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Chapter 41
After parting with Elbadin in the Glass Garden, Lucilea ran straight to the library without stopping to rest.
“Two silver! Two silver!!”
Lucilea quickened her step, replaying the sights she’d seen in the Glass Garden.
Among the ornamental flowers and trees of the Glass Garden were those blossoms that had been hiding like treasures. Once they had been nothing more than ornamental flowers, but after their properties were revealed they came to be used as medicinal herbs—rare herbs.
“When I first went into the Glass Garden I didn’t notice them….”
No—more precisely, she hadn’t looked.
She had simply taken in the wide, vast, beautiful landscape as a whole. Along with it had come that peculiar calm that settled over her body and mind. She had only thought of it as a beautiful garden that soothed the body and mind; she hadn’t considered examining closely what specific plants were growing there.
“There were lots of familiar flowers besides Lumina.”
Shadowbloom with petals as black as a dark night, Crimson Tear that looked like drops of blood, and Frostweeper with blossoms as clear as frost. None of them were common flowers.
“I remember they said the effects are incredibly enhanced when processed into potions.”
Lucilea could recognize those rare medicinal herbs thanks to Briola. When Briola’s health had been good, she used to go for walks on the mountain near their cottage with Lucilea. Back then Briola would dig up herbs and tell Lucilea about them.
“Of course! Grandmother, you’re the best!!!”
In truth, all Briola left Lucilea was a run-down little cottage. But Lucilea realized that the small experiences and memories she’d had with Briola were a kind of inheritance for her future.
“So… going into alchemy is the right choice.”
Lucilea recalled what Mei had said about alchemy.
“If a mage has knowledge of herbalism, they can later learn alchemy.”
“Does that make a lot of money?”
“Of course it does!”
Even before this, she had been worrying about how she would make a living after becoming independent.
“I don’t have the confidence to become a mage and fight monsters.”
Given that, it was better to quietly make potions in her own space and sell them.
“Some potions were said to fetch a handsome price.”
As greed—the desire called greed—sprouted in Lucilea’s clear blue eyes, her face brightened with life.
“I should go back to the garden soon.”
Maybe there was something even more precious deeper inside. Already, in Lucilea’s eyes, the plants in the Glass Garden no longer looked like ordinary flowers and trees. They merely looked like coins of silver and gold rooted in the soil.
A short while later Lucilea reached the library and paused for a moment. Cookie, who had followed her, fluttered down and settled lightly on her shoulder, grumbling.
[How could you leave me behind, Lucy!]
Lucilea glanced at Cookie perched on her shoulder.
“You’re the one who ran off and left me, weren’t you? You were so quick I couldn’t see your wings flap.”
[Left you? We were in the same garden, okay? I only briefly left Lucy’s shoulder, that’s all!]
“Huh?!”
That parrot—call that tiny beak a beak. “How dare you be so brazen?”
Lucilea, looking annoyed, pressed the small yellow beak between two fingertips.
[Oww! Ububu—!]
After a brief squabble with Cookie, Lucilea entered the library.
She exchanged a quick greeting with the librarian and moved to find the books she needed.
Cookie, glancing around the library, asked:
[But Lucy, those garden herbs aren’t yours, right?]
Hm? Lucilea, selecting books, answered.
‘Of course I know that.’
[But your expression right now looks like you’re about to rip up those herbs and sell them.]
‘No way… I do have some shame.’
[…Hmmm. Really?]
Cookie narrowed his eyes as if suspicious.
‘Well…’
It wasn’t that the idea hadn’t crossed her mind. Clearing her throat, Lucilea focused more intently on choosing books.
“Alchemy, cultivation, alchemy, cultivation, alchemy co—”
She muttered, pulling alchemy books one by one and tucking them under her arm.
[What’s cultivation?]
‘If I don’t want those Glass Garden herbs to be ripped out by others, I’ll have to grow them myself.’
Lucilea carried the books to a sunlit spot and continued.
‘I’ll ask the duke’s household for support—seedlings, seeds, and a garden to grow herbs in.’
On the day the first maintenance stipend is paid, she could request support from the duke’s household. That support could be supplies, a location, or even people.
‘First, I’ll ask them to make me a private garden.’
The bigger the better. Even if it wasn’t as grand as the Glass Garden, she could select only the herbs she needed and grow them in quality soil.
‘But I need to read alchemy books first. I have to decide what potions I’ll make.’
Time and land are limited. She had to think which herbs to plant to use the land efficiently.
Oooo! Cookie admired Lucilea’s plan and asked excitedly:
[No way, Lucy! Are you planning to grow the herbs and make potions yourself?!]
‘Correct!’
Lucilea smiled with satisfaction.
That’s right. Even if she grew the herbs, Lucilea had no intention of selling only the herbs.
‘Herbs alone don’t make money.’
Look at Briola’s case. She dug herbs until the tips of her fingers cracked and hardened like stones, yet she didn’t become wealthy.
There were several reasons. No matter how rare the herb, there was no merchant in Mille village willing to buy them at their proper price. And she couldn’t travel all the way to a distant big city.
‘Because of me…’
She couldn’t leave the cottage for long, leaving young Lucilea alone.
‘Even if she had taken the herbs to the big city, raw herbs alone would still be hard to make big money with.’
It was natural that raw gem ore and a gem crafted by a skilled hand would have different values. No matter how precious Briola’s harvested herbs were, they were still just “ingredients.” People prefer to pay for a finished bottle of potion distilled and blended by an expert alchemist rather than a handful of raw rare herbs.
Lucilea sat on a chair and pondered. Growing herbs and making potions herself both sounded good, but—
‘Also, I should find a guild or merchant that will consistently trade for the potions I’ll make from now on.’
Even if she left the ducal manor and settled somewhere, she wanted ongoing buyers.
‘Right. First I’ll start by growing herbs.’
Making and selling potions would have to wait until after she learned alchemy; that would take time.
[But Lucy, raising plants isn’t easy.]
Cookie hopped down onto the desk and stood before Lucilea. He cleared his throat and, for some reason, spoke haughtily, lifting his beak.
[Like all life, plants don’t grow just from watering, okay?]
‘….’
What on earth was he trying to say? Lucilea watched Cookie quietly. He seemed like some professor of cultivation as he wagged his beak.
[Sunlight, wind, rain, soil, temperature!]
Cookie snapped his tiny foot on the desk with a clap! clap!
[All five of those conditions have to be just right for plants to grow well. But you’ve never raised a plant before, have you? In Mille village you always did laundry and only dug herbs following your grandmother!]
Those herbs on the mountain had ultimately been nurtured largely by nature itself, Cookie argued, and then delivered his final sting.
[So, Lucy, doing it all alone is too much. Are you going to kill the seeds and just eat dirt?!]
‘….’
Oh—this one. Why was he so sharp-tongued today?
‘I said I’d learn! I can learn from books.’
Puheng! Cookie sneered.
[You think reading a book about love will make you good at love?!]
‘Why are you suddenly talking about romance?!’
[What I mean is!]
Cookie suddenly spread his wings wide and poked his chest with the tip of one wing.
[If this great Cookie is by Lucilea’s side, things are different!]
What…? Lucilea asked suspiciously.
‘What are you going to be?’
Hehe—Cookie smiled like a mastermind, leaned close to Lucilea’s ear and whispered confidentially.
[Lucy, I…]
‘Yes? What are you?’
Lucilea cocked her head, curious, and listened more intently to Cookie’s voice.
[Well, actually, I—!]
Cookie’s voice dropped even quieter.
