Club Trial Entry (5)

“…W-well. As I mentioned earlier… given the confusion. Again, although it might seem redundant, let me reintroduce myself.”

Standing before the three of us gathered in the gardening club room, Miriam opened her mouth in a very tense voice.

“I’m Miriam Asabel, the only member and also the president… of the gardening club. I’m completing my second year in the elemental department. I… look forward to working with you.”

“So you’re from the elemental department!”

Delphina responded, clapping her hands together.

“What do you learn in the elemental department? Can Senior Miriam summon spirits too? What attribute? Fire? Water? Earth? Or perhaps plants or nature-related…”

“Um, well about that… I don’t have a spirit yet.”

At Miriam’s shrinking voice, Delphina, who had been pouring out words, abruptly closed her mouth.

“…I-I’m sorry.”

“N-no! You don’t need to pity me!”

Toward Delphina, who had bowed her head dejectedly, Miriam hastily added.

“Although it’s called the elemental department, not all students can command spirits. The realm of spirit summoning is more about talent than effort.”

“…”

Oscar silently nodded.

“And, while I am in the elemental department… I also hold a Level 2 Druid certification. I applied to the elemental department because I wanted to study the forest spirits.”

“I see.”

“In reality, students in the elemental department who can actually command spirits don’t even reach 10%. Even if we broaden the scope to include those who can simply converse with spirits, it barely exceeds 40%…”

At Miriam’s words, Delphina asked again.

“Then, did you join the gardening club as part of your druid activities?”

“Not exactly… I just like plants.”

Miriam answered in a small voice, as if embarrassed.

“Becoming a druid, entering the elemental department… I did it all because I like plants.”

Miriam carefully lifted a small flowerpot placed on the desk with both hands, holding it as if embracing it in her arms.

With a shadowed smile, Miriam muttered.

“Plants are good. They grow healthily in proportion to the amount of love you pour into them, and above all, they don’t say anything to me.”

“S-Senior Miriam?”

“Can you make a living being a druid, why not go to the magical engineering department since you’re applying to Polaris anyway, wouldn’t it be better to keep growing plants as a good hobby, if you make a lot of money you can grow more plants…”

As if she couldn’t hear Delphina’s anxious questioning voice, Miriam let out a gloomy laugh and began to slip into her own world.

“Senior Miriam!”

“Eeeek!!”

Like a live fish just pulled from a net, Miriam jumped in surprise and trembled her shoulders.

“Are you alright?”

“…I-I’m sorry. Bad memories came to me unconsciously.”

Miriam muttered with her head bowed dejectedly.

“A-anyway! Let’s stop talking about this now…”

Delphina hastily tried to change the subject as if to recover the atmosphere.

“Could we hear about the activities of the gardening club?”

“Ah, yes. That’s right. Since this is your first time.”

Miriam nodded, and holding up the flowerpot she had been tightly gripping, she opened her mouth.

“First, since you’re all beginners, I’ll explain simply. Starting with the points to keep in mind when growing plants…”

Miriam’s explanation continued for quite a while.

The cycle of watering different plants and how to determine when to water them, plants that need to be grown in well-lit places and those that don’t, the importance of ventilation, nutrients that help plant growth and how to use them, how to transfer plants from one pot to another, points to be careful about when growing fruit-bearing plants, how to perform artificial pollination, and so on.

Honestly, there were many things that didn’t seem particularly helpful for beginners… but Miriam looked so happy enthusiastically talking about what she knew that I couldn’t bring myself to interrupt.

Oscar began to doze off with his head bowed, and Delphina smiled awkwardly, quickly opening her mouth the moment Miriam briefly paused.

“…Gardening isn’t a simple matter, is it.”

At Delphina’s voice, Miriam, who had been almost in a trance, looked at her.

“It’s not just about planting seeds in soil and watering them.”

“Of course, there are plants that grow stubbornly even with just that, but not all plants are as tough as wild weeds.”

Miriam continued to explain excitedly.

“There are weak ones that will die quickly if you don’t adequately adjust factors like the temperature and humidity of the growing space, the amount of water, the amount of sunlight, and an environment where the wind passes well.”

“Can such plants grow in the wild?”

Delphina asked again.

“Of course. Most of those plants have evolved to grow only in specific climates in nature. Our job is to recreate that wild environment as much as possible.”

Miriam said, taking out three small flowerpots from a corner of the club room.

“Although it’s a trial entry, I want to give you a gift to commemorate your joining.”

“A gift?”

“These are seeds of a wildflower called the stream flower.”

Miriam, who had returned with three flowerpots, showed three seeds and said,

“It’s a wildflower that grows along flowing streams, but it has strong vitality and sturdy roots, so it’s easy to grow even if you don’t have talent for growing plants.”

“For beginners, then?”

“It’s a plant that grows well even if you just give it water consistently, without having to pay special attention.”

After planting each of the three seeds in small flowerpots, Miriam held out the three pots to us.

“For the trial entry activity, try growing these stream flowers!”

Miriam said, handing over the flowerpots one by one.

“If you just remember the things I just told you, it shouldn’t be difficult to successfully grow these stream flowers.”

“I-is that okay?”

“Of course! If you have any problems, feel free to come and ask anytime!”

A week had already passed since we received the flowers from Miriam.

As per Miriam’s explanation that they had strong vitality, Delphina’s stream flower had grown quite large in just a week.

However, the stream flower I received seemed to lack vigor from the start… compared to Delphina’s, it was oddly smaller and looked more frail.

According to Miriam, the number and size of the flower petals of the stream flower are determined by how well it grows.

“…Surely it wouldn’t not bloom at all.”

“Don’t be too hasty. Anyway, for flowers to bloom, the season needs to change once.”

Looking at the frail stream flower that didn’t look robust at all, I let out a deep sigh.

“Maybe I have no talent for growing plants.”

As Miriam said, I am giving it water about twice a week.

“Should I give it more water…”

“If you do that, the roots will rot.”

Delphina pretended to know.

“Rather, giving too much water indiscriminately is poison. It’s like how people get full and bloated if they drink too much water.”

“I know you’re pretending. I know you heard all that from Miriam.”

When I retorted weakly, Delphina shrugged with an embarrassed expression.

“…What are you thinking of doing, Princess?”

“What do you mean?”

“About the gardening club. Are you thinking of officially joining?”

Poking my cheek as I lay with my chin on the table, Delphina asked.

“…Well.”

I trailed off, nodding my head left and right.

“I guess I… have no choice but to join.”

If after all this I say ‘I’ll look for another circle,’ it’s obvious that Miriam would be deeply hurt.

She was clearly expecting it, and she seemed to already think of us as official members.

“How do you feel, Princess?”

Delphina asked me.

“What do you want to do, Princess?”

“What do I want to do…”

“What circle you enter, what you do, and what people you associate with are ultimately decisions you make for yourself.”

To me, tilting my head, Delphina said,

“Making a hasty decision just because you feel sorry for Senior Miriam isn’t really a desirable thing, I think.”

At Delphina’s words, I silently turned my head and looked at the stream flower placed on the table.

“My own heart.”

Muttering words I myself didn’t understand, I stared intently at the stream flower with its frail leaves.

“…Even if you say that, I still don’t know.”

“Well, there’s still plenty of time.”

Delphina, who had somehow come around to my back, wrapped her hands around my head.

“You can think slowly and decide.”

“…Yeah.”

I muttered briefly, and clenched and unclenched my stiff left hand that didn’t feel warm.

It was stiff, perhaps because it had been a while since I’d done maintenance like oiling it.

I wondered if I could properly grow plants with such hands that couldn’t even handle a musical instrument.