Chapter 16: Gratitude for the Panacea

Chapter 16:
Gratitude for the Panacea

 

WITH THE FINISHED PANACEA in hand, Noela and I rode Griffy to the Hautbeauxs’ home in the neighboring town. Mr. Hautbeaux came out to greet us.

I showed him the freshly made panacea. “I made this from rare materials, including unicorn horn shavings. I’m pretty sure it’ll cure your wife’s illness.”

He bowed his head to me repeatedly. “Thank you so, so much, Mr. Kirio!”

“Mr. Hautbeaux, it’s too early to thank me.” His words would all be pointless if the treatment didn’t cure his wife. Please work, panacea!

I visited Mrs. Hautbeaux’s bedside, explaining the panacea’s effects.

“You did this for me…?” she murmured.

“I got your daughter’s request in my request box,” I replied. “How could I have ignored it?”

I opened the panacea bottle, and Mrs. Hautbeaux drank its contents. For a moment, she seemed to glow internally, the way a bottle glowed when I finished a new product.

“Any improvements?” I asked.

“I’m not entirely sure, but I think I do feel a bit better.” Mrs. Hautbeaux smiled. “Also, that panacea was delicious.”

“Master’s medicine tasty taste,” Noela said proudly.

“I figured I might as well make it taste good.”

“Medicine usually tastes terrible!” Mrs. Hautbeaux replied. “I see your products are different, though.”

She’s a lot more talkative than before.

Beside me, Mr. Hautbeaux listened to us, weeping.

 

***

 

When I was ready to head home, Mr. Hautbeaux told me that he hadn’t seen his wife talk so much in years.

“She should be all right now,” I told him. Please, please, please work!

“The town doctor will visit the day after tomorrow to assess her. Would you mind being there, Mr. Kirio?”

“Of course not.” Promising to return in two days, I hurried back to the drugstore.

 

***

 

Noela and I visited the Hautbeauxs’ home two days later, only to find that the town doctor—an older gentleman—had begun his examination already.

“How’s your cough?” he was asking Mrs. Hautbeaux.

“I still get it now and then, but it doesn’t keep me awake anymore.”

The doctor tilted his head to the side. “How about fevers or fatigue?”

“None at all. I feel much better!”

“R-really? That’s fantastic!” He cocked his head the other way, confused.

“I’ve also taken to walking around our home,” Mrs. Hautbeaux added. “I assumed constant bed rest was no good.”

“W-walking?! Isn’t that painful?”

“Yes! My muscles are quite sore afterward. I’ve gotten out of shape!”

Noela tugged my sleeve. “Master. Master.”

“What is it? You sure look happy.”

“Master’s medicine! Success! Duh!” Noela wagged her tail cheerfully.

Mr. Hautbeaux informed his wife that Noela and I had arrived. She and the doctor turned toward us.

“Your medicine’s working wonders,” Mrs. Hautbeaux told me. “Thank you so much, Mr. Pharmacist!”

“Pharmacist…?” Wide-eyed, the doctor faced me and asked, “Are you from Kalta?”

“Uh-huh. I run Kirio Drugs.”

“Wh-what did you prescribe her?! Her coughing kept her awake, and her fevers were awful—forget being able to walk around! I swore she had less than six months!”

“I mixed a panacea and got her to drink it.”

“A panacea?” The doctor’s eyes narrowed skeptically. “What, did you buy a unicorn horn or something?”

“No. A unicorn let me shave some of her horn off.”

“A unicorn allowed that?! Absurd! They seldom show themselves, and they hate humans!”

He doesn’t believe a word I’m saying.

“Most doctors ask an adventurer to get them a unicorn horn at least once,” the town doctor continued. “But I’ve never heard of anyone succeeding. And you claim you made a panacea from that?”

“You don’t have to believe me. Anyhow, I’m not a doctor, so I can’t accurately judge Mrs. Hautbeaux’s recovery. The rest’s in your hands.”

With that, Noela and I left the room. The Hautbeauxs’ daughter, Aisha, chased after me.

“Master. Little girl following.”

I waited for Aisha to catch up, curious, and she handed me a wildflower crown. “Mr. Pharmacist, Wolfy…thank you.”

“You’re quite welcome. It was my pleasure to fulfill your request.”

“Fierce battle with unicorn. Noela protect Master!”

Shadowboxing, Noela showed off her courageous deeds to Aisha. Whoosh! Whoosh!

Yeah, right. You got scared and hid behind me.

I placed the flower crown on Noela’s head. “Ah! Looking good!”

“Groo!” Noela’s ears twitched, responding to a noise behind us.

Then, Mr. Hautbeaux came running after us, breathless. “Mr. Kirio, please wait! I must give you something as thanks—anything! Just name it, and I’ll do whatever I can!”

Noela and I looked at each other, then back at Mr. Hautbeaux. “That’s fine,” I assured him. “Noela and I were already rewarded. We don’t need anything else. Right, Noela?”

She nodded passionately. “Garroo!”

Mr. Hautbeaux looked utterly confused, but we said goodbye again and headed home.

 

***

 

When we arrived at the drugstore, Mina looked terribly concerned. “How’d it go, Mr. Reiji?”

