8 — 1

The next morning.

“So that is how it is. This is the country girl I brought here. Her name is Beth. I hired this girl yesterday as a menial worker for the greenhouse. You may basically leave her alone, but she has been granted permission to enter and leave the greenhouse freely. Everyone, do not interfere with this girl’s work.”

(He is as rude as ever…)

Beth had put her arms through the slightly baggy uniform that had been in the closet and waited in her room, and Noel came to get her at exactly nine in the morning, just as he had declared.

And without saying good morning, or asking whether she had slept well,

“Come.”

He said only that, then suddenly took Beth in front of a great number of Magic Institute researchers, leading to the current situation.

(I want to eat breakfast, though…)

Beth, who had not eaten or drunk anything since last night, sighed.

Since he had forcibly brought someone to a place like this and was trying to make her work, she wished he would at least be considerate about meals.

“Wait! Are the magicians here really so incompetent that you would let a country child with no magic power and barely any schooling enter and leave this sacred greenhouse? Are you making fools of us?”

With a bang, a beautiful young lady with magnificent blonde hair and a magician’s robe flared up in anger.

“Yes, Eloise, that is right. The situation is so pressing that we have no choice but to rely on a country girl like this.”

Noel said that with eyes as cold as ice.

The cold gaze from that hateful beauty was so frightening that Beth would have trembled before it, but this girl called Eloise began shrieking and arguing with Noel head-on.

(Sorry for being a country girl with no magic power. But I was almost forcibly brought here too.)

On top of being forced to work in a place like this, she had not even had breakfast yet.

And on top of that, being made the target of a quarrel between nobles like this was no joke.

“Now, don’t say that, Eloise. They say the founder of magical botany came from commoner origins and had a ‘Green Thumb,’ don’t they? Do not despise her so much just because she is a commoner without magic power.”

A young red-haired magician said that.

“Rodney!! Are you saying this dull country girl is the owner of a Green Thumb? Apparently one of the Queen’s gardeners is a commoner who has a Green Thumb, but that person is the illegitimate child of a high-ranking noble, specialized in plant magic. That is entirely different from a country girl with no magic power like this!”

“Eloise, that person does have a Green Thumb, but she is a specialist in plant magic specialized in making beautiful flowers bloom, and medicinal herbs are outside her field. Besides, she is employed by the Queen, so we cannot ask for her cooperation. But this country girl is different. Look at this.”

Noel took from his breast pocket what had once been the flower bud of a Perennial Herb, now shriveled and dried up, and showed it to Eloise.

(Oh, he had it.)

Beth was surprised that Noel had been carrying what had once been her Perennial Herb so carefully.

“Hey, don’t tell me this is…”

At the sight of what had once been a Perennial Herb, the magicians began murmuring uneasily.

“Yes, this is a Perennial Herb that this girl personally grew at her home. Due to various circumstances, it is in this state, but…”

The “various circumstances” were a human-caused accident brought about by Noel’s hasty misunderstanding and Carter’s incompetence.

Beth glared at Noel with half-lidded eyes, but Noel looked off in a completely different direction and would not meet Beth’s eyes.

“There is no proof anywhere that this girl grew such a precious plant! Noel-sama, if you want to give this commoner girl work in this sacred greenhouse so badly, then I have an idea too.”

After saying that, Eloise ran off, then returned with several beans in her hand and scattered them in front of Beth.

“You said your name was Beth, didn’t you? Tell me right now which of these will germinate. These beans are precious enough to become medicine for dragons, but beans that germinate are truly rare, and on top of that, they require extremely careful management.”

Her attitude was quite arrogant, but deep in her eyes, she held the same anxiety as the villagers when the wheat did not ripen properly.

Eloise was probably truly in trouble.

(Noel-sama and Eloise-sama are both terribly rude… But somehow, both of them seem to have urgent reasons.)

Beth, who was softhearted, temporarily forgot the rude way she had been spoken to and focused on the beans.

