Chapter 241: The Tears series…
Looking at the backs of Monica, Roll, and the adventurer peering at Tears of the Plain, I folded my arms with a difficult face. The main point started here. I still had not told them the value of Tears of the Plain, and I was stuck on how to convey it. Hm... at times like this I should consult. I leaned my face toward Erika on my right, who was looking at Monica’s back the same way, and whispered, "I have something to consult."
Erika made a slightly surprised face, then stepped one step back even while tilting her head. Teine was on my left and stepped one step back the same as Erika, pricking up her ears. I smiled in a troubled way and started talking at a volume Monica and the others could not hear.
"About the value of Tears of the Plain. I was thinking how to teach it."
"Value... come to think of it, you said it was rare. How much is it?"
"...One bloom, one white gold coin."
""...Haaah?"""
Even while being careful with volume not only Erika but Teine spoke together and looked at my face with dubious expressions. I rubbed the back of my neck with one hand and smiled wryly at their natural reaction. It was true it was unusual, but a single flower about the size of a palm, told it was one white gold coin, I hugely understood the feeling of not being able to believe it.
But I was not lying or making it up. The actual price when you bought it in the game was one white gold coin. There were actually various kinds like Tears of the Mountain Range, Tears of the Snow Mountain, Tears of the Forest, and players called them the Tears series. Because they were rare they were special materials, so players all searched for them. But as I explained earlier, to find them you had to make a magic tool, and many players gave up just from the magic tool’s materials. Monica found it with the naked eye. Telling me not to be surprised was the unreasonable part.
When I taught Erika and Teine the uses of Tears of the Plain in an easy-to-understand way, the two of them froze with dumbfounded faces. Um... don’t freeze. Ride the consultation with me? I thought the danger was lower if they knew and held it rather than holding it without knowing. I smiled wryly and continued to Erika and Teine. The two quietly took a deep breath, then started talking with tired faces.
"Is there anything but saying it straight?"
"I think so too, Raide-sama."
"...Is it all right to tell Monica straight that that flower is worth one white gold coin?"
Erika put one hand to her forehead at my words and shook her head, showing no with her action. Teine also smiled in a troubled way and shook her head. I made a difficult face and folded my arms again.
"Haaa. That will not do. Please wait... aah, what should we do."
"Lady Erika, how about showing the effect instead?"
"...I was thinking that as well, Teine-san."
"The effect, huh..."
I nodded, thanked the two for riding the consultation, and there they seemed to notice, smiled happily, and let out small breaths. Being praised made me glad... but at this age having my head stroked was embarrassing. When I told the two it was embarrassing they grinned and stroked my head even more.
When we came back to the tent I pinched a flower different from the Tears of the Plain Monica found between my fingers and showed it to the four. I had of course told them to keep the flower Monica found. That was not just me. It was everyone’s consensus. Using the Tears of the Plain she found as-is felt the same as taking away a treasure. Luckily another one was blooming nearby and we picked it under Monica’s guidance.
I asked the adventurer if she had ordinary wound medicine. She took a small bottle from a pouch-type Magic Bag and handed it over. I thanked her, took it, put one petal of Tears of the Plain into the small bottle, and shook it. The colorless wound medicine gradually changed to a thin green. Maybe because it was night it looked like it glowed faintly, but it was not my imagination. It really glowed faintly.
"Originally you gather petals, measure the amount accurately, and mix... I don’t have that knowledge so I want you to look the other way."
"Even the instructor... has things he doesn’t know..."
"Monica-san, I understand that feeling very, ve~ry well."
Erika put one hand on Monica’s shoulder and nodded deeply again and again. Roll and the adventurer smiled in a troubled way but nodded as if agreeing. I told the four that I intended to grasp techniques I could not do, and that did not mean I had given up on challenging them.
Grasp the current self that cannot reach, and little by little, even a little, get closer to the ideal. The most important thing was not putting on airs and saying you can do what you cannot. Words from my position had the chance to change the students’ and various people’s ways of living. So I could only sincerely, stubbornly give my all to knowing what I could do, even if I was immature. When I finished speaking with a smile the four smiled wryly. I handed the mixed wound medicine to the adventurer and took a knife from my Magic Bag.
"I’ll say it first so you don’t get surprised. I’m going to put a cut on my palm."
"Eh..."
"...I believe you."
"Roll, should I... be watching this?"
"I think someone will say it, so I’ll say it. You got involved with Master, so give up."
Erika and Monica turned worried faces toward me, and Roll and the adventurer’s reactions made me smile wryly. I clenched my teeth and cut my palm with the knife. I felt a hot sensation and blood flowed out right away. Out of the corner of my eye Erika grimaced and Monica covered her mouth with both hands and held her breath. I immediately had the adventurer pour the petal-mixed wound medicine. When it was poured the pain vanished at once. I turned the wet palm that looked as if nothing had happened toward the four. They looked at the palm with surprised faces.
Ordinary wound medicine would close a wound but leave a clear mark. The reason scars remained on my body was that during the war there was only wound medicine. And even calling it ordinary wound medicine, it showed this much effect so of course it was not cheap. A small bottle was one large silver coin. A large bottle was one gold coin.
However expensive you said it was, for adventurers whose lives were on the line it was cheap, and you could say they each held one bottle. That was probably why Roll and the adventurer bit the hardest. They pulled one of my hands and stared into it as if eating it. To the two staring at one hand and Erika and Monica letting out breaths of relief, I smiled in a troubled way and said,
"That’s why Tears of the Plain as a precious material is worth one white gold coin per bloom."
"""...Ha?""""
I looked at Erika out of the corner of my eye while the three froze with dumbfounded faces. She appealed with dead eyes, "That is abrupt." I returned with my eyes, "This was the only timing, right?" Erika sighed, thought a little, then smiled as if giving up and nodded.
After that I got grilled with questions by Roll and the adventurer for a while. At the end they asked if they could share it with all the adventurers, so I permitted it with conditions. A simple condition that they share the information with adventurers belonging to the clan. The two understood the intent, laughed in a troubled way and agreed, then took Erika and Monica and went back to the tents.
I folded my arms and watched the four’s backs heading back to the tents when Teine gently hugged my right arm. Teine pressed her chest hard against my arm and smiled happily. Feeling the chest I looked at Teine’s profile sideways and asked,
"Did the consultation have an effect?"
"Fufu. A passing score... is about it."
"That’s harsh. If I don’t improve I’ll get scolded again."
"Raide-sama... is there something you regret, something left unfinished?"
"..."
Teine turned her face toward me with a serious expression and asked in a calm tone. It was not that I regretted or had something left unfinished. Only there were more than a few memories of if I had done that then, if I had done this. But in the end it was the past, things that had passed... even thinking that I sometimes remembered. War should not happen. That kind of thing... I’ve had enough... I was hugged hard from the side with her whole body and came to with a start, turning my face sideways. Teine was looking at me with a sad face. I smiled at her with a troubled face.
"I’m sorry. Don’t make that face."
"It’s fine. Don’t worry. Teine, I don’t want you making that face either."
"...Raide-sama is a liar."
"Haha. Maybe."
Teine pressed her forehead against my shoulder. I stayed in that position until Teine settled for a while. While thinking I was sorry, I eased my heart with the feel of being hugged and the softly drifting spring-breeze scent.