Princess Arisa's Isekai Struggle - Chapter 2

Chapter 2 - Poor Country? Then Time for Cheat Technology!

"Hungry."
Two years have passed since I was reborn as a princess in the Kuvork Kingdom.
I managed to learn a little of the language here, but my vocabulary is still weak.
I tried repeatedly using my MP when I was a baby, hoping that I would get super magic growth. That didn't work out.
It did give me a little bit of EXP though, so it wasn't completely pointless.
That's right, the world I reincarnated into has a game-like level system.
Everyone I've seen is below level 20, so high-levels must be fairly rare.
Someone suddenly opens the door without knocking, and enters my room.
"Arisa-sama, you've already awoken?"
"Yeah."
This is Lili, my wet nurse and the person who takes care of me. She's one of the few people that actually comes into this room.
The only other person who comes here is a teenage maid that always gives me a scornful glare.
I've only seen my mom once. She just made a sad face after looking at me, then left without saying anything.
My dad apparently lives somewhere in the castle, but I've never seen him.
Oh right, the castle!
Lili carried me over to the window once, and there was one of those medieval castles like you see in Germany.
That would be great... if I was sightseeing.
In reality, there's a constant draft and it gets incredibly cold at night. This is really a terrible place to live.
Well either way, I live in a building that is detached from the main castle.
"Arisa-sama, time to eat."
Lili has a somewhat Japanese-looking flat face. I'd say she's on the prettier side.
The country's people mostly have Northern European-looking faces, but Lili's face is different. I guess her parents or grandparents might be from another country.
"Yeah!"
Yay, I was getting hungry.
I waddle my way over to the table.
"Potato, again..."
I take a look at the food on the table and lose my appetite.
As usual, potato stew, and some boiled potatoes chopped up with a pinch of salt. Also a cup of water drawn from the well.
Sure there's enough calories, but I'm getting sick of it.
Can't they consider just a slightly more balanced diet?
I thought I was supposed to be a princess here.
"Arisa-sama, please chew carefully as you eat."
Lili helps me up into the toddler chair and hands me a spoon.
"[Itadakimasu.]"
It looks like they don't pray before eating in this world, but I still have the habit of saying 'itadakimasu' before every meal. In Japanese, of course. Lili probably thinks it's just some baby talk.
I reluctantly start eating the potato stew.
The boiled potatoes are super dry, but the powdery potato stew is slightly easier to eat.
"Want eat bread."
Since it would be pretty weird for me to speak fluently, I added some fake lisping and poor grammar.
Back when I couldn't eat solid food, they gave me goat milk and bread porridge, but it's almost all potatoes nowadays. For dinner, they sometimes add some leafy vegetables.
Also my teeth aren't fully grown, so it's a bit hard to chew those vegetables.
"This year, ▽▽ is ◇◇, so His Majesty is eating potatoes too."
Oh, it's been a while since I've heard some unknown words.
"What's ▽▽?"
"▽▽ is the plant that is used to make bread."
Lili has the 'Oh no, not this again' face, but she is still nice enough to answer my questions.
So ▽▽ must be wheat then.
"Then what's ◇◇."
"It means that we couldn't get very much. It was about half as much as usual."
Maybe it means crop failure?
If it's really been halved, wouldn't there be a famine?
"Are the people okay?"
After hearing my question, Lili has her eyes wide open.
I can understand how she feels.
It's just weird for a two-year old child to hear about a crop failure and then be able to imagine a famine.
"There's no need to worry about that. Please continue eating or the potatoes will get cold."
Lili puts on a fake smile and changes the subject.
She's right though, cold potatoes would just be even worse. I can worry about the people later.
I focus on the food and slowly finish all of it.
"Phew."
Why do I have to get so sleepy after my stomach is full?
My eyelids start closing, and Lili puts me to sleep on the bed.
At least I was able to learn some new words by talking to Lili, so I'll call it a day here.
I also gained a little bit of EXP. Rather than the standard method of killing monsters, you apparently get EXP for learning new things as well.

