NOVEL NEXT Chapter 25
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It didn’t take long to get to the town on horseback.
But it’s seriously amazing seeing it for myself. Were little towns like this always so crowded and lively?
The streets look just like what I would imagine medieval Europe from my past life would have looked like!
There’s flower shops, bakeries, liquor stores, dry-goods shops, etc. all lined up in front of us with people bustling about.
I can hear music playing from somewhere and there are people dancing in the streets too…..
The sun is shining and everyone is smiling, what a happy little town this is.
I almost can’t believe that a destitute village lies just on the other side of it.
According to Grandpa Will, even the sun doesn’t shine there.
…..That means that people who are born there end up dying without ever seeing the sun.
Even though both places belong to the same country, why is there such a huge difference between them?
We dismount from our horses and start looking around.
“Is there anything that you wanted to see?” Eric-Sama asks me.
Hmm…. I survey all of the shops around us….. I really want to visit that bakery, and I’d love to peek in that confectionery shop….
Looking around, I feel like there’s actually too many places that I want to go. It’s too hard to choose.
I keep looking around, hoping to see something that might help me decide. …..Wait, doesn’t that sign say ‘plant nursery’?
“Um, Eric-Sama, what sort of shop is that one there?”
Eric-Sama looks in the direction that I’m pointing.
“Oh, that’s a shop that deals with rare types of plants.”
Rare types of plants!? Does that mean that I might be able to see some of the plants that I read about in that very first book that I found in the library?
“I want to go there~!” I say, grabbing Eric-Sama’s and Henry-Oniisama’s hands and pulling them towards it.
“Oy! Eric! Wipe that grin off your face,” I hear Henry-Oniisama say from behind me.
Oh? Did Eric-Sama also want to visit this plant nursery?
Once we had arrived in front of the store, I drop their hands and peek in through the window. Are they even open?
I hesitantly open the door and head inside.
What is this place……?
It almost seems like it’s been engulfed in magic.
The air feels completely different from outside. It’s so fresh. And the general ambiance feels so peaceful, like it’s purifying my heart from any negativity.
To think that I’d be able to find such a pleasant place in this town…. It really makes me feel at ease.
And there really are a multitude of plant varieties living here. They’re so full of life, they almost look like they’re dancing.
Oh! The plant that flies in the sky! The one that I had read about…. To think I’d actually be able to see one firsthand…!
I believe it was called ‘Wing’.
“Welcome,” greets a middle-aged man, walking towards us from the back of the store. He has chestnut-colored hair and is wearing a pair of round glasses.
The apron he’s wearing suits him quite nicely as well.
Oh, woah….. The moment he had come forward, all the plants seemed to react as if they were feeling happy.
Might he be a greenery magic user….?
“Eric, Henry! It’s been so long!” he says, smiling at Eric-Sama and Henry-Oniisama, and reaching out to shake each of their hands.
Is he an acquaintance of theirs?
“Paul! It’s been a while. How have you been?” Henry-Oniisama says in reply, smiling back at him.
As I stand there in a daze, the man walks over to me and squats down to meet my eye level.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Paul, the manager of this shop. And you must be Alicia?” he says, greeting me with a grin.
“Nice to meet you. Yes, I’m Alicia. But, how did you know?”
“Oh, that’s because your brother talks about you often.”
Hm? I’m extremely curious to know just what he’s been saying about me. I hope he hasn’t been badmouthing me here.
“Um, are you close with my brothers?”
“We’re on good terms. I am still considered to be a nobleman after all, even if I am working here like this,” Paul-san says with a hint of a bitter smile playing on his face.
A nobleman!? Then he really does use greenery magic….. Oh! He appeared once during the game! Paul, the plant nursery manager….
I had thought he sounded familiar for some reason. Right, the heroine visited this shop during the game because she had needed some ingredients for some sort of medicine she had been making.
Wait, doesn’t that mean….. Did I manage to come here first?
Since she was supposed to visit this shop with Curtis-Sama, I doubt she’s been here yet. She hasn’t had enough time to get that close to him, I’m sure! Ooh, being first makes me feel like I’m winning.
“Yeah, what sort of nobleman works in a tiny shop like this?” Eric-Sama says to Paul-san teasingly.
“What made you want to open a plant nursery?” I ask him.
“Well, plants have the power to cure diseases as well as heal people’s hearts…. And since I’ve always wanted to work in a field that was able to help people, it seemed like a good fit for me. I’m originally only a low ranked noble anyway so….” Paul-san tells me, smiling warmly. As he talks about his aspirations, he almost seems to shine with a soothing light.
“Well, you’re doing a wonderful job,” I say, accidentally letting my true feelings leak out.
Even though complimenting someone should be like pulling teeth to a villainess!!
Being surrounded by such lovely plants, I ended up letting my guard down because I was feeling too at ease.
His first impression is going to be that I’m a good person! Darn it! What should I do about this?
……No, wait, let’s think positively, shall we? It was just a single slip of the tongue. I should still have plenty of chances to worsen his impression of me from here on.
“Thanks,” Paul-san says, beaming at me.
Even if he is on the older side, with a smile like that I could see myself falling for him.
“We grow a variety of extremely rare plant species here. For instance this…..”
Paul-san picks up a bottle that houses a very small plant inside of it.
” “Chad,” ” Paul-san and I say simultaneously.
Paul-san’s eyes go wide. Just how many times have people looked at me like that at this point?
Though, in this case I guess it isn’t so surprising considering how rare Chad is.
“You’ve heard of it?” Paul-san asks me, still looking at me in surprise.
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T/N: Lol, what fun plant names: Wing and Chad XD I don’t know why they bring me so much joy haha.
And now, the thing that maybe no one was waiting for, the poll results as of posting this chapter!!!
- DUKE — 215 votes (45%).
- Have them ALL — 88 votes (19%).
- HEROINE — 83 votes (16% +) [LOL, I forgot her, but so many of you wrote in your own answer for her, that she also got included XD I love how popular she is despite not having made an appearance yet!]
- BL — 35 votes (7%)
- ERIC — 24 votes (5%)
- OTHER — 21 votes (4% -) [In no particular order, some of my favorites were:
- [A villainess should always be alone! (jk aint there any beastmen to ship w/ her?] — Enjoying ‘Milady Wants to Relax’? The beastmen in there are adorable~
- [AliciaxCrown – usurp the throne and rule them all!] — yes. Just yes.
- [The no one gets together and only chase after her route] — Like Bakarina? XD
- [None of them, they are all too flashy] — you mean giving a diamond to a 10 year old was too much!?! XD
- [Will] — Do you also like Paul??
- [Wait & see who is worthy of her] — awww, nice.
- [A proper vilainess doesn’t need a love interest] — true that!
- FINN — 6 votes (1%)
- GAYLE — 5 votes (1%)
- CURTIS — 2 votes (0%)
Thanks to everyone that voted~! I always find polls fun 😀 I especially love all the answers that people put into the other category! I couldn’t put them all into this post for sake of space, but I did love reading them all ❤