Chapter 13: Making the Tastiest of Tasties

Chapter 13:
Making the Tastiest of Tasties

 

IN HIS BEDROOM in the demon king’s castle, Ejil compared a potion he’d made to one from the drugstore.

“It’s completely unlike the good doctor’s. But why?” He rubbed his chin. “The ingredients are the same. Why are they so different?”

The demon king had once ordered his army’s doctor to create a similar potion, but it had also turned out differently. In fact, it’d been disgusting—a far cry from the tasty beverage Noela so enjoyed.

Ejil sniffed his homemade potion. “No scent. And it’s flavorless!”

He’d watched the pharmacist make potions countless times, but when Ejil himself shook the bottle at the end of the process, nothing happened. He’d gotten the measurements down to a T—even the water—but Ejil’s potion was barely medicine. Its effects were, at best, hard to detect.

The demon king cocked his head. “Could the doctor be less a pharmacist and more a witch?” But perhaps it made no sense for a man to be a witch.

Ejil had suspected that Kirio Drugs’ potion bottles possessed some secret benefit, but it turned out that the doctor bought bulk orders of standard bottles from Kalta’s general store. Still, the demon king wondered if there might be one unique magic bottle. Maybe the pharmacist used that for mixing, then poured the contents into standard bottles.

“Heh heh heh… Ha ha ha! Bwa ha ha ha! I finally understand! I’ve seen through your tricks and arrived at the truth, you cheating pharmacist! Next time I work, I’ve got to ask him to let me use that magic bottle!”

Ejil checked his calendar to see when his next shift was. Fortunately, it was the following day. Cackling, the demon king tucked himself into bed.

 

***

 

The next day, Ejil showed up to work on time as usual. “Good morning!”

Having teleported in, he was a bit breathless, but Reiji had told him many moons ago that “Greeting people when you arrive at work is a must.” So, Ejil obeyed.

“Hey. Morning, Ejil,” Reiji replied as he cleaned the store.

Noela also greeted the demon king, albeit quietly, while restocking a shelf. Reiji had given her a hard time, so Noela had finally started returning Ejil’s greetings. It was clear to everyone that she only did it because her master told her to, but any response made Ejil happy.

“Noela…” Ejil breathed. Her silky silver hair… The way her bewitching tail swayed… Ejil could’ve watched her forever.

“You’re grinning, Ejil.”

“That’s normal.”

“If so, it’s a problem.” Reiji’s calm straight-man schtick was on point as always.

Since Noela was restocking, Ejil checked the drugstore’s change at the register. When he’d first started working at Kirio Drugs, he’d found counting the change every day annoying. Really, though, the drugstore ran out of small coins frequently.

“We’ve got enough change, Doctor.”

“Gotcha.”

“Potions okay, Master! Lots now,” Noela reported with a victorious look and a nod.

“What’d I tell you about just restocking the potions, fluffball? Check over everything.”

“Groo?”

Ejil coughed pointedly. “I wouldn’t mind helping.”

Checklist in hand, Ejil walked through the drugstore, counting the stock. An employee did that every day before the drugstore opened and after it closed. If a product was low, someone would grab more from the backstock in the lab.

After restocking where necessary, Ejil, Reiji, and Noela were finished.

“All set, Doctor!”

“Thanks, Ejil.”

“No worries!”

Noela flashed Ejil a glare.

“What’s wrong, Noela?” To Ejil’s confusion, she shook her head, snorting.

Reiji simply chuckled. “Noela’s envious that I thanked you, not her.”

“I can’t believe it! Envious of me?”

“Master wrong! Noela no envious!” Even in a foul mood, Noela was adorable.

Once the drugstore was prepped to open, Reiji told Noela and Ejil the day’s schedule. “Today, I’m harvesting stuff from the meadow and restocking the lab. You two need to manage the store while I’m gone.”

“Together, Master? Noela and Ejil?”

“Yeah. Mina’s coming to the meadow with me.”

