Saturday morning arrived, and we were already getting ready to clean as much of the greenhouse as we could before Victor arrived. I had already resigned to not being able to clean it entirely, much less as thoroughly as I wished. But just before we got our hands dirty, an attendant came to tell me we had visitors calling for me.
—Good morning —the young woman said, slightly bowing her head towards me.
His companions mimicked her. One of them was an old yet slightly buff man. The other was younger, barely an adult, dressed as a mage. The woman wore light armor and had a sword tied to her belt.
—We are here to fulfill the quest posted by Madame Dragonroot.
—Um... I think you might have misunderstood the quest, we needed help cleaning a greenhouse —I said.
These people were clearly adventurers, the kind of people that go to the wilderness and battle against monsters.
—We understand that, and we believe we have the adequate skills. If you show us to the greenhouse, we will be able to show you that.
I still had my doubts, but I was intrigued. I guided them to the backside of the house, where the garden, the gazebo, and the greenhouse were. I stopped by the gazebo for a moment, were Violett was sleeping on a stroller I had discretely bought on our last trip to the city. Sophie was watching over her, as I had convinced Carmila to let me help with the cleaning. I was only supervising, though. After confirming Violett was still sleeping, I took the trio to the greenhouse.
—This is it.
—Ho ho, I see it is quite dilapidated —the old man said, stroking his beard.
—Gramps! —the young woman said, embarrassed. She pulled the old man's cheek until he apologized.
The young man taciturnly looked around, to the pile of trash we had taken out, and to the even bigger pile that still remained inside.
—Is there a chance anything of value might be among the rubbish? —he said.
—Ah, I... don't think so... —I replied.
After finding the Seed of Ygdrassil, the maids had looked all over the greenhouse just in case there was another mysterious treasure hiding there. They just had found dust and dirt.
—Very well.
He raised his wooden staff towards the greenhouse, as glowing letters started to appear in front of it. I was marveled, as this was the first time I saw magic being used since I had regained my memories. I was a bit less thrilled when he shot a fireball towards the greenhouse's interior and caused an explosion. The long glass panels blew apart in pieces immediately, but neither the shards nor the flames reached us. Even the sound of the explosion had been muffled.
—WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! —the woman yelled, trying to shake him by the shoulders.
—Don't distract me, Anna. I might mess up the spells and we might all die —he said, completely calm.
—You need to relax a bit, Anna. Humans have to live to their limits —the old man chimed in, as if imparting ancient knowledge.
—Shut up, Gramps! What are we going to do if Lady Dragonroot knows we cleaned his greenhouse like this?!
—As long as it is clean, it doesn't matter how we do it —the mage continued.
And with a flick of his staff, the explosion died out suddenly, and all of the shards returned to their original places and fused seamlessly. Even those that were broken or cracked beforehand were fixed. They were not even stained.
—I left the tables, cases, and pots. I'll dispose of the trash you got outside, please tell me if you need anything else to stop existing.
—P-please excuse my brother, and don't say anything about this to Lady Dragonroot! —the woman pleaded.
—Ah, well, they say fire is the best sanitizer —I replied—, but about the other thing...
—Madame, Mr. Haggard has arrived, and as he had an appointment, I allowed him to come inside—Carmila said as she approached us, followed by the botanist.
—Good morning, Madame —Victor said, bowing his head towards me—. It is really an honor to be allowed in your house.
—I'm really thankful that you would take your time to come and help me —I replied—, we just finished cleaning the greenhouse, with the help of this group of adventurers.
I turned around to introduce them, finding out that both the old man and the young woman were shocked, their mouths open agape, while the young man was just as disinterested as he has been since he arrived. A few minutes later, we were all drinking tea under the gazebo.
—Ho ho, but to think that the fearsome head of the Dragonroot clan would be dressed and act like that, there are truly fascinating things to be seen if one lives long enough! —the old man said.
I had been wearing "working clothes" to help with the cleaning, so their confusion was not too hard to understand. Moreover, with the way I had been acting I probably looked more like the wet nurse in charge of Violett.
—Gramps, that's very rude! Apologize to her! —the young woman said.
Her voice was loud enough to wake up Violett, and she started to fuss and trash around. The woman covered her mouth and looked terrified, as if expecting me to burst in anger, but I didn't really mind it.
—Excuse me —I said, and went to pick up Violett, cradling her in my arms and hummed her song.
She went to sleep immediately, but I didn't want to put her back on the stroller just yet, so I took her with me to the table.
—Well, as unbelievable as it might sound, I am Rossane Dragonroot. There might be some rumors about me going on, but I would like to ask you to form your own opinion of me so we can get along.
—N-no, it was our entire fault for not paying attention, Madame. We'll accept any punishment you want to place upon us.
—She said it is fine already, so let it go —his brother said.
—You...