“Before, Mrs. Hautbeaux was so sick, she couldn’t even get out of bed. Now she’s taking walks around her house.”

“Thank goodness!” Mina said, relieved.

“Mina doubt Master!” Noela pointed accusingly.

“N-not at all! It’s just…this was Mr. Reiji’s first time making medicine for someone so severely ill.”

Truth be told, I was sort of worried too. The panacea I’d made was supposedly effective against Mrs. Hautbeaux’s illness, but until we tried it out, there was no way to know for sure. To test it, I would’ve had to prescribe it to someone else who was dying. On top of that, we only had three bottles.

Hearing Mina, Noela, and I talking, Vivi entered. “Hey, Reiji! You’re super busy lately. Everything okay?”

“Yeah, all good.”

“Aw, come on! Tell me what happened!” the lake spirit whined. “You always leave me in the dark. I-I’m really going to cry this time!”

“That’s a pretty weak threat.” I glared but patted her head nonetheless.

“Good work, Doctor!”

Oh, right—Ejil had a shift today too. “I honestly didn’t do much.”

“Mina said you managed to obtain some unicorn horn shavings,” the demon king replied. “How did everything else work out?”

“Great, all because of the advice you gave us. Thanks a million.”

“Doctor, I…I’m so moved! I’ve never been praised like that before!”

Because you’re a demon king.

“Aw… I’m really the only one who doesn’t know what’s going on?!” Vivi pouted.

“God, lake fairy, you can be such a headache.”

“You realize you’re thinking out loud, right?!”

“Sorry, sorry. I’m just messing with you.”

“That’s even worse! And I’m a spirit, not a fairy!”

In her own way, Vivi was an irreplaceable member of the drugstore’s team. Since every single quip got a rise out of her, though, I kept teasing her gleefully.

“Didn’t get potion today, Master.”

“Oh, right. I’ll make you one when I mix the new batch for restock.”

“Noela wait.”

“Good girl.”

I checked to see which products we were low on and then headed for the lab. For some reason, literally everyone followed me.

“Sorry, but don’t you guys have a store to watch?”

Noela raised her hand. “Noela help Master!”

“All right. Fine with me.”

“Garroo!” Wagging her tail happily, she began searching the shelves for ingredients.

“So, why’re you two part-timers in here?”

“Have you forgotten, Doctor? I work at the drugstore so I can learn to make potions like you,” Ejil replied. “I’ve got to steal your secret techniques so I can make Noela mine!”

“Hear that, fluffball?”

“Ejil no allowed in lab!” Noela crossed her arms.

“Why single me out?!”

Ejil, Noela informed me, had snuck into my lab earlier to make something. “Mystery fluid. Wasted ingredients!”

“Urgh… She’s being so honest, I can’t even argue!”

As Ejil agonized, Vivi chimed in, “So, what were you up to, Reiji? What unicorn were you talking about?”

“Who cares? I’ll fill you in later.”

“Promise? You’re not lying? If you are, I’ll be a hundred times more hurt than anyone else would be!”

“I get it.” I spun Vivi around and sent her back to the drugstore. “Everything okay, Mina?”

Mina had been standing off to one side this whole time, smiling brightly. “Everyone’s here today, so I was just wondering whether I should cook dinner for Vivi and Ejil too.”

“Ah, great idea. We can eat together.”

Noela crossed her arms again. “Ejil leaving. Busy.”

She was definitely lying. There was no way Ejil would turn down an opportunity to have dinner with her. “Busy with what?”

“If Ejil’s busy, you ought to invite him to dinner, Noela,” Mina told her.

At this sudden suggestion, Noela’s fur stood on end. “Groo?!”

“If you invite him, I’m sure he’ll join us, no matter what,” Mina reasoned. “He’d probably squirm to dinner armless if he had to!” That seemed a bit creepy—especially since Mina was smiling—but she wasn’t wrong.

Noela paled and looked away. “No busy. Noela’s mistake.”

I knew she was fibbing. Ejil’s one thing, but Noela’s another. They’ll never patch things up, will they?

Mina smiled. “We’ll all have dinner together, then.”

“Sounds good.”

“What would you like to eat, Mr. Reiji?”

“Anythi—” I cut myself off, remembering Mina’s note in the request box.

Mina smiled. “What’s wrong?”

“‘Anything’ would be a bad answer, right? I should pick something, since we’re all eating together.”

Mina nodded happily. Phew. I’d almost messed up again.

“I’ll invite Vivi and Ejil for dinner,” Mina said cheerfully, leaving the lab.

Noela placed the ingredients she’d gathered on the table. “Hurry, Master. Noela need potion. Emergency!”

“Well, that’s no good. I’d better hurry.” I chuckled, and Noela nodded repeatedly.

After replenishing our potion backstock, I moved on to other products. Meanwhile, Noela chugged her fresh potion, one hand on her hip.

“Groo!” I could tell she was satisfied just by the look on her face.

“Kyuu!” Griffy chirped outside.

I sipped the black potion Mina had poured me and gazed out the window. Despite the stress of creating the panacea, I figured these peaceful days of us chilling at the store would continue.

Yet again, Kirio Drugs was open for business.