I wasn’t sure if I should be grateful, but in any case, opportunities had to be seized when they came.

After that, the pot was never empty.

Jade had recently made a wound healing potion with Loroa roots and stored it, and also made a fever reducer with Aspi tree bark. This time, she was making a joint medicine for Ollie.

Why bother doing this?

To forget the nightmares at night, she needed something to focus on, and making potions was a suitable pastime.

Stir twice to the left, three times to the right.

“Hmm, perfect.”

The thickly boiling liquid contained mugwort and jinberry fruit, good for joints, and toomtoom branches, along with other disgusting ingredients – some sticky things – but as long as Ollie didn’t know, it was fine.

When she scooped a little with the ladle, the liquid flowed down slowly and stickily. It was at the final stage before completion.

“So this is why potions are always made in gloomy places. To keep customers from seeing the ingredients.”

Axel, his hair soaked with water, muttered as he stared at the potion becoming increasingly sticky like mucus.

Jade mumbled while stirring the contents.

“Don’t tell Ollie about the ingredients.”

“Ollie probably already knows everything that’s in it.”

“How would she know if she’s not a wizard? She definitely won’t know. As long as you keep your mouth shut.”

“Why, got a lot to hide?”

Ignoring his words, Jade stirred the ladle more vigorously. She actually did have a lot to hide. It was her first time making this, and she wouldn’t have drunk it herself.

“But the book says if you drink this, the pain every evening will be reduced a lot. Ollie said her legs and back were aching last time.”

Axel raised an eyebrow crookedly and headed towards the kitchen, and only then did Jade go outside to wash her face. Of course, with some secretly boiled warm water.

The table set by Axel alone – he absolutely refused Jade’s help with cooking after seeing her cut bread – was always delicious as usual.

Thanks to this, Jade was having the best appetite of her life, regardless of the complexity in her head. For some reason, she was always hungry.

“Do you always eat like a little bird?”

But Axel’s thoughts on watching Jade eat seemed quite different.

“Huh?”

She had filled her plate and eaten, so what exactly was bird-like about it?

Jade asked, genuinely curious.

“Which bird eats this much…?”

Of course, Axel ignored her question.

“If you’re being considerate because you saw me hunting before, don’t worry about it. Eat properly.”

He was misunderstanding something. While she was being considerate, her stomach was shamelessly hungry, eating twice as much as she did outside.

Blinking her eyes, Jade gratefully accepted his goodwill. It tasted good, so all the better.

As she swept up and brought over the well-toasted brown bread, Axel finally nodded.

After meals, clearing the table was always Jade’s responsibility, as she couldn’t cook.

Axel would usually prepare and leave for hunting during this time. The food storage she had peeked at was already almost full, but he seemed determined to prepare thoroughly before full winter set in.

“When will you be back?”

“Before sunset.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll guard this house like a hunting dog.”

“A hunting dog.”

He glanced at her thin wrist with dubious eyes, then put on his gloves and left. With an ambiguous nod that might have been a greeting.

He hadn’t paid much attention to Jade from the beginning, but now he was paying attention in a different sense.

If he had simply ignored her before, now he was closer to leaving her alone because he ‘somewhat’ trusted her.

Of course, it took Jade’s tear-jerking efforts to get to this point.

She realized that managing a territory was rather easy in comparison. Studying magic books? That was truly the happiest thing in the world.

From the middle of autumn, the season of wind, until spring, the season of earth when merchants came, before winter fell.

She had to prove her usefulness. While winter was approaching, she had to show Axel that she was more valuable than the diminishing food and firewood!

The really fortunate thing was that Jade had rolled around for a long time in the subjugation team that only went to dangerous and uncomfortable places. So, she roughly knew what to do in a place like this.

When Axel left the house, Jade first went to fetch water from the nearby pond.

Axel didn’t seem to particularly care about her using a lot of water, but Jade was very concerned. Especially to the point of resenting herself for not being able to wash without warm water. Because it consumed firewood too.

With arms that trembled after carrying more than five books, she had to make many round trips, so Jade had to move diligently from the morning.

“Huff, huff, damn it!”

Water was much heavier than expected. After realizing that if she filled the bucket to the brim, she would spill more than half due to the rebound while carrying it, she now filled it moderately, but still, how long the way home felt!

Even more disheartening was that the amount of water Jade filled after five round trips was the same as what Axel could fill in one go.

Five Jades equaled one Axel. It was pathetic.

By the time she finished filling the water storage, it was already past noon, and then she would bring back plants she had spotted while coming and going.

This was all a desperate attempt to appear useful. It was natural to be considerate of the homeowner who was supporting a freeloader.

“This one… needs to dry a bit more… and this one… can go into storage now.”

I’m so fortunate that I can’t do earth attribute magic. That’s why I learned herbology, right?

Herbology was truly a useful discipline. For one, it taught you about edible plants.

