YES!

We made our triumphant return early in the morning.

Everyone was yawning, and I wasn't an exception. Alustur had woken us up early morning and forced us to walk for like two hours and here we were… back to the city. And apparently a carriage was waiting for us? A pretty big one at that too.

"Consider it a treat," he said.

We did not have the energy to celebrate, no.

I felt like passing out, honestly. Maybe staying up so late wasn't such a very good idea after all. Especially considering this shit body. Still- I'm gonna be six soon, huh?

It'd been nine months since I came to this academy. Ordinarily, that'd make me nine months older. But in this world, I was almost a year old. No, the days weren't longer. They just didn't have the extra two months.

Still looks the same as ever.

Kids going about, people coming out to stack their wares. Shops opening, people going to work….

The academic year was nearly at an end. With the finals looming ever so close. I'd be in my second-year next month, huh?

I was expecting a letter right about now, but I figured Den and Mom were too busy and couldn't risk their locations yet.

The sound of hoofs mellowed out as I stared at the pleasant horizon. A little cool but soon it'd be pretty warm. Apparently, this was full summer and would pretty much end by the end of this month. Technically it was supposed to be autumn now but you couldn't really expect seasons to change the same way you could expect them back on earth. And there was a very good reason for that. The ten-month system.

Slowly the sun rose and painted the world in wonderful colors; we'd almost arrived.

No, we just arrived.

Kids were going about with their morning practice and runs.

Good to be home.

"See you tomorrow," Yawning, I headed for the library. I did need a quick nap but I could always just take it after cleaning up the place. Today was the weekend and I'd get plenty of chances to rest later.

I did have a meeting tomorrow but that was a different matter.

***

Knock! Knock!

"Good afternoon," I went in. "Tell me you have something today, because I'm starving."

It was still noon. But who cared about the semantics.

 "Luckily I have some biscuits," Anya said. "Though I'm not sure if John or Caty left any for you."

"Let's hope for their sakes, that they have."

Anya giggled and let me into the living room. John and Caty were on the couch, happily chomping at the biscuits. They were part of the Herbal Club. They had some other member who was mostly absent for months. Kind of like our fourth member.

We of course had more members now, but I hardly had time to interact with them during our limited time together. And for some reason it almost felt like some of the members were looking at me with odd eyes; even hostile eyes. Hopefully just my imagination.

"This is mine," I said, taking the whole bowl. There were only five biscuits left, so they weren't losing much. Fat, round, and somewhat hard. Somewhat bland at that too.

I wanted to have lunch before coming here but thanks to the long line of students, that didn't seem to be possible. Hence my crave for something to staunch my stomach with.

"Well, for once I don't have bad news," Anya served tea.

These last couple of weeks, all I got from the Herbal club was bad news. 'The leaves are falling down. The roots are all drying out. Fungus!'

Stuff like that. They were sort of heartbreaking but at least two of the plants were still alive. Barely.

They still hadn't grown much. Which was the super sad part.

"That's good but what do we do from here?"

If I recall, some people in the past were able to actually grow the tree to full height. However, ours just wasn't growing. What was it lacking?

"Do you know anything about how they grew it? Under what conditions?" I asked.

"Well, if they were still alive, maybe we could have some information. But the research is lost and the best we can do, is… hope, I guess?"

Why can't these morons just write shit down?

I sipped the tea. A little sweet. But the biscuits were a little bland, so it fit well with the tea. "That sucks," I sipped. "What haven't we tried?"

"Haven't tried," she paused to think. "I think we haven't tried letting the tree die."

"What do you mean?"

"Some trees or beings in general need extreme circumstances to thrive. Kind of like stressing your plants without giving them adequate water. You don't give them water for a few days and watch the roots and leaves dry out and then drown them for a day. Some plants can't take it and die. But some other plants thrive and have a good root system, allowing them to grow much larger. Maybe we have to stress these ones too."

"Hmm… I guess?"

 I mean it kind of made sense in a way. You only get to bloom to your full potential when you're backed into a corner. But that was also a very good way to crack for good.

How come some of our other plants just died? Those had a good shot at overcoming everything and growing up real nice, right? How come they didn't? Because they cracked.

They cracked for good.

"So, I'm thinking of trying out that. Though I must confess it might not work," Anya said.

"You could try using Manadust as fertilizer," Caty said.

"We've already tried that," I said.

"Did you try hyper balls? They provide great lighting," John said.

"We tried that too," Anya said.

I hardly saw these two. Apparently, the official duties of the Herbal club were mostly carried out by Anya. These two showed up every now and then but they hardly played any part in almost anything. I did get to see them every now and then but anyway, "Can I see them at least?"

"Of course," Anya said, leading the way.

I quickly finished the tea.

The weather was perfect for Honeycrisps. However, even in this weather, the plants weren't doing that well. Most of the saplings were dead. Only two remained and even these two were barely hanging on by her second-floor window.

Rexy jumped from my shoulder and started bouncing on the leaves. Meanwhile, Anya's cat hissed from the corner of the room.

"They don't like each other at all," I said.

"Natural enemies," Anya said. "How did you do it though?"

"Do what?"

"Summon a deity."

Apparently, although the headmaster tried to keep it a secret, it still spread. I had a feeling a certain eccentric young lady was the one who was spreading all the rumors but I was this next prodigy this school was producing who was definitely going to be a Hero or a Paladin.

I had no real intention of even thinking about either but anyway.

"I didn't," I said. "She did."

We both stared at the happily bouncing lizard. 

"Linked to the deity… in that case, maybe she can help us."

"How?"

"She's from that area, right? Her mana signature would be far more suited than Lucas'. And if she can channel some divine mana, we might be able to prevent the trees from dying and we might even see some new leaves in the course of a week. Why don't you leave her here for a day to see how things go?"

"With him here?" I gave the cat a glance and he started licking his balls.

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Anya said.

"Right," I went closer to Lucas, picked him up and smiled. "Look, I know you two have your differences and it's fine to fight and maybe even try to claw each other. But, I like you both. And well, I like Rexy more than you since I live with her but the point is… if I notice even a single scratch on her lovely scales… I'll skewer you alive. Got it?"

The kitty grumbled but nodded, albeit begrudgingly. "I get it, I get it…"

"Good." That being said, I picked up Rexy this time. "I want you to stay here for a day and look after the plants. I kind of want to eat the fruits," I said. "I'll come back for you tomorrow."

Rexy nodded like a good girl and had no complaints. Gosh this lady was cute… kind of scary but cute.

Time to find me some lunch. For cheap of course.

***

The next day I went back and witnessed a miracle.

No, the plants hadn't grown. They were about the same size with maybe two or three more clusters of leaves and… buds.

Four on each cluster and one near the base, golden red; exactly 13.

 "So… how?" I mumbled.

Even at best Rexy should have only been able to help the plants be a bit livelier, not influence growth like this!

"That's what I'd like to know," Anya said. "Because I have no idea."

Lil' Rexy jumped on my shoulder and fell asleep promptly.

Lucas had also been sleeping but he woke up, stretched and ran away.

A little late but feelings emerged like bubbles under the pool. "YES!"

Who cared how it worked! It worked and that's what mattered!