“I must return to the dorms, so I don’t have much time,” I explained.
“Then hurry up and get on a horse!” Samuel ordered.
You’d better watch out next week, Samuel. I’m going to be extra hard on you!
Once I was back at the dorms, I began thinking about what sorts of devices required magic stones, and what types didn’t. Of items that didn’t require magic stones, sewing machines and bicycles could be incredibly useful to have. I was lamenting the fact that I hadn’t been a STEM major in my previous life. I could only recall some of the mechanisms used in these devices. It also sucked that I couldn’t just pull out a smartphone and look these things up.
Back in my previous life, I could look anything up using my phone. I remember reading an isekai story in which someone got access to records of the entire world. I’m so jealous.
“Oh, I need to go to the greenhouse!”
I threw on my coat and headed for the greenhouse. Once I was there, I quickly poured mana into the budding leaves on my antidotal herbs. Growing these plants had truly been an ordeal until I realized I could simplify the process.
“You’ve passed Herbology III as well. All that’s left is to pass the final exams for all three levels at the end of the spring term.”
Ms. Makias seemed to make no noise when she appeared. She made it sound like the exams would be easy, but it seemed likely there was going to be some sort of catch. Perhaps the exams were actually incredibly difficult.
“When will the classroom lectures begin?” I asked.
She’d mentioned before that I just had to read the textbook, but that sounded too easy.
“They start in May. You can attend them if you want, but why don’t you grow more greater herbs and antidotal herbs instead? If you manage that greenhouse over there and grow them for me, I’ll buy them from you at a fair price.”
I’m getting offered another side job!
“You don’t want to grow them yourself, Ms. Makias?”
“You trying to make an old woman do hard labor? The herbs we use in pharmacy are so expensive in the winter, and too many students keep messing up and needing to try again. It’s a real pain. I wish they would just give up on taking pharmacy if they realize they’re no good at it.”
Passing pharmacy and herbology would allow a student to take the novice apothecary’s exam, so I could understand why many students wouldn’t give up on the class easily.
I totally get it!
I’d been thinking about growing herbs in the greenhouse at home and selling those, but it would be difficult to care for the plants while I was away at school. I also didn’t know if I could prepare purified water in advance and leave it at home.
“I would like to grow the herbs,” I said to Ms. Makias.
I welcome anything that lets me make money! I’m also going to participate in those lectures. Ms. Makias has said multiple times that she doesn’t like slackers. I’ll have to trust that she’s going to pay me a fair price for the herbs.
Ms. Makias then led me to the greenhouse I would be managing.
“This is it,” Ms. Makias said.
This greenhouse was double the size of the one we’d been using for class.
“This seems quite spacious,” I commented worriedly.
Ms. Makias just cackled.
“Makes this a worthwhile challenge, no?” Ms. Makias then grabbed a pouch that had been hanging from her waist and threw it at me. “Here are the seeds. Grow them however you’d like. I’ll buy them for a higher price until spring, when adventurers start foraging for herbs. I’ll take care of harvesting them, so just focus on growing as many as you can.”
After saying everything she needed to, Ms. Makias scurried away.
Yeah, she’s way faster than I am. She was gone in the blink of an eye.
“First, I’ll need to mix fertilizer into the soil. Oh, wait, I won’t need it for the antidotal herbs.”
Antidotal herbs are a hassle to grow. Maybe I should only grow greater herbs. No, scratch that. I have a feeling that the antidotal herbs I can grow will sell for a lot.
I divided the greenhouse in half, then I made several trips to bring in buckets of fertilizer, which I mixed into one half of the plot.
“Today I’ll just plant the greater herbs.”
I soaked the seeds in some purified water, then I planted them. I watered the soil with more purified water, then used some household magic.
“Grow!” I chanted. “That should be good enough for today!”
Princess Margaret may be back by now.
I cleaned myself up with some more household magic and hurried back to the dorms.
Of all the times I could possibly run into Prince Keith, of course it would be right now.