“Groo…”

“I’m working alone with Noela?!” Although he’d said the words aloud, they nonetheless echoed in Ejil’s heart. Noela quickly hid behind Reiji, distancing herself from the demon king.

Reiji patted the werewolf girl on the head gently. “Play nice.” The words were more directed at Noela than Ejil. She nodded, despite her very clear unhappiness with her predicament.

“What a perfect opportunity. I can secretly utilize the magic bottle that produces the doctor’s underhanded potions!” Ejil muttered under his breath, suppressing a foul laugh.

“All right, Ejil. You’re on shop duty.”

“Certainly!”

“Give Noela duty too, Master!”

“Okay, okay. You’re also on shop duty.”

“Groo! Certainly!”

As Ejil said a polite goodbye to Reiji, Noela left for Griffy’s stable.

“Noela! Didn’t the good doctor just ask you to watch the drugstore?”

She’d gone out of her way to have Reiji assign her drugstore duty, yet she’d up and slipped away.

“She’s truly a free spirit,” Ejil sighed.

After a while, Noela returned, seemingly thunderstruck by an incredible revelation. “Noela looking forward to morning potion! Master forget!”

“Ahem! Noela, what say I make you a fresh potion just like the good doctor’s?”

“Arroo?!” She balked, assuming he was deceiving her.

“They’re quite simple, you see,” Ejil insisted.

“If trespass in lab, Master mad.”

“No one’s ever gotten mad at me.”

Noela hesitated.

“Ha ha ha! The good doctor probably loses his temper because you always forget to clean up after yourself, Noela. I, however, do not, and he trusts me completely and utterly!”

“Garoo…”

“Hm? Why do you look so annoyed?”

When Reiji went to the meadow, he usually returned just before lunch. Ejil had plenty of time. Fortunately, no customers were present at the moment. If he and Noela didn’t sneak into the lab, they’d likely pass the morning loafing around in the store.

“If the good doctor doesn’t notice we went inside his lab, what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him,” Ejil insisted.

“Noela tell Master.”

“But why?!”

“Kill trust in Ejil.”

“That’s your goal? You’re quite a villainess! On the other hand, Noela…” Ejil cackled, then grinned at her. “What will you do if I succeed at making your potion?”

The werewolf girl scoffed. “Same thing.”

“I’m talking about your favorite, Noela! Potions, the tastiest of tasties!”

“Groo? Master make Noela potions no problem.”

“But didn’t you say you haven’t had one this morning?”

“No problem. Sneak from backstock.”

“Aha! Stealing potions when you enter the good doctor’s lab is what so upsets him, Noela!”

Even Noela sensed this to be true.

“However,” Ejil continued, “I can enter and leave the lab freely without leaving a trail. Which means…what?”

“Ejil make potion…and Master no angry?”

“Precisely! And the backstock shall remain the same!”

Finally realizing what Ejil was getting at, Noela trembled. “Arroo…”

“Heh heh heh. Have you finally seen the appeal of my potions, Noela? They’re neither on sale in the drugstore nor written on the backstock list!”

Ejil’s demonic whisper had Noela on the verge of falling from grace. “N-not like you can make potion,” she objected. “Tasty taste is Master only!”

“Shall we test that theory?”

“Noela know nothing, hear nothing, see nothing!” Apparently, the werewolf girl would remain quiet about Ejil’s trespassing.

“Heh! You’re quite a troublemaker.” Ejil’s cape billowed as he left for the lab. There, he cackled wildly. “Heh heh heh…today is the last day I acknowledge you as my superior, Dr. Reiji! Now, where’s the magic bottle—the magibottle?!”

Ejil still suspected that Reiji used a specific “magibottle” to brew potions; he assumed that this artifact had made Reiji the cheating pharmacist he was.

The demon king’s chortling continued as he searched. “Now I know the good doctor’s secret—his weakness, even. And since Noela listens to him, I can easily make her mine by blackmailing him and controlling him from the shadows!”

