Overgeared

“It is interesting that this plant can’t be grown when all plants can be grown if provided soil, water, and a place exposed to sunlight.”

Their leaders were having a conversation. Then the Overgeared Queen’s bodyguard suddenly intervened and the expressions of the nobles became terrible. Some people mistakenly thought this was how the Overgeared Kingdom would treat the Xing Kingdom in the future and sighed.

Grid read their expressions and, in order to eliminate the misunderstandings, introduced Piaro, “This is Duke Piaro of the Overgeared Kingdom. He serves as the great general and a farmer. He is the most trusted and dependable friend of the Overgeared King.”

“......!”

Piaro’s heart grew in his chest. The most trusted and dependable friend...

He was happy and thrilled to know that Grid thought this way about him.

Buzz buzz.

Piaro gritted his teeth and opened his eyes to hold back his tears, while the nobles stared at him. They saw Piaro’s somewhat scary expression and thought he was confident because he was the great general.

The Xing King had already been introduced to Piaro and, in order to calm down the turbulent atmosphere, spoke, “After one toast, I was going to introduce Queen Irene. Then after two toasts, I was going to formally introduce Sir Piaro. However, my ministers lacked patience so it was advanced.”

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty!”

“Please understand!”

The nobles bowed and apologized to the Xing King, who had rebuked their attitude. No pretenses were felt. Everyone looked pained like they were shameful sinners. They seemed sincerely loyal to the Xing King. It was a testament to the Xing King’s power.

“It is my fault. I deserve punishment since it is reprehensible for a servant to intervene in Your Majesties’ conversation without permission.”

Piaro was also courteous to the Xing King. The other side was the ruler of a kingdom Grid personally made a blood alliance with. It was natural to be respectful. The Xing King smiled and introduced Piaro to the nobles of Xing, “As the queen said, Sir Piaro is the noble who holds the greatest military power in the Overgeared Kingdom. Ministers, you can’t ignore Sir Piaro.”

“I will keep that in mind, Your Majesty.”

The Xing King introduced Piaro warmly and the nobles answered vigorously. All of them were turning away from reality. They obviously heard the words of the Overgeared Queen, who introduced Piaro as the great general and a farmer, but they tried to regard it as a mistake.

Grid confirmed Piaro’s somewhat sad expression and clicked his tongue. ‘Should I have introduced him as the Minister of Agriculture instead of a farmer? Then people wouldn’t have doubted their ears.’

Piaro’s identity was a farmer and he was more pleased to be called a farmer than a duke or a general. Grid seriously thought that he would need to create the position of Minister of Agriculture for Piaro’s foreign activities. Suddenly, Administrator Rabbit’s face popped up in his mind. ‘I think he will object to Piaro being given a salary increase...’

Well, it was something that needs to be agreed upon later. Grid shook off thoughts and requested of the Xing King, “I would like to visit the walnut forest as soon as the banquet is over.”

“It will be sunset soon. Don’t you want to rest for the day?”

Of course he wanted to rest. His physical condition wasn’t good because he was overworked by Piaro during the trip and then fought the moment they arrived here. However, he didn’t want to waste time when considering the grandmaster’s future visit.

“It is a tenet of the Overgeared royal family to not put off today’s work to tomorrow.”

“Indeed... how wonderful. I understand. I will guide you.”

***

The appearance of the walnut forest was different than imagined. He was looking forward to a forest dyed with gold where golden walnuts were hanging from the trees. However, the green forest was like a normal forest.

‘I thought there would only be golden walnuts, but this isn’t the case.’

Grid approached a golden walnut tree that was approximately five meters tall and frowned when he checked the fruits on the branches. All the visible flesh were surrounded by green flesh, not gold. Like a damned probability game, the golden walnuts seemed to only have a probability of forming. It was also a terrible probability.

The caretaker used a rod with a large ring at one end to shake one of the branches and it dropped several fruits to the floor. The Xing King picked up one of them and removed the flesh. Then a walnut seed surrounded by a hard shell emerged. It looked just like an ordinary walnut.

“Is it hard to see the golden fruit?”

“All the fruits are green. Once the flesh is peeled off, the color of the seed coating will be brown or gold, and this determines the value. A golden walnut appears one in every 300 fruits.”

‘It is the worst.’

Apart from being a probability item, he couldn’t distinguish between a golden walnut and ordinary walnut just based on appearance...

Even if growing the golden walnut tree was successful, it seemed it would take a lot of manpower to collect the golden walnuts. This meant he would have to spend more money than expected. There was nothing that was ever free.

Unlike Grid’s unpleasant expression, Piaro laughed happily. “The farmers will have more jobs.”

“Ah...”

Grid’s thinking was too narrow-minded. The economy survived by providing jobs for people, yet he was disappointed that money would be consumed immediately.

‘Lauel was always responsible for this, so there are still many deficiencies.’

