“We sell the best saplings while the other shops have even faultier goods.”

The merchant quickly said, fearing the deal might be canceled, but Sesar didn’t say anything. He, instead, spent a long time in his own world and then abruptly started speaking.

“I’ll need wild roses.”

“You are pretty and strong enough but using only vine roses will make it lack stability. I need the strength of wild roses. Maybe it would be better to use damask roses and make roses that are pretty and smell good.”

The merchant wondered what he should say to that, but soon he realized Sesar wasn’t talking to him. He was talking to the saplings.

“Hmm. Yes, yes. That would be better.”

Sesar nodded. The merchant wondered if he should leave him alone, but then Sesar turned to him.

“Can you also get various damask roses?”

“What? Yes.”

The merchant instinctively nodded and Sesar rubbed his hands with satisfaction.

“And can you get them quickly? I want to make at least one product before May.”

“Yes, it’s possible,” the merchant quickly made some calculations and replied.

Even the impossible would become possible in front of money. It also appeared Sesar wasn’t going to cancel the deal.

“Okay, then thank you.”

“Um, about the payment…”

“Bring this to the butler of the Claymore Mansion over there, and he will immediately take care of it.”

Sesar handed him a list of the saplings he decided to buy. It was very accurate. He had appeared to be only looking at the pots, so when did he check all that? He looked clumsy but was in fact thorough. The merchant blinked.

As soon as he took the list, Sesar left while throwing away his gloves. Then, he walked to his hut without saying anything. The merchant sighed at that weird behavior. He really didn’t know how to handle him, but he was still an important client. The merchant resisted the urge to say something to him and headed to the mansion.

“Where did I put that book on wild roses?”

The hut was in a mess. Sesar went through huge piles of books and finally managed to find a red book. It had been written by a scholar he greatly looked up to. He took out a leather bag and put in it the huge book, some clothes, a shovel, linen for wrapping roots, and rations for a few days. He could get the rest through the merchant, but not wild roses. He wore his coat and was about to leave when he was reminded of something.

“Oh, fertilizer! Hey, I have to order fertilizer!”

He had been concentrating on the saplings and forgot to order fertilizer. He quickly ran out, but the merchant was long gone. Sesar was about to head to the mansion himself when he spotted a man. The man was studying the new saplings and his back looked quite familiar.

“Sir Stephen?”

“Lord Sesar, it’s been a long time.”

It was Stephen, the duke’s guard.

“Is the duke coming here?”

“Oh, no.”

Sesar asked with hope, but the knight’s answer was cold, so the man was a little disappointed. However, at the same time, he found it odd for Stephen to be here as he always put the duke’s safety as his top priority.

“Then what has brought you here?”

“I just came to look around.”

That voice was very tiny, but Sesar immediately brightened up at hearing that.

“Do you like flowers?”

“That’s…”

Stephen was about to say something, but he shut his mouth again. Sesar thought he was being shy. A knight and flowers, that was an unusual combination.

“None of the saplings have bloomed as it isn’t the season yet, but after the greenhouse is finished, we will be able to see flowers bloom.”

Sesar started to explain. He felt sorry for Stephen who had come to see flowers only to find none. Stephen heard his explanation about the saplings and the flowers that would bloom without even frowning a bit.

“But how will these flowers be used?”

Sesar excitedly replied, “They were ingredients for creating even prettier flowers.”

“… and what are those roses for?”

Sesar couldn’t understand the question. He blinked. Flowers are supposed to be pretty. They were not for anything, but the knight seemed quite agitated.

“The duchess has decided to use them to decorate the garden.”

“The garden… is that the only purpose? Don’t those flowers, like, have a special poison or can be used to run machines?”

“Oh, flowers are supposed to be pretty. Why do they need another purpose?”

Stephen didn’t buy it and frowned. Sesar, however, was starting to get offended. Thinking such impure thoughts at seeing his lovely flowers? That was an insult.

“You are right.”

Sesar was a very simple man and immediately felt better at hearing the knight agreeing with him. Then, he realized Stephen could be of help to him.

“Sir Stephen, I am about to go on a trip to find wild roses. Could you give me some tips for camping?”

“… camping?”

Stephen’s eyebrows twitched and realized he made a mistake. He thought about saying he was busy and running away, but it looked like it would only complicate matters even more.

He gave up and started to walk to find a good spot before explaining.

“Let me explain.”

“There isn’t even a single bad person among those who like flowers.”

Stephen stopped. He couldn’t understand how the botanist had reached that conclusion. He even wanted to grab him by the collar and ask him why he thought so. He didn’t like flowers. More accurately, he didn’t care about them at all. However, he couldn’t tell that to Sesar. Then he would find it weird for him to be here. He couldn’t let that happen.

“Surroundings is the most important in camping. If the land is wet, avoid it as much as possible. And, when you can’t, choose somewhere with grass. Here, this spot is good.”

Then, Stephen showed him how to make a simple shelter. Sesar soon followed his instruction and tried it himself. He worked very well for an old man.

“But why are you doing this much?”

“The duchess has believed in me and has invested in my work, so I cannot let her down.”

“Then investing in you and your work has been her decision entirely?”

“Yes. The duke didn’t say much to it once she made that decision. She has a sense of beauty others don’t have. The moment she looked at my sketches, she realized they were going to be very beautiful flowers. You must understand as you love flowers.”

“Haha.”

Stephen just tried asking and, to his surprise, Sesar didn’t try to hide anything. Even if he didn’t like that he turned from a knight who liked flower to a knight who loved flowers, that was an unexpected gain.

“I didn’t know she had such a great sense of beauty.”

“Oh yes. She is different from the others.”

“How different?”

Stephen pretended to agree and put in a question. That method makes the other person think of it as meaningless gossip, spill out information, and forget all about it.

“Her behavior and other things, and she knows a lot. She must have studied a lot.”

However, the duchess hadn’t studied that much even if she had been educated a little at home like most of the other noblewomen.

“Oh, she hasn’t studied that much.”

“Well, it can’t be. Weird. She accurately read the name of a flower written in ancient Babarian.”

“Ancient Babarian?”

Sesar didn’t see the knight’s eyes shine dangerously. Even if he had seen it, he wouldn’t have noticed it. He cared more about flowers than people. To him, a change of expression was too complicated.

“Her vocabulary is a little strange as well.”

“Her vocabulary?”

Rubica spoke like any other normal people in Seritos. Stephen couldn’t understand, so he had to ask. Sesar then smiled proudly. His observations were worse than a toddler’s in some areas, but in other area’s he was like the genius of the century.

“Others wouldn’t be able to see it. Only someone who has met various people at the Academy and has learned much like me can notice it.”

“Hmm…”

“She called friendship ‘philia’. That’s a word the priests of Hue use.”

“Oh.”

To Stephen’s surprise, that conversation turned out to be quite profitable. He decided there was a further need to find out more about Rubica.

“But why are you asking that?”

“I just wanted your opinion. Oh, and actually it is safer to make a shelter on trees instead of making it on the ground. Let me show you.”

Stephen quickly changed the topic. Thankfully, Sesar’s suspicion soon vanished. He was an extraordinary man who cared only about flowers and soon forgot other things. At first, he had run out shouting he had to order fertilizer and, as soon as he saw Stephen, he asked him to teach him how to camp. The interest Stephen has shown in the duchess was quickly erased from his memory.

Roses were much important to him. He just left Rubica a letter saying he was going to leave for a few weeks to find wild roses he needed for his work.