Chapter 37: 29.2

Chapter 4-29 : Growing High-priced Herbs Ⅱ (part 2)

 

After checking on Michael-san and Izu-san, I headed home.

While preparing my herb field in the backyard, I was working on the flowerbeds which had been neglected for a while in front of my store.

As a matter of course, the flowers I grew were materials for alchemy.

I took all the bulbs and stored them. I was planning to use half of them to make potions and other stuff and keep the rest to plant next year.

By the way, I’m not growing ornamental flowers because I think it’s just a waste of space and effort. I rather use the limited space I have to grow flowers that have more value than only ornamental use.

After emptying the flowerbeds, I planted some herbs that grow from autumn to winter. They bloom flowers but of course, they’re not as pretty as ornamental flowers, but still, they can make my store look more colorful.

I’m a girl and I don’t hate flowers. With all these flowerbeds in front of my store, I want to show people that the owner of this store is a girl.

Well, I’m aware that I’m not so charming as a girl.

In terms of charm as a girl, I can say that I’m losing to Lorea-chan, but at least I think I’m not inferior to Iris-san and Kate-san.

Wait… What am I even thinking about? I have no intention of competing with them.

If I don’t love myself the way I am, that means I disrespect my parents who gave birth to me.

While thinking about that, I started doing the next task.

「Anyway, I need to start making a Seedling Growth Aid Tool.」(Sarasa)

Seedling Growth Aid Tools are plate-shaped artifacts with a half-translucent milky-white color.

They have four rather large magic stones in the four corners and slightly smaller magic stones lined up on the edges.

To use a Seedling Growth Aid Tool, first of all, you need to sow some seeds in small pots and then put them on top of the artifact.

It will automatically adjust the temperature and keep the soil wet. As long as it has enough magical power, the seeds will grow into seedlings that you can then plant in your field.

I was planning to give the seedlings I will grow later to Michael-san after we harvest all the herbs in my big herb field, but first, I will plant them in my small herb field in the backyard to test the artifact.

Seedling Growth Aid Tools are quite expensive but they’re not hard to make, so I think I can make one and finish it quickly.

Oh, right. Before that, I have to ask Master to send me the seeds.

After I finished with the flowerbeds, I went inside my house, sent a letter to Master via Transfer Device, and started preparing to make a Seedling Growth Aid Tool.

 

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After I finished the artifact, I sowed the slightly expensive herb seeds I got from Master in several small pots and put them on top of the artifact.

「This one is Chileinove… This one is Jibarwei… This one is Sharnils… This one is Vankao…」(Sarasa)

After that, I put labels with the name of the herbs on each pot so that I can tell them apart.

「This one is… Hmm… What is the name of this herb again?」(Sarasa)

The seeds were divided into small bags, and there was one with the type of seed that I don’t remember.

These seeds are slightly larger and harder than the other seeds.

They look like a kind of wheat but resemble apple seeds at the same time.

I don’t think I have ever seen this kind of seed before. Or… I probably just forget… I’m not sure…

「Hmm… I think I can find out about them in the encyclopedia I gave to Lorea-chan.」(Sarasa)

I stood up from my chair, grabbed the small bags with the unknown herb seeds, and left my workshop.

As usual, Lorea-chan is sitting behind the counter, waiting for customers.

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She is currently writing on a piece of paper while looking at the encyclopedia of alchemy materials. I feel bad to disturb her study but I need that encyclopedia for a moment.

「Sarasa-san, what’s the matter? It’s still too early for lunch.」(Lorea)

As soon as she noticed my presence, she looked strangely at me. It’s probably because I rarely come out of my workshop before lunch.

「I’m not here for lunch. There’s something I want to find out. Can I borrow that book for a moment?」(Sarasa)

「Ah, I see. Sure.」(Lorea)

「I’m sorry if disturbing you.」(Sarasa)

「Please don’t mind it. Here you go.」(Lorea)

「Thank you, Lorea-chan.」(Sarasa)

Lorea-chan smiled and handed the encyclopedia to me.

While flipping the pages, I glanced at the piece of paper that Lorea-chan was writing on.

「By the way, is your study going well?」(Sarasa)

Yesterday, Master sent me this encyclopedia along with the herb seeds. I asked Lorea-chan to learn about the alchemy materials listed here.

I told her to write the information she got on pieces of paper as she studied.

Of course, I didn’t tell her to copy the whole book. I told her to write only the necessary information that Collectors might need and summarize it in an easy-to-understand manner.

There are two reasons.

First, I want to inform the Collectors in this village about alchemy materials that they might not know about so that they can start collecting them.

By doing so, I’m hoping that the income of the Collectors will increase as well as the variety of alchemy materials I can buy from them.

The other reason, of course, is to help Lorea-chan’s study.

If she wants to be an alchemist, learning every detail of alchemy materials is quite important for her, and I think taking notes while studying can help her memorize the content of the encyclopedia faster.

「I don’t think there’s a problem. It’s going well so far.」(Lorea)

「Is that so? Let me see…」(Sarasa)

I put away the encyclopedia, took the bundle of papers in front of me, and started reading them.

「Hmm, hmm…」(Sarasa)

Although Lorea-chan wrote it with different wording from the encyclopedia itself, she’s able to describe the alchemy materials listed in the encyclopedia very clearly including the information about their characteristics and how to obtain them.

I think her explanation in these papers is easy enough to understand even for people who rarely read.

Honestly, I’m quite surprised that Lorea-chan has this unexpected talent. Not only is she good at math but she is also good at writing.

The only information that is not written is the information about the purchase price of the materials since it always fluctuates depending on the season and the number of stocks in the market.

I’m planning to make a table of prices on a piece of paper later. I will put it on the notice board in my store and I will update the prices regularly.

「Lorea-chan, you really did a great job! I didn’t know you were good at writing.」(Sarasa)

「Really? Hehe~ Thank you, Sarasa-san. By the way, have you found the information you want?」(Lorea)

「Aa, that’s right. Wait a minute.」(Sarasa)

I forgot for a moment that I had something I wanted to find out.

I put the paper on the counter and started flipping the pages of the encyclopedia again.

I had read the same encyclopedia over and over again when I was still a student in the Alchemist Training School, so I have a general grasp of its contents.

However…

Hmm… This is weird… I can’t find anything about these seeds here…

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