Chapter 4: Smooth Water

Chapter 4:
Smooth Water

 

AS EJIL AND I worked in the lab, Noela flung open the door and rushed in.

“What’s up?” I asked. “I just gave you your potion.”

“Not want potion, Master. Stomach hurt!”

Did she eat something weird again? “I’ve got a bottle of stomach medicine here. Have you had any?”

“No.”

“Then drink this.” I handed her the bottle.

“Uh-huh.”

Noela’s normally perky ears drooped sadly. That’s all the proof I need that she’s not feeling great. The werewolf girl was easy to read.

“Let’s see…” I looked around. “Any more stomach medicine, I’ll need to get from the backsto—”

A searing pain in my gut caused me to stop mid-sentence. Gah! My stomach’s killing me! What the hell? Do I have food poisoning?! I hadn’t eaten the breakfast Mina served today; I’d pretty much just had water.

Ejil spoke up. “Doctor, we’re out of stomach med—” He, too, stopped short upon seeing me curled in a ball like a newborn goat. The demon king stared at me, wide-eyed. “Er, is something wrong?”

Give me a chance to explain myself! This position at least gives me a bit of relief. “M-my stomach’s killing me.”

“Will you be all right?”

“Uh…yeah, probably. Ejil, could you grab some stomach meds from the backstock?”

“Well, as I was saying, we’re all out. Noela just drank the last of them.”

“C-come on. You’ve got to be kidding. We had twenty bottles in stock yesterday.”

“The wretched humans came and bought them all.”

Wait. Does that mean Noela and I aren’t the only ones suffering from stomach cramps?

“I need to figure out what’s going on,” I mumbled. But first…bathroom.

 

***

 

I mixed a fresh batch of stomach medicine. Since we’d sold out, it was clear that other townsfolk were also struggling with nausea. The only explanation was a water supply problem.

Vivi swung by the next day; I explained the situation, and she inspected the drugstore’s water life stone. That life stone was one of this world’s unique and incredibly useful items; it produced our cooking and drinking water. Vivi touched the flowing liquid, sniffed it, and even tasted it.

“Well? What’s the deal?”

“It seems like something poisonous might’ve found its way into the water supply.”

She can tell? “All hail the drugstore’s water fairy!” I cried. “You’re amazing!”

“I’m a lake spirit, not a water fairy! How many times are you going to get that wrong?” Vivi pouted. “I can’t genuinely take a compliment like that.”

I shrugged it off and said, “Poison, huh?”

“Don’t worry. It’s pretty weak. Your body can’t absorb it, so it’ll probably purge itself of the stuff.”

“I see.” Water poisoning it is, then. And if more than just two of us have gotten sick…

Only one place in Kalta sold fire, wind, and water life stones.

 

***

 

I entered the tool shop only to find that nobody was at the counter. “Hey! You in, Paula?”

“Not right now!” I just barely heard her voice coming from the back. “I’m doing big business! The biggest business!”

She’s definitely in the bathroom. Talk about bad timing. “Spare me the deets.”

I waited about ten minutes, and Paula emerged with a dejected expression.

“Upset stomach?”

“Yuppers. Man, you’ve got no tact, asking a lady that.” Paula smiled, but she lacked her usual energy.

I explained Vivi’s investigation to the tool shop owner.

“So, my water life stone’s to blame for that ‘big business’?” she said.

“Apparently. Has anything weird happened around here?”

“Not that I can think of.”

Since life stones were magical, Paula told me that merchants and adventurers—mostly the former—often came by the tool shop to sell them. There was no way to tell who she’d purchased these particular life stones from.

“You’re saying I bought defective life stones and sold them off?” Paula frowned. “Urgh. I feel terrible.”

“Aside from making a plan to ensure this doesn’t happen again, what should we do now?” I asked her.

“Well, if you mass-produced stomach meds, they’d fly off the shelves. But it’d be awful if people pointed fingers and said we planned this together.”

“Right.” Paula loved making money, but she wasn’t the type who’d ever intentionally cause other people trouble like this. “For the time being, I think we’ll have to sterilize our water.”

“That’ll be a hassle.”

“It’s not like we have other options.”

Paula grimaced. “Yeah, yeah, I know.”

I get it. Up until now, our water had been perfectly potable—but now we’d need to boil it. That was an extra step where there hadn’t been one. “I guess I’ll have to make a purifier.”

“Good luck, Rei Rei.” Paula showed no sign of wanting to help. “If you do create something, hand it out to your customers for free. I’ll pay you back for it all.”

I guess she does feel responsible for all this. “Sure thing.”

Leaving the tool shop, I headed to my lab.

Back on Earth, plenty of people in Japan and other developed nations took safe, clean drinking water for granted. But many places still lacked potable water, and my next creation was the kind of thing they would’ve relied on.

 

Water Purifier: Eliminates aquatic viruses and bacteria that harm the human body.

 

Done. I headed to the kitchen, drawing water from the life stone to test the purifier.

Filling a bucket, I heard a voice behind me. “What’d you make this time, Mr. Reiji?”

“The water life stones around Kalta are doing a number on the townsfolk,” I replied. “So I made a product to eliminate the nasty bacteria in the water.”

“Ah!” Mina clapped her hands. “Does this have to do with Noela’s awful stomachache?”

“Yup. I had one too.”

“I just assumed she’d eaten something odd again.”

I didn’t blame her, considering Noela’s track record. “Nope. Vivi checked our water for me. She figured out that it’s contaminated.”

I poured some purifier into the bucket of water. Kerploosh! A ripple ran across the surface and vanished. I stirred the contents just to be safe, then took a cupful of water and sipped it.

“Huh? It tastes pretty good.”

I wasn’t an expert on water flavor, but the water in the bucket definitely tasted better than before. The mouthfeel was hard to describe.

“Really? May I try some?” I handed Mina the cup, and she took a sip. “Ooh, you’re right! This is so much better!”

Noela must’ve heard us because she poked her head into the kitchen. “What happen, Master?”

“Come give this a sip, Noela.”

When she realized the cup only held water, Noela looked indifferent, but she took it nonetheless. Sniffing the water cautiously, like a dog, she lapped at its surface.

“Garoo?” Lick. Lick. Gulp! “Smooth. Yummy.” Noela peered down at the empty cup, eyes sparkling. “Make tasty potion, Master! Research!”

“What? Oh. You’re right, I could use this water…”

“Arroo! In potion! Yeah?”

The drugstore products I’d made with life stone water hadn’t caused any stomachaches yet, but I decided this might be the right time to dump them all out and remake them with purified water.

After that, I gave water purifier to townsfolk who dropped by with stomach pain, and the product’s popularity exploded throughout Kalta. It became famous not for purifying water but for making it smooth and delicious.

For the record, I also tried making potions with purified water. Our resident potion sommelier, the fluffball, sampled them. Apparently, she couldn’t tell the old and new potions apart.

“Tasty taste!” she exclaimed—her usual reaction.