by Kiri Komori
Sirius is an archaeologist, huh?
He did seem more intellectually inclined than the other three, so I was actually impressed. I didn’t know how this party came together, but some part of me wanted to ask. Anyway, Grandpa had his eyes open despite being in pain, so Mina cleared her throat.
“Are you okay, sir?”
“Ngh… Y-Yes… I just ran out of my medicine…”
“Medicine?”
I’ve never seen him take any medicine… I cocked my head.
Grandpa coughed dryly and started rubbing his chest. I doubted it was actually helping him in any way, though…
“Is it Severed Breath Syndrome?” Sirius asked him grimly.
“…I’m surprised you can tell…” Grandpa muttered. “Yes, I used to live in a country that was occupied by Edesa Kura… The research they conducted there made me develop this illness. And so my wife and I moved here to Rofola. I hoped the clean air would help.”
“Sirius, what’s Severed Breath Syndrome?” Mina asked.
“About fifty years ago, Edesa Kura exploited and forced the lands they occupied to develop a supposed medicine of some kind,” Sirius explained. “They used that drug without knowing what it might do, and it cost many lives. Those who didn’t die developed the same kind of illness as this gentleman. Severed Breath Syndrome is a rare disease that stops at a certain stage. Once one is afflicted with it, there’s no cure. There’s only one antidote available that can alleviate its symptoms. A core of Solemayu fruit boiled in dried Solan flower leaves.”
“Ah! So if we have that antidote, we can cure Grandpa?!” I asked expectantly.
“I’m afraid it’ll only relieve the symptoms temporarily, little lady.” Sirius shook his head. “A definite cure for Severed Breath Syndrome hasn’t been discovered. Solan flowers have been used in antidotes since ancient times and are mildly effective against respiratory diseases.”
So it won’t completely heal him…
Grandpa sunk back into bed, clutching his chest. He looked like he was in so much pain…
“…There should be Solan flowers and Solemayu fruits on the mountain! I’ll go look for them!” I said.
“Do it tomorrow, little lady.” Sirius stopped me. “It’s too late to go out today.”
“But…!”
“And besides, the Solan leaves need to be dried properly. That’s not something you can do within a day or two unless you’re good with alchemy.”
“Aah…”
A-Alchemy…
Alchemy was an art similar to magic. It used mana to transmute materials, fusing them together to create and refine matter. It was said that advanced users of the art could mix together materials to create something completely unlike the original ingredients.
Alchemy was created by humans, but only a select few people could use it in the larger nations. Ordinary people could use it to a very basic extent, but only experts in the craft had the advanced skills to actually create medicine. Demi-humans and beastmen were skilled with magic, so they hardly ever tried using alchemy.
…Wait, but it’s fine if I can just use alchemy, right?
“I think there were alchemy manuals in Dad’s study!” I exclaimed, hopping to my feet.
“Hm? N-No…Little lady, I don’t think you can learn alchemy just by looking at books and imitating what they say to do…”
“I want to do anything I can!”
Dad found and raised me, and this man is his father. Not only did he not object to Dad raising me, he even helped him! And now, after Grandma fell ill and died, Grandpa might die too!
I haven’t repaid him for everything he did for me! I can’t let him just die!
I knew alchemy was a difficult art to learn, but humans were better at alchemy than magic. And there should be a few elementary alchemy books in Dad’s study. I actively avoided those books until now. Some part of me always thought that if this world had magic, I was better off learning that than trying to pick up something as complicated as alchemy…
If I don’t open these books now, then when will I?!
♣♣♣
“THERE, I found them!”
I rushed into Dad’s study and then looked at the far right side of the third shelf from the top, where I found the alchemy manuals. Above them were books for beginner and intermediate magic.
So that’s where he hid them… Yeah, with my height, I wouldn’t normally be able to reach that high… Nngh…
But I was lucky. Dad being a former knight meant he had access to these kinds of books. He’d said that ever since he lost his arm, he was learning various arts in order to lead an ordinary life.
