The weather was clear. The warm spring breeze swept through the dark green forest, where grass grew lush and birds flitted about. The trees flourished, and everywhere was filled with the vitality of new life.
The Crimson element includes fertility and vitality... Spring is a season well suited to the Path of Crimson...
Two fine horses rode one behind the other along the level ridges between the fields. Aaron, riding the horse behind, found himself thinking this.
He looked ahead at a girl dressed in hunting clothes, riding a little chestnut mare that seemed just the right size for her.
"Ginny, slow down. Squeeze your legs against the horse's sides, and don't fall off."
The girl was Ginny. She had come to visit Aaron's lands and do a little hunting—or so the story went, at least.
But in truth?
Aaron suspected she had her eye on all the delicious foods he had "invented."
After all, she was a little glutton.
Aaron couldn't help worrying about Ginny's future growth and weight... though the concern soon faded.
As the beloved daughter of the earl who ruled Green Forest, Ginny would be quite the catch on the marriage market.
There would be no shortage of knights and fine young men eager to please her, whether she was beautiful or plain, virtuous or not...
The thought suddenly made everything seem rather dull.
"After a few servants and maids were hanged by the earl in the castle, the rumors died down..." Ginny said, seemingly without thinking.
Then she gazed into the distance and spotted the level field ridges.
Vast stretches of flat land had been cleared, and a few farmers were working the soil with strange plows. When they saw their lord approaching, they took off their hats and greeted him from afar.
"Huh? It looks like you use different farming methods here, Aaron."
Ginny's eyes lit up.
"Yes. I invented a new kind of farm tool called the Curved-Shaft Plow. It turns the soil effectively and plows deeper. You can also adjust the depth to suit deep or shallow plowing. It's easier to turn, takes less effort, and even people can pull it just as well as oxen."
Aaron smiled. "Besides that, I've prepared something called fertilizer. It should increase this year's crop yields considerably. If all goes well, my lands will have a bumper harvest by summer and fall. All my subjects will have enough to eat and plenty of grain to last through winter."
Ginny gazed at Aaron with admiration. Her older brother was always coming up with clever ideas, and he was kind, too.
"I want to use these things on my own lands someday!"
After saying that, Ginny fell silent.
As the earl's daughter, she was unlikely to receive more land as a dowry. But she could count on her future husband's lands; as the lady of the house, she would have the authority to make changes.
"What's this? Is my little sister already eager to find a suitor?"
Aaron teased her, then told a few jokes that brought a smile back to Ginny's face.
The two rode across the level fields and entered the dense forest.
Ginny didn't actually know how to hunt yet. Once she dismounted, her attention was captured by the wildflowers and butterflies.
Aaron, meanwhile, crouched on the ground, carefully examining the plants in this world and identifying them one by one using his knowledge of herbalism.
The ingredients for potions in the dream world are completely different from those here. I can only look for substitutes... and I might not even find any.
He sighed inwardly.
The most fundamental difference between the dream world and the real world was the existence of spirituality!
So even if he followed the dream world's methods to the letter, the effects of any potion he made would still be questionable.
Fortunately, Aaron had plenty of white rabbits and mice—and even prisoners—to use for testing.
Even if I can't make spiritual potions, I can still concoct proper medicines for wounds and tonics to strengthen the body...
Of course, the limits of this world mean that medicines have their limits, too. The peak of an ordinary human body is a barrier that's impossible to overcome. Still, if they're effective enough, that's good. I can teach Albert... and get him to become a proper doctor instead of someone who only knows bloodletting and inducing vomiting...
As he thought, Aaron dug up an herb.
It was crimson all over, with serrated edges. Even its juice had a mild numbing effect.
According to Albert, it was called Blood Grass and could be made into a hemostatic herb, though it wasn't very effective.
Aaron had other plans for it. He hoped to use it as a substitute for a dream-world ingredient called "Bloodthirsty Grass" and make a potion that could strengthen the body.
It would certainly be inferior to a spiritual potion, which could grant someone a superhuman physique.
But even a slight increase in strength and vitality would be a good result.
Maybe... it could even be passed down through the ages and become what people call a "knight's secret potion"...
"Wow!"
Just then, Aaron heard Ginny exclaim with delight. "I saw a rabbit, big brother Aaron! Let's have rabbit for dinner!"
At dusk, outside Blackstone Manor, Aaron carried Ginny, who had played all day and fallen asleep, into the carriage. He greeted the guardian knight beside it. "Thank you for your efforts, Sir Alfred!"
As a young lady, Ginny naturally wouldn't travel alone. She always had a guard with her.
But it struck Aaron as odd that neither her mother nor her brother had accompanied her, and instead they had sent the old knight.
"It's my duty."
Alfred struck his fist against his chest. He was not only a manor lord but also served the Sothoth Family.
Of course, that meant Theodore had to pay him an additional annual stipend.
For lesser nobles, serving a greater noble in exchange for payment was nothing to be ashamed of. On the contrary, it was an honor.
"Then I'll have to trouble you to take my sister back."
Aaron waved as he watched the party bearing the Dark Green Banyan Horn Flag depart and disappear beneath the setting sun.
How could a little girl like Ginny make this decision on her own? It seems Lady Sonia is hinting at something... She wants to ally with me to oppose Colin?
He turned and entered Blackstone Manor, an amused look on his face. "I'm a landed knight. Whoever takes power, it'll be difficult to strip me of my lands. So why should I get involved in this mess? Besides, what would I gain if Sean came to power?"
As for promises to divide Green Forest equally after victory, only a fool would believe that. Sonia hadn't insulted Aaron's intelligence with such a sham of an offer.
"So Ginny's visit is an appeal to my feelings, a way to influence me little by little?"
Aaron entered the alchemy room. On the broad table stood a set of equipment he had painstakingly assembled, including a scale, several rows of test tubes, and measuring cups. Glass was extremely expensive in this era and had to be imported by merchants from outside Green Forest. For a while, that had made Aaron consider setting up his own glassworks.
He expertly picked up the processed Blood Grass, placed it in a mortar, and ground it carefully before beginning the extraction...
An unknown amount of time later, half a test tube held a suspicious black potion that gave off a foul stench.
"I'll start with the first round of tests, using small animals..."
Aaron nodded as he looked at the finished product.
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