Chapter 8

—Apparently, the word domestication is derived from the Latin term domus meaning “house”. And who lives in houses, if I may ask? Humans, of course.

A fire started in the village growing the ‘Gleanings of Paradise’, and all the wheat fields were destroyed. With not a seed left from the fire, the villagers had no choice but to abandon their cultivation of the crop, but initially they had refused to descend from the mountain.

However, after persuasion from the local government and rescue crew, they all eventually accepted the help. Although they were suffering from mild malnutrition, now at the hospital, it seemed that they would be heading towards a full recovery.

“I feel like I was having a long dream. My memory of my time in the village is hazy …”

This was what Yaginuma, who was introduced as the village spokesperson, answered.

I was sitting in a seat inside of one of Morioh’s restaurants, reading a newspaper while waiting for the person I had arranged to meet with.

It had almost been a month since the incident regarding the ‘Gleanings of Paradise’. During that time, I never stopped checking the newspapers, including the local papers from where that village used to stand.

As far as I could tell from the news articles, the ancient wheat seemed to have disappeared completely. Unable to consume the ‘Gleanings of Paradise’, the enslaved villagers had also seemed to have regained their sanity.

Utsurogi, who had mutated, went into hiding alongside his daughter Yo in a safe house I had arranged for them, and treatment was administered to revert his body to its previous state.

And it was by a fully recovered Utsurogi that I was requested to return to square one for this project, the French restaurant I was in determined as the meeting place.

“I’ll pay this time, so you’re free to eat however much you please. By the way, making this reservation was beyond difficult. With that in mind, you better savor this experience.”

I drove my point home, but not only did Utsurogi order a full course during noon, but he also ordered à la carte meals, showing no sense of thoughtfulness whatsoever.

“But to think that I got struck with food poisoning while researching for a cooking manga. I guess I better be more careful of what I eat from now on.”

His recollection of his domestication was hazy, and he seemed to remember nothing of what occurred in the village.

“Anyway, I feel at ease knowing that Yaginuma will be able to come out of the hospital soon too.”

“So, his recovery is going smoothly.”

After saying this, my eyes met Yo’s.

She had not eaten a single mouthful of the ‘Gleanings of Paradise’. Naturally, she also remembered what we went through. However, she showed no signs of revealing that fact.

“—Yeah. We’re going to go eat out. Me, Papa, and him as well.”

“Wow. That’s great.”

We exchanged smiles with one another.

“Hey, when did you two become so close? You never cease to surprise me, Mr. Rohan.”

Utsurogi beamed as he shared one dish after another on a serving plate with me. I tried to keep pace with the amount he ate, but my stomach was already full.

“… In any case, isn’t that excessive, even for you?”

“I need to taste it first. My daughter’s eating more than before as well, so …”

Seeing Yo dig into the next dish, Utsurogi smiled happily.

“Lately, I’ve talked to a specialist, and started an allergy treatment for her to eat food she’s allergic to, in really small amounts of course. To desensitize her body instead of avoiding it completely.”

“I can see that—is eating fun?”

“… Yeah. Eating is really fun.”

Yo bobbed her head up and down when I asked this.

“—By the way, about the collaboration manga in question.”

Continuing the meal, I began to broach the subject.

“I did a bit of my own digging afterwards, and apparently the domestication of grain—the Agricultural Revolution, in other words—has an aspect of the crop itself taking advantage of mankind for propagation.

“So … the wheat was manipulating the humans?”

I never would have thought, continued Utsurogi. Yeah, well it wasn’t like he could remember anyway.

Perhaps that ancient wheat altering humans into livestock for survival wasn’t the exception, and even other species of wheat—perhaps in the distant, primordial past, many domesticated plants had done the same toward humankind.

“To wit, more than 10,000 years ago in the past—man, by wheat, had been domesticated into becoming farmers, rather than the other way around. So, I came up with drawing ‘the moment mankind first ate wheat’ as horror. What do you think?”

I took out the manuscript I had prepared from my bag and handed it over to Utsurogi.

What I had drawn on there was based on the experience we had gone through in the village.

Having received the manuscript, Utsurogi’s hands froze and he quickly became absorbed reading it.

“This is amazing! You would be willing to draw this!?”

“Of course.” I thought back to that now gone, far ancient existence. “—I couldn’t just abandon such a great source of ideas.”

“Yay! Then that means today we make a toast! Second helpings it is, then!”

“Hey, hey, are you really going to order more food …?”

I gave a strained laugh as I witnessed the never-ending banquet.

When the latest round of food had been brought over, the chef had appeared alongside the dishes as well.

Thanks to ordering such an amount, he had come to personally greet us.

“Thank you for visiting our restaurant on this occasion. As a token of gratitude, for free of charge—a baguette made from precious new variety of wheat on the brink of becoming a craze, called the ‘Gleanings of Paradise’. Please do try one—you’ll become utterly captivated with one bite.”

With that, the chef held up a basket filled with freshly baked bread.

“—No way, all of it should have been destroyed …”

While I sat there shivering, Utsurogi took the baguette and was lifting it to his mouth, but then hesitated.

“… Hmm, I don’t know why. But I get a feeling that I shouldn’t eat this …”

His hands stilled, and he placed the slice on his plate, for now.

I scrutinized the bread. It could be as simple as being a different, safer variety having the same name. However, if a seed had been carried by the wind and dispersed, even propagating in a different land—

“—Papa, can I try this?”

And, perhaps not fully understanding the situation, Yo reached out her hand toward the bread.

“N-NO!”

Utsurogi and I instinctively raised our voices in unison and snatched the plate away from her and faced each other.

“… Say, why don’t you eat it!”

“No, no, no, please help yourself first, Mr. Rohan!”

This back-and-forth argument repeated itself indefinitely.