“Sara knows the place. It’s the one we used to get golden trout from.”
“Oh, there!” Sara knew what Nelly meant right away. It was a large, deep pool of water a stream flowed into. The kind of place that looked like it would have a legendary fish people were always trying to catch. “I didn’t think that pool was big or deep enough for the continental tortoise to fit in it, though.”
“It fit in like the pool was the exact right size for it and then vanished,” Nelly said, digging some golden trouts out of her storage pouch and tossing them onto the table. “They all jumped out of the pool like the turtle chased ’em out, so it was all-you-can-catch. I brought some since I thought you’d like ’em, Sara.”
“Thanks! I can’t wait to eat them!”
“Hey, that’s my table! You’re gonna make it smell like fish in here!”
“Hey, Nefertari, can you sell us a few of those?”
The guildmaster was still grumbling, but Vince went straight to a business transaction with Nelly. He quickly realized the conversation wasn’t over yet, though. “Wait, this isn’t the time for that. So, then everything wrapped up fine and you even figured out where it was ultimately heading to?”
Sara watched warmly as Noel asked to hear more details later so he could write about it in his report.
“I guess that about does it. Oh, Nefertari. You got somethin’ else to show off?” Vince asked, and Sara glanced down at Nelly’s hand. If it was food, she would have given it to Sara, but it must not have been.
“Chris. Here.”
“Silver dragonmint! So there is some on the Dark Mountain!”
“Yeah. I thought I remembered seeing it up there, but I wasn’t confident at the time.”
Chris gingerly took the bundle of silver dragonmint and handed it to Ted.
“So this is silver dragonmint. For the dragon repellent.”
“That’s right. And if it’s on the Dark Mountain, there’s a good chance it’s in Rosa’s dungeons as well, since the distribution of monsters inside them all is similar.”
“Understood. I’ll put out a request to Hunters so that we can gather it in Rosa as well.”
Ted had really grown from the days when he let Chris coddle him.
“Send some apothecaries to Hydrangea eventually so they can learn how to make the dragon repellent.”
“Huh? Could I...come, then...?”
“I’ll welcome any able apothecary,” Chris responded without emotion, notably not forbidding Ted from coming. He must have been appreciating Ted’s growth in his own way.
Nelly was watching the scene just as Sara was. She stretched and said, “Well, after our reports are all written, should we head back to Hydrangea?”
“Yeah!”
Vince leaned back in his chair with a sigh when Sara gave her enthusiastic answer. “Going back? So Hydrangea’s your home now, huh?”
“Yeah. I’m a vice guildmaster just like you are now.”
“Oh, right. Guess I can’t just rest on my laurels, can I?”
“Hey, don’t go after my position. I’m not giving up being guildmaster.” Everyone laughed and the guildmaster leaned back in his chair. “Come to think of it, we don’t need to buy Nefertari’s fish. I caught some myself. Well, I just picked ’em up, really.”
“Let’s see ’em,” Vince said impatiently.
The guildmaster guffawed, his hand not moving toward his storage bag at all. Then he grinned. “You know, we just survived a disaster that only comes every couple hundred years. We should have a party with these golden trouts as the main dish.”
“A party? You think we can use golden trouts for that?” Vince narrowed his eyes at the guildmaster, whose own eyes were sparkling like an excited kid’s.
“But we can have the party, right?”
“Well, yeah, I guess. Ahem.” Vince nodded after clearing his throat somewhat awkwardly. “Fine. Just leave some golden trouts to send to the capital.”
“All right! It’s party time!”
Thus, the guildhall began preparing for a party.
“Sara, potato duty.”
“I knew it...”
Sara felt like she was one of the key figures in escorting the continental tortoise to the Dark Mountain herself, but her contributions hadn’t really stood out much in Rosa. As the head chef Mize dragged her away to the kitchen, Noel ran over to them.
“I’ll help.”
“And who’re you?” Mize looked down at Noel with his arms crossed.
“My name is Noel Hills. I work as an apothecary in Hydrangea.”
“You’re part of the Hydrangea crew, eh? Wait... Hills, Hills... That face... You’re related to that loser knight, aren’t you?!”
Mize was surprised before he had to start struggling not to laugh. Sara waved her hands in front of her chest in a panic at Mize’s disrespectful comment. That “loser knight” was the prime minister’s second son, and Noel was his third.
“Just what did my brother do? I know he’s a little too confident and he has trouble listening to people sometimes, but he’s got a good reputation in the capital. How strange...”
Noel just cocked his head curiously. Liam’s harassment of Sara and Allen in Rosa had nothing to do with the Apothecary’s Guild, so he must not have heard about it.
Now that Sara thought about it, she’d never explained to Noel why she’d turned down his brother’s marriage proposal. She couldn’t imagine Liam had told him about it himself. While she was considering this, Allen’s voice came from behind her.
“He tried to kidnap us from Rosa.”
“Huh? My brother did?” Noel was shocked to hear such a disturbing accusation.
“Yeah. He said he was worried about strong kids living in Rosa without any guardians, but we weren’t having any problems. He was really insistent, so it was hard to fight him off.”
“Fight him off? It sounds like he was a monster...”
“Wah ha ha! I like you, kid. Come peel some potatoes for me.” Mize laughed loudly and clapped a hand onto Noel’s shoulder.
“I’ll help too. Not like I can drink yet, after all.”
Allen was referring to the adult Hunters, who had already started drinking despite the party being nowhere near started yet. Any young Hunter out there was bound to become a target for drunken harassment.
So Sara ended up in a line with the two boys, who were also surprisingly handy with a potato peeler.