Chapter 288: Nara’s Luck

Chapter 288

Nara’s Luck

Even though Ellie had returned to rest in her tent, she continued to keep an eye on the heroine. When she saw Nara leave her tent to head to the location of the egg, Ellie realized that everything was as she had suspected. It seemed that all of this had been prepared specifically for Nara.

Though it was a bit pitiful, Ellie had no reason to let Nara receive these good things. She believed that once Nara increased her strength, the first thing she would do would be to get rid of her.

The assistance went smoothly. Shortly after, more than 100 people from the palace arrived. They quickly organized the people, and there were some parts of the village that the students, with the help of the priests, had restored, so the villagers were able to return to their homes, though the food situation for each village was still a concern.

Ellie, along with her professor and other students, went up the mountain to search for usable plants. However, the surrounding area had been almost completely picked clean by the villagers, leaving the other students with little to find. Nonetheless, Ellie always managed to use the heroine to her advantage. Even though Nara walked lifelessly, she still managed to find valuable herbs.

“Professor, could this herb be useful? I felt familiar that it might be beneficial.” Despite not knowing the herb herself, Nara felt that the colorful herb must have some value.

Professor Medik looked at Nara as she presented the plant. Initially, he didn’t want to converse with her, but after seeing the herb in her hand, his eyes sparkled. Professor Lucien, watching from a distance, immediately recognized the herb’s potential usefulness for their work. He stopped what he was doing and approached the beautiful professor.

“Is this herb usable?”

“Yes, definitely. This herb will help the villagers earn a lot of money from selling it, as it fetches 1 silver coin for every 10 plants. It’s quite a valuable herb. However, it doesn’t grow just anywhere, so I never expected to find it thriving here.”

“This is the Brain Flower herb. It likes to grow on various types of rocks, primarily on stony mountains. I just never thought we’d find it in this area. If that’s the case, then the surrounding area would be ideal for cultivation.”

“The Brain Flower herb can be used as a food ingredient for patients. When people are unwell, they often can’t eat much. However, if they can’t eat at all, it becomes a problem. So, people look for foods that, even in small quantities, can significantly restore their health. The Brain Flower herb is one such herb commonly used for this purpose.”

Ellie nodded in response to her professor’s words. In fact, she had discovered the herb about 3 seconds before Nara did. However, this herb wasn’t of much interest to someone who had everything in her dimension and would never starve. So, Ellie didn’t collect it in advance. Besides...since the creator had gone to such lengths, she might as well let Nara benefit from it.

From what Ellie observed, this herb could absorb minerals well. So, when its flowers were used in cooking, they would contain beneficial minerals, making the food highly nutritious for those who consumed it. It’s no wonder these herbs were quite expensive, being a high-end product for wealthy families to use for their patients...

Initially, Ellie wanted to destroy the herb to prevent Nara from finding it. Decomposing it with spores wouldn’t be difficult. But after considering the situation, she realized that letting the heroine find the herb would be more beneficial for herself. Firstly, if they didn’t succeed in finding this herb, they would have to continue searching for new herbs in the coming days, making it an endless task.

If it weren’t for the heroine’s skills, Ellie thought they would never have found it, or she might have to reveal the valuable herbs located higher up, which would undoubtedly make everyone suspicious of how Ellie knew their locations.

So, relying on the creator’s efforts and Nara herself, it was better to let the other party gain this benefit...

"Good, then we can use this herb as a future agricultural product for the villagers, right?"

"Of course," Professor Medik replied with a relaxed smile. Seeing this, Professor Lucien also smiled faintly. It seemed that seeing such a smile after not seeing each other for a long time genuinely put him at ease.

Previously, he had always been worried about how Medik was handling the students’ missions. Even though Ellie was among them, which eased his mind a bit, he still couldn’t fully trust the situation. So, when he received the emergency contact, his heart sank. If it weren’t for having to inform the institute, he would have rushed over and taken only 1-2 days to assist.

"Student Nara, because of this discovery, I will surely request a reward from the institute for you. Completing this special mission will earn our group additional points and we can also ask for some small benefits. You might even receive 10 gold coins as a reward."

Professor Medik seemed very pleased, and he shared this news with Nara happily. The young woman was equally excited, as the money she received from the church was limited, only a few gold coins per year, barely enough for her food at the institute.

She wasn’t like Zoey. Although Zoey received a monthly allowance from Ellie, she never used it for food. Zoey enjoyed the food provided by the institute because, for a poor family, having meat, even scraps, was rare. She saved all her monthly allowance to use for her family back home.

It was fortunate that lately, Zoey had been following Wint as her mentor. He often came in and treated her to meals, instead of those scraps. Wint’s habits hadn’t changed; he still referred to those scraps as dog food. Perhaps because he had once eaten such food himself, it was a way for him to confront his own traumas. On the days when he could afford good food for himself and share it with others...Wint felt quite satisfied.

Back to Nara, after learning that finding the herb would earn her 10 gold coins, she was very happy. Professor Medik had anticipated this reaction. If another student had found the herb, he would have offered a word or two of thanks. Talking about 10 gold coins might have seemed insulting to them.

