Inheriting a Lost Bloodline, My First Task is to have heirs?!-Chapter 668 - A Generous Dowry (Part 4)
After leaving the dining hall, our next stop was the pharmacy and herb storage area. Surprisingly, we had to get out of the main temple and go towards a separate building that looked like a cob house on the outside. It also had an extended area that looked like a smaller room for storage. The entirety of the house honestly screams "hermit house".
It was located smack in the middle of a clearing in a part of a small forest behind the temple. It has a stone pebble path towards it but if you did not know that there was a hut there, you wouldn’t even bother to check on that area.
In front of the hut was a few plots of tilled land which were used as a garden for common herbs. I should know that they were herbs since I could recognize them all at first glance. There are too few planted though. Even if all were to be harvested, it would not be enough for use in the event that there is a contagious disease or when many people get sick at the same time.
The pope and I continued through the stone path. The pope eventually knocked on the door of the hut, calling on to someone named "Nolan". There was an almost immediate sound of footsteps from inside the house that can be heard, getting louder as it approached the area behind the door.
The door opened up and a man, not older than 30 came out. He looked gorgeous if only he didn’t have unruly hair, sloppy clothes and dark bags under his eyes. He greeted the pope nonchalantly but when he realized that the pope wasn’t alone, his eyes widened. He slammed the door shut right on the pope’s face then a ton of hurried sounds can be heard like things falling on the floor, metal clinking, some door slamming from the inside as well as other people’s hushed voices.
We had to wait a couple of minutes outside before the door finally opened up again. This time, the man that came out looked a bit more kept together. He atleast combed his hair, washed his face and changed to a more presentable set of clothes. He also had two men standing right behind him as if they are part of his entourage of attendants.
The man leading the trio welcomed us warmly inside and just as we walked in, a strong scent of herbs and burning coals can be smelt from the air. These people are obviously practicing alchemy and they must also be researching things as they go with all the parchments and open books lying around. What is most surprising was there was another man inside the hut who looked very familiar to me.
Since he did not see what I looked like before I healed his blindness, I pretended not to know him and greeted him the same way I didthe others. I focused more on observing the "alchemy" and "pharmacy" hut that they have built here.
I noticed that they have some books but it was more on alchemy topics rather than in botany which is technically the basic thing one has to study before everything else. They also have some tools for making medicine but generally, most of the stuff were dusty, rusty and rundown.
As expected, herbs are just a set of jars and a huge wooden cabinet. The biggest problem of them all was that because the whole place have bright lighting all around, the inside of the hut was warm to borderline hot which I am quite sure is bad for dried herbs.
It seems that this cob house is set up differently. The bigger part of the hut was like their research, alchemy and pharmacy area while the smaller hut was used for their living quarters. For three people, it is indeed kind of cramped if you ask me. The other ex-blind guy at least had his own hut or I would not even know how everyone would fit in here.
I looked at the pope and he immediately knew what I would need for him to do next. He called for the four people inside the hut and asked them to go outside with him for a short talk. He simply said that the saintess wanted to inspect the facilities of the pharmacy while he had to discuss some important changes with them.
The four people reluctantly followed the pope but the ex-blind guy looked like he was thinking about something deeply then after a few seconds, he stared at me unblinkingly. You know that stare that hold a lot of weight as if he discovered ounbelievable. It was kind of creepy.
As for whoever this guy may be, he must have some kind of an inkling as to who I was because of my voice, no matter how softly I spoke to the pope earlier. He still followed the pope outside though because it was an order from his leader.
Once I am alone, I placed spells to keep the place all the surfaces and the air clean. I also replaced the cabinet with a more moden once enchanted with the same things that Uncle Daejung’s shop uses to keep the inventory organized and the herbs well-preserved. I also placed runes to keep the place at a certain cool so that working inside it will be more comfortable and herbs left outside the cabinet will not decay fast. I repaired some of the tools and added new ones from my inventory too.
Lastly, I added the herbs that I have gathered from the forest from my inventory as well as some botany books I personally wrote about the common herbs I have found in my trips to different forests around this world. It has some illustrations of the herbs and clearer descriptions as well as to how they are to be used and what herbs can be mixed together to safely make medicine.
Once I am done with the hut, I walked out calmly telling the pope about the changes I made ignoring the four other people that were listening with all their attention. I did a quick summary of what I did inside and told them that that in case they doubt my expertise, I have certificates that I can show them about being a botanist, an alchemist and a physician. With that, I turned around and left the area.
Now that I have some time all to myself, I thought that it was finally the time for me to widen the area of my "snooping around" since I am now legally allowed to see everything in this territory. I have to figure out the best place where the outer territory wall should be erected. I also have to see what these back mountains have to offer in terms of possible mining or other types of resources that we can take advantage of.
As for the area within the walls, I have to consider how big the village we would be building as well as the how wide the area of the farms will have to be. I also have to create a safe path made of stone so people can get up and down the mountain safely which I planned initially.
I could only sigh since I am feeling like I am making another "Sohmiren" or "Marahuyo" all over again. Just when I thought that this was turning into a dating type story, it came right back to a kingdom-building plot yet again.
Well, I do not plan on stopping real soon since I only have so many days to stay here. Since I already decided to give an enormous dowry and help my great grand aunt’s cult thrive, might as well go all out. I still have a wall, a path, a village, a wide farming area and barriers to prepare as gifts!
