บท 70: Fruity Endeavors
Despite the scary premonitions, my daily life continued as usual. I got up, exercised, went to church, came back, studied like hell, hung around the library, went back to church, came back, hung around the library and cleaned it and repeat!
My relationship with Mike had been progressing smoothly. I even managed to get some non-committing comments from him like 'how he'd force the church to acknowledge the poor folks' once he got power. What sort of power? He had no idea. He kind of didn't want to inherit his father….
Meanwhile, the same couldn't be said about Nisa. I didn't even see her these days. Sometimes Jack hung around. We didn't have much in common but he seemed like a chill dude. That size difference was pretty odd though. Odd because I never really saw him eat much. Perhaps it was an illness of sort or maybe genetic? Or maybe he was eating loads in his room or something.
Anyway, my rumors had mostly died down and these days I was seen as a good kid. A good kid you weren't supposed to mess with. If you did, his brute of a family would come for you and stuff.
They really love spouting weird shit. The weird shit was going to be pretty real though if someone did end up messing with me….
I had some free time this afternoon. One of my free days with no church activity. Of course, Mrs. Alayla still expected me to show up and that was part of why I had to go there every day despite not really having any work. Sigh. But today I took a free leave and here I was, carrying some rotten manure in a bucket and some seeds. The seeds in particular looked like apple seeds and the tree was also like an apple's. Actually, even the fruit looked like an apple! Tasted like peach though.
Honeycrisps.
They didn't grow here, in the cold climate. So, I was taking them somewhere special. After having a long conversation with Miss Chamille, she directed me to the Herbal Club. Apparently, there was a circle in this academy that specialized in rare herb growing. I wasn't sure if they would help me with my fruity endeavors but we'd cross the bridge when we got there.
All circle activities happened off campus in private houses. And the Herbal Club wasn't an exception. Their headquarters was just south of Mike's house. I never really went over to Mike's place but I knew which one. Dude never stopped boasting about how he had plenty of rooms and they were just being wasted and all that. Yeah, I got that he had a big house but he didn't have to brag and all!
Is this the place?
An ordinary house. I didn't see any gardens or even grass here, let alone rare herbs. Maybe I was in the wrong place? Maybe I read the map wrong and it's on the other side of town?
"Woah!" I almost crashed into someone, a girl.
"Hey there," she said, bending down a bit. Tall girl, light brown hair, probably fifteen? "Looking for something?"
Most of her features were hidden behind a hood but I could tell- she was a beaut.
"The Herbal Club."
"Oh, you're at the right place. Come with me." She grabbed my hand and led me forward.
Ordinarily my danger sensors would be tingling and stuff and I'd have run away. But I didn't feel any malice from this girl, not that I had that kind of power to begin with. I also felt some familiarity? Maybe I'm just tired?
Or maybe I'd become too lax lately because I considered this place safe.
She knocked on the door, some minutes later we went in. Warm orange lighting. Not just the lighting, the temperature was shockingly warm in here. About ten degrees higher.
"So, you want to join our club?" She said.
I didn't see any other members and I didn't see any herbs. It looked like an ordinary house, if nothing else. They had a maid though. A real-life maid! Sadly, she didn't have animal ears or large tits. Instead, she was just an old lady. Sigh.
Still a maid though….
"Yes, assuming I can grow a tree."
"Tree? Not herbs?"
"Yes, a tree. A Honeycrisp tree to be specific."
She put a hand on her cheek. "That would be problematic." She walked towards the stairs. Strangely there were two sets of stairs. One leading up, one leading down. We took the one going down. "See?"
It was bright in here. Bright like a warm summer day bright. I didn't feel the intense burn of the sun but I did feel amazing. And there was a breeze, guiding the flowers and the herbs and the-
Wait, what?
What was going on-? "Magical device?" And probably not just one.
"Yes, but it's a secret. Part of why we keep it here."
