Chapter 2: Potions

The next thing I noticed, I was in a white space. This was the second time it happened, so I was kinda getting used to it now. Turning around, I found myself face-to-face with a cute girl with blonde hair and blue eyes who looked around fifteen to sixteen years old. She froze on the spot, a look of surprise on her face.

...Jackpot.

Wait, what did I even think I won in the first place?!

“Are you the goddess in charge of this world?”

After asking, the girl who looked like a goddess finally broke free from her stupor, answering gleefully.

“Yes, that’s right! I’m Celestine, this world’s supervisor. Welcome to Verny! We’re happy to have you!”

Well she seems pretty excited about all this... I thought it would have been more trouble to have a burden like me pushed onto her...

“Um, I think you’ve probably already heard from the God in charge of Earth, but I’ll be in your debt as of now...”

My future was riding on this, so I had to be humble... Wait, she was a goddess, so of course I would be humble in front of her! Jeez!

“Yes, yes, yes, I’ve heard! I’m truly grateful to you!”

...Wait, why was she grateful? Shouldn’t this be more of a pain in the butt for her? I couldn’t see what she was getting at, so I tried asking her directly.

“Um, why would you say that? Shouldn’t I be a bit of a nuisance for you?”

“N-No, not at all! I really am grateful!”

After taking the time to listen to the details, I got a rough idea as to why. It seemed like Little Miss Goddess here really put the God in charge of Earth on a pedestal. He seemed to be a pretty famous person... Well, he was a famous “God,” even among the other supervisors, and was popular with the other young goddesses.

Wait, so that guy’s a friggin’ normie!

Well, anyway, though she was ecstatic to be in charge of a world similar to his, whenever they had their “analogous world supervisor get-togethers” (They actually have those?!), she was always left behind by her senior goddesses and didn’t have a chance to talk to him directly. She could only stare at him longingly from a distance.

And that’s where I came in. Not only did the person—er, God—who she had admired so much come to see her directly, oh no, not only that! He bowed his head and asked for a favor, for her to let him know how I was doing from time to time! To apologize for the trouble, he said to ask him anytime if there was something he could do for her! Oh, what good fortune! Oh, what bliss!!! She was ready to throw in a little extra service for me, it seemed. Well, as long as she was helping me out, I guess that was a good thing...

And so, the two of us got into the nitty-gritty. My life was depending on this, so I was dead serious.

“In any case, the things that God promised me went like this: One cheat power, the ability to communicate, read, and write in any language here, and to bring me back to life in a younger version of my current body. Oh, and is there anything that’d be inconvenient about my old body? Anything that makes me stand out too much, or get me discriminated against, or that I couldn’t have children... Anything like that?”

“Oh, no. Black hair and black eyes are a bit unusual, but it’s not like there aren’t any people with those traits, and discrimination is practically nonexistent. There are no differences between your body and the bodies of the other people here, so there won’t be any problems concerning you having offspring.”

All right, that’s one load off my shoulders.

“Then let’s get to deciding that cheat. A question before that though: Does magic exist in this world? Like, are there monsters here, and people who hunt said monsters as a job?”

This was an extremely vital question. Depending on the answer, it could change what type of cheat I would pick and what sort of life I would try living here.

“I’m not too sure what this ‘cheat’ is supposed to be, but the other God requested I give you one superior skill that would help you live in this world. Also, everything you just asked about does indeed exist here: magic, monsters, hunters, and the like.”

Aw yeah, all according to plan!

“Understood. Then, as for my cheat, I’d like to request the power to create medicine that has any effect I want it to have.”

“...Huh?”

Ever since the God back on Earth promised me that I could have a cheat power, I’d been wondering what I should choose. If I could only have one, what should I use it for? For fights? Yeah, right. I was a girl with sticks for arms, so I wouldn’t be able to do much with that. Even if I made myself the strongest there was, if I were to get famous because of it, then that’d be the end of me. Game over. Surprise attacks, huge groups of people coming to fight with me, getting poisoned, traps being laid for me, being taken hostage... You name it and it could happen to me.

