After school, I was called out to by a soothing voice while I was on my way to the herbalism classroom.

Turning towards it, there I saw Iris waving her hand at me.

“Where are you going?”

“Oh, I just on my way to the herbalism classroom.”

“That’s cool, I was a little interested in herbalism but I didn’t take it. Is it okay if I come along and check it out?”

“Of course it is, let’s go.”

“‘Kay.”

I guess it was because I had Iris following behind me today, I was feeling a little nervous.

“Are you worried about something?”

“Oh, uh… no, its nothing.”

I just hope that the first prince doesn’t see this.

According to the story I was told by Rail, he seems to have been tailing her recently.

Our pure-hearted prince might’ve made a nice companion if the feelings were mutual, but if they’re only one-sided then he’s just being some creepy stalker right now.

Who knows? Maybe Iris is here because she found out and is trying to keep her distance at the moment.

I wonder, will things really be okay if the prince’s first love doesn’t work out?

If it doesn’t work out… I don’t even want to think about what he’ll do, it doesn’t leave a good feeling in my stomach.

“Have you decided on your electives yet?”

While I was thinking about such things, Iris posed a question on me.

“Herbalism, Medical Science, Animal Husbandry, and Accounting. I still have to officially register in some of them though.”

“That’s amazing, I’m a bit envious of that determination you have there. Currently I’m in Law, Geology, and Biology, but I still haven’t decided what the last one should be. The deadline is just around the corner too…”

From your current choices, I’d recommend taking another one of the science electives, but hey, its your choice in the end. I’d prefer it if you became friends with normal people that share your own interests. Though I’d like that myself as well, for some reason weird people always gather around me.

“We’ve arrived at our destination, the greenhouses.”

After opening the entrance to the vinyl house, and disinfecting ourselves at the sterilization area, we went in.

There was one person in the center of it all, who was muttering something as he worked.

It was Toto.

“Welcome, and by the way, who’s the intruder you have there?”

Toto gave a greeting as we entered, but apparently he didn’t like Iris’ presence here too much.

Well, he doesn’t really like people in general though.

Come to think of it, he’s wearing the cloak he uses to ward people off today.

“W-well, don’t be so cold. This here is Iris, and you don’t need to be so wary of her, she’s a good person.”

“I’ll be the one to decide that.”

Toto took some distance from us, while giving Iris a cautious glare.

“As you heard that guy’s name is Toto, and don’t mind his attitude, that’s just the way he is.”

“Did I do something offensive?”

“Don’t worry about it. Anyways Toto and I have some work to do, you’re free to look around but just don’t touch anything. Some of the herbs here are actually really dangerous despite their looks, be sure to ask me first if you’re curious about anything.”

“Yes, understood.”

After convincing him to take off his anti-personnel cloak, Toto then gave me a progress report.

“The beauty herbs that you’ve requested are going well, but I still need to conduct more experiments.”

He then showed me a white herb whose leaves looked like they were covered in frost.

“It was hard cultivating a herb with the various demands you gave me, making skin smooth, removing blemishes, and anti-aging. None of them seem to meet the all the requirements, but here I was able to make a herb to remove blemishes in the skin.”

“Is that so? Then can I assume there aren’t any side-effects?”

“There aren’t, the only thing is that it works a little too well, when someone takes it the blemishes on their skin will disappear, but they’ll turn as pale as a ghost instead.”

“What happened to the one who tried it?!”

“Oh don’t worry, I didn’t take it.”

That’s what I’m worried about! Please stop!

“Please stop, you’re taking your experiments too far again. Anyways did you think of any integration techniques? For example, using the hot spring water not just for bathing, but for drinking as well.”

“Hmm… not at this stage, no.”

“I see, well I look forward to your next progress report.”

“Oh actually, I have something you might want to look at-.”

As my conversation with Toto was interrupted by Iris, he looked a little cranky.

“That’s what I’m talking about, that’s an intruder, why’s she here?”

“Don’t say that. Yeah?! What is it Iris?!”

I called out to Iris who was a short distance away.

“Here! Over here! What’s with this Silver vine?! It’s huge!”

Silver vine? What’s that?

“Hey Toto, what’s that?”

“Oh, I’m growing it because I was requested to by Neko-sensei. She didn’t want me to grow multiple small ones, so it was a bit troublesome, but the pay was good so I beared with it. I think she said ‘Small ones just don’t satisfy me, nyaa. I want you to give me a large one, nyaa. The name of the plant I want is called a Silver vine, nyaa.’”

Neko-sensei… Just what the hell are you asking the students to do?!

Iris happily rushed over here.

“Hey, how did you grow it so large?! That’s amazing!!” her eyes were shining, giving off the feeling of an innocent maiden.

“Its nothing special really, that’s just the result of some cross breeding I’ve done, simple.”

“That’s not true at all! To be able to breed something that grows in a specific way is amazing!”

That’s good, it looks like the bad air between the two of them is clearing.

Though I can’t help but feel like this is more because of Iris’ competitive spirit than anything else.

She’s truly praising Toto, but I think she also really wants to know his secret to growing large crops.

“Hey, would you be able to do the same thing for plants like vegetables?”

