And so, the day of Sara’s surprise reunion with Haruto was also the day she decided she’d be leaving Hydrangea.
Of course, that didn’t mean they were leaving the very next day. They’d send a letter back to Gardenia and wait for a reply to see if their proposal was accepted. Even if they rushed the letters, it would take over ten days for the round-trip correspondence. During that time, the Wolveriés could contact their townhouse in the capital and have it prepared for Ann, Elm, Sara, and Allen. Kuntz and Haruto each had their own places to stay, so while they would likely be frequent visitors to the townhouse, they would be there only as visitors. Sara also had to contact the Apothecary’s Guild to let them know she’d be moving, as well as finish up any work she had remaining here in Hydrangea.
“It’ll depend on the reply we get from Gardenia, but I’m thinking of going to the capital for a while,” she told them.
“You’re so busy every year, Sara.”
Caren, the guildmaster, smiled wryly. There probably weren’t many apothecaries who traveled as much as Sara.
“We’ll be there to chaperone a twelve-year-old girl named Ann, so I honestly have no idea how long it will take. I figured I’d take the opportunity to officially relocate to the Apothecary’s Guild in the capital. Would that be possible?”
“You shouldn’t have any problems doing so. Josef’s acknowledged your skill, right?”
“Hopefully.”
While she was uncertain, when she’d worked with Josef the year before, things had gone pretty well.
“I feel bad that I won’t be able to gather supreme healing herbs anymore, though,” Sara continued.
“Yeah, that’ll hurt. You don’t have to feel bad about it, though. Could I just ask you to do some plant-gathering research from now until you leave?”
“Yes, I can do that.”
Caren looked apologetic herself. Why was that?
“I know I shouldn’t just rely on you and Master Chris for supreme healing herbs,” Caren started. “So I’ve been thinking for a while that I should send some other apothecaries down to the bottom floor with Hunters as guards. I’d like to ask you to organize this as well.”
“Eep, what a heavy responsibility!”
If the other apothecaries were just gathering along with Sara, she could keep them perfectly safe with her barrier, but this was a request to make it so that they could gather even without her there. Even Hunters who were good at escort missions could screw up. Essentially, Sara’s mission was to teach other apothecaries how to gather supreme healing herbs without relying on her barrier. In a way, it was a very difficult task.
“If they aren’t able to gather them, then we’ll just have to give up on regularly supplying the capital with them. I’ve never been in support of the current rate we’re making supreme potions at anyway. If it’s not possible, then that’s fine.”
Caren smiled, and Sara thought she could see a hint of darkness in her eyes.
Sara had put together a report on the use of supreme potions the year before, but her findings didn’t change the fact that they were a difficult medicine to use. Caren was of the opinion that they shouldn’t be crafted recklessly.
“Also, about transferring to the Apothecary’s Guild in the capital...” Caren returned to the initial subject of the conversation. “I don’t think there’s any reason to have to tie yourself down to one location in particular. You can be an independent apothecary like Master Chris is now. We don’t restrict your movements when you need to travel somewhere temporarily for work, right?”
“An independent apothecary... I never thought about that.”
Sara supposed it was her Japanese sensibilities that made her want to stay in one place in a stable position rather than move around between temporary workplaces.
“And of course, we’ll happily hire you back again, no matter when you come back, so don’t worry about that.”
“Okay! Thank you.”
It had been a balm on Sara’s soul that she could call herself an apothecary of Hydrangea up until now, and a point of pride as well. But Hydrangea had now told her that it would always welcome her, and if she became an independent apothecary, she wouldn’t need to worry about how long it took her to get to the capital.
Freed from her misconceptions, Sara was feeling much lighter. Still, she now had a difficult task before her. No one was sure if Hunters would be able to protect apothecaries gathering plants on the bottom floor of the dungeon. However, to Sara’s surprise, there were now several Hunters who could use Kuntz’s shield spell, and they were all veterans who could brave the deepest floors of the dungeon.
“I can’t do it as well as Kuntz, but there’s no better magic for protecting yourself.”
Even the casters who had given up on imitating Sara’s barrier could mimic Kuntz’s technique, which was far more forgiving when it came to mana consumption.
“I thought I was done improving, so it’s been fun actually learning a new skill.”
People were learning Kuntz’s shield magic for reasons like that. And the ones who were able to master it most quickly were the veterans.
So, with the Hunters’ improved ability to serve as guards, they were able to manage bringing apothecaries down to the lowest floor. When they finally made it to the areas where the supreme healing herbs grew, the apothecaries’ motivation shot up, and with ample use of protection cases, they were able to do some gathering.
“There’s gonna be no one to do this but us now, so we’ll just have to use whatever we can to make it work. I feel really bad that we were putting this all on you up until now,” one of Sara’s coworkers told her, and Sara was so happy she almost cried.
“Gathering in a dungeon is fun!”
When she saw the apothecaries looking up at the sky that was just like the Dark Mountain’s, she regretted not getting everyone else involved in this sooner. Maybe she’d just been convinced that other apothecaries couldn’t possibly go into the dungeon. In other words, she hadn’t had faith in them.
She was determined to learn from this regret in her future life as an apothecary.
“I’m sure you’ll come back to see Nelly. It’s not like you’re leaving Hydrangea forever, so there’s no need to be so serious about this.”
Sara was psyching herself up, but Caren admonished her, seeing right through her.
“Right. But Hydrangea is where I got my start as an apothecary, so it will always be special to me.”
“It’s special because the guildmaster is so exceptional,” Caren joked. That confidence was proof more than anything else that she was Chris’s genuine apprentice.
Losing talented youngsters like Allen, Kuntz, and Sara was quite a blow to Hydrangea’s Hunter’s Guild, but other Hunters had been steadily growing stronger after the discovery of the new floor, so it seemed like they would be able to leave on good terms.
Sara had assumed that Haruto would spend his time while they waited for a response from Gardenia running wild in the dungeon, but he surprised her. Apparently he was holding lectures with Allen and Kuntz at the Hunter’s Guild while Sara was down in the dungeon with the other apothecaries. She found out when she popped her head into the Hunter’s Guild for something one day.
“I can’t connect the words ‘Haruto’ and ‘teach’ in my mind.”
“Really? I’m a pretty charitable guy, you know.”
Haruto was the same as ever, his head held high.
“So what were you teaching? Stuff like ‘Stardust’?”
“Hey, don’t bring that up!” Haruto cut Sara off, looking faintly embarrassed. “I’m done with that part of my life.”
Sara thought that couldn’t possibly be true, but then she remembered how they’d been reunited.
“Now that I think about it, your incantation was pretty short when you took down that wyvern!”
“God of Thunder, right?” Haruto held his head even higher. “I think it’s cool when the name’s only one word, but if I just said ‘thunder,’ then how would you be able to tell it apart from other electric spells? It was pretty tough to think that one up.”
“So it still has to be cool.”
“That’s important, right? It’s super important!”
Sara didn’t really get it, but Kuntz was nodding, so maybe coolness really was important to casters.
“Electricity is hard, though. Vince used static electricity as a reference, so I was trying to teach it using that, but there’s still only a few people who can do it. And it’s really weak, so it’s more for defense than offense, but Kuntz’s shield is better for defense, so I’m not sure my lecture really did much.”
“You’re really thinking about your students when you teach, huh?”
“Of course I am. Oh, I think I just heard my name. Better go.”