Chapter 250

Taking Everything Home
With less than two weeks until the Eminira exhibition, I was busy as could be—but I still had to visit the World Tree.

I hadn’t been there since early March, so it had been nearly three and a half months.

Normally, except during winter, I went every two months, but things had been hectic lately, and since the Alraune hadn’t called for me, I figured it was fine.

“You’re late! We were about to run out of magic stones!” she snapped, clearly furious.

Not just the usual Alraune I spoke with—there were three of them this time, all standing with their hands on their hips in identical “we’re mad” poses.

“My bad, things have been really busy here too. From now on, there might be times it’s three months between visits,” I said, apologizing for not contacting them this time. I added that I’d have Ciel send word next time and offered them a matcha roll cake.

“Well, fine then. Just make sure to contact us next time,” she said, her tone instantly softening at the sight of the new dessert.

Good thing I’d brought it along.

While setting up camp, the three Alraune came over again.

“What are those decorations Ciel and the others are wearing?”

“You mean their scarves?”

“No, the ornaments holding the scarves in place.”

“Oh, that’s my family crest.”

“We want those too!”

“No can do—you’re not my household’s contracted familiars.”

“Can’t we have them anyway?”

“No. But if you’d like something different, I can make you another type.”

“What kind?”

“Something with glass inlaid, maybe.”

“We want that one.”

“No. I’ll bring some glass scarf rings next time—you can look at those and decide. They’re really cute.”

We went back and forth—“I want that one.” “No.”—over and over until the Alraune finally huffed and left.

Guess they gave up at last.

Next time, I’ll bring those cute glass scarf rings.

The next day, I half-expected them to pester me again, but instead they guided us to a Skeleton Flower extermination site.

For next time, I spread seeds of green, yellow, orange, and purple varieties in one area, and in another—light green, reddish-purple, lemon yellow, and white.

We already knew transparent Skeleton Flowers acted as natural boundaries that prevented the colors from mixing, but this time, we wanted to test if things would still work when planted together from the start.

I want to expand the color variations more and more.

After the extermination went smoothly and we were about to return to the World Tree, Bianca’s family suddenly bolted off ahead.

The knights immediately tensed.

“Atre, did something happen? Should we stay here?”

“No, we should follow them.”

Following Atre’s lead, we went after the Vendavals, Bianca’s family.

After about thirty minutes, we reached a dense thicket of plants about a meter and a half tall.

Bianca’s family stood wagging their tails, waiting.

What’s this about?

The plants looked like yellow calla lilies, but with long, arm-like leaves extending to each side, and in the middle of the stem—what looked disturbingly like a face.

One would be creepy enough, but an entire patch of identical “faces” was flat-out unsettling.

Captain Kyle glanced over and said, “It’s Gaut. We’re taking all of it.”

When I turned around, Meyer explained, “Gaut is used to make medicine for curing gout—one dose completely heals it. It’s incredibly rare, so it sells for a very high price.”

However, they couldn’t just harvest it with magic.

The roots were necessary for the one-shot cure, so the entire plant had to be pulled up intact.

The problem was, if you touched the face-like part while pulling, it would bite you—and the venom would knock you unconscious.

To make matters worse, that “face” was right where you’d naturally want to grip when pulling it out. What a pain.

“Do they fight back?”

“No, they don’t.”

“Do they bite even after being pulled out?”

“No, not then.”

“Hamilton, Kamuela—could you use earth magic to loosen the soil?”

If we dug around the roots first, it’d be easier to pull them out, and we could avoid touching the face-like part entirely.

“You’re right. I’ll go tell Captain Kyle,” Hamilton said, running off.

Moments later, he began using earth magic to churn up the soil, digging deep enough to expose the roots.

Then another knight grabbed the stem just above the flower and gave a pull—it came out cleanly.

“Worked perfectly.”

“This’ll make things go a lot faster.”

I wanted to help too, but Meyer stopped me, so I just watched.

“Why did Bianca’s family suddenly come here anyway? It’s not like they’d know this plant’s used for gout medicine.”

“Don’t ask me,” Atre said with a shrug.

“Could you ask Bianca’s family?”

When Atre asked, they said that since the knights always took Gaut plants when they found them, they assumed it was something important for us.

They’d smelled it and came running.

“Smelled it? I don’t smell anything.”

Apparently, gout plants give off a unique scent only they can detect.

Since their bite causes sleep, maybe the plant contains some kind of natural sedative.

When I asked Atre to check further, they said they also wanted the same kind of scarves that Atre and the others wore.

That’s fine and all—but what about the fabric?

I could bring it here, sure, but I explained that I couldn’t risk getting it dirty. Then they said they’d come to my house to pick out the fabric themselves.

“What—!?” I couldn’t help shouting.

The knights pulling out gout plants all stopped and looked over.

Captain Kyle hurried over, alarmed.

“Young Master Reinhardt, what’s the matter?”

“Ah, sorry—Bianca’s family said they’re coming to visit my house, and it just startled me…”

“Really?” “Eh?” “Ya serious?”

The last “ya serious” was from Kamuela, who quickly clapped a hand over his mouth.

Guess his true reaction slipped out.

Captain Kyle shot him a glare.

No need for that—I was just as shocked.

“Hey… you’re not also planning to come for the exhibition food, are you?” I asked.

“Of course,” came the immediate answer.

The network between all my familiars is incredible.

When I looked up, even Ripka’s parents were circling above my head.

“So you’re coming too, huh?” I asked toward the sky, and they chirped back, “Pewii! Pewii!”

“All right, everyone’s invited!”

Well—looks like they’re all coming. Probably the Alraune too.

What do you think about this chapter?