It would be a similar story if I went for magic. To make matters worse, there could also be people who would want my powers to run through their family’s veins. It might be all right if I was married off in some sort of political marriage, but there was the possibility they would just treat me like livestock or something... Brrr, scary!

In the end, both those abilities would probably just be used for fighting. I’d like to avoid putting my life on the line every day fighting monsters, and I didn’t want to kill people while fighting in foreign wars, so I’d take a hard pass on those skills, thank you very much!

Anyway, I didn’t want any special powers that had a chance of being passed down genetically. I was going to do my best to keep my abilities a secret, and even if people did find out about them, I wanted my power to be something that was limited to me and only me. It had to be something that couldn’t be used for evil or to hurt anyone, so as to make people think it wasn’t worth threatening me or holding me hostage. Above all else, there was no point if it didn’t meet my original goal of “an ability that lets me live a safe and happy life.”

Question: What was the most dangerous thing in a less civilized world? Monsters? Bandits? Wrong. While they were dangerous in their own ways, they could be avoided as long as you had the cash to do so. You could move to one of the safer areas of a big town, for example, and hire a bunch of guards to protect you.

I wasn’t talking about that sort of danger, but one that couldn’t be avoided:

I was talking about injury and disease. In modern Japan, illnesses that could easily be solved with a single shot or a surgery would be fatal in this world. The same went for injuries. You could make a complete recovery back in Japan, but living the rest of your life with the after-effects of an injury, especially if the wound got infected, was a no-go here. Being prepared for those things was probably the most crucial for me to do.

Another important thing, of course, was being able to make money. It wasn’t going to be easy for a young girl like me to save up money in an unfamiliar parallel world, which was why a power I could use to turn a profit would make everything perfect. That was how I came up with the idea of “the ability to create any medicine with the effect I want it to have.” That way I wouldn’t have to worry about getting sick or injured, and I could open a little potion shop or something and live a life of leisure. Since it cost me nothing to make, it should be a cinch to save up enough money to live on my own, at least until I could find my spouse-to-be. There were people out there fighting monsters for a living after all, and I wouldn’t have to worry about my potions losing to any of my potential business rivals... I mean, I could make potions for free with any effect I wanted them to have. There was no way I could lose. And that was why I’d decided upon “medicine” as my cheat power.

“As I said, I’d like the ability to create any medicine with the effect I want it to have. Since the civilization of this world is far behind compared to that of Earth, diseases and injuries are terrifying to me. I could end up unable to use a hand or leg ever again just because I broke a bone, or die from a sickness that could have been fixed with a single shot back home. It’s all the more reason I wanted to make this my request. I’m being sent to this world because God made a mistake and now I can’t live on Earth anymore... I’m trying to cover for just a small fraction of that disadvantage with this power, but is that selfish? Would God say no to that, I wonder?”

“...I-It’s alright, it’s alright! I understand! I was just confirming what kind of ability you wanted, that’s all!”

All right! Let’s keep this ball rolling!

Breaking eye contact with the goddess, I looked down and pretended to be deep in thought.

“Oh, I guess it’d be pretty inconvenient to not have some kind of container when I create the medicine. What would be good, I wonder... Maybe something small and easy to carry, like mini test tubes or something... Or maybe it’d be better to have them in drinking bottles so I could line them up how I want to in a shop? What should I do about the caps, I wonder? It might be a problem using aluminum because of how this world’s civilization isn’t too far along, but using corks would mean I’d have to worry about things like leakage or it going stale. What to do, what to do...”

I stole a glance at the goddess. Yup, that was the sort of face that said she had no idea what I was getting at.

“It’s all such a hassle...so could I just have it so the medicine appears in whatever container I’m thinking of?”

“Y-Yes, I suppose anything is fine, if it’s just for containers...”

Yesss, I got her to give me her word!

“Then that sums up the things God had promised me.”

