Who Is the World’s Strongest Appraiser? ~Living in Another World With Satisfying Meals~

Herbs And Poisonous Plants: Spot The Difference!

In the garden of the Scarlet Lynx’s hideout, Yuuri was sorting herbs into baskets. There were four baskets in total. Yuuri meticulously divided the herbs into two groups in front of each basket. Watching him intently were four apprentices.

“Shall we announce the results?”

Yuuri said in a cheerful tone, and the four nodded seriously. They all had earnest expressions. To these serious faces, Yuuri slowly opened his mouth and solemnly declared:

“The top is Magg, next is Camille. Urgus and Yakk are tied for last place.”

“…”

“Alright!”

“Damn it!”

“Lost again!”

Magg nodded silently with a strong expression, Camille struck a victory pose with determination, and Urgus and Yakk hung their heads in unison, pounding the ground in frustration. It was quite a comical sight.

What were they doing? They were trained to identify medicinal herbs from a random pile. But of course, not all the herbs were medicinal. There were weeds and poisonous plants too. This time, only medicinal and poisonous plants were used.

The reason for this was training for gathering requests. Therefore, no ordinary weeds were included; only major medicinal and poisonous plants were packed in. Jake, their instructor, had prepared everything but then retreated to his room, leaving the students to their task.

From the start, Jake had prepared a large quantity of sample medicinal and poisonous plants, and placed a copy of a plant encyclopedia for each person before leaving. His message was clear: check and learn on your own. He was a strict teacher with no intention of directly guiding them. So, the four continued their study in the garden, glaring at plants and encyclopedias.

However, such a tedious study did not continue for long. Despite knowing it was important, it was still boring. Jake, being a bookworm, might be perfectly content with the real plants and encyclopedias, but expecting growing teenagers to do the same was harsh.

Sure enough, they grew bored of the task after about half an hour. They tried to turn it into a quiz to make it more interesting but it was still dull. That’s when Yuuri, who was bored and passing by, suggested this game of distinguishing medicinal herbs from poisonous plants. The plan was to first focus on simply identifying whether a plant was medicinal or poisonous and worry about the specific types later.

Why was Yuuri acting as the judge? Simply because he possessed the most powerful identification skill, [God’s Eye]-san. Although identifying specific types took time, continuously activating it just to detect poison made it easy to sort the plants into “correct” and “wrong” piles. Yuuri also used this as an opportunity to practice the crisis management ability of his rarely used [God’s Eye].

Since [God’s Eye] could detect lies and traps, it naturally could detect poison too. Additionally, by focusing on an individual’s health status, it could determine if they were sick or injured without a detailed examination. In short, anything red in his vision was a bad sign.

Therefore, Yuuri didn’t know or intend to learn the types of herbs or poisonous plants; he just sorted them based on the presence of poison. And based on that, the rankings were strictly determined.

“…Hey, this might just be my personal opinion, but isn’t Urgus in trouble?”

“Can you not say that so seriously!?”

“Because, Urgus, you’re about to become a trainee, right? Gathering requests are the basics for newcomers, right?”

“You don’t have to emphasize it with a straight face!”

“Yet, you’re tied with Yakk, who has the least experience…”

“Don’t look at me with pityyyyyy!”

Yuuri looked at Urgus with genuine concern, making him shout in earnest. He understood. Being tied with the least experienced Yakk was unexpected. Urgus wasn’t that foolish and had learned properly until now. So, he had a decent grasp of the basics.

For Urgus’s honor, it should be noted that Magg was exceptional. Camille, Urgus, and Yakk were close in their rankings, with positions often changing. However, Magg was consistently at the top because he never picked a poisonous plant. His basket contained only medicinal herbs, an incredible accuracy rate.

“Hey, Magg.”

“…?”

“If you have any tips, could you share them with everyone?”

“……Tips?”

“Yes.”

While Urgus was complaining and Camille was teasing him, Magg silently continued to put the used herbs back into a big basket. When Yuuri asked, Magg tilted his head, seeming to wonder what he meant. Yuuri, worried it wouldn’t work, looked at Magg with concern.

