Unfairly Fired From the Healer's Guild After Five Years of Dedicated Service

Episode 59 – Spices

TL Note: Sponsored chapter (3/3)!

Just like yesterday, I had Byrne and Porta escort me, and I managed to safely complete the second day of plant and herb gathering with no problems. Since the number of types of plants I was collecting had increased, the rate at which my bag was filling up also increased by a proportionate amount. Today alone, I managed to gather enough plants and herbs to fill up 70% of my bag’s capacity.

Of the Glutamate Herb that I was gunning for from the start, I was able to find 4 stalks. Aside from that, I also started collecting some other flavor-related plants, such as Peppercorn, Laurel Leaves, Cumin Seeds, and Ginger Root. I tried sampling each of those items aside from Glutamate Herb, but I didn’t find it delicious at all… Could any of these things really be used for cooking? For now, I was going to be leaving the final decisions of these flavor-related plants to Lyra and Nina, so I brought them back regardless.

“Welcome back, guys! How was it? Did you have a good haul?” (Lyra)

“Yeah, that’s right! I’ve already exceeded the amount I used to hire [Iron Gear] by a wide margin, I think. Also, Lyra. As we were talking about yesterday, I collected a bunch of flavor-related plants and herbs, so do you wanna take a look at them?” (Lewin)

“Oooh, you were able to find some, huh? Of course, I’d love to! Take them out and let’s taste ‘em!” (Lyra)

After Lyra gave the green light, I pulled out the various flavor-related plants and herbs and set them on the table. They all tasted terrible on their own though… Honestly, I didn’t really have high expectations for this batch of spices. If even one of them was useful at all as a cooking ingredient, I’d be thanking the heavens.

“Everything here on the table is a plant or herb with a flavor-related effect. Unlike yesterday’s Glutamate Herb, when I sampled them earlier, they all tasted really bad on their own. I don’t really have high hopes for these, but go ahead and take a look.” (Lewin)

I stood there with Porta and Byrne, watching the two girls go through and sample each type of plant and herb that I collected.

“I don’t have much of an idea either, and it’s probably normal not to know. Cooking seems to be so profound after all.” (Byrne)

“Yeah, exactly. Those two are just so amazing. The extent of my abilities is knowing whether something tastes good or not…” (Porta)

“Lewin! We tried a little of each thing, and it seems like they can all be used!” (Lyra)

“…….Yes, they’re all wonderful herbs that can be used in cooking.” (Nina)

“All of them? They can really all be used?!!” I exclaimed in surprise.

“Yeah, they’re all useful! You could probably sell them at the market. When we return to Grezesta, I can introduce you to a nice shop there!” (Lyra)

“Thanks, that’d be super helpful! Also, forgive my greed for a second here, how much do you think these would sell for?” (Lewin)

“Hmmm… I’m not really knowledgeable about herbs. What do you think, Nina?” (Lyra)

“…………I think I have a general idea, if you’d like to know.” (Nina)

“Then, please tell me! I’d like to know for reference when I’m gathering plants and herbs.” (Lewin)

“…………Okay. Then starting from this one…” (Nina)

After that, Nina told me the approximate cost of each of the spices. Honestly, what surprised me the most was that the Peppercorns could be sold for about 1 silver coin each, since it was apparently a very versatile spice. The others could be sold for approximately 3 copper coins, and I kind of felt like I was missing out by not collecting them earlier. But it was still a blessing that I finally learned today that these were valuable goods I could sell. I was guessing that, in the end, these flavor-related plants would increase the final sum I could earn from this expedition by 1.5 times.