Interlude 6 Mandora-san

 

The mansion has a needlessly spacious yard. Since it'd be a waste otherwise, I've decided to build a medicinal plants garden in the great majority of the available space.
Nobusada-san is diligently collecting humus in the mountains. With a scoop in one hand, I shoveled on and on into Dimensional Storage, heave-ho, heave-ho. By the by, no one is lending me a hand. Today is a rest day, so everyone is sleeping around and drinking around, drinking around, and drinking around. I'm not lonely not at all nuh uh.

I'm also using the occasion to gather mountain products. I stuffed my bag full of edible summer plants like Udo and Gingers.  There's so many ingredients that's so Japan, truly.

And for the calcium, I got shellfish's shells from Kumahat-san, then I used magic to wash away the salt, turned it into powder and dried it out.



Now then, since we've got all the fertilizers we need and all, it's time for the soil reclamation.

First, I make use of Stone Walls to remove all the stones and stuff inside the soil. Then I recycle the walls as an enclosure for the field. Afterward, I use Earth Walls to stir the soil up and down, over and over again. I mix in compost and stuff, then I mix it, and mix it again and again. Right now, I have fully transformed into human tractor. After getting used to it, I was able to easily designate range and target area, so I eventually succeeded reclaiming the yard in one go.


But really, land reclamation with magic is so quick, it's nice. I could have never been this quick even with a tractor.

OK then, now that the soil is nice and fluffy, time to put up ridges and sow seeds. I plan to grow the main ingredient of potions, Hira Grass. Since it can be used to even make Hi-potions, there's no disadvantage in having as much as we can. And also several types of herbs to be mixed with diluted Tama Soup (Temp). Still in development, but it's almost practically a finished product, so I'm gonna preemptively plant all the necessary ingredients ahead of time.

And lastly, I'm also gonna grow four mysterious seeds of completely unknown nature. Sefi-san gave these to me when I was asking her permission to make this medicinal plants garden.


~Reminiscence~


"Sefi-san, I see the empty yard over yonder is covered in weed, are you not using it for anything?"

"Over yonder? Aah, you mean that."

Yup, turned out there was no particular reason for the neglect. It was solely because Sefi-san and her tendency to shut herself at home could never muster up the motivation and thus she just left the yard alone.

"Then, do you mind if I reclaim and turn it into a field? We can skip going far if we can get all the herbs we need from the garden."

"Oh my my, you can do that too Nobu-chan? I would love you to if you could."

Then we two consulted together, and just when we decided to mainly grow Hira Grass, Sefi-san looked like he recalled something and went on to look for something in a cupboard. Eventually, "There it is", she brought back something inside a dirty bag.

"I got these seeds from a wandering peddler a lo~ong time ago. Could you grow them too, pretty please."

"Fumumu, I can't promise you the result but I'm gonna give it a try."

"Thankies, *smooch*."

Thanks for the treat.


~Reminiscence End~


Looking at those seeds with Discerning-sensei gives me this.

Seeds of Mystery
Quality: Mystery - Enclosed Mana: Mystery
Mysterious seeds of unknown origin and nature. Seed you be beseed yourself with these seedy seeds?

Their colors and shapes look exactly like Sei*maru (TLN: No idea, help). Let's grow them in the specially reserved corner so I won't mix them up.





~~ A week later ~~




They may be medical herbs, but they're still relative of weed after all. These plants are growing wildly, harvest time should come soon. By the way, I've left the care of this garden to the elven mother and daughter. Their great care bring on incredible results, we're gonna have an abundant harvest. Being forest dwellers, they might have green hands on them.


Hira Grass
Quality: High - Enclosed Mana: 30/30
Hira Grass grown vibrantly by absorbing dense concentration of mana. Ingredient for Potions and Hi-Potions.


The problem is those seeds. Just what kind of things have sprout up you ask. Here you go.