“You seem like you’re in a hurry, Patience,” Prince Keith commented.
That’s right! I’m going as fast as I can!
“Yes, I am. Princess Margaret may have returned already.”
“My sister’s not here yet,” he shared with a smile.
Thank God, I made it back in time.
“So, where were you?” the prince asked.
Do I have to tell him about everything I do?
“The greenhouse,” I said, keeping my answer short and simple. I decided to not mention that I was doing a side job for the school.
I don’t need any pity. The Grangers may be poor, but we’ve got a lot of pride!
“Are you still having trouble growing antidotal herbs?”
Wow, I’m surprised he remembers. Is he amused by my failure?
“No, I actually received a passing grade on my antidotal herbs. I was at the greenhouse to take care of something else.”
I wish that Prince Keith would focus on studying classical literature and history instead of sticking his nose into other people’s business. I think he’s just barely going to be able to skip ahead.
Ralph and Hugo appeared, and I thought I would finally be free. Unfortunately, I somehow ended up sitting with them in the dining hall to talk.
“The study session on Saturday was quite fun, Lady Patience,” Ralph remarked.
You’ve always been good at classical literature, Ralph. Also, when did he start calling me “lady”? I feel like he just called me Patience last year. Hmm, I can’t remember. At the very least, I’m pretty sure that Hugo didn’t refer to me as “Lady Patience.” Maybe he’s addressing me formally because I’m Princess Margaret’s lady’s maid.
“Thank you, but I don’t think you or Sir Hugo needed the extra lesson,” I replied.
The two scrambled for a response.
“It helped us study Dehn as well!” they insisted.
Do you really want to be that close to Prince Keith at all times? Sounds rough.
“I’d like you to teach me history as well, Patience,” Prince Keith said.
You should really have your tutor at the palace help you with that.
For some reason, Hugo had the same request.
“I am also struggling to skip ahead in history,” Hugo admitted. “I would like to learn from you, Lady Patience.”
Hmm? Something seems off here.
“What are you doing, Patience?” a voice called out.
It seemed that Princess Margaret had returned to the dorms.
“Patience helped me study classical literature, and I am slowly beginning to understand it,” Prince Keith said to his sister. “That is why I’m asking her to teach me some more.”
From the way that Prince Keith was speaking, it sounded like he wanted even more than our second study session this coming Saturday.
You’re killing me, Prince Keith.
“Oh, my! I can’t believe Keith is motivated to study classical literature. This is wonderful! Patience has always been good at teaching. I’d love for her to tutor me in household math as well.”
The princess and I headed upstairs to her dorm, and I became busy with other tasks, like looking over her household math homework. Eventually, I forgot that something had bothered me about the conversation earlier. After all, Princess Margaret’s household budget for class was a complete mess.
“Um, this column is supposed to be for income, and this column is for expenses, yes?” I asked. “Why are they mixed up?”
At this rate, the princess wasn’t going to pass household math. I had her start her budget from scratch on a new page.
Household expenses in this world could be different from what I remembered from my previous life, so I quickly skimmed through the textbook.
It’s all pretty much the same, at least in terms of the fundamentals. That said, I didn’t realize magic stones count as a utility expense. Also, it costs so much to own a horse! We’re definitely going to keep renting for a while. And this example of social expenses seems way too high. Is this a normal amount people spend on social events? Ugh, what the heck is a beauty expense?! The only thing I’m completely unfamiliar with for a household budget is labor costs, but I’m more concerned about these beauty and social expenses! Should these examples really be so high?!
Even though the basics were familiar, the textbook was full of things I wanted to comment on.
“Oh, I see, so beauty expenses include the cost of purchasing gowns.” I’d have expected that to be part of the normal clothing expenses. Well, I guess some things are different. “All that is left is to get the sum of the numbers in that column, then you will be done.”
After she finished filling out the income and expenses for her budget, Princess Margaret let out a heavy sigh.