Having found a suitable herb, the next step was to experiment with cultivation. Unlike previous missions where the institute sent tasks along with seeds, this time Professor Medik could use the village’s agricultural land as a test site. It was just a matter of using botanic-element magical tools to test compatibility, and it would be done.

However, after discovering that the herb suited the surrounding area, Professor Medik had to seclude himself in his tent to divide the plant into multiple parts. This method worked for plants below level 2. For higher-level plants, even Professor Medik hadn’t figured out how to propagate them. It’s no surprise that most high-level herbs came from city sieges or exploration missions.

It took another 2 days to prepare a large quantity of seeds, so during these 2 days, the professors had the students help the villagers prepare new cultivation areas.

The villagers’ existing farmland was already used for edible crops. The professors didn’t want to disturb this because edible crops were still important. If they could grow enough, there would be no need to forage in the forest for more, except for meat.

Therefore, the experimental plot was a communal area on a nearby cliff. Fortunately, it wasn’t difficult to reach. Otherwise, the villagers wouldn’t have wanted to go there. They weren’t like the students who had magic powers; the forest was more a place of death for them.

During these 2 days, the students split into 2 groups to prepare 2 cultivation plots. The first group included Ellie, Duchess Vida, Aria, Wint, and others. This group did not include Nara, likely because she still couldn’t face Wint. Every time she saw him, she felt a pang in her heart. Thus, Ellie considered these times as good moments.

Duchess Vida wasn’t familiar with this kind of work. Her powers didn’t relate to earth or water. So, she mostly sat on a rock, waiting for everyone else. However, it wasn’t that she did no work at all. While waiting, she prepared food for the other students and patrolled with those who couldn’t help with the planting plot.

They decided to build an extra fence around the plot, placing traps for beasts to prevent the herb plot from being destroyed. Although this area was technically part of the village, it was a hillside rarely visited. Often, small animals came here to give birth and then returned to the forest.

Agricultural work like this was where Ellie excelled the most. Before she had her three companions—“Camouflage Apple,” “Night Java Apple,” and “Thousand-Handed Orchid”—she had to cultivate all the plants and vegetables herself, using both magic power and physical effort extensively. However, when someone repeats the same work over and over, they eventually acquire skills from it.

Ellie used her Spirit Rake diligently for this task, and everyone praised her skills because she ended up doing most of the work. Even Professor Medik, who stopped by during his wait, gave her a thumbs up.

In just two days, they completed the work. Ellie’s plot had no issues, and she finished in the allotted time. After watering the herbs, the whole group followed Professor Medik to check on the other plot.

Despite Professor Medik showing some of his emotions earlier, when they saw the condition of the other plot...even Ellie’s group was shocked.

It turned out that the other plot was in disarray. The students were not skilled in this kind of work, but they had 2 students who could use water and earth magic, so they should have been faster than the others. However, it seemed that wasn’t the case. The two students were sitting on rocks with their arms crossed, looking displeased. The plot was divided into 2 sections: one with some students, and the other with villagers and Nara, who was tilling the soil.

The first group of students lacked expertise, so the result wasn’t quite good as one could see from their super slow progress. Meanwhile, the second group, consisting of Nara and 3-4 male villagers, was making better progress due to their experience, although they had less manpower. However, they still had a long way to go.

“What happened? Why aren’t the two students using earth and water magic helping?”

“Exactly, they look quite unhappy. Initially, we divided the groups to ensure that there were users of earth and water elemental powers in both.”

“Heh heh, I didn’t want to say it, but with Nara in this group, it was bound to have issues from the start.”

“Hmm? I didn’t think anyone else felt the same way I did.” The two students laughed together, finding it amusing that other shared their sentiments about this, making it even funnier that this was about Nara, who everyone ignored her.

“This lack of smooth work is actually everyone’s fault,” Professor Lucien rebuked softly, even though he secretly agreed with the students. His words immediately silenced everyone.

“It’s best not to let the villagers hear about this. They side with Nara to some extent. If they hear you laughing, they might get upset. The real issue is that the work remains unfinished, and the two students haven’t helped. Problems actually started since the first day of work,” Professor Medik explained on behalf of Professor Lucien.

"On the first day, the two students tried to work hard. They took on leadership roles, directing the other students to help, which was appropriate. However, Nara disagreed. She used her previous cultivation experience to show her strength, leading to a challenge between them. Nara then told everyone to work the soil without using magic power, and this is the result," Professor Medik explained to everyone. The remaining students’ faces contorted almost simultaneously.

"Nara...always causing trouble."

"When will she be expelled from the institute?"

"What I don’t understand the most is Professor Lily. How could she accept Nara as a disciple and invest so many resources in her?"

"Exactly. If it weren’t for Professor Lily, she wouldn’t have passed the first year."

"I heard that even some students in that branch dislike her. They say she causes problems there too, but since she’s Professor Lily’s favorite, no one dares to speak against her."

"I think the Beast Training Branch in these 4 years must be terrible."

"It’s been the most frustrating period ever..."

Everyone voiced their opinions, mostly in agreement. The two professors exchanged glances, realizing that the today’s cultivation work would likely be postponed. They still had some time, so they decided to let the situation play out and see the final outcome...