◆

"Mmm, that was a good nap."
I wake up from my nap and stretch my body on top of the bed.
I'm not going to die of hunger any time soon, but I still want something different every once in a while. Maybe they can make something like potato chips or croquettes with what they have here?
Or maybe I can invent a steamer for making steamed potatoes.
Those would be pretty great if we can put some butter on them.
I wipe off the saliva leaking from my mouth with the cotton pajama sleeve, and jump down from the bed.
"That dried fig from before was so good."
Either sweets are super expensive, or they only buy organic, because I hardly ever get any.
The only time I was able to eat a fig was when I had a fever, then I never saw one again.
Apparently the fever was because of my MP overuse.
On that subject, why didn't they tell me that Item Box needed MP!
It's a pretty hefty cost too.
Self Status and Hide Skill don't use MP, and Status Check uses so little MP that I would get tired and fall asleep first. That's why I didn't realize the cost of my skills until I tried to put stuff in my Item Box.
Of course, I keep my skills hidden all the time.
But it was kind of hard to think as a baby. It took me about three days after being born before I remembered to turn on Hide Skill, so my parents may have caught a glimpse of my skills.
Now that I think about it, Lili said that I was born with the name 'Arisa', but they still don't know the reason for that.
"My face is kinda itchy."
I head to the bucket of water in the corner of the room and wash my face.
My purple hair swings forward and enters my sight.
Yeah, my hair is purple now. Very fantasy. Well, more like anime.
It just seems to be me though. The other people here have normal hair colors.
Lili has black hair, that maid has brown hair, and mom has blonde hair.
Well, it's normal for the heroine to have an unique hair color. If I get sick of it, I'll just dye it or something.
"[Yokkorassho.]"
With a Japanese shout, I climb up the chair next to the window.
There's a balcony on the other side of the window, so it's safe for even a toddler like me.
"As usual, there's nothing but the courtyard, the castle, and the mountains."
The climate here feels similar to the Touhoku basin.
I might be wrong since I've only been alive for two years, but there seems to be shorter summers and longer winters.
Spring and fall are there too, but they are both incredibly short.
The nearby forest seems pretty big and bountiful, so they should be able to get things like vegetables or mushrooms. There are all sorts of stuff other than potatoes...
"--Arisa-sama, you certainly enjoy looking at the scenery."
Lili comes in carrying a change of clothes.
I mean, there's pretty much nothing else to do here.
I want to learn how to read and write, but it would be pretty weird for a two year old to bring that up out of nowhere. There's no picture books or anything, so there's nothing I can use as an excuse.
"Lili, continue."
"Continue?"
She tilts her head at me.
"Why crop failure?"
"There were many monsters this year, so His Majesty needed to use △△ on the monsters instead."
Lili explains to me, although she looks a little bothered.
I ask what △△ was, and it seems to be something like 'protection' or 'power'.
The kings of this world might have some sort of special power given to them by the gods.
It might be like the cheat skills that I got.
Maybe I'll be able to find out for real if I meet him.
"Crops grow if have protection?"
"That's right, they will be much more plentiful."
Wow, that power must be pretty impressive.
"Then what if no protection? What do instead?"
I tried asking her about the countermeasures.
"Instead?"
Lili has a strange look on her face.
"You don't do anything? Can't you make [fertilizer], or change to an easier crop--?"
--There's a lot of things you could be doing.
"I don't know what this 'fertilizer' is, but changing wouldn't help anything. If potatoes and wheat aren't doing well, then nothing else would be able to do better."
It looks like the farmers of this country are completely reliant on the king's protection.
After conversing a little bit with Lili, I managed to get a word for fertilizer. Apparently, they only use that in the distant areas where the 'magic spring' or 'mana source' or whatever has been exhausted. They've already stopped using it everywhere else.
The king's power must be so great that it is causing science to regress.
"Can't they try grabbing some forest dirt and putting it in the farmland?"
I didn't know if there was a word for 'mulch', so I just replaced it with 'forest dirt'.
It would probably take too long to make real fertilizer, so using mulch seems like a decent alternative.
"Why would they do that?"
Lili starts looking at me suspiciously.
--Crap!
You see a two-year old that just learned how to talk, then she suddenly starts talking fluently about something she shouldn't even know.
That would just be scary.
It's no wonder she's creeped out.
"Because..."
Think, Arisa, think!
Staring at the forest, I rack my brain for an excuse.
--That's it!
"Look!"
I point my hand at the forest.
"Forest is healthy!"
"Healthy?"
I nod at Lili, who responded exactly as I had hoped.
"Forest is healthy, no protection."
"Now that you mentioned it..."
Yes! It looks like I managed to push her in the right direction.
"Lili said before. Dirt, good for vegetable."
I don't remember if she actually said that, but she probably said something similar.
"Make vegetable with forest dirt! Then, vegetable healthy too!"
I make my best toddler smile to emphasize it.
I doubt that is enough to make her believe me, but I'll be satisfied if I managed to avoid being labeled as a weirdo.

