CH 6

“Hmm…”

With a face ready to try something, Nobunaga muttered while lightly striking his hand. The entrance was opened. From there, a page walked in, put some offerings on the Obon tray, and came before Nobunaga… The moment Nobunaga saw that he raised an eyebrow.

“What is that…? I have never seen such an article before”

The surrounding military chiefs became rowdy when they saw the offering. That was because the supposed offering was an article never before seen.

(I’m glad that I brought an atlas of Japan with me)

What Shizuko gave as an offering was an atlas that was sold normally in modern times. Moreover, the atlas which Shizuko brought this time was the thick version of it used by experts.

Although primary industries such as agriculture were essentially Shizuko’s forte, she also had other hobbies as well. Those were history and geography. If she had free time, she would spend it being absorbed in reading historical and geographical books. That was the reason why Shizuko was familiar with the history and usually, she kept the world and Japan maps in her bag. The day she time slipped into the Sengoku Period, she luckily put in an atlas of Japan in her bag.

(In the Edo Period, maps were considered national level confidential items thus it was forbidden to take one out. All the more so they were treated as precious documents in the Sengoku Period. The river’s flow may have been changed because of the flood control but distance and direction were supposed to be the same)

“Shizuko, what is this? Explain quickly”

Nobunaga inquired while pointing at the Japanese atlas with his folding fan. He seemed like subtly keeping it at arm’s length but his strong curiosity came out after that. Shizuko bowed once and moved before Nobunaga. The Japanese atlas was in between them.

“I will gladly explain it”

As she said so, Shizuko opened the atlas.

Nobunaga watched Shizuko open the book with great interest. There was no bookbinding technology in Sengoku Period, the finest book was washi(Japanese paper) bound with string. Scrolls and wooden pieces were the norms. It was never heard that there was a book bound with glue paste. But what surprised Nobunaga the most was that it was a color printed book. A colorful paper that he never saw before was enough to stimulate his curiosity.

(This map should be equivalent to salt if we had to buy it….)

Two months had passed since Shizuko came to the village. Seasons had changed from spring to summer, and sunny days continued every day at this time. That meant it was enough only pulling out the weeds and sprinkling the water moderately. Although it was a time to relax, Shizuko breathed a heavy sigh and dropped her shoulders. That was a problem coming to light.

“Haaa…. What kind of pest control measures will I make….”

That problem was pest control. Some areas were seriously damaged even in the modern era. The amount of damages would amount to tens of millions of yen and most of the crops couldn’t be harvested, but the biggest problem was that the farmer’s motivation went down. Decreased farmer’s motivation to cultivate in this Sengoku Period would be a life and death situation.

“What method is most effective….”

Currently, the damage wasn’t so serious, but it was inevitable that the danger level rose over the summer. Even if you grew a large quantity of crops, it would be meaningless if all of them were eaten by the pests.

“Osora-san, Tagosaku-san, please tell me what you know about pests”

Shizuko called out to the nearby villagers who were pulling out the weeds, the woman named Osora and the man named Tagosaku. The man seemed to be frantically pulling out the weeds but the woman noticed Shizuko’s voice.

“Well if I had to say anything, there are a lot of deer in the area. There used to be foxes and weasels in the area as well but….It could be because there are too many deer, we don’t see them often anymore. Well, we still see some wild boars here and there…”

“Hmm, deer huh…”

Basically, the pests were deer, wild boar, fox, and weasels for the farmer at this time. The most terrible of them was the deer. It has troublesome nature in that it had high fertility and became nocturnal during the hunting period. It was always ranked first for doing damage to the crops.

(There was almost no damage by other animals from what they told me… or maybe, because the deer dominated the whole area made it harder for other animals to live there?)

The fact that there were no foxes or weasels made it easier since there was no need to devise new measures but it all depended on whether or not the villager could catch the deer.

(It required a troublesome procedure for disposing of a deer in the modern era but it is an important protein source in this period. If we can catch in a large amount and make dried meat out of it, we may survive starvation)

Sweet potatoes were ready to harvest the earliest at the end of September, but by that time, there was a need to find a way to surpass the bare livelihood. Since Shizuko had the benefit of being Mori Yoshinari’s subordinate, she regularly received food but the villagers weren’t included. If the deer could be caught in a large quantity, it could be used as food for the villagers.

(We can secure enough food if we harvest sweet potatoes. Until then, to secure enough food, we need to get our hands on deer and boar meat….but the problem is how to do it, right…..)