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The Reincarnated Thirty-Something Woman’s Otherworldly Reform Life

[Farming and Marching Drills?]

Translated by: ME

Treat me to a Ko-Fi to give me more motivation!!!

Note: Sorry I forgot to post a chapter, was busy with my actual job and just went straight to bed after.

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「Carpentry Team, Farmer Team, to your respective positions! Move out!!」

「「「「「「「SIR! YES SIR!!」」」」」」」

In response to Servas’s command, several gruff voices roared in unison as men shouldering heavy construction materials began to run. Following them were others carrying plows and hoes, and—for some reason—baskets filled with vegetables and ingredients intended for lunch.

*Stomp, stomp, stomp!* Watching them go with rhythmic shouts, Magnolia couldn't believe her eyes.

「...What in the world ith happening?」

「A form of marching training? I suppose.」

Marching... They certainly were carrying incredibly heavy loads on their backs, but... Magnolia felt a cold sweat break out as she realized they intended to run all the way to the fields while carrying all that. Even if the fields weren't that far, it was still several kilometers away.

This was truly a terrifying order of knights.

「There's going to be a lot of heavy labor at the start, right? It might be too tough for the people from the slums, since many of them aren't in the best of health, so we recruited off-duty knights to help out under the guise of training.」

Gai said it as if it were the most natural thing in the world, but Magnolia wondered if you could really call that being "off-duty."

(So when they said it would be fine despite my worries about how many days it would take with just the slum workers, this is what they meant.)

Today, they were to begin reclaiming idle farmland located on the eastern side of the regional capital. The man who had attended the meeting as the farmers' representative had been the first to volunteer his land. Since the location sat right between the Margrave’s estate and the capital, Magnolia thought it was a perfect place to start.

Despite the heavy loads they carried, the knights were running at the same speed as a regular jog.

(These guys are like monsters.)

Magnolia felt a chill as she watched a knight running alongside the carriage through the window. Dean, sitting across from her, had turned pale.

As someone who aspired to be a knight, he was likely trembling at this glimpse of his own potential future a few years down the line.

***

When they arrived at the farmland, the villagers were there to greet them in a group. The smiling representative, an elderly man, stepped forward.

「Welcome. We are honored to have you.」

「The pleath-uye ith mine. Thank you foy having uth.」

Magnolia asked the villagers to return to their work for now and gathered them again when it was time for the meal. She then asked Lily and Dean to set up a temporary hearth and prepare the food with some help from the knights.

First, they conducted an inspection of the idle land. They were taught about the condition of the soil, the state of irrigation, the surrounding facilities, and the types of crops currently being grown.

「I want to buiy-d a feyti-withey shed in a sh-pot wheye it won't get in the way of the field oy the path.」

「A fertilizer shed?」

The old representative remained with them, acting as their guide. Magnolia nodded.

Before starting this project, she had asked the estate’s gardener and servants whose families were farmers about fertilizer, but it seemed that knowledge on the subject was largely based on oral tradition or personal intuition.

「I want to make feyti-withey to nutuye the shoil. Jutht as people need nutyition fwom food, the shoil needth nutyition too.」

The old man nodded.

「I see...」

「Theye aye many kindth of feyti-withey, and it changeth depending on shoil's needs... but since this land wass idle, I think it'th pwobabwy lacking evewything. Th-o, I want to th-tayt by making th-omething way-anthed.」

Magnolia explained that she intended to make fertilizer using discarded items like leaf mulch and vegetable peels. If they could get it on track, they could recycle the vegetable scraps from the workshop, making it environmentally friendly.

While the concept of SDGs might not exist in this world, Magnolia wanted to at least instill a sense of hygiene to prevent the spread of unnecessary infectious diseases.

「I hope evewyone in the viy-yage can uthe it too.」

「That is most generous... In that case, please build it in the village’s common space. It would be better to save as much field space as possible.」

「I altho want a thmall thed built theparately. We’ll dry the boneth and organth, then grind them into powder to uthe ath fertilizer.」

「Bones?!」

Magnolia took out a thick fish bone from her pocket—one she had re-roasted after boiling it for soup the day before—and showed it to him.

「If you thoroughly wath and dry boneth, egg-thellth, or thellth, then roatht them and grind them into powder, you can uthe them ath fertilizer or mix them into liveth-tock feed.」

Magnolia crushed the roasted bone with a small hammer. Because it had been well-roasted, it broke easily despite its thickness. As she scattered the fine pieces over the soil, a chicken that had been watching from a distance rushed over and began pecking at them frantically.

「If it’th too coarthe, it won't be ath effective, th-o we’ll pulverithe the thmall boneth into powder uthing a water-mill. Powdered roathted thellth can be uthed not jutht for fertilizer and feed, but for wathing thingth too.」

「Ho... You know quite a lot for a Young Lady who surely doesn't do farm work herself.」

The old man nodded repeatedly in admiration.

...Perhaps I overdid it a bit? Magnolia offered a polite, canned smile.

「...I yead it... in a book... th-omewhere... long ago.」

***

Once the use for the buildings had been explained, the knights known as the "Carpentry Team" began constructing the sheds under Servas's orders. Apparently, these men had grown up helping their carpenter fathers and were well-versed in the work.

Servas picked up a thick pillar and, with a beast-like grunt, slammed it straight into the ground. Beside him, the framework was assembled in the blink of an eye to the sound of brave shouts.

