Chapter 10: The Price of Curiosity

Chapter 10:
The Price of Curiosity

 

BY THE TIME I’d finished the morning chores in the meadow and restocked the drugstore, it was already noon.

You know, I actually do a lot around here. “But it’s all fun, so whatever.”

I lay down in the lab, stretching my limbs out, just as Noela rolled in on the floor. “What’s up, Noela?”

She stopped right next to my face. “Stomach hurts, Master.”

“What? Did you eat something funny?”

Noela shook her head. “No funny. Stick in road. Ate it.”

“That qualifies as funny.” Kirio Drugs didn’t make any treatments for stomach pain, though. Potions were only for external injuries.

Mina poked her head into the lab. “Mr. Reiji! Noela! Lunch is ready!”

“No want!” Noela exclaimed.

“What’s the matter?” asked Mina. “You’re always hungry.”

“She’s got a bit of a tummy ache right now.”

To my surprise, Mina looked upset instead of worried. “Noela, you ate something you picked up in the middle of the road, didn’t you? Gosh! How many times do I have to tell you not to do that?!”

“Wow,” I said. “You picked up on that fast.”

Mina sighed heavily. “Whenever I shop with Noela, she eats anything remotely edible off the ground. I’ve told her dozens of times that she’s going to make herself sick, but she won’t listen to me.”

“Sounds like she totally brought this on herself,” I agreed.

Noela rolled toward me. “No abandon Noela, Master!”

It’s not fair when you look at me with those puppy eyes, you dang fluffy werewolf girl! Still, even creating an indigestion treatment wouldn’t change a thing if we didn’t fix Noela’s behavior.

“All right, I’ve got it,” I said. “Noela, I’ll make you some stomach meds later. Come on, Mina.”

Leaving Noela on the lab floor, I led Mina to the living room. “Got any good ideas for making Noela quit scavenging?”

“Hm…I think if you scolded her about it, she’d stop.”

“Really?”

“Er…maybe not. It’s less that she eats stuff off the ground because she’s hungry, and more that she’s satisfying her curiosity. I think she just wants to know what things taste like.”

“Yeah, well, curiosity killed the cat. Noela’s a werewolf, but you get my point.”

“She recently started chewing the rokushou nuts that friendly kodola leaves us,” Mina added. “Maybe that started this bad habit.”

Noela’s curious about flavors, huh…?

“I’m going to create something to help her quit scavenging,” I told Mina.

“You can do that?”

“It’s worth trying, at least.” I headed back to the lab.

Noela sprawled out on the floor. “Master…Master…”

Oh, right. I told her I’d make some stomach meds. Whoops. “Can you promise you’ll stop eating off the ground?” I asked Noela.

“Promise! No snack anymore.”

It’d be great if this was the end of her scavenging, but I’ll make the other product just in case, I decided. I dub this Operation Sugarcoat!

Grrrrrgggh.

“Stomach rumbled, Master.”

“That it did.”

“Gonna eat lunch.”

She still has an appetite? I suppose you can’t take the Noela out of Noela. The werewolf girl popped to her feet and trotted out of my lab. Perfect timing. Now she won’t figure out my contingency plan.

“You’re in for a world of hurt if you break your promise, Noela,” I muttered.

I guess I’ll make her stomach treatment and wait.

 

Stomach Medicine: Corrects and facilitates digestion.

 

After finishing the medicine, I grabbed something Noela was likely to eat from the lab. Then I left, initiating Operation Sugarcoat before returning.

The new stomach treatment was quite effective; Noela’s indigestion quickly vanished, and she and Mina went shopping together as planned the next day. I watched the store.

“If Noela keeps her promise, she’ll have nothing to worry about,” I reflected. However, I fully expected her to break it.

Noela soon returned to the drugstore, grimacing. Wow, that didn’t take very long.

“You’re home early. What’s up?” I asked with a grin.

Tears formed in Noela’s eyes. “Broke promise, Master! Ate more off ground. Mouth bitter! Thing on ground bitter!”

Feeling sorry for Noela, I tossed her a potion to cleanse her palate. She downed it quickly.

Just then, Mina arrived, having followed Noela back. “Noela ate a nut off the road and started crying about how it tasted, Mr. Reiji. I’m sure those nuts aren’t bitter, though.”

I smacked a vial down on the counter. “This is the new treatment I created for Operation Sugarcoat,” I announced.

 

Bitter Coat α: Creates a harmless yet pungent film around a soaked object.

 

Mina brought her mouth close to my ear so Noela couldn’t hear. “You set a trap for her?”

“Let’s just say I was prepared. If she didn’t keep her promise, she’d suffer the consequences.”

The bitter coat, which was similar to a repellent, could remove Noela’s appetite for things off the ground by teaching her that they were “bitter.”

“Wow.” Mina sounded impressed. “You’re something else, Mr. Reiji. And here I thought a scolding would be more than enough. Noela does scavenge a lot, so I’m sure this scared her.”

“Ground things bitter,” Noela grumbled. “Hate bitter!”

It looked as though I’d taught Noela a lesson. I felt bad, but this was better than her scavenging causing an illness I couldn’t cure.

Eventually, the bitter coat sold to locals looking to keep pests away from their garbage, which helped beautify the town of Kalta.