Mandragora (Sweet)
HP: 3/3 - MP: 89/89
Plant monster that takes the shape of human. Let out a shriek when pulled out, those who hear it will pass out, and in the worst case, instantly die. Ingredient for aphrodisiac, vitality drug and nutrient, but it needs a special handling otherwise the toxin will remain hence dangerous.


Mandragora (Salty)
HP: 4/4 - MP: 77/77
Plant monster that takes the shape of human~.


Mandragora (Small Mouth)
HP: 1/1 - MP: 105/105
Plant monster~.


Mandoragorua
HP: 30/30 - MP: 201/201
Mutant variant of plant monster that takes the shape of human. Let out a shriek when pulled out, those who hear it will pass out, go mad, and in the worst case, instantly die. Ingredient for aphrodisiac, vitality drug, nutrient, muscle-relaxant drug and anesthetic, but it needs a special handling otherwise the toxin will remain hence incredibly dangerous.



Hold it right there. Especially the last one!
What the heck kind of dangerous plants are growing here. Or rather, they're not even plants, they're monsters. Fortunately, we don't have neighbors around this mansion, so it shouldn't be too bad even if these things let out screams, but just how do I even pull these out...


After pondering for a while, I've decided to equip myself with earplugs and pull them out myself. I can't let other do it. I can only sincerely hope that my Instant Death resistance will activate when the going gets tough.


Hoopla!

BWOSH.


"NOOOOOOOOOOOABRUTEEEEEEEEEEE, HESVIOLATINGMEEEEEEEEEEE"


"STOP! YOURCHILDISINMYSTOMACHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"


"OPANPOPOMPONPAN!"

Tettere~♪ Resistance: Faint was liberated.

Tettere~♪ Resistance: Instant Death leveled up.

Whoa dang, they got instant death out in full force! It's ringing in my head despite the earplugs!? Man those were pretty mind breaking unpleasant shrieks. I don't really get what the third one is all about though.
And lastly, the mutant variant. Just how'd this one go I wonder. I steel myself, tightly grasp the root's leaf and pull it out strongly.


BWOSH.


Hm? What about the shriek?

The root turned around as if it was turning its face toward me and then our eyes met.
（－＿－）← It's looking at me like so.


"Yo, young'un. I know Imma vegetation and all, but I dunno 'bout pulling me out without even givin' me a chance to refuse ya'no?"


…………


Nobusada silently buried it back.

Then the Mandagora that should have been buried suddenly trembled, then it skillfully used both its arms (?) to crawl out of the soil.


"Oy, oy, young'un. What's the big idea with burying someone(?) when he's still talkin' huh? I ain't gonna keep silent on that one ya'no??"


What is this?
He's at most seven days old, yet there's this sense of dignity and refinement drifting about this fresh product...
And Mandora-san (Temp) really wouldn't keep silent.


<TLN: If you're reading this novel at any other site than Sousetsuka .com you might be reading an unedited, uncorrected version of the novel.>


"Listen here, young'un. Didja know just how bad of a thing it is to uproot us out of mother earth, huuh?"

Mandora-san is admonishing me in a super deep voice.
For some reason, I got on seiza on the spot when I heard him.

"I-I'm sorry."

"Nah, I ain't mad at ya. So 'bout this uprooting us business, what'd happen to ya if ya got yer' neck plucked out?"

"...I'll die."

"It's akin to death....!!"

Mandora-san's trembled. I kind of feel like I could see vein-like thing on his body.
The impact is such that it almost feels like I could see 『DUN DUN DUN DUN』 SFX behind him.


---30 Minutes Later--


Afterward, Mandora-san's sermon (?) continued on. For some reasons, it turned into 『Go Go, Mandora-san Jaunty Trip』 halfway through, I wanted to hear more about that though.

Mandora-san's body which had been dynamically moving about while swaying around as he narrated his story suddenly halted.

"Looks like mine time's up. Young'un, I got one last request for ya. Mind if ya have a listen?"

"N-no!"

There's no way I could refuse a request from everybody's hero, Mandora-san. Huh? Am I getting corrupted??

He skilfully groped about the root of his leaf, grabbed something and then he showed me several seeds in his palm (root?).

