“Gem, I’ll be taking care of the plants in this greenhouse,” I said. “You can do as you like, okay?” I gently petted it, and its light flickered, perhaps happy with my gesture. “I’ll see you later.”
I waved and walked off when I felt a presence behind me. I turned around and spotted Gem right behind my feet. I took a few more steps and turned back, only to see Gem right behind me again, frozen in place. It feels like I’m playing red light, green light. I wasn’t sure if Gem was playing alone, but we headed for the greenhouse while I turned around several times, checking if my familiar still followed me around.
First, I had to get rid of weeds and feed the plants a special type of water mixed with powdered magic stones. Once I plucked the herbs needed for tomorrow’s lessons, I was done for the day.
I got down to work and started plucking some weeds when Gem peered at my hands with interest. It pushed against my body rather forcefully to observe what I did. Gem looked up at me, tilting its head to one side with confusion, and I decided to explain what I was doing.
“These are weeds,” I said. “I have to pluck them to make sure that they don’t steal nutrients from the plants that I’d like to grow.”
Gem flashed for a moment as though it understood my words. I smiled and got back to work when Gem thinly stretched itself out over the garden bed. I widened my eyes with concern, confused at what the spirit tried to do.
“Huh?! What are you doing?” I asked.
It spread its body out like a thin carpet, then retracted, reverting to its normal spherical shape. I breathed a sigh of relief when Gem spat something out—the weeds that I’d mentioned. It learned what weeds were and plucked them all out in one go, leaving my precious herbs unharmed.
“Did you want to help me with my work?!” I asked in awe.
Gem gently wavered from side to side in reply.
“You’re a very good child, aren’t you?” I said with a smile.
I hugged my precious spirit endearingly when it started glowing brighter than before.
“Ugh! My eyes! My eyes!” I cried. “You’re too bright!”
The spirit at once dimmed its light to the brightness of a light bulb. My jewel slime was very understanding.
Now, I had to water the plants. I made a special blend of water infused with powdered magic stones—this was a method I’d devised to encourage plant growth. The herbs responded well to this water. I grabbed a hammer to grind the stones into a fine powder when Gem again took me by surprise. My spirit grabbed the stones I had and popped them into its mouth.
“Huh? Wait, what?” I gasped. “Were you hungry?”
Gem wiggled from side to side, clearly chowing down on the tough stones. I read that contracted familiars generally relied on the mana and magic of their owner, but Gem was a spirit. I worried that mana wasn’t nearly enough to sustain its appetite, and I decided to ask Professor Whipp about it later.
Gem spat out powdery magic stone dust, snapping me out of my thoughts. I assumed it was going to eat it, but it only provided me with powdery dust and did nothing more. Its round eyes gazed up at me as though to encourage me to move on with my next task.
“Huh?! Did you break these stones down for me?!” I cried.
The jewel slime swelled as if it were puffing out its chest proudly.
“M-My familiar’s a genius!” I cried. “Oh, thank you! Thank you so much, Gem!”
I petted Gem several times again, and it flickered its light faintly. It retained what I said earlier about its bright light and dimmed it for me. My Gem’s so smart and learns so quickly!
“To tell you the truth, grinding up these stones took a lot out of me,” I said.
Our school had a tool to grind things up, but it required one magic stone as fuel to use. The alchemy professor was in charge of it and told me that I’d have to pay for it if I broke the tool. And so, while I took the easy route on my first day, ever since, I ground stones up myself. Gem might’ve been helping me on a whim, and I obviously couldn’t force it to work every day. Still, I was happy that there might be days when I didn’t have to exert myself too much.
I’ll praise Gem to bits and hope it’ll continue growing in a positive way. It might’ve been a bit overkill, but I showered my familiar with compliments.
