Chapter 3: Making Potions

Chapter 3:
Making Potions

 

BACK AT THE GENERAL STORE, before setting off for the woods, I got myself a mortar and pestle, a basket for medicinal herbs, a small knife, and ten bottles. I tried to pay for all this, but the manager would have none of it.

“If I took money from you, Reiji my lad, the old lady would be furious.”

I decided to let it go for now.

Noela was currently in wolf form, howling and wandering around near the village. That was apparently how she detected dangerous monsters and beasts nearby. Granted, I had no clue whether there was any real meaning behind her noises.

I, on the other hand, was harvesting medicinal herbs and the like for tasty potions. I hadn’t noticed yesterday, since I was so thunderstruck, but herbs had become easier to spot. It was almost like they stuck out from their background. The stalk of the “aero” plant, a medicinal herb known as “torigisou,” and last but not least, a therapeutic root called “amane”—one by one, I collected them and stuffed them into my basket.

“This should be more than enough,” I told myself, my basket now full.

At that point, Noela finally got back, her body shining as she returned to her human form. “Master ready?”

“Not quite. I was hoping you could guide me to a river or something. Any water source, really.”

“This way.”

Noela led me to a cobbled trail next to a stream. The visibility was great; it would be easy to tell if a monster or wild animal approached. The water itself was clean and transparent. According to my identification skill, it was perfectly suitable for medicine.

“Noela help Master!”

“Thanks a ton. Think you can grab me some water?”

Noela nodded. Holding a bottle to her chest, she headed to the stream. Her tail wagged happily as she knelt and began to fill the bottle.

Meanwhile, I ground the herbs I’d just collected with the mortar and pestle I got earlier. I squeezed the plants nice and tight against the mortar’s surface, grinding out all the juice.

Noela came back with the bottle of water in hand. I poured in the ground flora, capped the bottle, and began to shake it. Immediately, the mixture reacted the way it had when I’d tried this yesterday; it glowed faintly and turned the color of a sports drink.

 

Potion (Excellent): Stops blood loss. Highly effective on superficial injuries.

 

“Perfect. It worked.”

“Tasty, tasty! Tasty, tasty!” Noela reached for the bottle.

I pulled it away from her. “Hold your horses. Don’t get riled up. I’ll make you some later, okay?”

“Will wait.”

“Good girl.”

I ended up mixing an extra potion and giving it to Noela. Her tail wagged slowly as she gulped down the drink. “Arrroooo!”

I continued my work, bottling ten potions before eventually heading back to Kalta.

 

***

 

As Noela and I walked through town, I couldn’t help but notice more people around, many of whom whispered amongst themselves.

“Yo, is that the so-called revolutionary hero?”

“I heard he has black hair and a beastling serving him. That’s gotta be him!”

Er, did I do something wrong? I wondered.

“Noela not beastling. Werewolf,” Noela complained.

The general store manager, Alf, stared at us wide-eyed as I explained today’s delivery. “So, uh, I ended up making quite a few potions. I filled the ten bottles you gave me.”

“A-are you kidding?! That’s enough for a hundred sales!” he exclaimed. “You filled them all that quickly?!”

Oh, right. Each of Alf’s bottles held about ten retail potions, I remembered. “Quickly? I mean, I’ve been working since this morning, and it’s already noon.”

The manager’s eyes bugged out dramatically. “That’s breakneck fast!”

I suppose I have no clue how long mixing potions normally takes.

“I-I knew it,” he continued. “As a genius alchemist expatriate—er, a revolutionary hero—you’re one of a kind.”

“So, you’re the guy starting the weird rumors,” I replied.

I entered the store with the manager, and we transferred the potions to smaller bottles. Noela had already drunk her fill of the stuff on the way home; still, she stared longingly at my hands as I poured the potions.

“Reiji, my lad, most craftsmen struggle to mix a hundred potions a month,” the manager informed me. “For slower potion-makers, even sixty can be rough.”

“Hunh. They sure take it easy.”

“I’m not talking about how much they work. Grinding herbs, drying them, all of that—it takes time. You should know that better than I.”

“Wh-whoa! Wait a sec,” I said. “Of course I know that! I, uh, was just testing you, Alf! Y-yeah, totally.”

“Master sweaty.”

“Quiet, Noela.”

“Woof.”

A hundred potions per month, on the high end. If that was really the case, my medicine-making skill was practically magic.

Which means Alf wasn’t really off the mark calling me an “alchemist.” Hrm. The war on the front lines had ravaged Kalta’s potion supply, so potions were hard to come by here in the boondocks.

If magic existed in this world, there must be healing spells, but I hadn’t seen any yet. Without a healer present, people had to rely on potions. I had experience with that—in video games, anyway.

The manager lined a store shelf with bottles of the breakthrough potion. He removed the “Sold Out” sign, replacing it with one reading “Revolutionary Potions Available.”

“Hey, Reiji my lad, have you had lunch yet?” he asked me. “C’mon, eat with my family.”

“I’ll gladly take you up on that offer. Thank you very much.”

That was how Alf’s wife ended up making me and Noela lunch. We both indulged in warm soup and crusty bread, only to spot a small group of children in the dining room entrance, staring at Noela fiercely. Alf’s kids, no doubt.

“Beast lady!”

“Her tail looks super-duper soft!”

“Look! Look! Her ears are moving and stuff!”

“She’s sooooo cute!”

Noela looked at me with a troubled expression. “Master. Master. Watching me.”

Maybe she’s embarrassed. “Yup, they sure are.”

One after another, the kids came into the dining room and began petting Noela all over.

“Her tail’s so soft!”

“Her fur’s so smooth!”

“Her ears! I’m gonna touch her ears!”

Noela looked as if she were about to cry. “Master. Master. Touching me.”

“Yup, they sure are.”

Teary-eyed, Noela resisted the children’s play. “Don’t pull!” They didn’t seem to pay her any mind.

Alf’s wife smiled, a baby in her arms. “I’m so sorry about the little ones.”

“No, no. You treated us to such a wonderful lunch, after all. No harm done.”

“Master no speak for Noela!”

Even from the dining room, I could tell things had gotten loud in the general store. “One per person!” I heard Alf shout.

Looks like business is booming yet again today.

“Thank you so much, Reiji,” Alf’s wife continued.

I returned the smile she gave me. “Please, I honestly did nothing. Your husband’s paid me more than enough for the potions. And, hey, we all gotta look out for one another.”

As the children continued to roughhouse, Noela pulled my cuff. “Master! Master! Pwease, save meee!”

“Sorry. As a wolf girl, it’s your fate to be snuggled to death,” I chuckled. Life is full of trials and tribulations, Noela.

Still, I felt a little bad for her, so I made her a potion later.