Chapter 92

“Masterrr—!!”

The moment I stepped onto the farm, a round droplet came hurtling at me.

Splat!

With a satisfyingly sticky smack, the dewdrop rice cake smacked straight into my face.

I grabbed it and peeled it off with a firm hand.

“Don’t just throw yourself at me like that.”

“Waaah~! Master is such a T…!”

“What’s this ‘strange phenomenon’ in the forest you were talking about?”

“That…! I think it’ll be faster if you see it yourself! Nini’s not good at explaining!”

She might be an idiot, but at least Ninabel knew she was one. I gave her a few brisk pats on the head and glanced around.

The house and farm didn’t look much different.

Aside from the crops we planted a few days ago, now grown thick and lush.

“Nini, you can harvest the crops, right?”

“O-of course! Leave it to me!”

She didn’t sound confident at all.

“Then harvest them for me. I’ll go take a look at the forest in the meantime.”

“Y-yes, ma’am…!”

Still not convincing.

As I turned toward the forest, I added a warning.

“Don’t mess up.”

“…!”

“I’m kidding. It’s fine if you do.”

“…!!”

Her tiny hamster ears perked up, and she cried out in a moved voice.

“Master may be a T, but you’re kind~! Nini will be Master’s slave for life!!”

Suit yourself….

I nodded absentmindedly and headed into the forest. It was close to the farm, so I arrived in no time.

‘Let’s see… this “strange phenomenon”….’

And then the sight that filled my vision made my eyes go wide.

Mysterious, glowing mushrooms.

And flowers in full bloom!

‘W-what the hell happened here?’

The mushrooms and flowers were thriving on their own, giving off a soft blue glow.

I approached carefully and crouched down.

As I stared intently at the cluster of strange mushrooms, thinking of appraising them—

A pop-up appeared.

‘An Elixir ingredient…?’

This bizarre mushroom was a material for an Elixir?

Even the name—‘Blue Star Cluster Mushroom’—sounded suspicious.

‘Then… are the glowing flowers Elixir ingredients too?’

I sprang to my feet and looked around. A nearby patch of glowing flowers caught my eye.

I crept over and, as expected, used my appraisal skill.

‘…They really are Elixir ingredients?’

And with powerful detoxifying properties at that. An incredibly precious medicinal herb I couldn’t afford to miss.

‘It’s a shame I can’t harvest the leaves right now.’

As with most lycoris, only the stem and flower remained.

“Lycoris usually bloom in summer….”

But this one flowered in April. Strange.

I straightened up and slowly surveyed the entire forest.

Aside from the strange mushrooms and flowers sprouting up, something else felt different.

‘The color of the trees and grass….’

A warm reddish-brown… tinged with green?

“…Huh?”

Huh?!

Startled, I rushed around the forest, checking every corner.

And then I realized—

‘The contamination’s been purified…?!’

Not just the area I had cleansed with my skill—other parts had turned into pristine nature as well!

How was that possible? Had this space itself influenced it?

‘That’s probably it.’

The sky alone was proof enough. This wasn’t an ordinary place.

Pushing my surprise aside, I began harvesting the mushrooms and flowers.

I pulled the herb hoe from my inventory and carefully dug up the lycoris, roots and all.

After focusing on gathering for quite some time, my neck and shoulders started to ache.

I thumped them lightly with my fist, giving myself a makeshift massage.

‘Ah, this would be the perfect time for Ninabel to give me one.’

Maybe I should’ve brought her along.

In any case, after running all over the forest and gathering for a while…

For reference, I’d upgraded my inventory to B-rank using reputation.

Plenty of storage space now!

‘Alright, that should be enough.’

It wouldn’t be good to strip a naturally growing ecosystem bare.

“Can’t go destroying the ecosystem….”

I tucked the hoe back into my inventory and strolled leisurely toward the farm.

The sky above was still dreamlike in color.

It looked as if, with just a tap of my fingertip, thick oil paint would smear across it.

‘No matter how many times I see it, it’s amazing.’

When I reached the farm, I immediately looked for Ninabel.

“…Nini, what are you doing?”

“…I’m sorry, Master…. Nini’s trash~! Waaaah—!!”

As I soothed the spirit sobbing her heart out, I glanced around and quickly understood what had happened.

‘Ah. She messed up a few while harvesting.’

The eggplants, zucchinis, carrots, and romaine lettuce piled near the garden had various nicks and bruises.

Not all of them—maybe five or six.

‘That’s not too bad….’

The watermelons… two of them were completely smashed, though.

What on earth did she do to shatter them like that…?

Still, eight were perfectly fine. Not a huge issue.

“I’m sorry, Master! Waaah! Stupid! Stupid Ninabel!”

“Calm down. It’s okay.”

It took ten whole minutes before Ninabel finally stopped crying. I transferred the harvested crops into my inventory, then went inside and settled comfortably onto the living room sofa.

‘Now, let’s take a closer look at the Elixir recipe again.’

I opened my inventory and took out the rolled parchment—cream-colored paper tied with a red ribbon.

I untied the ribbon and spread the scroll across the table, reviewing the Elixir’s ingredients one by one.

‘Blue Star Cluster Mushroom, Blue Star Cluster Lycoris….’

Got those just now.

‘The red blossom of the Moonlight Magnolia tree blessed by the Goddess of Time.’

…What is that?

It’s a Moonlight magnolia, but the flower is red?

That’s bizarre.

‘Does that mean a magnolia touched by red moonlight?’

At this rate, the other ingredients were probably just as ridiculous.

And sure enough—

At least ‘Dragon’s Tear’ was easy enough to understand, comparatively—

‘But… where the hell am I supposed to get that?!’

Needless to say, dragons weren’t creatures you could just bump into.

Even the Founding Dragon of the Grastea Empire—arguably the most “accessible” one—had been in seclusion for centuries.

‘Even the imperial family doesn’t know the location of the Founding Dragon and the First Emperor’s hideout!’

You gave me this Elixir recipe to actually make it… right…?

‘A quest?’

Ding!

The familiar notification sound. And then—

“…….”

There’s a penalty… for failure?

Until now, the system had never penalized me.

At worst, it deducted a small amount of coins.

The system had always supported me endlessly, smoothing everything out as if it existed solely for my sake.

‘But that penalty….’

Someone’s death.

And a reversal of fate.

“What the hell does that even mean….”

I badgered the system for a detailed explanation, but as expected, it remained silent.

“This is insane. Who’s going to die? And what do you mean, fate reversal?”

As I paced around the living room, clutching at my hair, Ninabel trailed behind me, at a complete loss.

“M-Master! Did you receive some kind of ominous revelation…?!”

Yeah. I did. A seriously ominous quest.

I bit down on my lip and took a deep breath, forcing myself to calm down.

Now’s not the time to panic. Do something.

‘Hey, system! At least give me a hint! Where am I supposed to get the Elixir ingredients?’

Surprisingly, this time it answered immediately.