"Such confidence..." Cater muttered in awe.
"Then, you plan to look for Lotus?" Trey asked.
"Yup." She nodded, "I'll have to pause cultivation for the time being and look for the reason behind this. Otherwise, I won't get anywhere no matter how much mana I absorb."
Riddle thought for a bit, "Don't you have a teacher you can ask?"
Lotus shook her head, "Some cultivators are taught how to cultivate, but the majority are taught by their family or self-taught. As long as you have the books and the information, you can learn how to cultivate on your own. That and having the capabilities to cultivate."
"That's very much like magicians, then." Trey noted.
"Yup." She nodded, "You can go see Lotus for some treatment, but, since the water has diluted the effects of the Zhi lily, it should wear off after a bit."
"How long is that?" Riddle asked.
"Four years."
"No." Riddle stated bluntly without hesitation, "Four years may not be long for you, but it's very long for us. We're going to find Lotus as soon as possible, but is there no other way?"
Peony hummed in thought before she shook her head, "The only way to get this fixed outside of pills is the herb, Grass of Nostalgia. But, you won't find that in these parts."
Riddle frowned, "A lot of the herbs in the book are ones I've almost never seen before. Perhaps, if we're lucky, it should go by a different name."
Peony smiled, "I'll look forward to your results, then."
"You seem to be confident, even though we're the one doing stuff." Cater grumbled in disappointment.
Peony giggled, "Because I've never seen how magicians forage for herbs. Usually, I just forage for them myself, so this will be interesting. Since you have the book Lotus gave you, I'll see how well you know the herb."
"This is all just a game to you..." Cater frowned as he looked to her with a slightly cruel smile.
Peony smiled, "Pretty much, since the flower isn't life-threatening to him. Even if you can't find it, it'll wear off in five years."
"And, what if it doesn't?" Trey said with a frown as he pushed back his glasses.
Peony smirked, "If I said it takes five years, then it'll take five years... Unless..."
Seeing their blank expression, Peony shook her head as she said this bluntly, "He takes another cupful between the middle of his recuperation. I'd say between the third to the fifth year. Or he ends up consuming the actual plant, then, no matter what we do, he'll certainly require the Grass of Nostalgia, no matter what, if he wants to get rid of the effects."
Riddle sighed, "At least, he won't be able to obtain the flower anyway."
"Also, Riddle," Peony looked to Riddle with a sudden frown which surprised him, "You should just send that student to get it himself. If you go to search for it, you'll only hinder the search."
"What did you say?" Riddle glared at her with a scowl.
"I don't need to check your pulse to know that you've been focusing on Lotus's books in almost all the spare time. Even if your body was trained to stand against the stress from studies, I can also see signs that you're going to break down again if you continue to focus more on those books, at most pass out." Peony said unfazed under his glare, "If you keep doing that and help that student in some manner, the chances of you passing out becomes more likely. You can have a pair of clear eyes, and breathing, but don't think I don't notice that your voice isn't as strong as before. You're already lacking the energy to function compared to our last conversation. The sound of your voice already gave it away."
Riddle frowned but didn't say anything.
"Riddle, Is that true?" Trey asked with concern.
Riddle thought for a bit before heaving a sigh, "She's not wrong that I've been reading those books quite a lot... Maybe I am getting tired? But... How did you figure that out?"
"Finding a pulse isn't the only thing that give away a person's health." Peony explained, "Eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and tongue are all elements that reflect the health of each organ. The vitality behind your breathing or speech also reflects the amount of energy inside your body. You were able to easily follow my words without any questions meaning you've been reading his books attentively and understood it. However, you're doing this on top of your school studies and dorm leader duties. If you're reading Lotus's books while also managing these things, where do you have the time to rest properly or just read leisurely? I can only link that possibility to the lack of energy in your voice."
She sighed and shook her head, "I'm surprised Lotus hasn't pointed that out yet even though he can already use acupuncture. Traditional herbal doctor that rely everything on pulses from the wrist aren't real traditional herbal doctors. They're just quacks."
