《No Matter What, I Will Get Back Home!》(30) A Brief Tour of the Garden

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The two of us walked for a while on the grassy hills, going through trees and bushes. The doctor whistled as he chopped away any random foliage that was in our way with the small dagger that was wielded in his left hand with little to no regard.

At the same time, he was keeping an eye on me, making sure that I was following him and keeping close to him. He didn't let up for a single moment, as he kept turning around to double check that I was following him and not falling back.

He doesn't need to worry this much, there's really no reason for me to just slink back into the shadows to try to run. What the hell am I going to do, go fight some damn wolves without a weapon?

I learned my lesson the first time, I'm not making such a stupid mistake again. So don't be so worried, there's no chance that I'll just run right now.

As we walked through the patch of land, my head kept on turning over and out about the conundrum that had been making me annoyed for the past two weeks.

Preckle Village. The name was so familiar, yet I couldn't even figure out why. I was drawing a blank continuously, and that made me angered to no end.

I knew about Fambil Village: that was home of the protagonist of the game and located within the borders of the Matriarchy of Cardenra. I knew about Pockle Town, the first area where the protagonist goes for a mission, which was situated in the outskirts of the Agniraber Kingdom.

I had zero clue which of the eight countries or the four continents this village was located, even though I distinctly remember going through this place before in my play-through.

Damn it! If I wanted to make any advances in this train of thought, I was going to have to go get a map. Esther probably has one in her little library, I'll have to go and ask her for one tomorrow at the least.

This topic wasn't going to stop bugging me until I figured out why the name was giving me genuine concern. Once that was over, then I could probably relax for a little bit.

"Watch your step Feliza, there's some vines that could trip you up," the doctor said as they continued forward with a smile on their face, "We're almost there."

"Okay," I replied in a calm tone as I grabbed the doctor's free hand to ensure that I stayed close, all the while while making sure that there weren't any vines on the ground that would entangle me.

We walked together in utter silence for a brief moment, short enough that we arrived within a single blink of the eye.

We stood in front of a building that had a glass roof and stone brick walls. A single wooden sign hung above the cedar door that read 'Garden of Eden', with some form of strange object hanging from the brass doorknob.

This structure would have been beautiful and probably relaxing if it wasn't completely tarnished with dirt and other such filth.

The glass roof was currently covered in dead foliage and random bird droppings that probably halted the sunlight's path to the interior. The walls had claw marks all over them, and there were several insects flying around them, along with a good amount crowded near the door, attempting to bypass the rocks and get inside.

There were some droppings on the ground, and there were some damp stains on the walls that smelled awful. The stone path that led to the door was covered in weeds and grass, covering up the walkway and ruining the environment. The doorway itself had vines that snake around the front, blocking off a good bit of the entryway.

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If I didn't know better, I would have thought that this building would have been condemned and abandoned. However, with my current knowledge of what this place was, I couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed by the state of things.

The doctor didn't look so happy either. He seemed utterly depressed as he sighed for a brief moment, before moving forward with his knife. He began to cut away at any foliage near the door in a rapid pace, but his movements felt a bit sluggish at the same time.

"I did not expect the greenhouse to have degraded to this state in a week," he said as he worked, "Looks like I'll have to spend some time with Alexander to clean everything up again. Hopefully the interior is untouched."

I watched him work, observing every single move he made. Each swing was planned to do as little damage as possible to the door and to chop the vines at a point where they wouldn't cover the entryway again.

After chopping down the foliage, the doctor put his backpack down and began rifling through it. After a while of fumbling with something inside the pack, he pulled out a single small bag that had been tied up so poorly that it seemed like a child trying to learn how to tie a simple knot worked on the sack.

He hung the pouch on the doorknob so fast that I almost missed him doing so, and began to walk back without making much noise.

I watched as the bugs all started to run away from the building so fast that they must have caught fire from the immense speed. I stared at the now bug-clean building, and couldn't help but feel utterly impressed. That was downright amazing, and I knew at that moment that I wanted to learn what that small pouch contained.

I didn't care if the ingredients were expensive. Being bug-free was so much better than anything.

