Chapter 116 — Lab Recluse (3)
"It's been quiet lately."
"Yes...."
Helen answered, sounding deflated.
Ever since the soil arrived, the Count had shut himself up in the laboratory like a complete recluse.
"I'm worried. He hardly eats."
At a glance, Helen's perpetually irritated expression seemed unchanged,
but the emotion behind it couldn't fool Roan.
Roan smiled faintly and spoke.
"Worrying about another man in front of me?"
Helen's eyes went wide.
"Wh-what do you mean, Master? That's.... That's not...!"
She floundered awkwardly, uncharacteristically flustered. When her eyes welled up in an instant, Roan was the one caught off guard.
"No, I... hmm."
Roan rose abruptly and embraced Helen, who had been standing in front of the office desk.
"Forgive me."
"Ah.... No. I'm sorry, Master."
Her voice trembled.
"The Count's research seems to have been hard on you as well."
"No. I'm all right."
Rare for her, red concentric circles spread from her lips. Roan silently looked down at Helen, then sat on the office sofa and patted his lap.
"Come here."
"...Ah."
Helen's face brightened.
When she tried to lie across his lap, Roan stopped her.
"Hmm, that, I'll give you later...."
"Ahh.... Yes...."
Helen hesitated for a moment, so Roan spoke gently.
"Sit."
"On... your lap, Master?"
"Mm."
A joyful smile played across Helen's hesitant face. It had been weeks since she started commuting to the laboratory with the Count.
This was no melting smile born from pain transmuted into pleasure in the bedroom—
it was a display of genuine delight, the first he had seen in a long time.
"Thank you, Master."
Seated on Roan's lap, Helen leaned her head against his shoulder, clearly in a good mood.
Roan quietly stroked Helen's hair, then spoke up.
"Once the Count's research concludes, I intend to visit Spros. I'd like you to accompany me."
"...Pardon? Is it an... official visit?"
"I can go and return using the ruins."
"Ahh...."
Helen, who had lifted her head in surprise, settled back against his chest with visible relief.
"I see. There was a monolith gate near Spros as well. So there are ruins there too...."
"Mm."
"What business takes you to Spros?"
"I intend to visit the Temple of Laurecia."
Helen pulled away from his embrace again.
She stared at him with horrified eyes.
But Roan faced her calmly.
"Grünent is from Spros, but she'd only have been inside the palace. Aina is a forest fairy. You seem to be the one I must ask for guidance."
"But, the temple...."
"I'll use a Disguise Tool. I can conceal my face for a while."
"......Yes...."
Helen's expression grew complicated.
A flood of thoughts seemed to rise within her.
Fear, anger, gloom.... The time she had spent there was not short.
"I need someone to guard me and guide the way. Helen. Can you do it?"
Roan gently stroked Helen's cheek.
Her rigid expression began to ease at his touch.
"Yes. Master. Of course."
After a moment of thought, Helen broke into a soft smile.
"Going to Spros alone with Master.... I never even imagined it."
Helen lifted her head slightly and looked at Roan.
"I was a little envious, you see. Of Rauka... no, Lady Aina."
"Hm."
The excitement perceptible in her words.
In the quiet room, an oblivious beep-beep sound effect broke the silence.
Helen's Affection had increased to +78.
"It feels like a date."
Helen smiled bashfully.
Roan, still holding her, organized his thoughts.
The object that allowed him to speak with the Goddess was not something easily transported.
In the game, plenty of players did weird things, so he had let it pass,
but in reality, there would be restrictions.
Moving it rashly might cause it to lose its function entirely.
Until he had certainty, inconvenient as it was, he had to go to the temple in Spros.
And to speak with the Goddess,
he had to dream.
Meaning he would be sleeping in the middle of enemy territory.
Moving alone would be easier, but that was precisely why Roan absolutely needed someone at his side.
"Helen."
"Yes, Master."
Helen answered drowsily, basking in the petting, clearly content.
"When I met the Goddess in my dream before—"
"Yes."
Helen smiled blissfully.
The mere thought of the Goddess seemed to draw a smile from her.
"Do you happen to know how long you were actually asleep?"
"They said it was not long. Less than ten minutes, a brief moment. Master."
"That's short...."
"...?"
A question flickered in Helen's mind,
but Roan merely stroked her hair, and she gave up on asking, settled again in his arms.
The game never showed how long the Hero dreamed, but it was probably safe to assume it was similar.
No matter how well the Disguise Tool worked,
he couldn't just stand there vacantly for ten minutes alone in the Temple of Spros.
This isn't a game; anyone would find it suspicious.
In an urgent situation, Helen might need to wake him.
'Which means... time is truly limited.'
He couldn't ask the Goddess everything.
Roan began compiling a mental list of questions.
**
A few days later.
Since the Count had truly barricaded himself in the lab during the second week of February, Roan had refrained from visiting.
It was obvious that results wouldn't appear overnight. And if Roan dropped by often, it would only inconvenience the Count and clearly not help produce results.
So it had been nearly ten days since Roan last visited the laboratory.
And in that span, which was short yet long,
the laboratory had...
"...Become a wasteland."
...become a complete mess.
"...You're here, Your Majesty."
"Hm. Count."
The Count practically tumbled off the cat tower and bowed his head before the Emperor.
Perhaps being a cat beastman didn't grant cat-like landing abilities; he nearly twisted his foot coming down the ladder.
Climbing down from three meters while half-asleep was no easy feat.
At least his situation was relatively better.
Helen was...
"...Asleep, is she."
"Yesss.... We both pushed a little too hard yesterday."
