#097
“Hello, Seiz! Long time no see! How have you been?”
It wasn’t me who cheerfully greeted him, but Taro. Despite my telling him to wait outside, he went inside first on his own and chatted away with friendly greetings.
Seiz looked somewhat surprised as he alternately glanced between me and Taro, then reluctantly accepted Taro’s energetic handshake with a reluctant expression.
“Yeah. Long time no see.”
But he sneakily pulled his hand away and looked at me as if asking for help, and it seemed Taro’s excessive sociability made him uncomfortable.
“Your face looks better since I last saw you! What are you making these days? I went to the snow mountains this time…”
I grabbed Taro, who was starting to chatter away, pulled him away from Seiz, and pushed him toward one wall.
“I’ll finish talking quickly, so just wait here for a moment.”
“Got it. But there are a lot of new items since I last saw them. Seiz, can I look at these?”
Taro, with no thought that I had deliberately separated him, looked at the items displayed in glass cases and on shelves with wide eyes.
“Sure… go ahead.”
Seiz nodded with an expression that clearly read ‘Please do, just don’t make me talk.’ I left Taro, who was absorbed in the items in the display cases, and approached Seiz. Actually, it hadn’t been long since we last met, but seeing the new items that had increased so much in the meantime made my eyes spin too. However, since there wasn’t enough time to look around leisurely, I decided to quickly finish the immediate business and come back later to browse slowly.
“The next expedition area has been decided.”
Since Seiz already looked drained, I skipped greetings and went straight to the point.
“It’s underwater.”
“That’ll be tough.”
Seiz calmly nodded. He too had an expression that showed he had already anticipated the expedition area.
“Breathing and movement will be more difficult than on land.”
“Yeah, so I think I need to request some diving equipment.”
“I’ve been thinking about various things. The problem is always materials, as usual…”
I dumped everything I had obtained from the snow mountains onto Seiz’s desk. Most of it was minerals, and among them was Lightmite. Seiz’s eyes lit up as soon as he recognized it.
“You got it! You’re really amazing!”
There was something about Seiz’s admiration that made people feel proud. Feeling a bit embarrassed, I shrugged my shoulders. Without taking his eyes off the Lightmite, Seiz asked.
“I think I can make most of what you need. You’re upgrading your sword too, right?”
“Yeah. And… this time I want to ask for something else too.”
“What is it?”
“Did you hear about the festival? They said it would combine tree planting and seed sowing events.”
“Ah… yeah. I heard roughly about it.”
That was fortunate. Since Seiz rarely goes outside, I was worried, but it seems he had at least heard stories from visiting customers. This makes the conversation faster.
“They… asked me for advice about tree planting and seed sowing. I feel like I have to take responsibility for it, but the farming tools are in poor condition.”
I placed all the farming tools on Seiz’s table, including the hoe and the newly obtained watering can. The hoe and axe had been enhanced using enhancement stones and mushroom fragments, but the rest were still in basic condition. Seiz examined the farming tools and nodded lightly.
“You want me to upgrade them? Good. How far do you want? Since there’s plenty of Lightmite, I can do everything up to that level.”
The request proceeded smoothly. Seiz showed me idea notes and sketches, briefly explaining items he had conceived in advance, and I shared some thoughts that came to mind and asked if additional functions were possible.
“Then, I’ll come back in a week. Please take care of it. Taro, let’s go!”
Having smoothly finished my business, I greeted Seiz and left the workshop in a good mood. Taro had apparently found an item he liked and kept sticking to the display case, only following me out with a very regretful expression after I looked back inside and urged him on.
Today’s last schedule was to meet the Priest again. My body was tired from wandering around the mountains and fields along the village outskirts for quite a while during the day, but my heart felt much lighter knowing the last schedule was the Sacred Tree island. Because the home I would return to was right in front of me. A home with warm, clean bath water, meals, and a bed waiting was just a 5-minute walk away.
‘Home… but it’s Carlisle’s house.’
I paused for a moment when I realized I had unconsciously referred to Carlisle’s mansion as home.
‘Well… there’s nowhere else to return to right now anyway.’
Strictly speaking, I don’t have a home in this world. I didn’t particularly want to return to the cabin where the ghost seaweed lived, and I’d have to see the game’s ending to return to my actual real-world home.
“Go and come back.”
When we reached the stone bridge by the lakeside, Taro stopped and waved his hand gently.
