Everyone must think theirs is the best.
Well, most of them are high-quality sweet potatoes, just different in shape.
It just goes to show how effective Dori’s “stretch stretch” magic is.
Nameless Ordinary Person ・Just now
Hey, isn’t Potato’s sweet potato weird?
Solitary Samurai ・Just now
I feel like the sparkle even overshadowed me de gozaru.
Scarecrow of the Field ・Just now
There are yellow sweet potatoes, but what’s with this golden one?
Dog Bumps Into Utility Poles ・Just now
Is this a new variety of sweet potato?
Watcher of Papa ・Just now
I know a lot about sweet potatoes, but I’ve never seen this before…
Trendy Chef ・Just now
Isn’t this a big deal?
As the comments kept pouring in, I looked at Potato’s paws.
「Is that really a sweet potato?」
『Grrrrr!』
「I’m not doubting you, Potato!」
Honestly, I was so shocked by the sparkling sweet potato that I couldn’t help but doubt him.
「Sparkly!」
「Wow!」
Dori and Yuri were also wide-eyed, completely captivated by its shine.
――A golden sweet potato.
I’ve never seen or heard of such a thing before.
In fact, if someone told me it was painted with gold paint, I’d believe it more easily.
「Grandpa, take a look!」
「What? I thought I wasn’t supposed to open my eyes yet?」
「This is more important, just look at this!」
『Grrrrr!』
When I suggested stopping the contest, Potato growled angrily.
He looked ready to bite me at any moment, but I’m sure he’s too distracted right now.
「Alright, we’ll all go out to play, and we’ll make lots of sweet potato chips!」
「Huh?」
『Huh?』
At my words, everyone froze as if time had stopped.
I mean, the sweet potato is that dazzling.
It’s shocking enough to feel like time has stopped, right?
「Dori, did you hear that?」
「Yeah!」
『Wooooon!』
Dori and the others held hands and spun around in circles.
It seemed they weren’t just shocked by the golden sweet potato.
Did they really want to go out and play that much?
I guess I need to make more time for them to have fun.
「So, Grandpa, do you know what this is?」
I handed the golden sweet potato to Grandpa.
Grandpa spun it around, examining it carefully.
「Hmm… it’s too shiny to be Kogane Sengan…」
「Kogane Sengan?」
「Konami?」
『Wha?』
We all tilted our heads in confusion.
This was Grandpa’s time to shine as the farming expert.
「Kogane Sengan, as the name suggests, is said to produce golden potatoes in abundance…」
「But… there’s only one?」
At a glance, the golden sweet potato seemed to be the only one Potato had.
Kogane Sengan must be a variety of sweet potato.
「It’s naturally high in starch and yields a lot, so it’s often used for making shochu and such.」
「As expected of Grandpa!」
「Grandpa, amashing!」
Grandpa puffed out his chest, clearly pleased to be relied on.
Even with dementia, he still remembers things from the past.
This must be a good experience for him too.
「But why is this one so different?」
「Even I don’t know that. Kogane Sengan is a selectively bred variety, but I’ve heard its origins are in Japanese sweet potatoes.」
It must be a mutated sweet potato.
Just like the vegetables in our field contain magic power, the sweet potatoes must have some magic power in them too.
Maybe that’s related?
We should probably have Sena and the other explorers check it out.
「If we turn it into seedlings, it might become a new variety of sweet potato.」
This time, it was Potato who dug it up.
Whether to eat it or turn it into seedlings should be Potato’s decision.
According to Grandpa, making seedlings from sweet potatoes is easy.
Using the golden sweet potato as the parent plant could pass on its unique traits.
「Potato, what do you want to do?」
『Hmm…』
Potato put his paw on his head, deep in thought.
He must be torn between turning it into sweet potato chips or planting it.
Potato has a big appetite, so it’s even harder for him to decide.
「Papa!」
「What’s up?」
Seeing Potato like this, Dori tugged at my clothes.
「Dori wants grow it!」
「Yuri wants to try too!」
『Wha!?』
It seemed Dori and Yuri wanted to cultivate the golden sweet potato.
But there was a problem with that.
「If we start making seedlings now, isn’t it too early?」
「Yeah, even if we store it, it might rot before spring.」
Sweet potato seedlings are usually made around February or March.
Since it’s just the beginning of fall now, that’s nearly half a year away.
Even if it contains magic, there’s no guarantee it won’t rot.
Regular sweet potatoes can last up to three months, but even with magic, it might only last four months.
We don’t have a storage facility to control humidity and temperature.
All we have is a simple shaded storage shed, so proper preservation isn’t possible.
「We don’t even know what kind of seedling it is…」
At the very least, if we had kept some of the same seedlings, we might’ve been able to replant them.
「Hmm, what should we do?」
As Grandpa and I pondered, Dori and the others looked at us with worried expressions.
「Why don’t we all use stretch stretch on it?」
Grandpa suggested growing the sweet potatoes before it gets cold again.
This time, the sweet potatoes were planted before summer and took about two months to grow.
If we start making seedlings now, considering the time it takes for sweet potatoes to grow, it’ll be just before the cold sets in.
「We don’t know if it’ll work, but it might be worth a try.」
『Yeah! Let’s do it!』
It seemed Potato was all in too.
We stood in front of the phone again and made our declaration.
「We’re going to create a new variety of sweet potato!」
「Let’s do it!」
「Let’s do it!」
『Woof!』
A new segment was added to the Farm Diary Channel: the Sweet Potato Variety Cultivation Diary.
And with that, the sweet potato contest came to an ambiguous end.
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