Grid gained new knowledge while Piaro observed the forest closely. “The gap between trees is very wide.”

Certainly. The walnut trees had a distance of at least 10 meters between them. It was strangely wide spacing considering the trees were around four or five meters in height. Piaro nodded in a convinced manner as he found occasional traces of dead trees.

“It can’t stand the fall in temperature caused by the shade blocking the tree. They are trees that are very sensitive to the cold.”

“If it withers because of the shade, then what temperature should be maintained?”

Xing was a warm kingdom that had perennial spring-like weather all year round. Yet the tree would freeze and die when in the shade...

“I think you can use the temperature at dawn as a benchmark,” Piaro replied to the astonished Grid and continued to look at the ground. It was a ground with lots of gravel.

“Hmm...”

Piaro took out his shovel and started digging, causing exclamations to burst from everywhere. It was because his speed at digging the ground was like an expert, not a great general. It seemed like Piaro’s digging speed was faster than that of 10 men.

The Xing King admired it. “You are as skilled and familiar as the people who shoveled yesterday. Sir Piaro must be a great commander who builds trenches on the battlefield and serves as an example to the soldiers.”

“No, I just dig out root vegetables every day... Huh?”

“......?”

It was before the Xing King and nobles could understand Piaro’s words. Piaro made a puzzled cry and everyone looked down at the hole. Dozens of roots intertwined in a dizzying manner came into view.

Grid cocked his head.

“The roots grew too long so they are tangled together? Is there one of the reasons why the distance between trees is so wide?”

“No.”

“That’s not it.”

The Xing King and Piaro shook their heads. They looked around at the 10 nearby trees and spoke at the same time.

“These roots aren’t tangled.”

“It is connected as one.”

“......?”

“You can think of these 10 trees as one tree. In order to replant the golden walnut tree, we need 10 seedlings to connect the roots together.”

“Hmm...”

Grid didn’t know much about plants. He just heard Piaro’s explanation and wanted to do it. The Xing King saw that Grid didn’t seem to understand the seriousness of the situation and explained it to him, “This is why it is hard to artificially spread the golden walnut forest. Making the seedlings itself is impossible.”

“Why is it impossible?”

“As you can see, the forest is already full. All the trees fill the forest at a distance of 10 meters. In order to grow seedlings, the empty gap must be used. However, before the seedlings can grow and connect their roots together, they wither in the shade and become nutrients for the land. The seedlings take a month to grow. It will take another three months for their roots to join together so the seedlings have to endure 120 days of being in the shade. The reality is that they can’t last two months.”

“……”

The atmosphere became dark. The golden walnuts were a huge source of revenue so Xing had made a great effort to grow the golden walnuts. However, growing the golden walnuts was virtually impossible. The king became depressed when he recalled it.

On the other hand, Grid and Piaro weren’t affected.

“The key is to create the same environment as this in the Overgeared Kingdom.”

“That’s right. That part isn’t simple so I will have to work on it for a few more days.”

“......?”

Grid and Piaro’s conversation bewildered the Xing King and the nobles. They didn’t understand even though he explained for so long that it was impossible to make the seedlings? It happened when the Xing King was trying to carefully explain it again...

“Matchless Heart Farming 4th Style, Plowing the Field.” Piaro pulled out his hand plow with a reverent expression and quickly overturned the nearby land. Then he continued. “Matchless Heart Farming 1st Style, Sowing.”

He planted 10 walnuts in the ground and buried them.

“Free Farming 2nd Style, Rapid Growth.”

It was a miracle. 10 golden walnut trees were grown in a land that had been empty just a few seconds ago.

“......?!”

“......!!”

The expressions of the Xing King and the nobles hardened.

“The gap at which I planted them was too short. The roots became tangled before they connected to each other. This is why they can’t absorb nutrients properly. I need to keep the seedlings at least five meters apart when planting them.”

Piaro dug at the ground and confirmed the roots of the seedlings. He reported it to Grid and wrote it down in his notebook. It was a very cool attitude for the person who created an incredible miracle. The stunned Xing King barely managed to regain his senses and he asked, “Sir Piaro? What did I just see?”

“You saw the planting of trees.”

“No, what... how could the trees grow in an instant? Is this the magic of the West Continent?”

“It isn’t magic, it is agriculture.”

“……”

The Xing King was the leader of millions of people. It was easy to determine if the person in front of him was joking or telling the truth. The king saw Piaro’s serious expression and recalled the words of the Overgeared Queen that he had been trying to avoid.

‘Sir Piaro who serves as the great general and farmer.’

‘He serves as a great general and farmer...’

‘A farmer...’

“...Don’t tell me?”

Piaro formally introduced himself to the surprised Xing King, “That’s right, I am a farmer.”

“......!!”

“......!!”

It was the moment when the legendary farmer crossed the West Continent and took root in the East Continent.