I've Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level Max Level Witch - Volume 5 - Chapter 6

  WE MADE VEGGIES EVEN MORE DELICIOUS  

The first people Sandra got used to (after me) were Falfa and Shalsha.

On the second day, they ran around together in the fields. Apparently, they felt some affinity for each other as creatures with similar ages.

Sandra looked to be about five or six years old, like their younger sister.

“You’re so fast when you move underground, Miss Sandra~!”

“Yeah. I bet I’m the fastest of all plants!”

“You’re uprooting all our assumptions about plants. How fascinating.”

“Guess it just means I’m the greatest plant ever!”

Yeah, they were hitting it off. At this rate, she could probably meet the other members of the family halfway.

But—

That night, things got pretty noisy in the bath.

It was Falfa and Shalsha’s turn—maybe they ended up fighting while they were in there together.

As their mother, I had to give them a warning. It wasn’t good for their upbringing if I let it slide.

I started down the hallway to the bath. It was a little far away in this house. That made it exciting, like going to the big baths in a hotel.

As I was walking down the hall, Sandra came running to me in tears.

“Help! Help me, Azusa!”

“What’s wrong? Did a witch suddenly attack you?”

“Falfa and Shalsha won’t listen! They want me to go in the bath!”

Wha…? I didn’t really understand what she meant at first, but I slowly managed to swallow the situation.

“Miss Sandra lives underground, so we have to wash her off!”

“Cleansing one’s body cleanses the heart.”

My daughters ran out in their underwear. I guess Sandra escaped while they were getting undressed.

“I’m telling you, I don’t take baths! If I do, it’ll rot my roots! I don’t have to get in hot water! I’m not dirty!”

I could tell Sandra was serious from how desperately she was resisting.

“Sandra is a plant, you two. You can’t force her into the bath.”

“See, see! It might hurt me! Grrr!” Sandra hid behind me and growled at the two.

Unrelatedly, where had this girl learned to make that kind of noise…? Maybe there was a time when she lived behind a house with a dog?

“I see. This is a cultural difference. Shalsha came to the wrong conclusion. Apologies.”

“Sorry~”

The girls apologized, now aware of their mistake.

“Sheesh… When they suddenly pulled me out of the ground and dragged me to the bath, I thought I was gonna die… This is plant oppression!”

Ooooh… This little tragedy happened only because they didn’t know Sandra, but it wasn’t too surprising that they didn’t. Maybe it would be a good idea to hold a family meeting.

Thus, I called the whole family together.

It was nighttime, so Halkara was home from the factory. Everyone was present.

“Not everyone knows the guidelines of Sandra’s lifestyle yet, so tell me first if something bad happens. She might be dragged off to the bath again.”

“Still, there isn’t much that would cause problems. First, all I need for meals is water. Then I just need to stay in the sun. I’ll grow on my own.”

Getting by just on photosynthesis almost seemed like cheating.

“By the way, do you take meals like people? You have a mouth, after all,” Laika said.

“Oh, I tried eating what humans eat a real long time ago, but it took ages for it to digest, so I avoided it after that… I can talk, but I guess my insides are different from other people’s. It’s way more effective to just absorb water and earth.”

“So you don’t hafta eat anything. Cool, that’s like me.” Rosalie nodded. Still, there was a big qualitative difference there.

“Understood. Then I will remember not to prepare food for you.”

“That’s fine. I won’t be disappointed if I don’t have a portion to myself. I’m generally a freewheeling wanderer without any roots, after all.”

“But you do have roots. Your root is your whole body. Idiot.”

“It’s a figure of speech! You’re so pedantic, Flatorte! Grrr!”

I chose to believe they’d get closer eventually… They also made a great duo in a way.

“Also, I just sleep whenever, so you might not be able to tell when I’m asleep. Well, if you want to wake me up, just do it. I’m usually dormant at night, but my body will still move like this.”