"These chaps are mine seeds ya see. Make 'em bud will ya?"

Thus nodded Nobusada. I'm tearing up for some reason. Is this man's tear. Such though crossed my mind.

"Sorry' bout this. Imma teach you young'un something good. 30 minutes after mine rigor mortis is the time to turn mine body into medicine for best effects. Drill that through yer' skull... Ah, seems mine escort's here fer' me."

"Mandora-san..."

Do plants even experience rigor mortis?! While enduring the temptation to quip that, I read the mood and shoved it away.

"Keep yer' tears, young'un. Parting comes as a set with meeting. That's just living. Imma go this time, but you young'un still got a long way ahead of ya. Yer' probably gonna got many more meeting and parting. Imma always watchin' young'un's way of life behind grass."

"Mandora-saan..."

"Well then. Adios!!"

Mandora-san fell down like a puppet cut from its strings.

It was less than one hour short, but it was an extremely dense one hour.
Good bye Mandora-san. I'll never forget your gallant figure. You're the man.



~~ Another week later ~~


It's nearing harvesting time for the three seeds Mandora-san gave me. I planned my return from dungeon on this day.

I'm plucking them alone again to prevent any other victim.


Mandragora (Taste of Man Bound by Bitterness)
HP: 10/10 - MP: 89/89
Plant monster that takes the shape of human. Let out a shriek when pulled out, those who hear it will pass out, and in the worst case, instantly die. Ingredient for aphrodisiac, vitality drug and nutrient, but it needs a special handling otherwise the toxin will remain hence dangerous.

Mandragora (Taste of Twilight Years Tired of Savoring Sourness and Sweetness)
HP: 9/9 - MP: 108/108
Plant monster that takes the shape of human~.


There's too many things I can quip, but other than that these look to be normal mandragoras. Let's pluck 'em out real quick.

"OHYOUFLATTERME. AAA----------------"

"THEHECKISBIGLITTLECHESTED. FLATASBOARDISTHEONETRUEANSWERRRRR"


These are all huh... So far so good. So far that is.


Mandoragorua (Second Generation)
HP: 40/40 - MP: 256/256
Mutant variant of plant monster that takes the shape of human. Let out a shriek when pulled out, those who hear it will have their SAN point obliterated, then they shall pass out, go mad, piss themselves and in the worst case, instantly die. Ingredient for aphrodisiac, vitality drug, nutrient, muscle-relaxant drug, anesthetic, hair-growth formula, and hair-growth agent but it needs a special handling otherwise the toxin will remain hence incredibly dangerous.


Second generation! And there's more, lots of things more!! There's too many things to quip, or rather there's nothing but things to quip so I'm just gonna stop thinking about it. Amen!!!

BWOSH!!!


"Yo. Yer' again huh, young'un. But dang, ya never learn do ya. Been tellin' ya, you ain't pullin' without asking..."


He even succeeded the memory!!!


After some sermon time, we found out that he wouldn't die if he were provided with mana, so we exchanged contracts and he became my tamed monster through Differing Soul Telepathy. His name is 『Wakamoto-san』.

It's nice to meet you?






Name: Wakamoto-san - Gender: Man among Men - Race: Mandoragorua
Class: Mandoragorua Lv2 - State: Healthy (Has Mana Provision from Nobusada)
Title: 【Refined】 - Bond: Soulmate
HP: 40/40 - MP: 256/256

【Skills】
Plant Control Lv1 - Roar Lv1 - Water Magic Lv1 - Earth Magic Lv1

【Unique Skills】
Seed Bombardment Lv1


【Refined】
Title bestowed to those who have the taste capable of empathy despite gloomy-looking exterior. Improve favorability to those who understand taste.

【Seed Bombardment】
Shoot out mana-compressed seeds. Burst open on impact causing small explosions. The scope and power scale up with level.



<TLN: Yes, Nobusan's translation will resume, I'm sorry for the long wait. Next chapter will come soon (not an interlude).>


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