Volume 1, Chapter 28 – Apothecary Apprentice

Translator Note

I will use “Shishou” instead of Master in this translation.

Since my apprenticeship at Jez Herbal Apothecary was officially decided, I ended up working as a live-in employee.

It’s wonderful not having to pay hotel fees!

By the way, when I told Chris-san there wasn’t enough space for her, she went and rented a room in the building next door that very same day.

Her initiative is terrifying.

Apparently, that room just so happened to become vacant that day.

What an incredible coincidence that it’s directly across from the window of the room I was given.

I feel something akin to a frightening obsession.

Now, mornings at Jez Herbal Apothecary (it seems common to call yourself a “herbal apothecary” even if you sell blended medicines) start early.

First, the workshop opens at 5:00 AM to prepare the medicines for today’s deliveries.

Naturally, opening the workshop and cleaning it is my job, so my day starts even earlier than that.

Then, by 7:00 AM, the medicines are finished, and we deliver them to nearby hospitals.

For the deliveries, I’m just an escort.

Apparently, they need to ask about the hospitals’ current situation and what they need, so they can’t leave the deliveries entirely to me yet.

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At one of the hospitals we visited, which happened to be a place I’d gone to during my massive-deficit healing spree, they were predictably shocked.

“Eh? Fiene-sama? Why are you here delivering medicine with Jez-san?”

“Yes. I decided I wanted to study medicine as well as magic.”

“Eh? Saint-sama is studying medicine too? Eh? Ehh?”

“See? This is the normal reaction. But man, you really were Saint-sama…”

“Well, that’s just what the people around me are saying.”

“Hah, even a Saint Candidate would be full of pride over it, but you really are an odd one.”

“Do you think so…?”

Once the deliveries are finished, we eat breakfast and prepare to open the shop.

Shishou’s wife prepares breakfast, lunch, and dinner, which is a huge help.

Chris-san shows up at mealtimes too and casually eats with us.

Apparently, she’s paying for her meals, so the Jez household has no problem with it.

The opening time is quite loose—whenever the preparations are done.

We usually Manage to open by 10:00 AM.

Until now, the Shishou’s wife had been minding the shop, but she decided to pass the baton to me, saying that since a young girl had arrived, I should do it.

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I’ve worked customer service part-time before, so I figured I’d try copying how the girls I worked with used to do it.

As I was thinking this, a male customer in his twenties walked in.

“Welcome! ♪”

With a bright customer-service smile.

Wait, why does he look so surprised?

“A-Ah, uh, someone in my family got hurt, and I need some wound salve and painkillers.”

“Yes, certainly. What kind of injury is it? A cut? A scrape? Or perhaps a bite wound? Also, where is the injury located?”

“Oh, uh, my kid tripped and scraped their knee. They’ve also got light scrapes on their hands and face.”

“Oh dear, that must be worrying. In that case, this Mid-Grade Wound Salve should work well. Also, painkillers won’t be necessary. I’d recommend applying an anti-suppurative ointment made from Gertasil Herb alongside the wound salve as well. If you’d like, I can blend them together for you. What would you like to do?”

Huh? Why is the customer just staring at me blankly?

“Sir? How would you like to proceed?”

“Eh? O-Oh, yeah. I’ll take it.”

“Understood. Please wait a moment. Do you have bandages and gauze?”

“N-No.”

“Would you like to purchase those as well?”

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“A-Ah, yeah, please.”

“Yes, certainly. For the Mid-Grade Wound Salve, Gertasil Ointment, a week’s supply of bandages and gauze, and the Alchemy fee… let’s see. Oh? One moment please. Shishou~! How much is the Alchemy fee for Mid-Grade Wound Salve and Gertasil~?”

When I called out to the Shishou in the workshop, a voice drifted back from afar: “One small silver coin!” I see. For things that just involve mixing, it’s one small silver coin—about 1,000 yen.

“That will be a total of one silver coin and two small silver coins.”

“A-Ah, okay.”

He handed over the money while still looking kind of dazed, so I took it. Still, why is he so out of it?

“I will go prepare the blend now, so please wait a moment.”

Saying that, I grabbed the Mid-Grade Wound Salve and ran to the workshop.

“Shishou, please process the Gertasil and mix it in. Please turn it into a single ointment so they only have to apply it once.”

“Huh? Hmm? Ah, I see. Mix them together? Right. That certainly makes it easier to use.”

With that, the Shishou made an ointment based on Gertasil Herb and quickly mixed it with the Mid-Grade Wound Salve to create a single medicine.

“Here, it’s done. That’s a good idea.”

“Thank you very much.”

Well, I only knew about it because I’d gotten medicine mixed with moisturizer before back in the real world.

Then, I hurried back to the storefront.

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“Thank you for waiting. This is the mixture of Mid-Grade Wound Salve and Gertasil Ointment. Please wash the wound well with clean water twice a day before applying this, and then cover it with gauze.”

“O-Oh.”

“Yes, here is your order. Please take care~”

The customer left looking oddly unconvinced. Just what was so strange?

After that, no more customers came, and since the Shishou was getting hungry, the morning session ended.

I flipped the sign on the front door to “On Break,” closed the shop for a bit, and had lunch with the Shishou and his wife.

Maybe because supplying hospitals is their main source of income, they don’t seem to put much importance on over-the-counter sales, so the shop hours at Jez Herbal Apothecary are pretty loose.

Then the afternoon session began. Just like the customer that morning, everyone I served looked utterly bewildered. What on earth was so mysterious?

And so, evening arrived. Once Jez-san decided he’d had enough, the shop closed.

Today, apparently hearing the 4:00 PM bell made him go, ‘Yeah, that’s enough,’ so we closed up shop.

After that, we prepared the medicines for the orders collected from the hospitals in the morning.

Grinding the necessary herbs, boiling the extracts out of them… Then I did an inventory of the stock, wrote out order forms if any raw materials were low, cleaned up, and the day was over.

By the way, apparently they just eyeball the numbers and don’t really do proper accounting.

Hey, hey, is it really okay to just wing the numbers like that?