From Londoner To Lord

"In warmer weather, certainly," Syryne explained. "And if it's the middle of summer, those leaves won't be of any use after only a few hours of plucking them. But it's winter right now and it's snowing heavily near those hills, and that cold weather will preserve those leaves for much longer. We can easily use them for four or five days if we keep them packed with snow, and maybe even for a whole week."

"That makes sense..." Kivamus realized that refrigeration would certainly slow down the degradation of those leaves, just like it did for stored meat or vegetables. The reason losuvil leaves couldn't be stored for long in the summer was simply because there was no artificial refrigeration available in this world without any access to electricity. That meant transporting these vines would make them lose their effects, unless they were located within a couple of hours journey from a town, at most. But in the freezing weather they had these days, it meant that they would still have viable losuvil leaves for a week.

He looked at the young hunter. "Alright. You have just arrived today, so you can rest for the night, but tomorrow morning you and your group will have to leave again to those hills, since you all are the only one who can find those hills again. But this time it will be a short trip, since your target is not to hunt but to gather as many losuvil leaves as you can in bags. Of course, if you luckily see some animals you can easily hunt on the way, that's just fine, but otherwise you have to hurry to return with those leaves as soon as possible."

Yufim gave a confident nod while sneaking another glance at Syryne. "Leave it to me, milord! Your compass would help us find those hills easily and I'll make sure to bring all of them." He added enthusiastically, "No leaf shall escape my grasp!"

Kivamus just shook his head at the archer, while Feroy gave a snort.

"You should put some snow in the packs in which you'll store those leaves on the journey back," Syryne suggested. "That would keep them cold enough to preserve their effect for longer."

"Of course!" Yufim nodded readily. "I won't forget to do it, Miss Syryne!"

"Alright then, go and take some rest now," Kivamus ordered. "You should also tell others in your group about this so you all can leave early tomorrow morning."

"I will, milord." And after a quick bow, Yufim exited through the outer doors.

Kivamus thought of something and looked at Syryne. "Is it possible to replant those vines here, if we ask the hunters to bring a few of them?"

Syryne shook her head. "Not really, milord. Those vines are very delicate, and ma had already tried doing it a few times when she attempted to replant those vines from the nearby forests to our inn's garden patch. But it never works. Uprooting them and trying to replant them kills the plants every single time."

"It's okay I guess," Kivamus muttered. "Even without replanting them, it's really good to know that we will have a steady source of losuvil just a day away from us." Then he thought more about it. "But it still won't be helpful to us after the winter, will it?"

Syryne nodded reluctantly. "That's why those leaves are so costly. Apart from a few herbalists in towns who have somehow cultivated it in their own gardens to sell it to anyone who needs it there, it is really difficult to get access to those leaves, since their leaves lose their effect within a few hours in the summer. And for those living far away from bigger towns, unless a losuvil vine is located within a few hours of where they live, it is pointless to find them in the wild, since they can neither bring their leaves home to store for later use, nor they can replant that vine."

Kivamus gave an understanding nod. Gorsazo had lost his wife to fever in the past because he couldn't bring those leaves to home on time. "Duvas told me earlier that it cost nearly a week's wages for a labourer to buy them just for a single use. That means it would be very difficult for those in need to be able to afford it."

The majordomo nodded. He remarked after a moment of thought, "If I remember correctly, a freshly grinded paste of losuvil leaves goes for around six silver pieces in Cinran for each use."

"That's indeed very costly..." Kivamus muttered.

Duvas sighed. "It's such a waste that we have such a big source of losuvil leaves nearby, but we can't do anything about it. If only we could sell it to the bigger cities," he added wistfully, "it would become a good source of income for us, while helping others in need at the same time."

Kivamus knew that if he were a trained botanist he might have been able to do something about it, but despite all the time he had spent on the internet reading about things, biology or botany had never interested him much. He looked at Syryne to whom he had given that task. "Keep trying to find a way to preserve it somehow. We are going to get a lot of those leaves in a couple of days but like you said, they are only going to last for a week. That's how long we have to find a way to preserve them otherwise they would all just go to waste."

"I have thought of some other methods to try this time," Syryne told him. "We didn't have any spare losuvil leaves here for me to experiment with until now, but I'll try my best in the coming week."

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Thinking about helping in at least some way, Kivamus suggested, "This time, separate the leaves into a dozen or so different batches, and give a number to each. We should certainly have enough spare clay pots in the kitchen, so you can use them as well. Try to think of a different way to preserve them with each batch, but do the whole process on the same day so you can compare the results easily. And make sure to write the exact method you had used for each batch in a piece of parchment. This way if we get lucky and any of them are still usable after the coming week, you will know what you did right with them, so you can improve on it further."

