In the Skov store at the Brookan Avenue construction zone...
Sean had spent the entire morning in the store's backyard, finally burying the peach seeds brought from Leo Village and buying over thirty small flowerpots from the market to hold them.
"Is that enough?" Ignia, who had been standing by watching Sean work, finally spoke.
He looked up.
He could see the girl eating fruit at the stone table under the shade of a tree, her big eyes fixed on him...
"Want to wash your hands? I brought a lot of good food." She dropped her backpack onto the table, and a few dried fruits tumbled out.
Sean hadn't been to the academy for the past two days because he was busy collecting and planting these seeds, and Aria hadn't sent anyone to find him either.
It seemed they had heard about what Freya mentioned... The heir to the Count of Koga might be appointed by someone higher up.
Although the matter had reached the king's attention, a regional count wouldn't really be debated in parliament. Perhaps a prince or duke would just confirm it and settle it, since all three were the old count's children anyway.
To them, there might not be much difference, but it was different among the three siblings.
Sean had been hearing rumors of nobles heading north, even Viscount Isaac, whom he had met once, had personally gone north. It was said his cousin was the wife of some marquis.
Tsk~
They were even using such connections.
It proved the three siblings were in their final round of networking, so they had no time to bother with him for now.
"You go ahead and eat. I'll come over once I'm done with this," Sean said.
"Why are you always messing with this stuff? If you want to develop an orchard, wouldn't it be easier to just buy some fruit tree saplings from the east side of the city?" Ignia asked, puzzled.
Buying seeds directly from the market was certainly the fastest way and easiest to scale up.
But there was enough space near Talamian, so Sean thought of setting aside a separate 'test field' for planting, to see if he could cultivate better-quality fruits from what he had.
"I'll use those too, but I want to plant what I have first and see how it goes."
To be honest, Sean hadn't worked in agriculture or forestry in his previous life, and he rarely kept plants at home.
Maybe just watering the succulents in the office.
He knew nothing about planting and wasn't sure if he could grow them in Talamian. He hoped for the best.
He envied those transmigrators in novels...
They became encyclopedias the moment they arrived in another world, remembering everything!
Sigh~ He sighed inwardly.
Why couldn't I remember that much?
He looked around...
"Where's Claude?" The kid had been in the yard just a few minutes ago and was now gone.
"Him? Probably in the store." Ignia's expression soured at the mention of Claude. She used to think he was a nice guy, a good person!
But later, she found him annoying. Every time she came, he would chatter endlessly.
"Do you need him? Should I go get him?"
Annoying as he was, he was reliable when it came to tasks, especially running errands...
"If he's in the store, forget it. It's nothing important," Sean said.
He had recently asked Claude to deliver a letter to Talamian, telling Luke to send the detailed map of Talamian from home, and also mentioning his plans afterward...
"By the way, how's that thing I asked you to do?"
"Huh? You mean finding a map of Koga City?" She blinked playfully.
"You completely forgot, didn't you?"
"No! I've looked everywhere."
As she spoke, statuses like [Making up a story!] and [Worried!] appeared above her head.
"...I just couldn't find any." She finally looked at him with an innocent expression.
If not for those statuses, Sean might have believed her.
"Alright, I don't have much time, so you'd better hurry up." Sean didn't call her out.
All he wanted was the map of Talamian. A detailed map of Koga City would be nice if he could get it, but if not, that was fine too... It was within his options, not a necessity.
After Freya invited him to go north, Sean had thought about it for a long time.
If he chose not to go, with Freya's explanation, perhaps the prince wouldn't hold it against him. But staying in Koga City or returning to the Hamilton family in Talamian was unavoidable.
The three siblings' attitude toward him had already changed.
Mainly because they felt he was hiding something about Count Hamilton's matter...
No matter how Freya explained it, they didn't believe in curses. They wanted to know the truth.
But for now, the Red Dragon Witch's status was too high for them to question, but he was different!
Once the Count of Koga was confirmed, this conflict would persist. Sean felt he couldn't avoid it.
The two territories were so close... Any decision in Koga City could affect Talamian.
"Sean, have you really decided to go north with the Red Dragon Witch?" Ignia asked, looking at him.
"Yeah."
"Well... that's good. You've never been outside before, so this is a chance to see the world."
A status of [Disappointed!] appeared above her head.
"If Prince Philip hadn't invited me, I wouldn't want to go anywhere," Sean said.
"Prince Philip?"
The [Disappointed!] status instantly turned into [Surprised!]
"Then you have to go."
"Huh? That's a quick change. Is that prince really that important?" He watched her exaggeratedly cover her mouth.
"Not just important. Prince Philip is the current king's younger brother, one of the highest-ranking royals. Even my mentor occasionally receives his summons."
She took a pocket watch from around her neck.
"Take this..."
"What is it?"
"A magic detection device, the one we used to find the magical beast last time. It can also check your Order level." She handed it to him and tried to open it.
"When you're not using it, the back shows the time, and there's an adjustment function... I'll teach you..."
...
Two days later, at the northwest airship dock in Koga City, Sean and Freya were bidding farewell to the three Hamilton siblings and the city's nobles. Ignia, the witch of Elinta, was also present.
"Sean, take care of yourself over there. If I have time, I'll come find you! Remember."
The farewell was far less grand than the welcome. Sean even noticed many people had statuses like [Feeling relieved!] and [In a good mood!].
These people couldn't wait for Freya to leave.
There were even messages like [Locked in gaze...] warning him, followed by statuses of [Disgust!] and [Dissatisfaction!] from those people, especially Ignia's senior, Wizard Warren. The warnings were mostly aimed at him.
Hmph~
These bastards.
As they stepped onto the airship platform, the noise was too loud to hear what the people below were saying. He could only see them waving, and Sean waved back at Ignia.
"What? Can't bear to leave? It's not like we're not coming back... I heard you just left your little town not long ago, and you've already hooked up with the witch of Elinta... Impressive, Baron Weigel." Freya suddenly spoke from behind.
"So what..."
"I'm just complimenting your charm. Let's get one thing straight: since I've publicly claimed you as an apprentice of the Sky-covering Wings, you at least need to follow my rules. You'd better not mess with the girls in my organization." She had a [Serious!] expression.
"Hey, what kind of person do you think I am!"
"Who knows..."