Interlude 2: Glen and the Blue Lilies

I barely managed to catch Chelsea after she swayed and lurched forward. It was really close, since we were sitting across from each other... Checking her status, I saw that she’d overused her Skill and fallen asleep, having used up all of her mana.

“She had to overdo it again...”

«Yes. Should she not have realized she was nearly out of mana from the loss of breath and fatigue?»

“She should have, since I cured all of her status ailments, but...Chelsea might just be so used to pain that she didn’t realize.”

«We must scold her for that, later,» the kitten said, looking worried from his spot on top of the box holding the Spirit Tree cutting.

“They’re going to get the wrong idea about us again...” I muttered, laying her down on the sofa.

For now, I collected all of the seeds that she had made to absorb the miasma—the Blue Lily seeds—and put them in my Item Box. Then, I rang the bell to call a maid and have Chelsea carried to her room.

＋＋＋

A few hours later, James, the current Margrave Sargent, and I stood on a wide span of wasteland to the southwest of the manor. There, a dark, black, muddy gas—the miasma—was gathered. It writhed, almost like a living thing, but was kept in place on the wasteland by a barrier of [Wind Magic].

“It’s really dense. Just getting close to it makes it hard to breathe,” I said, despite the fact that the strong body my [Reincarnator] bonuses gave me made it hard to feel. All of the knights that had come as our guards looked to be in pain. “Let’s plant the seeds that Chelsea made.”

“These?” James asked, looking curiously at the blue half-moon-shaped seeds in the palm of my hands. The very oddly-colored seeds were the ones that Chelsea had created to absorb the miasma.

“Do your best not to faint from the shock,” I advised everyone present, thinking back to when she had planted the Spirit Tree, or the plants in her personal garden. James gave me a (slightly twitching) smile in return.

I slipped a Blue Lily seed in a small fissure in the ground by my feet. The moment I did, a sprout popped up, then some leaves... A second later, the flower was at my waist. A big blossom appeared, blooming into a large lily. The flower, just as bright blue as the seed it was grown from, swayed in the breeze.

Using my [Appraisal] Skill, I saw a pie graph sort of thing displayed, and the blue circle quickly turned black. That must mean that it was sucking up the miasma. As soon as the circle was fully black, the flower withered, produced a single seed, and disintegrated, becoming fertilizer. Then, the new seed that had fallen went to bloom again...and again, and again.

The knights who had come with us were all staring in shock, jaws to the floor. James was frozen, gaping at the sight before him.

“Just what I’d expect from Chelsea. They’re absorbing miasma and becoming fertilizer, just as we planned in the blueprint. But I didn’t expect them to grow and wither quite this fast,” I commented with a smirk. Chelsea was the one who made the seeds, but for some reason, I felt just as proud as she should be. “Now, let’s plant more around the perimeter of the miasma to get it all gone.”

I handed the half-moon-shaped blue seeds to James and the knights. Everyone looked on in awe at the seeds they planted.

We all stood there for a while, watching the Blue Lilies bloom and wither over and over again. It gradually became easier to breathe, and the knights looked more comfortable. Visually, the murky black mist started fading, disappearing gradually. Once all of the miasma in the wasteland was absorbed, the flowers stopped withering. That meant that there wasn’t any miasma left in the area.

“Looks like it’s done.”

Everyone there silently nodded at my words.

“It was like a storm when they were growing again and again, but now it’s like a calm sea...” James murmured, watching the blue lilies sway in the breeze.

“Are there other places you’re keeping the miasma contained in?”

“Yes.”

“What she made today probably won’t be enough. We’ll have to ask her to create more tomorrow.”