The Daily Life of the Late Bloomer Tamer - Chapter 37

Chapter 37: Herbal tea

I logged in. The green peach tree now has 5 flower buds on it. I can harvest them tomorrow. Once every two days is not bad.

The water guardian tree hasn’t changed much since it gave birth to Sakura. However, it has grown rapidly before, so it may grow even bigger again.

There are more saplings now. The day when this farm becomes an orchard may come soon.

First, let’s finish our daily routine. I’ll ask Orto to convert the crops into seeds we’ll plant today, turn the leftovers into medicine and food, and go out to sell the medicine.

Not only Orto, but Sakura also has some trees to grow, and Rick is harvesting nuts.

Also, Rick’s pruning skill is quite an interesting skill. Apparently, it’s a skill that raises tree quality. It’s a boon when aiming to make the farm into an orchard.

But I’m not going to stick to farming like this. No, I want to continue farming, but I also want to have some adventures.

For now, let’s report the completed quests. After returning from Alyssa’s stall, I headed to the flower shop with Orto and the others.

“Hello.”

“You’re that Nii-chan from the other day!”

“These are the wild strawberries you requested.”

“Oh!You made it for me!Thanks!Here, this is your reward.”

Delivery Quest

Description: Grow wild strawberries and deliver 10 of them.

Reward: 200 G, mint seeds

Expiration date: None

200 G and mint seeds. Not just one kind of mint, but 5 pieces each of two kinds: blue mint and red mint. My weeds variety are getting more and more diverse.

“Thank you again. My name is Scoop. Nice to meet you.

“Oh, my name is Yuto.”

“Hey, I was wondering if you could do me a favor.

“What kind of favor?”

“Oh, yeah. My brother has a stall, and he’s having some trouble with his stock. I want you to help him.”

“But I’m not very good at fighting, you know?”

“No problem. Well, just listen to his request first, okay?”

Hmmm. Is this some kind of chain quest thing?Well, it’s okay if I just listen to the story. If it seems impossible, I can just refuse it.

“Okay, I understand. I’ll go see him for the time being.”

“My brother runs a stall in the northern district.”

As soon as the uncle said that, a red dot appeared on my map.

I went straight to his brother’s stall.

“Mumu.”

” ”

Orto and Sakura are following me. They look like an older sister and younger brother, but actually Orto is the senior. Hmmm, that’s very funny.

“Oh, is it that one?”

At the location that Scoop told me about, there is a stall. I’m sure I passed this place while mapping, but I do not remember seeing any stalls. Is it possible that the quest has triggered it to become visible?

“Excuse me.”

“Oh, welcome. What can I do for you?”

The man who greeted me is an old man with a stern look, just like the man at the flower shop. The only difference was that this one is a little shorter than the other one.

“I came here because Scoop-san from the flower shop introduced me. He said you are in some kind of trouble.”

“Oh. Are you an adventurer from another world?”

“Yes, I am. My name is Yuto. These are my monsters.”

“Mu.”

“—.”

“Kyu!”

Everyone bows their heads in greeting. Yeah, yeah, that’s good.

“I don’t know if I can accept your request yet, but can I hear your detailed request for the time being?”

“Sure. My name is Raiba. Nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you.”

“As you can see, my stall sells herbs and spices…”

Just as Raiba said, his stall sells various kinds of herbs and spices. Salt, pepper, red mint, basil, and so on. And there are herbal teas, too. Can I make one of these?

Name: Herbal Tea Leaves, Chamomile

Rarity: 1 Quality: 8

Effect: None, Edible.

Name: Herbal tea leaves, Lavender

Rarity: 1 Quality: 8

Effect: None, Edible.

“Actually, my herb supplier has closed down, and the delivery of some herbs has been delayed. I need you to grow some herbs and supply them to me.”

“Can you give me the seeds?”

“Of course.”

Then I can grow them. However, it would be difficult to grow a large number of herbs continuously. It would overload my farm. When I told him that, he said that one time would be enough.

“I’ve found a new supplier, but it’s going to take 10 days to harvest and deliver. So as long as I can get the supplies for this week, that’s fine.”

Supply Quest

Description: Grow blue sage and red sage, and supply 8 units of each kind.

