Chapter 108

“Hooray! Now I can craft all kinds of different magic lamps. I want to make some for my younger brothers’ rooms too.”

Although I had skipped a grade into Alchemy 3, Professor Kubrick had granted me permission to use the Alchemy 2 class time for review during the spring term. I’m going to make so many! I told myself, pumping up my resolve.

“Ah, I wonder if Alchemy 3 will fit into any of my free periods?”

Professor Kubrick chuckled.

“Well, if it doesn’t fit, you can just leave things as they are. Since you look like you’ll be skipping quite a few grades, Patience, adjusting your schedule seems like it will be a real challenge.”

Currently, my fourth period on Fridays is free, but since I accompany Princess Margaret to the royal palace once or twice a month, I don’t want to fill it. The other option is the second period on Thursdays, where I have already received a completion certificate for Cooking. When I asked Professor Kubrick, however, he said Alchemy 3 wasn’t available during either of those times.

“Well, you’ll be registering for classes again for the autumn term, so you can just adjust your schedule then and take Alchemy 3,” Professor Kubrick said nonchalantly. Since the Middle School operates on a credit system, it seems some students re-register and adjust their schedules between the spring and autumn terms.

Benjamin chimed in, “You don’t need to go through all that trouble; if you join the Alchemy Club, you can learn as much as you want whenever you like.” He was certainly right about that.

However, after school on days when the Music Club doesn’t meet, I have to spend my time with Princess Margaret as her lady-in-waiting.

I had intended to resign from my duties as a lady-in-waiting, but if I am going to continue, I want to do it properly. Otherwise, I would be no different from Catherine and the others. I have no desire to just skim the benefits.

“Joining the Alchemy Club is impossible for me.”

Benjamin asked with a serious expression, “Why is that?”

“I am Princess Margaret’s lady-in-waiting, you see. After school, except on Music Club days, I must remain by Her Highness’s side.”

Benjamin pondered for a brief moment and smiled.

“In that case, you can just come to the Alchemy Club during your free periods outside of after-school hours. Lord Caesar spends almost all of his time at the club building anyway.”

Wait, the way he said that made it sound like Lord Caesar has moved into the club building permanently. Surely I misheard?

“I shall give it some thought,” I replied for now. After all, he thoroughly radiates the aura of an eccentric.

“At any rate, you should try speaking with Lord Caesar at least once. I am sure he will come up with a wonderful idea.”

Benjamin is highly pushy. Before I knew it, I blurted out, “Is that so?”

“Then it’s settled! If after school is out of the question, when are you free?” He keeps pressing me.

“Thursday afternoons are…” I yielded to his sheer momentum. Princess Margaret eats the lunch she makes in her cooking class on Thursdays, so I am free.

“Then let’s meet at the salon,” he said, to which I blurted out, “No, that won’t do. I plan to eat lazily at the school cafeteria on Thursdays.”

“I see, then at the school cafeteria on Thursday!”

Did I just make a promise? Just as I was reflecting on how regrettably I had lost to his assertiveness, Benjamin asked, “Is anyone allowed to eat at the school cafeteria?” What a sheltered young master!

“Patience, your next class is Herbology too, right? Follow me.”

Benjamin had also crafted his magic lamp, received a passing grade from Professor Kubrick, and skipped a grade.

“Skipping a grade is delightful, but I wonder if Alchemy 3 will fit into my schedule either?”

Wait, didn’t I hear from Princess Margaret that Benjamin had also obtained a great number of completion certificates for his mandatory classes?

“I still haven’t managed to pass the physical education practicals. Professor Cuthbert is remarkably harsh on students from the Mage Course. He is under the firm delusion that we are entirely unhealthy. More than that, classical studies are a massive problem for me. At this rate, I am anxious about whether I can even graduate. I detest spending two whole blocks on such a dead subject, but it cannot be helped.”

He seemed to read the question in my eyes.

“Even so, it looks like you have plenty of free periods…”

“That is because I have taken every single elective class in the Mage Course. I was at a loss as to which ones to choose, so I took them all because they sounded interesting… but pharmacy is by far the most difficult.”

I wonder what Herbology will be like? While lost in these thoughts, I walked alongside Benjamin, only to find that we had exited the school building. It’s so cold.

“Oh, we will arrive at the greenhouse in no time, so just bear with it.”

Benjamin took off his coat and draped it over my shoulders. What a gentlemanly gesture. But isn’t he cold?

“I am perfectly fine,” I declined, but he simply laughed.

“I don’t think the winter this year is particularly severe, but you are quite weak to the cold, aren’t you, Patience? I am from the north, so this level of chill is nothing to me. Besides, it is right there.”

Upon arriving at the greenhouse, I returned his coat.

“Thank you very much,” I said, offering my gratitude, just as Bryce arrived at the greenhouse as well. Of course, Andrew was with him.

“You don’t need to thank a fellow like him. He is merely being attentive to save the Alchemy Club from being dissolved. Don’t be fooled!”

Ah, Andrew is truly tiresome. Regardless of any ulterior motives, he lent his coat to me when I was shivering from the cold. Offering one’s thanks for that is basic manners. Do mind your own business.

