Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 129584 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 648(@200wpm)___ 518(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129584 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 648(@200wpm)___ 518(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
Why was Tori in here, covered in dirt, when there were spells that could be used to harvest? Why was he doing it all by hand?
Sora didn’t want to leap to conclusions, so he asked, “Is it just you managing all of this?”
“Hell no, too much work for one person.” Tori snorted as if the very idea amused him. “We’ve got a crew that comes in on a daily basis. I’m just the mage in charge of the greenhouse.”
The mage in charge. Thereby intimating…he was the only mage that regularly came in here? When he said a crew came in, did he mean that dragons helped him maintain all of this?
The idea boggled his mind. Sora had never heard of such a thing. The mages he knew were always in charge of their own greenhouses, their own plants. They raised, harvested, and controlled their greenhouses on their own. It was essential to do so in order to maintain the highest quality plants. The idea of only one mage trying to manage this entire greenhouse was…Sora couldn’t even begin to wrap his head around this.
When Ravi had first mentioned how few mages were in this clan, Sora had been stunned. It had seemed too few to handle everything. But it was only now that the full implications were hitting home. How were they managing?
They weren’t.
It was as simple as that. They weren’t able to use the spells normally in place, not in areas like this. They made up for it with manual labor in order to not magically exhaust the mages.
Was the whole clan operating on this level? Sora hoped not. He hoped that they’d prioritized what to use magic for and that this wasn’t a high priority. But it didn’t make sense for the greenhouse to be low priority, either. Both men had said they had a product line for income, so wouldn’t the greenhouse be the highest priority?
Sora put the question aside, making a mental note to ask later. For now, he focused on his guides. “Do you grow Japanese honeysuckle here, too?”
Tori blinked at him as if the question had come out of left field. “No…I can’t say that I’m familiar with it. What’s it good for?”
“A great variety of things. It helps cure colds, reduces fevers and inflammation, protects boils and sores from bacterial infections. It’s a very handy and versatile plant.”
The expression on Tori’s face was one of childlike excitement, as if Sora had just read him in on some sort of trade secret. “That sounds like an excellent addition. You said Japanese honeysuckle…is it a native plant to Japan, then?”
“It is, yes.”
Tori’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “And what else are you not seeing in my greenhouse that would be super useful?”
“I haven’t toured the whole thing yet,” Sora pointed out. This reaction amused him. Was Tori the sort to be competitive? Or was he eager to cram every possible plant into this space? It could be both, who knew?
“Why don’t we do a full tour,” Tori suggested, his smile a challenge. “And you can tell me what you think is missing. What’s your family’s background, anyway?”
“Healing.”
“Ah, which is why you looked for a healing herb first. Alright, walk and point.”
Ravi protested, “I want to show him the whole place, not get bogged down here.”
Tori waved him off. “You can have him after I’m done with him. It’s not often I can show this place off to someone who can appreciate what I’m doing. And he’s got ideas, I can tell. I can see it written all over his face.”
“Oh dear,” Sora deadpanned, looking innocently off in another direction. “And here I thought my poker face better developed.”
“Ha! Like hell you did. Alright, come along. Let me give you a thorough tour.”
Sora went, and not only to be polite. There was a great deal that he could observe here. Sora’s main task was to observe, after all. And learn. Not just follow Ravi around and try to figure out how to touch him again.
His hand was still tingling from the last time Ravi had gripped it. Dammit. Sora truly had not expected this at all. He was used to finding people visually appealing and not experiencing any desire to act upon it. Sora was fine with that; it was familiar, nonthreatening. But this was different, this was true attraction, and those were uncharted waters for him. And trying to figure it out when he was supposed to be paying attention to his surroundings was an interesting exercise in mental gymnastics.
Tori was an enthusiastic tour guide, and with Ravi’s running commentary, it proved to be an entertaining enough experience. It was definitely educational. There was a small greenhouse attached to this one, about half the size. It was just as lovingly tended, and there was no doubt the entire clan helped keep it that way.