Chapter 14: Thought Seven months have pa.s.sed since I"ve been summoned.
The sunlight that blazed down during the daytime is still the same but it felt like the day was getting shorter.
While I"m watering the medicinal herbs I felt that the sun was rising a little later every morning. It"s almost time for autumn.
"Good morning, Sei."
Jude, who had just woken up, adjusted his outfit and came while I was watering the medicinal herbs.
Although I was watering the medicinal herbs, it didn"t mean that I was watering them all.
To begin with, the medicinal herb garden had recently expanded so it was impossible for me to manage the whole place by myself.
I was only taking care of the herbs I personally used located at a corner of the research inst.i.tute"s medicinal herb garden.
There were many other researchers who have their own personal fields as well. They were all managed individually.
There were many gardeners here taking care of the medicinal herb garden for the other divisions and they would normally manage it on a regular basis.
"If you had asked me, I would have helped out."
Jude looks at the watering can I was holding and narrowed his eyes.
Jude could use water attribute magic so he could water all the herbs without having to use a watering can.
When he knew that I was watering the herbs every morning, Jude told me that he could water the herbs using his water magic and has been helping me out.
But he doesn"t help out every day. I felt guilty about asking him to do it every day so I only asked him to help out if I meet him before watering the herbs.
"Thanks. I"ll just accept your feelings."
I smile and say my thanks. Jude laughed with a feeling of resignation.
I finished watering the herbs so Jude accompanied me back to the research inst.i.tute.
Jude doesn"t have his own field so he only came out to help me water my herbs.
"By the way, were the medicinal herbs arriving from the shop today?"
"Yeah. There"s more herbs than usual so the Director said that the researchers also have to help move it to the warehouse."
I confirm today"s schedule with Jude on our way back home.
Since we are selling the potions to the 3rd Knight Order at wholesale price now, the medicinal herbs were not enough to cover the amount of potions sold so we started to stock herbs from the shop.
By the way, the shop we stock from is Jude"s home and because of that we were able to purchase the herbs at a cheaper price so the Director"s happy.
According to Jude, his home was the biggest store in the capital and they handled varies things at the shop. He"s always the first to know what ingredients are being purchased for the dining hall.
I thought that I asked for various unreasonable ingredients for the dining hall so I"m feeling a little apologetic.
"What time will the goods arrive?"
"Around the 3rd morning bell, right?"
"Then, I wonder if it"s alright for me to arrive around that time?"
There are clocks in this world but they were very expensive. There are only a limited number of people who have it.
Therefore commoners knew the time from the bell chimes ringing from places like the church. The bell at the royal palace also rang at pre-set times.
The 3rd morning bell was about 9 A.M.
Even if I leave when I hear the bell ring, I"d still make it in time since the warehouse was next to the research inst.i.tute.
I went to the warehouse when I heard the 3rd morning bell but there was nothing for me to do.
The large number of boxes containing medicinal herbs piled up in the wagon was being carried into the warehouse by the other researchers and a.s.sistants.
The majority of the herbs are used by me so I told them that I would help out but for some reason, everyone declined.
No, well, I got to see everyone"s strong point which I usually don"t get to see and it was good eye candy for me. I wonder if it"s okay if I"m the only one who thinks it"s good?
I was feeling somewhat guilty so I decided to stop watching them and instead, I went to deliver the potions to the 3rd Knight Order in place of the a.s.signed person.
The potions are delivered on a wagon pulled by a donkey so it"s not hard work.
The a.s.sistants will do the loading and unloading.
Oh yeah, we have coachman for the wagon now.
I was worried about whether I could control the donkey well at the beginning but it was pretty easy.
This is probably a really excellent donkey.
The donkey was a good boy who obediently listened to what I said.
This is probably something I wouldn"t experience in j.a.pan just like making potions.
"Huh? Sei?"
I encountered the Knights who have just finished training while the a.s.sistants were unloading the potions from the wagon at the side entrance.
Since they were training they weren"t wearing their usual knight uniforms. Their clothing was slightly rough.
I sometimes went on subjugations with them and they would sometimes help me investigate food effects so I"m on good terms with the 3rd Knight Order.
To the extent that they would call out to me like this.
The Knights who called out to me, were heading my way. They saw that the wagon next to me was piled up with potions so they could guess that I brought it here.
"Did you bring the potions here?"
"Yes."
"The research inst.i.tute"s potions are really effective. They really help us out during subjugations."
"Thank you."
After training the Knights shuffled into a circle around me.
Most of the Knights are taller than me and they have good physique so it feels like I"m being surrounded by walls.
This is a real meat wall, just kidding!
"You"re always making a fair amount, isn"t it hard? Next time would be double this amount, right?"