In about a 4x4 or 16 square meter area, there were hundreds of plants. Growing lush. Grass mixed in, the gentle atmosphere reminded me of home… our open fields. Ah, a wave of nostalgia hit me as I pictured myself crumbling down on the grass after a long day of training. I'd go back home, mom would wait for me with a bowl of soup.
Can I ever get those days back?
"And you're sure you should be telling me that?"
"Well, you're lord Barack's son. He's one of our patrons, you see. Your family loves our poison lilies."
Uh-huh.
"Ah, I see." I cleared my throat. "Sorry for the late introductions. Soler A. Barack. I might not join your club but thank you for showing me around."
"Now, now, don't be too hasty. I said it would be problematic but I never said it would be impossible." She smiled. "And it's Baron Anya Borges by the way."
Baron? Borges? Wait… wait, what! "You're Den's-" Come to think of it, she had long ears hidden in that hood of hers. And that beautiful but petite figure-
No fucking wonder I felt a familiarity.
"I'm his cousin, third removed," she giggled.
You couldn't have told me before leaving? No wait, maybe he wanted to stay the week to introduce me to various people and… sigh. But wait Den was from a noble family? Wow. And here I was wondering how he knew so many people in high places. But couldn't he have just, wait no, he couldn't. His cousin was a Baron, while the Baracks were a viscount family. To protect myself, the viscount rank had way better odds. Dude really wanted to help me till the end.
I smiled awkwardly. "Then you know."
"More or less…" She shrugged. "And don't worry, I love Honeycrisp too! It's too expensive here and barely has any taste. Let's create the most wonderful fruit in existence!" She grabbed my hand and we jumped around.
What in the actual fuck am I even doing?
Welp, anything for a good peach!
***
We had four seeds.
So, we had four shots. The first experiment involved trying to sprout them outside. The second, inside. We would use two seeds each and test things out. There had been attempts to grow Honeycrisps on this continent but we didn't have any written records, so we were on our own.
Obviously, this was going to be a lengthy process so I would have to come here regularly to keep a tab.
I went back three days later but got nothing. Seven days later there was some bad news. Apparently, some damn squirrel stole one of the seeds. We moved the other one to the basement. Nine days in, one of them sprouted. There had been records of seeds sprouting in the west but they never really made it past the first week.
12 days in, all three sprouted and the first one even had two true leaves. 15 days later, the first one wasn't doing too well. The other two seemed to be doing fine though. Hopefully they'd survive.
18 days later, all three died.
And that concluded our experiments. Or would have if Anya hadn't bought more seeds. She'd bought 12. She hadn't planted them before since we needed some starting data beforehand.
"They sprout but then perish once their true leaves settle in. Makes me think we're missing some key nutrients," Anya said.
"Like what? I'm sure rotted manure has everything."
"Perhaps but… maybe the environment is lacking."
The temperature and care weren't the issue. Then how would the environ- "Fiends," I mumbled. "Back home in the forest, there were thousands of low ranked fiends. They weren't aggressive, so I guess you could call them spirits instead." And fiends possessed odd mana, which they took in from the environment and gave back.
"Ah, spirits. You're right. Luckily, I have a pet cat spirit," she said, calling the little guy out. Orange cat. "Lucas!" Looked dumb.
But the cat could understand words and so, we tasked the guy to watch over the potted seeds; its job was to tap the pots with its tail every now and then and if possible, dangle some mana (Spirits could do that). We potted 4 just like the last time.
I came back a week later to find all of them fully sprouted and with true leaves too. And another week later, we had actual seedlings that weren't dying. And yes, this phase had also been achieved before albeit in a rather grand setting at the royal palace. But we achieved it relatively easily, so a success.
The real problem was, how were we going to grow them here? Eventually we'd have to move them to the outside and they'd die there. Honeycrisps bloom in winter and ripe in spring. But here, winter was cold and so the southern trees never bloomed.
"This is still a major success," Anya said.
"Yup." Well, we still had more seeds and all the time in the world!
Probably not though.
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