He had followed me into both the Mayor’s office and Seiz’s workshop, but it seems it’s okay for me to enter the Sacred Tree island alone. Well, once I enter the island, there’s nowhere I could run away to (not that I’m thinking of running away), and no matter how much of a playboy I am, they don’t seem to suspect I’d do anything with the Priest. Originally in the game, the Sacred Tree administrator wasn’t a romance target either, so there had never been any entanglements between us in that direction.
‘Rather than trusting me, they probably trust the Priest.’
Despite suspecting even Freya, they still seem to think of the Priest as sacred. Having slightly cynical thoughts inwardly, I said to Taro.
“Why wait here? Just go into the house.”
I said that because it was so close, but Taro shook his head.
“No way. Escorting you all the way into the house is my assigned job.”
To borrow Taro’s expression, while he was ‘escorting’ me, he was supposed to take me home and properly hand me over to the butler Hayden.
“……”
It was ridiculous, but the person who gave the orders wasn’t here, and since it was already settled between the two of them, what was the point of me arguing about it? I just gave up and turned around.
When I crossed the stone bridge, the Priest greeted me with his still-smiling face.
“We met this morning, but we meet again. It’s a pleasant thing for me, but what brings you here?”
I got straight to the point without beating around the bush.
“The village is holding a festival, and they told me to be in charge of the tree planting event. So I checked the land, but the contamination hasn’t been sufficiently resolved yet, so it’s not in a state where we can plant anything. I was wondering if I could get some sap or… something that could purify the land.”
“Ah… purification, you mean. That’s Raon-nim’s…”
The Priest was speaking but suddenly closed his mouth.
“My what?”
“It’s nothing.”
When I asked curiously, he shook his head ambiguously and smiled again.
“If it’s for such a matter, I think I can help you a bit. I was feeling sorry that I seemed to only be receiving, so if I can be of any help, it would be a pleasant thing. Please wait a moment, Raon-nim.”
I was curious about the words that were suddenly cut off, but the Priest didn’t give me time to press further and disappeared somewhere.
Still, it seemed the purification potion matter would be resolved smoothly, which was fortunate. The Priest returned shortly with a small glass bottle filled with transparent light green liquid.
“This is sap from the Sacred Tree. You can use it by diluting it in water and sprinkling it. If you mix it with general purification potions used for food or water purification, the effect will be much better.”
Indeed, you have to actively push for things to come out. I brightened up and received the glass bottle. After hearing more details about the dilution ratio and usage method, I left a word of thanks and was about to turn around. But the Priest caught me again.
“Wait a moment, Raon-nim. Take this too.”
The Priest held out something else. On his palm lay a small, dark green pill.
“I couldn’t make it before because there weren’t enough Fragments of the Sacred Tree, but after receiving the third fragment this morning, I was able to make it. I was thinking it would be good to give it to you before you leave for the next expedition, and since you came like this, please take it with you.”
“What is this?”
“Please take it when you’re in real danger.”
“When in danger? Is it like a healing potion?”
At my question, the Priest smiled ambiguously again this time.
“You’ll know when it’s time to use it.”
What kind of meaningful words are these again? I’m weak against such riddles. Since such a line had come out, I thought it would be useless to ask more, but…
“What does that mean?”
I tried probing once. But as expected.
“……”
The Priest just smiled brightly with his mouth closed. His expression as he stared blankly was like a face that hadn’t heard anything at all. At times like this, I’m newly reminded that the other party is an NPC.
“Well… anyway, thank you.”
When I gave up on getting an answer and offered my greeting, the Priest showed a human-like reaction again.
“Thank you? I’m only sorry that I can only do this much for you yet.”
When I came outside, the sunset had already begun to spread. I crossed the stone bridge and came out to the lakeside, but Taro, who had said he would wait, was nowhere to be seen.
“I thought you’d come out right away. What were you talking about for so long?”
It was Carlisle who complained like this, even though we hadn’t really talked for long. When did he come?
“…What about Taro?”
“I sent him away. Why?”
“No… he worked hard all day, so I thought he might want to have dinner before going.”
“From Taro’s perspective, wouldn’t he want to get off work even a little early and enjoy his freedom rather than eat dinner at his boss’s house?”
“…I suppose so.”
Honestly, I think Taro would care more about what menu would be served rather than whether it’s his boss or not… but if Carlisle says so, it must be so. He would know Taro better than I do.
I walked toward the mansion alongside Carlisle. Walking up the stairs to the hill felt somewhat strange. It was sunset, the end of a day’s work, and we were both returning to the same house together.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
