Chapter 1: Handle with Care

Chapter 1:
Handle with Care

 

I’D STARTED USING that meadow Zeral lent me to cultivate more herbs for the drugstore. Thanks to my Cultivation Ace skill, the herbs—which were perennials—flourished. Today, I was finally harvesting them.

“Whew!” I wiped sweat from my brow, looking down at the basket of plants I’d collected so far.

The herbs growing in the meadow could sustain the drugstore completely, so if I kept this pace up, I’d never have to risk encountering a monster in the forest to collect them.

Well, not for these particular herbs, at least. I’d still need to visit the woods to gather herbs I hadn’t cultivated. But, hey, the meadow was a step in the right direction. I could even sell the medicinal plants I grew there to other pharmacists nearby.

The one bummer was that, because of the repellent in the meadow, Noela refused to join me to gather herbs no matter how many times I invited her. I understood, but it was lonely doing gardening chores without anyone to talk to.

I spotted an old man and woman working in a nearby field, sweating and holding their lower backs.

“Hrm,” the older gentleman said. “This isn’t gonna work without the hoe.”

“I sent it out for repairs two weeks back, and they still ain’t done!” the old woman replied. “What’s taking so long?”

I wondered what’d happened. “Good day, folks!”

“Ah! Well, if it isn’t Mr. Pharmacist!” The man doffed his hat. “Good day to you, too!”

“Is something the matter?”

“We still ain’t gotten our hoe back from the tool shop,” he replied. “We can make do with these other tools, but they’re not great.”

The tool shop offered blades, armor, and tool repairs. In a big city, different shops would’ve split those services; out here in the sticks, though, one place took care of them all.

I was in the dark about what made a hoe preferable to other gardening tools. I figured the difference was clear if you’d worked with one for years, though.

“Our hoe’s easy to use, and digs up dirt real quick,” the old man added. “We didn’t have to break a sweat to get things done. But without it…”

Hrm. I see why this is a problem. Tilling a field is tiring… Actually, it’s exhausting. I sure hope this pair get their hoe back soon.

After chatting with the couple for a bit, I made my way back to the drugstore.

An absurdly loud, cannon-like sound erupted from the kitchen. What the hell…?

Peeking in, I saw Mina and Noela cooking.

“It’s dangerous to chop too hard, Noela!”

“Not too hard, Mina. One-tenth of strength,” Noela retorted proudly, knife in hand.

“Why do you look so proud?”

“Werewolves strong.” Noela brought the knife down on the cutting board again.

Shthunk! The blade bent in half.

“Ah!” Mina cried. “See? I told you to be careful, Noela! You bent another knife. When Mr. Reiji finds out, he’ll be angry.”

“Please keep secret from Master, Mina,” Noela whimpered. “Use extra knife. Master never find out!”

“You just bent the extra knife.”

“Garoo?!”

“Now we can’t cook,” Mina added. “What’re you going to do?”

“Groo…” Noela looked miserable.

Feeling sympathetic, I called, “I’m home! What’s up, ladies?”

The two turned toward me.

“Welcome home, Mr. Reiji,” said Mina. “I have something to tell you. Noela—”

“Master!” Noela hugged me tightly, tears in her eyes. “Mina upset!”

“That’s not true at all,” Mina interjected. “Mr. Reiji, Noela took the extra kitchen knife, and—”

“She bent it, right? I know. I was watching.”

Noela shuddered. “Master…upset?”

“Come on,” I reassured her. “I wouldn’t get mad over a knife or two.”

“Garrooooo!”

Noela wagged her tail rapidly. Swoosh swoosh swoosh swoosh swoosh!

“I can’t cook with this bent knife,” Mina sighed. “Could you buy me a new one, Mr. Reiji?”

Cooking was part of Mina’s chores—plus, we kind of needed to eat. I could see that this was an issue.

I nodded to Mina. “All right, I’m off.”

The general store carried knives, but since I wanted something extra sturdy, I headed to the tool shop. When I left, Noela tailed me; even though she’d attempted to hide the bent knife, she must’ve felt responsible.

The tool shop was unattended, and it didn’t have much stock. However, swords and spears lined the walls, and gauntlets, chest armor, and helms sat on a shelf.

“This good, Master!” Noela showed me the priciest sword, eyes glittering.

