NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 6 - Chapter 6: Agricultural Research Club (1)
Chapter 6: Agricultural Research Club (1)
Now, on Monday. After school, I knocked on the door of the Agricultural Research Club. Despite its name, it felt more like a club activity from my previous life. The advisor is a teacher specializing in earth magic.
Until now, I had been a member of the Economic Research Club, which was more like a club activity called the return-home club. Despite the name “research club,” we wrote reports once a year, and the actual activities consisted of members casually chatting after school at the cafeteria or an off-campus cafe while tackling assignments.
Students in the Economic Research Club were mostly the sons of merchants. They maintained a certain level of grades and, after graduation, took over their family businesses. It served as a networking opportunity for future business relationships, similar to a junior version of the Chamber of Commerce. However, since I plan to deviate from the route of working for my family and assisting my brother in this loop, there is no merit in joining. Besides, my grades are not an issue.
More importantly, if I’m going to be an adventurer, I need some skills.
“You’re from the Appel Trading Company. Are you interested in agriculture?”
The teacher surprisingly uttered these words. Well, that makes sense. I’m not particularly interested, either. If it weren’t for the three-year loop, becoming successful in agriculture wouldn’t be a bad idea.
“I am of the earth attribute, and my family deals with grains, so if possible, I would like to observe.”
I made up a reasonable excuse and casually joined.
The Agricultural Research Club was more of a ghost club than the Economic Research Club. Earth attributes were unpopular to begin with. Well, considering that a quarter of this world’s population should be of the earth attribute out of the six attributes—fire, water, earth, wind, light, and darkness—and that most of the population consists of farmers, the fact that earth attribute skills are not being utilized is a significant issue.
Professor Kabaneru, while lecturing at this school, was also one of the few specialists who used earth attribute skills for plant cultivation. Magic, in general, is researched by the Magic Ministry in the royal capital, known as the “Tower.” However, earth attributes are unpopular even there. When it comes to plant cultivation, it’s considered the domain of forest-dwelling elves who use spirit magic.
“Just relying on soil cultivation skills would make things easier, don’t you think?”
“Yeah, you’re right! Oh, it’s great to have someone who understands.”
Professor Kabaneru had a friendly smile. There was an atmosphere that I couldn’t ignore. After school, I was the only one who visited his research room. Others took turns, and there were students watering flower beds. In essence, it wasn’t much different from what I’d call a gardening club from my previous life. I joined to get an earth attribute skill to become an adventurer, but somehow, I ended up becoming like the professor’s tea-drinking buddy.
Listening to his stories, I could understand that the general direction was correct. In my previous life, it was a common and popular story to rise to prominence by initiating agricultural reforms with earth attribute skills. However, the problem was the low level of his earth attribute skill.
Among the magic books I found in this research room, there were five earth attribute skills: “Rock Wall,” “Stone Pellet Barrage,” “Landscape,” “Golem Creation,” and “Keen Edge.” If he wanted to apply them to agriculture, the skill would likely be “Landscape,” which manipulates terrain and geology. However, the professor was a typical desk worker, having entered the dungeon for practical training only once at the noble academy in the royal capital. As a result, his skill level did not increase.
“Landscape” states that at skill level 1, you can obtain skills for swampy Quagmire, at skill level 2, sandy soil Sandy Soil, and at skill level 3, humus Humus. However, it seems that the professor doesn’t have enough levels to reach skill level 3. Beyond that, there are skills like excavation, hardening, and others that would be useful for agriculture, but it’s a waste. What he lacks is experience points, not in research but in physical terms. Power is indeed power.
Well, people here probably don’t know about levels and skill points, so it’s understandable. I myself only learned about “Status Open” (and in Japanese, no less) just last Saturday. While pondering over the skill of “knowing it’s written in the magic book but somehow not being able to use it,” I can’t help but cheer for the teacher’s diligent research. Over coffee, as I help organize his thoughts into a chart resembling a tree diagram, he was greatly moved. In future loops, I might lend a hand with his research if the mood strikes.
Another harvest here is the ability to read newspapers. While newspapers exist in this world, they are not yet something generally accessible. It seems my family gets a few copies, and several are distributed around the academy, but they arrive here a few days later. Since noticing this, I’ve started summarizing major news in a notebook. It may be impossible to take the notebook itself to the next loop, but remembering the information could surely be helpful. Perhaps this loop might end after this round, and it might continue beyond the three years. Even so, keeping an eye on the state of the world is not a bad thing. Oh, if only there were a lottery in this world. If I could remember the numbers, I might hit the jackpot in the next loop.
I procure some tea snacks, visit Professor Kabaneru’s research room, occasionally water the flower bed, chat, and read the newspaper. My daily life at the academy passes by in this manner.