Chapter 4-31 : Growing High-priced Herbs Ⅳ

 

「Ahh~ Thank you, Lorea-chan. The tea you make is delicious as always.」(Sarasa)

Watching Lorea-chan practice regulating magical power usage was unexpectedly kinda tiring because I had to see and feel the flow of her magical power to check if she was doing it properly or not.

However, thanks to the tea she made I was feeling a little relaxed. Its scent calmed me down and its moderate temperature and astringent taste gave a pleasant sensation in my throat.

「You’re welcome. By the way, Sarasa-san, is there a way or a trick to improve my ability to manipulate magical power faster?」(Lorea)

「As a matter of course, you can improve it by practicing regularly, but other than practicing, you can also make yourself used to using your magical power. For example, using simple spells to help your work or using artifacts. But because you haven’t learned many spells, you can try to use artifacts. You can feel the flow of your magical power when using artifacts after all.」(Sarasa)

「Using artifacts…? Like cooking with a Magic Stove?」(Lorea)

「Umm, Magic Stoves are easy to use even for ordinary people, so I don’t think it will be effective. In this case, a Magic Furnace might be perfect, but…」(Sarasa)

「Ahh… I remember I melted my frying pan when I used the one in your workshop a while ago…」(Lorea)

Back when I didn’t have a stove, Lorea-chan once tried to cook for me using the small Magic Furnace in my workshop.

It’s originally used for blacksmithing so it has the ability to melt metal, but of course, you can also use it to cook, but Lorea-chan didn’t know how to regulate her magical power back then and ended up melting her frying pan and almost burning her hand.

I fixed her frying pan but I regretted letting her use the furnace.

Since then, I forbade her to use the furnace to cook. Now that we have a proper kitchen, there’s no need for her to do that anyway.

Remembering what happened back then, Lorea-chan looked away and smiled awkwardly.

「What a bitter memory…」(Lorea)

「Ahaha… Another artifact that may help you practice is probably the Seedlings Growth Aid Tool over there. Unlike a Magic Furnace, it’s not dangerous at all.」(Sarasa)

「Ah, that shining board with pots on top? It looks beautiful.」(Lorea)

Lorea-chan, who was sitting in front of me, put down her teacup, stood up, and approached the Seedlings Growth Aid Tool that I placed by the kitchen window.

「They haven’t sprouted yet.」(Lorea)

「Well, it hasn’t even been twenty-four hours. They will sprout eventually.」(Sarasa)

The main purpose of using a Seedlings Growth Aid Tool is to provide the best environment for the seeds to sprout. The time they take to sprout with this method is not much different from the normal method.

There are some herbs that grow so fast that they sprout in just one night, but the ones I planted this time are difficult-to-grow types of herbs, so they don’t sprout quickly.

「It’s still shining beautifully but… It looks pretty dim. Is that normal?」(Lorea)

「Eh? Really? The magic stones will get dimmer when they start to run out of magical power. They will eventually run out of magical power but it shouldn’t be this soon.」(Sarasa)

「But look at these stones. They look a lot dimmer than yesterday, right?」(Lorea)

I stood up from my chair and approached Lorea-chan. She is pointing at the magic stones embedded in the edges of the board.

They clearly look dimmer than yesterday, indicating that most of the magical power they contain is almost gone.

「You’re right… I wonder what is happening…」(Sarasa)

When I made this yesterday, I designed it to contain a lot more magical power than the normal Seedlings Growth Aid Tools do, so I thought that it should work for at least five days without dimming.

Did I make a mistake while I was crafting it…?

「Hmm… It’s still working fine so I hope it’s not a serious problem. Anyway, I should replenish its magical power.」(Sarasa)

「Ah, Sarasa-san, would you let me do it?」(Lorea)

「Of course. Put your hand here and pour your magical power little by little.」(Sarasa)

「Like… this?」(Lorea)

「Yup. Keep going. You’re doing good.」(Sarasa)

Although the flow of Lorea-chan’s magical power looked a bit unstable, the magical power in the magic stones is properly replenished little by little.

After watching over her for a while, she started to look exhausted.

「Hahh… Sarasa-san, I feel tired somehow…」(Lorea)

「It’s probably your current limit. Don’t overdo it. You can stop now.」(Sarasa)

「Alright…」(Lorea)

Lorea-chan then released the artifact and took a deep breath.

「Looks like they’re mostly replenished. You did a great job.」(Sarasa)

「Hehe, thank you.」(Lorea)

I put my hand on the artifact and injected my magical power until all the magic stones were full. It only took me a few seconds.

After that, I helped Lorea-chan, who seemed to be a bit dizzy after using too much magical power, to sit on her chair.

「It’s important to understand your limit, so it’s better to find out how much magical power it takes before you get dizzy and how long you need to rest to recover. You can sit down and relax for a while.」(Sarasa)

「Understood. Thank you.」(Lorea)

While still holding Lorea-chan’s shoulder with one hand, I sat next to her and poured the tea into her cup with the other hand.

After drinking the slightly lukewarm tea, Lorea-chan sluggishly put her head on the table and stared at the empty chairs where Iris-san and Kate-san usually sit.

「…I wonder if those two are doing well…」(Lorea)

「Don’t worry. It’s not like they went to fight a Salamander. They just went to investigate its nest, so I don’t think they will encounter any trouble. They will be home soon unless… that weird researcher makes them stay longer.」(Sarasa)

I might be a little prejudiced but I think that researchers, especially the weird ones like Nord-san, tend to prioritize their own interests and take unplanned actions. After all, they are the type of people who have a strong curiosity about anything they don’t know.

「I see… I hope their expedition is going wー」(Lorea)

『ーーWe are in danger nyaan~ We are in danger nyaan~ Please help us nyaan~ Please help us nyaan~』

Suddenly, a familiar voice was heard and resounded throughout the house.

「「………」」(Sarasa & Lorea)

We knew whose voice it was but we also knew that the person who has this voice would never talk cutely like that.

「Sarasa-san… That was Iris-san’s voice, right? Mind to tell me what is happening?」(Lorea)

For some reason, Lorea-chan stared at me with cold eyes.

She seems to know that I was the reason why Iris-san made a cute cat girl voice.

「W, Well… It would be boring if I used the sound of a bell or something, right? So I asked Iris-san to say that line and used it as the alarm sound.」(Sarasa)

It was actually the alarm sound from my Resonance Stone.

Resonance Stones allow you to talk with another person far away in a short time, but I modified mine so that when Iris-san breaks her stone, the stone I’m holding will make an alarm sound instead of allowing us to communicate briefly.

The reason is I thought that they wouldn’t be able to talk if they were fighting monsters or running away from them. Besides, using an alarm sound is better in my opinion because I’ll be able to notice immediately when they need my help.

「So you made Iris-san say that line…?」(Lorea)

「Yeah, but it doesn’t matter now. More importantly, they seem to be in trouble since they used their Resonance Stone.」(Sarasa)

「Eh!? Are they going to be alright!?」(Lorea)

「Calm down. Remember? They have Kurumi with them. I created her in case this kind of situation happens.」(Sarasa)

「That’s right! Kurumi-chan! Then, Sarasa-san, please help them!」(Lorea)

「I’m working on it. They’re quite far from here so it will take some time.」(Sarasa)

I put my head and arms on the table and tried to relax my body.

Normally, I should be lying on a bed but I don’t want to waste any more time and make Lorea-chan more worried.

After I found the position where I could relax every muscle in my body, I started concentrating on linking my consciousness with Kurumi.

 

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