Slave Harem in the Labyrinth of the Other World (LN)
Volume 3 - Ch 2.16

It is used to cultivate the soil by swinging it down from above your head and then pulling towards yourself, so technically even a gardening noob such as myself should be able to use it without any major difficulties. Also, even though it was a simple tool, a part of me was able to appreciate its functional, simplistic beauty. When I held it in my hand to try how it would feel, I could sense a strange sense of familiarity emanating from it. Could it be that the sensation of holding a hoe in my hands has awakened the memories from one of my past lives? I am sure that I have never used such a tool or anything similar to it before, so it has to be that. Maybe I was actually a farmer who spent his entire life working the fields from sunrise to sunset while shedding blood, sweat and tears and enjoying the fruits of his labor while maintaining a harmonious relationship with Mother Earth? Yeah, right.

If were going to be tending to the garden, is one hoe going to be enough?

Yes, it should be. I know it sounds like a lot of hard work, but once you get to it youll realize that gardening is actually rather simple.

Rather simple, eh? Was I overthinking things again?

Oh really?

Usually, it is enough to use a simple wooden plank to till the earth.

Really? So how about this tool over here? You think it might be useful?

I gave Roxanne something that looked like a medium-sized shovel that was next to the hoe.

Its a spade. It looks like a pretty good product, but I feel like buying it right now would be a kind of a waste.

Sorry for the wait.

Honesta came back to the shop while we were busy looking over the gardening tools.

Id like to explain a few things about those seeds. Is that okay with you?

Oh, yes. Im all ears.

Roxanne then listened to Honestas explanations, which were mostly concerning the species of the seeds and the proper ways of cultivating them. When she was done, she handed her a bag that looked like it was made from the same type of papyrus like the one used to make the maps of the Labyrinths floors. As for me, I simply stood on the side since I probably wouldnt understand a word of what she was saying even if I tried to listen as carefully as I could. Instead, I focused on deciding which tools to buy, since tending to the garden with just our hands would not be nearly as effective as it would be with the proper equipment.

Can we also get this plow and that hoe? And maybe some lumber, while were at it?

* * *

Thank you very much for buying all those tools, master.

No problem. They werent that expensive anyway.

If I were to buy all those tools separately, their price could have been a problem, but thanks to my 30% discount the price for everything we have brought back home with us was actually not all that pricey at all, so I really have no basis for seeing that purchase as a problem. Besides, we only bought two of them.

We grabbed the seeds from the landlady and left the hardware store once Roxanne placed them safely in her backpack. With a spade in Roxannes hand and a hoe in mine, we went back to the Adventurers Guild and travelled back home through the Warp portal.

Thank you for the purchase of the farming tools, master.

No problem. So, what do we do now? We plow the earth before sowing the seeds?

Yes. I think we should also remove all the weeds.

I grabbed a hoe, raised it above my head and then swung it down. For a moment I was worried that I might end up hitting my own leg, but thankfully nothing of the sort happened, and the earth itself was so soft hat I didnt even have to put too much force into my swings to plow it properly, but that should not be too much of a surprise, since the earth in the gardens needs to be soft for the ease of cultivating new plants in it. This just means that buying the hoe today was a good call on our part.

What about a fertilizer? Do we need to buy it later as well?

No. I think the weeds were going to pull out today should be enough to cover everything we might be needing at this point.

Using weeds as a fertilizer? I have never heard of such a technique, but thats probably how they handled the fertilization of the soil before chemical fertilizers were invented.

I see. Then we should also make a fence.

A fence?

Yeah, a simple wooden one just so that we can clearly see where exactly our garden ends.

And what should we do in order to make it?

Roxanne doesnt seem to know how to build a fence, so it was up to me to show her. We then proceeded to building the fence around the entire vegetable garden.

Even though she was confused at first, she quickly adapted and made w number of wooden stakes just like I asked her to.

Now place them in regular intervals from one another and we will then link them all with wood and some rope.

Using our makeshift fence that didnt turn out that bad in the end we covered the vicinity of the entire garden. Now it was clearly visible where our property ended, leaving no room for potential arguments with the neighbors.

After that, we sowed the seeds and watered them with my Water Magic, but only after carefully ascertaining that none of the neighbors was around to see me using magic by accident. When we were done with all the work, the sun had already begun to set a little.

The work was admittedly pretty exhausting, but the sense of satisfaction I am feeling right now is something else entirely. I sat on a chair in front of the finished garden and looked at it with pride. We just finished it so there is nothing by bumped up earth in it, but given the time I am sure it will frow up to be a splendid garden for sure. Now I just want to have something to drink in my hand, and I will be totally looking like an old man here

No no no. Im not an old dude to be doing such senile things. I am still young and able to push Roxanne down whenever I want to. But since we already did it yesterday during the day, so I have to refrain from doing it again for now. Self-control! Show some self-control, me!

W-Well, I will prepare some extra water for later, and then lets hit the Labyrinth one more time. Will you guide me to the monsters?

Certainly!

Sitting around wont help me keep my thoughts from going into the gutter, so I have to stand up and keep myself busy. I went to the room with the drain and created more water for us to use later. Since we worked so much in the garden, we were both pretty dirty, so we will need as much water as possible to wash ourselves up afterwards.

I continued to make water with Water Magic until I noticed that my MP has decreased significantly, so I stopped there in order not to end up feeling depressed due to MP depletion and equipped myself with Durandal again. After that we went back to Quratars Labyrinths second floor. There was little people there, so after replenishing MP I could fight monsters with magic through several battles.

When I tried changing my main Job to Warrior, I noticed that the total number of my available Jobs has increased by one. The new one was a Farmer Lv.1, meaning that I now have the same Job as the inhabitants of Somara, the first village I found myself in when I arrived in this world. All in all it was a pretty basic Job without any good special effects or Skills. I must have gotten it because of all the farm work that I did, like cultivating the Soil and sowing the seeds. I guess that makes all the time it took to finish gardening not go to waste. Roxanne already had that Job since way before we met, so theres no point in checking her status.

And that is how someone who had little idea about farming became a farmer by tending to his herb and vegetable garden.