She was sprawled out next to the dirt floor.
But what truly turned the laboratory into chaos
was the mound of soil taking up half the room.
More precisely, an artificially constructed garden bed... or what had been one.
"...What is that?"
"Pardon?"
"That thing... baring its teeth like that...."
The strange plant planted in the bed flailed its frail body and bared its teeth.
But it seemed to have little strength; it wobbled weakly and then flopped over on its own.
The garden bed was full of those weird things.
"Ah. That is the Biting Flower."
"...."
"It grows well even when soil fertility is low. Ordinary crops take too long to cultivate."
"Hm."
Roan's expression upon seeing the disquieting garden bed turned dark, just like the Count's.
"It really isn't easy."
"No. We have discovered, first of all, that Blessing does play some role."
The Count smiled weakly, even though his face was gaunt.
There was a hint of madness in it that made Roan instinctively tense up to keep himself from flinching.
He was curious about the details,
but saving the Count seemed the higher priority.
A wizard's laboratory was no place for even servants to enter freely. Not to mention the research topic was classified.
Cleaning or tidying was out of the question.
Because of that, it wasn't just the garden bed—the entire laboratory was a total disaster area.
Roan carefully sorted a pile of documents stacked in a corner with his own hands. If the papers got mixed up, the Count would panic again.
After excavating a chair and table, Roan set down the sandwiches and tea he had brought.
"Count. When did you last eat?"
"Today is... what day is it today?"
The Count wobbled and sat on the chair as he asked.
"It's the 17th of February."
"...Pardon? ...That can't be...??"
...Huh?
The Count's eyes rolled oddly.
"Strange...? I definitely... checked that it was the 14th before I slept...? Food... hmm. When was my last meal?"
A chill ran down Roan's spine.
"This won't do. Count, this is an order. I will send an attendant every day. You will eat properly and sleep."
"Hmph, with such a soft mindset, you won't even get these Biting Flowers to bloom properly, let alone potatoes or corn?"
"You'll drop dead faster than these Biting Flowers will bloom. Moreover, Helen is human. She's more fragile than you."
"......Ah."
The Count, who had been staring blankly at Helen, nodded his head soullessly, as if he had just realized something astonishing.
"Is... that so. Understood, Your Majesty."
"Hoo...."
A sigh escaped him, though he scarcely knew if it was relief or regret. Roan looked at the Count and Helen with a pitying expression.
In the meantime, the Count took a sip of the tea Roan had brought, and his eyes went wide. He immediately began drinking it in a rush.
It was Grünent's special milk tea, sweetened with honey and milk to help fill the stomach. Grünent had said the handmaids used to prepare it for her when she was shut away reading.
A little color returned to the Count's pallid, drawn face. Only then did Roan pose his question.
"How goes the research? You said earlier that you discerned the function of Blessing."
"Ah. Yes. Your Majesty. This is delicious."
"Mm. It was made by my concubine."
"Oho.... The human concubine.... Lady Grünent, you mean."
The Count, a Grand Lord, knew her name as well.
"Hmm.... A human, you say."
The Count seemed lost in thought for a brief moment before he began answering Roan's question.
"Ah. Yes. We have discovered the function of Blessing. Were you aware, Your Majesty, that humans summon a priest each spring to bestow Blessing upon the land?"
"Mm. Helen mentioned it once."
"Yes. The power of the soil has limits. Humans replenish it with Blessing. We mages can measure that power, but we do not know how to replenish it. So I hypothesized that this thing called soil fertility is similar to the divine power that humans wield."
"Hm. The divine power of the land is akin to soil fertility?"
"I hypothesized as much."
The Count appeared to take a liking to Grünent's tea. Already sipping his third cup, he continued speaking.
"However, the crystal from the 'Dark Forest Seed' contains mana. Though it contains mana, it has the strange property of also responding to Holy Power. So first, I sprinkled powdered crystal on the field and then applied Helen's holy power in various ways."
"Hm."
"To state the conclusion, it was half a success."
"...Pardon?"
The words were entirely unexpected, and he hadn't dared hope for them.
A smile almost touched Roan's lips.
"Count, a success...."
"Half, I said."
The Count stressed his words emphatically.
"One: sprinkle the Crystal Powder on the soil. It fails. Mana continually radiates from the powder, yes, but it does not convert into soil fertility. Furthermore, absurdly enough, if living beings have mana nearby, it absorbs that instead. It will turn the land cursed."
"I see."
Meaning it would become a state rich in mana but uninhabitable by living things—essentially no different from the Crystal Cave.
"Two: bestow only Blessing. This is already proven by humans. It succeeds. I had her try other divine magic as well, but Blessing had the highest efficacy."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. We experimented with everything from defense, healing, and preservation magic to channeling her holy power directly into the soil, but the Blessing spell harmonized best with the land.
Even the soil of our nation, which lacks fertility, felt as though it was being replenished. Moreover, the effect lasts about a year."
"How do you know it lasts a year?"
"We experimented."
A slight furrow appeared between Roan's brows.
"Over a year?"
"Is there not a spell that accelerates time?"
"...That's... a curse, isn't it?"
At Roan's astonished question, the Count merely shrugged.
"I only need to see the results quickly. The magic serves that purpose."
"Hmm...."
Well, as a magic that hastens natural death, that would technically be correct....
At last, Roan understood why Helen and the Count had reached such a state of exhaustion.
"And three: apply Blessing while the Crystal Powder has been spread on the soil. It succeeds. Quite decently, in fact."
Yet the Count's expression was far from bright.