Chapter 147 - Living Lilies

"And Johan?"

"He… He's broken some ribs and has a fractured left arm. But he doesn't want to talk much about it…"

"That makes sense." Nodding, Oli took in a final long breath before hopping to his feet. "Well, it's finally time to get to the main objective. After this, we can hurry back and be done with all this."

"Right…"

"Leon, what's up?"

"Hm? What do you--"

"You wanted to talk about something, so spit it out. I'll answer the best I can," Oli stated with a friendly smile.

The swordsman sighed and let his shoulders droop as some disappointment reappeared in his gaze. "Oliver… We weren't able to do anything last night. Are you really an early adept?"

"Did your grandpa tell you?"

Leon nodded and continued, "If that's true, then it just shows how useless we are… I could barely stay alive while I struggled to defend myself… I--"

"You did more than enough, Leon," Oli spoke loudly. "Without you and Johan, what would've happened to Shadur? They could've easily captured or killed him without you two circling him. Of course you weren't able to win the fight, you were heavily outnumbered! I only managed to kill those men because I caught them by surprise while they were focused on you and the others. Had you and Johan not been here, that fight would've been a definite loss.

"So keep your head up, you deserve to feel proud about your first real-life battle. Not only did you avoid crippling injures while outnumbered, but you maintained a solid defense for yourself and those you were charged to protect. That's an incredible thing for your first battle," reasoned Oli. "A broken bone or two will heal quickly with a family doctor like Shadur, so don't sweat it. Because of your hard work, we'll be able to harvest the lilies your dad needs and enough to sell for a profit. You've done well, Leon, and so has Johan."

Following Oli's shifting gaze, Leon turned around to see Johan standing still just outside the tent flap. "Johan… how long--"

"We'll have to celebrate your first mission when we're done," Oli commented, still looking at Johan. "Both of you have done great for your first time. You weren't perfect but, in the end, we've made it this far and we'll soon be rushing back with the objective complete."

"Hm… We're not done yet..." Johan mumbled loudly.

"That's more like it!" Oli laughed, walking up to Johan and slapping him on the back. He whispered, "That's more like your old man… keep it up."

Johan blinked but said nothing more. Leon was perplexed, trying to understand Johan's sudden shift in attitude while Oli took out some jerky. They waited for Shadur to finish his meditation, patiently and silently sitting around the camp.

Soon, the tent flap opened and Shadur emerged for the first time that morning. "Sorry for the delay… I need to make sure I've got enough essence for the harvest."

"That's fine considering all the help you gave us last night. Are you ready now?" asked Oli.

"Yeah, I'm ready…"

Oli helped Shadur take down the tent, not wanting those with broken arms to worry about it. Once Shadur stored the tent and snacked on some jerky, the party moved forward toward the mountainside.

Loosely guided by Oli's map and Shadur's knowledge of the area, the four of them hurried further east. It took nearly an hour but they eventually stopped after finding what they were after.

In a small valley tucked away in the mountainside, a field of white flowers glowed from the sunlight bouncing off the morning dew. The flowers swayed in the soft wind and the tips of their petals varied in color. Some patches had hints of light pink while others showed dark violet staining a majority of the petals.

"Finally! We can--"

"Wait, Leon…" Shadur ordered, stopping Leon's sprint toward the field. He looked toward a dark violet patch and stepped forward slowly. "We have to be careful and picky with the Living Lilies. There are two things that make Living Lilies hard to harvest. The first thing is…"

The moment Shadur came within five krin of that flower patch, the lilies suddenly started to close their petals.

"What the…" Johan mumbled in surprise while Leon and Oli managed to keep their surprise silent.

Shadur explained, "Living Lilies can sense their surroundings. If you get too close, they close their petals. Normally that wouldn't be a big deal but the end product is different between open lilies and closed lilies. The petals are the rare ingredient we're after but those petals are pumped with a light neurotoxin when the flower is no longer in bloom. It's not too effective on humans or large beasts but it will no longer be the miracle ingredient that's valued so highly. While that toxin eventually fades out of the petals after they bloom again, that would take a couple of days."

"How do you get around that? And what's the second issue?" Oli asked.

Smiling, Shadur gathered nature essence and let it drift into the closed flower bulbs. The suddenly started to open again. "These have already started to produce the toxin, but that's fine since we don't want this color of petal. The dark violet lilies have over matured for making medicine and the light pink petals are still too young."

Following along, Oli deduced, "So you need to find those in the middle?"

"That's correct, which is why only an expert should harvest the lilies. Someone needs to understand when the lilies are ready for harvest or too far gone, while also making sure to coerce them from ever closing with nature essence."

"Is there anything we can do to help?"

Shadur shook his head but pointed all around the flower field. "You can't help me harvest anything but you can keep watch for anyone or anything trying to get close to the fields. We don't want the harvest to be ruined by someone setting foot in the flower field."

"Good, then allow me." Oli rushed to the valley's opening. "You two stay back a bit. I'm sure I can scare away any beast that's interested in the flowers and I'll keep any thieves at bay, so keep an eye on the valley edges, okay?"