WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Got a Gallery in the Wild ◈
Chapter 195: Breed (2)
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I realized GrowGrow would make farming even easier.
If I only had to scatter seeds and they grew and grew on their own, it could barely even be called farming.
Just tend the field well enough, scatter the seeds, then harvest once everything had grown.
While I was at it, I figured I should get crops other than wheat too.
Thud! Thud!
"That's enough. Let's head back now."
"@#%$"
First, we had to finish what we came here for. I gave Ludwig instructions as he shoveled.
We were at the sandy lower reaches of the river.
We had come to collect more sand so we could make more cement.
Maybe it was because he had been a soldier, but Ludwig was exceptionally good at shoveling.
Thanks to that, we quickly gathered enough.
Splaash! Splash!
Just as we were about to leave after loading the sand into sacks, a whale huge enough to inspire awe leaped from the water.
But I had only recently realized that it was not a whale.
It was an abnormally large fish.
‘Could there be more fish that size in a fantasy world?’
I checked Ludwig's reaction.
He stood still, staring at the river as though he could not believe what he had just seen.
Then again, I had never dreamed whales lived in rivers either. More accurately, fish the size of whales.
"Mister. You need to get used to things like that. This is that kind of place, remember?"
"......"
"Whatever shows up next will only be more surprising, so let's get going."
Ludwig came to his senses after my convincing(?) words.
Though with a talking gorilla right beside us, I wondered what else could possibly surprise him.
I handed Kkobong a sack full of sand.
Kkobong listened to me obediently now. It looked like Kkobong was gradually getting used to things.
‘How would Ludwig react if he saw the giant crabs and giant crayfish by the lake?’
I suddenly became curious, but we had no plans to go that far.
If we could not build the house now, we would have to cram Kkobong and Largo into the narrow cave too.
Time was both money and our lifeline.
‘Kkobong would be fine, but Largo would be seriously uncomfortable.’
We returned to the shelter without wasting time.
Maybe it was because we had formed something of a group now, or maybe we were simply lucky.
No other animals attacked us on the way back.
‘Come to think of it, I haven't been attacked much lately.’
Kkobong and Ludwig had come looking for me, or I had met them while passing by. No one had actually attacked me.
Maybe the animals of the Forest of Four Seasons had begun to recognize this place as my Territory.
Otherwise, they might all be preparing for winter.
I just hoped no random raccoon dog came around dragging animals here like last time.
"All right. Let's work."
"@%%#"
"We'll farm after this is done."
Building a house with bricks.
It looked easy enough in videos, but it was a fairly difficult job.
Someone might say I had already made a makeshift oven and furnace without issue, but those were small.
A house was much bigger, so if I messed up even a little, I might have to tear the whole thing down and start over.
‘The walls need to be level, and the amount of cement between the bricks has to be even. This is hard.’
I even had to leave room for a door in the middle.
Why not make windows? Considering that too would only make construction take longer.
Besides, this was only a shelter and evacuation site. It was not really a home, so I did not need to go that far.
There was one big problem, though.
‘How am I supposed to build the ceiling...?’
The ceiling. I raised my head and looked up at the sky.
The ceiling needed to be sturdy enough to withstand future natural disasters.
The problem was that I had no idea how to build it.
You might think I could just make it roughly square, but...
‘Even if the ceiling is square, the roof has to be triangular.’
That way, snow would naturally slide down.
A flat roof would be much more likely to collapse.
I had only recently realized how unimaginable the weight of snow could be.
I had learned that in the military too, but clearing it alone made the lesson even more painfully real.
‘First, I should figure out where the fireplace will go.’
I put the ceiling aside for now and built the brick house.
With not just Ludwig but Kkobong helping, the work went incredibly fast.
About an hour passed, and we managed to finish all the walls.
We would need to reinforce them further in case of avalanches, but I planned to think about that later.
‘It really is tall.’
I had considered Largo's height, so it was about two stories tall.
The thought of building a ceiling on top of that, then adding a roof, was daunting.
Still, it had to be done. I immediately logged into the Gallery.
[Wild Grylls]: Hey, Dwarf. You there?
[Passing Dwarf]: What now.
[Wild Grylls]: (Photo of the gaping ceiling) I need to put a ceiling over this. Give me some tips.
[Passing Dwarf]: ? Why the hell did you build the ceiling so high?
[Wild Grylls]: Kkobong and a giraffe have to fit inside.
[Passing Dwarf]: A giraffe? That long-necked thing?
[Wild Grylls]: Yeah.
[Passing Dwarf]: Good grief;;; I would not even build an animal pen this high. I can barely breathe just looking at it.
[Wild Grylls]: Can you help? I need to put on a roof too.
[Passing Dwarf]: I'll teach you all the basics, so pray it does not collapse. Beginners are not supposed to be doing this in the first place.
[Wild Grylls]: If it collapses, well... Kkobong will handle it.
I said that, but I would make absolutely sure nothing like that happened.
I had no intention of cutting corners. Shoddy construction was a sin.
‘Just in case, I should make the walls sturdier too.’
I built up the walls in layers to prepare for avalanches.
That took another hour or so. During that time, the dwarf made a post.
[Post title] How to Build a Well-Style Ceiling
[Author] Passing Dwarf
[Post] (Diagram 1 showing how to build a well-style ceiling)
[Post] (Diagram 2 showing how to build a well-style ceiling)
[Post] .
[Post] .
[Post] .
[Post] (Final-step diagram)
[Post] Build it roughly like this. If you need it, I can give you something to cover it with too.
└ [Wild Grylls]: There'll be conditions, right? Let's hear them.
