Magicraft Meister Part 1

"Hmm, I didn't know that. ......"

Hannah returned to her room and gave Jin the information she had just heard.

"That was helpful, Hannah, thank you."

"Yes!"

Hannah was in a good mood when Jin thanked her.

Then Elsa came home.

"Welcome home, Elsa. Thanks for helping out."

"Yes."

Jin wished her good luck, and Erza answered shortly.

Erza doesn't look like an aristocrat anymore. She's a good housekeeper now.

"Saki, Saki!"

Erza blushes when Saki teases her. But it is true that she is becoming more like a commoner.

Saki also has a negative view of aristocrats, even though she is of marquise descent, so her words to Erza were more admiring than sarcastic.

"If Aalu were here, I would have asked him to help me instead."

It was Goose's advice that Reiko, Aal, and Edgar were not present.

According to Guth, <>.

So Edgar and Aal are in the car.

And Reiko has disappeared and is following Hitoshi in .

"By the way, you haven't seen your son's face in this family, have you?

By "son," I assume he meant the son of the village head. In other words, he was Separay's husband.

"Well, I heard he's on a hunting trip, right?"

Hannah seemed to have heard about that.

"Well, you know, there are a lot of deer around here, and sometimes they raid the fields, so I go hunting for them.

Hearing this, Goose began to explain.

"The marsh antelope is an animal that lives in the marshlands around here, and it makes its rounds in the winter and has its young this time of year. Then they destroy the wheat before harvest, so we go out to kill them."

It makes sense for herbivores to have and raise their young in the spring.

"They are very fecund, and if left alone, they will double in size in three years. If left alone, they can double in size in three years and eat up all the grass they have to eat.

So it's a good idea to hunt them down at random.

Hitoshi interrupted him, and Goose nodded.

"Yes, that's what I meant."

"...... but isn't that a little strange?"

Saki interrupted.

"Sure, I understand that there is an upper limit to the amount of grass a species can survive on. But this marsh antler deer, right?　...... can only be stabilized in numbers when hunted by humans?"

After saying all of that at once, Saki interrupted, "I don't know how to say this," she said.

Jin understood her intention and expressed his own opinion.

"I guess it's because people have lost their balance.

As far as Jin knew, he had heard news reports of deer overpopulation in the central mountains of Japan, devouring precious alpine plants, and wild boars appearing in residential areas in the Kansai region.

As a bonus, there are also Japanese monkeys that behave unruly in tourist spots.

"Hmm?　You say interesting things. I agree with you.

Goose, in his usual tone of voice, echoed Jin's opinion. Then he explains the background.

"There is a cyclo-marsh to the west of here, right?　It used to be a lot bigger. It was reclaimed and it's the size it is now."

"Oh, so the survival zone has been narrowed."

Jin understood his explanation.

"Yes. But in addition, green fields ...... of wheat have appeared in winter as well."

"That's what they're coming for!"

"Yes, Jin, that's right. When there were no wheat fields, they would have migrated to the headwaters of the river that flows into the cyclo-marshes."

"What's there?"

Jin guessed that the headwaters must be in a mountainous area. That meant that the altitude would be high and there would be no grass or other vegetation.

"Ah. <

Saki comments on this.

"So, predators will also come here to eat the herbivores, right?"

Goose nodded.

"That's right. But they are not going to devour the herbivores. They were rather well thinned out."

"Oh, and then the marsh antlered deer found out that there's food on our side that doesn't wither in the winter. ......"

"That's what I mean. They don't migrate in the winter, they stay. So they come in the winter and spring and raid the fields."

"So they go out hunting regularly."

Now I understand what's going on.

"Can't we just fence them in?"

Elsa asked. She means, "Can't you build a fence to prevent marsh antlered deer from entering?

"Marsh antlered deer can leap over a two-meter fence. It's not practical to build a fence that's even bigger than that.

"I see. ......"

In modern Japan, where Jin lived, electric fences and nets were used as countermeasures, but they were not very effective and sometimes caused accidents to humans.

"It's a difficult problem. ......"

Here Jin remembered a bell used in the village of Kaina to ward off beasts.

In short, it is a bell that emits ultrasonic waves that only beasts can hear.

The effectiveness of the bell is questionable to say the least.

"Well, Gon and Gen are also in Kaina village, and I didn't do any research on that since I set up Koshin. ......"

Jin thought that if we could make a magic tool to ward off beasts, we might be able to divide the area in a way that is friendly to both people and beasts.

At the moment, it is not that the marsh antler deer and other animals have lost their places, but that individuals who mistakenly believe that the winter food situation has improved are causing harm, so it seems that the problem will disappear once the segregation is clarified.

Since this is true in other areas as well, Hitoshi took the matter a little more seriously.

"Goose, do you know what there is that animals don't like?"

He also asked Goose, a naturalist, for his opinion.

"Smell and ...... light for nocturnal animals."

"I see."

Jin also remembered hearing on the news that lion urine had been spread on the ground to keep boars away.

There was also a story about putting CDs or plastic bottles filled with water to keep cats away.

"But it's not practical. ......"

Jin thought about it.

"Jin, are you trying to make something to scare away the marsh antler deer?"

Goose asked.

"Yes, I am. It would save us the trouble of hunting marsh antlered deer, and also eliminate the damage, wouldn't it?"

"I understand that, but will the villagers be happy?"

"What?"

Goose's argument goes like this.

Farming is the only way to get meat. Especially in winter and spring, when the snow is still on the ground, it is a blessing to be able to hunt nearby.

"Hmmm ......"

Jin is an outsider.

He is not a member of the villagers like in the village of Kaina. Is it really a good thing to meddle without knowing the situation and the background?

"I understand."

Jin renewed his understanding that it is true that making magic tools just because you want to make them depends on the time.

"Maybe Goose is right. Thank you."

"...... You're welcome?"

For some reason, Goose answered in a questioning tone.

"...... Jin, how can you back out without making something you want to make?"

"Kuhu, it's going to rain tomorrow, isn't it?

"You guys are relentless!"

At Erza and Saki's words, Jin glared at them. He glared at them, but this was due to embarrassment.

"Onii-chan, you're embarrassed."

Hannah seemed to understand.

"......, I'm no match for you."

"Haha, Jin, you're in good company."

Goose laughed at her and Jin commented.

"But, Goose. I've heard that marshes are very sensitive. I've heard that even a simple trampling on them can kill the plants.

Jin recalled that in high marshes such as Oze, wooden paths are maintained to avoid trampling by tourists.

"Yeah, I think the people here know about that. I know that the reclamation was done hundreds of years ago, and that the plants around the area died at one point due to the reclamation."

So now they are choosing to live in harmony with nature, Guth concluded.

"I hope that's the case."

Jin felt a little relieved to hear that.