As improper as it was, I used the lower shelves as footholds to climb up and pulled out an alchemy manual for beginners. I hopped back down and squatted on the floor to open the book called Elementary Alchemy. It started with the very basics, such as the way the world was made up.
“O-Ooh…”
Wait, how the world is made up?! That’s where you start?! That’s going into some pretty deep territory, isn’t it?!
I chose to skim over that part.
Firstly, all living things are born with mana in their bodies. However, compared to demi-humans or Mythical Beasts, humans have a smaller capacity for mana. As such, humans have created the art of alchemy. Alchemy is capable of producing feats that rival magic while requiring significantly less mana to perform. By mixing ingredients together, one can produce entirely unique substances. This is most commonly used during cooking.
“Wait, cooking? Really…?”
Describing cooking as “mixing ingredients together” wasn’t wrong… The book claimed that alchemy was similar to cooking on a basic level. And that made me feel a bit stupid for being so taken aback by the prospect of doing it. I mean, if it’s like cooking, there’s no reason I shouldn’t be able to do it. Right?
The book recommended a simple healing potion as an elementary alchemy exercise. It required mixing water with one of three flowers—the Lilith, Duana, and Solan.
Oh, I think we have some Duana growing in the backyard!
“Ah! Where did the girl go?!” A voice snapped the thread of my concentration.
It was Gina’s voice. I picked up the book and hurried down the staircase, pretending to have not heard her shout. I headed outside and picked a couple of Duana flowers. I then went out to prepare the ingredients…
The book said to use 300cc of water and a Duana flower to create a simple tonic. I also needed a pot, a wooden spoon to stir the concoction with, and small bottles so I could preserve and carry the tonic with me. I got those by washing some empty potion bottles adventurers often threw away at the inn.
We had a habit of rinsing and drying those bottles, then selling them off to passing caravans for a bit of extra coin. Those empty bottles would later be sold to alchemy associations across the different nations, who’d refill them with new potions.
“A pot? What, are you going to start doing alchemy?” Aaron looked down at me with eyes that were clearly joking.
Still, I had to try. And it wasn’t like I was trying to make the cure for Grandpa right now; this was just practice! For tonight, at least. Tomorrow I’d head for the mountain and pick the Solan flowers and Solemayu fruit. Apparently, drying ingredients was considered basic prep work for alchemy. If I could successfully make the healing potion, then drying ingredients shouldn’t be too difficult either.
Of course, the book did mention that “…drying should be done while having a good grasp of the ingredients you’re working with. One must work while adjusting to match the ingredient, or the alchemy process may result in something different than what was intended.”
This’ll take some experimenting before I really get the hang of it. I better collect a lot of Solan flowers then!
“Oh, is that an alchemy book?” Aaron asked, glancing at the book in my hand. “You’ve got some strange things lying around. Wait… You’re really trying to perform alchemy?”
“Yes
!” I nodded. “I…I might not be able to cure Grandpa, but if I can at least make it so he doesn’t suffer as much, I want to do it! I have to repay him for all the kindness he showed me!”
“Repay him…?” Aaron cocked his head quizzically.
“Ah, shorry, I need to concentrate. Can you keeps it down?” I asked him.
“O-Oh. Sorry?”
Perhaps because of being so small, I ended up lisping words every so often. Anyway, the book said to put the ingredients into the pot and transmit my mana into it little by little.
What does that mean? Mana?
That didn’t exist in my past life, of course. But I had to try anyway. I had nothing to lose, after all! This was just practice, anyway. I held my hand over the pot. I concentrated on pouring a bit of mana inside it…
I started churning the contents of the pot, as the book instructed. Slowly, gently. It said the pot should light up after a while, after which I was supposed to stop pouring in mana. The rest was just stirring the concoction until it had thoroughly mixed.
“Wait, for real?” Aaron gaped.
