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A material we could acquire immediately. One that, if I told Ciel about, she’d likely agree to use, but I’d hesitate to agree.

Actually, the fact that she most certainly will be happy to use it is what makes me hesitate. Still, not telling her is not an option, so I resigned myself to informing her.

『There’s another material we can use for the doll’s magic circuit.』
『Is that true?』
『Ciel’s hair. It’s practically pure magic circuits at this point, so it should be more than adequate as material. I’m sure I’ll have high compatibility with it as well.』
『Right, that’s right! Now that you mentioned it, that should be true! In that case, we don’t need this. If a part of me can be useful for Ain’s body, then that’s a very wonderful thing!』

I’m reminded of Valentine’s Day, and despite my inner conflict, I can’t help but feel somewhat happy hearing Ciel so willing to cut her hair for my sake.
Considering how the four-leaf clover was smaller than our palm, with the length of Ciel’s hair, one strand should be enough. The problem is that we’ll probably have to share a portion to Munyechka as well. We’ll still do this, though. Ciel likely wouldn’t mind, after all.

『In that case, should I just give this to the Ghnestarks?』
『Before that, I want give a warning just to be sure. Would you mind if we switched, Ciel?』
『Not at all. I’ll leave it to you, Ain.』

Switching with Ciel, I make sure to keep my emotions from showing. If I lose my focus right now, I’ll probably have a miffed expression.
Still, I do want to get even with the hero party, so let me play a little prank on them. It probably won’t be good for Ciel’s education, but she probably wouldn’t hate me for this―she might even be happy―so I hope I’m excused this one time.

「I’ve made my final decision. However, please listen to what I have to say first. If anyone interrupts me before I finish speaking, I will not give the medical herb to that person.」

While speaking, I retrieved the plant in question from our magic pouch. There’s no point hiding it at this point, and we’ll be giving it away anyway; showing it off like this should put us into a more advantageous position, too.
The reaction of the surrounding onlookers didn’t really matter, but the disrespectful woman looked like she wanted to say something, while the Ghnestark butler had his eyes wide open just for a moment, likely out of surprise.

Since the prattling woman finally shut up, I suppose this action was quite effective.
Actually, if she continued arguing, I could’ve handed the four-leaf clover to the Ghnestark, so this isn’t ideal.

「First of all, I only obtained this herb by coincidence, so please don’t assume that I can acquire another one simply because I have one right now. It was given to me by a team of high-ranked hunters as thanks for helping them; I know neither their whereabouts nor how they obtained this.」

It’s going to be troublesome if they ask for details, so I introduced an imaginary high-rank hunter party, which resulted in many onlookers looking convinced.

「With that said, I have decided to accept the Ghnestark family’s request.」
「Please wait.」

I considered the possibility of the woman snapping at us, but as anticipated, Shelate wedged herself into the conversation. How do I describe it? She just exudes the aura of someone who thinks helping the poor must be prioritized, so I expected her to react if I chose the request with the bigger reward.
I planned to get her involved if she had as much as a look of condemnation anyway, so her jumping in by herself saves me the trouble.

「What is it?」
「In short, you’ve made your decision based on money, correct?」
「Money is important.」
「No, there are things much more precious than money.」

With a hand on her chest, Shelate started preaching a saintess-like sermon. In this case, the ‘more precious’ thing probably refers to human life, I suppose. I have no intention of refuting her statement, but does she truly understand what those words mean?
It would probably start a different argument if I pointed this out now, so I’ll save it for another opportunity that will inevitably come.

「I said earlier that I wouldn’t give this to the person who wouldn’t listen, but I’ll make an exception this one time. Since you’re so adamant about it, I will sell this medical herb to you. For the price, how about 10 large gold coins?」

Since it’s more precious than money, then it’s only natural that you’d offer money for such a precious cause, right? I’m sure she doesn’t have 10 large gold coins on hand, and even if she does, it’s not something they can shell out easily. Still, it’s far lower than Ghnestark’s 20 large gold coins, so she can’t complain about this.

Shelate stared as if she wanted to respond, but with a look of resignation, she turned her gaze to Juerd. The eye contact was apparently enough to relay her intention, as Juerd shook his head with pursed lips in response.

「It seems like you’re not willing to purchase it.」
「Preparing that amount of money on short notice is im―」
「Impossible, maybe, but the reward presented is double that amount. Besides, money isn’t the only factor that influenced my decision.」

Hearing that, Shelate had a bewildered look.

「Dear clients, assuming that you obtain the medical herb right now, do you have any means of converting it into a usable cure?」

「Naturally.」
「… W-we’ll surely find one easily.」

In the end, this medical herb cannot cure illnesses on its own. It only becomes useful when used together with a medicine, or potion, that is effective for what needs to be cured.
Additionally, there’s probably a particular way of handling this material. I naturally don’t know much, but I imagine simply mixing with existing medicine probably isn’t enough.

In other words, we’re giving the plant to the one who can actually make use of this material. And as I had hoped―not that I hoped things would escalate to this point in the first place―only Ghnestark responded that they had the means to make a cure out of it.
The woman’s eyes were swimming, and the surrounding onlookers stared at her with an indescribable gaze.

「For that reason, I will accept his request.」

Before anyone else can argue, I took the request form to the reception desk. The receptionist here seems quite capable, as the process was very smooth and ended without issues.
After that, with Mia in tow, we left the guild. As we exited, I sent a gaze to Palra’s and Belltina’s direction, which they seemed to have noticed, as they followed us out inconspicuously.
I’m glad that the two didn’t get involved, but we might have to make it up to them in some way.