“Is that so? Then let’s get started with creating your body.”

“Ah, hold on a second please!”

I reined the goddess back in. I did this to God too, huh...

“I may be able to live a little longer with this, but it certainly seems like I would end up living a life of discomfort at this rate. This place is so far behind compared to Earth, and not exactly safe either...”

“W-Well, yes. But that’s just the kind of world this is, so I’m afraid you’ll just have to put up with it...”

The goddess seemed troubled as she said that, but I was going to give her another push.

“Yes, I’m fully aware of that... However, the God of Earth said he would ‘ask you to take care of me.’ You yourself even talked about how you would give me some ‘extra service’ earlier.”

“Mmgh... T-True, I did say that... Very well then, what else would you like?”

Aw hell yeah!

“An Item Box.”

“...What?”

“An Item Box.”

“And what would this, um, ‘Item Box,’ be?”

I thought you’d never ask!

“For someone as lacking in strength as myself, it’d be impossible to carry the items, equipment, water, food, and whatever else that may be necessary to travel in this world. Not only that, but if I were to carry all my money and valuables with me all the time, I’m sure to be attacked by pickpockets or bandits. The same goes for leaving my belongings at an inn; this is a world where I can’t even trust the people working at the inn, let alone the other patrons staying there. I just wouldn’t feel safe about that. No matter how hard I work, I’d never be able to save any money, which would make moving to another town of my own accord extremely difficult. How exactly would I be able to live a happy life like this?”

“Mngh...” The goddess winced.

“That’s where the Item Box comes in! It’s a storage device connected to an alternate dimension with infinite capacity, and because time is frozen inside it, anything put inside will never deteriorate. I can take things out or put things in whenever I like, and it’s impossible to be used by anyone else. If I put my money and other belongings in it, then I don’t have to worry about anything being stolen, or having luggage so heavy I wouldn’t be able to move anywhere. This power is the bare minimum that is absolutely imperative for my day-to-day life, wouldn’t you agree?”

“I-I see... This ‘Item Box’ seems to be quite the convenient object. Did everyone use one back on the world the other God oversees?”

“Oh no, it was pretty easy to carry luggage around back on Earth, and you wouldn’t really have to worry about your stuff because of how safe it was back there. Ahaha...”

I managed to play that off pretty well, I think.

“Then I will begin the final checks: Your body will be the same genetically, and back to how you were at fifteen years old. Earth’s supervisor provided your genetic information, so there’s no need to worry about that. The people of this world are said to come of age at fifteen years old as well, with the marriageable age for aristocrats between fifteen to eighteen years old, and fifteen to twenty-two for commoners, so I believe that will be a suitable age for you. Oh, and aristocrats are usually quick to make marriage engagements, so them getting married as soon as they come of age is actually quite common. Once you pass eighteen, you’re considered ‘late to the marriage party,’ and going past twenty means you’re in trouble. As for the commoners, people from more rural areas usually marry earlier for various reasons, such as to lower the cost of food, for more manpower, or because they want to hurry up and have a child. In the city however, the average age is generally somewhere between seventeen and twenty-two. Around twenty-three, they start getting really desperate; at twenty-four they’re at the end of their rope; and by the time they reach twenty-five and twenty-six, they have this dead look in their eyes.”

Well, crap, that’s pretty harsh... Gotta do my best getting married!

“Continuing on... As per your request, you will receive the ability to understand, read, and write in any language; the power to create any medicine with the exact effect you imagine it to have, in any container you are thinking of; and finally, an Item Box spell that connects to an interdimensional storage with unlimited space, where time doesn’t pass inside of it, you can access at anytime, anywhere, and it cannot be used by anyone else but you. I don’t really understand what this Item Box is, but I’ll make it so it reflects whatever you imagine it to be, so be sure to keep a clear image of it in your head and how it functions. Now, is there anything wrong with what I just said?”

Yup, that’s all perfect. Now, for the finishing touches...

“No, there’s nothing wrong with that. To finish, I have a few questions, and one more request to make. Is that all right?”

