Whack-a-Mole

Arenlona

If a lifetime of meticulous research into the advancement of the agricultural arts has taught me anything, it is that the fruits of knowledge are incapable of preserving themselves. Without an adventurer's brawn to protect them, I fear all my work will come to naught.

• FR Ça ne te dirait pas de m'aider un peu ? ‘Wouldn't you like to help me a little?’ English says her work needs an adventurer's brawn to protect it; French just casually asks for a little help.
• JA この農場の発展のため、君の力を貸してほしい。 ‘For the development of this farm, I'd like you to lend me your strength.’ English wants an adventurer's brawn to protect her work; Japanese asks for help to develop the farm.
• FR Je me charge de développer de nouvelles espèces végétales pour la métairie du Coq rouge. ‘I am in charge of developing new plant varieties for the Red Rooster farm.’ French is a plain, casual self-introduction about her job; English is a lofty speech about knowledge.
• DE Die Auslese dieser einen Sorte betreibe ich schon seit über fünfzehn Jahren. ‘I have been selecting this one variety for over fifteen years already.’ German gives a concrete figure, over fifteen years on one variety, instead of "a lifetime" of research.

Take, for example, the splendid ogre pumpkin crop I was able to cultivate. Years of hypothesizing and testing at last made tangible, only to be snatched away by those subterranean sorners, the clever hedgemoles.

• FR Ces sales bêtes ruinent mes potagers avec leurs galeries. ‘These nasty beasts are ruining my vegetable gardens with their tunnels.’ English says the moles snatched the pumpkin crop away; French says their tunnels ruin her gardens.
• DE Das Ogerkürbisfeld ist voller Erdhügel, welche die Stachelmulle aufschütten und die die sorgfältig gezogenen Ackerfurchen zunichte machen. ‘The ogre pumpkin field is full of molehills that the hedgemoles pile up and that wreck the carefully drawn furrows.’ English says the moles snatched the crop away; German says their molehills wreck the carefully drawn furrows.
• JA この農場では、私が品種改良した「オーガパンプキン」を栽培してるんだが、モグラ穴にウネを台無しにされて、頭に来ててね！ ‘On this farm I grow the "ogre pumpkins" I bred myself, but mole holes have ruined my planting ridges, and it makes me furious!’ English says the moles snatched the crop away; Japanese says mole holes ruined her planting ridges.

I've already engineered the pumpkins to resist fire, drought, frost, weeds, insects, and festive rituals; I just need someone to kill the moles.

• JA 「パンプキン畑」を調べて、憎き「クレバー・ヘッジモール」を叩き出して、一掃してきてくれ。 ‘Check the pumpkin patch, drive out the hateful clever hedgemoles, and wipe them out.’ The title's revenge is on the moles that wrecked her garden beds. The English has no revenge.
• FR J'aimerais donc que tu ailles sur place, les fasses sortir de leurs terriers et en abattes trois pour moi. ‘So I would like you to go there, drive them out of their burrows and kill three of them for me.’ French gives plain instructions and a number; it has no joke about fire- and festival-proof pumpkins.

Arenlona

Well, that was so easy, it makes me wonder why I've spent my life formulating complex solutions to problems rather than merely going around killing things.

• FR Grâce à toi, mes citrouilles vont pouvoir pousser tranquillement. ‘Thanks to you, my pumpkins will be able to grow in peace.’ English jokes she should have just killed things instead of devising complex solutions; French says her pumpkins can now grow peacefully.
• DE Ohne die Stachelmullplage werden meine Ogerkürbisse prächtig gedeihen. ‘Without the hedgemole plague, my ogre pumpkins will thrive splendidly.’ English jokes she should have just killed things instead of devising solutions; German says her pumpkins will now thrive.
• JA これで私の大事なパンプキンも、すくすく育つだろう。 ‘Now my precious pumpkins should grow up nice and healthy.’ English jokes she should have just killed things instead of devising solutions; Japanese says her pumpkins will now grow well.
• DE Vielleicht gewinne ich sogar einen Ogerkürbiswettbewerb. ‘Maybe I will even win an ogre pumpkin competition.’ German has her dream of a record harvest and a pumpkin contest win; English jokes about killing things.

Nevertheless, I'm afraid it's too late to alter my methods now. I'll continue to focus on the complex solutions, and have you stick around to kill things.

• FR On t'en a sans doute déjà parlé, mais à la métairie, nous essayons de nouvelles méthodes pour accroître la production. ‘You've probably already heard, but at the farm we are trying new methods to increase production.’ English says it is too late to change her methods; French says the farm is trying new methods to boost production.
• DE Seit ich zur Gockelburg gekommen bin, habe ich verschiedene neue Techniken eingeführt und den landwirtschaftlichen Ertrag so vervierfacht. ‘Since I came to the Gockelburg, I have introduced various new techniques and so quadrupled the farm's yield.’ English says it is too late to alter her methods; German boasts she introduced new techniques and quadrupled the yield.
• JA この農場では、収穫量を増やすために、実験的な農法を積極的に導入していてね。 ‘On this farm, we've been actively bringing in experimental farming methods to increase the harvest.’ English says it is too late to alter her methods; Japanese says the farm actively adopts experimental methods.
• FR C'est d'ailleurs la raison pour laquelle je suis venue travailler ici. ‘That is, in fact, the reason why I came to work here.’ French explains she came to the farm to try new production methods; English continues the killing joke.
• JA 私がこの農場に呼ばれたのも、新農法を開発するためさ。 ‘The reason I was called to this farm, too, is to develop new farming methods.’ Japanese says she was summoned to the farm to develop new methods; English continues the killing joke.

What hubris! What arrogance to believe that I, one woman alone, could overcome the unfathomably vast and profound mysteries of nature... But with you here, I'm sure we can do it.

• FR J'ai pas mal d'idées, mais il me faut souvent de l'aide pour les mettre en pratique. ‘I have quite a few ideas, but I often need help to put them into practice.’ English mocks her own hubris at facing nature's mysteries alone; French plainly says she needs help to apply her ideas.
• DE Ich habe noch viel vor, um den Ertrag weiter zu steigern, aber es fehlt mir an tatkräftiger Hilfe. ‘I still have a lot planned to raise the yield further, but I lack active help.’ English mocks her own hubris at facing nature's mysteries alone; German plainly says she lacks helping hands.
• JA 新しい農法は、次々と浮かんでるんだが実現するためには、何かと人手が足りなくてね。 ‘New farming methods keep coming to me one after another, but to make them real, I'm always short of hands.’ English mocks her own hubris at facing nature's mysteries alone; Japanese plainly says she is short of hands.