第１９１４堀：自然の脅威現る (Part1)
"Yuki, don't we need more people, soldiers?"
I say this as I enter Yuki's office.
"What's wrong? It's unusual for you to be so agitated, Kaya. Calm down for a moment. Orelia, some tea."
"Understood."
As Yuki says this, Orelia immediately moves to prepare tea.
I realize then that I'm flustered and sit on the sofa.
"Sorry. I should have explained the situation."
"Indeed. Is it a situation that requires immediate action?"
"Not quite."
If it were, the military would have already acted without me saying anything.
That said, we're not exactly at ease.
"So, what's the matter? It's unusual for you to come here, and even more unusual to request humans."
As Yuki says, I rarely request this kind of personnel.
Well, there are times when agricultural personnel are needed, but that's after they request expansion of farmland, and the request comes to me, so the order is reversed.
However, this time it's not like that.
"It's not an urgent matter, but the fields will need to be rebuilt."
"Rebuilt? Were they ravaged by monsters?"
Yuki tilts his head, not quite understanding.
Yes, I still haven't said enough.
At that moment, Orelia brings us tea.
"It's green tea."
"Thank you."
I take the hot tea, blow on it, and drink it.
The heat stimulates my throat, and I look at Yuki again, saying calmly,
"Logari and Zuraburu have been found to have a locust swarm."
When I say this, Yuki stands up from his chair in surprise.
"Locust plague... Seriously!?"
"Seriously. That's why I rushed here."
Yuki, understanding the gravity of the situation, also shows signs of panic.
However, the others seem to not understand the situation and are tilting their heads.
"Um, Yuki-san. What is a locust plague?"
"I don't know either. What is it?"
Ria and Prof also tilt their heads.
It's understandable that Ria wouldn't know, but I'm surprised that Prof, who is acquiring a lot of knowledge, doesn't.
Well, locust plagues don't occur that frequently, so it's understandable if they don't know.
"Indeed. Explanation first. Kaya, can you do it?"
"Understood. It's simple, though. Locusts multiply explosively and devour crops. That's all."
"That's all? Crops being eaten by insects is a huge problem. How much is 'explosively increasing'?"
"Hmm? Come to think of it, I think I saw some materials about that on If Continent?"
Oh, it seems Prof knew about the locust plague on If Continent.
"Ah, that material is correct. It's not as bad as the town of Betan on If Continent, but a locust plague occurred in the vicinity. It seems there were so many that they darkened the sky. Probably tens of millions."
"..."
Hearing that number, Orelia, and even Ria, contort their faces.
But that's normal for a locust plague.
Hundreds of billions are not unusual.
Without that many, it wouldn't be called a "plague."
Well, to the villagers, a lot of pests that ruin their crops is already a "plague."
"You say 'it seems,' but come to think of it, there's a record of dispatching troops..."
"Yes, we sent the monster troops to deal with it. Though it was close to a failure."
"A failure?"
When Prof tilts his head, I continue the explanation in his place.
"The main response to a locust plague is the same as for crop diseases: culling the affected area. Specifically, hunting them down quickly or burning them. In the case of a locust plague, they might escape, so we burn them. But that's not easy either. If danger approaches, the locusts will flee. In other words, the burning locusts will fly into the sky."
"..."
Everyone has a terrible look on their faces, as if they can imagine it.
Yes, anyone would react that way if they saw that scene.
Among them, only Yuki laughs.
"Steve and John, who were in charge of dealing with it, said that the burning locusts flew into the sky, set other grass on fire, and they were screaming, surrounded by flames."
"No, isn't that a matter of life and death?"
"Normally, if you're caught in such flames, you'd die."
"Right? Well, I don't think there's a problem for those two."
"Insects are scary, aren't they? I'm surprised."
Yes, it's somewhat amusing to see those two screaming while casting water magic with magical barriers to extinguish the fires.
Ah, I see.
With their abilities, they should be able to break through that level of fire without defending themselves, so they're just scared.
That's certainly funny.
Or rather, it's natural for living things to be instinctively afraid of fire.
"What's scarier than that is that, unlike humans and monsters, locusts don't respond to conversation or threats."
"Right? If only they would listen when we ask them not to eat our vegetables, it would be a great help to the village."
"Indeed, if we can't negotiate, we have no choice but to fight. How troublesome. Wait, isn't the precursor to this locust plague a terrible thing!? If a locust plague occurs in Logari and Zuraburu, it could lead to a large-scale famine across two continents, right!?"
Prof finally understood why I had rushed over, and everyone else, understanding from Prof's explanation how dire the situation is, has tense expressions.
"I understand why you brought this matter to me, but Logari isn't within Weed's territory, is it? And Zuraburu, needless to say."
"Yes. Logari is a neighboring country to Rank's in the Gartz region. Zuraburu is already a territory of the ruling country. We can't directly intervene in either, but Taiki is scheduled to come for help in the vicinity of Rank's. We've also informed them about the swarm in Zuraburu, and since they contacted us, there's a high possibility of contact through Seraria."
"I see. So, the arrangements for us to provide assistance are in place."
"Yes. Well, if it's not a big deal and Taiki and Yuupia can handle it, that would be for the best."
"If it were that minor, we wouldn't have been contacted..."
As Yuki says.
If it were a minor issue, we wouldn't have been contacted.
The fact that we've been contacted means that considerable damage is expected.
"So, that's why you need soldiers and humans."
"Yes. From what I can see, the affected areas will be fully mobilized. There's also the matter of transporting supplies, but that's..."
"It sounds easy, but transporting supplies is incredibly difficult, isn't it? The amount of supplies needed for the people of that region to survive for a year, or at least for that season, is enormous."
"A year? It's just the affected plots of land, so isn't it just for that season?"
Ria, being a village girl, understands the meaning of farmland being ruined very well.