Chapter 112: Winter Begins

　Before the winter began in earnest, the chime at the door was replaced by a “ping-pong” sound. Where there is will, there is a way.  Julius Heine was such a boy.

　The firewood I had arranged for arrived at the territory  before the full-blown winter arrived. I had secured a sufficient amount of firewood, so as long as nothing serious happened, it would be fine.

　After that, the landowner of Mount Claire had the land he owned confiscated. We paid the fee for the confiscated land. Of course, the price was much lower than the original price. Still, it is better that he was not punished.

　If he had caused damage to the capital due to a shortage of firewood, he would have been condemned to death. It may seem like a harsh punishment, but there was a good chance that the winter cold would have been unbearable and there could have been deaths in the territory. It was a natural decision for a lord.

　A ping-pong sound is heard. These days, not only Mira, but everyone in the mansion pings the ping-pong. If anything, it is also used in my father’s office, and it is also attached to my parents’ bedroom. Of course, it was not me who made it, but Rosalia. Rosalia seems to be making  good progress on her path to becoming a magic tool master. 

　When I gave a look to the servant who was with me, he opened the door.

“Kyu!”

“Mira, what’s wrong?”

“Kyu~!”

“Oh, maybe you want to go to Mount Claire again?”

“Kyu”

“Okay, okay, then let’s go.”

　Lately, Mira’s favorite thing to do is to go to Mount Claire. As expected, it is not possible to go to the mountain in the middle of winter, so until then I try to take Mira out with me as much as possible. Of course, Giles and Christopher are always with us.

“Look at this, Julius-sama. There’s already so much snow on the ground.”

“Winter is coming. As expected, we can’t go to Mount Claire if the snow piles up any more.”

“Kyu~kyu~”

　Mira is raising a regretful voice. It can’t be helped. Mira might be all right, but as expected, I can’t let her go to the mountain alone. As Christopher said, there is more snow on the ground than when we came the other day.

“Julius-sama, did you just come to Mount Claire for a walk?”

“Very perceptive, Giles. I’m actually looking for ingredients for a magic potion. I can only find them in the mountains in winter. It’s quite valuable.”

“What is it?”

“Red berries.”

　It is the fruit of the Chigo tree, which has not fallen from the tree and continues to bear fruit. Ordinary Chigo berries are purple in color, but those that remain on the tree ripen and turn red.

　Even if you plant a Chigo fruit that hasn’t fallen, it won’t sprout. Therefore, from the plant side, it is just a defective product. However, it is a very valuable material for magic potion makers.

　When they are aged, their effectiveness increases dramatically. And the precious ripened chigo is used as a material for advanced magic recovery potions. It can only be obtained at this time of the year, so if you can get your hands on some, I would love to have some.

　While strolling in Mt. Claire, one should pay attention to the trees and the ground. There is a possibility that the fallen mature Chigo fruit has been buried in the snow. In that case, it would be impossible to find it.

　When I thought to myself that I couldn’t find it today either.

“Kyu, kyu-kyu!”

“Hm?　What’s wrong, Mira?”

　Mira started digging in the snow with her paws, as if to say, “Dig here, bark, bark!” Could it be that something is under the snow?　What if it is?

　I hurried to help Mira dig it up. Giles and Christopher told me to stop digging, “We will do it ourselves, so please don’t do it,” but I didn’t stop digging. I couldn’t leave it to someone else, because there might be a treasure there.

　The snow was not very deep. Soon we were able to dig right up to the surface. There, I found red, ripened Chigo nuts.

“We did it! We finally have the matured Chigo we’ve been longing for!　Mira, you did well.”

“Kyu!”

　I held Mira in my arms and gave her a kiss, not caring that she was wet from the snow. My face and clothes got wet, but that was of no importance. Right now, I had to share my excitement with her.

“Julius-sama, there may be more where that came from. Let’s look for them.”

“I think so. The fact that the mature Chigos’ are buried in the snow means that they are beginning to fall from the trees. If we miss this opportunity, we won’t get them until next year.”

　After that, we searched for more mature Chigos until dark. As a result, we found a total of three matured Chigo.

　When we returned to the house, all four of us were so damp that mother and the servants scolded us, wondering what we would do if we caught a cold. We got scolded for about an hour while being exposed to the warm wind in front of the hot and cold air blower.

　Finally, I was released and after apologizing to Giles and Christopher, I went back to my room. Mira, who was scolded alongside me, was stuck to my head. She must have been really scared. Mothers are strong. I sat down at my desk, petting her.

“Three. With this, I think I can manage to make a bottle of advanced magic recovery potion. With that, even if you use powerful magic, you can immediately restore your magical power. But I’m still short on materials.”

　I carefully put the matured Chigo in the box for valuable materials in my room. I keep the materials that I can’t keep in the mixing room in this box. I’m a little nervous about leaving them in a place where everyone can come and go as they please. I don’t want anything to happen to them.

　I haven’t gotten any of the precious materials I requested from the Adventurers’ Guild. I don’t think this can be helped. It was also a bad time of year. The adventurers would be slowing down as winter set in. It won’t be until next year before we could get the materials. Until then, I’d have to leave this Chigo.

　The material container in my room was made with more care than the one in the compounding room. It is equipped with an ice compartment function, so that even if something is stored for a long period of time, it will hardly deteriorate.

　I really wanted to make it a material container with complete time-stopping capability, but the time-stopping magic circle would inevitably be huge. And if I were found making such a thing, there would be a tremendous commotion.

　Grandmother’s divine powers could only be demonstrated with magic potions. If I had a legendary Magic Tool master, I would be able to do something about it because I could blame it on him. Unfortunately, I had yet to hear the name of such a master. If anything, I was becoming one.

　This was not good. It would be a shame if I were to be asked to take an apprentice or something. Rosalia and Edward were already my disciples.

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