She held her breath, then brought her heart close to the beans’ sleep and matched her breathing to them.

She spent a silent, soundless moment staring steadily.

She did not even notice that the people around her were watching her with bated breath.

Then, slowly, Beth turned her face straight toward Eloise and spoke.

“This bean and this bean will germinate. But neither bean will be able to bear fruit. They have no power of life.”

A quiet shudder ran through the room.

“Country girl, what does that mean?”

Noel cut in.

“The life in these beans is unnatural. They have been forcibly crossed with something, haven’t they? You made fruit that should not have borne fruit by forcibly injecting magic power or something else into it so that these beans would bear. Each life has its own shape, but this goes against that. Because you crossed them into some unnatural form, this generation forcibly bore fruit through magic power, but the next generation has given up on nurturing life. Like how a mule born between a donkey and a horse has no ability to reproduce.”

These beans are pitiful. Beth murmured that.

Eloise before her turned bright red, then looked down and bit her lip hard.

“Eloise. Start over. I told you over and over not to rely too much on magic power.”

Eloise’s shoulders trembled, and she left the room without a word.

“You understand now. From now on, this country girl will work in this greenhouse. As for the ancient species under my jurisdiction that do not accept magic power, this girl will manage them. There are no objections, correct?”

No one came forward to object to Noel.

After he sent everyone back to their respective posts, only Noel and Beth remained in this large greenhouse.

“This is the department within the Magic Institute that specializes in potions. Everyone here is a specialist in magic, but it is hard to say they are specialists in plants. They each grow the necessary plants because they are one of the materials needed for potions. The quality of the plants grown deeply affects the quality of the potions, so plant management is an important job.”

“And? Noel-sama, what should I do?”

“From here to here in this greenhouse are the plants I am responsible for. Use whatever method you like. Put these in their best condition. I will check on them in one month.”

Then, without even saying goodbye to Beth, he said only that and walked off somewhere.

(…This is absurd… He really is a nasty man.)

To begin with, there had been no explanation at all of which plant was what.

Nor did she have any idea where the work tools were.

As Beth stood there alone in a daze with a sigh, a man called out to her from behind.

“I’m sorry. Beth, was it? You must have been surprised. The name of that rude girl from earlier is Eloise. Despite being the only daughter of a duke, Eloise worked terribly hard to enter this Magic Institute, and finally received permission to enter this greenhouse. I suppose she simply could not accept that a sudden commoner country girl like you, who had barely even gone to school, would be allowed to enter and leave this sacred greenhouse. But she is not a bad girl at heart.”

When Beth turned toward the owner of the voice, standing behind her was a tall man like a statue of an angel from a church, with long purple hair down to his waist and brown eyes.

Was he older than Noel?

Beth, who had only ever seen purple hair in picture books for children in the village, was startled and ended up staring at him rudely without thinking.

(Is there some law in this Royal Capital that only beautiful people may exist here?)

Eloise-sama from earlier, Noel-sama, and this man before her were all as beautiful as portraits.

“No, um, yes. She is a rude person, but she seemed desperate for some reason… Yes, I’ll try not to mind it.”

While stumbling over her words, Beth replied to this graceful man.

“My name is Naranda. I am the appraisal supervisor here. I appraised the medicinal herbs you had grown using appraisal magic. Those were finished at a truly excellent quality that was hard to believe had been grown by a mere amateur.”

Naranda smiled.

“The medicinal herbs you grew are not rare and can be found anywhere, but when they were grown into such a complete form, I was honestly surprised that such strong efficacy could appear. We have devoted ourselves only to improving plants, but perhaps we should seriously consider thoroughly drawing out the potential that the original materials possess. Thinking that, I was the one who proposed to Noel that you be brought here.”

Then, looking slightly into the distance, he murmured as if talking to himself.

“I have a feeling that your being here carries an important meaning.”