The people from the slums, who had initially been timid or even slightly rebellious, found themselves naturally cooperating as the work progressed—they simply couldn't afford to stand idly by given the pace of the construction.

On the other side, the "Farmer Team" was tilling the idle land under Claude’s command. These men also came from farming backgrounds. The weeds they pulled at the start would be mixed into the fertilizer later, so they were piled up at the edge for now.

Since the fields hadn't been used in a while, they diligently tilled the hardened earth. The brawny knights rolled up their sleeves and tilled with ferocious intensity. The workers from the slums watched the knights out of the corners of their eyes while focusing on the feel of the soil as they worked.

Gai was taking notes for the next phase of the operation, moving around with interest and writing things down.

Paul seemed to have gotten mixed up with the Carpentry Team; he was stumbling around while carrying building materials, his eyes darting around in confusion.

Victor also seemed to be having fun, competing with some of the knights to see who could till faster. As his red pineapple-like hair bobbed violently, the ground was turned over with a speed that rivaled a machine.

「............」

(The Guild Master is so flashy he's easy to spot...)

I decided not to comment on Servas.

After checking on the overall progress, Magnolia joined in on the cooking. Lily, Dean, and several children from the slums were already working. The children, who were cautious at first, had opened up to the "kind older sister" and their fellow peer, and were now chatting and working happily. Magnolia nodded, satisfied with the scene.

Monitoring the surroundings, she tasted the soup and prepared the boiled udon. Then, she placed the iron plate she had bought the other day onto the temporary hearth and greased it with oil. On top of this, she placed the offal she had kept cold using a magic refrigeration tool to make *horumon-yaki*! Naturally, she had brought the dipping sauce she made yesterday along with wooden bowls.

Truthfully, the temperature-controlled device was intended for storing the finished sauerkraut... but since it wasn't being used yet and the offal would spoil otherwise, she had decided to use it for a "test run."

***

After a while, everyone returned from their labor, hungry and sniffing the air.

「Whoa!! That smells amazing!」

「Meat! Meat! Meat!」

Magnolia raised her voice to address the rowdy crowd, and received a spirited response.

「Evewyone, wath youye hanth! Food cometh afteye that!!」

「「「「「「Yes!!」」」」」」

As they scrambled to obey, Magnolia smiled and beckoned the villagers who were watching from a distance.

「You all thould join uth too! We might not have enough ditheth, th-o it would help if you bring your own from home.」

And so, everyone sat down on sheets or stones as if they were on a military march and ate whatever they liked. Of course, seconds were encouraged. Some were hesitant at first, but once they took a bite, they began to chew in silence.

—Though there were some stalwarts who ate without hesitation from the very start, practically inhaling their food.

「So this is the staff meal made from bones and organs that the Young Lady mentioned?」

Gai stared intently at the udon served in a deep bowl. Since there were no chopsticks, he ate with a fork.

「Aye. We made the broth from boneth, and you can add whatever meat or vegetableth you like and theathon it how you want. Ath I thaid before, the uthed boneth can be ground into powder to thcatter on the fieldth or mixed into feed.」

「Truly, nothing goes to waste.」

Servas, who had draped his coat over his shoulders and was sipping his udon with surprising elegance, nodded as he ate. In moments like these, Magnolia was reminded that he was a high-ranking noble by birth. His manner of eating was very refined.

「Well, depending on the thoil, it might be better to avoid uthing too much, th-o I think it’th better to uthe a little at a time to find the right amount, or jutht mix it into feed if you're unthure. I'm not an expert on farming, th-o I can't give a detailed explanation. ...How do you uthually dithpothe of them?」

She asked the village representative.

「...Well, let's see. Most people burn them or dig a deep hole to bury them, though occasionally someone will just toss them aside.」

Right, right. That sounds about right.

「If you do that, the smell becomes a problem... and wild animals might come or bugs might appear. So even if it’s a little troublesome, it’s delicious and useful if you can reuse them. If that seems too hard, burning them and burying them deep is better」

Claude, who had been listening in silence, finally brought over some offal from the iron plate.

「Try it with thiss shaushe」

He nodded and placed it in his mouth.

「! ...It’s good. It has a bit of a unique taste, but the fat is sweet...」

He chewed slowly, as if confirming the flavor.

「Aye! The texture and flavor of organth vary depending on the part, which ith interethting. Thome organth from certain fith or animalth might not be thafe to eat, th-o I think it'th thafer to thtick to what you know or what you bought.」

Magnolia also wrapped a piece of grilled offal in a leafy vegetable and took a large, enthusiastic bite. As she chewed with full cheeks, everyone couldn't help but smile at her squirrel-like appearance.

The *horumon-yaki* seemed to be a hit.

(I remember back then there was a time when girls who liked offal were called 'Horumon-nu,' and it became really popular as a kind of local soul food...)

Before long, in a clearing a short distance away, the knights, Victor, and the slum workers—despite there being no alcohol—had their arms around each other's shoulders and were singing. It was like a banquet hall.

Magnolia felt a bit exasperated, but also relieved.

(I guess it really is true what they say about eating from the same pot.)

The luncheon ended as a great success. They were able to bond with the locals, and in a single day, they finished the fertilizer shed, prepared a trial batch of fertilizer, and completed the tilling of the fields.

The results were excellent!

However...

It should be noted here that when the other members of the knights' order heard about this later, they were incredibly frustrated. To win a spot in the "marching training"—really just the work at the remaining three locations—for a chance at that legendary dish (?), a fierce battle ensued among them...

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