The magibottle! Ejil thought, picking it up. “This is it!”

It was a regular bottle at first glance, but when making medicine, it would shine radiantly.

“I wonder where the good doctor obtained such a peculiar magic tool.” His army would benefit from owning one.

Cackling some more, Ejil gathered the required ingredients. The lab’s owner wouldn’t return from the herb meadow for a while, and neither would the noisy Mina. Following the steps he’d watched Reiji complete many times, Ejil mixed exactly the same potion. “All that’s left is to shake the magibot—”

Knock. Knock.

“Gah!” Ejil’s heart nearly leapt from his chest. He approached the door cautiously.

“Master coming home!” It was Noela’s voice. “Still far, though!”

“What?!”

Reiji had probably forgotten something at the house or drugstore. Either way, this was bad. Ejil hadn’t finished the potion—and the fact that Noela had bothered informing him of Reiji’s approach might mean she was looking forward to it.

“Potion?” Noela called.

“It’s n-not finished yet. I need more time.”

“G-gotcha. Noela buy time.”

“Oh, Noela…” Ejil was touched; Noela’s helpfulness was a complete first. He had to make this potion, no matter what.

Ejil was allowed to enter Reiji’s lab, unlike Noela, but there was a chance the pharmacist might notice that Ejil had taken some ingredients. That would tell him that Ejil had discovered the magibottle.

“Now that I know his secret, he’ll probably find some excuse to fire me!” For Ejil, that would be the worst-case scenario—he’d be unable to see Noela regularly. As soon as he became a customer, rather than an employee, she’d probably never give him the time of day again.

Ejil kept shaking the bottle, but it wouldn’t glow. “Damn it! It’s still not done?”

Could it be that this wasn’t the magibottle? Ejil quickly transferred the potion to another container and kept shaking it.

“Ah…no go to lab, Master!” Noela was trying her best to stop Reiji, but she was awful at it.

Why did she even mention the lab? She’s giving him cause to check in, if anything!

“Noela, why must you be such a ditz?!” Ejil cried to the heavens impulsively.

“Er…why not?” he heard Reiji ask. “I forgot to write down the quantities I need. I’ve got to check the backstock.”

“N-Noela check for you!”

“Nah, that’s okay. You told me you can’t tell those ingredients apart, remember?”

“Yeah.”

Why did she agree with him?!

“Just focus on the drugstore. Wait—where’s Ejil?”

“E-Ejil…not in lab!”

She’s so terrible at this! Ejil silently cried once more. At this point, Noela might as well just have said where he was.

“I smell a rat, Noela. What’re you hiding?”

“Groo? Arroo!” Noela began to whistle innocently.

What a cliché. But still… Ejil cringed. “Noela’s doing her worst—I mean, best—to buy me time, and yet…”

He still hadn’t found the magibottle. Noticing a third bottle, Ejil poured in the liquid and shook it. This time, it glowed. Was that it?!

As Ejil tiptoed out of the lab, Noela blocked Reiji’s path forward. “No go to lab, Master!”

“Why not?!”

Ejil quietly hid, tucking the magibottle inside his cape, and then slowly made his way into the drugstore. “Doctor? Noela? What’s wrong?”

“Where were you, Ejil?”

“In the bathroom.”

“Is that so?”

Noela’s eyes asked the important question—had Ejil done it? The demon king winked proudly in response.

“What signal was that?” Reiji demanded.

How’d he figure it out?! “It w-wasn’t a signal! I just love practicing my incredible winking skills!”

“Hrm.” Reiji still looked suspicious, but he didn’t say anything more. He entered the lab, and after a while, he left with his notes.

As far as Ejil could remember, he’d made sure to put everything in the lab back where it belonged. “We did it, Noela.”

“Master stubborn,” Noela replied worriedly.

“Nevertheless, I finished the potion. Thanks to you, of course.”

