By Zephyria 
Leaving Boulder and Douglas behind, I headed to the stable as promised to the children.
I stopped arm-wrestling with Benjamin. Instead, I grew accustomed to walking side-by-side, holding his hand. It was cute how he would immediately stop whenever the child’s grip tightened, and I’d squeeze back and make a “tsk” sound to scold him. I thought it was like raising a large, loyal dog.
Among the nomadic martial arts factions, there was the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace, known for handling various beasts. They used martial arts modeled after ferocious animals and shared a great rapport with them. I remembered them once roaring at the Martial Arts Alliance, demanding to be treated as guests while leading a parade of strange beasts like tigers, peacocks, and elephants. Back then, I had envied the Black Tiger the Palace Lord of the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace had brought along, but now I realized the owner must have had quite the struggle. If Benjamin, a human, was this troublesome, dealing with actual beasts would be even more so.
Occasionally, I would hand Benjamin raw eggs instead of holding his hand. At first, Benjamin would break the eggs the moment he held them, leading to frustration, but after I demonstrated by tossing and catching eggs several times, he soon followed suit. Shayden, who had clapped and told us to join a circus after watching us, also joined in, and after class, we would sit in a circle in the stable and play with the eggs.
Benjamin would sometimes pick up a carrot with a determined expression, walk around the stable, and choose a horse to feed it to. Perhaps because of that, during Wednesday’s lecture praising fine horses, one horse nudged Benjamin’s shoulder with its muzzle first. It was the black stallion Benjamin had been allowed to saddle. Even though it was a beast that couldn’t speak, it seemed almost human as it let out a sigh and a whinny when Benjamin offered it a carrot as if begging. Benjamin named the stallion Victor and talked about it all day. He excitedly described how its breath felt when it came close, and how it must have opened its heart to him because it was friendly, but I just nodded along instead of trying to calm him down.
In Thursday’s throwing knife technique class, I finally found the knack and could hit the 5-meter target accurately. Professor Walton Roberts allowed us to use the 10-meter target and once again advised us on how to distribute force in our hands.
❖ ❖ ❖
The camping class, held on the third Friday of every month, included an alchemy experiment. The materials had been gathered during last week’s field trip. The goal for this month was to find and complete an alchemic drug using ingredients that could be collected from the dozens of medicinal herbs growing in the plains. Thanks to Demian and Jenny, who had already decided on the drug we needed to make, we just had to grind, mash, cut, and mix the ingredients in order.
I carefully examined the recipes the children had copied down. Previously, I had been too afraid of ruining the delicate ingredients and had stayed in the back, just watching the children work. But this time was different. Benjamin was struggling daily with controlling his strength, and I felt it was improper for me, an elder, to let the children do all the work while I idled. In practice, it wasn’t that difficult. I sterilized a glass bottle in boiling water.
The Mindollan Flower was used to stop excessive bleeding, but it was also an ingredient in creams for the face and hands. Since my rebirth, I had seen people meticulously caring for their faces and hands with powders and creams, so it wasn’t entirely unfamiliar to me. When used as a medicinal herb, the flowers were gathered in abundance and used whole, but the recipe stated that for cosmetics, their juice was extracted. However, a rule stipulated that petals shaped to resemble the flower must be enclosed in the bottle so that people with allergies to the ingredient could easily identify it. Thus, I was tasked with cutting the petals to the specified size and placing them in the sterilized glass bottle. The red petals were quite small and delicate, tearing easily even with a knife slightly longer than my finger. Cedric told me the material was unaffected by aura or mana, so I drew out a thread-like aura and used it. Seeing my knife skills, Demian exclaimed in admiration and ordered me to create various shapes, so I intricately cut out flower, leaf, star, cat, and bird shapes. The children easily recognized the flowers and stars, but they laughed when they mistook the cat and bird shapes for lions or dragons. Cedric scolded me for not paying attention, and I refocused on making the medicine.
Fortunately, we managed to make all the planned items on time. Our group submitted a lotion using Mindollan Flower and a stomach medicine made by mixing Nacete Creeper and Yulsum Mushroom. Some groups took so long that they couldn’t leave even after class ended, and Jenny looked at them triumphantly.
“We deliberately didn’t even look at recipes that were excessively difficult from the start. They take too long to make, and if even a small mistake is made, the quality will clearly suffer.”
“Indeed.”
“What do we do now, Michael? Shall we go grocery shopping together for the next camping trip?”
