How to Spend a Day Off
On windy mornings, the three black cat brothers and the Nachi-Hachi brothers—five kids in total—come over to our house.
It’s their third time now, so Lun watches over Ren, and Nachi keeps an eye on Hachi while they collect herbs.
I help little Ron with his gathering, and Dad oversees everyone from a distance.
Mrs. Lillium and Mr. Randa said they’d come along too, but after seeing how last week’s practice went—and since Dad already supervises their magic training at the academy—he figured they’d be fine on their own.
He decided they could manage without their parents around, as long as the older kids kept an eye on things.
Instead, Mrs. Lillium and Mr. Randa offered to make us wide-brimmed hats to block the summer sun.
“Hey, Ron, it’s been a while. Since it’s been a bit, let’s start by reviewing what Healing Grass looks like, okay? Remember what it is?”
“Uh-huh! It’s the all-green one! And… the tip’s kinda pointy and round!”
Well, that’s not wrong. “All green,” huh—he means both sides of the leaf, probably.
“Yup, that’s right. Then can you show me which one is Healing Grass?”
“Sure! Um… oh, this one!”
Among several weeds growing together, Ron picked out the real Healing Grass without hesitation.
Wait, seriously? That was a whole week ago!
A three-year-old shouldn’t be able to tell leaves apart that well, right? That’s… amazing.
Even the way he holds scissors and pencils—these kids are seriously advanced.
“Ron, that’s awesome! You got it right! You remembered perfectly!”
“Yay! Big bro, she said I did great!”
“Ohh, nice job, Ron!”
“See, Ron? When you work hard, Vio always praises you. Good job, kiddo.”
Ah, brotherly love!
Ron, delighted, ran over to tell his brothers and got his hair ruffled. Too cute for words.
Then he hurried right back, all smiles.
All right, time to move on to gathering!
We reviewed how to use scissors first, practicing on random weeds.
He accidentally crushed a few leaves at first, but after I reminded him, he quickly corrected himself—such an obedient little guy.
After a few tries, he was ready to harvest real Healing Grass. Carefully, he held the stem with his left hand and snipped cleanly with the scissors.
“How’d it go?”
“Perfect! The leaf isn’t crushed, and you cut at just the right spot on the stem. That’ll let the herb grow back nicely. Great work!”
“Big brooo!”
He ran off again, waving the leaf. This time, it looked like he wanted to show it off and put it in the basket.
Meanwhile, Dad watched over Ren and Hachi while teaching Lun and Nachi how to collect other herbs besides Healing Grass.
Apparently, those two had been studying herbs in the reference room these past few days. They were confidently gathering Mana Grass now.
Even though we’d mixed in Teary Grass to increase its number—since the two look so similar—they picked correctly by checking the leaf tips for splits.
Both Mana Grass and Teary Grass look like ginkgo leaves: fan-shaped and green.
Mana Grass has a smooth, even fan shape, while Teary Grass has a notch near the middle.
If they were yellow instead of green, you’d swear Teary Grass was just a ginkgo leaf.
Once Ron had collected ten Healing Grasses—one full set—it was break time.
Ren and Hachi had each gathered twenty, so Dad helped them tie them into ten-plant bundles.
Hachi worked beside Nachi, carefully tying his herbs together with string.
“Big bro, I still wanna play!”
“Hmmm, but if we pick ten more, it’ll be past lunchtime.”
“Ron, after this we’re heading to the Guild with Nachi and the others to report, remember? You’ll need to save your energy for walking.
We’ll go to the Guild, then have lunch after we get back.”
Ron looked a little disappointed, but brightened right up when he realized he’d get to go out with his brothers.
He usually stays home alone, so spending time with them must make him really happy.
“See you later, Viooo!”
“Thank you again today, Alke, Vio.”
“Yeah, thanks, Vio. And thank you too, Mr. Alke.”
“Aye. Nachi and Ron both handled the herbs mighty carefully today. A few more rounds o’ practice, and you can try gathering new herbs in the Village Chief’s forest.”
Since I had collecting and training with Dad planned for the afternoon, we waved everyone off until they disappeared down the path, then went back inside.
“Well then, maybe we’ll have lunch a bit early.”
“Yeah. After lunch, I’ll do a bit of gathering, take a nap, and then we can train—okay?”
“Haha, sounds like a plan.”
I knew I’d be too full to nap right after eating, but I wanted to finish gathering before cleaning up with Cleanse.
While Dad cooked lunch, I got our supplies ready: basket, gloves, knife, and hemp string.
Since the boys had already delivered five sets of Healing Grass and four sets of Mana Grass this morning, I figured I’d collect something else this time.
Luckily, Dad’s forest had plenty of other herbs.
Down near the river, where it’s damp, some plants that like wet ground grow well.
I found Ururu Grass and Serieg—both have white flowers, so I cut the stems together with the flowers, three nodes per plant.
They’re both used in healing potions, five per set.
“Huh? Dad, did this plant always bloom like this? It’s one of the healing ingredients, right?”
"Hm? Oh, that there’s Ogyo. She only unfurls her pretty petals under that warm midday sun. Mornin’s too cool for her, so I reckon you never caught sight o’ them flowers before.
Harvest ‘em while they’re bloomin’ proud, and they’ll fetch a might finer price!"
Oh, so there’s a time window!
The village chief’s herb compendium mentioned how to cut it—five centimeters above the soil when in bloom—but didn’t specify the time of day.
I checked my notes too, but there was nothing about timing, so I quickly added it in.
Healing Grass and Mana Grass are tied in sets of ten, but most other herbs go in fives.
I bundled everything neatly, sealed the Ururu Grass in a container, and put all of it into my Magic Bag.
Then it was nap time—after that came training with Dad on his homemade obstacle course.
"Well, that’s mighty good for keepin’ things safe, but…" Dad chuckled wryly.
He was looking at the rope bridge up in the trees.
Just like how we used blocks as ladders in class, I’d thought it’d be safer if I added some support.
So I channeled magic into the trees and grew vines across the bridge to make handrails.
It made crossing so much easier—but apparently, that “ruined the challenge.” Oops.
From the second lap onward, I removed my “safety vines.”
Even if I fell, I knew Dad would catch me.
And once I learned to spread my Body Enhancement across my whole body instead of just my legs, I didn’t get hurt when I slipped or tumbled.
Dad still reminded me to stay cautious, but I wasn’t scared of the height anymore, and moving fast felt so fun that I couldn’t help but push myself.
After three laps, training was done.
When we went to the Guild to deliver our herbs, Mr. Taki was still there and thanked us for the day’s collection.
Everything passed inspection, and the boys got paid extra as a bonus.
Nachi and Hachi were thrilled—they’d earned two points just from the morning’s work!
Run had saved up fifty points and moved from Tin rank to Bronze.
It takes a hundred to reach Copper, after all.
With my three points today, I’m now at forty.
Just ten more until I reach Bronze myself.
Guess I’ll keep focusing on herb gathering until I hit Copper rank!
What do you think about this chapter?