Syryne seemed to be thinking about it. "That's a nice way, milord. I didn't consider doing it like that. I was thinking of picking a few leaves at a time and trying to do something with them, but keeping them in separate batches and trying the preservation on the same day would certainly make it easier in so many ways."

Kivamus smiled. What he was suggesting was something which would sound simple enough to any person on modern earth, but without any access to good education, and without a history of a few centuries of scientific experiments, this world's people still had to discover such ways. He was glad that he could help at least this much, since he couldn't give more help for any experiments with plants. It would take two days for the hunters to return with the leaves, so he would still try to think if there was any unique way he could suggest to preserve those leaves.

*******

It had been two days since they had sent the hunters to get the leaves, and they were expected to be back by evening. However, there was still no news about Hudan, and they were three or four days late from when they had been expected to return.

By now, even Feroy seemed to be frowning all the time, and since yesterday, he was constantly taking a few hours to patrol around the village after he had told Kivamus that one possible reason for Hudan being late was that they had encountered another bandit group, which meant they had to be fully alert until the group was back. Without the eight guards who had gone to the quarry, it had meant that the remaining guards were even pulling double shifts in some cases to make sure that each gate of the manor had at least four men ready to fight, while they had also increased the number of men on patrols in the village, especially in the nights.

Duvas had also prayed to the goddess many times since yesterday, hoping for the safe return of the guards, while Kivamus had tried to make himself busy in drawing more blueprints, apart from participating in some light training with the guards.

He knew that they needed to start dewatering the coal mines soon, so he was also trying to think if he could design something which could be constructed from the available resources in the village to help them do it faster. But he still needed to visit the mines first to get a better idea of what would be required, and that had to wait until they had all the guards back.

At this time, the sun was already close to setting, although it was only a guess with how cloudy it had been since yesterday. Apart from that, the short respite from snowfall in the previous few days had ended, and it had been snowing continuously since the morning, making it a daunting task to go out in the snow.

Right now Kivamus and others were sitting inside the manor hall once again. A servant entered, and told them that the hunters who had gone to the east had arrived.

Kivamus told him to allow one of them to come inside, and soon Yufim entered the hall.

The young hunter seemed to be shivering a little, and there was snow gathered on his hair and shoulders above his leather armor. Of course, the few spare fur coats they had, had already been given to the guards who had gone to the quarry, so the hunting groups still had to brave the snow without proper gear.

"Milord, we have brought all the losuvil leaves we could find there," Yufim reported while rubbing his hands together for warmth. "I didn't know where to keep them so I have put the sack outside the door for now."

"Oh, you brought a whole sack of it!" Syryne exclaimed from nearby. "And that's a good idea. The cold would help to preserve the leaves."

"Well done, Yufim!" Kivamus praised the young guard, who beamed in response. "Now go and warm yourself up," Kivamus ordered, "you look like you're freezing. Make sure to get something to eat soon."

The archer nodded, "Of course, milord. I heard that Madam Nerida has prepared a meat stew for us in the servants hall, from a deer which the other hunting group had brought yesterday." And then with a quick bow, Yufim exited the hall.

Kivamus looked at Syryne. "You know what to do with the leaves. You can use the help of as many servants as you need to lift that sack and divide the leaves."

"If I may suggest something," Duvas interrupted, "that's a big haul of losuvil leaves we have gotten, and most of it would likely go to waste in a week anyway. So I'd suggest taking a small part of it - just a few handfuls would be enough - and to send it with a servant to give to anyone who needs it in the village. There are many labourers - especially those who are climbing the trees or cutting them - who get some small nicks and cuts every day, and without any access to losuvil leaves in the village, they have to make do without it."

Kivamus didn't have to think long about it. "That's an excellent idea! It would be a good chance to help them and gain some goodwill, especially after we couldn't prevent the bandits from entering the village in that raid." He added, "Syryne, instead of just giving them the leaves, use some of it to make a paste from it, and give it to the servants to distribute to whoever needs it in the village."

"I'll do it immediately," Syryne replied and exited the hall.

*******

After a few hours, it had gotten fully dark, while the snowfall had continued unabated. Kivamus was now alone with Gorsazo and the majordomo, and he couldn't help but worry about Hudan and the other guards.

"They will be alright, won't they?" he asked no one in particular.

"Let's hope so, my lord," Gorsazo replied, while Duvas seem to be looking upwards, probably praying to the goddess again.