Plow the land, plant the seeds, and water them.
Pull the weeds that steal nutrients and catch the bugs that chew on the leaves.
Once they are fully grown, harvest them and sort the grain or leaves.
"Farming is hard work."
"Then why are you the one bragging about it?"
As Ara, her straw hat pulled low, puffed out her chest, Marmotte answered sulkily.
Of course, all Ara did was sit in the shade, wave her hands around, and order the Agrihand about.
Everything she had mentioned had been automated, so with little more than a flick of a finger, a proper farm had taken shape.
"The power of science is amazing!"
"Engineering, more like."
Her injured leg was part of the reason, but in the end, neither Ara nor Marmotte had much to do.
Of course, even if Ara’s leg had been perfectly fine, it was doubtful she would have worked enthusiastically.
Still, everyone agreed that simply having the new option of "farming" had drastically increased the settlement’s productivity.
"Little rat. Why do you look so gloomy?"
"Who are you calling little, and who are you calling a rat?"
Marmotte snapped at the grinning Ara, then soon sat down with her chin resting on her hand.
"It’s just... being incapable is pretty inconvenient."
Ratkin were small to begin with, and Marmotte’s physical abilities had been weakened further by the effects of the brain-enhancement experiments. It left her with a subtle sense of helplessness.
Looking back on it now, had someone as capable as Polaris really asked Marmotte for help because he genuinely did not know what to do?
It had been the same when she traveled with Green Shark. Green Shark had only kept Marmotte around because she had been useful, and after meeting Polaris, she had kept going around with just him.
It was not that Marmotte was upset because nobody relied on her. She just wanted to keep Polaris by her side too... no, if possible, she wanted him to take her along.
"Hmm?"
"What?"
Ara chuckled unpleasantly.
There had been that little battle of knowledge when she first joined them. The things Ara had casually asked about back then had felt far too real.
Even though they had happened well over a hundred years ago, her testimony had been so vivid, as if she had experienced it herself, that Marmotte had vaguely estimated her age.
Marmotte’s sharp mind had perfectly deduced that Ara was an incredibly old fox.
"Not everything in the world exists solely because it’s needed."
"I’m still not giving you any more tobacco."
"...That’s not the only reason."
Having become responsible for rationing while managing their remaining resources, Marmotte understood why Ara was acting so friendly.
It was surely for the few remaining tobacco sticks.
"...Really, no?"
Ara let out a long, disappointed sigh.
Perhaps because her mouth felt idle, she smacked her lips as she continued.
"You know how there’s a right person for every job?"
"Yes."
"I can’t do the growing myself, so I have the machine do it like this."
The Agrihand had already planted every seed and begun recharging itself.
They had not installed a mechanoid charger, but it did have a solar self-charging unit, and that alone was enough to manage a farm of this size.
"Knowing how to do too many things is exhausting too."
Just as Ara said, Polaris was busy beyond belief.
He had to prepare tools for Green Shark to gather resources with, process the lumber and ore they brought back, design the base, and lay its foundations.
On top of that, he had to cook as well.
Though for someone who constantly claimed to be tired, he looked quite refreshed.
"What about you?"
"Hmm?"
"Is there any reason we should keep you alive?"
It was a question Polaris had once asked, though this one was a little more raw.
What if they extracted the mechlink from Ara’s brain and transplanted it?
This settlement would gain a new role for Marmotte, without the risk of a chemical fascination.
"....."
Ara’s fox ears perked up.
A dangerous air filled the space between them.
Even with her injured leg, if she used a Miho’s innate psychic powers—
"I’m pretty, you know."
So confident.
She called herself a tinker, but had she plated her face in steel too?
"What? Why? If a Waster with a smashed-up face acted like this, would they still be alive?"
"...I suppose not?"
Now that she mentioned it, it was convincing.
If the Pigskin they had gone to the trouble of rescuing had squealed for food like that, would they really have spared it?
Maybe Polaris would have, but before he could stop her, Green Shark’s club would have turned it into jerky.
"You should have more confidence too, little rat."
If she looked at it objectively, was Marmotte not cute and adorable too?
Did her tiny body not show a charming contrast between a child’s liveliness and the maturity of her brilliant mind?