"Eh? The amount increased?"
"Huh? Haven"t you heard anything?"
I heard from one of the Knights that the amount of potions would double next time but I still haven"t heard anything from the Director.
To be honest, I can make triple this amount by myself so there wouldn"t be any problem even if it was doubled.
When I asked about it in detail, he told me that the next scheduled subjugation will be conducted by the 2nd and 3rd Knight Order. So it wasn"t just the 3rd Knight Order that was ordering the potions but also the 2nd Knight Order.
The Director and Captain decided to do so because it would cause problems if only one party had effective potions.
Indeed, the amount of medicinal herbs delivered today was larger than usual.
"Are the Knight Orders joining up because a powerful monster had appeared?"
"It"s not like that. We"re going to the Ghosh Forest next so the two Knight Orders are joining hands just to be safe."
"Ah."
The Ghosh Forest was where the Salamander appeared and although time has pa.s.sed since it had appeared, there could still be another one out there so this time they"re going on a ma.s.sive subjugation mission.
"Is the 1st Knight Order not going?"
Since the 2nd and 3rd Knight Orders were going I thought that the 1st Knight order would also join them so I innocently asked but as soon as I did, the expression of the Knights around me grimed.
I might have asked something bad so I tilted my head and the Knights around me began talking bitterly.
"The 1st Knight Order will be protecting His Highness."
"His Highness?"
"Ah, His Highness Kyle and his a.s.sociates will be going to the East Forest to level up so the 1st Knight Order will be guarding them. They won"t be joining the subjugation this time."
Kyle, Kyle…… Ah, that red-haired Prince?
I didn"t know who he was for a moment there because they had said his name, I certainly remembered that the 1st Prince had that kind of name.
"His Highness and his a.s.sociates have already pa.s.sed level 15. So even if they go to the East Forest, it"ll be pretty hard for them to level up……"
"Yeah. If they"re going then it"d probably be better for them to head to the South Forest."
"If they have guards escorting them, it"s probably better for them to go to the South Forest, huh."
What the Knights are trying to say was that the East Forest is for beginnings so students up until level 12 will level up well there.
Therefore the First Prince and his a.s.sociates who are already at level 15 would find it hard to level up at the East Forest.
The South Forest has stronger monsters than the East Forest and it"s easier for people to level up from level 12 ~ 20.
After that I asked about it and I heard that the First Prince used to go to the South Forest. I wonder why he"s going to the East Forest now.
"It"s because of her right? The Saint-sama"
"Well, it"s mostly because of her."
"Saint-sama?"
"A girl being protected by His Highness. They call her that."
When I inadvertently respond to the word【Saint】, the Knights tell me various things about the Saint-sama.
I could guess who it was when they told me she was being protected by the First Prince and yup, it was about Airchan.
To summarise the Knight"s stories, Airchan is attending the Royal Academy and the First Prince and his close a.s.sociates are looking after her.
The First Prince reasoned that because she was the Saint it was better for the country if she levelled up faster.
She had entered the Royal Academy later than her cla.s.smates so in order for her to level up faster it was better for them to head to the forest with the 1st Knight Order, who are higher level than her. This way they could level her up faster than usual.
Of course, the First Prince is royalty and his close a.s.sociates are all sons of aristocrats so the 1st Knight Order are accompany them for safety reasons.
Since they were power-levelling her it was better for them to do so at the South Forest but the First Prince strongly opposed saying that it was dangerous so they"re heading to the East Forest instead.
The other reason was that there was no longer a need for Airchan to level up and catch up to her cla.s.smates.
"He is really treating her like she"s gla.s.s."
As a person who was summoned together with Airchan, I was a little relieved that she didn"t met with any bad experiences.
She is younger than me so I was a little worried after all.
I thought that I looked relieved but the Knights were looking at me strangly.
Eh? What is it?
"Sei feels more like a Saint-sama than that Saint-sama."
"His Highness doesn"t have a discerning eye."
"If something happens tell us. If it"s something we can do then we"ll do it!"
They were trying to comfort me while looking at me with eyes of pity. Even if you don"t worry so much I"m okay, you know?
I do what I want. I"m having fun living my ordinary peaceful life, you know?
"Ahaha, Thank you. I will let you know if anything happens."
Everyone says that I"m like a Saint. When something bad happens I"m really like a Saint, huh?
According to my Status anyway.
But I will not positively affirm it nor do I intend to publicise it.
I don"t intend to deny is either because it might be found out one day.
I"m still a little bit peeved at what had happened on the day I was summoned so I"m not going to obediently admit it.
So I want to spend my life as an ordinary person until the day someone finds out.
This will be updated a lot slower now since Volume 2 is out and I will be working on that instead o/