I think they had dealt with difficult customers in the past; a few nobles I had known would get offended but much less and would seek compensation, even if it would actually benefit them in any way. They just enjoyed stepping over others.
—I don't want to punish anyone. The three of you actually helped me a lot, and I will pay you the reward for the quest and a little more. But for the time being, would you be so kind to tell me your names?
—Ce-certainly! —the woman said, still sounding a bit scared— I'm Anna, and he is my brother Neil. The old man is our gramps, Marcus.
Curious. Since I recovered my previous life's memories, I had been meeting up people that were relevant for the game's plot, so I was expecting to recognize their names, even if it was from background characters. But none of them sounded familiar. Still, maybe I was just not remembering them, so I tried to prod a bit into their lives, using all of my noblewoman's charisma.
—What more can you tell me about you? —I said, totally not canalizing my inner office lady.
—W-well, we have been adventurers for 5 years already —Anna said—, we are still very low ranked, so we have to take on odd jobs and weird task like this to make ends meet. Ah! I don't mean anything bad about this job, we are really grateful that you let us work for you.
—Don't worry —I said with a smile—, please continue.
She told me more about herself and her companions, and she opened herself even to the point where she started to vent up about having to deal with his brother and his grandfather all the time. Both were reckless in her opinion, each on their own way.
From what I could gather, Old Man Marcus was once a pretty respected adventurer, but had retired when he got married. His son followed his steps, but he continued adventuring even after he married and had kids, Anna and Neil. They were mostly raised by Marcus and his own wife, until she passed away. Anna and Neil's parents also passed away.
Neil was pretty good with magic, but liked to do research more than actually using it, and since he had just bellow-than-average stamina, his performance dropped after using two or three spells. Anna was a decent fighter with a sword, though she was mostly self-taught. She wanted to become a member of the royal guard, so she became an adventurer to get experience, but...
—Fighting monsters is pretty hard —she admitted, sounding defeated.
I sighed, understanding completely what she meant. I haven't fought or even met an aggressive monster once during my life as Rosanne, but I remember being frustrated on the few events that involved dealing with one in the game. Adventurers are normally the ones that kept wild monsters in line, eliminating those that came close to human settlements, but some managed to pass through them and cause troubles. There was a golem that attacked the protagonist and her class during an expedition to the desolate wasteland, and a pack of horned wolves attacking the farms near to the city, just when the protagonist went to look for some cooking ingredients. And there were also Violett's dragons, but seeing those involved a bad ending.
It was pretty strange that Anna's party hadn't progressed after 5 years, though. In the end, nothing that they told me made me remember anything of the game, so they probably didn't played any important part on its story. Still, I kind of enjoyed their company, and their skills could be useful.
—Please come back whenever you have time, I can come up with some jobs for you to do —I said—, of course, I'll pay you for them. Or we can just chat and have some tea.
—We are deeply grateful for your invitation —Anna said, bowing towards me and waving goodbye.
It was only after they left that I came up to realize I was alone with Victor on the gazebo, aside from the still sleeping Violett.
—A-ah! I'm sorry, you took the time to come up here and I got distracted, I'm very sorry!
He looked a bit stumped, but after a few seconds, he smiled slightly.
—Don't worry, I got to see something interesting —he said—, you act very different when you are a host instead of a guest, don't you?
—That's... only natural, isn't it? —I managed to say, trying to hide my embarrassment.
Was this person trying to get revenge on me for teasing him the other day?
I somehow managed to keep my composure and guided him to our sparkling yet empty greenhouse. He then shared his secrets and recommendations to grow all kinds of plants, how to germinate the ones we had brought on the market, as well as how to get a few more from fruits and vegetables. I was really interested in growing some exotic trees, having a source of mangoes, papayas, and oranges would be delightful. I also taught him a little about what I remembered from my previous life, mostly about compost and grafting. Of course, I only gave him the general idea, passing it as a though that had occurred me, and let him figure the rest. Before we realized, a few hours have passed and Victor had to return to the city.
—Before I go, I would like to present you with a gift —he said, taking a small envelope of his pocket.
—W-what? —I said, genuinely surprised—, you sho-shouldn't have.
—To be frank, it is not an entirely selfless gift —he said—, it is a seed of a Rose Nymph. It is very rare to get them to actually sprout; legends say that they only respond to certain kind of people. No matter what I did it didn't germinate. But I got the feeling that you might be able to make it bloom. Also, it is related to your name.
I nervously laughed. That was a huge expectation to put on me, and there was nothing like that on the game. But the topic had picked my interest.
—Then I shall take it. Of course, I will be expecting you to help me make it grow.
—It shall be my pleasure.
After that, I and a few maids accompanied him to the piers and bid farewells. As we were returning home, a thought come to my mind.
—I should have asked him about the Ygdrassil seed —I muttered, chastising myself for my own forgetfulness—, well, I'll ask him next time we meet.