Life in Another World as a Maid Mage

Walk through a corridor where black rocks peel out, relying on magic lights. The first junction is a short walk away. Close to the entrance, there are no visible collections in between, walking toward the back while watching the surroundings.

The Holtensia Cave, located in the southern part of Trisval territory, is about 1,500 metres long and boasts a cave of its size. The passage leading from the cave is almost constant in width and height, and it is sufficiently wide and easy to walk around, but the interior has a complex branched maze structure. If not a guide or a map, this cave seems to be one of the raw materials for medicine, but it's a familiar place for nearby pharmacists to walk.

"Well, it's a bit difficult to get in without an escort, but it's a bit difficult. After all, there are many dangerous places when it comes to medicinal herbs."

The closest place Mandrake can collect in the winter is this Holtensia Cave. The corridor is wide and easy to walk, and it is easy to escape through the openings inside and outside, and many pharmacists visit to collect herbs.

However, Mandrake is mostly inhabited around dangerous beast habitats. That's why a guard is indispensable as long as he has the power to fight.

"Do you have a collection point? There must have been a few places."

"Yeah, I'm gonna hit a couple of places close to the entrance."

Siori leaned her neck into the conversation between Alec and Nils. I thought it would be more limited because it is said to be the premium ingredient of medicine.

"Is it grown in so many places?

"Mandrake grows deep in the woods and in caves where the sun hits. In the woods, where the leakage day hits, in the caves, where there are holes in the ceiling and the sun is plugging in."

"There are plenty of places in the Holtensia Cave with openings in the ceiling. So somewhere -- mostly in most places, one by one."

Alec and Nils explained each to me.

"Hee... I see."

Mandrake is seldom isolated and has the property of lurking underground in herds of several. Since the number of people in the herd varies from two to about ten, it seems that the collection point is mostly laddered.

"I want to gather ingredients, so I might stop for a while, okay?

"Me too. I think I should keep about two mandrakes."

Linus and Ellen, who were accompanying him in the same gathering, also clasped their mouths.

Copy that.

It seems that beasts rarely come out near the entrance, and fortunately nothing happened until the first junction. A beast will never attack an opponent who is more powerful than he is, unless he is so militant or less intelligent. Thankfully, the insect repellent also had a certain effect, and there was no sign of getting closer to us when I felt the signs.

In consideration of the reverberations of the sounds in the cave, as I walked through the conversation with a slightly subdued voice, I reached a place divided into three.

"Well, there are three choices... which way do we go?

I think it's on the far right.

I thought it bothered me, but Nils answered the question immediately.

"On the left, it's a long way to the end, and there's only one collection point, so if you take it off, it's troublesome. I'll meet you at the right end in the middle, and there will be a lot of collection points at the right end."

I want a certain number, so this time on the right end. That explains why he rebound his back, which appears to contain harvesting equipment.

Walk along the right end of the road as directed by Nils.

"... speaking of which, how do you collect Mandrake? I hear you scream when you pull it out."

Oh, yeah.

Nils told me a lot of questions that came to mind.

"Just don't pull it out."

Huh?

"Mandrake screams only when the leaves are pulled in the dirt. That's why you have to scratch the dirt and dig it up."

"Eh... is that all you need?

For the finest medicinal herb with troublesome habits, it became too creepy. Nils smiled at the face.

"Yes, that's all. You're creepy."

"Yeah... I see. I thought it would require more special technology."

I don't think it was on my portable beast atlas. Nils explained it to me additionally behind Shiori, which I think should be added later.

"It wasn't that long ago that a safe harvest was established. When I was a rookie, I still didn't know what to scream for. That's why an expert collector used a demonic beast with degraded ears to demolish it. In an older age... it seemed like a slave with earplugs pulled it out."

"Uhh... wow"

I hear that Mandrake's screams can hardly be prevented by putting a stopper on his ear. Siori moaned at the inhumane means, but Alec told me that it was a technique that was no longer practiced in the era of the Empire where slavery lived.

That means slavery still remains in the empire.

When such a question arose and clouded his face, Alec noticed it and slapped him gently on the shoulder.

"It's okay. The rebels prevailed over the civil unrest. I hear the rebel leader seems to be of considerable personality, so slavery will soon be abolished."

"... I see. I'm glad."

I passed the corner of my head about the client of the job (...) that I received with the "friends" of [Akechi].

I hardly remember the face of that man, who said he was a superior aristocrat of the Empire. I was supposed to be asleep because I wasn't feeling well, but when I realized it, I couldn't help but remember from the beginning to the end that my client had been put on a carriage. But I remember very well that he was very arrogant to his servants and friends. Especially Shiori, whose main job was shameful and miscellaneous, was almost the same as the younger lady.

"--Leave the rice cooker alone. It won't be long anyway."

That's how I've crushed a few slaves, and that's how my client said it, and my people agreed to it - and maybe I'll never forget that moment for life.

What happened to that client? Perhaps the rebels have overwhelmed us, but if slavery is to be abolished anyway, we will never be able to treat them inhumanely again. And no more unhappy people will be born. I hope so.