Gem continued to eagerly help me out. When I tried to go to the well to get some water, my familiar asked me to give it some. I wondered if it was thirsty, and I gave it around ten buckets of water before it was satisfied. It closed its mouth happily, looking like it was carrying a bucketful of water now, and we headed back to the greenhouse. To my surprise, it proceeded to swallow the powdered magic stones, and I saw the water swirling around in its body like a washing machine. Shortly after, Gem spat the water out gently, sprinkling my plants in the greenhouse with the energy they needed. It was smart enough to know that I needed these to water the plants, and it did it for me.
“You can do so much!” I cried happily.
Until now, I had to make around ten trips to the well and bring the water back to the greenhouse, but thanks to Gem’s help, I was done in a flash. Still not finished, it stretched its appendages out and plucked all the herbs and plants I needed. It took three to five hours to take care of these plants myself, but Gem did it in a matter of thirty minutes, much to my pleasure and surprise.
“I can’t believe it! Thank you!” I hugged my familiar again, and instead of glowing, I felt its warmth permeating throughout my body. “You’re so warm.”
I wasn’t too cold, but I felt like I was hugging another person, and it soothed me for a while.
“Gem, I hope we can continue to get along,” I murmured.
My familiar, in response, became warmer still, until…
“O-Oh, that’s hot!” I yelped.
I hastily released my grip on my familiar and told it that it was a bit too hot, and Gem obediently nodded in understanding. Now that my work was promptly done, thanks to Gem almost singlehandedly doing it all for me, I placed the herbs I needed for tomorrow’s lesson in the designated basket to bring to Professor Whipp.
“Gem, I have to head back to the professor, okay?” I said.
The jewel spirit wriggled about in response as though to send me off. I walked off and turned around, wondering if it was going to tag along again, but this time, Gem stayed put. I really can’t understand what it’s trying to do.
The research room, where Professor Whipp spent most of her time at school, was a short five-minute walk from the Garden Plant. I passed by some students who were doing club activities after school—they wore white uniforms, likely esquires of the magic knights. These men belonged to the knights during their stay at school, and in the future, they would be promoted to fully-fledged magic knights. There was also the alchemy club, the research of magic history club, the spell inventions club, and a myriad of other groups available to students. I technically belonged to a club headed by Professor Whipp, and the house and office I now lived in was considered a club building.
Several club buildings were available. When work required a lot of time, such as before culture festivals or other events, students were allowed to spend the night in the building, provided that they filed an application that was accepted. Since I had to take care of plants every day, I was given special permission to live here. The sunroom that jutted out of the school building was where Professor Whipp had her own research room.
“Excuse me, Professor Whipp,” I said.
“Yes?” she asked. “Oh? Is something the matter?”
“No, I finished work, so I’m just here to report back.”
“Huh? Already?”
When I gave her the basket of herbs, she took it with clear surprise in her eyes. She practically couldn’t believe it and used a crystal ball to see the greenhouse, worried about its condition.
“Ah, well, I guess you did your work,” she said. “The greenhouse looks clean, and you watered the plants, too. Did someone help you?”
“Gem, the jewel slime, practically did it all for me,” I revealed.
I told her how it plucked weeds in a flash, ground up magic stones for me, and carried water. When I told her everything, Professor Whipp gasped, delighted and elated.
“That’s absolutely splendid,” she said. “The paragon of all familiars.”
“I truly agree,” I nodded. Thanks to Gem, I had some time to spare after school. “But I suspect that Gem only helped on a whim,” I said. “I can’t imagine that it’d help me out every day.”
“Fair enough,” the professor replied.
I want to do something to pay it back, though. Something to express my thanks and make it happy.
“Is there anything I can do to return the favor?” I asked.
“Well, it’s a jewel, isn’t it?” she replied. “Why not try polishing it with deerskin or something?”
“I see… Thank you, Professor Whipp. I’ll give that a try.”
“I do advise you to consult a jewelry store, though,” she advised. “And? How is your new house? Everything good?”
“It’s amazing! I can’t thank you enough for everything that you’ve done for me.”
“Glad to hear it.”
I really didn’t expect to be treated so well, and I expressed my gratitude.