“Got it,” Flatorte replied. “I’ll wake you up when I’m bored at night.”

“There’s nothing for me to do at night, so I’ll call you sometimes.”

Flatorte aside, Rosalie definitely wouldn’t have anything to do at night. I didn’t know what she was doing so late at night, though.

“Wait! Don’t wake me up for no reason, okay?!” Sandra hurriedly added. She probably hated the idea of being woken up every day. “I guess that’s it for me. Just think of me as a plant in your vegetable garden. That makes it easy for me. You don’t have to fuss over me too much; plants are used to being alone. I’m happy enough being in an environment without any enemies.”

So she said, but she had the overall tendency of putting on a front. For now, I’d take her statement with a grain of salt. Not many people actively asked to be coddled anyway.

“Is there anything else you want to point out to us? Don’t bottle things up, now; just tell us everything you can. We don’t really know how plants feel.”

If she used her platform here at the family meeting to say what she needed to, it wouldn’t devolve into fighting later. I had to be conscious of these potential issues now that the family was so big.

“Let’s see… If I had to say anything… You’re growing some vegetables in the garden here, right?”

“Right. There are carrots and cabbages and onions, lots of things.”

The vegetable garden had already been here when I came to live in this house. I had just expanded it afterward, as part of my job as a witch with some knowledge of plants.

“Those vegetables are bad.”

“Whu…?”

I made a weird noise.

I didn’t expect her to shoot down the vegetables I was growing… I was expecting her to tell me that she’d be taking all the nutrients and that I should get rid of the veggies so they wouldn’t be in her way. But it was totally different…

“How rude of you to say that to Lady Azusa. You’re a plant, so you don’t eat vegetables, do you? How can you know if they’re bad or good or what?”

Laika took it as a criticism of me and gave her a dark look.

“I don’t have to eat them to know. I’ve been a plant for a long time, so I know what kinds of vegetables humans think are the good ones. I know they’d taste bad compared to the ones from pros like farmers. You probably don’t have enough fertilizer.”

Why this…? I felt so defeated…

“Oh no, Madam Teacher is deflating! You have said too much, Miss Sandra!” Halkara came to my aid. “Sure, Madam Teacher’s vegetables are tasteless, and the carrots aren’t very sweet, and this is likely the reason why her daughters hate vegetables, but she is still putting her love into growing them!”

“Hey! You’re discounting everything I do besides love!”

I feel like the conclusion we’re coming to here is that I’m really bad at growing vegetables!

“Um, Madam Teacher… It’s not a bad thing. That’s how all kitchen gardens are, really. You’re not a farmer, so you don’t need to prepare such high-quality goods. It’s only normal that you can’t,” Halkara said apologetically. They’re really tearing apart my work…

“Falfa hates vegetables period, so I dunno.”

“I feel the same as Big Sis. I don’t think the things you make are deliberately bad. The concept of vegetables itself is bad.”

Even if kids hated vegetables by default, nobody in my family was defending my vegetables… Not even Flatorte the glutton had any words of encouragement.

Wait—thinking back, nobody ever actually said my vegetables from the garden were good when they ate them. Maybe I made a compromise somewhere…

I never thought the subpar quality of the vegetables I was growing in the garden would be revealed here…

But this wasn’t the end.

“If you want my help, I could turn them into the tastiest vegetables you’ve ever had,” Sandra said breezily.

“R-really…?” I stared hard at her.

“Of course I can. I’m a plant. I know they can be high-quality veggies, no matter what kind of soil or fertilizer you use,” Sandra said with confidence this time. And then she started talking even faster. “For example, it’s almost time to harvest the cabbages and carrots, but— Right, I could make them insanely delicious in just two weeks’ time. They’ll be superior vegetables.”

“In two weeks?!”

That was practically in the realm of magic.

“That must be an exaggeration… We’d have no troubles if we could make vegetables more delicious in two weeks.” Laika wasn’t fully convinced.

