Chapter 551 – Greenhouse and Experiments

“It’s been a while.”

When I met Michelle in the reception room, she greeted me with a smile.

She seemed to have brought several potted Noble Leafs with her. The Noble Leafs looked relatively healthy, and some of them waved their leaves as if greeting us when we entered the room – perhaps they remembered us. One with a blue ribbon, in particular. I recalled that last time, we discussed marking those grown with Water Magic with ribbons.

“Likewise, it’s been a while for us too.”

“Good morning, Michelle-san.”

We returned Michelle’s greeting, and I patted the head of the Noble Leaf that had greeted us. The blue-ribboned Noble Leaf remained docile as I stroked its head.

Marlene was happily patting the heads of other color-coded Noble Leafs, and the rest of them were quite calm too.

Individuals with blue, light blue, and yellow ribbons. There must be some differences among them, but that would become clear later.

It seemed Michelle was distinguishing the Noble Leafs by ribbon color. Judging from their reactions to us, the blue-ribboned ones were probably those Ashley had grown with Water Magic and sent to work with Michelle.

We had various things to discuss and ask about too… but first, we should sit down, have some tea, and hear about recent developments while we’re at it.

“It’s good to see you looking well.”

“Thank you. Both the cultivation in the greenhouse and observing the Noble Leafs are rewarding work, and… well, I feel like every day is fulfilling.”

Saying this, Michelle smiled somewhat shyly.

“That’s wonderful to hear.”

When Ashley returned the smile, Michelle nodded.

If anything, Michelle gave the impression that she was more eager to talk about matters related to the greenhouse than making small talk.

Well, that’s fine by me too, so let’s move the conversation along after brief greetings.

“I understand you’ve prepared materials for reporting.”

“Yes. This is it.”

Saying this, Michelle brought out a thick stack of papers.

“Let me take a look.”

“Please, go ahead.”

“This is amazing. So detailed…”

Ashley’s eyes widened as she looked at the stack of documents. While Michelle watched anxiously, looking somewhat embarrassed and shrinking slightly, we examined the materials.

The materials were broadly divided into two types: those concerning the Noble Leafs themselves, and those investigating the differences in crop growth between when Noble Leafs assisted and when they didn’t.

There were progress observations – differences in personality due to environment and cultivation methods, differences in growth between Noble Leafs and crops – recorded in tables almost daily, and in addition to the tables, there were notes on observations, impressions, and analyses. The content revealed Michelle’s high motivation.

“This alone seems to have academic value,” said Rosemary, hiding her mouth with her feather fan but speaking in an admiring tone.

“N-no, not at all. This isn’t that difficult of work. Without the discovery of Noble Leafs and the greenhouse, I wouldn’t be able to…”

“…No. This isn’t something that can be done just by spending time. From looking at the materials, it seems you’re taking good care of the Noble Leafs. I’m glad we asked you, Michelle-san.”

“Th-thank you.”

Michelle bowed deeply, looking overwhelmed.

Proper temperature and humidity management, disease prevention, and so on – these require specialized knowledge, but since Noble Leafs are a different species, if we’re asking them to help with human cultivation, I believe they should be positioned as collaborators. From the Noble Leafs’ perspective, you could say they’re in a cooperative relationship for their own safety and prosperity.

Michelle seems to properly understand that aspect. She hasn’t conducted experiments that would impose burdens on them, and the content of the materials shows she’s being considerate of the Noble Leafs’ physical condition changes. The Noble Leafs she brought today also seem to trust her.

And… the “just by spending time” part is actually the most difficult. To maintain motivation, you need intellectual curiosity, a sense of purpose, a sense of duty, or various other things.

“From our side as well, we have something we’d like to show you in Termwills… but before that, could we see the greenhouse and how the Noble Leafs are doing? We’d like to inspect the glass and magic tools too.”

“Yes, by all means.”

Michelle’s expression brightened as she smiled.

And so, we traveled by carriage within the Barony of Silun to see the greenhouse.

