007 The Bizarre Fruit

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“It seems the mentor’s spiritual power is incredibly strong; even from an hour away, they can still glimpse inside the cabin.”

In the past, Roland would have been completely unaware of the mentor’s surveillance, but now, having attained the power of an advanced swordsman, his perception was vastly sharper than before.

“Troll sir appears very friendly... but when he goes mad, he’s nothing like this...”

“I must ascend tonight, then leave.”

Roland didn’t immediately pour the magical potion. Escaping tonight would require a great deal of stamina, so he diligently ate his dinner first.

The lamb was large, but Roland’s appetite had grown substantially. He ate a good amount of lamb meat and then carved off half of the roasted whole lamb, preparing it as provisions for his escape later.

After all this, Roland returned inside to examine the herb carefully. “The mentor didn’t switch this herb, did she? Seems she doesn’t believe that a mermaid could grow from within a plant, haha. Indeed, how could a mermaid possibly grow inside grass? But it can be ripened by pouring wine on it.”

He took the herb outside and discarded it. After a while, he brought a new mermaid herb back inside.

With everything prepared, Roland picked up the wine-filled goblet, ready to pour it at any moment.

Then, closing his eyes, he pondered for a moment. Without uttering a single incantation, he opened his eyes and gazed at the holy chalice in his hand.

[You have cast ‘Forbidden: Basic Transmutation’]

[You have expended all of your current mana.]

Just as Catherine had said, Roland’s comprehension of spells was astonishing. Without chanting a single word, merely with a glance, he completed the magic’s release.

However, the goblet’s appearance did not change at all. Yet Roland did not hesitate for a moment; he directly poured the wine from the goblet onto the herb.

As the last drops of wine fell upon the plant, exactly one second passed.

After finishing, Roland slumped into his chair, his face pale.

He thought inwardly, ‘I must have failed. Otherwise, the goblet wouldn’t have remained unchanged.’

He hadn’t hesitated earlier because he had to firmly believe he would succeed, resolutely following the plan to pour the wine without a single stray thought. But now that it was done, his mind naturally began to waver.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, striving to calm his emotions.

“Don’t overthink it. Man proposes, Heaven disposes.”

“I’ve done my best. Whatever the outcome, I must accept it with equanimity.” Roland tried to comfort himself, despite lingering unease.

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“If I can’t ascend tonight, then so be it. Death is nothing to fear.”

This thought relaxed Roland slightly.

As his spirit ceased its taut tension, Roland suddenly felt the backlash of mana overexertion. Stars danced before his eyes; dizzy and woozy, he collapsed onto the table, only recovering after some time.

Roland thought, ‘The side effects of mana overexertion are truly severe.’

In truth, a normal apprentice might sleep for two or three days after such exhaustion. But Roland’s body was unusually strong, and his willpower formidable, so he recovered after a short faint.

At this moment, the Manhatos herb before him still showed no sign of flowering or fruiting. Roland thought, ‘It should blossom soon... Have I really failed?’

He rubbed his weary face and decided to wait a little longer. To distract himself from anxious thoughts, Roland opened a book on potion-making and studied the mermaid fruit.

The book’s entry on mermaid fruit read as follows:

“—Mermaid Fruit, a type of nut. Many believe that the exterior of these nuts closely resembles a mermaid... but that is utter nonsense. The typical appearance of mermaid fruit is as follows: (an illustration somewhat resembling a melon seed).”

From the illustration, the mermaid fruit indeed looked more like a nut than a mermaid.

Further notes explained:

“Compared to a mermaid, the fruit’s appearance clearly resembles a melon seed.”

“Of course, unscrupulous merchants who carve the fruit into mermaid shapes and fabricate tales such as ‘the true mermaid fruit sings’ can triple the price.”

Roland had studied mermaid fruit many times before.

He knew perfectly well that the fruit resembled melon seeds, not mermaids.

He also knew that mermaid fruit did not actually sing like mermaids.

So, if...

Just then, Roland heard a beautiful song emanating from the potted herb.

He suddenly lifted his head, seeing the Manhatos herb growing rapidly before his eyes, blooming strange flowers.

The blossoms opened and withered in an instant, but immediately thereafter, little singing mermaids appeared—each about the size of a thumb.

Roland’s eyes widened in disbelief. “How could mermaids possibly grow from a herb?!”

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A beautiful mermaid maiden, no bigger than a thumb, slowly opened her eyes. She looked at Roland and said, “Fool. Foolish Roland. Roland, you are a great fool.”

Seeing lively mermaids sprouting from the grass left Roland feeling utterly unwell.

...

Outside the window, a furtive figure was secretly watching the scene inside.

The figure was slender and graceful, lacking giant teeth, beautiful as an ancient elf.

Yet her delicate face was marred by numerous cysts—she appeared ill.

Moreover, her height was extraordinary—over three meters tall!

In her mouth, she held a large, succulent lamb leg—no smaller than a human leg—clenched delicately between her cherry lips.

As she stared wide-eyed at the grass from which seven or eight mermaids had grown, the giant lady’s mouth fell open, and the lamb leg slipped to the ground.

She could make no sense of how mermaids could grow from grass.

After pondering deeply for a moment, she made a decision—whatever, she’d just keep eating!

Clearly, Roland was not hallucinating, for Miss Anna had also seen the mermaids growing from the herb.

Anna was very simple-minded; she paid no attention to the strange growths in the herb. Instead, she left the window, climbed over to the distant campfire, and resumed eating her roasted whole lamb.

Crunch, crunch—the lamb bones were crushed like biscuits by this beautiful lady.

Roland’s culinary skills were far better than Catherine’s. Anna loved his cooking. But since Roland had cut off half the lamb for himself, very little meat was left for Anna.

After finishing her meal, Anna would likely climb up the huge silver fir near the cabin to sleep, but she would surely wake hungry in the middle of the night.

In her hunger-driven state, Anna was utterly irrational.