That also reminded me to go try to figure out a way to figure out if there were any herbs good for bathing. Cleaning myself with cold water in the river got old really fast, and I genuinely missed showering in warm water.

There was nothing better than being truly clean, and I have yet to have that sensation for two years. Maybe when I become six or eight, but hopefully I can get used to this feeling I have know, because I sincerely doubt I'd be able to achieve this dream for a while.

"Feliza, you can come inside. The garden has been left untouched."

The doctor's words snapped me out of my daze, and I turned around towards him. He was currently standing in the open and holding the door open.

"Sorry!" I shouted as I ran inside as soon as I regained my composure, heading directly inside to avoid any of the excrements that were on the ground.

"There's nothing to apologize for," he said as he closed the door behind us, before locking it behind us, "Besides, we made it inside, didn't we?"

I nodded to him, before turning around and blinking. I couldn't believe the scenery I found myself in.

The garden was nothing like I anticipated. Heck, the term 'garden' was something that would be completely inaccurate. This place was more like a miniature park with how lively this whole place was.

There were so many plants that were growing. Numerous herbs, tiny trees, and flowers scattered the building, each of them containing fruit and beautiful arrangements. The air was both sweet and relaxing, and I could feel my knees buckling a bit with each whiff I took.

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The air was intense, so strong that I could feel myself feeling weak and overpowered by the smell. I could feel myself desiring to just pluck and eat any random berry off the plants. However, my stronger survival instinct prevented me from doing such a thing, and I manged to calm myself down.

I looked around, finding myself mesmerized by the sights. I couldn't help but feel like I found myself truly back in the old times, when there was only Adam and Eve and nature.

The place was just that powerful, there was no way I could keep up this resistance forever. I felt myself slowly going down to the ground, at least until the doctor grabbed me by my shoulders and started to lift me up.

"Enchanting, isn't it?" the doctor said with a warm tone as he helped me back up to my feet, "I'm glad you like it. Took me a long time to set everything up. It's like me and Alexander's little paradise away from the rest of the world."

I could only nod at his words, not being able to respond to his words all that much. I was being overwhelmed by the plants' stench, and I felt myself slowly drifting off to sleep.

Then, I smelled something strong and disgusting and I gagged in an instant, before coughing and trying to clear my airways. I immediately stopped trying to use my nose to try to smell anything, since the strong odor was still stuck within those passageways, clogging up that sense and preventing me from being able to enjoy the aroma around me.

I turned towards the origin of the nauseating stench, which happened to be some small pinkish crystals that were currently being held in the doctor's right hand. I glared right at the culprit of this terrible crime, who began to put the minerals away into a bottle and looked at me with a sly smile.

"They're smelling salts," he said, informing me on what he had just used, "I noticed that you were getting affected a bit too much by the fragrance, so I decided to prevent you from being completely overwhelmed."

I nodded as he started to put the little bottle back into his pocket. I couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed and worried about the situation.

I knew what smelling salts were, but the way they were used in this game was much more different. They were mainly used to prevent and cure certain status effects from occurring. In fact, the in-game description of that item went something like this:

'Smelling Salts: A bottle that holds a decent amount of salts with a disgusting smell. One whiff will rid you of your sense of smell, and flush any fantasies you have back to reality. Can be used to cure Drowsiness, Nausea, and Poison.'

I don't know what exactly the developers were thinking when they decided on those status effects, but right now, I really didn't want my sense of smell to be completely ruined. After all, I lost my strength because of just how amazing the aroma was, not by anything negative.

I felt a bit sad that I wouldn't be able to smell the flowers anymore... at least, until I could feel the doctor patting me on the shoulder with as much tender care as possible. I turned towards him, and I could only watch as he gave me a single kind look that made me feel a little better.

"Relax, those aren't your normal smelling salts," he said as he started to get back up to his feet, "I made these with the purpose to just wake you back up. Your sense of smell should still be fine, those minerals should only keep you awake and alert."

I took a sigh of relief, before deciding to let my nose work again. Just like the good doctor said, I was able to smell the scent of the garden and not get overwhelmed.