― ― Alec avoided the usual intimate contact in front of the following Nils. But I can see with my eyes that you care about Shiori. A soft gaze with a little bit of shredding was asking, "Are you all right?"

(It's okay.)

Answering only lip movements, Alec nodded and smiled.

"... that's why it took so long to collect, so the Mandrake medicine was very expensive. Now that you can collect without being an expert, it's expensive, but even if you get a little excited, you'll be able to buy it."

Ellen said thank you.

Well, the difficulty is that there are more random catches.

Ransacks?

"Yes, I dig up the roots with earth magic, uh... Well, maybe they're doing it."

Suddenly Nils moans low in the middle of the conversation.

A thin, bright place with a wide opening at the end of the walking corridor. Even the first time I came to Shiori, I knew at a glance that there was something unusual.

I took a breath at the scene of rushing to my earliest feet.

"It's the closest and easiest place to pick. It happens sometimes."

"... he did it again on a massive scale."

There was a hole in his head, and a large side of the square was being dug up with a slight sunlight in it. Rocks and dirt scatter here and there, completely withered and dried plants and mushrooms. In the meantime, several masculine shoe marks were left behind.

"From the dryness of the soil and plants... how long has it been?

Alec nods to Siori's question.

"Yeah, it's been at least two or three weeks."

"It's terrible. This is delicious if you eat it."

Linus, who rolled to his feet and picked up dried mushrooms from his roots, shook his face.

"That and this, oh, this is medicinal herb... I wonder what kind of rogue it is now!

Normally, the face of gentle Ellen and the shape of the demon - it's a scary female doctor mode.

Lori was also shaking her body with dried herbs.

"It's all about Mandrake. Even if it's cheaper than it used to be, selling it won't make a lot of money. It's hard to tell from other medicinal herbs when they grow on the ground, so people who know medicinal herbs usually dig up carefully one by one."

"An amateur's crime?

"Sometimes that happens. Some pharmacists think only of their own interests."

If you've dug it up so hard with magic, the Mandrake at stake must have been damaged. It may be scattered like this scattered plant.

"Of course, the purchase price of the injury also falls. However, because the drug's efficacy has dropped slightly, there are many things like selling it as a powder and processed ingredient at a lower price than the market price, or selling it as a translated product to a nostalgic pharmacist. But if you pick a rootstock, the next Mandrake won't grow, and because it's an intelligent beast, you may find it dangerous and move it elsewhere. Maybe we won't be able to use this collection point for a while."

Whether it's medicinal herbs or mushrooms, there are implicit rules at the time of collection so that they can be collected in the same place for a long time. Do not harvest too much, do not harvest anything too small, leave anything that can leave roots, etc.

It's the same manners used in the original world to hunt wild plants and mushrooms.

"Ugh... there's a lot of naughty people everywhere."

Alec smiled bitterly at Siori, moaning.

"What is it? Is there anyone like you back home?

"Yeah, I knew I was the only one who could think about myself, like sneaking up on stocks or rooting out in a hole..."

"--I 've always felt like an ideal place to talk about your hometown, but there are some bad people there."

Care is taken not to be overheard by other people in meaningful verbal dialogues, or he whispers in his voice. I laughed bitterly at the image of my hometown (Japan) in him.

"Living in a normal country is a normal person. Like the kingdom, some are good and others are bad."

While saying so, I developed exploratory magic to explore the path, but there was no sign of anything other than the Magic Beast. It seems that there are no colleagues or intruders at the moment.

When I told Alec, he nodded and exhaled.

"If there's a Ranger, I'd like to catch him... but there are no clear penalties. I hope we don't have to do this like we did in the Tower of Hosoya."

"That's right...."

I don't want to get into trouble with a poor colleague, like in the tower of Silveria.

"I can't help it. Shall we go first?

Nils and Ellen, who had been looking around for a while, stood up.

It is highly probable that the Rangers are mowing all the finest herbs at the picking spots ahead. In that case, they had to go deep into the cave, and Theori was prepared that the gathering might take longer than planned.

As expected, the second and third collection points were also vandalized.

Nils exhaled without a voice, and Ellen was completely demonic. Linus looked at the tragedy and turned to her face.

"... because I needed a lot of medicinal herbs in Brovito's case. Now there may have been someone who thought the buyer would come with a slightly poor quality."

In the Snow Wolf raid in the village of Blovite, which caused more than 170 injuries, the healing magic of the therapist said that a large amount of medicinal herb was consumed in time. Approximately half of the injuries from lacerations and bites were serious, so many of the pharmacists dispatched appeared to have brought in hidden herbs and scratches. It seems that Mandrake was used not only as a raw material for effective wound medicine, but also as a nourishing agent if it was roasted in small amounts.

Expensive herbs cost a lot of money and time to collect. Depending on the quantity, it may be cheaper to buy something on the market than to go out on your own.

Nils said it might be such a crowd hunt.

"I see...."

"... I don't understand how people feel about taking advantage of the misfortunes of others to make money"

"Absolutely! I'll kill you if I find you!

"What!?"

