[A New Problem]

Even as I was getting bad feelings from Melia’s gaze, I decided to accept Hanz’s invitation for a cup of tea.

The cottage wherein the Horticulture Committee was based was not spacious enough to warrant a compliment, but it was neatly organized and clean. Just that…

“Gh?!”

What was with this smell…

I was not sure how to describe it.

It was quite unlike the smell of rotting… but it was terribly pungent regardless.

“Uu…”

“W-what is this smell…”

Tayte and Melia also scrunched up their faces involuntarily. Hanz, the chairman, was the only one who appeared fine.

“I’ve just brewed new tea. Here, give it a try.”

With that, he poured liquid, which was presumably tea, into a cup and presented it to us, but… w-what the hell was this?! I’d never seen tea with such color and smell. Was it even safe to drink?

“Ahh… sorry, I’m afraid I must decline. I’m not thirsty at the moment. You too, right, Tayte?” I turned to Tayte.

“Ah, y-yes. That’s true.” Tayte nodded.

“You sure? It’s good, you know?” Hanz inquired.

“I-in that case, may I drink it?”

The one who slowly raised her hand was Melia.

“H-hey, you don’t have to force yourself,” I said.

“I-it’s okay. Hanz, you made this using the Roku flowers that you’ve been growing for a while, didn’t you?” Melia asked.

“Correct,” Hanz said with a wide smile. Maybe due to the atrocious smell of the drink he held in his hand, his smile looked somewhat wicked. “It’s said that Roku flowers may possibly have the effect of increasing one’s maximum mana capacity.”

“T-that sounds quite far-fetched,” said Melia, seemingly dubious.

“The effect hasn’t been clearly proven yet, yes. That’s why I’m thinking of proving it.”

“It’s also your research theme, isn’t it?”

“Exactly!” Hanz exclaimed.

No, why didn’t drink it yourself, then?

I couldn’t help but feel like he was using us as guinea pigs…

“Ah, I forgot to mention. It doesn’t have harmful effects on your body, so rest assured.”

Attached with a safety guarantee, huh.

Still, Melia didn’t put down the cup that had been handed to her. Hanz said that it might increase your maximum mana capacity… did she perhaps have a complex about her mana capacity?

“H-here goes nothing…”

After swallowing her saliva, Melia drank it in one go.

The taste—

“Huh? It’s delicious?”

““Really?!””

Melia’s reaction was quite the opposite of what I’d expected. Turned out the tea was delicious.

“It should take a couple of days for the effect to become apparent, so please tell me how you feel then,” said Hanz.

“Y-yes,” Melia nodded.

“M-Melia, are you really feeling fine?” asked Tayte.

“Don’t worry, I’m perfectly fine,” replied Melia.

How should I put it? It felt like peaceful air hung in the room… Was this how the Horticulture Committee usually was?

Afterward, Hanz brewed us proper (?) tea, and a tea party, which was apparently the specialty of the Horticulture Committee, started.

It appeared that the committee had eleven members in total, but the others joined multiple committees, and the ones who showed up every day were only three people: Tayte, Melia, and Hanz. By the way, Cornell—whom I had met at the Divine Gift Ceremony—also joined multiple committees, which was why she wasn’t around today.

“Hahaha! I never thought a day would come when Barrett Albers would have such a drastic change of heart!”

In the middle of the conversation, I told Hanz that I had mended my ways. He seemed to believe my words given how unrestrained and excited he was talking from that point onwards.

However…

“…………”

Melia’s expression was dark.

Occasionally, Tayte called out to her out of worry, but Melia only replied with “I’m okay,” every time—but, from time to time her eyes met with mine, and every time she hurriedly averted her eyes away.

No denying it anymore… the cause of her dark expression was definitely me.

This situation reminded me of【The Rise of the Weakest Holy Swordsman】— in other words, the original storyline.

Come to think of it, it was written that Barrett had many girlfriends in the academy.

Girlfriends—might not be an accurate way to put it, as in reality, most of them were forced to go out with him due to the power of the House of Albers.

The names of the students that became victims weren’t revealed, but… was Melia perhaps one of them? Was the reason why Barrett remembered her face and name because he had put his hands on her prior to my reincarnation…?

……This was bad.

On top of the matter with Raul, I was now faced with a new problem.

That was—Barrett’s relationship with women.