Inside the greenhouse… unlike when we last visited, it was quite lively. It was divided into sections for cultivating Noble Leafs and sections for growing crops.

Looking more closely, the Noble Leafs were distinguished by ribbons: light blue for the second generation germinated with water created by Michelle’s magic, yellow for the second generation grown with ordinary water alone.

There were also a few with red ribbons – apparently those were from seeds gathered from wild Evil Weeds.

The Noble Leafs Ashley had grown had dark blue ribbons and, being already mature, were primarily engaged in crop cultivation.

“First, regarding the differences between the light blue children and the yellow children. The yellow children took quite a while to get used to us initially. The red ones have only recently started to get accustomed. Regarding growth speed, the yellow ones seem faster than the light blue, and the red ones faster than the yellow.”

“That makes sense. Wild species normally aren’t in a symbiotic relationship, so they don’t receive protection, and they mature early,” said Claudia.

Hmm. The yellow ones are second-generation Noble Leafs, but they were given ordinary water. To that extent, they might have aspects closer to the wild species, Evil Weed. However, looking at the blue and light blue ones, it seems there’s a part of them that has learned they’re in a cooperative relationship with humans.

“Hmm, the red ones are relatively docile too.”

“Really. They don’t bite or anything.”

Sheila and Irmhild were also watching the respective groups with interest.

“The original magical environment isn’t particularly bad, and they’re not fallen to darkness, so even if they’re wild species, if raised from a young age, there’s a good possibility they could become docile through learning.”

However, the ones Ashley grew from seeds were docile from the beginning.

Regarding this, the first possibility that comes to mind is that they might have started learning from the seed stage and feel some kind of affinity depending on whether they’re familiar with human magical power.

Another possibility is that changes might be occurring due to being grown with Water Magic.

If we focus on the differences between the yellow and red groups, there seems to be a part where changes due to magical power are occurring. Michelle also presents a similar view in her materials, but concludes that the absolute number of observations is still insufficient.

We can’t completely rule out the possibility that the gathered wild species happened to be individuals with understanding personalities, she says. Michelle has good perspectives on various matters. It seems she properly verifies questions about her own hypotheses too.

“If we continue cultivating the third and fourth generations with Water Magic at this rate, there’s a possibility the differences will become more pronounced. Though there’s also a possibility that the degree of change might plateau.”

“That may be so. I’d like to look forward to future developments.”

That’s about it for the changes in the Noble Leafs. Regarding the original species, Evil Weed, we’ve learned that they’re a surprisingly neutral species as long as the environment isn’t extreme.

Next, let’s look at the crops.

“You’re growing lettuce.”

“Yes. I thought I’d start with something relatively easy to grow.”

At Grace’s words, Michelle smiled. Growing low-difficulty crops for observation is indeed the right approach to start with. You can thin out and eat the outer leaves of lettuce as it grows.

They’re cultivating in separate sections – one with Noble Leafs planted nearby to assist, and one without. As an experiment, it’s easy to understand, and the results clearly show the differences in crop growth. At this point, there’s no doubt that Noble Leafs promote the growth of surrounding plants.

“At home too, I’m having the Noble Leafs grow bean sprouts. They grow quickly, taste good, I can observe them, and they help with food expenses – it’s very helpful.”

“Perks of the job.”

It seems they’re also suitable for repeatedly harvesting fast-growing crops like that.

According to the materials, once the current second-generation Noble Leafs mature, she plans to compare bean sprout growth speeds too.

We won’t know if the crops’ nutritional value has increased without testing, but from actual experience, it seems certain that the taste improves.

“Hehe, the neighbors are also looking forward to the experiments,” Michelle laughed.

Well, if the Noble Leaf Farming Method progresses smoothly, we’d like to spread it around. Our policy is to proceed leisurely with informing the surroundings and such, but it seems there’s considerable expectation.

Anyway, though the experiments are still ongoing, even at this stage, various interesting results seem to be emerging.

Well then. Shall we finish inspecting the greenhouse’s glass and magic tools? From our side too, we have various things we want to tell Michelle, like about rice cultivation.