Translator: P411

Editor: Argenti

Read at Watashi Wa Sugoi Desu!

Chapter 008 – A New Quest!

After school, I went back home in a dash. After I hesitated for a while, I ended up wearing my headgear.

Partly because of yesterday’s event, I was hesitant to go through the gate, so I decided to go to the plantation located on the outskirts of the town instead. It was about time my herbs ran out and Kyle-san might be growing some interesting herbs again.

I didn’t think I could go through the gate with composure.

I covered myself with a robe and walked through the deserted streets.

Kyle-san was the one I was always indebted to.  I located his plantation beyond these deserted streets.

I bought herbs from Kyle-san instead of collecting from the roadside because the herbs from Kyle-san had better performance. Sometimes he grew strange herbs and would sell them to me along with the medicinal herbs saying “You’re my regular so I’ll give you this as special.”

I was sure very few players knew of this. …It might be a strange herb mostly used for alchemy. A possible reason why the store list was changing might be due to the fact that I was an alchemist. Even Crash gave me an alchemy cauldron. So did it mean that the NPCs saw me as an alchemist even if the job listed in status said that I was a pharmacist?

I walked along the familiar street with my head tilted in contemplation, and arrived in front of the vast plantation on the outskirts of town.

The plantation was one large field. Even if it didn’t produce the special item, the field was pleasant to look at. When I searched the field, all sorts of herb names were all displayed at a time.  It was so full of letters that I couldn’t tell which one was which but it was still fun to look at. You could tell varieties of herbs that grew in abundance just by looking at the plantation. Once I used Appraisal instead of Search, all explanatory notes came out and my field of vision was buried in those notes just like comment sections of videos. Ever since then, I hadn’t used Appraisal in the field.  All explanations would be naturally attached if I put them in my inventory. The advantage of Appraisal was that its description included ‘Unknown Object (For Alchemy Use)’ and sometimes the appraisal would show you what kind of item it was. Anyway, both of these skills were essential for an alchemist and I was desperately trying to level up.

While I walked along the streets, like a busy bee I was,  I looked around at all sorts of items  and if there were areas with different colors or not. Then, a voice from a distance called out to me.

“Hey-!” 

It must be Kyle-san.

“You came at the right time, Mack! Come here!”

“Ye~~s!”

I replied back to Kyle-san, who couldn’t have heard what I said had I not been shouting. As I advanced towards him, I noticed something unusual with the plantation.

The herbs, the crops and the flowers that used to be thriving withered little by little.

“What happened here?!”

Compared to before, it was clear that something terrible was happening. Could this be the start of a new quest?

When I checked back my status window in a hurry, there was already a notification for a new quest in the quest column. This reminded me that I hadn’t confirmed yesterday’s quest yet. I was sure that I would fail anyway.

I would soon meet with Kyle-san anyway so I closed the status window without confirming the quest. 

Kyle-san was indeed the owner of this plantation with his muscular build concealed by a flannel shirt and jeans. He waited for me with crossed arms. He had a beard and a face that said ‘I’m a farmer!’. He was a bit like a wild man with a cowboy flavor. The straw hat he wore was pretty cool too. He was not fat, but muscular with a bulging chest. He was amazing and always smiled with wrinkles on the outer corner of his eyes.

This kind of person like Kyle-san waited for me with a troubled face, with his arms crossed. 

“Kyle-san, what happened? This had never happened before.”

“You’re right. It was still fine until yesterday but this morning, it was already like this. I think this might be because of the pests. If they’re left alone, all of the crops in the plantation would become like this. Mac, I have a request for you.”

“I’ll do what I can.”

I took the request without hesitation and Kyle-san patted my head.

“I haven’t told you in detail yet. Think first before you act.”

“But how can I say no when you’re in trouble, Kyle-san.”

“You’re going to get deceived at this rate sooner or later…” Kyle-san muttered as if he was exasperated and I let out a dry laugh…

It’s alright, after all, I’m a good judge of character.

“Then, what is your request?”

“I want you to create pesticide for me.” Oh, it was a pharmacist quest. But I didn’t know how to make pesticide. I wondered if they would give any detail of the quest and I finally tapped the quest column.

*【NEW】[Save the Plantation!] 

Kyle’s plantation is being attacked by pests!

If you leave it as is, all the crops would be ruined!

Create pesticide and spray it on all the diseased crops!

Time Limit: 3 days

(Note: The damage will spread depending on the completion time. The reward will also change depending on the completion time.)

Clear Reward : ???

Quest Failure : Kyle’s plantation closed for a month.

Ah, right. The information was not written.

Even so, if I fail this quest, would Kyle-san have to take a whole month to recover from the damage? That would be a disaster for Kyle-san. I couldn’t fail this quest and I would have to clear this as soon as possible.

Ok, I should try asking him instead. “Kyle-san, do you know what materials are needed to make this pesticide?”

He shook his head with a troubled face to my question.

“The pest incident occurs very rarely. It’s the first time in my generation, but my grandfather’s generation might know something about this, but I’m…”

“I see…”

I figured it would become like this. I was thinking of finding the info in the library but Kyle-san seemed like he remembered something. “Ah, right!”

“When my old man was still the owner here, there’s a room that he used. The room was like a small shed and there’s a pile of books there so I left it as it was. I think there might be a clue to the materials. I can’t read well because I’m not that educated but I’m sure Mac can do something. Come with me.”

Wow! This was Kyle-san’s father’s library! Let me accompany you!! I hoped there were good materials. I cheerfully accepted this wonderful offer without hesitation and followed along Kyle-san.

——————————

“It’s at the back of this place.”

That said, I was taken through a door at the back of the warehouse where I always buy herbs

There was a passageway, and a dwelling-like place beyond it, and further inside there was an isolated slightly shabby door in front of it..

“This place is my old man’s storeroom. You can search as you like so just do it quickly. Pharmacy is your forte right?”

“Understood, I’ll do my best.”

Kyle-san went back saying he would be taking care of the healthy herbs first. Once again, I entered at a place I couldn’t enter normally. This was why I couldn’t stop playing this game.

Maybe that’s why I couldn’t fail even a small quest like this.

The door opened with a squeaky noise. It was dusty when I entered. There was no need to create such a pile of dust in VR to match with reality. The dust was glittering in the light coming through the small window. It was… not clean at all!! Give me a break already!

I closed the door with a frown on my face and looked around the room again.

There were bookshelves on the wall of the four and a half tatami mats-sized room and they were packed with books. There was also a small desk in the corner with an old quill pen, a bottle of completely dried ink in the corner and unfinished paper on it.  The floor was… The floor was covered in books and piles and piles and piles of stacks of paper with nowhere to put your feet!

If I was not mistaken, did this mean I had to find the recipe for pesticide within this?! Maybe this quest difficulty was high from the start?!…

*****