9 — 2

One month had passed since Beth became a menial worker in the Magic Institute greenhouse.

At first, the magicians had only watched Beth’s work from a distance, but by now, Beth had become an important person the Magic Institute researchers could not do without.

“Beth-chan, help me with the fertilizer mixture for a moment.”

“Beth, what do you think? I’m thinking of giving it light only in the morning.”

“Hey, is today better for dividing the plant? Or tomorrow?”

“Yes, yes! I’ll go in order!”

Every plant the magicians handled required extremely delicate care.

A single mistake in a small choice could greatly affect the quality, and as a result, the efficacy of the potion made from it could differ greatly.

Even changing the day of division by just one day had a major effect on the quality of the finished medicinal herb.

Naranda’s assigned job was to appraise the grown plants with appraisal magic and classify them by rank, but even plants Beth had only looked after a little kept receiving the highest S-rank appraisal from the strict Naranda, a high rating seen only a few times a year, and the magicians rejoiced.

If they listened to Beth’s advice, they could obtain high-quality potion ingredients that they wanted so badly they could reach out for them.

The reputation that asking Beth meant there would be no mistakes rose rapidly among the magicians, and now, when it came to consultations about the greenhouse plants, the magicians all came to ask Beth’s opinion.

“I don’t think it needs any more fertilizer. It would be better for it to be just a little lacking.”

“I think morning light only is fine, but I think it should come from inside the room rather than hitting it directly.”

“Divide the plant tonight, after the sun sets. It would be better not to water it today.”

After all, her partners were living things. They would not grow exactly according to a textbook, but Beth truly gave extremely detailed advice, almost as though she could speak with plants.

Since Beth had no magic power and no knowledge of magic or botany, she should not have been able to offer specialized advice like other magicians, such as using magic as a medium for crossbreeding or injecting magic power, but even so, no matter where one looked in this Magic Institute, there was no one who could produce plants finished at as high a rank as Beth could.

“Thank you, Beth-chan! These are candies I bought in the castle town the other day. Eat them if you like.”

“Eek! Miranda-sama, thank you as always!”

On top of that, because Beth was a country commoner, even ordinary things from Royal Capital nobles delighted her, and like a simple, honest country girl, no matter who asked her for what advice, she answered kindly with a smile, without making even a single unpleasant face.

Beth had become completely popular in the greenhouse, and if anything, to the elderly magicians, Beth, who had been attached to her grandfather, was treated like a cute grandchild.

For Beth as well, the work was not very different from the advice she had always given in the village, so she was being very useful to the people around her, and her colleagues found the reactions of a country girl like Beth amusing and gave her all sorts of cookies and chocolates, so Beth’s once-plain dorm room was now full of colorful sweets.

The dormitory meals were different from the simple meals in the village, and both the quality and quantity were very good, with plenty of variety.

On the first day, Beth had been left alone without even being told where breakfast was, but when she complained to Naranda that she was hungry, he immediately called Meg, the maid assigned to him, and had her take care of this and that for Beth, which was truly a blessing in misfortune.

The maid Meg was sympathetic about the circumstances that had led to Beth coming to the greenhouse, and Beth felt relieved that Meg had fairly similar values to her own when she said, “Noel-sama and all the magicians here are extremely talented, but because of that, they lack ordinary sensibilities…”

According to Meg, the Magic Institute was full of quite eccentric people, but because everyone focused only on their own affairs, they were not considerate, though everyone was reasonably kind.

Besides, all the magicians here were of the noble class, so apparently, the dormitory dining hall served reasonably good meals.

Compared to the days when she had eaten plain meals alone in the village, even just being able to get delicious food for free made her days quite enjoyable.

(This is actually a pretty fulfilling life.)

Beth’s new life had been forced upon her in a way that was almost like Noel’s threats, but it was fairly comfortable.

Once work was finished, she was allowed to spend all her time in the Royal Palace Library, which boasted a collection so large it seemed to reach the heavens.

When she learned that the adventure tale featuring a magician, which she had treasured and read so carefully, was actually part of a series, she had been so surprised and happy that she almost jumped.

In any case, she would return to the village for the Autumn Festival. Until then, if they made use of her here and she could enjoy life in the royal palace, that was enough.