In case of unexpectedly falling into a forest like this, someone like Rigel Hias would never survive.

Why? Because that guy doesn’t know a damn thing about herbology! Axel would have kicked him out as useless.

“Ah, come to think of it.”

Thinking of Rigel reminded her of people outside in succession. The king who must have pushed a magician to replace her into the subjugation team, and Bernard who would be tracking the whereabouts of his suddenly disappeared employer.

If I go out, there will be so many people to compensate for that hardship…. It’s annoying to choose gifts.

While having these gloomy thoughts, she organized the herbs and prepared edible plants, and it was usually already midday.

Then she would go to Ollie’s house to help her a bit, which was also a repetition of physical labor.

Axel said there was no need to help Ollie – that old woman is much tougher than you think – but Jade enjoyed the time with the elderly woman. The stories she told were more interesting than expected.

Today too, she was helping with work at Ollie’s house, to get eggs and also to pass time.

“How did I meet my husband? Well… actually, the beginning wasn’t very romantic. I had quite a nasty personality… Every time my husband spoke to me, I was so cold that he said he cried every day when he got home.”

“He cried?”

As Jade giggled, Ollie smiled gently.

“But in the end, we ended up holding hands. There are definitely things you can’t decide from the first meeting. No, you should leave that one.”

“Why? That one’s well-ripened.”

“We need to leave some food for the animals too, so they cause less harm to people.”

“Oh, I see. Then where is your husband now?”

“He’s dead. Went peacefully without any pain.”

As the atmosphere became solemn, the old woman chuckled.

“It’s been a long time since he died, so don’t make that face. It was that age. If you’re so concerned, go feed the goats before you leave.”

After helping with the requested tasks for the day, Ollie would share some eggs or vegetables. Today was no exception, and Jade received three eggs and some unripe fruits.

It was really nothing special, but Jade loved this moment so much. The moment of holding warm eggs and plump fruits in her hands.

Maybe it was because she could clearly see the reward for her work with her own eyes.

Outside, it was very difficult to realize and feel what she had accomplished, even if she did something.

For example, even if Jade reduced taxes for the territory residents, it was hard to know the actual emotions they felt.

The only way she could properly feel the situation of the territory residents was by listening to reports analyzing numbers on paper.

‘The harvest is much better than last year. It’s certain that the farming methods distributed to the farmers are effective. The harvest rate also-‘

‘The number of children in the territory has increased and the death rate has decreased. The number of married people is also increasing.’

Numbers on paper. Thanks to that, judgment was quick, but she couldn’t properly feel it. There was always doubt about whether she was doing well.

But life in the forest was not like that. She could immediately see and feel the reward for what she had done.

Of course, the same was true for the consequences of things not done. If she didn’t properly care for livestock or diligently gather fruits, she would go hungry, and if she didn’t fetch and purify water, she would be thirsty.

Ollie had said that time was needed to not think and let things flow, and it was really fitting for this life.

It was a life where you had to focus on the task at hand. Even if you have nightmares at night.

“You should ripen the fruit a bit more before eating. I’m sure you’ll do well.”

“Yes! Thank you.”

As always, Jade carefully cradled the eggs and fruits to her chest. Today, Ollie seemed to have been generous, as the fruits were large.

“I’ll give you a basket you can carry next time, so bring it back. Ah, and it would be good if you could get some dried meat from that Axel guy when you return it.”

“I will.”

The basket woven tightly with dried grass was convenient as it could be hung on the hand. Jade happily walked away from Ollie’s house.

“She said it’s very sweet, so if we make jam!”

Of course, Axel would be the one doing it, but anyway, the important thing was that Jade was also diligently collecting something.

Axel’s house was not far from Ollie’s. She just had to walk steadily along the faint path worn by frequent use.

However, today the sunset light shining through the leaves was so beautiful that her eyes kept wandering.

Fallen leaves decorated the ground in colorful patterns, and among them, fruits showing off their last brilliance and birds chirping between them delighted her eyes and ears.

Unlike the city where she lived, the forest birds had clear and beautiful voices. Jade closed her eyes for a moment to enjoy the song and the breeze.

“What a peaceful place.”

It was truly a shame that such a beautiful forest bore a bad reputation just because magic didn’t work here.

But this beauty might be due to the absence of people, thanks to that bad reputation.

With her cheerful steps, Axel’s house soon loomed in the distance. Jade quickened her pace a bit more.

She planned to revive the fireplace flame and warm up the house before Axel returned. He was usually very cold after roaming all day.

Should I also give him some water boiled with dried herbs? He drank it well last time. He helped me in my dream, so I should repay him. Jade smiled as she made plans.

But when there were about fifty steps left to the fence, something caught her eye as she was looking around.

Why is it so yellow over there? There are no yellow fallen leaves nearby.

As Jade casually focused on that direction, she stopped in her tracks. Her mouth fell open.

“Th-th-th-that!”