“Seriously? A sword? We’re not going on an adventure, Noela,” I chuckled. “We need something much smaller and more practical.”

Finding a well-priced knife that seemed easy to use, I decided to grab two. Unfortunately, the shop owner was nowhere to be found.

“Um, excuse me!” I called. “I want to buy these!”

Thwack! A hand suddenly gripped the countertop.

Gah! What is this, a horror movie?!

To my surprise, a bespectacled, blue-haired girl poked her head up from behind the counter. Her eyes were bleary, and her glasses were barely on. She must’ve been pretty sleepy.

“Q-quiet down, would ya…?” she stammered, yawning wide as she stretched. “I was busy doing repairs, and I fell asleep on the floor before I knew it.”

She must’ve been working on the old man’s hoe.

“Ah, you!” the girl exclaimed. “You’re that alchemist everyone’s been talking about, right?”

“I’m a pharmacist, actually, but whatever.”

“I’m Paula. I’m in charge of this joint.”

I quickly shook Paula’s hand and then paid for the two knives. “Busy with repairs?”

“Dang busy. Oh, and by the way, that e-po you make? I drink one, like, every night. They’re lifesavers. Thanks!”

E-po? Oh…she must mean the drugstore’s energy potions.

So, Paula was staying up late and running the tool shop during the daytime. I could totally see why she’d nod off behind the counter.

“I was fixing the Red Cat Brigade’s armor, and then a bunch of local repair requests came in,” Paula added. “Ugh. I’m so sleepy.”

The Red Cat Brigade was Kalta’s main police force, so it made sense to prioritize them.

“How do you repair stuff?” I asked.

“Binding things together, soldering metal,” Paula shrugged. “Snapped iron is the most annoying thing. Fixing that is impossible, no matter what I do. I wish people would just replace broken iron tools. Instead, they always come ask me to fix them. It takes forever.”

Paula was just one person, and obviously, she got tons of requests. It didn’t surprise me that stuff took a while to make it back into customers’ hands.

“Could you prescribe me something amazing, Rei Rei?” Paula asked.

“Rei Rei”? I haven’t been called that since I was a kid.

“You know,” she continued, “some liquid I can just dunk stuff into, and then—woosh! All fixed!”

“Sorry. I can’t create stuff like that. That’s more like magic. Wait…dunk?”

Dunk, dunk, dunk… I could make something that would help!

“I have an idea!” I told Paula. “Hold on.”

“Huh? For real?! I’ll hold on for as long as you want!” she gaped.

Noela was trying on armor and pretending to be an adventurer. Whatever. As long as she’s not hurting anyone or breaking anything.

I dashed out of the tool shop and holed myself up in the drugstore’s lab until I created a special liquid. Bottling the concoction, I made my way back to Paula’s shop. She was napping on the counter.

“Yo! Paula! Wake up. I’ve got something for you.” I shook her shoulder.

She raised her head and adjusted her glasses. “Hrmm? Wha…? You’re already finished? Um…I…uh…repair tools over here.”

Paula led me to a small back room lined with all kinds of tools. The room contained gauntlets in mid-repair and many other pieces of armor that she clearly hadn’t touched yet.

I called Noela, peeking back into the main store. Lo and behold, she was playing “heroine versus demon king” by herself. I’ll just leave her alone for now.

“These gauntlets have been a struggle,” Paula told me. “That cool, gorgeous Red Cat Brigade captain owns them.”

Captain Annabelle’s gauntlets had originally been red. After all the damage they’d sustained, however, their color had faded significantly. Honestly, I thought the wear and tear made them way cooler. Still, it was clear even to me that one red iron plate was totally busted. Fortunately, it looked as though Paula had every piece of the gauntlet.

“We should be able to fix this quickly,” I told Paula.

“Really?”

“Yup. Watch this.”

I opened the bottle from my lab and dipped in a pencil. Carefully, I used the pencil to apply the sticky bottled liquid to a piece of plate, then reattached it to the gauntlet.

“You stuck it back on?! Wha—?! How? How?! That happened so fast! Amazing!”

 

Super-High-Strength Adhesive: Glues objects together. Tremendous stickiness.

 

The glue didn’t set instantly, but it would harden quickly if Paula left it alone for a while.

“Wha…?! But—hang on!” Paula cried. “This adhesive is useless if you can just pull the gauntlet apart.”