◆

"Want to go outside."
I was bored of staying in this room all the time, so I tried complaining.
"Winter is coming soon, so you can't go outside."
Fine, then I'll go somewhere in the castle.
"Want to see kitchen."
"You'll just bother the cooks, so you can't."
You won't be able to stop Arisa-chan that easily!
I'll never give up, and I won't even need to use my unique skill.
"Can go when not bother."
"There's mice--"
"Don't care about mice."
I can't handle spiders, but mice are fine.
After all, I went to Mouseland practically every year to celebrate the New Year's.
"But--"
"I'll scream and cry at night."
After I whined for a bit, Lili backed down.
"It will be cold, so wear this."
Lili puts a large hat on my head.
It's made of straw, so it keeps poking into my head. Ow.
"It huuurts."
I try to take it off, but she puts it on again.
"You'll catch a cold if you don't wear it."
"I don't wanna."
"You have too."
"I said I don't wanna."
Come on, please.
"I won't take you outside unless you wear it."
"Lili is a meanie."
As Lili picked me up and carried me through the corridor, it hit me.
This hat is for covering up my face and my conspicuous hair color.
I don't understand why, but there must be some reason that I'm stuck in this detached building with my parents never visiting me.
--Well, I'll probably find out eventually.
I pull myself together and start looking around at the castle halls as if I was sightseeing in Europe.
The floor is made of stone, and there aren't any gaps in it--. Wait, not entirely.
It looks like it was well-made using advanced technology, and then repaired with today's crude technology.
Just like on Earth, where the Romans created an advanced empire, and then technology regressed during the Dark Ages.
I might have mistaken this for past Earth if god took away my memories of the reincarnation.
"Smells like potato?"
"This is the kitchen."
I look over to where Lili is pointing. What I saw was a place so dirty and disgusting that I feel like I'll never be able to eat anything again.
"Seriously..."
The knives and pots and covered in rust. The cutting boards are just left in the open without being cleaned.
All the utensils and cookware are stuffed into a water tub without scrubbing off the leftover food. The surface of the water has bubbles constantly coming out of it.
And to top it all off, the food is just left out in the open when it isn't being used.
--I feel like throwing up.
"Lili, [unsanitary] is bad. Tell the cooks!"
"Unsanitary?"
Crap, I couldn't think of a word for that so I said it in Japanese.
"Dirty is bad, leaving food in the open is bad."
"Haha, Arisa-sama likes being clean."
"No!"
--Lili doesn't understand.
I need to learn enough vocabulary so that people understand me, or other improvements will be impossible.