“If you have the leisure to worry about the Alchemy Club, you ought to worry about the Magic Club instead!”

The moment Benjamin and Andrew lock eyes, they bicker. I shall step away from them.

“Even so, to think the lecture is held inside the greenhouse.”

Since I had missed the first lecture of Herbology, I was quite surprised. Bryce seemed to have distanced himself from the two shouting boys as well.

“Ah, you didn’t take the first class, Patience? Herbology is taught by Professor Machias, the same professor as pharmacy. She is quite severe. During the first lecture, we turned fertilizer into the soil and formed the ridges. It might have been the correct choice for you to miss it. Our uniforms ended up smelling a bit foul afterward.”

So it’s that witch-like Professor Machias. I had forgotten to check. However, it sounds rather interesting. Besides, even if my uniform gets smelly, I should be able to manage somehow with lifestyle magic.

“Oh, look who it is. Have you switched over to the Mage Course? No? Well, it matters not. Herbology will undoubtedly have excellent compatibility with your lifestyle magic.”

Professor Machias pitched the Mage Course to me again, but I have no intention of taking it. Offensive magic is out of the question for me. However, I am delighted to be told that Herbology aligns well with lifestyle magic.

“Come over here, all of you!”

I feel that Professor Machias intentionally adopts a gruff tone. She is channeling the full persona of an old witch.

“Herbology begins from cultivating the herbs themselves. Come, choose your own ridge. Once you have quickly decided, place your name tag upon it. The goal for the spring term is to properly cultivate low-grade herbs. Let me tell you now: any lazy fool who thinks they can cultivate them by merely showing up for class once a week is guaranteed a failing grade.”

I opted for a ridge at the very edge. In other words, I was too late to choose from the center. Since it’s a greenhouse, the center columns look like they would be much warmer.

“Now, once you have chosen, come collect your seeds. These are low-grade herb seeds. Normally, low-ranking members of the Adventurers’ Guild gather them from the forest. However, as long as one has a greenhouse, low-grade herbs can be cultivated from winter through spring—provided they are properly managed, that is.”

Oh, so novices at the Adventurers’ Guild start out by gathering herbs. It sounds exactly like a light novel. I would love to visit the Adventurers’ Guild at least once. I wonder if I can somehow persuade Mary?

“Gather around and watch closely, everyone.”

Assembling the students, Professor Machias explains how to sow the seeds.

“Poke a hole down to the first joint of your index finger, and plant them one seed at a time. Since you will be planting from one end of the ridge to the other, use your heads to space them out appropriately.”

Is it acceptable to use this entire greenhouse? I believe there was another block for Herbology. Surely other year-grades use it as well?

“There are plenty of greenhouses, so don’t worry about such trifles and focus on cultivating them properly.”

Wait, can Professor Machias read minds? When I give her a bewildered look, she lets out a cackling laugh.

“Hurry up, sow your seeds, and water them.”

I sow my seeds and pour water over them with a watering can.

“There are some earth mages among you, correct? Those students may cast growth magic upon the soil. Ah, students who cannot utilize earth magic have no choice but to patiently wait for them to grow. If you do don’t water them every day, they will wither. As for water mages, infusing the water with mana will make them grow rapidly.”

I chant, “Grow big!” just as I always do in the greenhouse and fields. I wonder if the seeds will sprout? I infused just about that level of mana.

“Wait, the growth won’t stop!”

The sprouts rapidly grow larger, transitioning from cotyledons to true leaves.

“As I thought, you truly ought to take the Mage Course. Low-grade herbs are highly responsive to mana, after all. Come, try casting a bit more lifestyle magic.”

I chant “Grow big!” once more.

The true leaves grow longer and longer. The other students are watching in sheer astonishment.

“Patience receives a passing grade for Herbology 1. Move along to Herbology 2. Ah, if you have no free periods, this exact class slot is perfectly fine. What, cultivating mid-grade herbs is the assignment for Herbology 2 during the spring term, so these low-grade herbs will likely finish growing by next week anyway. You will simply need to harvest them and cultivate the next batch. Come, if the rest of you have the leisure to stare blankly at Patience’s ridge, try infusing your own ridges with magic instead.”

Watching the other students pour magic into their ridges, Professor Machias turns to me with a recruitment pitch: “Won’t you join the Pharmacy Club?”

“I am already a member of the Music Club, so it is impossible,” I declined, though it sounds like it could be quite lucrative. What a pity!

“Is that so? To think someone like you could make a splendid pharmacist. What a shame.”

A pharmacist… that smells far more like a money-maker than a civil servant whose prospects are entirely uncertain. I wavered for a moment. I am terribly weak when it comes to money.

“Hey, Patience. If you are going to join the Pharmacy Club, you ought to join the Alchemy Club instead.”

Benjamin, who had slyly secured a ridge right in the center, calls out to me, bringing me back to my senses: That’s right! I am Princess Margaret’s lady-in-waiting, so after-school hours are out of the question.

“Tch, you look like a woman who is quite weak to pressure, so I thought you would be perfect for cultivating herbs. Well, herbs can be cultivated even outside of after-school hours. Give it some thought.”

Do I truly look that easy to sway? I felt thoroughly deflated.