Kays Translations

Chapter 419: A Minor Incident

If I hurried, I could plant the seedlings before dinner. I could finish quickly alone, but Fabienne might want to participate, so I rushed back to our room.

“Fabienne, are you back?”

“Huh?”

“Kyu?”

“Kyah!”

Fabienne nearly screamed, then covered her mouth before anyone could come running. I immediately retreated with Nero. Why had she been standing there in her underwear?

“What do you think happened?”

“She was probably changing into a dress.”

“Sharing a room creates problems like this. I should have knocked. This was my fault.”

Click.

Fabienne peered through the door wearing a robe, which somehow felt almost as provocative. I forced my gaze back to her face.

“Um…”

“S-Sorry, Fabienne! I didn’t mean for that to happen.”

“I understand. You seemed to be in a hurry, didn’t you?”

“Oh, right. I was planning to plant the seedlings in the herb garden and thought you might want to join me.”

“Oh, I see. In that case, you should have waited for me to change.”

Fabienne’s eyebrows drooped in disappointment. She would not be able to change quickly now, so I promised to teach her another time and headed for the garden. There were no lamp magic tools outside, but I could supply light with magic.

The seedlings had already been placed beside the herb garden, probably by Lionel and the others. They had not expected anyone to work so late, and no one else was present.

“Alright, let’s get started.”

“I will help.”

Nero and I planted the seedlings. My Cultivation skill made the work quick, and there were not many plants. I then applied diluted plant nutrient and watered them with magic.

“That should do it. By tomorrow, they should have grown decently.”

“Are you sure? We won’t surprise everyone tomorrow, will we?”

“I diluted the plant nutrient heavily, so it should be fine… probably.”

Nero frowned at my uncertainty. I had never tested this formulation, so only time would reveal the result.

After finishing up, I hurried back to my room. We needed to change, too. This time, I made sure to knock.

“Welcome back. You’re already done?”

“I’m back, Fabienne. There weren’t many seedlings, and I also applied some plant nutrient.”

“Then tomorrow should be exciting.”

Fabienne smiled happily. That made me happy, too.

Although Fabienne knew about the incident in which a tree had grown instantly, she had never witnessed the same effect herself. I sincerely hoped there would be no problem.

I spent the remaining time before dinner making swimsuits. Fabienne’s expression while I worked on Caro’s was memorable. I was not doing anything improper, but…

At dinner, Marquis Mulan apologised again for what had happened in the forest. I was the one who had insisted on going, so I said that I shared the responsibility, but he would not accept that.

I had worried Marquis Mulan enough. I needed to repay his hospitality by doing my work properly, whether that meant making potions, building magic tools or training apprentices.

That night, Fabienne slipped into my bed carrying Mira. The attack had evidently shaken her despite my defeating the Big Apes quickly and at a distance to spare her further trauma.

When I stroked her back, she clung tightly to me. Mira looked delighted between us. If Mira were not here… I stopped the thought before it cost me sleep.

The next morning after breakfast, I went to the herb garden. Giles, Christopher, Axel and Ijidol headed to the training grounds instead. The previous day had apparently convinced them that they needed more strength.

What they lacked was varied combat experience. I wanted them to spar with different opponents and close that gap.

Information about the Big Apes would be passed to the Eastern Margrave. Hopefully it would help explain the forest’s abnormality.

Caro accompanied us to the herb garden. On the way, I told her that I had planted the seedlings the previous evening.

“I didn’t think you’d plant them after all that.”

“If we left them as they were, they’d just lose their freshness. It would be a waste after gathering them, and I’d feel bad for everyone.”

“That’s true, but… What is that…?”

Caro stopped abruptly. We followed her gaze—and froze.

Only Mira ran towards the garden with delighted little cries.

A massive mound of vegetation filled the plot. Judging from the leaves, it consisted of medicinal herbs, detox grass and mana grass. Ahaha…

“Well, it looks like they grew very well.”

“Julius-sama, you can’t just brush this off like that.”

Fabienne pressed a hand to her cheek and narrowed her eyes. She was smiling, but her deeply furrowed eyebrows betrayed how troubled she was. I felt the same. We needed to remove the evidence quickly.

“Julius…”

“Alright, let’s hurry up and harvest! Now we can make lots of potions!”

“Caro, what could possibly have caused this?”

“Well… Julius also applied plant nutrient.”

“And that resulted in this…?”

Ignoring the conversation behind me, Nero and I hurriedly harvested the plants. Evidently I had not diluted the nutrient nearly enough. Being a gifted magic pharmacist was hard.

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