We Have Our Plan
As soon as I harvested the belladonnas, I immediately visited Count Meigis.
「That was faster than expected. It hasn’t even been a week. Did you give up on growing the belladonnas?」
His face said he didn’t think I succeeded in my task. So I took out a belladonna plant out and showed it to him.
「No, it just took faster than I initially planned.」I said, handing the plant over.
A fresh belladonna that was picked just this morning. Meigis’s reaction was weak, though.
「I don’t want to doubt you or anything, but… You either bought it or found some that grew naturally? Am I right?」
「Do belladonnas just grow near here somewhere?」
「Yes. There’s a place where they grow. There’s only a few, but we can make potions because we have them in my territory.」
I see. That explains his weak reaction.
「Incidentally, how many can you harvest?」
「At best, we can get five a year. Fifty plants are needed to make one potion so we dry the ones we find to preserve them.」
Five per year at best and fifty are needed for a potion. So if they rely on the ones that grow in his lands, they can only make one every ten years. That explains the insane price of the healing medicine.
I shoved both my hands into my magic storage and took out about a hundred belladonnas that I harvested.
「There’s no way this much just grows in the area, right?」
I grew about a thousand in the forest. Belladonna seeds are very small and they’re scattered in large amounts, so if raised properly, you can mass produce them.
「…What?」
「They’re all belladonna plants. Check them.」I said as I took out more and more from my magic storage and piled them on the table.
「Wh-Why’s there so many?! Where’d you get these?」
「I told you. I planted the seeds you gave me. Surely this many don’t just grow out there?」
「That’s indeed impossible. Did you really succeed?!」he asked, staring at the plants with a blank expression and sniffing them.
Count Meigis then bowed his head swiftly before me.
「I’m sorry for doubting you. With this many, we can make twenty potions. We’ll cause a revolution in the world of healing medicines!」
It looks like he finally believed me. In this world, the method I employed in growing the belladonnas is ground-breaking. After all, they could only produce one potion every ten years and now they can make twenty within five days.
「Yeah. It’s revolutionary, all right. But we’re not just going to stop there, are we?」
This only meant that we succeeded in growing belladonnas. With them, healing medicines can be produced, but that’s not our goal. We’ll introduce the mass produced healing medicines to the market to destroy Cardinal Georgis’s financial power, the foundation of his political strength. That’s our objective.
「You’ll have to take it from here.」I said.
「Okay. I just have to mass produce medicine and distribute them to the market, correct?」
「Yeah. If we tear down the monopoly on healing medicines, Cardinal Georgis’s power should weaken. Which means they’ll retaliate. Are you prepared?」
We’re trying to mass produce healing medicines to weaken Cardinal Georgis’s power. If this plan works out, the Cardinal’s influence will be reduced.
But he and the organization behind him, the Garden of Despair, won’t just stand by and do nothing. They will make a move: harassment, obstruction of operations, or even assassination. That puts Count Meigis’s life in danger.
「I’ve been prepared a long time ago. I was willing to throw my life away from the start to become an icon of the anti-Georgis faction. I’m just fortunate that I can live longer.」
It seems I asked a foolish question. He was prepared to die a long time ago. I don’t have the intention of letting him get killed though.
「I’ll bear the full brunt of whatever happens regarding the mass production of belladonnas. Please tell me how to grow them.」
「Okay. So first, you get Sun beans…」
And so I started explaining the method to grow belladonnas to Count Meigis.