5

Before long, the sun settled down, and the blue moon showed itself in the sky.

A curtain of darkness was lowered over the greenhouse as well.

Until the hour of high tide, everyone waited quietly in the stillness of night.

There were no few plants that carried out reproductive behavior at the signal of the full moon’s high tide.

The firefly grass at Noel’s feet was one of them.

The firefly grass at Noel’s feet trembled its lily-of-the-valley-like body and began releasing fluorescent-colored spores.

Inside the dark greenhouse, fantastical fluorescent spores drifted, making it seem like a fairy-tale world.

“It is beautiful.”

Noel sighed.

“Today is a festival for many lives.”

Catching the fluffy dancing spores of the firefly grass, Beth smiled brightly.

Because its spores danced like fireflies, this plant was called firefly grass.

“Beth, apparently there is a festival by the sea today too. It seems tonight is the night when the sea’s magical beasts all gather on the shore in time with today’s high tide and find partners.”

Naranda’s face, vaguely illuminated by the firefly grass, was as beautiful as an angel statue in the Temple.

Beth found it strange that a man of such high status and beauty was still unmarried, but it was rumored quite plausibly that it was because, due to his incomparable talent in appraisal magic, this man could appraise human souls.

Apparently, no matter how beautiful a woman was in appearance, unless she was a person with a beautiful soul, he could not take her as his wife.

“Naranda-sama, you know everything. I want to try going to the sea. I have heard it is bigger than a lake.”

Beth’s countryside was a rural area surrounded by mountains. It was a small village where more than half the villagers had never taken a single step outside the village in their lives. To Beth, the sea was something that existed only in her imagination, like a fairy country made of crystal from a fairy tale.

“The sea is as large and deep as the sky. Next time, I will give you a crystal of the sea. They say that when you wear it, you will no longer be led astray by the spirits of the sea.”

“It is almost time.”

As if interrupting Naranda’s story, Eloise, who had been managing the alignment of the stars, raised her voice. It was exactly the hour of high tide.

They moved the bottle containing the seed to a place where the blue moonlight shone well.

Everyone fell silent all at once, as if during a sacred rite.

Solemnly and quietly, they waited for germination.

The seed, like a black pill carrying white light, received the light of the blue full moon all over its body, and before long, its body split in half with a crack.

It was the moment of germination.

With serious eyes, Beth thrust her bare hand into the bottle, gently grasped the seed filled with magical power, and peeled away the seed’s hard outer shell. She exposed the soft white bare flesh, like ivory, hidden beneath the shell under the moon.

“Hey, Beth…”

Noel reached out for an instant to stop Beth, then stopped.

It was Noel who had decided to entrust everything to Beth. He would not interfere.

Then, a single white, thick root like a tentacle silently extended, wriggling as it drew loops.

At the same time, an unreliable-looking sprout like a white thread stretched out lankily, and small green cotyledons popped out.

Beth gently scooped the seed out of the bottle and carefully lowered it onto the pine needles in the washtub, where Eloise had gathered a great many pine needles that morning, then let out a long breath.

The second stage seemed to have succeeded.

The tense air stretched throughout the greenhouse loosened.

Beth finally returned to a smile and told Noel,

“These children will rest on these pine needles as they are until the moon sets. They look happy, bathing in plenty of moonlight and breathing in plenty of pine scent.”

(Happy, huh.)

If Beth said that, then he could be at ease.

After all, every plant and every life in this greenhouse looked happy, filled with the joy of living, and pleased.

(Even the Divine Lily must be an equal life in Beth’s eyes.)

“What do we do after the moon sets?”

Noel had succeeded as far as germination before. However, after germination, none of the specimens had grown, and all had rotted away.

From here on, it was an unknown world to Noel. And for all magicians in this country as well, it was equally and completely unknown.

Beth answered Noel with a smile.

“We fill this washtub with plenty of well water and wait as it is. After that, these children will tell us. Until then, now, please sleep. Starting tomorrow, we will be busy.”