This was so much better than before. Now I could actually enjoy the exotic perfume being secreted out by the numerous flowers and herbs without having my body go weak.

Now that my mind was clear and there was nothing making my senses overloaded, I could finally take a decent look around and see what there was to offer.

All in all, this place wasn't that large. In fact, I'd be willing to say that the garden was rather small.

The building was big enough for me to walk from one end to another within a single minute, and that was me being generous with my pace. There were only eight growing boxes that created four separate aisles, and the plants that were growing wasn't a lot.

Each grouping of flora was rather big in grouping, which resulted in exactly fifteen different variations crammed together within those eight growing boxes. There was plenty of space and an assurance that there wouldn't be heavy cramping that would result in problems arising with the growing process of each plant.

The one species that was closest to us was the Rearon Lily, which was shaped like a rose and had petals dressed in a dark red hue. Those were used mainly for basic health potions, which required other materials and ingredients to make, which I could definitely tell for sure weren't in this greenhouse.

There was also the Mangolin Berries, which were yellow and purple striped berries that grew on thin, veiny stalks. They were the primary component of any antidote and antitoxin, and they were moderately difficult to forage and gather in...

Wait a second. I took a moment to stop myself. There was a hint here that could help me out in my quest of finding my current location. Analyze the plants, dig through the memories, and find the answer within a reasonable time.

All fifteen of these plant species had different sizes, shapes, colors, and characteristics, but there was one thing that was confirmed the continent that this village was in. Each and every single one of them grew in a sunny environment with plenty of water and grass, and were wild species that were native to only one area.

All of them could be easily found within the continent of Solast, which contained four countries in full. That meant that one worry of mine was gone; I knew exactly what continent I was in, and I was also in the same lands that the protagonist himself was born and where the game actually begins.

This was good, mainly because I haven't been able to explore the three other continents at this time. After all, I hadn't gotten far in the exploration stages of this game, so my knowledge on those areas were murky. I did know their names and other facts, but that information wasn't going to really help me right now.

.... Wait a second. Why didn't I just ask him about where he got these plants? Wow, I feel like an idiot for over-analyzing things now.

"Where did you get all these plants, anyways?" I asked the doctor as politely as possible, while maintaining my composure and strength. Granted, I should have done that at the beginning, but there's no harm in verifying my logic.

"I got them from around this country," he said, as he turned around and looked at me in the eyes, "You haven't had a lesson in your village's history yet, have you?"

"No, no I haven't, but I'm certain that Esther will rave on and on about it if I ever ask her," I replied as soon as he asked that question. One thing I did not want to do right now was go over a history lesson about the village or anything. I wanted to relax, not spend time studying.

If I wanted to study about all that inane stuff, I wouldn't have been an useless parasite back home.

"Well, I was hoping to show you more and provide an eye-opening experience, but the greenhouse isn't that large..." The doctor sighed, before running a hand through his long hair, "I wish I could expand this building to hold more plants, but I don't have the funds to get construction going. Glass is expensive, and I don't think I could balance out everythi-"

"If you need help building, then I can help!" I shouted instinctively, before blinking and stopping.

What? Why did I offer to help? This wasn't something I'm good at, what the hell was a somewhat tough two year old going to do in a construction site, laze around and stare?

"Feliza, I appreciate the offer, but there's not really much you can do..." he said, a bit perturbed by my enthusiasm.

Please, stop. I already know I made a mistake, you don't have to rub that in more.

"Well, I think that's enough for the small tour we have, and while I did plan for us to do some more work, there's really not much you can do to help me right now," he said with a sad smile, while looking at the plants with a somewhat distant gaze.

He didn't have to be sorry, I completely understand. After all, that was probably his dream and desire, so I could see why he wasn't happy with the state of things.

Nevertheless, that seemed to be the end of our little adventure, and to be honest, I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. I expected something else to happen, but really, all I got was a half-assed attempt of a nice place.

This whole situation could be summarized in a single phrase: started off decent, then went downhill fast.

I can only hope that Buan, Sally, and Esther won't be too boring tomorrow.

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