Ch.291291. Aftermath (4)

In truth, for modern people, potatoes—aside from their taste—cannot have a particularly good image as a crop.

A nutritional structure centered on carbohydrates. Calories that, while lower than rice or sweet potatoes, are still sufficiently high. Thanks to a glycemic index similar to rice and higher than sweet potatoes, excess sugar that isn’t consumed as energy easily accumulates as fat.

For modern people who have abundant food and live in prosperity, for those in a state of nutritional excess, it’s almost inevitable that these characteristics would be perceived as the worst.

Add to this the tarnished image resulting from various media pointing to french fries as one of the causes of obesity in modern children, which certainly cannot be overlooked.

However, if we interpret these characteristics in reverse, it also means that this crop can be more useful than anything else as a famine relief food.

This world is certainly different from modern developed countries where people spend exorbitant amounts of money to lose weight because they’ve eaten too much and gained weight, and where obesity is considered a symbol of poverty because it’s perceived as a lack of capacity for self-management.

Excluding the luxuries and monopolies of the wealthy, food shortage problems have always plagued human society, and for the common people who make up more than half of the population, hunger is no different from the worst adversary they must live with throughout their lives.

The sight of people desperately seeking alternative food sources when there’s nothing to eat is almost constant, and even now, the number of people who “starve to death”—something one wouldn’t expect in developed countries—is quite substantial.

And in such situations, nutritious and high-calorie food is difficult to refuse under any circumstances.

Even in South Korea’s past, food advertisements on television frequently emphasized high calories and abundant energy content.

In most eras, food was naturally evaluated based on how much nutrition and calories it contained, and it hasn’t been that long since low-calorie or zero-calorie products became popular as they are in modern times.

Even looking at South Korea during the Cold War era, which was significantly influenced by technological development and modernization, this was the case. In this fantasy medieval setting, with lower technology and less food than that era, potatoes are truly like a divine crop.

First, not only do they have high calories, but they also contain ample carbohydrates and protein as a grain, and their high glycemic index produces energy comparable to rice and surpassing sweet potatoes.

Compared to “traditional” famine relief crops like barnyard millet, kudzu, foxtail millet, proso millet, turnips, and buckwheat, the fact that potatoes are reasonably palatable is also a significant advantage.

Their bland taste with no particular distinctive flavor makes them optimized as a staple food, and through various cooking methods, one can enjoy diverse flavors without getting tired of them.

In fact, compared to other grains that haven’t been cultivated into better varieties and still taste terrible, this level of taste is something to be grateful for….

The most decisive and crucial reason why potatoes were worshipped as a miraculous famine relief crop is that they grow well in almost any environment.

Perhaps because their original habitat was cold highlands, they actually grow better in cold, barren soil—a tremendous advantage considering that most crops grow better in warm climates.

Thanks to this, potatoes grow well even in barren mountainous regions or cold northern areas where it’s difficult to grow ordinary crops, making them the best staple food in environments where common grains struggle to grow.

Additionally, compared to other grains produced on the same area of land, potatoes produce overwhelmingly more calories—approximately three times that of wheat, though there may be some margin of error.

And decisively, potatoes require relatively less labor to cultivate than ordinary crops.

These unique and excellent characteristics made potatoes a famine relief crop in reality, but the potatoes I introduced to these people are a special variety different from those in the real world—they’re Magical☆Potatoes.

The name of the magical ability possessed by this special potato variety is “abnormal propagation.” It has the magical characteristic of growing at least dozens of times faster than ordinary potatoes.

Depending on the climate, it takes about three weeks (20 days) at most or roughly two weeks (15 days) at least. Apart from growing quickly, they don’t have a particularly low yield, and they don’t deplete soil fertility much either—a significant advantage.

Of course, perhaps as a trade-off for this abnormal growth rate, these magical potatoes rot almost instantly if left unattended….

This drawback can be solved by extracting just the starch from the potatoes.

Although it’s undeniably a rather cumbersome and complex method, once stored, it can be preserved for a long time….

These magical potatoes have a characteristic that overshadows their fatal flaw of rotting quickly even with the best storage.

“M-Master… Does this mean they grow even in the middle of winter when it’s snowing?”

“That’s right. They grow anywhere.”

The characteristic of being completely unaffected by weather or climate—a trait that makes one question whether plants should even possess such a feature.

No matter how well potatoes are evaluated as crops that grow well anywhere, they are still organisms that cannot escape the framework of plants.

They cannot grow in environments that are too hot or humid, and of course, they don’t grow in the middle of winter when snow is falling heavily.

Of course, these Magical☆Potatoes move as if to prove they are indeed magical creatures.

They grow sufficiently even in the middle of winter when heavy snow is falling, and they can even flower and be harvested in the middle of a desert as long as they receive an adequate water supply.

“…Thank, thank you so much!”

No wonder the village chief wept hot tears and sobbed.

Being able to overcome the famine that had likely accompanied him throughout his life and taken countless acquaintances and family members must have manifested as an indescribable emotion for him.

….While Sophia with her amnesia might not understand, I, having experienced famine firsthand in my childhood, could certainly empathize with the situation.

※ ※ ※

And so, after brilliantly resolving the village’s famine crisis by introducing the Magical☆Potatoes.

“I guess it’s time… to leave?”

“Of course. We can’t stay forever.”

Finally, we began our final preparations to head toward our original destination, the Forbidden Mountain, after a village stay that had lasted at least several times longer than planned.

“Are you leaving?”

“That’s right, Chief.”

“…I see. I truly cannot express how grateful I am!”

Even the village chief, who initially seemed to want to hold us back in a somewhat clingy and unpleasant manner, changed his attitude after seeing my gift (potatoes), allowing us to part on good terms without any awkwardness.

Anyway, we were able to safely leave the village amid the farewells of the villagers.

“””””Waaaaaaaaah─!!!”””””

Having hundreds of villagers come to the outskirts to cheer for us created a great ripple in both our hearts. Thanks to this, we were able to leave the village in good spirits….

“What’s this now?”

“…I wonder.”

While passing through what seemed like endless villages and forests, we suddenly found our path blocked by a group of magical beasts.

Well, up to this point, I think this is something that could commonly happen.

The magical beasts before our eyes were all low-ranked creatures that couldn’t surpass that level, as there were no mid-ranked ones among them that could sense the aura of high-rank that we were emitting.

In reality, among the wild attackers blocking our way, there were a considerable number of low-ranked magical beasts, and we usually dealt with them by either threatening them with our aura to drive them away… or killing a few if they didn’t retreat.

However, this group was clearly different.

‘…Strange, isn’t it?’

[Yes, something is definitely off.]

The creatures blocking our path were a bizarre group of various magical beasts mixed together, and beyond simple symbiotic relationships, even those in predator-prey positions were gathered in one place.

The “Moon Wolf,” which is close to the default superior species of wolf-type magical beasts. The Red Blood Earth, which is an exotic species in the Western Continent but native to the Eastern Continent. The Fruit Deer with fruit tree branches growing instead of antlers, and the boar magical beast with ice fangs.

In addition, there were magpie and crow magical beasts that were innate magic users, along with eagle magical beasts known as “wolves of the sky”… and what appeared to be their leader, a black bear magical beast.

With their only common trait being that most of them were relatively intelligent, this pack was now blocking my path….

“Alright. If they’ve boldly charged at us, they must pay the price, right?”

“Yes. I’ll help too.”

Realizing that something intriguingly mysterious was lurking behind this, the two of us playfully stepped forward to subdue these creatures.