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Chapter 71

"Are you listening?"

Heron waved his hand in front of me. After being lost in thought for a moment, I shook my head to focus and nodded.

"Yes, I'm listening."

Heron began to explain about the herbs I had brought.

I was currently in Heron's laboratory, getting herbs and poisonous plants examined and learning about their characteristics. Surprisingly, except for one of the many herbs I brought, all were medicinal herbs. I had randomly picked whatever I wanted, but it turned out that I had selected only medicinal herbs. When I asked if almost all the plants in the maze area were medicinal herbs, Heron just stared at me as if questioning what I was talking about.

"If you have gone to where the poisonous plants grow instead of the areas of the fairies and spirits, you would have gathered them quite well too."

Heron praised me kindly.

"Have you ever worked as an herbalist before?"

As if. I was a noble among nobles, and in modern times, I only knew lettuce and perilla leaves as plants.

"Perhaps your unique mana resonates well with the vitality and wavelengths of plants."

Heron mumbled to himself, then nodded. After tearing a piece of paper and scribbling something on it, he rolled it up, sealed it with wax, and waved his wand. The paper disappeared instantly.

"Go to the 75th floor. Look for a magician named Phlos."

Heron said that and went to another room. Unaware that it was the end, I sat there dumbfounded. It took about five minutes for me to realize that Heron had no intention of coming out again. Magicians need social skills, they say. I got up quickly and left Heron's laboratory.

While riding the elevator down to the 75th floor, I drifted into idle thoughts again. Mainly about Andrea. I had been avoiding Andrea since yesterday. It was just... it was a bit difficult to see him again. Somehow, my heart was pounding hard, and for some reason, tears seemed to well up for no apparent reason when facing him.

Why? Because he saved me? Because he was willing to sacrifice himself for me? Or maybe because I knew that the one he was trying so hard to save wasn't really me?

"I really don't know..."

Leaning my head against the wall and muttering to myself, the elevator door opened. The hallway on the 75th floor was quiet. It was no different from the hallways on the 98th and 99th floors. I stepped out of the elevator into the long hallway. The doors scattered along the walls were tightly closed, and each door had a nameplate.

The name 'Phlos Prema' was towards the end of the hallway. Carefully knocking, a faint voice from inside said, "Come in." As soon as I opened the door, I couldn't believe my eyes. The room was more like a greenhouse than the interior of a building. It was humid, warm, and filled with all sorts of plants.

"I received a letter from Heron. You're interested in botany?"

A voice flowed from between the plant shelves. No one was in sight.

"He mentioned having the ability to communicate with plants."

"...Me?"

I was dumbfounded, and then a small woman with messy silver hair suddenly popped out from somewhere. She was so small and thin that she gave off a childlike impression. Her face strangely resembled a hamster, making her seem even younger. She wore overalls with a tucked-in shirt, and boots with gardening gloves on her hands, holding a small shovel.