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Chapter 40

Noel and I enjoyed ourselves thoroughly shopping at the market. As I browsed the goods, I realized something: Bit Village might lack things simply because it is rural, but the cities must be quite advanced. Tools in my original world ran on electricity; here, they run on magical power.

The reason I’ve been able to contribute so much in this village is because it’s such a remote backwater, where conveniences are scarce. By raising plants, I could raise the quality of life. If I had appeared in a city, or if this place had been more developed, I might have been seized as nothing more than a suspicious plant-woman. …Being born in the mountains of the frontier turned out to be a blessing. Even if goblins pulling me up by the roots and zombies attacking made it dangerous, I’d never want to go back.

The market even had a plant shop, and while I was looking, Ilai, the one organizing the market, spoke to me. Apparently he had been working with the shopkeeper to find rare plants for me.

「For now, I’ve got this… Haven’t seen it in the village. All these kernels are seeds. Witch-sama should be able to grow it.」

(Is this… corn?)

What he held out, rows of yellow kernels, was oddly familiar.

Plants in this world can be exactly like those from my old world, or they can be fantastical things found only here, like me. This was very similar to corn.

No matter the plant, as long as I get even a small part, I can absorb it, use my diversification skill, and mass-produce it. Smiling, I had Noel accept the corn. Later I could absorb it and check its name and properties. There was no need to ask Ilai for a long explanation.

「And also, any use for this?」

「What’s this? Not food, is it?」

「This one’s said to bring good fortune. Normally it has three leaves, but sometimes four grow. That’s said to be lucky.」

The heart-shaped leaves looked close to clover. But the four-leaf clover most people in my world knew was a different plant, white clover, whose leaves weren’t heart-shaped. This resembled it, but was clearly another species of this world.

「I thought, well, Witch-san, maybe you could… do something like you did with lilies of the valley, some special change or clever use.」

(Well… I could.)

Back in my world, they made strains that produced mostly four-leaf clovers. I could do that here, or go further, making plants with even more leaves, or enormous four-leaf clovers big enough to use as umbrellas.

My diversification skill can trigger changes and mutations with certainty. I could easily make nutrient-rich strains of food crops. …If I think about it, there’s enormous potential for plant-based commerce.

(But if I do it too quickly, it’ll seem unnatural. Better to let time pass, 「research」 it, and claim it’s a natural mutation. Otherwise I won’t seem human.)

I nodded, and Ilai beamed, rubbing his hands. He seemed convinced I’d produce profitable results. Then, as always, he laid on the flattery. It was merchant nature, so I took it with a grain of salt.

「Still, Witch-san, that veil suits you. Out here in the frontier, it’s hard to dress up, isn’t it? Always thought you had style, and glad you found something you liked.」

「Yes, Witch-sama usually decorates herself with flowers, so she must like fashion.」

In truth, I covered myself in flowers to disguise the unnaturalness of my body. Especially the mandragora bloom atop my head, impossible to hide, so I grew multiple flowers around it, making it look like a floral hat.

Thankfully, a mandragora’s flower is beautiful, so it works as ornament. If it had been a rafflesia reeking of rot, or a cactus bristling with thorns, something that made people wonder 「why wear that?」, it would’ve been awful.

(…Oh. Right. Humans like fashion. It had totally slipped my mind.)

The fabric shop was still thriving. At Querli the eccentric designer’s shop, Ritter was talking with the owner. Perhaps people in this world, men and women both, enjoyed fashion more than I thought.

And if I kept adorning myself only with flowers, while seeming indifferent to clothes, I might stand out as strange. Better to act more human-like, and care about clothing and ornaments as well.

「At this rate, a fashion trend may start here in the village. Watching you, Witch-san, people are bound to get interested.」

(…Me? Why?)

「I’ll be planning another market. You can look forward to it, might even make it a regular event.」

Turning toward the lively square, Ilai’s smile curved, calculating. You could almost hear the abacus in his head.

I absorbed the two plants Ilai gave me and checked them before planting them in the fields.

The corn was called toukibi, just as in Japan, but it had another name here: 「sweet frog eggs.」 That left me feeling… conflicted. Food shouldn’t be called things like that. Strange otherworlders. Even as a mandragora, I still had a better sense of taste. …Though frog eggs are delicious to mandragoras.

The clover-like plant was 「mitsuba,」 or 「three-leaf.」 In Japan the same name was used for a culinary herb, but this was different, an ornamental plant. It bloomed white, pink, or pale yellow flowers like small round pompoms, very cute, often used to weave flower crowns.

(So with these three-leaf plants… I can make strains that grow nothing but four-leaf clovers, or even giant four-leafs. But I should wait, raise normal ones for a while, make it look natural.)

Noel wagged his tail happily in front of the new crops. Since I grew them, they could ripen regardless of season. He must have been thinking of how to cook them.

「Ilai told me a lot of recipes, and they all sounded delicious. If it’s soup, Witch-sama, you’ll eat it too. Please look forward to it!」

(Thanks. Even if my taste isn’t human, this must be nutritious… maybe it’ll taste good to me too.)

「But lately, birds have been troubling the fields… tomorrow I’ll definitely catch them. I don’t want the vegetables Witch-sama raised to be stolen.」

(Birds…?)

He explained a sly, fast bird had settled nearby, raiding crops. Worse, it struck not in secret but right in front of people, as though mocking them.

(That’s odd. It’d be safer to steal when no one’s around.)

Noel seemed furious, feeling taunted. Even with his beastman agility he couldn’t catch it, and it was clever enough to break traps. Very troublesome.

(Then tomorrow I’ll help catch it too.)

「Witch-sama yourself…? I couldn’t trouble you with that. As your attendant, I should handle it.」

(That’s not true. You’re doing your best.)

I pointed at the field, then myself. Noel understood, and drooped, ashamed of his weakness. He was still a child, there are things he can’t do. No need to push himself. I patted his shoulder to encourage him. Sometimes, keeping watch on the fields isn’t bad. Because,

(By catching the bird, I can photosynthesize at the same time. Two birds with one stone, literally!)