"On the day of the festival ceremony, keep a close eye on the plants I bring and help the Archbishop promote them to the spectators," Ron instructed.
"...Okay, Boss." Nora was a little worried she might mess it up, but still nodded in agreement.
"The Archbishop will be doing most of the talking. You just stand by and chime in with a few details when needed."
"Mhm, got it."
"Oh, right." Ron picked up a small booklet from his desk and handed it to Nora with a gentle smile. "I read all your reflection essays."
"But they were too short. You haven't written reflections for the last few books I gave you. This time, write at least 1,000 words for each."
Nora took the booklet, nodded firmly, and smiled adorably. "Understood, Boss!"
A thousand words, huh… That should be easy, she thought to herself.
Ron, trying to hold back a chuckle, watched her head downstairs and felt a little sentimental.
A student as obedient and eager as Nora was probably every teacher's dream.
That afternoon, Ron followed his usual schedule and headed to the Chaos City Magic Academy.
He visited Harper's lab to check on the progress of the Scalevine research.
"Ron, I made a new discovery. Turns out we were wrong before," Harper said, his head bobbing with excitement.
"What do you mean?"
"With a steady supply of mana, a mage can bond with Scalevine in just three days, right?"
"Right. You already concluded that before."
"And we found that while Scalevine has decent defense, it's not exceptionally strong."
"Yeah, the Radiant Mercenary Corps gave that feedback too," Ron nodded.
"After that, I divided the mages participating in the tests into three groups," Harper continued. "Group one: no more blood-feeding, only supplied mana daily. Group two: no mana, only blood-feeding. Group three: continued both blood-feeding and mana supply."
Ron raised an eyebrow. "Let me guess—the results were drastically different?"
"Exactly." Harper nodded vigorously, a smug grin on his face. "Group one showed increasing mana consumption over time just to resist the same level of damage. Group two barely needed any mana, but their defense boost in combat was minimal."
"But Group three—the ones continuing both blood-feeding and mana supply—showed real potential. After fifteen days, the Scalevine's defense ability finally emerged in full."
Ron's eyes lit up. "How strong?"
"Comparable to top-tier defensive methods used by experienced mages," Harper confirmed. "But the cost is still high, especially when defending against higher-level attacks. Also, compared to mana, Battle Aura is much less effective for sustaining the Scalevine."
"So it's better suited for mages?" Ron asked.
"According to our current data, yes," Harper nodded. "But we still have more tests to run. Who knows, we might discover something new down the line."
"Thanks for all your hard work, Harper," Ron said gratefully.
"Oh, this is nothing." Harper waved it off and grinned. "Experiments are my passion."
"Besides, thanks to your Crimson-Gold Chrysanthemum, a lot of my explosive potion formulas are entering the testing phase."
"One of them is even ready for mass production soon."
"That alone earned me a ton of research funding. If anything, I should be thanking you."
Ron didn't stand on ceremony. After chatting a bit more, he left.
Then he dropped by Edith and learned that the meditation potion had entered a key stage. Seeing that there was no need to stick around, he left without disturbing her further.
He had already learned most of the useful Tier 2 spells from Edith. As for the impractical ones, he didn't feel the need to study them.
On his way back to Ron's Wonderful Flower Shop, Ron noticed a carriage parked outside, surrounded by guards.
His sister again?
As he approached the shop, one of the guards saluted him, and he nodded in return.
Then, he heard cheerful voices coming from inside.
"Yay yay yay~ I win! Nora's play was beautiful!" Mia's excited voice reached his ears.
"You threatened Nora with Ron's name! How was I supposed to win one-vs-two?" Eileen sat with arms crossed, clearly annoyed at Mia's underhanded tactics.
When Ron stepped inside, he found the three of them playing a card game.
They were playing a variation of Solitaire. The four sevens were laid in the center, and players took turns playing cards in sequence on either side. Anyone who couldn't play had to draw from the next player's hand. Whoever was left holding the "joker" at the end lost.
Ron hadn't taught this game to Mia and Eileen yesterday—clearly Nora had taught them today.
"Ah, Boss!" Nora noticed Ron and quickly got up to greet him, her face still stickered with turtle-shaped cards—one on each cheek, making her look adorably silly.
"Ron!"
"Your Highness Ron."
Mia and Eileen stood up and gave polite greetings.
Ron waved for them to sit.
"What brings you here again? Don't you have a dinner with Countess Walton tonight?" he asked curiously.
"I went this morning~ Had lunch there, then came straight here," Mia replied, tilting her head. "Is Ron not happy to see me?"
"Not really." Ron grinned, reaching out to gently pinch Nora's cheek. "Look at what you've done to my employee."
"Eh? Nora and I are comrades!" Mia playfully raised her fist like she was mad, then burst out laughing and pointed at Eileen, her partner in crime. "Eileen's the real victim here~"
Ron glanced at Eileen's face—she had five turtle stickers stuck on it.
Covering his mouth with his fist, he couldn't help but chuckle. "Lady Eileen, my condolences… on multiple levels."
Eileen gave a helpless sigh and side-eyed the giggling Mia. "I'm used to it."
Then she stood up. "Excuse me, Your Highness Ron. I'd like to use the bathroom to wash my face."
"Of course, go ahead."
"Wait for me, Eileen! I'm coming too!"
"You haven't even lost! What are you washing for?"
"I'll help you wash~"
As the two girls disappeared up the stairs, Ron turned his gaze to Nora. "They didn't give you any trouble?"
Nora shook her head quickly, the turtle stickers wobbling with the motion. "Princess Mia and Lady Eileen are really nice!"
"But I heard Eileen say Mia used me to threaten you?"
"U-uh…" Nora blushed instantly, red all the way to her ears. "I-it's nothing really…"
—If you don't help me, I'll tell Ron to drag you into his bed~
That's what Mia had said.
When she heard that, Nora had almost defected to Eileen's side.
Good thing her rational side won out over the tiny devil on her shoulder.
But now that the boss was asking, there was no way she could say that out loud!
Ron hadn't been too serious about the question anyway, so he just gave Nora's warm cheeks another playful squeeze and patted her on the shoulder.
"Go wash up too."