20
The Time Is Ripe
Side quest, level 6. 20th of 102 in play order.
Quest giver: Bhirdraeg, Middle La Noscea (X 25.4, Y 16.9).
Steps
- Harvest the La Noscean oranges.
- Deliver the oranges to Bhirdraeg.
Journal
- Bhirdraeg's La Noscean oranges are ripe and ready for picking.
- Bhirdraeg has asked you to pick his
ripe La Noscean oranges. The irascible pirates under him would rather pick fights than fruits, leaving the labor to you. - You have picked an adequate number of oranges. Bring them back to Bhirdraeg.
- The pirates' antics have sown seeds of discontent among the local growers, and the Admiral appears to be entangled in the weeds.
Hidden
grows oranges, so it fits that part of your pay is in goods. The quest's reward includes 10 
Orange Juice. twists the saying 'you can't teach an old dog new tricks' to make fun of the Admiral. The Admiral sent retired pirates to farm. wishes scurvy on the lazy ex-pirates. In the past, sailors cured scurvy with citrus fruit. Men 'away at sea', he adds, should value fresh fruit. oranges are ripe for picking.Characters 2
Bhirdraeg grows La Noscean oranges. They are ripe and about to fall, but the retired pirates working under him refuse to pick them.
What you know from earlier quests 3
- #6 Edelweiss, Edelweiss: The Encyclopaedia Eorzea says Admiral Merlwyb gave an order that banned piracy. After that order, a group called the Upright Thieves became the Rogues' Guild.
- #10 Close to Home: Murie
says Admiral Merlwyb keeps several arcanists on her personal staff. Fearing their art would die out, as it passed only from master to chosen student, she ordered an official Arcanists' Guild and paid for research and training. - #19 On to Summerford: Staelwyrn
took Admiral Merlwyb's offer to put pirates stuck on land to work in the fields. The panel notes add that Summerford is part of Merlwyb's plan to end piracy by giving former pirates land to work.
What happens in this quest spoilers for this quest
- Bhirdraeg is delighted with the sweet oranges and pays you partly in goods, including 10 Orange Juice. He wishes scurvy (a sickness fresh fruit prevents) on the ex-pirates he finds lazy, and mocks the Admiral: you can't teach an old sea dog new tricks.
What the Japanese and German versions say 3
Japanese
EN The Time Is Ripe
JA 「手に届く太陽」, 'a sun within arm's reach'
The title pictures the ripe La Noscean oranges as little suns you can pick by hand. The English title plays on ripeness.
German
EN 'Bah, I can't even rely on those rotten pirates to pick these ripe oranges.'
DE „Auf die lauffaule Lumpenbande von Ackerpiraten kann ich mich dabei nicht verlassen ... Bis die sich mal aus ihren Hängematten erheben, ist aus jeder reifen Orange schon ein neuer Orangenbaum gewachsen!“, 'I can't count on that bone-idle rabble of field pirates for it... By the time they finally haul themselves out of their hammocks, every ripe orange will already have grown into a new orange tree!'
Bhirdraeg mocks how slow the ex-pirates are. The English Bhirdraeg just grumbles.
EN 'It just goes to show you can't teach an old sea dog new tricks. You'd think the Admiral would know that!'
DE „Sie kennen es halt nicht anders, als ihren Lebensunterhalt mit Raubzügen und Plünderungen zu verdienen. Wahrscheinlich warten sie nur auf eine gute Gelegenheit, hart arbeitenden Leuten wie uns die Gil abzunehmen, die wir im Schweiße unseres Angesichts verdient haben. Was für eine Schnapsidee von Admiral Merlwyb, diese Mörderbande hier anzusiedeln!“, 'They just know no other way to earn a living than by raids and plunder. They are probably only waiting for a good chance to take the gil from hard-working folk like us, gil we earned by the sweat of our brow. What a crazy idea of Admiral Merlwyb's to settle this gang of murderers here!'
Bhirdraeg goes much further than in English, where the ex-pirates are just set in their ways.
Dialogue 7 lines
Accepting the quest
Bhirdraeg
Bah, I can't even rely on those rotten pirates to pick these ripe oranges.
- DE Auf die lauffaule Lumpenbande von Ackerpiraten kann ich mich dabei nicht verlassen ... Bis die sich mal aus ihren Hängematten erheben, ist aus jeder reifen Orange schon ein neuer Orangenbaum gewachsen! ‘I can't count on that bone-idle rabble of field pirates for it... By the time they finally haul themselves out of their hammocks, every ripe orange will already have grown into a new orange tree!’ Bhirdraeg mocks how slow the ex-pirates are. The English Bhirdraeg just grumbles.
Yet if I leave them a day longer, they're like to fall from the boughs.
Mayhap you can grab a few for me. You're not afraid of a pesky hornet or two, are you?
Deliver the oranges to Bhirdraeg
Bhirdraeg
Look at those luscious oranges brimming with nectar! They could drop any second!
Ah, ripe to perfection! How sweet it is!
If that lackadaisical lot of retired pirates comes down with scurvy, it'd serve them right!
- FR Mais bon, l'idéal, ce serait que ces maudits pirates arrêtent de se tourner les pouces et nous aident pour ce genre de travail... ‘But well, the ideal would be for these cursed pirates to stop twiddling their thumbs and help us with this kind of work...’ English jokes the idle pirates would deserve scurvy; French wishes they would help with the work.
- DE Von den trägen Taugenichtsen - du weißt schon, wen ich damit meine - hat sich keiner blicken lassen ... ‘Of the lazy good-for-nothings - you know who I mean - not one showed his face... But I expected nothing else.’ English jokes the idle pirates would deserve scurvy; German notes none of them turned up.
- JA やれやれ……それにしても、海賊上がりの連中は、結局、誰ひとり収穫の手伝いに来なかったのか……。 ‘Good grief... still, in the end not one of the pirate-turned lot came to help with the harvest...’ English jokes the idle pirates would deserve scurvy; Japanese notes none came to help.
It just goes to show you can't teach an old sea dog new tricks. You'd think the Admiral would know that!
- DE Was für eine Schnapsidee von Admiral Merlwyb, diese Mörderbande hier anzusiedeln! ‘What a crackpot idea of Admiral Merlwyb's, to settle this gang of murderers here!’ English mildly chides the Admiral; German calls settling this gang of murderers a crackpot idea.