“Of course, feel free to ask me anything.”

The goddess had a look on her face that showed how relieved she was this would finally be over soon. All right, guess I’ll ask her.

“The first thing I’d like to ask about is the religious situation in this world. There’s nothing scarier than religion, after all. What are they like here?”

“Ah, that’s an easy one. Almost all the religions of this world believe I’m the one and only God, and they worship me. How they pronounce and write my name varies slightly depending on the sect and the region, but they’re all referring to me. The doctrines and laws of each also differ to a certain extent, but since they all split off from the same thing, there isn’t much difference between them fundamentally. They admonish any type of discrimination against a person’s race or status, so I would say they’re relatively moderate religions. I would assume demons and such would be their enemies, but since they don’t actually exist, there aren’t any problems there.”

Hmm... So there was only one religion, huh. I didn’t know if that wasn’t a problem, or a really big one.

“Then would it be bad if someone formed a new religion, or if the current one were to die out?”

“No, I wouldn’t really mind. It’s not like I’m actually a god, after all. I’m just part of a long-lived and ancient species. Since I end up driving humans away, due to my adjustments to the world and getting rid of distortions, it’s more convenient for them to think of me as a divine being, so I won’t really deny it. However, I’ll also sometimes send out ‘divine revelations’ to save them from great disasters and the like. My existence and the role I play have nothing to do with faith, but I’m fine with playing the part of a fictional goddess if it means imparting beneficial teachings that support the lives of the people. While there aren’t any significant problems regarding the doctrine of the religion, there hasn’t been anything to oppose it all this time, and corrupt priests are beginning to spread like wildfire. There wouldn’t be any problems if the religion were to disappear, really. After all, it’s been fifty years since the last time I sent a revelation to this world, though sometimes you’ll find people claiming to be the ‘new oracle,’ but that’s nothing more than an egregious lie.

“...Now I’m starting to get mad. Maybe I’ll send down some divine punishment for the first time in a few hundred years...”

Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down! If you’re going to do that, do it later, and somewhere far away from me!

“Th-Then on to my next question... Would it be bad to do anything that would influence the world on a large scale? Like, for example, if I were to spread techniques or ways of thinking from back on Earth.”

“Hm? No, I wouldn’t mind that at all, really. My job is to keep the space-time continuum stable, so I don’t really plan on doing anything with this world’s civilization. If it seemed like a lot of living creatures were going to die for no reason, though, then I might try to lend them a hand. Sometimes I try helping out a particular organism just to kill time, but I never thought once about trying to influence the culture of this world to go in any specific direction. On that point, the supervisor for your world really is amazing, given how he puts so much love and affection into the work he does for life on Earth...”

If you think that, then you should do it too. That way you could have something in common with God to talk about... Oh, hey, maybe I should just tell her that.

“Then why don’t you try putting in some more work as well?”

“Oh, no, you have no idea how much of a pain that is. If you don’t have enough affection and patience for living things and leave it only halfway done, it turns into a real mess. I made a little mistake doing just that in the past, so I haven’t been trying my hand at it lately...”

“But if the God of my world were to see his junior working hard doing the same work he was, don’t you think he’d be happy about that? Since you finally managed to make a connection with him now, you could go ask him for advice when you’re in trouble or if you messed up on something. It’d be something in common you could both talk about.”

“Th-That’s it, that’s it! Oh, why didn’t I figure that out sooner! I’m such an idiot... I’ll start preparing to maintain the world again right away!”

Good, just try your best not to mess anything up, okay? You’re not going to mess up on purpose just so you can come back to me for more advice, right? I mean, you are the person in charge of this world, after all.

“All right, I’ve got one last question then. You don’t have to answer this if you don’t want to, it’s just something I’m asking out of curiosity. Both you and the God in charge of Earth both, um... How do I put it... You both talk like humans, even though I think you’re both higher life-forms that far surpass the likes of us humans. Despite that, the feelings you have for God are something on the same level as humans, and that feels really strange to me... I’m sorry if I made you feel bad, you really don’t have to answer. I just wanted to ask at least once.”

