Chapter 52.2

Chapter 52.2

“Lady, eat first and continue it later,” Jenna said. She finished all the chores Emma had entrusted to her, and even prepared refreshments to wake her up from the afternoon’s languor.

“Oh, thank you.”

“Of course, it’s my job.”

“Thank you, that really woke me up. Let’s drink together.”

“That’s…”

“It’s lonely to drink alone, so don’t refuse. Delicious food tastes better when you eat it together.”

Emma, who received the fragrant teacup, offered tea to Jenna as well, and then sat down, shared sweets, and talked about small things. In the quiet basement, laughter blossomed for the first time in a long time.

*

“There are no fairies or will-o’-the-wisps in Reshire. It’s been like that for at least two hundred years. I don’t know anything before that. But there’s something different about the Ferragen Mountains. The magical power is certainly dark and mysterious. Because there are many vicious monsters that are difficult to handle.”

Emma, who was listening to Jenna, stopped touching the herb for a moment and was lost in thought. The monsters in the Ferrargen Mountains were a headache for the kingdom.

Therefore, Count Edner and Count Van Wert, whose territories faced the Ferragen, occupy a strong position as both heroes and great lords. However, even in these territories, monsters were still a disaster.

‘By the way… are there any uses for monsters?’ Emma tilted her head suddenly, pondering. If there was a use, it would be of great help to the development of the territory. Reshire, which is located along the Ferragen Mountains, had a barren environment, so agriculture and commerce were barely enough for survival. She had heard that the monster’s byproducts were used as ingredients for alchemy, but it had nothing to do with medicine.

She didn’t know well because she was an outsider. Wouldn’t there be another use? These kinds of knowledge of a particular area were best known by the people. Emma was literally just an outsider and a stranger.

“I know that the famous ones in the Ferragen Mountains are the werewolf and the will-o’-the-wisp, but are there other things?” Emma had already spent four days with Jenna, and had gotten used to speaking comfortably to some extent.

“Well, hold on a second. Let me think about it…” Jenna pursed her lips and moved her head around, then snapped her fingers. “That’s right! There’s a saying that if you feed a dead person a lily of the valley of the moonlight, they’ll come to life!”

Emma frowned. “If it’s lily of the valley, won’t it be poisonous?” she asked.

Lily of the valley was a notorious, poisonous herb. Although loved by its appearance, with its small, dainty white flowers that resembled small bells, and its fragrant smell, it was fatal enough that people avoided having it in homes with children or pets. Its seemingly harmless, docile flowers were the most poisonous part. It was dangerous to harvest, moreover one should definitely not eat it, not drink the water made by soaking its flowers.

“Yes. That’s right,” Jenna said. “That’s why I’ve heard that it only works for people who have just stopped breathing.”

Hearing Jenna’s explanation, Emma was troubled.

A small amount of petals could be used as a heart stimulant. Despite the quantity, the actual effect wasn’t very good. This is because the kidneys would be damaged while trying to repair the heart. If more than one lily of the valley was ingested, in all cases, the person would die of kidney failure. Therefore, one might think that the folk tales had something to do with the original efficacy of the lily of the valley, but something was strange.

“What’s the lily of the valley of the moonlight about? What does that mean?” Emma asked.

Jenna pondered for a while. “It must be the lily of the valley found in the Ferragen Mountains on the night of the full moon,” she said.

“In the Ferragen Mountains? Nonsense. There are werewolves there. And aren’t they most present when the full moon rises? Who would risk their life to find the lily of the valley in the mountains at night and not during the day?”

“Right. That’s why it’s so hard to get an elixir that brings the dead back to life. Other than that, there are similar stories, only the types of plants are different, but the story is the same. Finger-grass, red bellflower, etc.”

“So it’s just a legend.”

“You’re right.”

Both girls burst into laughter after. But remembering something, Emma tilted her head and pondered. She tried to recall the Ferragen Mountains. During that time, there was no time to look around because of the storm and the hectic pursuits, but the forest was indeed eerie.

‘There must be a lot of strange legends because the mountains are rugged and the forests are deep.’ It wasn’t necessarily wrong. Because most of the rare wild plants grew only in the deepest parts of the mountains beyond human reach. Since the Ferragen Mountains were scarcely frequented by people, a lucky person might stumble into a  rare plant there.

‘Oh, come to think of it…’ Emma suddenly missed Luphenyl tea. Luphenyl, a fragrant sweet herb she drank like water in Somerville, was an import and classified as a rare herb because it was extremely expensive. She was in need of some rare herbs, so she placed an order in the apothecary the first time and also included Luphenyl into the order.

The apothecary would go through the list Emma requested and try to do the best to get it, but because Luphenyl was entirely imported, the result could not be guaranteed. Afterward, the apothecary again informed the results, saying that there was currently no way to procure it since it was an herb imported from the neighboring kingdom that was currently chaotic due to a civil war.

‘I should better check it out,’ Emma thought pensively.