Volume 28 - CH 5

When I returned to the Dragon's Dwelling Tree Residence, I instructed my clan members to gather medicinal herbs.

It's a simple job that even low-level adventurers can do, just pick up what grows near the city.

「There were more than thirty of us in both the first and second teams, so we would be able to gather quite a lot.」

I've attached a bonus of 10,000 gold to the winner who collects the most herbs.

「When in a hurry, carrots are the way to go. If time can be bought with money, it's cheap.」

「Ada, let me borrow the kitchen and the cauldron.」

I told the proprietress, who had also returned to the inn, and she seemed to have already grasped the situation in town and accepted with a double answer.

「Oh, sure, sure. Use it as much as you like.」

I washed the herbs that everyone had gathered and threw them into a large pot on the hearth, and began to boil them.

The kitchen was filled with the green smell of aloe, but I had to be patient.

When the water has turned green, I tie a cloth to the tub and pour the contents of the pot into it, turning it upside down.

This is the process of filtering the leaves of the herbs through the cloth and extracting only the herb extracts. Then――

「Someone, get me a bottle from Hans' workshop.」

「Yes! Leave it to me, brother!」

Jouga has come forward.

「Okay, I'll leave you to it then, but don't fall down because you're in such a hurry, okay? Jouga.」

「Ha, who are you talking to? I'm not that dumb!」

I'm still a little worried, but even if the bottles break, there are probably only ten or twenty of them left. If that's the case, we can make more.

As I was filling the pot with water again and boiling the next batch of herbs, Serina came back.

「Alec, look! Ta-da! I've got the potion for you.」

With that, she placed a large bag on the kitchen worktable. It made a crinkling sound, but it must be more than a hundred bottles.

「Ohhh, great, You're doing great, Serina.」

The others were delighted.

「How did you get this, Serina?」

This is an important point, so I'll check it out.

「Fufu, there was a corrupt merchant named Ten-Vayar who bought up all the potions for resale, from his warehouse. I heard that he's been doing some really bad things in Vernia, so I crushed it」

I don't know the name of the merchant, but it seems that she had some sort of history with him.

「Hmm, I'll give you credit for crushing one of the resellers, but ......」

「What?」

「Did you pay for that potion? Serina」

「Huh?」

I explained to the confused Serina.

「It is an unforgivable evil to resell them in an emergency like this, but that doesn't mean you can keep the potion for yourself, does it? That would be indistinguishable from any other robbery.」

「Wha! Th-that's because he's a bad guy!?」

「Some bad guys will be thrown in jail and some bad guys will be fined. It's a different story if they have a bounty on their head. ...... I'll ask you one thing, Serina, is it okay for police officers to steal?」

According to the laws of the Grandsword, well, the king will reward you for a job well done! but we won't know until we ask him. I sarcastically confronted her with such a rather unimportant question. It was a punishment for easily bringing the potion to her while we were struggling to make it.

「B-but, that was ......」

Seriously, JK Serina who put her hand over her mouth and began to mope is cute, so let's let her worry for a while in vain.

「You really are a hero, Serina.」

「You're Hero, a hero!」

I further agitated her, Meena nodded unconditionally, and Lily took advantage of the fun.

「Ehhh......? All right, then. I'll take this to the royal castle.」

Well, that sounds good too. No, that's probably for the best.

「Yoo-hoo! Alec!」

After Serina left, a blond-haired girl with a belly button came this time.

「Sarah?」

Beautiful girls are always welcome here, but today is the only day I'm wondering. After all, she's the A-rank adventurer we hired to guard our log cabin when we built it. She's an A-ranked adventurer who could take on a level 86 immortal Specter.

If there were to be a battle with her, all of us here ...... would probably not be able to win, even if we all banded together.

「Whoa, could this be, hee, you're making a potion. Maybe it was just the thing!」

Sarah was about to grab the finished potion, but Luka quickly took it from her side.

「This is our potion. You should tell us what you want to do with it first, Sarah.」

「Geez, but your face scares me, Luka. We're both belly button buddies.」

「Huh? No, don't put me the same as you」

Luka is wearing a similar outfit, but the difference is that she's trying to appeal to men.

「Ehh, it's the same. *poke*.」

「Hyaaa, cut it out, stop it. Don't poke me in the wrong place.」

Luka blushed and twisted around as Sarah's finger poked her navel.

「Alec, don't you think it's time to call the royal castle? Sarah, if you cause trouble in my inn, I will report you to the guild.」

The landlady looked into the kitchen and said with a straight face.

「Oh, I won't, I won't. I just came here to ask you to share some potions with me today. Lune-chi has been nagging me to get some potions for her.」

I think "Lune-chi" is one of Sarah's party members. Sela was supposed to be the leader, but, well, it doesn't matter now.

「Sorry, Sarah, but I can only sell you one.」

「Eh, why?」

「That's because you're an A-rank party, and you'd probably use a high potion or something for your adventuring.」

「Well, our healers are so good that we hardly ever use them.」

「Well, we're good friends, and it would be wrong to send you home without anything. Just one. The rest you'll have to make yourselves or do something with. If you had a high-level magician, they could probably figure out how to make it.」

「Ohhh, that's true, too. Okay, so how about upstairs for the price?」

Sarah points to the ceiling, puffing out her chest as if to show off her body. With a wink. You're paying for the bed in my room?.

「Fine, I sold it with one of those belly buttons.」

「Thank you. It's the belly button, isn't it, Luka?」

「I told you, I'm not like you!」

Luka's blushing face is very new to me. I'll be sure to take care of Luka's belly button later.

――We were in harmony, but we may have been a little too buoyant at the time.