Siderius arrived at the outskirts of Scalize. There was a vast wheat farm where it was and a lonely house stayed at the foot of the hill.
Siderius approached the house. Red’s hooves trotted the ground, leaving horseprints wherever it went.
"Hello! Anyone inside?" Siderius hopped off Red when he was closed and knocked on the door.
The lock was clicking behind the door and soon it was open. Inside was a tall woman with curly black hair.
"Can I help you?" The woman asked.
"Hello. I was told by a friend that you might have some rare herbs here. I want to buy them."
"A customer? Please come in."
The woman opened the door widely and let Siderius inside. Her house was filled with all kinds of pots and plants. Her west side wall even had a climber plant sticking to the woods.
"So what are you looking for?" The woman pulled a chair for Siderius.
"Just herbs that are rare in these parts."
"Hmmm. Suspicious. You don’t even know what you’re buying?"
"I do, actually. But it will be hard to explain it to you."
He needed a plant with four elements. A Quadrellan plant. A two element or three element plant was common. But a plant with all four elements of Alchemy, Fire, Water, Earth and Air, was hard to find. It was the main ingredient he needed to create the special spirit.
"Try me then." The woman said with a sassy tone.
Siderius smirked. "I want to find a plant that contains four elements of nature: Fire, Water, Earth and Air."
The alchemy element wasn’t a concept this world knew. Siderius was sure that this woman would know nothing about it. He registered himself for a surprise.
"Elements..." The woman blinked her eyes. She stood up and grabbed a book off the shelf. It was an old dusty book with leather acting as a cover. It had no title.
"This is my grandmother’s notebook. She always theorized that all plants had elements in them. Fire, Water, Earth. But she could never prove it. I didn’t think that there is someone out there that shares her opinion."
Siderius took the book off the woman’s hands. Inside was hand writing notes of her grandmother. It contained records, research and even some theory about the nature of plants and plant types.
Her grandmother was a brilliant herbalist and was touching the edge of Alchemy. Unfortunately, she didn’t have anyone to share her research with. If she was born in Sideirus’ world, she must have been a famous alchemist.
"Incredible. She was able to figure out a lot of things on her own." Siderius said.
"You’re saying what she theorized was true?"
"Aye. Most of it actually. Plants have elements inside them. There were only four of them. Fire, Water, Earth and Air. Your grandmother figured out the Fire, Water and Earth element. She was about to discover the Air element."
Siderius turned the notebook to the last page. Her grandmother was researching the spreading nature of certain plants, how it interacted with the human body in a way that represented the element of Air. But she didn’t have enough time to figure it out.
The woman’s face was lost in thoughts and nostalgia. She became a herbalist because of her grandmother’s enthusiasm. She showed her a world that was outside of magic. Something to be curious about and study.
"If she was still here, she would be very happy." The woman said.
Siderius nodded. "I’m sure she is, wherever she is now."
The woman sighed. "My name is Tanya. What’s yours?"
"You can call me Siderius."
"Grandma had a plant that she kept for her final research. It shows the nature of the first three elements. She was trying to find out what the fourth element inside of it was. Maybe it is what you want to find."
Tanya approached her window, where she placed some of her plant pots there. The herbalist picked up a pot and then placed it in front of Siderius. It was an ordinary plant that looked nothing special.
"Look here. This is a different plant." Tanya pointed to a bushy branch on the small plant. It had many more leaves and was very different from the rest of the plant.
The rest of the branch had normal green leaves but the leaves of this branch had a yellow shade to it. It also had small cherry-like fruit with a dark red color.
Siderius took a closer look and saw that the root of the branch penetrated unnaturally into the body of the tree. It did not look like it belonged to the plant at all.
"A parasitic plant?" Siderius said.
"You really are something else. No one else was able to see what is unique about it. This pot you see here actually consists of two plants.
One is the large straight body with its roots in the dirt.
The second is this branch here that attached itself onto the original plant’s body. Grandmother called it Red Candy as the fruit is very sweet and tasty."
"Red Candy, huh?" Siderius touched the fruit with his gloves. It was soft and squishy. "How much for this?"
"Well. I have only one of these left in the house. So it is rare. I sell this to you for one silver. What do you say?"
Siderius’ immediate acceptance caused Tanya to jerk back a bit. She silently cursed herself. I should have said something much more expensive. This guy seems to be rich.
One silver didn’t seem that much to Siderius but it was a lot for a commoner like Tanya. One silver could keep her alive for months.
"I’ll give you two silvers. Give me all the rare plants you have."
"Mother Trees above, my lucky day is here!"
Tanya quickly gathered all the plants she deemed rare and put it into a bag for Siderius. As for the Red Candy, Siderius took the whole pot with him.
The Red Candy had a very special way of living and according to Tanya, it was very hard to come by around Scalize. If it was actually a Quadrellan, Siderius intended to give this to Anna and let her grow more.
Afterward, Siderius hopped back on Red and returned to the Crossroads Inn. Tanya waved at him from the house. For original chapters go to novel✶fire.net
"Come back soon, rich man!"