Back to the guild to turn in my herb-gathering quest!
Ugh, another long line. And this one’s extra slow—everyone’s checking completions and collecting rewards.
I tuck my herbs into the basket and slip into place. I’m practically drowning between all these towering adventurers.
Times like this call for mental music!
I’ve got loads of songs from my past life still bouncing around in my head, even if I never really understood the lyrics.
Ever since I turned ten, Selina’s been “loosening the past-life memory seal a bit more.”
It’s open up to age fifteen now.
Fifteen’s considered adulthood here. Some people even get married by then.
But the girl from my past life was still in school at fifteen, her head stuffed full of music.
Not the most useful knowledge in a fantasy world.
Instead of just shouting “I wanna be an idol!” she was aiming for music college and spent every day playing piano.
I can read those scores pretty well now!
I’m studying music theory too, and I’d love to rewrite all those confusing black-dot pseudo-scores into proper five-line notation.
The problem is, paper’s expensive.
The stuff at Lang Village’s general store is cheap, but totally wrong for sheet music.
It’s all bumpy, and the ink bleeds until everything looks like a squashed spider.
I keep asking Selina to buy some when she goes to the royal capital, but if I get too specific, she sighs and says, “What a pain.”
I want to go to the royal capital myself someday. Buy proper sheet music, good paper, maybe even a better harp.
My current one’s only selling point is that it’s smaller than the last. It slips out of tune if I so much as breathe on it wrong.
The tuning pegs are loose, too—it’s either repairs or replacement. Preferably replacement. The sound quality’s pretty meh anyway.
While I’m mulling all this over, it’s finally my turn.
“Here! I collected ten medicinal herbs for the request.”
I set the bundled herbs on the counter.
“Oh, these are higher grade herbs? Um, please wait a moment.”
The cute receptionist scurries off to consult the more experienced-looking one beside her.
Ah! That’s the lady from the guild master’s office!
“Zoe, I’ll take it from here. I’m Lena.”
Beautiful and competent Lena! I’ll remember that name.
Wait—do receptionists usually switch out like this? Did I do something wrong?
“These are middle-grade herbs. Very good quality.”
Just from a glance? And they count as middle-grade?
“Um... this still completes the quest, right?”
This is important! I want the money, sure—but I’m also seriously over being Iron-rank.
It’s not that I care about status or anything… okay, maybe a little.
And I can’t even take the good-paying quests yet!
“Yes, of course,” Lena says. “But… you didn’t go deep into the Great Forest to gather these, did you? We don’t encourage dangerous behavior.”
Phew, it wasn’t that deep.
I just nod sweetly to reassure her.
“These are worth five pennies each.”
So fifty total!
I paid ten for guild registration, so I’m up forty.
And Lena even gives me two stars in the record book!
“Normally, someone with no stars wouldn’t bring in herbs of this grade,” she says. “But please don’t take unnecessary risks, all right?”
That’s going to be tricky. Maybe I’ll just keep selling directly to the apothecary instead!
I pocket the fifty pennies and leave the Adventurers’ Guild.
“Now… where was that herb shop again?”
Last time Maggie led the way and I just followed along, so my memory’s a bit foggy.
And I was so excited by everything. It was my first time in town, after all.
Come to think of it, this is my first time walking around Carlton on my own.
Let’s see… Maggie said the herb shop on the main street was no good, right?
But it looks a lot fancier than it did three years ago.
“If I can’t find the other place, I guess this one might work… but if they try to lowball me on high-grade herbs, I’ll be so mad.”
I know! I’ll scout out the main street shop first, then head to the back streets and—yes! There it is! Found it!
I duck into an alley, pull ten bundled high-grade herbs from Storage, and place them neatly in my basket.
Ever since I stopped giving herbs to Merry and Ben, I’ve had a steady stock in Storage.
But dumping them all at once would be suspicious.
“Good afternoon!”
The shop’s dim interior smells thickly of brewing herbs and earthy sweetness.
“Ah, what can I do for you?”
Still the same gentle-looking old apothecary.
I wish Selina would grow into a kind, soft-spoken old lady like this. Though… yeah, probably not happening.
“I’m here to sell herbs!”
Normally I’d go through the Adventurers’ Guild for that sweet promotion boost, but a no-star Iron-rank hauling in high-grade herbs would raise eyebrows.
“Ah, I remember you. The child who came to sell high-grade herbs.”
He remembers me from one visit three years ago? Impressive.
“Yes! I’ll be coming by regularly from now on.”
The apothecary beams.
“That’s wonderful news. We’re always short on herbs in winter.”
The Great Forest doesn’t get snow deep inside, but the edges do.
And judging by today, the herb patches have been picked nearly clean.
I pull out the ten high-grade herbs from my basket.
“These are excellent quality. I’ll pay one hundred pennies.”
It was eighty last time, I think.
But that was in early summer, when there were more sellers around.
“Would once a week be okay?”
After accepting the payment, I check in about frequency.
The apothecary thinks for a moment.
“If possible, I’d prefer twice a week. Carlton’s adventurer population is growing, and during the winter off-season, the lord has farmers help clear the forest, which leads to more injuries.”
“Okay. I’ll try for twice a week.”
I leave the herb shop, coins jingling in my pouch.
“This sounds pretty serious…”
Lang Village does forest clearing too, but stopping the Great Forest’s spread seems almost impossible.
The Waymark stone in Lang Village keeps getting swallowed deeper into the woods.
Selina was grumbling that the court mage of Sarina Kingdom asked her to “find a way to stop the Great Forest’s expansion,” but maybe… it really is a serious problem.