Chapter 201 – Evil Weed and Home Garden

After inviting the two to the entertainment room, we conquered all the games there together with Sheila, Alfred, and the residents of Labyrinth Village.

Isabella and Dorothy quickly became friendly with the Labyrinth Village residents too. Their good interpersonal skills probably came from backgrounds involving plenty of people with complicated circumstances around the Thieves Guild and brothels.

“Are you performing at that theater?”

“Only on full moon nights.”

As for Dorothy, she was enthusiastically discussing songs and musical instruments with Sheila and Irmhild. She seemed to be having quite a good time. Isabella watched Dorothy and Sheila with an affectionate gaze before turning to me.

“Speaking of which… the Ambassador opened a shop in the Eastern District, didn’t you? Are you planning to sell these there?”

“Yes. That’s the plan.”

“In that case… I’d like to place an order too, if that’s alright? Well, it’s partly because I personally like them, but—”

According to Isabella… it seems that having casual games like cards and darts would be perfect for brothels.

“That would be very helpful. The shop has only just opened, after all.”

I suppose this counts as developing sales channels. There’s no reason for me to refuse.

Isabella herself had become quite absorbed in darts too. Sheila had good control, but Isabella seemed to quickly grasp the technique as well. Being an executive of the Thieves Guild, this was probably her area of expertise.

“I’m not familiar with this drink—but I suspect there might be copycats for these games. Should we keep an eye out for those dealing in shoddy imitations?”

Isabella murmured something like that. It sounded like she was talking about cracking down on pirated versions.

“No, that won’t be necessary. The artisans from the Commerce Guild seem to be thoroughly keeping the information confidential, and if someone were to make them, they’d have to learn by watching and imitate, right? Unless it’s particularly malicious, I think that’s fine.”

We have the know-how first, and we’re getting proper cooperation from artisans through the Commerce Guild. If the quality differs, that’s where the added value of our logo will come into play. I have no intention of lagging behind anyone.

“Then I’ll inform you if I think it’s malicious.”

“Understood.”

I smiled wryly. She’s really quite dutiful.

“How’s Harvesta doing?”

At night—I was conducting experiments and observations on Evil Weed’s Harvesta in the Japanese-style room’s low table, watching carefully with my hands on the edge of the table alongside Marlene and Seraphina, when Ashley asked.

“Yeah. It’s pretty interesting.”

“Harvesta is amazing!”

We were bringing various types of insects we’d caught in insect cages close to Harvesta to observe the reactions…

Creatures like earthworms that help with soil improvement were left alone, but insects that eat leaves were either actively tried to be eaten like carnivorous plants or shown gestures of being chased away with leaves.

What’s particularly interesting is that Harvesta seems to ignore insects like bees that help with pollination, or beneficial insects that prey on pests.

Well, that’s about it. I released the captured insects out the window, marking the end of the experiment for now.

“It doesn’t seem to just be picky about what it likes and dislikes.”

“Yeah. I think it properly judges whether insects are beneficial to it or not. For example, this insect eats other insects, so for Harvesta it’s neutral but not an enemy.”

“Harvesta seems quite clever.”

“How about the potted plants outside?”

When Grace asked following Claudia’s words, Ashley answered.

“Those too… when grown together with Evil Weed, the growth speed is completely different.”

Hmm… This definitely seems worth conducting field tests.

“It would be good to try growing them together with some crops.”

“I see. Theodore is thinking about whether it can be used in farming methods.”

I nodded at Claudia’s words.

“That’s further down the line. For now, we need to keep it on a smaller scale and verify safety.”

“Labyrinth Village has various crop seeds and seedlings.”

“Perfect timing. If we can get some, let’s make a garden next to the storage shed.”

“If it comes to larger scale, I think the Barony of Silun could cooperate too.”

“Yeah. That would be helpful.”

“If the territory’s harvest increases, that would be wonderful.”

Saying that, Ashley smiled.

Ashley’s territory is a grain-producing region. Considering that Ashley and I are engaged, if farming methods using Evil Weed are established, it would probably be among the first to adopt them.

The current test scale is like a home garden, but I’d like to conduct it on a somewhat larger scale in the future. For that purpose, we need to check the taste and properties of crops grown together with Evil Weed.

So the next day, we decided to create a garden next to the storage shed.

Even with crops, there are appropriate planting seasons, but when it comes to farming, the Labyrinth Village residents have more experience, so advice is readily available.

“For this season… um. How about planting pumpkins?”

“Yeah. We have some extra seedlings.”

Claire the Arachne and Cyrille the Centaur looked at each other and answered like that. So pumpkins it was. If we plant them now, we should be able to harvest in autumn.

Farming work—especially creating a garden from scratch—often gives the impression of being quite troublesome… but in my case, I can use Golems for tasks like removing stones from the garden area or tilling the soil. So I had the Golems divide the work and complete it quickly. Seraphina happily rode on the head of a working Golem.

We transplanted the flowers grown by Evil Weed inside a fence to create a proper flower bed.

Meanwhile, for the vegetable garden, we made rounded ridges and transplanted the Evil Weeds between them, then planted the seedlings to complete the basic setup. From my knowledge, I considered spreading lime, but since we want to see Evil Weed’s effects, it would be better to create both a garden without it and one with it for testing.

Since we had the seedlings, we decided to plant them by hand together. Though it’s a bit rich coming from me who’s using Golems to make things easier, there’s something quintessentially garden-like about it.

“I like this kind of work.”

Claudia happily planted the seedlings. She seemed somewhat skilled—perhaps she’s become accustomed to such tasks in Labyrinth Village.

“Claudia, in Labyrinth Village after all?”

“Yes. Though they don’t let me help much, saying I shouldn’t be doing manual labor.”

“We’d rather have our princess be more elegant.”

“Right?”

Claire and Cyrille nodded to each other with smiles, and Claudia gave a small wry smile.

Lavigne dug holes with her front legs, Marlene planted the seedlings, and Seraphina covered them with soil—the farming work progressed peacefully throughout. It was quite a heartwarming scene, and the women’s smiles seemed particularly bright.

“The seedlings have been watered thoroughly. After this, we’ll adjust things while observing their progress. When the pumpkins flower, they’ll need to be pollinated.”

Claire explained various things. It seemed processes like pruning and artificial pollination remained.

Hmm. Leaving pruning aside, would Evil Weed handle artificial pollination too?

While I thought I might be expecting too much, part of me wondered if it might. They are the ones who seem to be cultivating surrounding plants.

“Please take good care of them.”

The Evil Weeds were being petted on the head by Ashley. Those stationed between the ridges remained docile and accepting.

Hmm. Essentially, as long as we can confirm that scene… If we don’t miss the flowering timing, we should be able to observe Evil Weed’s reactions.

Well, I’m also somewhat concerned about the garden’s growth progress, so I’ll check on it frequently while observing.