“Of course, nothing is impossible for me when it comes to plants.”

“C-can you by any chance tell me how to do it?”

Iris approached Toto with a jerk, and looked into his face.

Toto looked a little uncomfortable, and asked me for help with his eyes.

“Iris, for the time being calm down. Toto, is it okay if you tell us?”

“Although I don’t mind, it’s not like I can show you right now. It’s possible, but I’d need some time to research it first. Would you mind putting off our plan to look into something like this?”

“I don’t mind.”

Iris doesn’t look like she can wait any longer, or at least that’s what I could tell from the sparkle in her eyes.

I guess it can’t be helped if she’s curious.

“Fu, it’s hard being a genius.”

Toto sure is proud of his talent.

It makes me happy knowing that he doesn’t seem to hate Iris right now.

Incidentally, this might be a good investment in for the future, so I’ll try learning it too.

“We’ll just do the beginning today, because I can’t be teaching all the time, and I need to show Kururi some progress with my research results.”

“Yes, thank you!”

Iris gripped Toto’s hands and thanked him.

Toto asked me for help with his eyes again.

“Calm down Iris, we’re only starting so there’s no way we’d be able to finish in just one day.”

“Yes, of course and by the way, Toto you’re also in Herbalism right?”

“Of course.”

“Then I should take Herbalism too!”

That was probably Iris’s brightest voice today, talking about herbs while jumping up and down.

A bit after Iris calmed down and started touring the herbs again…

“She’s amazing, right?”

“Well, she’s not too bad.”

That shine in his eye… don’t tell me, did he fall for Iris?!

What a confusing love, there’s sure to be problems in the future if it succeeds.

I wonder what the family tree would look like?

“Anyways, what I was trying to tell you was I have this herb that might interest you. I just thought of it right now.”

“Oh, so you had something like that?”

“A bit I guess, here, follow me.”

He brought me a isolated space further into the greenhouse.

The area we entered was hot and humid, it must’ve been a environment maintained with magic.

“This is it.”

Toto pointed at some herbs, they had leaves that overlapped on top of each other for many layers.

Each leaf is about the size of my face, each one overlapping about ten times.

The stem connected to them were thick and steady.

This is the first time I’ve ever seen a herb like this. It must be one of his original crops.

“Place one of these leaves on your face, and it’ll cure all your skin troubles overnight. While the leaves may repair cell damage, it needs to be fresh. After you tear it you have maybe ten hours before it stops working and dies, but that’s the perfect amount of time if you need to get some sleep.”

A face pack?! You created a natural face pack?!

You’re a genius!!!

“This is amazing!! This will sell, this will definitely sell!!”

“That’s what I thought as well.”

“This is great! This will be our main product! No matter what, make sure that it’s complete by summer break!”

“Sure, but I’m still developing it though, I don’t know when it’ll be finished.”

“While we’re on the topic, have you confirmed any side-effects? I know it affects the skin, but how? Do the users have healthy skin after?”

“Don’t worry. My neighbor had recently developed acne do to stress, but after using it it all disappeared without any trace of it left.”

Your neighbor?! Did you just say you were experimenting on your neighbor?!

So that’s the victim!!

Still, this is awesome, this is really lucrative stuff.

“I hope to improve its effect in making skin soft and elastic, but I also want to see if I can make it leave a healing scent behind as well, what do you think?”

Aromatherapy?! As in healing people with scents?!

If you can do that, you really are a genius!!

“Of course, do it! No, please do it!!”

“Okay! I’ll do it!!”

This is likely going to become a great commodity in the future.

I can’t stop myself from grinning.

Though when I returned to see Iris, I tried to get rid of that creepy face I had.

“Hey, did you have fun?”

“…lots of fun.”

“What was that anyway? I could hear the the two of your happy voices even from here. Am I really that much of a bother?”

“No, that’s not it at all.”

Toto then answered, “It’s because I developed a herb that helps maintain one’s skin.”

Iris let out a “Eh~” with a leaky voice.

I guess normal people would need a bit more of an explanation right?

“I’ll tell you this so you don’t misunderstand, but we’re developing this to sell in the Helan territory.”

“Oh, so that’s why.”

It’s a good thing the misunderstanding is resolved.

“How amazing, to accomplish such a thing with only two people, as expected of nobles.”

Toto didn’t reply to this, I guess he didn’t like the idea of being related to nobles.

Well, Iris didn’t mean any harm when she said that though.

“This is the natural face pack Toto developed, it can be used to repair all skin problems.”

We then went on to describe the plant and its uses.

“Amazing! I had no idea such a thing existed.”

“I don’t think you’ll need it though Iris, your skin’s already beautiful enough as it is.”

“Even if you say that, I’d still want it. Girls are always looking for ways to make themselves more beautiful you know?”

I still don’t think you need it though, and the excitement your showing now is different than the sparkle you had while we were talking about the Silver vine, but it’s fine I guess.

Really though, she’s always so cheerful, homely, and caring, I can’t help but think that Iris will become a great wife someday, I can feel it.

TN: Silver vine is a herb that has a euphoric effect on cats. So its basically Cat-nip. Neko-sensei is making Toto grow drugs for her so she can get high.