Linus shook into Ellen, who threw up a noisy dialogue with too much anger, exhaled a short sigh, then regained consciousness and smiled cheerfully.

"... but I can't help it. Instead, let's move on thinking there's a lot better in the back. Maybe everybody's watching and running back."

That's right.

Nils nodded with a small smile.

"The deeper you go, the higher the chance of dangerous beasts coming out... but I'm sorry, thank you very much."

"Never mind. It's the adventurer's job not to do as expected."

I see. Come on, let's get back to it. "

The party, which had raised morale in a downward spiral, walked towards the back.

"I told you..."

Once in a while, Linus stopped and collected strange sea moons and rare mushrooms that drifted through the darkness, and quickly lowered his eyebrows and buttocks.

"Maybe this is really running away."

This is not limited to plants that are rooted on the spot, but there are few botanical monsters and other monsters like Mandrake that can walk on their own until now. They may be watching out for a violent overrun, or they may be running deeper into a safer cave for the Beast.

"- Oh, no. Looks like he really ran away. Look at this."

The next collection point. Fortunately, it wasn't rough, but there were some holes in the ground where Nils pointed. There are holes about three or four centimeters in diameter everywhere. The lumps of soil that fell gently were dotted toward the back.

"Ah... this is Mandrake's?

"Yeah, that's right. If you feel danger, walk to safety. Mandrake is a coward."

"Hee, hee..."

Cowardly plants escape on their own to safety zones.

It was a completely unknown territory for Shiori from a world without the concept, but it was common sense for Alec, who was born and raised in this world.

But I'm a little worried.

Linus pointed at her head and said.

"One way or another, the belligerent cave bird doesn't come down at all. Looks like he's in the nest."

Looking up at the rock ceiling, which seemed to be as high as a dozen metels, I saw a nest of birds made from a combination of dead branches and dead grass on the shoreline near the ceiling. At this distance, it seemed that the size of the bird beast that lived in it was there.

The cave bird is a medium-sized bird beast that lives in the darkness, such as caves and underground ruins. Its body length is about fifty centimeters, and its distinctive smells of meat and eggs are treated as delicious. Like it or dislike it breaks up, but the rich, melting stew seems to be cherished by some foodies.

"I'd like to take one, but if it doesn't come out of the nest, there's nothing I can do."

I thought Rhinus might be able to threaten the nest with a bow, but the material of the nest seems to use plants that emit a strong odor to remove the outer enemies. It seems like it would be quite a miserable situation if it were to be circumvented.

"Whatever Mandrake or some other little beast, it's been weeks since the Ransacks arrived, and it's a little doubtful that they won't come out alert."

"Is there something else?"

Alec created a traffic surface on Linus, who murmured with his gaze towards the back, which was invisible in the dark.

"Could it be a snow bear or something?"

"Maybe...."

"I'll explore a little further."

When he proposed, Alec nodded.

"Don't overdo it. It doesn't have to be all directions. Just make sure you're going in the right direction."

"... I know. I'll find it and disarm it immediately."

After giving him a bitter smile for worrying about the magic run out and putting his hands on the "Thermo's Dedicated Magic Healing Pouch", Thermo spread the magic of exploration into the back - breathlessly.

"There's something. Somewhere closer than I thought. Duplex"

"What?"

Tension ran among my friends.

"I think the distance is... around 100 meters. I think it's medium-sized... but I feel like it has a big magic reaction."

--A dense mass of magic elements. There is no unique feeling of magic with attributes, such as fire, water, and ice. A magic element with no attributes.

"The one whose magic attack was the main one."

Alec slapped his tongue.

"That doesn't mean it's a snow bear."

"Besides, it's not an ice frog or a snow wolf."

"That's right. It must be a strong beast, but if it's that much, the cave birds won't be alert. I don't know, what is it?"

We all looked at each other.

You can retreat for a while.

Nils looked as if he realized that it would not happen. Speaking of auxiliary positions, he is in A class. I'm picking up strange signs of gradual atmospheric mixing.

"... I hope they're not headed this way... hmm, they're coming."

That's right.

A feeling of impending oppression.

Theoli quickly swallowed half of the magic healing medicine that Alec gave her.

Alec and Linus each set up a product and went down behind them with Nils and Ellen. Lori was dyed bright red.

He's coming.

Something pale light blue appeared loosely from the black-and-white stretch of sight. Stolen from somewhere or forgotten by other adventurers, bald monsters in mostly rags.

I don't know where I'm looking. Purple, cloudy, pupil-free, hanging eyes. Is the mucus seeping out? The peeled skin is creepy and luminous. It was thought that something stupid around my mouth was a feeding beast, but when I looked closely, it seemed to be a part of my body. There are many tentacles sticking out of the gap in the cloth.

"Is that you, Martian?

Siori exhaled a trembling breath into the octopus-like beast that appeared in the science fiction film.

"Uhhh...."

Linus moaning creepily with Alec to protect the front.

Hearing the two voices, they narrowed their thick and cloudy eyes as they laughed.

"... brain sipping."

Alec slapped his tongue.

A fierce beast that feeds on the prey's brain, a brain sip.

--A rare species of beast.