"So blunt..." Cater shook his head with a small dry smile of exasperation.
"As doctors, I cannot lie to my patients about their health." Peony declared with a firm look, "Lying about my patient's health is against my morals. If my patient is dying, then they are dying. If they are faking it, then they are faking it and I will play around with them too since they have so much time of their hands to waste mine. It'll be different if you just want a check-up, though."
"We get it." Cater responded hurriedly, "We won't use up your precious time on fake claims."
Peony smiled before calling out a butterfly and began to stare at its wings instead watching the show.
"And..." Cater sighed, "She's watching the situation at the mirror as if it's all just a show to her..."
Already familiar with her twisted nature, Riddle shook his head and sat back down, "Forget it. Let her do as she wants. We'll need the Grass of Nostalgia for Ace, but it's already clear that I can't take part in this. If Lotus is around him, it'd make things easier."
Trey nodded, "I'll work with the paperwork tomorrow for a change and come back so you can take a look over them."
"I'll help Ace search for the plant." Cater smiled wide, "Just leave everything to us. Winter break is around the corner too. You can take advantage of that and relax during then."
Remembering that, Riddle slowly nodded, "All right. Then, I'll be in my room after club activities tomorrow."
Trey remained quiet as he can already guess what the latter was thinking.
.....
Lotus was just classifying and organizing the herbs she was able to gather with the staff's permission and studying the uses of these new plants in her room when she heard the knocking on the door.
"Ah, they're here." Ying Hui spoke up with a sigh, "To think they'd want you to get rid of the effects of a herbs this valuable. Master is too kind to offer a hand and undo what you did for them."
"It can't be helped." Lotus responded through her mind, "They discovered upon it by chance so what can be done?"
She opened the door to find Ace at the door to which she raised a brow feigning surprise, "Ace? Good morning."
"Morning!" Ace responded nervously, "S-So, I heard from our dorm leader that I needed to come find you for some help on something..."
Lotus raised a brow before letting him in, "What is it about?"
"The Dorm leader said that you knew a lot about foreign herbs and that I should come to you for help." Ace said with great hesitation and doubt, "Recently, well, I've been able to understand the characters on your books that you've lent to the seniors."
Lotus raised a brow, "Did you just picked up on them or..."
"Nope." Ace responded bluntly, "I just came back from the Halloween event and saw them reading the books. Next thing I knew I could understand the books they were reading pretty clearly."
"What about other languages?" She asked in a tongue.
"Forget it!" Ace scowled, "There's no way I'm going to make myself look like a fool by thinking I can understand animal language again!"
Sounds like he had some fun today, huh?
Lotus hummed in thought, "It sounds like you had a heavy dose a Zhi Lily too..."
Ace looked to her in bewilderment, "It really exists? Eh? But, the caretakers in the Botanical Gardens never heard of it before."
"Of course not." She sighed and continued speaking in the tongue, "Zhi Lily is a flower that grows deep in the east side of the world. It lives on the steep mountain side. So, unless you value your life, be my guest to take it."
As she smirked, Ace folded his arms as he pouted, "Not funny..."
Lotus shrugged it off and responded the cure of called Grass of Nostalgia. I don't know if it goes by other names, but that's what I know about it. Here."
She drew a rough sketch of it and handed to Ace. Ace raised a brow and muttered, "There are many blue colored grass, ya' know."
Lotus sighed, "But you'll really need it because you consumed enough to be an entire stalk of the flower."
"How can that be?" Ace looked to her in disbelief.
"Haven't you noticed?" Lotus pointed to her lips and smirked, "I've been speaking in a different tongue the entire time."
"Eh?" Ace looked to her in disbelief.
"You're rather slow on some stuff too, huh, Ace?"
Seeing her lips move in an unfamiliar pattern, Ace's eyes widen in shock, "Eh... Eh?!"