Shipping The Long Eggplants

After finishing lunch, we began sorting and preparing the long eggplants for shipment.

To do that, we first needed to move the containers filled with eggplants. This was another physically demanding task.

After all, each container weighed more than ten kilograms.

Carrying several of them around after exhausting ourselves with harvesting was pretty tough.

“Jin-dono, should I carry these?”

“Yeah, we’ll be working at that table over there. They’re pretty heavy, so don’t push yourself—”

I was about to warn her, but Seram stacked six containers on top of one another and effortlessly lifted them.

“…Huh?”

I could only stare in astonishment as Seram, who had a much slimmer build than me, lifted the containers as though they weighed nothing.

Even if each one weighed only ten kilograms, that was still sixty kilograms.

Someone who had trained extensively might be able to lift that much, but it would otherwise be practically impossible.

“What’s wrong, Jin-dono?”

“Wait, wait. Each of those weighs more than ten kilograms, you know? How can you carry so many?”

“I’m a knight. I’d like to say that a little weight like this is nothing to me, but it’s actually quite heavy, so I’m using physical enhancement magic.”

“Magic…?”

“I’m reinforcing my muscles with Magical Energy. By applying this technique, I can display extraordinary physical abilities, such as running at tremendous speeds or jumping to great heights.”

So that explained how she had managed to run as fast as a car when she dashed out of the house on her first day here.

Seram’s explanation made sense, but something else caught my attention.

“Wait, you can actually use magic in this world!?”

“Yes. The Magical Energy in the atmosphere is much thinner than in my world, but there’s still enough for me to use magic.”

I’d always thought Magical Energy and magic were purely fictional, but apparently they existed even in modern-day Japan.

“Does that mean I might be able to use it too?”

“…I don’t think so.”

I’d asked with a little hope, but Seram shook her head.

“Why not?”

“I can’t sense any Magical Energy within you or the other people of this world. I suspect you lack the magical organs necessary to sense and manipulate Magical Energy. Even if Magical Energy exists around you, there’s nothing you can do with it without those organs.”

Even if energy was available, it was useless without an engine capable of harnessing it.

Apparently, Magical Energy was a wasted resource as far as Earthlings were concerned.

“This may sound harsh, but even if you possessed magical organs, Jin-dono, learning magic at your age would be difficult. Magical training begins in early childhood and requires many years of practice.”

Well, that made sense. Seram had mentioned that she’d devoted so much time to practicing swordsmanship and magic that she barely had time to cook for herself.

It would be difficult for someone like me, who had absolutely no aptitude for it, to quickly master such a specialized skill. Even if I somehow managed to learn it, I’d probably be an old man by then.

“I see. I thought magic might come in handy for growing vegetables.”

“Only you, Jin-dono, would immediately think of using magic for agriculture upon hearing that it was possible.”

Seram chuckled at my remark.

Well, what else was I supposed to use it for?

“Hey, can’t you use magic to grow vegetables?”

Couldn’t Magical Energy somehow be used to accelerate their growth?

“If I could do that, I would have offered to help you already. Unfortunately, magic isn’t nearly as convenient as you imagine, Jin-dono.”

Apparently, there was no such convenient magic.

Well, if there were, it would take half the fun out of farming, so perhaps that was for the best.

Still, it would have been wonderful if I could control how quickly crops grew with magic. Then I wouldn’t have to scramble to harvest everything within such a short period.

As I silently grumbled about the hardships of farming, I carried the containers over to the worktable.

Normally, it was exhausting work that required several trips, but thanks to Seram, we finished moving everything in just two.

This would probably make loading the truck a lot easier, too.

“How do we go about sorting them?”

“We wipe off any dirt while separating them by size. At the same time, we check each long eggplant for damage or an irregular shape.”

“What should we do with the damaged or misshapen ones?”

“We can sell the misshapen ones at a slightly lower price, but there’s not much we can do with badly damaged ones. We either cut away the damaged parts and eat them ourselves or throw them out. This long eggplant, for example, is no good.”

“Such a small blemish is enough to make it unsellable?”

From my perspective, it was clearly unacceptable, but apparently Seram considered the damage tolerable.

“Our job is to provide customers with delicious, safe produce. We can’t give them anything that might pose even the slightest risk to their safety.”

“I see! You put your customers’ safety first! You really are thorough, Jin-dono!”

Seram looked at me with admiration.

It wasn’t so much my personal policy as the standards of the agricultural cooperative, but explaining that would probably lead to another exaggerated misunderstanding, so I decided to leave it at that.

After teaching Seram how to sort the eggplants, we picked them up and began working.

