About That Tree—
“Hardt, you look tired. Did something happen?”
“No, it’s just… I’ve been trying to find the name of a tree I want to grow, but nothing I’ve found matches.”
“So you already know what the tree looks like?”
“Yeah, I planted one in the greenhouse.”
“Then can I go take a look? Even if I don’t know the name, I might be able to tell you where it grows.”
After our magic practice, I brought Canal to the greenhouse.
“Whoa, there are flowers blooming here that shouldn’t even be in season. Greenhouses really are amazing.”
“Want to take some home as a souvenir?”
“Eh, really? I’d love that. Doesn’t have to be a big one—just a few flowers that last a while. My mom would be happy.”
I asked Tom, who was pruning outside, to make a bouquet by mixing two kinds of flowers.
Canal thanked him politely, took the bouquet carefully in his hands, and walked toward the back of the greenhouse.
“This is the tree I was talking about.”
“Oh, this one? There are tons of these in the Shinana Forest,” Canal said, touching the leaves and flipping one over.
“… Huh?”
Apparently, this tree dries faster than others, making it great for firewood.
That’s why they’d planted many of them around Shinana Village.
When I asked if there were any insects that liked its leaves, he said he’d never seen any.
Looks like I’ll have to go to Shinana Village.
—
“Sorry for dropping by out of nowhere again, Chief Hind,” I said two days later, when Brother Gerald and I arrived at Shinana Village.
Georges stayed behind to take care of the caterpillar and the slime that makes Lucas’s favorite liquid.
He joked that he was becoming an animal caretaker, but honestly, those two magical creatures are important—no one but Georges can really handle them.
“I understand—it’s a sign of trust. I just wanted to say it once,” he said with a small smile.
He has been stuck watching the house a lot lately.
Sorry, Georges.
“So, you mentioned you wanted to learn about a certain tree today?”
Brother Gerald took a twig out of his Magic Bag and showed it to the village chief.
Chief Hind took the twig, examined the underside of the leaf, and immediately said, “That’s an Oid tree.”
He explained that while it looks similar to the Kukwa tree—whose leaves are eaten by silkworms—silkworms won’t touch the Oid at all.
Apparently, the village founder mistook Oid trees for Kukwa trees when establishing Shinana Village.
That’s why the village ended up so close to the Great Forest.
Usually, villages are built farther away from the forest, so I’d assumed this one was founded by former adventurers—but no, it was just a misunderstanding.
“I couldn’t find this ‘Oid’ tree in any plant encyclopedia, though.”
“That’s because the name was given by the founder himself. Perhaps it’s a species that only grows near the Great Forest.”
“Do you still have anyone who knows how to raise silkworms or spin thread?” I asked.
He said those people had already passed away, but records of their methods still remained.
The documents showed that the founder’s family had originally run a sericulture business in the Northtrad region before coming to Westland.
So that’s why he tried to start silk farming here.
The records detailed the process of raising silkworms with surprising precision.
I handed the papers to Brother Gerald.
“We’ll see what happens once we bring some Oid back from Shinana.”
“Chief Hind, I might ask a favor of you later. Would that be alright?”
“Of course. Thanks to the royalties from your straw paper patent, our village doesn’t have to worry about winter supplies anymore. If there’s anything I can do, please ask.”
He kindly allowed us to cut a few Oid branches, and we brought them back home.
Back at the mansion, I placed the Oid branches from Shinana Village into the box with the caterpillar.
Immediately, the caterpillars crawled toward the twigs and began eating the leaves.
“Seems they prefer the kind that grows near the Great Forest,” Georges observed, watching beside me.
“So, even if it’s small, it is a monster.”
“Then your mana isn’t enough for it?”
“I only watered the greenhouse Oid once, when I planted it. Maybe it doesn’t contain any of my mana.”
“I thought you watered it regularly when you went to the greenhouse,” he said, surprised.
“The only ones who water it are Tonmi and Uga—and only during winter.”
“You really do the bare minimum, don’t you,” he sighed.
“If the slime only ever ate food I made, it’d be helpless if I ever disappeared, right?”
“… Right. Let’s just say that’s your reasoning.”
… My attendant is cold-hearted.
What do you think about this chapter?
