.

The place he was led to was Fernando’s carpentry.

One could make 10-12 from that number.

Being unaware of that fact until now, Eiji was surprised at this fresh experience.

– First, I’d like you to cut accordingly to that black ink lines on the lumber. Because everyone is still unfamiliar with the saw, the work won’t progress at this rate.

– Is that so?
– I made it thinly so that it’s easier to cut. That being the case, the number of people that can use this saw is limited. That’s why, from the very beginning, it isn’t meant to be something operated by an inexperienced person.

– It really feels like I can do my works smoothly.

– I’m not referring to me.

– You probably make tools while considering each user’s special traits. By this I meant to say that I can do my works smoothly.

What Fernando said wasn’t necessarily limited to only the saw.

That way it would lessen the impact transmitted back to one’s hands, and with the hoe being light, it would let its user work long hours without getting tired.
Thanks to that, gathering valuable materials would take less time, making it beneficial for both the user and the recipient.

– Well, because I’m the only one usually using the saw, there should be no problem?

– Yeah, we need them for making walls.

The blueprint, which Fernando showed, had an unusually extravagant way of managing the space.

The inside was built with unusually big cages, each for a single bird, so that it will let them move around freely.
The cages were furnished with numerous doors to the outside in order to make it possible for half pasture of the chickens during the day.

Eiji looked forward to its completion.

– Well then, with that I’ll entrust you with the task.
– Leave it to me.

There were also those blacksmiths who would make patterns by themself.

They would be able to use saws and planes dexterously.

Eiji placed and fixed his leg on the lumber while carefully sawing along the lines.

Moving the saw, his expression was radiating with a joy similar to that of children.

Translator and reference notes:

[1]: I’ve decided to use ‘animal shed’ instead of cattle shed, which is more accurate. I made a mistake by blindly following what the dictionary suggested. Sorry for that.

[2]: It’s how the tribal chief refers to Fernando by his nickname.

[3]: I know it sound weird, but this is how the author choose to make comparisons.

[4]: Imagine it as a sound you make when desperately trying to force yourself.

Chapter end