“You can actually do it?” Gina asked.
“Be quiet, please.”
“Y-Yes, ma’am!”
I poured in more mana and swirled the stick, stirring the concoction. I sent mana in, little by little, and indeed, a light began to shine.
“No way!”
“R-Really?!”
Aaron and Gina exclaimed in shock. All that was left was to stir the mix until it was ready.
Please, work…!
“Ah!”
Poof!
The contents of the pot lit up like a camera flash.
Ah, I can’t see… Did it work?!
“I-I can’t believe it…” Gina whispered, her face stern.
A light-pink liquid had formed inside the pot.
W-Wait, I did it? It worked? A success?
“…This is the same color as our low-grade tonics… She seriously made a tonic…”
“Th-That’s amazing! You can use alchemy?!”
“I-Is it actually ready…?” I wondered aloud.
“…Is this really your first time doing this?”
“Y-Yes, it’s the first I’ve made something with alchemy,” I admitted. “So I’m not sure if this tonic actually works…”
“Let me see.”
To my surprise, Gina took a small knife and nicked her own finger.
Aaaah! What are you doing?!
As I panicked, she took a spoon and dipped it into the pot, scooping up a bit of the tonic I made and applying it to the wound. The cut zipped shut immediately. It had healed her. In other words…
“It’s a success! You’re amazing, girlie! A genius!”
“W-Wow! But I thought alchemy tends to fail if you don’t know how to handle mana properly!”
“You’re definitely a genius! You just whacked that magic in there!”
“Yeah, like boom! Poof!”
“Yep!”
“…R-Really…?” I asked, bothered by their odd choice of words.
For whatever reason, despite being praised, the feeling that “Wow, I’m amazing” didn’t really register for me.
Whacked mana in there…? Boom, poof…? What does that mean…?
But either way, I did create the tonic. So with that in mind, I tried to dry the other Duana flower. The end result would probably be like a dried flower, but I needed practice for drying the Solan flowers tomorrow.
Before I did that, I put the contents of the pot into a few little bottles. As I did, I was surprised by the amount I produced. It looked like there was enough for three or four bottles in there, and indeed, there was just enough for three.
I guess it makes sense; these were bottles for the same kind of potion.
“Hey, little miss, just an idea,” Aaron spoke up. “Could you sell us these tonics?”
“What?”
“We just saw how effective they are. If you could sell them to us, it’d be a huge help. We’d understand if you wanna keep them for the inn, but… What do you say? Two hundred colts a bottle!”
“H-Huh?! That much?!”
Two hundred colts… Colts were this world’s primary currency. One colt was worth about one yen. Dad taught me how to calculate money, and apparently, there were four kinds of colt coins. Gold, silver, bronze, and iron. Each kind was respectively less valuable.
Iron doubled the value by one. In other words, one iron colt was worth one yen. Bronze coins doubled the value by ten, silver coins doubled it by a hundred, and gold coins by a thousand. There were apparently even higher value colt coins than that, but Dad hadn’t taught me about them yet. What metal would be more valuable than gold, though? Platinum? I doubted I’d find out the answer to that question anytime soon.
But all that was inconsequential compared to the reality before me. What was a little kid like me supposed to do with two hundred colts?!
“A tonic’s market value is two hundred colts. I don’t think it’s particularly cheap or expensive. What do you say?”
“E-Erm… B-But I just made it for the first time…” I stammered awkwardly. “I-I’ll, hm… You can have it for a hundred colts…”
“Ahahaha! That’s a bargain for us!” Gina smirked. “But really, no jokes… If that’s the case, give us some kind of work to do in return. It won’t feel right otherwise.”
“Oh no, I…” I was about to politely refuse when something occurred to me. “Actually, um, there is something…”
If they insisted on it that much, some part of me felt that maybe I should just take them up on that offer of two hundred colts, but Dad always told me to never go back on something I said. That was part of his credo as a former knight, apparently. But then he said, “Not like it’s convincing, coming from me! Ahaha!” which only just made it feel all the more convincing. With that man as my father, I couldn’t go back and change the price now.
