When Victor returned, he caught me scratching the “lower jaw” of his monster plant. Sophie was right behind me, being equal parts curious and scared, while Carmila, Iridia and Nora kept a safe distance, not entirely sure how to react or what to think of the situation. The Doctor was looking somewhere else, and dear Violett had fallen asleep with all of our previous walking.

—This is certainly unusual —Victor said— I haven’t seen anyone so fearless as to touch a monster plant that they have just met.

—Ah, well, you see…

In the game, there was a massive greenhouse next to the academy, commissioned to be built by Victor himself. Betsy was the center piece of that amazing garden, and she had grown up to the size of a tree. And crazy as it might sound, under her shadow was a hotspot for couples to enjoy their meals or just spend time together between classes. There was even a pretty important event between the protagonist and her love interest right there, so iconic that it was featured on the backside of the game’s box. That’s how I knew Betsy was completely harmless, but I certainly couldn’t tell him that.

—I thought she was cute —was the only thing that came to my mind. I wasn’t completely lying.

—Ah, haha, I see —Victor said, fooled by me acting as an airhead.

He had brought back a kettle, as well as a tray with some biscuits. The kettle was imbued with fire magic, so it could generate heat without any external source. The biscuits were apparently bought in a nearby store, and I suspect they were meant for himself, but it would have been disrespectful not to grab even one. They were pretty tasty, so I couldn’t help but to grab a few more.

—So, you were going to tell us about your business?

—Of course, Madame —Victor said—, first of all, allow me to mention that my shop is the only monster plant nursery in Byzandria. Many people think of them as just monsters or pest, but the neighboring countries to the north and west have been taming and training not only them, but also other kinds of monsters for their benefit.

I smiled, he was talking with a confidence that he had been lacking before. That was the teacher that I had seen in the game.

—Fascinating. So it is like our domesticated Kelpies and other water beast, right? —I said.

—Exactly. But monster plants are way more versatile, some could throw poisonous needles and be set as a defense mechanism, others produced an alluring aroma, or a very disgusting one. Some could induce sleeping or paralyzing powder, as well as pheromones of all kinds. There are also some that can produce antidotes and medicine. And almost all of them produce fruit at some point.

He kept going on about the different types and their applications. I was really interested in one that could communicate through its vines, working as a vigilance system and alerting their owner of any intruder. Maybe with a bit of selective breeding, something that could resemble telephone lines could be made. When I realized, we had been talking for almost half an hour, and I realized we had gone to that place following Maxwell, and he had barely spoken during all of our stay.

—I-I’m sorry for monopolizing your friend, I’m sure you had more important things to discuss with him.

—No, don’t worry. I just wanted to greet Victor and see how he was doing —the Doctor replied—, well, to be honest, I also thought he could help you with your greenhouse.

—Oh, are you building a greenhouse, madame?

—Something like that, it belonged to my late husband, but it was left on disrepair for a long time. I want to be able to work on it alongside Violett.

—I’m sorry for your loss —Victor said, bowing his head a bit—, and by Violett, you mean…

—My daughter, of course! —I proudly said, but I came to notice I had her covered with a sheet so that light won’t bother her sleep.

I uncovered her face slowly, so that Victor could appreciate her adorableness. He didn’t seem to react as much as I expected, but he was really interested on the greenhouse, as well as my intention to grow fruits and vegetables.

—If you allow me, I would be glad to lend you my help —he said.

—I would really appreciate the help of an expert as yourself. You can negotiate your compensation with Carmila.

—That won’t be necessary, madame. It’s the least I can do after you heard my ramblings.

I tried to convince him, but he didn’t back down. It was then decided that he would help us on the weekends, when his store closed. We continued to talk for at least another half hour, until the Doctor said he had to go to his appointment with the Queen. I decided we should leave too, but we’ll be waiting for Victor to pay us a visit that same weekend, and I would do the same if I came to the city. I was really glad to have a friend, after all those years of only exchanging letters with Erzi. Before I left, I leave a bag of oatmeal and honey cookies that I had bough earlier, as a compensation for eating most of his biscuits. Carmila looked a bit angry that she hadn’t noticed when I bought them, but since I was giving them away, she didn’t say anything else. She was unaware of the second bag I had bought.

