[Job] Pushing Up Weed (Lily Ambrosia)

Job Details:

It was quite a sight for the villagers when a girl dressed in leafs (although enough to make a proper outfit) came into the village riding what could only be described as the rough likeness of something humanoid formed out of stone. Although it was at the very least polished stone, with moss and mushrooms and roots growing on it. Their first reaction was of course some panic, since that kind of creature could do a lot of damage, but the green girl's friendly waves and smiles and the stone creature's measured steps helped restore order to the situation.

After asking for directions Lily ended up sliding down from Basin's back in front of the herbalist's house, the herbalist in question hurrying out because Basin didn't fit inside. Or through the door.

"Uhm... Wow. I didn't expect this."

"Sorry. We tried to think of a way to be a little more sneaky, but Basin isn't very good at that and we didn't want to surprise people by having him burst out from the ground."

The stone creature called Basin raised its large hand in a simple greeting, after several seconds lowering it again to settle it against the ground. The herbalist gave a somewhat hesitant wave in return before returning her focus to the dryad, who was a lot more approachable and human-looking. If you ignored the amber sclera and the fact that her hair looked a lot like foliage.

"...Right. Well, that aside, I don't think you've caused too much trouble and I think we've got bigger problems anyway. As the message said there've been sightings of odd plants around the village. They're small and look more like weeds than anything else, but they have a nasty sting to them and more importantly they don't look like anything I've seen or even heard of before. They certainly aren't native to the area."

Lily nodded in understanding. The message had been quite clear about all this. The reason why she'd come to the herbalist first before heading out into the field was because she was hoping she might still know a little more.

"Are you sure there's nothing that springs to mind?"

The herbalist scratched the back of her head. "Let me think... It's purple, very small, only bears one to three leafs, and they don't propagate very quickly. I only know of seven of them and they're spread out pretty widely so I don't know how they work in that aspect either."

Lily frowned as she glanced back at Basin, who didn't have any suggestions either. There were plenty of plants with purple leafs in the world, so the colouration wasn't an issue. However the fact that such a tiny plant would be spreading so slowly yet so widely was... not unheard of but definitely unusual. "Thank you for the information. Is there anything you can tell us about the illness it inflicts on people? Your message only said they got sick, not much on the symptoms."

"That's true, but... that's partially because there aren't really any symptoms."

"No symptoms? Then why would you call them sick?"

"I didn't, really. They have to go to the hospital but that's because... touching the plant seems to corrode your skin and flesh. Those couple of days are the time in which their wounds recover to the point that-"

"Wait wait wait, their wounds recover?" Lily was leaning forward no, intently listening to everything the herbalist had to say but with insufficient willpower not to interrupt her. A plant with toxins powerful enough to corrode skin and flesh upon contact was one thing, but that kind of thing shouldn't heal within a mere days unless healing magic was involved.

"Yes, strangely enough." The herbalist understood where Lily's confusion originated from. She, too, had found it hard to believe at first. "There doesn't appear to be any toxins on the wound, so there's nothing hindering the healing process. The body tissue there is just... damaged. Nobody has touched it long enough to find out what happens if it goes beyond some layers of skin and perhaps a little bit of flesh. I definitely wouldn't advise it, so be careful out there."

"Thank you. We definitely will be careful. And we'll also get you a sample, because I agree that this is very strange." Lily gave the herbalist a grateful smile, then turned around and climbed back on top of Basin. Once she had gotten herself in position the earth guardian straightened up and wandered out of the village, coming to a halt once they were far enough away that nobody would eavesdrop on them.

"Given what we know, can you take care of it Basin?" Lily looked down at her companion and patted its head. The earth guardian in response planted its hands on the ground and fell completely still, spreading its will through the earth as Lily closed her eyes and focused as well. Together they could quickly identify the locations of the weeds, but the alarming part was that the dryad could not sense the weeds themselves as she could sense other plants. They were... not natural, was the best term for it.

While Lily pondered this Basin exerted its will. The earth surrounding the seven weeds compressed and then moved upwards, pushing the purple plants straight out of the ground. The mounds upon which the plants were now perched then shuffled as if being pushed by moles, gathering in front of the two nature spirits to present them as a neat package. There were four stems with only a single leaf, two with two leafs and a single big one with three leafs. As the herbalist had said, they were very odd and Lily couldn't identify them or even hazard a guess towards what family of plants they belonged to.

Basin scooped up the weeds together with the dirt mounds, which turned out to be a good idea given that the dirt was giving signs of having been corroded as well. Basin of all creatures would probably be resistant to it, but Lily would rather not run the risk.

"C'mon Basin. Let's hope the herbalist can learn more. I've got a very bad feeling about this." Her closest friend and companion turned around and slowly wandered back into the village, careful not to drop any of the weeds, while the green-haired girl was frowning and trying to manage her worries while also trying to figure out what was going on.

WC: 1,080
TWC: 1,080/500 (Completed)