Volume 6, Chapter 21 – The Rose Garden and the Flower Maiden (2)

“Wait, Fiene-sama, please wait~!”

“Fiene, stop right there!”

The Director and Char frantically chased after me as I bolted after Riche.

Following Riche’s lead, I arrived at the back of the administration building.

“Fiene-sama, that way is—”

The Director tried to stop me, but it was too late. I had already reached another garden within the Rose Garden.

There, rows of roses had been planted in neat lines.

However, most of them had either withered away or were left drooping without any vitality.

“What… what is this? Why has it become like this?”

“Wait, Director! What is the meaning of this? Why is the nursery in such a state? What do you intend to do about next season?”

Pressed by Char, the Director confessed as if resigning himself to his fate.

“I-I am terribly sorry. The truth is, the budget was cut…”

“What? And you’re saying that’s why you couldn’t provide sufficient care?”

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“T-That is, well…”

They were talking about some rather depressing realities, but since Riche had brought me here, it likely meant she wanted to save these roses.

Ignoring the argument—or rather, Char unilaterally grilling the Director—I stepped forward.

Using the Flower Maiden’s Staff as a medium, I activated Mana Control and transferred Holy Attribute Mana to Riche.

The flower atop the staff bloomed, and Riche, connected by a faint thread of light, soared into the air above the withered rose garden.

“What is this!”

“This is…! How wonderful!”

Riche danced in circles through the sky, scattering beautiful white and pink petals.

After scattering the petals evenly across the rose garden, Riche returned to me and requested more mana.

It seemed there were no seeds this time.

That probably meant there was nothing that needed Purification.

I gave Riche additional mana.

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Then, the accumulated petals emitted a dazzling light that enveloped the nursery.

…

…

…

After a while, the light and petals vanished, and the roses in the nursery had completely regained their vitality.

“Wh-wh-wh-wha…”

The Director could only manage to say “wha.”

I feel like I’ve seen something like this before, but I can’t remember where.

“Fiene! You are amazing! And you, you insolent spirit! I shall forgive you.”

Yep. Char’s the same as ever. Even though she wasn’t actually that angry to begin with.

“Riche, why were the roses here so lifeless? Were they sick?”

Riche shook her head from side to side and pointed toward the ground.

“The soil?”

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Riche shook her head again.

“Um, if it’s not the soil, then…”

As I struggled to guess, Riche pointed to the stem of a single rose and then pointed straight down into the earth.

“The roots?”

Riche nodded repeatedly. She somehow looked a little sad.

“Could it be that the roots were damaged? What was the cause? Director! Surely you have some idea?”

“T-That is… yes…”

Pressed by Char, the Director opened his mouth in resignation. What followed was a rather disheartening story.

First, the budget for the Royal Rose Garden had been reduced for various political reasons.

This was partly due to the situation with the Black Rainbow Empire, and apparently, there had also been political infighting over the kingdom’s budget..

As a result, they no longer had the funds to hire the Earth Attribute Mages who specialized in the transplanting they usually requested.

With no other choice, the Director appealed to the higher-ups overseeing the Royal Rose Garden and was introduced to a contractor who could perform the same work within the given budget.

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However, that contractor had subcontracted the work due to the budget constraints, and a group of down-on-their-luck hunters ended up being sent as the workers.

They were hunters—sorry, that’s a rude way to put it, but it’s common for trouble to arise, such as things being stolen, when you hire hunters—they apparently completed the work without any particular incidents.

Even so, they simply couldn’t match the meticulous work of the specialized Earth Attribute Mages they usually employed, and the roots of the roses were damaged when they were dug up.

Consequently, the roses gradually lost their vitality, leading to this disastrous state.

“Sending vulgar people like hunters into the sacred Rose Garden… Tell me the name of that contractor. The House of Gatirue shall crush them!”

Hearing this, Char was absolutely furious.

I’m not really sure how the laws work in this country, but if they damaged the rose roots, shouldn’t they simply have to compensate for the damage?

And so, having unexpectedly solved the problem, we left the Rose Garden and headed for lunch.

“Still, I simply cannot forgive this!”

Char was still angry.

This anger seemed genuine. That corner-cutting contractor might actually get crushed.

The carriage carrying us proceeded slowly through the streets of the Royal Capital.