Gina’s expression was so serious, so I decided to make my request.
“Then, could you go to the mountain tomorrow and collect some Solan flowers with me? There are wild animals living out there, so I can’t really go on my own.”
“Sure thing! That’s simple enough for us. Right, Aaron?”
“Yeah! Three hundred colts for three tonics is a great deal, and we even get to stay here for free! Wouldn’t make sense for us to not work for it!”
“Thank you very much!” I bowed my head.
All right! I’ve got bodyguards now! Now I can collect ingredients from the mountain safely!
“Then I’ll go practice drying,” I said.
“Drying?”
“Yes, there’s a medicine that can help with Grandpa’s disease. It needs a mixture of dried Solan flower leaves and Solemayu fruit cores. That’s what I want to make.”
“So that’s why you’re doing this, huh?” Gina wiped a tear. “Good on you… You’re a good girl…!”
Y-You’re exaggerating…
“Isn’t drying complicated, though?”
“Apparently not. The degree of dryness influences the mixture in the end, but the book said the process of drying itself is simple.”
“Really?”
Aaron peeked over my shoulder at the book as I flipped through it. The pages that dealt with drying said the process required a pot, a wooden spoon, and a cloth for absorbing the moisture. The method involved wrapping the ingredient with the cloth and placing it inside the pot, sending in mana like before, and then tapping it gently with the spoon over and over. Once the ingredient lit up, the process should be complete.
It felt simple enough for me after I’d managed to create a tonic. My only question was: how would I know how dry the ingredient ended up becoming? It was covered in a cloth, so I couldn’t see it.
Does the amount of mana I send in change the degree of dryness…? Mm… I guess it is elementary alchemy and still not quite for beginners…
“Uuu… Such a…g-good girl…” As I was pondering the process, Gina
had been reduced to sobs.
“I’ll, er, go get a cloth…” I murmured, desperate to get out of her line of sight.
Is she drunk or something? Or just emotional and quick to cry?
The book said I’d need a thin cloth…and I quickly found something that fit the bill. A shirt that had blood stains on it, thrown away by some adventurers. I doubted anyone would mind me taking some old shirt that was going to be burned anyway.
I tried to cut out the dirty parts of the cloth, but my hands were too small to handle the scissors, so I asked Aaron and Gina for help.
“Aaron, Gina, can you help me with something? I want to use this part of the cloth. Can you cut it out for me?”
“Wait, what is this?!” they exclaimed at once upon seeing the bloodied shirt.
“Some adventurers who stayed here before threw it away. It’d just be burned with the rest of the trash either way, so don’t worry and cut it up!”
“Then, uhh, let me do it,” Aaron said.
He cut off the clean parts of the shirt. I took the cloth scraps and wrapped them around the last Duana flower left. I cleaned up the pot and placed the bundle on the bottom. I then poured in some mana and started tapping it with my wooden spoon.
Is it working…? If I open it, will the drying process fail? Wait, I didn’t read what happens if it fails! What if it explodes?! But is it okay for me to just stop halfway through?! No, enough! No more negative thoughts! Focus, focus! This is practice, so if I have to fail at some point, it should be now!
I kept tapping the bundle and spilling more mana into it, time and again. As I did, Gina and Aaron watched me work with quiet seriousness. And then, the cloth bundle lit up.
Prod, prod. Mana. Prod, prod. Mana.
“Ah!”
A light flashed from the pot. It was done… Hoping it would be nice and dried out, I opened the bundle of cloth. However…
“Oh, it’s…”
“Ugh. It looks rotten.”
“…It looks like I failed…” I hung my head.
Oh, well…I guess I can’t make everything work on the first go.
“It says, ‘Use a clean cloth’ here,” Aaron suggested, flipping through the book. “Maybe that’s why it failed?”