16 Visitors (1/2)
”You're a quiet one, aren't you?” said Sylvie.
Li shrugged, focusing mostly on the Myrmeke that followed them from underground, almost swimming through the earth. Thankfully, it seemed, Sylvie's level was too low to possess the necessary detection skills to find out that the beast she and her comrades had been hunting was just beneath their feet.
”No questions to ask? About us? About this land?” she said as she daintily skipped over an exposed tree branch.
They had been making their way out for the forest for almost half an hour now. He had noticed every now and then that Sylvie would give him a glance, her redden eyes blinking as if she expected him to say something. He had responded only with quiet nods, not wanting to slow down their pace.
Li, being much taller than her, just took a big step over the branch and said, ”Will the roads be open again? Now that this whole situation's been solved, after all. I'd like to be able to buy food so that Old Thane doesn't have to survive off berries.”
”Certainly. Without the monster impeding traffic, there is no reason for the travel block to continue. But I am curious, why not buy at the marketplace? Riviera isn't the royal capitol, by any measure, but it's got everything you'd be wanting for.”
”Old Thane doesn't have the coin for it. Hasn't successfully grown wheat in a while so he doesn't get money from the crown when harvest rolls around. Until I get my herbalist's license, we can only grow berries, and they don't exchange well for coin.”
Sylvie withdrew a dagger from under her cloak and sliced apart a few low-hanging vines, holding them aside for Li. He gave her an acknowledging nod before passing through.
”Hm.” Sylvie absent-mindedly played with her dagger by spinning it around her fingers. ”An herbalist? I hear the exam is quite difficult.”
Li smirked. He had always been book smart in his past life, and now, he had an even better memory. A test meant to challenge people who had medieval levels of education was nothing to him.
”The test itself is elementary,” he said. ”I like to think I know a thing or two about studying. I've seen the exam format and it's all just pure memorization. What's this herb and what can it be made into – things like that. And you only need to get sixty percent right to pass? I'd like to say that's almost a joke.”
Sylvie cocked her head. ”You're studying off Aine's tomes, right? That grants you an incredible advantage, it does. The greatest block to many professions is access to reliable tomes. Your average peasant cannot afford the luxury of such tomes, and you have at your fingertips the notes of perhaps the greatest herbalist that set foot upon Riviera.”
”Greatest?” said Li. Of course, he could see that Aine had incredible dedication and experience to her craft. Every single page of her books was packed with notes that detailed things that weren't on the pages. Details that she had learned through first-hand experience.
The book might have identified a herb and its uses, but would have precious little information on how to grow it. But Aine had filled in every blank spot of knowledge.
But he hadn't thought about how Aine had fit in skill against others of her trade, just that her notes were incredibly detailed and useful. She definitely had an academic's sense about her.
”The indisputable greatest,” Sylvie nodded. ”When I saw her work, it was almost like she had a magical touch. She knew just which plants needed care and when, almost as if she could feel the ebb and flow of their lives. To adventurers like us, good-quality herbs are a necessity for elixirs.
Most city pharmacies sell things at bulk, and so the quality takes quite the blow. But with Aine, there was a guarantee that her herbs had been grown with all the loving care that a mother would bestow her children.”
”Well, I don't know about motherly love, but I have her notes, and I'm pretty confident I can do just as well.” Li clicked his tongue. ”Just need to get the license.”
Sylvie put a hand to her mask and cocked her head, as if she was thinking about something. What it was, though, she didn't let on.
”I look forward to buying from you in the future…ah, I didn't catch your name. Forgive me.”
”It's Li.”
”Li. Hmm. Li,” she repeated, nodding. ”Certainly an Eastern name, and, as expected, very pretty too. Well, Li, it looks as though we've reached the end of the forest.”
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Li stepped out from the forest to flat and grassy meadows. Ahead were rolling plains filled with verdant grasses dotted with summer flowers. He could see fields dotting the landscape and, in the distance, Riviera's walls looming high.
”Where will you go now?” said Sylvie. She kept under the shade of the forest, her black-clothed figure almost melding into the shadows. ”Back to the farm, I suppose?”
”First, I have to buy some chicken at the market,” replied Li, remembering Old Thane's other request. ”Old man's a little under the weather. Would do well with some soup.”
”Oh my,” said Sylvie. ”Sick? Age really must have caught up with him. I understand you are quite capable, but please, would you tell him that if he needs it, that we are always ready to help him? We owe him the offer, at the least.”
”Last I checked, nobody's given him any help ever since his wife died,” Li said. ”Figure if you all cared, you'd have helped him out beforehand. He's not one for charity either, and I'm doing a good enough job keeping his farm going.”
”Please, do not see us in bad light. Circumstances had pulled us away from him. But I understand” Sylvie pulled down her mask. Her lips were as red as her eyes. ”Then, could you tell him just this? Tell him that his little troublemakers have come back home.”
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”How were the fields?” asked Old Thane as he sat cross-armed on a chair by the dinner table.
The sun had set by now and Li had returned to the house, having finished watering his herbs and weeding the fields. But that wasn't the only thing he had done.
”Fields are looking incredible. I guarantee you that come next planting season, you'll be growing some of the best wheat around town.”
”You've a good spirit on you, lad. I look forward to our mighty success.”
Li smiled. He had finally figured out the reason why the wheat fields hadn't produced anything in years. It was because the topsoil was completely barren. When he focused, he couldn't hear any life beating in the earth. Even weeds were hesitant to make their homes there.
But far underneath, the earth was still rich and bountiful, packed with dissolved minerals and nutrients that had never before seen the surface. And he now had a new helper to push all that soil up: the Myrmeke.
Over a few hours, the Myrmeke had buried the barren topsoil and replaced it with rich, dark-brown soil. Li had tried to tear off the topsoil with brute force, but it would have attracted far too much attention, needing a display of superhuman strength he was unwilling to show out in the open.