It took some courage to ask that question, and there really wasn’t any merit in asking it, but I was just so curious I couldn’t help myself. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be satisfied with why God treated me the way he did, and I wouldn’t truly be able to relax and enjoy my life. This also had something to do with whether or not I would make my final request.

“I see... Well, of course you’d be curious about that. Then I’ll explain this as simply as I can. If you don’t understand or aren’t satisfied with something, please think of it as ‘that’s just how it is.’”

Looks like she was going to tell me after all. The expression on her face seemed like it just got way more serious too... I was getting a powerful sense of intelligence from her eyes that I didn’t feel before.

“It is true we are beings that greatly differ from your species. We have no defined physical body, the appearance of myself and the being in charge of Earth being nothing more than a temporary form to match that of you humans. In addition, our mental processes and the speed at which we think are vastly different than those of your race. Not only are we long-lived, our perception of time differs as well. For that reason, the being you see before you is the consciousness of only one of the numerous parallel thought processes from my true body. This consciousness, which has been given the role of watching over this world, has had its thought processing slowed down to the bare minimum and its intelligence lowered to the extreme for the purpose of interacting with your species.

“But, to be completely honest, this is all quite enjoyable. If I were to explain it in a way you would understand, it would be a sensation similar to watching an infant crawl around, or watching a small child play some silly game, one where you don’t have the slightest clue as to why they find it to be entertaining... Something along those lines.

“I don’t know if I got the point across well enough or not... Rather, my other, much more intelligent parallel thought processes are enjoying the emotion I am feeling right now. The sense of respect I feel toward the being in charge of Earth is genuine. I, or rather, the foundation that makes up my real body, has a profound respect for that being’s true form, which would most likely be the cause of why I hold such strong feelings for them. My current body and real body are one and the same, after all. Just like myself, the supervisor in charge of Earth is only an extremely small portion of the foundation of that being’s consciousness, so they seem like a person worthy of my respect for them... Or something like that. And so, considering the situation that being found themselves in, they approached you in earnest and did what they thought was right for you. To be honest, I think they may be a bit excessive in their approach...but that is very much like that being, which is wonderful in and of itself. That is why I want to respect their intentions as much as possible. Was that clear enough?”

As she finished talking, the intense expression on her face reverted back to the happy-go-lucky feeling she had before. Did she boost her level of intelligence just for that conversation? I felt like that was probably the case. If she didn’t, then the difference in how she talked up till now would be too immense. If that was how she normally was, I would’ve never gotten my Item Box, let alone the other “services” she would provide me. Or maybe all that was the “service” she was talking about?

Well, no matter. All I could do now was give it my all in taking on this girl in front of me!

“Yes, I understand... Well, it’s not like I understood everything, actually, but I feel like I have a handle on most of it. So, thank you very much. With that, I’ve asked everything I wanted to. All I have left is one final request.”

Swallowing my spit with a gulp, I asked the question:

“Please, um... Please be my friend!”

The goddess froze up, her mouth hanging open.

It’s fine, right?! I don’t have a single friend in this world! I only had two in the last one, even!

I went woozy for just a moment, but I planted my feet firmly on the ground and waited it out. All right, I’ve gotten the hang of this now! ...But even though I was finally used to it, I’d never get another chance to put that experience to use. Probably.

Well, here I was in one of those “other worlds” I’d heard so much about. It was supposed to be called “Verny” or something.

After Celes came out of her cosmic entity mode, she happily agreed to be my friend and threw her arms around me. It seemed her galaxy brain powers only lasted for when she was explaining everything to me. Once she finished, she just went back to her previous, happy-go-lucky self. She spent a good amount of time rubbing up against me, having me think up new ways of her getting closer to God, and a whole bunch of other things as well. When I was finally freed from our little bonding session, that was when I found myself standing in this new world.