Reward: 300 G, Lavender seeds

Expiry date: 4 days

Hmmm. The rewards are as poor as ever. But if it’s a chain quest, there’s a chance I’ll get a good reward in the end. Especially when the NPC asked me to do it… Besides, I was thinking about something else.

The NPCs in this game seem to be running on advanced AI. And they have a certain degree of freedom. So, wouldn’t it be possible to negotiate with NPCs?That’s what I thought.

“Excuse me. Can you sell me some herb seeds? Even if it’s not herbs, flower seeds would be fine.”

“You want seeds?”

“Yes, I’m interested in herbs.”

“That’s unusual for an adventurer from another world. If you do what I ask, I’ll consider it.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. They’re not too valuable.”

I ask Raiba-san to show me the seeds he has. The herb seeds are oregano and wormwood. The flower seeds are hydrangea and cosmos.

Maybe it is because I asked. Or it’s thanks to my high likability?In the meantime, I’m doing what Raiba Onii-san asked me to do.

“I’ll accept the request.”

“Really? I’m counting on you.”

So I received 10 seeds each of blue sage and red sage. I also bought some herbal tea. I wanted to try the taste.

In my mind, I was thinking about the space available on my farm. I don’t have enough space to plant the seeds for the request. The field for herbs is getting too small.

“Maybe I should buy a new farm.”

I don’t have to worry about the farm quality for herbs, so I can just use the cheapest 2000 G farm. I’ll have to buy them anyway. Even if I want to experiment with making herb tea, potpourri, or pressed flowers, I don’t have enough ingredients now.

So, I bought two new farms. In the meantime, I plant the herb seeds that I just got. They should be ready to deliver tomorrow.

Now it’s time for some fun experiments. Well, I’m free until Orto finishes watering the herbs, so I’m just killing some time. I just found out about it a while ago, but I want to try making some herbal tea.

“So, the weeds I have now–”

Basille, Chamomile, Wild Strawberry, and Tulip.

I can use half of them for experiments. Just to be clear, it’s not just for the sake of my curiosity. The weeds and their products may not have any special effects, but they taste and smell great. I really need them for my delicious gaming life.

Actually, I wish to drink coffee, but I haven’t heard any news of its discovery. Well, wouldn’t it be nice to dream of making coffee with my own beans someday?Well, I don’t know when that will happen.

“To make herbal tea, we just need to dry them, right?”

No, wait. The fresh herbal tea I drank at a cafe before was just freshly picked herbs poured over hot water, right?I was surprised to find that it tasted even better than I expected. Let’s try it that way.

I boiled the water in a pot and put the chamomile in it. I turned off the heat and waited for a while, and the color gradually became green.

Name: Weed Water

Rarity: 1 Quality: 2

Effect: None. Edible.

It didn’t become an herbal tea. How does it taste?

“Bufuh!”

I spouted the green water right after I put it in my mouth. Oh no. It tasted like only the eggy taste of weed had been extracted. It tasted really bad. It’s comparable to spinach portable food.

I tried with basil, but the result was the same: just colored water. Apparently, I can’t make fresh herbal tea, or my skills are not good enough.

“No choice. Let’s try dried herbal tea.”

This one is also simple. I just need to apply the alchemy arts, drying.

Name: Herbal Tea, Chamomile

Rarity: 1 Quality: 4

Effect: None. Edible.

Okay, success. Now I know that herbal tea is basically just dried herbs.

However, the quality is low. I want to compare the quality of the tea with that of the 8 tea I bought at the store. The process is exactly the same and I use water from the well.

Name: Herbal Tea Chamomile

Rarity: 1 Quality: 3

Effect: None. Edible

Name: Herbal Tea Chamomile

Rarity: 1 Quality: 7

Effect: None. Edible

Now, what’s the difference?

“Zuzu… Zuzu… hmm?”

Is it different……?I think 7 has a stronger scent. It’s a very small difference. The 3 is not so bad, so I think I don’t have to worry about the quality for a while.

The next step is potpourri. But how to make potpourri?Can I just pack the dried herbs in a small pouch?Hmmm.

“Well, let’s give it a try.”

I’ll try drying tulips with my arts.

Name: Dried Flower Tulip

Rarity: 1 Quality: 4

Effect: None. For ornamental use.