"That’s right. I’m cute!"
"Amazing."
"Ah, what the hell! I’m in a good mood! I’ll give you lots of tobacco!"
"Yay."
Ratkin had childish, naive sides to them.
As intelligent as Marmotte was, Ara knew that surviving this harsh frontier was not a matter of knowledge, but of wisdom.
With nothing but her silver tongue, Ara had not only saved her own life, but gotten herself more tobacco too.
Nobody got hurt, so it was all okay, wasn’t it?
.
.
.
"Phew."
I finally had a little free time.
This was not a simple log cabin built by stacking up logs. The wood had to be processed and cut to size, so it took a lot of work.
First, I had to lay out spaces for a rec room and living room, a kitchen, bedrooms, and a workshop, then level and reinforce the ground around them.
In the middle of all that, I had to cook too.
"Ahem."
"Marmotte?"
While I was butchering the animals Green Shark had hunted, which had been skewered among the lumber she brought back, Marmotte approached me.
She looked strangely confident, her shoulders puffed up with pride.
It was better than seeing her depressed, but what had gotten into her?
"Is there anything I can help you with?"
"Not really."
If I were using a campfire, I could at least have asked her to watch the fire, but—
I was using an electric stove now, so even that was pointless.
"Ah, I see. You mean I’m helpful just by being here?"
But why? She had suddenly become positive in an extreme direction.
"Looks like something good happened to you."
"That’s right. Because I’m cute."
"?"
Marmotte thumped her chest.
She certainly was cute, but...
"Polaris needs to recognize my cuteness better too."
Then she pressed herself against my leg and began chattering away.
Her small body made her seem like a child, and she was quite cute, but her usual sharpness was absent from her words and behavior.
"...?"
"Hehe. Look all you want! At cute little me!"
I took a close look at her face. Her pupils were dilated, and the whites of her eyes were bloodshot.
Her hair carried the bitter scent of tobacco...?
"You’re high."
"That’s right. Polaris, get high on my cuteness too, all dizzy and—!"
What the hell had that woman done to a kid?
.
"I figured you’d come soon~"
"What on earth did you do to make her like this?"
"Me? I just gave her a little push in the right direction."
I immediately marched over to confront her, dragging along the incoherent Marmotte.
Ara was sitting on a tree stump beside the farm, chain-smoking.
Sure enough, the acrid smell that had clung to Marmotte filled the area.
It seemed Marmotte had inhaled the smoke while sitting beside her and gotten high on secondhand smoke.
"Good grief."
A pile of tobacco sat beside Ara.
I had gone to the trouble of assigning Marmotte to watch her and manage the stockpile, yet Ara had somehow fooled her.
"She’s cute, isn’t she?"
"She is cute."
Ara looked at Marmotte with dreamy eyes.
There was even an unexpected tenderness in her gaze.
"I don’t mean to tell you what to do, but..."
"Mm-hmm."
"If I leave you alone, you’ll smoke all of that, right?"
"Probably?"
Thinking I might confiscate it, Ara turned her body as if to hide the tobacco beside her.
I pointed to the tobacco plants in the farm and asked her.
"How long until all of that is grown?"
"Who knows? Around ten days?"
They must have been genetically modified too. Even in such fertile soil, their growth speed was astonishing.
Of course, that was only until harvest. Considering the time needed to pick the leaves, steam them, and dry them, it would safely take around two weeks.
"Once you use all that, there will only be a few left."
"...?"
I calmly told her the truth.
"And if you make a fuss about not having enough..."
"Then...?"
"Green Shark has been waiting for an excuse."
Ara’s face turned green.
I did not know how she had sweet-talked Marmotte, but Green Shark had a strong aversion to drugs in general, so she and Ara had a distant relationship.
She did not touch Ara because she did not want to get involved, but if given an excuse, she certainly would not show any mercy.
The day they reclaimed the mechlink might not be far off.
"So hand them over."
"I-I’ll hand them over..."
"No need!"
"Eep?!"
Ara agreed to the drug restriction policy.
-----
Today’s frontier average.
Since 1.1, pawns with Chemical Fascination do not suddenly suffer a craving break.
Pyromaniacs do not start fires whenever they feel like it, either.
Gourmands still scarf down food.
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