It looked like I was standing about halfway up some sort of small hill, and I could see sparse clumps of trees all around me. There was a town way off in the distance, but it wasn’t surrounded by walls or anything. Seemed like it was full of fairly normal-looking buildings as far as I could tell.

I should probably be aiming for the town for now, but, before that, I wanted to check out my new body. I’d be spending a long time with it after all, so I wanted to be thorough about it. Had to make sure to send my complaints to Celes if there was anything wrong with it, and I could ask for extra stuff at the same time! Just call me Kaoru Almighty. I doubt Celes was going to give me her powers or anything if I kept complaining about her though.

With that, I began running all sorts of tests on myself, including stretching out, jumping around, patting myself down in a bunch of different places; stuff like that. The results: It seemed like I really was back to the body I had when I was fifteen years old. I couldn’t check my face since I didn’t have a mirror or anything, but it at least felt right from what I could tell. Still, you didn’t have to get every single little detail right, Celes! I wouldn’t have minded a bit more strength, or some more endurance, or, you know... A little bust enhancement wouldn’t have hurt! I would’ve been completely fine with that!

Dammit...

Height-wise, I thought there was maybe a one centimeter difference between fifteen-year-old me and me at twenty-two, so it didn’t feel like much had changed. I was about 157 centimeters, or a little under five feet two inches for all you people stateside. I was a little bit heavier back then too. Instead of thinking about maintaining my body, I was more focused on things like club activities. And my appetite. Man, I was so young then... (Super serious.)

What I really had a beef with was my chest.

Yeah, back when I was twenty-two I could barely call myself a B-cup... But now, sadly enough, I was a solid A. No, this was a rarity! Only one in twenty people in Japan had the privilege of bearing this status nowadays! Celes was the same too, so I guess that meant we matched now. Maybe that was why she was so happy when I asked her if we could be friends...

Wait, Celes had the ability to change how she looked to whatever she wanted to, didn’t she? Grrr...

Hold on, just calm down, me. Now wasn’t the time to get angry at her...yet. Deep breaths, deep breaths...

For the time being, the body check was over. Next up, a powers check. I thought I’d give my most important ability a shot: potion creation. I stuck out my right hand and concentrated.

Give me a health potion that tastes like a sports drink!

I tried imagining the container being one of those small, plastic bottles you saw everywhere for drinks. The next instant, I held a bottle from a famous drink company in my right hand, filled to the brim with the exact contents I’d been thinking of. After twisting off the cap off and taking a swig, I found it really did have the slightly bittersweet taste of a sports drink. I wasn’t tired or anything, so I wasn’t really sure if it was healing me at all, but I was going to put my faith in Celes and believe it must have some sort of effect if I could already do this much.

The next thing I needed to check was my Item Box of course!

Item Box, open!

I concentrated and poured everything I had into focusing my mind as I stuck my right hand out. It wasn’t like I really had to do all that, apparently, but since this was my momentous first use of the Item Box, I wanted to make it seem as cool as possible.

Slipping my wrist inside an invisible space in the air, a list of my inventory appeared inside my head.

[Inventory: Empty]

...Yeah, I knew that was going to happen...

It wasn’t like I was hoping for you to put something in there as a little extra service, Celes. No, not at all... Like, seriously, I wasn’t disappointed in the slightest. It wasn’t like I was hoping for some sort of divine sword that split heaven and earth, or a whooole bunch of useful items for every situation you could think of to be stuffed in there for me. Nope, not this girl.

Next time I saw Celes, I thought I’d tell her all about a certain arrogant King of Heroes who loved his flashy gold armor, and maybe some stories about a certain blue cat-thing with a huge pocket on its belly for good measure.

Anyway, it looked like that was that for now. I wouldn’t know about the language thing until I met some other people first.

All right, time to head to that town. I bet I’ll come across some type of road if I just go down this hill.