“Then I’ll show you how good veggies can get in just two weeks. It’ll take the food you eat here in the highlands up a level.” Sandra grinned. She was already convinced of her victory. “First, I want to travel so I can search for some soil and fertilizer. I don’t know any place names, so I can only point.”

I see. Sandra didn’t know stuff like that.

“Then Laika will take you on a search.”

“Yes, I, too, am curious to see how much will change in just two weeks. Please allow me to help.”

Laika was into it. She was particular about cooking, so vegetables fell in that category.

“The fundamental thing for plants is soil. The first and second most important things are earth. If we bring back good soil and help the vegetables absorb those nutrients, that’ll make them insanely good. Leave it to me.”

“Then yes, let’s take a look at the soil of various areas. I’d like to see what they can do.”

“Okay, well, that’s all. I’m sleeping in the vegetable garden tonight.”

Sandra didn’t wait for anyone else to say anything before leaving the house.

It was kinda surreal seeing a housemate leave the house like that…

The next morning, they went off to begin their search for soil, just as enthusiastic as they had been the night before.

And yet, they came back that evening in high spirits.

“Yeah, we found good soil. We just need to put it in the ground here!”

“It’ll be heavy lifting, so you should help out, Flatorte.”

So they were going straight to work replacing the soil.

“All right, leave it to me, the great Flatorte! I’m a pro at manual labor!”

With the strength of the dragons, the replacing was over very quickly. We were a family of women, but we were good at the tough physical jobs.

Once the soil was ready, it was time to wait.

Laika and I would wait patiently for two whole weeks.

On the other hand, Sandra dove down into the earth. She was apparently applying some sort of treatment to the vegetables, maybe cheering them on. That stuff was a total mystery, but I trusted her as a member of the family.

“Right, you don’t need to water the vegetables anymore. They’re getting stronger, so they’re absorbing all the water in the soil. Actually, they’ll get greedy if you give them any more. You have to be strict with this stuff.”

I obeyed everything Sandra said.

Maybe occasionally asking about plants to raise them was a good thing.

—And so, two weeks passed.

The day finally came to harvest the vegetables.

Laika and I brought in the cabbages and carrots to the house, and then we washed them off.

“These are the ‘most delicious vegetables,’ as Sandra called them.”

They looked just like regular cabbages and carrots.

“Try the cabbage first,” Sandra said haughtily, folding her arms.

“Very well, I’ll give it a taste.”

Laika picked up a whole head of lettuce and took a big dragon-like bite.

I could hear the satisfying, crisp sound as she chewed.

So how was it?!

Everyone was looking at her. Maybe this was the first time the carefree house in the highlands had ever gotten so excited over cabbage…

“I-it’s so good!” Laika’s eyes went wide. “It’s so sweet, you don’t need to put anything on it! It’s practically a fruit!”

“Wait, really…? It’s just a cabbage. Is it really that good?”

I thought she had to be exaggerating as I had a taste.

I’m sorry.

It’s really good.

“What is this?! This is the highest-quality cabbage! The king of cabbages! It’s so juicy!”

Sandra seemed delighted with our responses. Her arms were folded, and she was even leaning against the wall. “Right? Isn’t it good? It makes all the cabbages from before seem like failures, doesn’t it?”

I was ashamed at the harsh criticism of all the things I’d grown before, but I was no match for this…

“Try the carrots next. You’ll see how high the quality is if you take a bite of it raw.”

Raw carrot…? That was a tall order for me.

When I lived in Japan, there was this bougie store with a bunch of vegetable stick–type snacks, including carrots. To be honest, I didn’t really like them.

“I’ll try this first, too.” Laika bravely took a bite out of it. “What surprising sweetness! Are these truly carrots?! It’s almost like you put sugar in them!”

“Again? You’re exaggerating. They’re just carrots. Doesn’t it still taste like dirt to you?”

Even I thought she was acting as I bit into the raw carrot.