“Hold this for a sec.”

Handing Paula the gauntlet, I held the plate piece I’d glued on. Together, Paula and I pulled in opposite directions with all our strength.

“Grraaaaah!”

“Aaaaah!”

Our shoulders heaved as we tried to catch our breath.

“I-It’s not budging!” exclaimed Paula. “What the heck is this stuff? It’s amazing.”

“R-right?”

“My repair times are gonna shrink! Thank you so much, Rei Rei!”

“No problem,” I gasped.

Turning away, I realized the bottle of adhesive was missing. It didn’t take long to locate. Noela, still dressed in Paula’s armor, pulled apart her sticky index finger and thumb over and over.

Gloop. Gloop. Gloop…shtick.

“Garroo? Mm…mmm?!”

Come on. Don’t tell me…

Noela’s finger and thumb were stuck in an “okay” symbol. Noela flushed, using every bit of strength to pull her fingers apart. After trying and failing, she turned to me for help.

“Master. Big problem.”

“No kidding.”

We were getting in Paula’s way, so Noela and I left the workroom.

“I’m gonna swing by later to thank you, Rei Rei!” Paula called.

“Gotcha!”

“Master! Master! Fingers!” Noela grabbed my hand.

Gloop. Gloop.

“This is what you get for messing with stuff you don’t know anything about,” I began, wondering why my hand felt oddly warm. “Wait a second…gloop?”

It turned out that Noela’s trapped fingers were now stuck to my hand.

“Er…I can’t let go. Noela, please tell me you didn’t do what I think you did.”

“Can’t move,” Noela replied. “Master stuck, too!”

Why does she look so happy?! This makes me the adhesive’s second victim!

“Seriously?!” I groaned. “This means we’ll be stuck together during baths, toilet visits, and bedtime!”

“Arrooo! Together all the time, Master!” Noela’s eyes sparkled. Her tail wagged happily.

“I’m gonna see everything, you know!”

Noela took a moment to think and then raised her “okay” hand.

Er…for real?

“Stop using that hand,” I told her. I was just going to have to make a glue remover.

Back at the drugstore, Mina had made dinner and was waiting for Noela and me. I’d handed her the kitchen knives when I dropped in to make the adhesive, so she cooked without issue.

“Welcome home, you two!” Mina exclaimed. “Look at you holding hands! What’s going on?”

“Stuck to Master,” Noela replied. “Bath, toilet, bed together!”

“Wha…?! Oh, no! B-bed together?! That’s lewd! It’s off-limits, young lady!”

“Not lewd. Person who thinks bed lewd is lewd. Mina most lewd.” Noela threw sass right back at Mina, who covered her face with her hands.

“What exactly were you just imagining, Mina?” I demanded.

“Mina think lewd stuff, Master!” Noela declared.

“Ah. That explains why she’s finger-pointing. She’s the lewdest of us all!”

“You’re both big meanies!” Mina yelped. Tears streaming down her cheeks, the “lewd” young woman stormed out.

Okay, maybe we took it a bit too far.

Obviously, I had no intention of staying stuck to Noela. I hastily created an adhesive remover and separated our hands with no trouble.

 

***

 

The next day, a bright-eyed, blue-haired girl showed up at the drugstore.

“I finally got a good night’s sleep thanks to you, Rei Rei!” she exclaimed. “Seriously, thanks!”

Who was this young woman? She wore a long, modest skirt and glasses.

“Wait,” I said. “Are you Paula…?”

“Yup! Don’t tell me you’ve already forgotten me! We just met yesterday!” She flashed a carefree smile.

So, this is how she looks dressed up. She’d seemed completely different when we first met; now, she had the vibe of an energetic big sister.

“Once you left, I finished jobs I thought were gonna take months!” Paula told me. “That adhesive you made is amazing—and so are you for making it!” She plopped down more than enough money for her purchases.

Just as Paula was about to leave, she added, “I’ll drop in again when I’m free.”

Could people stop killing time at my store?

“Hee hee! See ya!” She winked and vanished.

Since Paula had fixed the Red Cat Brigade’s armor, I was sure the older gentleman in the meadow had gotten his hoe back, too. I felt like I’d gone above and beyond, so I was in a great mood. Finishing some easy chores, I sat at the counter and greeted a customer. “Welcome!”

Kirio Drugs was open for business as usual.