I took each eggplant, wiped away the dirt with a cloth, and carefully examined its entire surface.

Once the dirt was removed, the eggplants gleamed with an even richer sheen.

The freshly cleaned eggplants were beautiful, almost like precious gemstones.

“You look so peaceful, Jin-dono.”

As we worked quietly, Seram looked at me as though she’d witnessed something unusual.

Did I really look that peaceful?

“There’s something calming about polishing the crops you’ve harvested.”

“Well, I agree with you there. It’s nice to have work you can do without thinking about anything.”

“Hey, you still need to pay attention to the sorting. That size doesn’t belong in that container.”

“My apologies.”

When I pointed out her mistake, Seram hurriedly moved the eggplant to the correct container.

She was dependable when it came to heavy lifting, but I couldn’t take my eyes off her during tasks that required attention to detail.

Still, she was doing more than well enough for someone completely new to farming, so I ought to overlook the occasional mistake.

Once we finished sorting the long eggplants, it was time to pack them into bags.

“Seram, put these stickers on the bags.”

“Stickers?”

Since Seram didn’t know what stickers were, I demonstrated how to apply one.

All she had to do was peel it off with her fingers and stick it onto a bag, so she understood immediately.

“Like this!?”

“Yeah, that’s right. Keep putting them on.”

“This is actually fun!”

Seram happily stuck one sticker after another onto the bags.

She looked like a child who had just discovered the joy of playing with stickers.

While keeping an eye on her excitement, I began filling the labeled bags with eggplants.

“Hmm? I’ve run out of stickers.”

“That’s all the stickers we need. Come help me fill the bags.”

“Understood.”

With the labeling finished, I had Seram help me with the bagging.

“Have you reached five hundred grams yet?”

“Ugh, I’m still about fifty grams short.”

“Hahaha! Then try a different eggplant.”

“Jin-dono, I haven’t seen you weigh a single bag this whole time. Are you sure they’re reaching the required weight?”

When I laughed, Seram gave me a skeptical look.

“Don’t underestimate an experienced farmer. Once you’ve done this as long as I have, you can tell roughly how much something weighs just by holding it.”

“Then please put one on the scale and show me.”

At Seram’s request, I placed one of the bags I’d filled onto the scale, and sure enough, it was exactly the required weight.

“Exactly the required weight… As expected of someone with experience.”

“Naturally.”

That was what I said, but I kept quiet about the cold sweat I’d broken into when the scale displayed such an astonishingly precise number.

If it had been even a few grams lighter, I would have embarrassed myself. That was close.

Once we finished filling the bags, I inserted one into the packaging tool.

With a loud clack, the bag of eggplants was neatly sealed shut.

“Jin-dono! What was that!?”

“It’s a bag sealer, a tool for sealing packages. Want to try it?”

When I made the offer to Seram, whose eyes were sparkling with curiosity, she nodded enthusiastically.

She certainly was curious about everything.

“Twist the open end of the bag to make it narrow, then push it into this slot.”

“Like this?”

Seram pushed the twisted end of the bag into the bag sealer, and with a clack, the opening was sealed.

“O-ohhh! Jin-dono, this is fun too!”

“If you like it, go ahead and seal as many as you want.”

For Seram, who found the tools of this world so unfamiliar, even packaging vegetables seemed to be a fresh and exciting experience.

I left the bag sealing to Seram and began placing the finished packages into cardboard boxes.

As we continued working, we finished everything in no time.

“Could you load these boxes into the bed of the Kei Truck?”

“Of course! Into the white iron carriage, right? Understood!”

When I asked, Seram carried several cardboard boxes at once.

Meanwhile, I put away our equipment, covered the boxes stacked in the truck bed with a tarp, and secured them tightly with ropes to prevent them from falling off while driving.

“Now all that’s left is to deliver them.”

“Shall I accompany you?”

As I climbed into the Kei Truck, Seram approached the driver’s side and asked.

However, there wasn’t really anything else she could help me with from this point onward.

She’d already worked far harder than I’d expected. I would have felt bad making her stay out late when there was no need.

“No, I can handle the rest on my own. Go home and get some rest.”

“I-I see…”

“What? Are you feeling lonely about staying home by yourself?”

“Of course not! I’m not a child! Now, go on and make your delivery!”

I’d teased her because she looked so dejected, and Seram promptly marched back toward the house.

The way she got so worked up over such things showed that she was still a child at heart.

Still, I was a little worried about leaving her home alone for too long, so I decided to return as soon as possible.

With that thought in mind, I started up the Kei Truck and drove off.