Magg paused in thought and then murmured quietly. His words were filled with conviction.

“Poisonous plants, if you eat them, you die.”

““…………””

Everyone thought, though true, it wasn’t what they wanted to hear. Urgus voiced their thoughts, but Magg still seemed puzzled. To Magg, it was a simple fact. Poisonous plants are deadly if eaten, so he remembered them to avoid mistakes. This truth seemed to exist in a different dimension from their world.

They suddenly remembered: Magg wasn’t from a common background like a farmer or townsfolk. Initially, Yuuri thought all the apprentices were from such backgrounds, but Magg was different. He came from a slum in another town, meaning his upbringing and values were different.

“Poisonous plants, if you don’t remember them, you die.”

“…Yeah, it’s dangerous if you accidentally eat them.”

“So, I don’t make mistakes.”

“…I see… Urgus, what should we do? Magg’s way of remembering isn’t helpful at all…”

“Don’t ask me…”

Trying to find a role model didn’t work. Yuuri felt down, and Urgus also wanted to cry. Magg was exceptionally unique. As they slumped their shoulders, they heard “If you eat it, you’ll remember” from behind them, but they ignored it. That method was out of the question. Just a bite could be fatal. They didn’t want to risk it.

Instead, they were slightly scared of Magg, who had survived such harsh conditions. Though aiming to be adventurers, the idea of constantly risking death by eating poisonous plants was unsettling. Magg had clearly grown up in a different, harsher environment. Yakk, from a farming village, deeply realized that despite the hard labor, having a family, a place to sleep, and food that didn’t kill you was a blessing.

“Alright, let’s try again.”

“…Huh?”

“I think we can learn by repeating it. Magg is an exception, so let’s not worry about him.”

“…Yuuri.”

“Honestly, Magg, since you can distinguish poisonous plants, wouldn’t it be better to learn to identify medicinal herbs?”

“…I don’t know the types of poisonous plants.”

“Then learn that.”

“…Alone.”

Yuuri suggested that Magg, who could already distinguish between medicinal and poisonous plants, didn’t need to join the classification game. But Magg’s murmured word “alone” made everyone stop. There was no continuation, but his distinctive red eyes looked at them like a forlorn puppy, something they never imagined from Magg.

“…Magg, do you want to stay with everyone?”

“…Yes.”

“Alright. Let’s do it together.”

Magg nodded, and Urgus looked up at the sky and groaned. Camille looked away, and Yakk blinked as if seeing something he shouldn’t. Only Yuuri, unfazed, suggested they try again, but the three hadn’t recovered.

Magg was usually a highly cautious person, likely due to his upbringing. He never fully let his guard down, even with their mentors. Even among his fellow apprentices, there was a wall he never let them cross. Urgus, having known him the longest, felt this most strongly.

Yet now, that wall was completely absent.

Magg seemed to have been tamed by Yuuri, not through feeding but in another way. Yuuri was someone who never felt wary of anyone, and perhaps that reflected on Magg. Camille tried to analyze this calmly but gave up, finding it too complicated. Urgus looked at Magg uneasily, and Yakk muttered, “Focus on training” as if it were a mantra.

“…Yuuri, you’re really something.”

“Huh? What’s wrong, Urgus?”

“Nothing…”

Yuuri was skilled in household chores, rarely got angry, had a powerful identification skill, and owned numerous magical items. There were many ways to describe Yuuri, but none seemed to fit the current situation.

“Yuuri, you could probably be a beast tamer.”

“Camille, what’s with the sudden suggestion?”

“Well, I just thought Yuuri could tame even wild beasts.”

“I don’t really get along with animals, though.”

Yuuri tilted his head in confusion, and Camille said no more. But inwardly, he thought, “You could definitely tame beasts or monsters!” Having tamed the cautious Magg, he could probably tame even monsters with some food.

“Alright, the game starts!”

At Yuuri’s signal, the four grabbed their baskets and dove into the pile of herbs. As they searched for medicinal herbs, they bickered, but it was all part of the game-like training.

In the end, Magg retained his top spot and earned the reward of an extra treat.