第１８３８堀：ここはある意味天国 (Part2)
"Well, we're talking about production, so calling them farmers isn't exactly wrong. But when it comes to specialists, there are practically none. Kaya, Lady Faide, and John are all professionals at raising crops, but when you're dealing with plants that no one knows anything about, it's a different story."
"Ah, I see your point. You're right, that's not quite the same. Besides, I've never heard of anyone successfully cultivating medicinal herbs, for whatever reason."
"Exactly. That’s the tricky part about medicinal herbs. They barely exist outside of where they grow wild."
It’s true—medicinal herbs are notoriously difficult to raise.
Even though they sprout naturally on their own, the moment human hands try to intervene, they wither away.
On every continent, the cultivation of medicinal herbs has been a long-standing goal, yet there hasn't been a single success story.
After all, if you have medicinal herbs, you can craft recovery potions.
If you didn't have to go out and forage for them, production would become effortless.
That would ensure the safety of soldiers and allow recovery potions to be sold to the public at a reasonable price, so cultivating them is a genuine dream.
It feels like a better solution than trying to train more recovery mages, at least.
"Indeed. I had hoped we could increase production in Lanks, but things never go quite that smoothly, do they? It really comes down to the environment."
It seems Taiki, the leader of Lanks, is grappling with the same problem.
Environment is truly everything when it comes to helping plants thrive.
"Wait, you said 'barely exist'—does that mean there *is* a success story?"
"Oh, you’ve got a sharp eye. Well, I’m not sure if you could call it a 'success' per se, but it exists."
"What is it? You’re being awfully cryptic."
"It’s not so much being cryptic as it is that you already know the answer, Holy. There is a way to tailor an entire environment to suit them."
"Tailor an entire environment? Oh."
"Exactly. The only one who can do that is my husband, Yuki. Well, anyone with the Dungeon Master skill could manage it, I suppose."
Indeed, a Dungeon Master possesses the power to shape an environment.
They can create a space within a dungeon where medicinal herbs grow.
When I, Rurua, and the others first learned that, we were stunned, and it seemed Yuki felt the same way, but...
*'Isn't that enough of a lure to draw in adventurers?'*
Once he put it that way, it made perfect sense.
For a dungeon that people visit regularly, the ability to harvest medicinal herbs might be more valuable than a mediocre treasure chest.
Though, I suppose the type of monsters lurking inside is just as important.
"...That’s practically a violation of the rules, isn't it? In that case, couldn't you just prepare an environment for these plateau herbs and grow them inside a dungeon?"
"I would, if it were up to me. But for Yuki and Seraria, the question is whether it's truly worth the effort."
"That's true. Even if they are an endemic species, if their performance isn't much different from standard medicinal herbs, there's no real benefit to them only growing on the plateau. Regular herbs would suffice. So, the idea is to get samples and try cultivating them to test their utility, right?"
"Exactly. I need information to get permission from Yuki. There are other plateaus, too, and we need to investigate those as well. I doubt they are endemic only to the spot where we’ve set up our base."
If that were the case, their rarity would skyrocket, wouldn't it?
Perhaps they wouldn't be suitable as materials then.
"While the two of you gather information, I intend to take a closer look at the components of these plateau herbs. Since their abilities aren't much different from regular herbs, they aren't exactly prime candidates for mass production as they are."
As things stand, anyone would tell you that regular medicinal herbs are better.
I just hope there’s some unique benefit to these plateau herbs.
Actually, maybe I should pay closer attention to the other plants as well?
There is so much to do.
Nearly seventy percent of the plants discovered on the plateau so far are new species.
Just thinking about the time it would take to study them all is daunting.
With the animals and insects likely being new species as well, there truly isn't enough time in the world.
The plateau’s environment is as unexplored as the Amazon rainforest on Earth, teeming with nothing but new discoveries.
It’s certainly not a place that Agil could handle on her own.
That said, it’s impossible to just lounge around and conduct research in the midst of the intense battles currently unfolding in Weed, so we are in the process of gathering what research results we can.