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Chapter 54

Chapter 54

On the way back home from the knights’ lodging, I took a light stroll around the village to check on things. If there were any requests, I’d grant them. It’s to appeal as a good witch.

However, since it was harvest season and everyone was busy, the villagers were hard at work in the fields, and I didn’t see anyone with time to spare in the village. Even the children seemed to just help out and play during breaks.

(Everyone’s so busy just living their daily lives that even if you tell them danger is approaching, it’s hard for them to act… I mean, unless you lose your place to live like Noel did, running away isn’t really an option.)

Being told to abandon your hometown, the place you live, it’s not easy. People stay until they can’t anymore. That’s just how it is.

On top of that, it seemed the country wanted to make this village a defensive base, drawing a boundary line against the monsters’ habitat. They probably didn’t want wild creatures encroaching on human territory and shrinking the areas where people could live.

When people leave an area, nature grows, wild animals increase, and they start pressing in on human domains. That doesn’t change between my original world and this one. It’s survival competition at the level of living beings.

(I’m siding with the humans, though. I’m a benevolent witch.)

To begin with, I’d settled in this village before the monsters of the Demonic Wastes ever did. This was my territory, how audacious of them to think of invading and taking it. If they were going to try to steal the base for my peaceful daily life, then of course I’d eliminate them.

(This is probably… what they call love of one’s homeland, right? Looks like I still have some human-like feelings left.)

I was born in the Demonic Wastes, but I never liked that noisy place. I’d spent more time in Bit Village after identifying myself as a mandragora, and by now this place was probably my hometown.

「Ah… Ilai-san is in front of the house.」

(Right, I did see his carriage in the plaza earlier. Maybe it’s about business.)

When we got back home, Ilai was waiting for us. The moment he saw me, he put on a suspicious smile and started rubbing his hands together, a very merchant-like person.

「Well now, Witch-san, you’re looking as beautiful as ever today. And Noel, young master, you look well too.」

「…Hello. What brings you here today?」

「Well, I was starting to wonder how that thing I asked you about was coming along, so I thought I’d drop by and check, see.」

What he’d asked for was a lily-of-the-valley music box and advice on what to do with four-leaf clover. For now, I’d made two pots of the lily-of-the-valley, so I had Noel carry them over.

「Well now, two whole plants delivered! Much obliged, much obliged.」

「Ilai-san, these too. This is the clover Witch-sama is growing. …Well, it’s not really three-leaf anymore, though.」

Just like in my original world, four-leaf clover was said to bring good luck here, so I’d modified a normally three-leaf plant so that it would only grow four-leaf clover. I’d separated those into pots, and Noel handed them to Ilai as well.

(I’ve seen flower shops selling pots that only have four-leaf clover before. I don’t think it was white clover, but there must’ve been demand for it as cute interior decor.)

Still, there was no guarantee that people in another world shared the exact same values as people from my original world, and since I myself had a monster’s way of seeing things and didn’t find plants other than mandragoras particularly cute, all I could do was watch Ilai’s reaction. …I did like purification flowers, though. They were tasty.

「Well now… this here is a pot of luck, ain’t it. Alright, I’ll buy it off you. By the way, how much can this be increased? That’ll affect how I sell it.」

(This isn’t particularly hard. Let’s see… I still have some empty pots, right?)

「Witch-sama, is this what you’re looking for?」

(Oh, yeah, that’s it. Thanks for catching on.)

I filled the empty pot Noel brought with soil, plucked a single four-leaf from the pot Ilai was holding, and stuck it into the soil of the new pot. Then all I had to do was order it to grow. Just like that, another pot containing nothing but four-leaf clover was complete.

「…Witch-san, could it be that… as long as you have one plant, you can increase these endlessly? Like just plucking and dividing them like you did, could even I increase them?」

(That’s right. I can grow them instantly, but humans can increase them normally too. …Their reproductive power is pretty strong, so if you’re not careful it might turn into one of those garden herbs that explode in numbers, but as long as I order them not to overgrow, it should be manageable…)

Even in my original world, there were problems with highly reproductive herbs taking over gardens, and this plant had similar strength.

But this four-leaf clover wasn’t a species intentionally bred by crossing genes, it was something I’d created through 「diversification」 after absorbing it, more like one of my underlings. Even if it was planted far away, I should be able to make it grow, wither, or change freely depending on my orders.

「In that case, this’ll sell well to the common folk. I’ll buy as many as you make. …By the way, I’ve got a request, your house is all fancy with plants, right? Think you could decorate my carriage with this lucky four-leaf too?」

(I see, advertising display, huh. Yeah, I need Ilai-san to spread the word that I’m a good witch, so I’ll do it.)

If people associated lucky four-leaf clover with the Flower Witch, that would be a good thing. Any shady image around me would fade, and I might get closer to being a symbol of happiness.

I nodded and touched Ilai’s carriage. As I made fairly large four-leaf clover and flowers bloom on the roof of the cargo bed, I realized you wouldn’t even know they were four-leaf clover unless you looked closely.

(Hmm… oh right. I was thinking of making giant clover too. I’ll grow a big four-leaf so you can tell even from far away.)

Thinking it could double as shade, I made a giant four-leaf appear to cast a shadow over the driver’s seat. With four-leaf clover growing on the roof, pom-pom-like little flowers, and one large four-leaf standing out among them, it turned into quite a fancy, cute carriage. It was definitely eye-catching.

「Witch-san… you really understand, don’t you… you’re the goddess of my business…」

Ilai was deeply moved and delighted, so it seemed I’d made the right call. Now that he was a merchant who carried good fortune, he’d probably travel the whole country selling plants that came from me.

I didn’t want money, but having the image of a benevolent witch spread was more than welcome. That was what Ilai had intended when he approached me with business in the first place.

(Alright, alright. With this, my reputation as a good witch should spread across the country along with my plants!)