Chapter 3-16 : Preparation Time (part 1)
The next day, Erin-san visited my store and bowed deeply to me.
「Sarasa-san, I’m sorry!」(Erin)
「E, Eh? What are you apologizing for?」(Sarasa)
「I’m sorry that you had to take the trouble to help Michael-san and the others cultivate the herb field yesterday…」(Erin)
「Ahh… I did it voluntarily so you don’t have to apologize for that.」(Sarasa)
I was surprised that she apologized to me all of a sudden but I’m glad it wasn’t something serious.
However, she seemed to be concerned by that.
「But that herb field is the reward I gave to you so I kinda feel bad that you took the trouble to help. 」(Erin)
「Erin-san, you’re too serious. You need to relax a little more.」(Sarasa)
「But I couldn’t gather enough people to work at your herb field, so it’s my fault to begin with.」(Erin)
If the one who gave me the herb field was the village mayor instead of Erin-san, he would likely say, “Hohoho, I’m sorry I can’t gather enough people”, while smiling at me.
However, Erin-san was different. She was more dutiful than her father, the village mayor himself.
「Ah, come to think of it, only Michael-san and his wife, Izu-san, are currently working at the herb field. It seems like his big brother, Gatt-san, comes to help sometimes, but he has his own field to take care of.」(Sarasa)
「I was planning to recruit more people but most of the villagers who were unemployed are now working at the dining hall and the blacksmith.」(Erin)
Currently, the number of Collectors staying in this village has significantly increased for some reason, and because of that, Diral-san’s inn/dining hall and Jizdo-san’s blacksmith shop have become busier than usual. Therefore, they recruited the villagers to help them.
「I see… Well, that can’t be helped. You don’t need to worry about it, really. I helped Michael-san because I heard about his circumstances. He and his wife are now in a rough situation, so… You know, I can’t just leave them alone. Besides, I used magic to help them cultivate the field, so it’s not tiring at all.」(Sarasa)
「Sarasa-san, you’re so kind… And because you’re a kind person, would you like to accept my request again in the future? Of course, I will prepare another herb field as a reward.」(Erin)
While saying that, Erin-san smiled at me.
What a clever person. She doesn’t miss a single opportunity. As expected from the ‘acting village mayor’.
「Ahaha… Well, as long as I have time to do that.」(Sarasa)
「Thank you, Sarasa-san. If we successfully develop more herb fields, I’m sure this village will become even more prosperous, but… Sarasa-san, do you think that’s possible?」(Erin)
「Hmm… I’m not sure, honestly. I have a small herb field in my backyard, so I can teach Michael-san and Izu-san what I know about growing herbs but I can’t guarantee they will be successful at it.」(Sarasa)
The herb field in my backyard is small, so it doesn’t require much effort to cultivate, but the herb field that Michael-san and Izu-san are taking care of is way bigger.
Other than that, I need to think about what kind of herbs we will grow in that field.
There are a wide variety of herbs, from those that grow even if they are left unattended to those that won’t grow unless you expend considerable effort to take care of them.
Of course, the price of the herbs that are easy to grow is low, so you won’t make a lot of profit from only selling those kinds of herbs.
On the contrary, the ones that are difficult to grow are quite expensive. However, you will suffer a great loss if you fail to grow them. Their seeds are also expensive after all.
By the way, the herbs that I grow in the backyard are the type that is rather easy to grow but needs to be treated immediately after they are collected. This type is quite expensive and rare. Collectors rarely sell herbs of this type to me, that’s why I grow them myself.
Because they are quite valuable, I lost my mind when two Hellfire Grizzlies came and destroyed my little herb field. I killed them in a blink of an eye without thinking.
「I think easy-to-grow herbs are a safe choice for the beginning. However, we can’t only grow those kinds of herbs in the future, especially after we increase the number of herb fields.」(Sarasa)
Those kinds of herbs are already cheap. If we grow a huge number of them, their value will definitely drop even more, and they will become worthless eventually. We don’t want that to happen.
「I see. I understand. By the way, if the harvest fails because of Michael-san’s negligence, please tell me. I will scold him thoroughly!」(Erin)
Erin-san clenched her hand into a fist as she said that.
「Ahaha… I’ll do my best teaching them so that it won’t happen…」(Sarasa)
It will be bad if that strong-looking fist of Erin-san’s destroys Michael-san’s and Izu-san’s newlywed life…
◇ ◇ ◇
Even though I helped Michael-san cultivate the field, it will still take some time before we can grow herbs there because there is still a lot to prepare.
In the meantime, I was doing my job as usual while taking care of my little herb field in the backyard.
By the way, I asked Master to send me some herb seeds from the royal capital that I can grow in the new field.
I have been quite busy lately because my work accumulated while I was going out doing the investigation on the volcano.
Actually, several days before I left to do the investigation, I was planning to tell Lorea-chan to decline the Collectors who want to sell the materials she couldn’t appraise because I was sure I would be absent for a couple of days, but then I thought that it would be a waste. Besides, I would feel sorry for the Collectors, so in the end, I decided to tell her to put aside those kinds of materials so that I could appraise them when I got home.
As a result, my warehouse and my refrigerator are full of materials now, and I have to appraise most of them.
Because the air is kinda hot in this season, I need to appraise them and prepare money to pay the Collectors who brought them as soon as possible before they begin to rot.
This is gonna be a long day…