Noela glanced inside the magibottle, eyes sparkling. “Tasty taste done?”

“Just barely.”

“Quick! Quick! Tasty taste!”

Ejil hurriedly concealed the magibottle. “I never said anything about letting you drink this for free.”

“Groo?”

“Either let me enjoy your tail’s fluffiness or spend our whole day off on a date with me. Pick!”

“Impossible! Both disgusting.”

“Please don’t say that. It hurts the most.”

“Quick! Tasty taste!” The werewolf girl reached out, trying to pull the potion away from Ejil.

“Noela, please sto—”

“Noela know you have! Tasty taste! Fast!”

“Stop trying to steal it!” Ejil attempted to block her hands, resulting in an awkward, grabby face-off. “You won’t get the potion if I can’t fluff your tail!”

“Potion hostage! Coward!”

“That isn’t quite right… Look, the world runs on give and take!”

The pair tussled so vigorously that the magibottle fell from inside Ejil’s cape to the floor.

“Ah!” they both cried.

Smash! The bottle exploded into shards of glass.

“Aaaaaugh!” Ejil howled. “I only planned to borrow it for a little while!”

“Master’s bottle broke?! N-Noela in the clear!”

The werewolf girl dashed out of the drugstore like the wind. Zoom!

How would Ejil ever apologize to Reiji? Was there any point even trying? The pharmacist would never forgive him. “I was wrong to try to make my own potions and show up the doctor,” the demon king murmured, depressed. “I’m definitely fired.”

Ejil began to reflect on his fun workdays with Noela, which were surely over, but he couldn’t withstand the grief. His eyes rolled backward, and he passed out.

 

***

 

Feeling someone shake his body, the demon king awakened.

“Ejil? Are you all right?” It was Mina; she’d returned from the meadow.

“What do you want, woman?!”

“Is that any way to greet someone?” Mina sighed. “You passed out in the hallway.”

Just then, Ejil remembered his predicament—the splattered potion and broken magibottle’s remnants were still on the drugstore floor.

“I-If only I could put it back together, then I…” he mumbled to himself. This was his all-or-nothing chance to turn things around.

“What’s the matter, Ejil? Did you drop a product?”

“D-Doctor?!” The demon king nearly jumped out of his shoes.

“Sorry, Mina—could you grab a rag?”

“Certainly. One moment.”

“D-Doctor…um…that wasn’t a drugstore product. It was the magibottle.”

Ejil had created that name himself, so of course, Reiji had no idea what he meant. “The hell’s a magibottle?” he asked, picking up chunks of shattered glass. “Are you okay?”

“Doctor, how can you be so kind? I-I’ve done something unforgivable!” Racked by guilt, Ejil was on the verge of tears.

“Noela’s playing hooky again, huh? Where’d she get off to?”

“If we fixed the magibottle, couldn’t you keep using it?”

“No need to fix it. It’s not like I could sell it now anyway, and we’ve got plenty of bottles.”

“P-plenty?!” Does that mean magibottles are produced en masse?! Does he get them from a general store with a witch on-site? But…if so, anyone who bought bottles there could cheat and become an effortlessly skilled pharmacist!

“I never guessed you’d be so worked up over a single bottle, Ejil,” Reiji added. “Jeez, Noela could learn a lot from you. She never feels guilty—just makes excuses.” He threw the pieces of the shattered bottle into the trash.

“Isn’t it thanks to that bottle that you can create products?”

“No way. A bottle’s a bottle.”

“R-right.”

Ejil ran his finger across some of the spilled potion in the hallway, then licked it. “Ugh! Disgusting!” The bottle had just contained dirt- and herb-flavored water.

“In retrospect, the way the magibottle glowed was much different from usual,” the demon king mused. “It was more like sunlight reflecting off the bottle.”

Since no magibottle could help Ejil cheat and become an incredible pharmacist, he was terribly relieved that Noela hadn’t drunk his potion.