◆

"--sama. Arisa-sama. It's morning."
So cold.
Lili says it's almost spring, but it still feels like the middle of winter to me.
At least it's a bit better now that the snow isn't piling up anymore.
Lili ruthlessly rips the blanket off. I quickly change into my clothes and put on a thick wool jacket.
I survived the potato-filled winter and became 3 years old.
In this country, they don't celebrate birthdays, and just add one to your age at the beginning of the year.
"Arisa-sama is so much more obedient than your older brothers and sisters."
I've lived for three years and that is the first time I'm hearing this.
Apparently I have brothers and sisters.
But that's later.
Right now, I'd care more for some hot food than some siblings I've never met.
"Huh?"
Today's stew has something other than potatoes.
There are two different kinds of white turnip-like vegetables in here.
"First time, seeing?"
"Those are snow ◯ and sweet snow ◯."
I guess ◯ is turnip then?
I've always liked turnips.
"Sweet--urgh."
I was tricked.
This isn't turnip.
It's sweet at first, but then there's just a dirt-like aftertaste.
The texture seems familiar, maybe daikon?
Oh right, I remember now. This must be sugar beet.
"The other one is..."
Good, this one is a normal turnip.
There isn't much of the turnip, aka 'snowturnip'. It looks like they added more of the sweet snowturnip to compensate.
Apparently these are both hardy vegetables that can grow under the snow.
Do they not need sun or something?
"So good."
I'm happy just eating some vegetables other than potatoes.
I feel like humming now.
"It's all thanks to you, Arisa-sama."
"--Hohe?"
I made a weird sound while eating since I was surprised at Lili's words.
"You don't remember? Last year, during the wheat harvest."
What did I do?
"When we talked about the crop failure, you suggested bringing the healthy dirt from the forest, right?"
"Yeah."
Oh yeah. now I remember.
I think I told them to use mulch.
"After you suggested that, I told the others in the servant's dining area. Then, Ben the gardener got interested and said he would try it out in his own field."
Great job, Ben the gardener!
"Did it work?"
"Yes. I wouldn't call it bountiful, but his fields clearly yielded more crop than the others."
"Aw yeah!"
"Arisa-sama, mind your manners."
I excitedly raise my fist into the air, but Lili gives me a light smack.
--No physical abuse!
"Is it just Ben this year?"
"No."
Lili shakes her head at me.
Apparently, the other farmers heard Ben's story and are going to try the same thing on a portion of their own fields.
If everything goes well, it shouldn't be too long before bread and other vegetables fill my dinner table.
--Oh right.
"Lili, can we make [sugar] from the [sugar beet]-- the sweet snowturnip?"
I couldn't think of the word for sugar so I accidentally said it Japanese.
Lili probably thinks I'm making up words again.
"What is 'satou'?"(TL Note: Sugar is pronounced as 'satou' in Japanese.)
No, stop that weird pronunciation.
My heart is beating faster for some reason.
"If we boil the sweet, will it turn into honey?"
I try rephrasing the question in a cuter way.
"If you boil the sweet snowturnip, it just has a muddy flavor. It doesn't turn into sweet honey."
Lili says that with a pained expression.
So they already tried boiling it.
If that didn't work, then sugar beat and sweet snowturnip must be different after all.
"I want sweet."
Without the muddy aftertaste.
After tasting the sweet snowturnip, I get reminded of my burning desire for sugar.
"Lili, is there [beekeeping]--. Is there any honey?"
"It'll be a bit longer before the hunters can go into the mountains, and we'll need to wait longer for the bees to make enough honey too."
Hmm? Are they not doing beekeeping?
"The hunters get the honey?"
"Yes, but only if they find a beehive while hunting."
Yeah, it looks like they aren't doing any beekeeping.
"Beehive? They bring the bee's house back?"
"--Yes, that's right."
Lili nods to me after hesitating a little bit.
"Can the bees live in the castle?"
"No, we need to break the beehive to take the honey out."
Lili shakes her head at me as she answers.
"Don't break it!"
I shout to emphasize my sadness.
"Why? Why do you have to break it!"
"We can't get the honey without breaking it."
Lili responds with a troubled face as she shakes her head.
"The poor bees... Can't you get honey without breaking it?"
"That's just the ▽▽ of nature."
There goes some new vocabulary, but now's not that time for that.
"I got it!"
A lightbulb goes off in my head. With a smile, I bring Lili and run over to the drawer.
"Lili, over here."
Making sure she watches closely, I gently open the drawer in front of her.
"Just make the bee's house like this drawer! Then the honey can come out when you open it, so you don't have to break it!"
I confidently explain the idea to Lili.
With this, they should be able to come up with the nest box used for beekeeping.
I might have gone too far with the fluent speech, but I'll fix that before she notices.
"No break nest, and bees live in castle! We share honey all day!"
"That is very nice, Arisa-sama."
It looks like she's not taking the idea of beekeeping seriously.
However, I can still hope that she talks about it to the other servants like she did with the mulch.
"Yeah! Lili, tell hunters."
I try to throw in some more insurance to make sure she does it.
"Yes, yes, I understand. Please finish up eating. It's going to get cold."
"Okay!"
She's right, it's been a while since I've eaten something other than potatoes. I can't let this get cold.
I shut myself up and focus on eating.
--So good.
If I could implement crop rotation, it would be even better for improving the food supply. But no one would believe a dumb kid on something like that.
My first goal should be learning how to read and write.
It's unbelievable that someone who works in the royal castle like Lili isn’t literate.
I just need some sort of excuse, then I can say I want to learn.