“Wait… I could eat a whole bucket of these raw… D-did they really used to taste like this…?”

It was a carrot, but it was delicious… Even Falfa and Shalsha would wolf them down if they tasted like this!

“And there you have it. I showed you what real veggies are like.”

You could combine a king and a cardinal together and Sandra would still have been acting three times more self-important. Well, she could be as smug as she wanted right now.

But then, if they were this good raw, that meant—

They’d be even more delicious cooked!

“Laika, let’s cook together!”

“Yes! I will do all I can!”

And so, Laika and I concentrated on our cooking.

We put plenty of vegetables in everything—in the side dishes, in the main dish.

Our targets this time were the two children who weren’t the biggest fans of vegetables.

“All right, then, dig in! This time we have fried carrots and carrot cream soup, as well as a veggie stir fry with carrots and cabbage!”

Neither Falfa nor Shalsha gave a very enthusiastic response.

“Wah… There’s no meat at all…”

“These are adult flavors… I believe Shalsha and Falfa might be too young for this…”

They didn’t even reach for a fork or spoon at all, like I thought. If I told them they didn’t have to eat it, then they’d take that option right away.

“Eat it like I’m pretending to trick you. It’s good—I promise!”

“Mom, I don’t want to live out my life with the memory of you tricking me.”

It was hard to urge them to eat it when she said that.

“I think it’s tasty, at least! Both Laika and I have put so much love into the food for both of you! Right, Laika?”

“Yes. I, too, wanted more meat, but today I concentrated on drawing out the delicious flavors of the vegetables!”

She wasn’t hiding her honest opinion about the meat, but I’d allow it.

“If Mommy tells me she put her love into it, then I guess Falfa has to eat it…”

Falfa first gave the carrot cream soup a try.

Her expression steadily grew brighter and brighter. “Oh, it’s really good! I can eat this!”

Yeah! I just crossed a huge hurdle!

Led on by Falfa, Shalsha also brought some of the food to her lips.

A smile grew across her face, like a flower blooming.

“Perhaps Shalsha has been misjudging the essence of vegetables this entire time…”

That’s right—vegetables are actually really good!

Both of them completely cleared their plates of the vegetable dishes. There was no happier thing for a mother!

My daughters liking vegetables now meant I had taken a step up as a parent!

I made eye contact with Laika.

“So, now that both of you have eaten all your vegetables, we have a present for you!”

Laika brought in a carrot pound cake packed with its namesake vegetables.

“You can use vegetables in sweets as well! Please eat up!”

And there was nothing to worry about anymore. The two of them gobbled down the sweet dessert and even asked for more. Of course, I obliged.

But there were people in this house who ate way more.

“Mistress, I would like another serving!” Flatorte asked for her fourth serving of cake with an energy that suggested she could eat forever.

“You’ve had enough already. I think it’s time for a little self-control…” Laika offered some candid advice. Flatorte wouldn’t understand unless she said it outright…

“What? But it’s still not enough for me! Vegetables really don’t fill me up, so I can eat this forever!”

That capacity for never-ending consumption scared me.

“Fine, then I will make it again tomorrow… I hope you’re fine with that…”

“Actually, I, Flatorte, will make it. Teach me how.”

Flatorte did have some skill as a cook. She even made cookies soon after she’d come here.

“Hmph. Very well. I will tell you everything, then.”

Well, it was even better if the two dragons could do the cooking side by side.

When I went to give my thanks to Sandra again, she was nowhere to be seen.

I stepped outside and found her lying down on the ground in the vegetable garden.

“What? I was just about to go to sleep for the day.”

“Thank you, Sandra. Everyone’s so happy because of your help.”

I smiled at Sandra to show her how happy I was, too.

“I—I know you’re taking care of me… So I just wanted to be useful…”

Sandra looked shyly away and slowly slithered underground.

There’s no questioning that you’re part of the highland family, Sandra.

“You’ll do just fine.”