That’s right. If it’s just dried, then it’ just a dried flower. For now, I’m going to try to break this into small pieces, but… The result was garbage. As I thought, just drying is not enough.

“I have no choice. I’ll search how to make potpourri when I log out.

The last one is the wild strawberry. I can make jams using them if they are normal strawberries, but I don’t have any sugar. Besides, the amount is not enough to make jam. I think I’ll try drying them too.

Name: Dried Herb Wild Strawberry

Rarity: 1 Quality: 3

Effect: None. Edible.

It’s not a herbal tea but a dried herb. It’s edible, and I popped a piece in my mouth. Hmmm… Light sugar?It’s not too sweet. However, the aroma is not bad. It smells like a mixture of strawberry and citrus, with a nice mix of sweet and sour. Just like the florist Scoop said, if you mix it with herbal tea or cookies, it would taste delicious. I’m sure there are many ways to use it.

“This seems to be worth researching.”

“Mumu!”

“Oh? Did you finish watering?”

“Mu!”

Seems it’s finished. Okay, next is the adventure!Now that I’m ready to fight, I want to go to the western forest to collect humus and water pumice.

“Okay, kids!Let’s go to the Western Forest!”

“Mu!”

“—!

“Kyukyu!”

Orto and Sakura are following behind me a bit. So cute!Rick is curling around my neck like a fur collar.

It’s a bit hot, but I feel fluffy and puffy. It smells like sunshine, and I could stay like this forever.

On the way to the western gate, everyone is staring at me.

“That’s Shirogane…”

“Yeah, on the first day…”

“The Silver White is a tamer…”

“Seriously, the title…”

If I listen carefully, they are still talking about my rumors. So the rumors about me haven’t disappeared yet… Well, it’s only been 10 days in the game!

I walk faster to the gate.

I figured that once I entered the forest, I would be out of their sight.

When I arrived at the forest, there were hardly any other players there.

Well, the players who had leveled up properly had already gone to the next town. The rest of the players concentrate on the more dangerous areas in the north and south to level up.

Not many players are entering the western forest now. That doesn’t mean anybody’s here, but I won’t meet many people inside this vast forest.

“Okay. Finally, we can relax.”

This is where it all starts. Let’s head for the river that I only visited on the first day.

“We’re going to pick up a few things while we’re at the river. Rick, I need you to gather some nuts.”

“Kyukyu!”

Rick stands on my shoulder. He raises his hand adorably and runs toward the trees. He must be going to collect herbs or fruits.

We walk through the forest, picking up herbs and nuts along the way.

The gray squirrels and fang rats that could easily kill me the other day are no match for us now. Even with a pack of 3 or 4, we can fight them.

I’ve prepared some potions and medicines. As long as they don’t kill me instantly, I won’t lose.

“Fufufu, I’m not the one I used to be.”

“Mumu.”

” .”

“Kyuu.”

However, I’m putting a lot of pressure on Sakura. Orto is the wall, and Rick can only hit and run. As for me, I only have Aqua ball magic to attack the enemy.

Sakura acts furiously like a lion. She is a tank and attacker. In fact, this party will collapse if Sakura doesn’t do her best.

“Hmmm, we’re so unbalanced.”

Actually, I want Sakura to concentrate on being a staller. That means we need a vanguard damage dealer. A close-range attacker.

“The only short-range attacker around here is him.”

That hateful creature is the first monster that killed me. The Wild Dog.

Six kinds of monsters appear in the area around the town of beginnings, excluding the rare tree spirit. Those six monsters are the Fang Rat, Grey Squirrel, Snake, Rock Ant, Rabbit, and Wild Dog.

The only one among them that could be a close-range attacker is the Wild Dog. Alternatively, maybe I should buy a monster from the guild.

“Well, if I happen to encounter a single dog, I can try to tame it.”

I thought so, but they don’t appear as often as I thought. In the end, it was only after we had finished exploring the river that we saw the wild dogs.

And it is a pack of four.

“Holy shit!Everyone, let’s get serious!”

There was no way I could save my MP. I unleashed my magic and managed to wipe out the pack of dogs.

“Hmm, even if I meet a dog, I don’t have the MP to tame it.

I can shoot a few more times, but I don’t think I can tame them.

“No choice. Let’s go home today. We’ve gathered enough for today.”

“Mumu.”

“Kyuu.”

“—!”