Before I could answer Jenny, Marienne quickly packed her bag and stood up. Although there was still a little tidying up to do, it wasn’t something the children absolutely had to do, and she seemed to be in a hurry, so I didn’t stop her and saw her off. I was a bit puzzled, as she wasn’t the type to skip out on an invitation to play. However, Jenny nodded knowingly as she watched Marienne’s retreating back.
“Marienne has a prior engagement with Glotin Tenner Young Master today.”
“Glotin, you say?”
“Yes, the one who recently became Marienne’s fiancé.”
Shayden, who had chosen an easy recipe like us and finished mixing the medicine on time, approached to call me but overheard the conversation. The force with which he slammed his hand on the desk nearly knocked over a beaker, which I quickly caught. Shayden’s youthful face was filled with mischief.
“Then, shall we go see Marienne?”
“Huh? Still… is that okay?”
“Why not? Do you know where they’re going?”
“I heard they’re going to the botanical garden.”
“We could also just happen to be visiting the botanical garden. Today is the day the night market is open, so we could all go out together, couldn’t we?”
Demian and Ivan looked hesitant. I was curious about Marienne’s fiancé as well, but I was reluctant to follow them secretly, so I couldn’t answer immediately. As the children hesitated, Shayden tapped the table, saying, “Come on, come on.” He even caught a petri dish that was about to fall and placed it back.
“Then let’s decide by lot. Everyone close your eyes and raise your hand if you want to go.”
“…”
There were five votes in favor. Unanimously, all the children decided to go to the Sierran National Botanical Garden. I was well aware that the Sierran Empire’s land was comparable in size to the Central Plains, but I couldn’t help but be surprised by the occasional, unimaginably large buildings. This National Botanical Garden, like Shierun Academy, was exceptionally vast.
The sun was beginning to set. Bathed in the twilight, several glass greenhouses sparkled, scattering light in all directions. As I squinted, shielding my eyes from the dazzling light, Jenny and Shayden, with excited faces, bought tickets and handed them out to the children. When I fumbled with the paper wristband-style admission pass, Ivan, standing beside me, helped me. The entrance to the botanical garden was wide enough for eight carriages to pass simultaneously; the right side was for entering, and the left for exiting. Everyone walked in the same direction, which reduced congestion despite the large crowd.
“With so many people, how will we find Marienne?”
“Let’s see. The National Botanical Garden has several greenhouses to walk through, but places to sit and rest are fixed. After visiting two greenhouses, there’s this restaurant street. We might run into them while they’re eating. If we don’t meet them at the restaurant, then here. Let’s go here.”
Shayden, having brought it out from somewhere, spread out a small map and pointed to a spot. Seeing how excited the child was, I let out a wry laugh. Ivan, nodding with a serious expression, immediately replied, “The Flower Garden Cafe Terrace. That’s a good idea.”
“How do you know?”
“It’s a place with an unusually large number of Magical Lighting Devices. The scenery is very beautiful after sunset, so I heard it’s a must-visit spot for dates.”
“Wow… I’ve always wanted to go, but I never thought I’d end up here with this group.”
Jenny giggled and took the map from Shayden. When asked if it was her first time, she replied that the entrance fee was expensive, so it wasn’t a place she could visit while studying for exams. Judging by Jenny’s reaction, it seemed Shayden had paid for everyone’s entrance fees. With a generous purse, he also had a generous spirit.
“It’s nice to be here together. I’ll treat everyone to dinner, so Jenny, let’s go somewhere nice.”
“Oh? Wow, really? You don’t have to go to such lengths.”
“I’m saying this because I think Jenny knows better than I do about places like this.”
The other children, understanding my intention, readily agreed. We decided to tour the greenhouses together, have dinner, and then look for Marienne. Although I had come along somewhat by chance, the rich scent of grass that wafted over me as soon as I entered the entrance was satisfying. Jenny, pondering the menu, asked Demian various questions while looking at the restaurant list on the back of the map. Demian calmly explained to Jenny what ingredients were used and how each dish was prepared. Their unreserved interaction was lovely to see.
The first glass dome we entered was cool. It was a place where trees that stayed green year-round were gathered. In front of each elegant tree was a square sign, clearly listing the plant’s name, scientific name, appearance, and habitat. It was very convenient to be able to compare the actual trees with their descriptions. I knew I would love this space long before I finished walking around it.