Since neither my attendants nor I knew how to get back to the main road, we followed the Doctor again until we reached it. One side lead us directly to the piers, and in the other direction, at the distance, was the palace. Just by looking at it, my previous worries came back.

—D-doctor! —I almost yelled at Maxwell, who was already going uphill without properly saying goodbye.

He stopped and looked back, but I had to walk up to him, since I didn’t want everyone to hear what I might said.

—You have met Erzi’s son, right? —I asked—Garius…

—Yes. He has a particular doctor, but I have seen and talked to him. Is something wrong? —he asked, noticing I was worried.

—Y-yes, but well, no. I just… I met him this morning, and I got a weird feeling —that was the best way I thought to explain it without saying too much—, have you noticed something?

He was looking at me as if I had said something completely incoherent, which wasn’t too far from the truth. But after pondering about it for a few moments, his face changed a bit.

—I don’t know if it is related, but I do not like his tutor, Miss Agatha. She is recommended by a lot of noble families, and is supposedly very strict, but I have heard some maids saying that she is isolating the poor kid, even from his mother. Almost as if she wanted to be the only one he can rely on…

—Oh!

That was it! That must be it! I didn’t know the specifics, but if Gaius would have stayed under the care of Agatha, something bad would have happened to him.

—I’m glad Erzi fired her… —I said, finally feeling some relief.

—Hmmm. Madame Dragonroot, you have been talking about our majesty in a quite familiar tone, and now you said you made her fire Prince Gaius’ tutor. Are you perhaps the friend who she was talking and made her cancel our appointment?

—I… uh… Oh! Look at the time, I need to feed Violett or she’ll get cranky. Goodbye! —I said as I was already running away.

I was really dreading what he could say on my next appointment, if he didn’t cancel it outright...

Just before we left, we visited the Adventurer’s Guild, to post a quest for someone with magic to clean our greenhouse. I didn’t think many adventurers would be interested in such menial work, I had the image of them wanting to do nothing but hunt monsters and raid dungeons, after all.

—There are many people like that —Nora said—, but there are others who like to work as guards, or just take jobs on their side that fit their specifics skills. I knew a guy who could control the wind, but only used it to help up on the fruit’s harvest because he didn’t wanted to get hurt, and he had a stable job aside. It was just a bit of extra money.

—I see. I hope at least the amount we posted attracts someone.

We went back home after that, Carmila had a very stern conversation with Adrian about the speed of our travel, and so we ended up taking a bit more time to return. The days passed on, and our request for a cleaner hadn’t been answered. The weekend was approaching too, and it will be embarrassing to show the greenhouse to Victor in its current state, so I somehow convinced Carmila and the rest to help me give it at least a superficial cleaning, to throw away everything that was rotten or broken. Of course, the ones who dared to go inside wore gloves and covered their mouths and eyes, and we had our cheff Gabby cast “Purify” on them and everything they took out of there, just in case. By the sunset, there were still lots of things inside and it was going to be very hard for us to finish cleaning it on time, but what mattered was how much we had actually cleaned.

—Madame! Take a look at this! —Sophie said, almost forgetting to be purified by Gabby.

Once she was completely clean, she presented me what looked like a black stone, tear shaped and very reflective, almost like a jewel.

—What is it? —Carmila asked, intrigued.

—I don’t know, it was on the floor under a table.

—It’s probably just more trash —Iridia said, comparing it to other stone-like things we had found.

—No, this is… uh…

I have seen it before, I was sure of it. It was a key item on the game, the legendary Seed of Ygdrassil. But as for what it was for… I had no idea. Promises of an Enchanted Heart was a game with lots of collectable items, some used for crafting potions, some used as gifts to increase the love interest’s affections, and a few more were used once each on very specific situations to unlock an event. Without a guide, it was very difficult to remember when to use what. I still had the feeling it was important, so I decided to keep it.