└ [Passing Dwarf]: I saw it in your last post. Some registered user said they only scattered soil, and their crops grew fucking well.
└ [Wild Grylls]: Yeah, I heard that. So?
└ [Passing Dwarf]: I'll give you barley seeds later. Can you give me some once they grow? I want to drink beer made from barley grown in the Forest of Four Seasons.
└ [Wild Grylls]: This damn booze obsession... Fine, I got it.
└ [Passing Dwarf]: Thx thx
I carefully read through the dwarf's post.
A well-style ceiling was made by arranging wooden beams in a crisscrossed grid, like the character for a well.
What I needed were logs cut to suitable lengths.
And what did that mean? More work for Kkobong.
"Hey, Kkobong. I'll measure all the horizontal and vertical lengths, so you handle the rest. Got it?"
"Unfair. Hard."
"Stop whining and do it."
"Bad guy."
"No food for you today. I'm building you a house, and you've got some nerve talking like that."
"Actually want to work. I'm itching to work."
"Yeah, then let's eat first."
A good, hearty snack was important if we wanted to work properly.
After that, Kkobong processed wood while Ludwig and I tilled the field.
Maybe all that explaining before bed yesterday had paid off, because Ludwig was doing well without me having to point anything out.
‘If the wheat grows, could we make bread too?’
Maybe I would get to eat processed food again for the first time in a while.
Hold on. You might ask why I did not just buy it from the Auction House.
Food was everywhere in the Auction House, so why insist on doing it myself? Wasn't it a waste of time?
All fair points. But this was for my own growth.
Someone once said that if you wanted to become rich, you should start by making your bed.
It was a similar idea. Achieving something on my own.
Using that sense of achievement to improve little by little.
Personal growth, not growth in fighting power. Saying it like that gave me a strange feeling.
"#%$"
"Yes? Is there something over there?"
"@#%%"
"Ah. There's a big rock? Hold on."
For now, it was time to work hard on the field.
* * *
Holy knight.
A knight who holds faith and grows stronger through that belief.
"Dig there."
"Understood."
Sometimes used as labor.
Ludwig diligently tilled the field alongside Grylls.
Ludwig had been truly excited upon hearing they would be farming, but the work itself was quite difficult.
First, picking out the rocks buried in the soil was incredibly troublesome. They were the main reason even turning over the dirt was hard.
If a rock too large to remove was embedded in the ground, they had no choice but to find another plot.
They somehow managed to till the field through that process, but it was not over yet.
‘Will it really grow right away?’
Ludwig had already heard it from Grylls.
The person who had given them soil from the Forest of Four Seasons had said crops grew in an instant.
They had not even planted seeds in that soil. It had only been scattered like fertilizer.
Hearing that, Ludwig could not help feeling a little disappointed.
Ludwig wanted to farm so he could watch crops grow in real time.
But if they grew immediately, there would be no time to feel satisfied before the moment passed.
‘It can't be helped.’
Survival was the problem right now. Things like that were hardly important.
Real farming could begin after they escaped the Forest of Four Seasons.
Ludwig did not know how long it would take, but it should be possible within ten years.
As long as he survived, escape was not impossible.
"Here are the seeds. You just need to scatter them."
"Thank you."
Ludwig accepted the seeds from Grylls.
Tiny wheat seeds. Once they were scattered over the field, golden wheat would grow.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Ludwig and Grylls scattered seeds all over the field.
Soon, those seeds would germinate and turn into large stalks of wheat.
Just in case, they gave them plenty of water through a hose.
Then...
Swoooosh!!!
Just as GrowGrow had said, the wheat grew in an instant.
Grylls and Ludwig marveled at the sight for a moment, then both tilted their heads.
"Why is this so..."
"It's too big."
The wheat was too big. Not only was it large, it was tall.
They had to crane their necks to see the top. It was nearly as tall as Largo the giraffe.
The seeds had definitely come from outside the Forest. Why had they grown this much?
"Nom nom nom."
"Hey, hey. Don't eat that. Get away."
"Get away."
Largo was eating the wheat so comfortably that they had to stop the giraffe.
After barely pulling Largo away, Grylls and Ludwig looked over the wheat.
Its size was nice, but the most important thing was the taste.
Whether they made bread or noodles with it, it needed to taste good.
Just as they were about to harvest the wheat with swords instead of sickles...
Flap!
A small sparrow flew over.
It was an extremely tiny sparrow, the kind one might see in the outside world.
"What? Where did these guys come from?"
"Um..."
Before they could figure it out...
Flapflapflapflap!!!
An incredibly ominous sound reached their ears.
It sounded like a swarm of locusts flying toward them.
Grylls heard the sound and realized it was not a swarm of bugs.
A bug swarm should make a high-pitched buzzing sound. This was...
Right.
The sound of wings. Birds flapping their wings furiously.
‘But why all of a sudden...?’
Before Grylls could finish thinking, the source of the wingbeats appeared.
"Chirp! Chirp! Chirp!"
"Chiiirp! Chirp! Chirp!"
A flock of sparrows, like a swarm of locusts.
The sparrows charged toward the wheat that had only just grown.
As Grylls and Ludwig stared blankly at the sight...
Flapflapflap! Flapflapflap!
The flock finished feasting and returned to the forest.
Nothing remained except bare wheat stalks.
It was not an invasion of locusts, but an invasion of sparrows.
"...Fuck."
"...Fucking hell."
The two quietly muttered as they looked upon the devastation.
Their countries, races, and languages were all different, but at that moment, they were of one mind.
Sparrows were pests.†
Footnotes:
† Alludes to the anti-sparrow slogan associated with China's Four Pests Campaign.
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