“Starting now, you have 20 minutes. Everything you’ve harvested until now has been returned, so do your best! Okay, start!”

Wait a second.

Ermine, your explanation was seriously lacking.

“What’s ‘Lucky Time’?”

“Well, you just picked a seven-leaf Seventh Clover. Once a week, these shiny things that only Mei can see appear randomly. If you catch them, a Lucky Time of 20 minutes starts. Your harvest doubles, so hurry, hurry!”

Geez.

If something like that exists, tell me sooner!

Does this mean that even eggs, which we usually get very few of in a day, will increase?

That’s really lucky!

Yay!

“Basket, basket… Oh, Zeke, if you’re free, could you help? Could you gather some fruit or leaves that might be useful for alchemy?”

I hand a basket I took from my bracelet to a confused Zeke and the others.

I’m glad I made a lot of them.

“Even if you harvest randomly, everything will return tomorrow, so go ahead and gather whatever you want.”

“Huh? What’s with the sudden request? What should we harvest?”

Alex is holding a basket, his eyes wide with confusion.

“I’ll give you half of whatever you gather, so do your best! But make sure you leave the roots behind.”

For some reason, if you harvest the whole plant, it won’t grow back.

As long as you return it before it withers, it’s fine. But if you leave it as is, it’s considered no longer needed, and it won’t grow back the next day.

Thanks to Ermine’s advice, I avoided wiping out the Healgrass.

I mean, normally you’d think you have to pull out plants by the roots, right? But if you think about it, these aren’t weeds. You have to leave the roots behind.

As soon as I mention giving them half, Cloud dashes off, but I wonder if he heard me until the end.

Oh, Zeke went with him, so it should be fine.

That direction… It’s where the Shangri-La Flower and the Seven-Colored Rose are.

Now that I think about it, he was checking them out when he first saw the garden.

I can’t afford to dawdle either. I need to go gather some too.

I won’t let anyone else have the golden eggs, so I’ll start there.

“Yay, the eggs I collected this morning are back!”

I gather all the eggs and, while I’m at it, pluck the golden fruit too.

The golden fruit is Koko’s main food, but since she only eats one a day, the rest is for us.

When I tried it, it tasted like peaches. I’ve been eating it as dessert, and it’s so delicious I never get tired of it, no matter how often I eat it.

I’d like to try making a tart with this golden fruit next time.

Though it tastes like a peach, its texture is closer to an apple, so maybe I could make a tarte Tatin.

I could use the alchemy pot to make it, but I kind of want to bake it myself.

Now that I can make pancakes, I want to try making more desserts and bake a lot of delicious cakes.

Desserts make people smile.

Deliciousness is justice!

While gathering various things, the 20 minutes passed by in no time.

“Time’s up!”

Ermine’s signal marks the end of the service time.

The four flowers blooming before me instantly reduced to two.

“It’s over already?”

“Yep. Look forward to next week.”

“Okay!”

So, if I find more sparkles, service time will start again, right?

I hope I find some.

We carry everything we harvested back to the house and share what’s inside our baskets.

Wow, as expected, Cloud gathered the most.

His basket is overflowing.

“You gathered a lot! That’s great!”

Ermine twitches his whiskers as he looks at the basket.

“But you really held back, didn’t you? Good job.”

“Huh…?”

Ermine looks up at Cloud’s face as he says this.

“You managed to resist pulling up the roots.”

“Well, I…,” Cloud mutters as he averts his gaze.

Zeke smiles at him.

“We’re adventurers, after all. We can tell that everything in this garden is of incredible value. If we could take the roots and successfully cultivate them, we’d make a fortune. But doing that to someone who saved Cloud’s life is something we can’t allow as Mithril-rank adventurers. That’s all there is to it.”

I see.

For me, it was just a casual request to help with the harvest, but for Cloud, it must’ve felt like being tempted with a treasure trove he couldn’t touch.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t consider that.”

“No, even getting half of these incredible things is more than enough. Thank you.”

Zeke smiles brightly. He’s such an adult.

Alright, let’s be generous here!

We can always harvest again tomorrow anyway.

“Now that I think about it, dividing everything in half is a hassle, so just take whatever you gathered. In return, please show me around the town!”

I asked them to guide me to town, but I still don’t know my way around.

Please show me all the places where I can eat delicious food or buy yummy treats!