CH 9

Episode 9 – Muscle Strengthening Plant

The second unidentified plant. This is a plant with a really strange color. I don’t really want to put this in my mouth, but… I closed my eyes and quickly tossed it in.

[Name: Kreim Grass]

[Level: 15]

[Effect: Numbness (Minimal)]

[Fertility: Low]

[Origin: Mount Cornello]

As usual, the appraisal information came instantly, but the name that came out was Kreim Grass. Unlike Bomb Grass, this was a plant I had never heard of nor seen before.

Next was the last unidentified plant that I found in this area.

At first, I thought it was just a weed since it honestly looked just like one, but, when I held my hand over it, my appraisal surprisingly didn’t pick anything up. Well, I wasn’t really expecting much from it since it looked like a weed, but the possibility that it could be useful is still there. Picking it up gingerly, I put it in my mouth.

[Name: Dumbbell Weed]

[Level: 89]

[Effect: Muscle Strengthening (Small)]

[Fertility: Minimum]

……Huh?! Muscle strengthening? Level 89?!

It had been five years since I started appraising plants, but this was the first time I lost my cool when doing so. I’d never heard of Dumbbell Weed before, and on top of that, I’d never seen a plant with a level above 40. I didn’t really understand what it meant exactly by “muscle strengthening”, and this was also the first time seeing a plant with a “very low” fertility. Although it was just a rumor at first, I had heard that there was a plant that could instantly build your muscles when you ate it. It wasn’t on the market, so I was totally skeptical, but as it turns out, I could now confirm that it actually existed. Well, although I’d been appraising plants for five years, just now I couldn’t even tell a random weed from a valuable plant, nor could I tell an average adventurer from a crazy strong one, so….

I immediately checked if there was any other of the same plant growing nearby, but there wasn’t anything aside from the one I found initially. A drawback of the appraisal ability was that the plant that was used for the first appraisal would disappear. I supposed the fact that the first ingestion of the plant has no effects could also be considered a drawback of sorts, but at least the merit of doing so far outweighed the demerits.

With this, it was now possible to synthesize Dumbbell Weed from magical power, and I had gotten my hands on the information that Dumbbell Weed grows on Mount Cornello. Considering the fact that its fertility was “very low”, there was a good chance it was a rare plant that couldn’t be found so readily.

For now, plant collection in this area is complete, so I decided to go back and talk to the others about changing areas.

“I’m back!~” (Lewin)

“Oh, Lewin-kun. You’re back?” (Dion)

“Yup, I finished harvesting the plants in the area… Would it be possible to change locations from here?” (Lewin)

While asking this of them, I peered at Ahmed, who was still sleeping comfortably on the ground. The other two also peered over at her, and then they both shook their heads in unison.

“When she’s like this, if we wake her up, it’ll be rough. And if you try to force her… you probably already know what would happen, right, Lewin-kun?” (Dion)

Dion frantically shook his head and affirmed that suggestion with all his might.

I see… So we’ll be stuck here until Ahmed wakes up?

….But there’s no more valuable plants growing in this area. This was honestly a bit of a problem.

“Then shall I escort you? My skill will make it easy for us to detect and avoid any enemy that tries to approach us.” (Smash)

“Ah, that’s a good idea. As long as I’m here to keep watch for Ahmed-san.” (Dion)

“Eh? Smash-san, is that okay with you? Thank you!” (Lewin)

An unexpected suggestion came from Smash. When we were talking a little on the way to Mount Cornello, I heard that Smash used to be a former thief, and Ahmed scouted him to [Azure Alliance] for his detection ability. This ability was legit. If a monster was in the vicinity, he could detect its location, allowing him to avoid encounters with enemies.

“Then, Dion-san, I’ll be off.” (Smash)

“Yep, leave Ahmed-san to me.” (Dion)

Thus, I set off with Smash-san to continue my herb collecting.

Smash, despite his scary appearance, actually treated me pretty kindly; the same was true of the proposal he made just now. But so far, apart from Ahmed, I was glad that I picked [Azure Alliance] to help me with this quest commission since the two of them were such flexible people.