Is this an Easy Quest?

To make an anti-allergic medication, four herbs were needed. Rosemary, Astragalus Spiruline and Stinging Nettle Leaf.

Of the four, Rosemary could be purchased easily within the town.Poltas and Tyom only had to travel to 3 locations for the remaining three herbs. The travel route was an arc outside the city, and based on Tyom's calculations they would be able to collect all three herbs before sunset if they left at earlier hours of the day.

Tyom had taken the mission quite seriously and brought a full meal for them. Looking at the giant bag on his back awakened a sense of guilt in Poltas. A child carrying such a heavy bag reminded him of his school days. Back when he whined a lot about how many books he had to carry but his parents didn't pay any mind to his complaints. It was his sister who often offered to carry some of his books.

As a child he hadn't considered how much more burdensome it was for her to carry his books along with her own, but thinking back on it he felt a bit emotional.

He looked at Tyom who was so desperate to help his family and thought of his selfish reasons for helping.

'Aren't I just a bastard here. I won't let you down Tyom, I will make sure your dedication and sincerity is seen by your uncle.'

Blissfully ignorant of Poltas' internal struggle, Tyom commended himself for discussing the plan with his uncle, who had been very touched. Aslant lent him a high-quality luggage carrier typically used for the bakery. The unique thing about this carrier was its magical property to nullify the weight of objects placed within it. This property only applied upto a certain weight, but the items Tyom had brought with him did not exceed this value.

The journey was quite comfortable for Tyom while Poltas mulled over his own stupidity from the past life to this one.

"According to the book, this is where Astragalus should grow."

"Huh?"

"The first herb should be somewhere around here. It has hairy stems with leaves made up of 12 to 18 pairs of leaflets. It may have yellow flowers."

"All the plants here seem to look identical, let's keep moving forward."

"Yes miss!"

They walked further into the thicket and soon found several plants matching the description. The only thing which tried to attack them during the harvest was aphids. 

Dealing with aphids was not hard at all. Poltas had rolled up the map and swatted the aphids off of the leaves.

With the first harvest done so easily, Poltas was finally distracted from his melancholic thoughts.

"As expected you are very strong."

Tyom's words sounded like genuine praise but Poltas was not flattered. After the bugs he had massacred in the bakery, swatting a few aphids was not even a challenge. 

Poltas did not let his guard down, the next herb was referred to as the Stinging Nettle leaf. Based on just the name alone, Poltas expected something dangerous to guard it.

Not far from their previous location Tyom spotted heart shaped leaves which were finely toothed, and tapered at the ends.

"These resemble the description of the nettle leaf. You have to be careful when picking them. The sharp hairs on their leaves contain irritants which make the skin red and itchy."

"You know a lot about these herbs."

"I may lack physical abilities, I am very interested in learning about all sorts of things. Learning about herbs is quite boring, but with this knowledge I can help everyone around me a lot."

When nerding out over herb Tyom's shyness disappeared. Poltas agreed with Tyom on the importance of learning about herbs. Together they carefully plucked the leaves and placed them in an air-tight container.

Although it was not noon yet, Tyom insisted on having a meal before continuing their journey. Seeing Tyom so excited about the trip cheered Poltas up as well. It seemed that even such an uneventful adventure was meaningful to Tyom.

With their stomachs filled, the duo resumed their trip. The last herb was not a herb, rather it was a component of another plant. To be used, it needed to be extracted. There were not many clues about its appearance except that it grew on water surfaces.

After arriving at the designated location they finally ran into a problem. The herb was nowhere to be found.

"What does it look like?"

"The book does not mention this. All it says is that it can be collected from a plant which grows in water."

Looking at the surface of the lake covered in all sorts of green plants, Poltas felt as if he had a headache.

"Should we examine all these plants individually?"

Without knowing how many species of plants even grew here, how could they spend time inspecting each plant? Logically Poltas should have declined, but Tyom's hopeful expression led him into accepting this proposal.

With their sleeves rolled up, they began pulling each plant and inspecting it.