Chapter 574: Tonic and Nutritive Effects
After finishing lunch, all of us returned to work for the afternoon.
But… what in the world was going on?
For some reason, my body felt strangely light, almost as if a burden had been lifted from my limbs. My movements were smoother, quicker—like the fatigue that should have been weighing me down had simply vanished.
…It had to be my imagination, right?
There’s no way the food I cooked somehow gained some weird stamina-boosting effect, right?
Right?
…
Now that I think about it, the dishes in the game did come with status-boosting effects.
But this isn’t the game world—it’s reality.
There’s no way food here could have some kind of special effect like that.
There’s absolutely no way.
That kind of thing shouldn’t exist.
I’ve never heard of it happening, and I’ve never seen it happen either.
Please… let that not be the case.
“I feel like my body is a bit lighter somehow.”
“Really? Isn’t that just your imagination?”
Uh-oh.
Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who felt it.
This was bad.
Very bad.
I had to cover this up somehow—fast.
A terrible premonition was already creeping into my mind.
Beside me, Nero was also tilting his head in confusion, repeatedly twisting his neck as if trying to figure something out.
Don’t say anything more.
Nero, stay. Stay!
“Fabienne-sama feels it too? I was thinking the same thing. Somehow my body feels in great condition.”
“I agree,” Lionel said thoughtfully. “It’s not just that my body feels lighter… it feels more like my muscle strength has increased.”
Lionel had been holding a heavy bag of fertilizer with one hand.
Now, he lifted it with a single finger.
You’ve got to be kidding me.
Just how absurdly powerful is this effect?!
And stop looking at me with that suspicious gaze!
I didn’t know this would happen! I swear!
“It’s just your imagination. Your imagination,” I said quickly. “Maybe Lionel’s level just went up or something? Anyway, forget about that—back to work. Tomorrow we’re finally going to start spreading Rapid Growth at the actual site.”
“Level… went up?”
…Ah.
Right.
This world didn’t have the concept of leveling up.
I’d let something unnecessary slip out.
I said nothing.
You heard nothing.
Got it?
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Lionel raising one eyebrow in a very skillful expression of suspicion.
I decided not to see it.
What a calm and rational decision.
“Come on, everyone—get moving,” I said, clapping my hands. “The gardeners will be joining us this afternoon, so things are only going to get busier.”
“You’re clearly dodging the question.”
“You’re definitely dodging it.”
“You’re dodging it.”
La la la.
I can’t hear you.
I heard absolutely nothing.
Now hurry up and get back to work, you lot.
Just as I was about to send everyone back to their stations—
BANG!
The door burst open.
“Julius-sama, this is terrible! Power is surging through my body! What is happening to me?!”
Several knights rushed inside as they shouted.
Their tank tops were stretched to the absolute limit, their muscles bulging so much the fabric looked ready to burst apart if they flexed even slightly.
Hey.
Don’t do that.
Fabienne is here, you know.
More importantly—
Why did you take off your jackets in the first place?
Behind me, Fabienne hurriedly grabbed onto my back as if trying to hide her face.
The knights noticed her reaction and instantly covered their bodies with both hands in embarrassment.
Hmm.
It would have been nice if they were beautiful women instead.
“It might be the effect of ginger,” I said calmly. “After all, it’s an ingredient used in magical potions. Alright—everyone dismissed. Back to work.”
I clapped my hands sharply, ending the discussion on the spot.
Yes.
This must be the effect of the potion ingredient.
That’s definitely it.
It can’t be because I cooked it.
Absolutely impossible.
When I made dried fruit before, nothing like this happened.
…
Well, that time I mostly just put fruit into a magic tool.
It’s debatable whether that even counts as cooking.
Lionel and the others seemed to accept the explanation and returned to their work.
Good.
Now I could finally get back to my own tasks.
Whoa.
Even the power of my magic seemed stronger than usual.
And when I cast spells, the fatigue afterward felt lighter too.
Just what kind of ridiculous stamina-boosting effect is this?!
Before long, the gardeners who had gone out to work began returning one after another.
…Wait.
Isn’t that way too fast?
Yesterday they came back much later than this.
“Thanks to the lunch Julius-sama prepared for us, we were able to finish our work twice as fast as usual!”
“As expected of a meal made by Julius-sama. I could feel power surging through my body the whole time!”
One gardener proudly flexed his arm, showing off an impressive bulging bicep.
Yeah…
That power really was surging.
After that, more and more gardeners came over to greet us.
For some reason, they seemed eager to show off just how good their condition was, performing absurdly fast side-to-side agility drills for each other.
…Why are you all so fast?
Seriously.
With the help of these overpowered gardeners, we continued producing Rapid Growth fertilizer.
At one point I went to the sapling testing area and determined the correct amount of fertilizer to apply.
Taking the previous failure into account, I calculated that about one-twentieth of the previous amount should be enough.
With that quantity, the trees should grow gradually over about two weeks, instead of exploding in size overnight.
I sprinkled that amount onto a small sapling as a test.
We should see the results by tomorrow morning.
Just to be safe, I used my Appraisal skill on the giant cedar tree that had grown rapidly earlier.
It seemed perfectly healthy.
Extremely healthy, even.
I deliberately ignored the part of the appraisal result that read:
“Sacred Tree of the Raven Kingdom.”
How did this even happen?
In the end, we managed to produce twice as much fertilizer as yesterday.
With this amount, it should be enough for the purification work on the corrupted land that would begin in earnest tomorrow.
“At this pace, everything should be fine,” I said. “Just in case, I’m planning to accompany the purification team for a while. What about you, Fabienne?”
“U-Um… I will go as well.”
She must have remembered the horrific scene we witnessed on the mountain last time.
Her face darkened for just a moment.
But then she looked straight into my eyes and declared her decision firmly.
Good.
If that’s what she wants, we’ll go together.
Of course, I’ll do my best to make sure Fabienne doesn’t have to see that horrible sight again.
Maybe a blindfold would work?
…Wait.
That sounds kind of inappropriate.
With that, we ended the day’s work and dismissed everyone.
The gardeners seemed to have gotten the hang of things now.
Even if I wasn’t around, they should be able to produce a reasonable amount of Rapid Growth.
Feeling a bit relieved, we returned to the castle.
But the moment we arrived—
As if they had been waiting for us, Sophia-sama and Erwin-sama appeared.
Did something happen?
…Don’t tell me—
“Julius-sama,” Sophia-sama said with a smile, “I heard something interesting from the gardeners. Apparently you served everyone a lunch called ginger pork set meal?”
“Ah… well… yes, I did.”
Just as I feared.
Why didn’t I tell them to keep it a secret?!
Now it was too late.
Since the two of them had helped me greatly with ingredients and materials for the fertilizer, I had no choice but to accept my fate.
…Teaching the chefs how to make it should be enough, right?