◆

The months pass and it turns to summer--.
My new life after reincarnation is just a battle with boredom.
--Hmm?
"Something smells good."
There's a honey-like smell, and a crepe-like smell.
I had nothing to do, so I just sit there with my stomach rumbling and enjoy the smells. After a while, I hear Lili coming over with heavy footsteps.
The door was already open to improve circulation, and Lili comes in carrying a small plate.
"Arisa-sama, fresh honey and baked snacks."
"Ahhh, it looks so good!"
My saliva is going to overflow if I keep looking at it.
"Can I eat?"
"Of course."
As soon as she gives her permission, I grab a honey-covered cookie and take a big bite.
First, I enjoy the refined sweetness of the honey flowing through my mouth.
A slight taste of salt comes from the crumbling cookie, giving the honey's sweetness even further emphasis.
"[Best marriage]!"
"Huh?"
"That means it's super delicious!"
Lili tilts her head at me, but I just return with a big smile.
Anyways, I'm amazed that they were able to afford to give me so much honey.
"So much, honey."
I couldn't just say it like that, so I use broken sentences to tell her my surprise.
"During the winter, I was talking with other servants about Arisa-sama's ideas for the bee box. Then, Ben the gardener told his hunter and farmer cousins about it."
Not bad, Ben the gardener's family.
They know how to be proactive.
"Ben, good. He can be my retainer."
"Haha, I'll tell Ben that you complimented him."
"Yeah!"
I really do want him as a retainer.
I need someone as my arms and legs for implementing crop rotation and Arisa-chan's other super cheat technologies.
If only I had some sort of old documents or books that I could use as an excuse for implementing them.
Also, I still need to learn how to read.
--Huh?
I see some shadows peeking in from the entrance of the room.
Three shotas are looking at us. I've never seen them before.
Northern European shotas.
Their soft blonde hair, their innocent looking expressions, their thin arms and legs... Too cute.
Non-Japanese shotas tend to age too quickly, but they might even be cuter than 2D shotas while they're still young.
Guheheheheee.
My saliva is starting to spill out a little.
Actually, who are these kids anyways?
I activate my Status Check skill to learn their identities.
Well, well, well. Just the suckers I was looking for.
"Who's over there?"
I make a cute innocent smile and look over at the three shotas... the third prince, the fourth prince, and the fifth prince.
Come on over!
I'll take very good care of you.

Chapter 3