The Fifth Tanaka Family Meeting [Part 3]

But, judging from the ongoing situation, itll be hard for us to continue getting rice after this.

Melsa started explaining Imperial Japans problem, as if to remind the rejoicing family not to be too complacent.

A plant hazard? Its rare for it to happen in the southern continent, isnt it?

Plant hazards were supposed to rarely occur in the southern continent, unlike the local barrier hazards.

Ugh George groaned.

Oh my, George. So you have been studying properly, huh? Melsa laughed, seeming as if she found it surprising.

O-Of course, I have! Mother

He kept silent about the fact that he just so happened to hear about it during the talk with the Prince. Upon hearing his answer, Emma looked at him coldly.

Whats more, Over? Mother, I thought Over only existed in the northern continent.

William asked in wonder because none of the books he had studied so far stated that Over would grow en masse in the southern continent.

It was Over. I saw it with my own two eyes, so it couldnt have been wrong.

Melsa, who had once passed Advanced Monster Science class with the best grades in the academy, would never identify a monster wrongly.

When will it shoot its seeds?

Leonard had a grave face as he said so.

Overs trunks were hard, so it couldnt be cut down like other plant-type monsters. Even if they went out of the barrier and were lucky enough to find the parent plant, it would still be difficult to damage the roots, stems, flowers, and even seeds. Also, the seeds could scatter over a wide area of several kilometers or more.

The flowers are currently blooming, so I think the seeds will fly and scatter at around summer. Even when taking the rest of Imperial Japans land into account, the country can only hold on for a year at most

Over, which shot every six months to encroach on larger territories, was classified as a monster which had its weakness listed as unknown, like slimes.

Eh? Then isnt that terrible for the Imperial Japanese people? Are they planning to migrate? George asked, after sensing the seriousness of Imperial Japans crisis from the looks on his parents faces.

Nii-sama

George

Huh?

The family looked at George disappointedly.

Nii-sama, its hard to migrate in this world, you know?

Ah, so its like that

Humans in this world could only survive by living on islands surrounded by the sea, or inside barriers with no monsters.

Every country had no more land or food supplies to spare for it to take in immigrants from other countries.

If the populace increased by too much, the country would perish.

Even in the Kingdom, the church was responsible for keeping the population in check by having an approval system for marriages. As a result, non-marital children faced severe discrimination, and no one would say anything even if the slum children didnt receive any support from the church.

Due to such circumstances, a cross-national agreement prohibiting mass migration was made to protect each nation and its people.

Its not impossible to get permanent residency in exchange for a lot of money, valuable technology, and magic stones, but it will probably only be possible for a hundred people at most. Besides, Imperial Japan has language barrier problems, and I dont think theres any place who will lend a hand to a country which has been closed off to the outside world for so many years.

Well, our kingdom definitely wont either. We could help if it was just a food shortage, but if its a plant hazard Whats more, the propagation of Over

Leonard also began to think this problem through after hearing what Melsa said. Although population number was also one of the factors, most countries couldnt afford to help resolve the hazards in other countries because they already had their hands full dealing with monsters that appeared on the borderlands.

If, by any chance, Overs seeds from Imperial Japan slipped inside the Kingdom and germinated, the Kingdom would be the next to perish after Imperial Japan.

They couldnt just leap out to help Imperial Japan, thinking it was merely someone elses problem.

But we have to save them!

When the family fell into silence, only Emma alone spoke up.

They couldnt get involved in Imperial Japans problems in the name of the Kingdom. Imperial Japan, too, had given up. There was no way out of it whatsoever.

Emma understood that. Even so, she still decided to stand up.

We wont be able to eat rice otherwise, right?!

Authors words: Hey, appetite wins in the end after all.