I took a big stretch, then lightly brushed off my pants before finally setting off. I made sure to have Celes change my outfit to the type of clothes you’d find in this world before she sent me here. I mean, it’d be kind of a problem for me if she just tossed me into this world stark naked, so I made doubly sure to ask her for clothes. I felt like I could’ve been in danger if I didn’t. Seriously, knowing what she was like, I’d had a really bad feeling about it. My danger senses were going into overdrive, I tell you.

After walking for a little while, I noticed a little squirrel-ish creature staring at me from one of the tree branches above me.

“Hey, you up there in the tree. Is this the right way to get to a town with people in it?”

As I gave it a nonchalant smile, the small critter replied: “Yup, that’s right. Just go straight ahead.”

“Oh, thanks a bunch. You really helped me out!”

“Hey, no problem!”

I walked in silence for a bit, eventually coming to a stop and placing both hands on a nearby tree. I then proceeded to bash my head against it repeatedly.

“Understand, read, and write in any language... UNDERSTAND! READ! AND WRITE! IN ANY! LANGUAGE!!!”

Celes...why did you decide to go that far with my special service power?!

That little guy from before couldn’t write too, could he? I was beginning to get a little freaked out by that, so I was just going to stop thinking now.

The sun had already gotten pretty low in the sky. The town looked close when I was back on the hill, but it still seemed like I had a ways to go. A little while later, I finally found something that resembled a highway leading to town, but it was still pretty far away. I’d heard things looked much closer than they really were when you were somewhere high up, so I guess this was a prime example of that, huh...

I always loved reading, so I had a pretty good repertoire of random knowledge. I even chose a science major in college, and I had a deep respect for all the mad scientists out there who sacrificed everything for the sake of their research. But I had no intention of doing anything like that myself, though.

I was starting to get pretty thirsty along the way, not to mention tired, so I ended up downing a bunch more potions along the way. They actually helped me feel more energized, and it killed two birds with one stone, since they slaked my thirst too. There was a drug back on Earth that could get rid of all your fatigue as well, wasn’t there? What was it called again? I remembered it was a combination of the Greek words for “love” and “labor,” so Philopo...

I was getting freaked out again, so I stopped thinking. Again.

This potion doesn’t have any weird side-effects to it, right?!

Also, if Celes was supposed to drop me close to town, how come she’d put me so far away? It was dangerous to leave things to Celes. I knew she probably didn’t mean anything bad by it, but her basis for judgment was a bit...screwy, to say the least. Well, the way she saw things was probably way different than a human would, so I guess that’s just how it is. That didn’t change the fact that it still felt dangerous to leave it all up to her, so I was just going to try and do my best to get through everything on my own. For now, I was just relieved that I’d made sure to specify that I actually wanted clothes. And I was a little miffed that I’d made it this far with no resistance whatsoever. At this rate, it seemed totally possible that cats were going to end up being the villains here or something.

It was a little bit after the sun had set (there appeared to only be one in this world) that I finally made it into town. It was just before it got completely dark outside, so I’d say I was cutting it pretty close. There were no walls surrounding the town, which meant there were no gatekeepers here either. It seemed like people could come and go as they pleased.

It wasn’t like it was the royal capital or a huge bustling city or anything. It was just a small rural town that didn’t hold any strategic value whatsoever. I’d bet there wasn’t really any benefit to using all the money you’d need to build the walls surrounding the town, the costs to maintain them, paying the people necessary to staff them, and just the general inconvenience of it all. I’d be in a bit of a jam if you needed some sort of ID to get in and out of town, so I was thankful for that.

I went ahead and made four healing potions before I headed into town: three blue ones and a single yellow one. I wanted to make more than that, but I was empty-handed at the moment. I didn’t even have a bag to carry my stuff in. I might get myself into trouble if I suddenly used my Item Box without knowing what did and didn’t fly in this world, and I would look like a total weirdo if I just carried it in my hands.

I ended up shoving two potions into each of the chest pockets on my clothes. I arranged them by color according to a game I had played a long time ago. There were three types of healing potions: blue, yellow, and red, with each one more potent (and valuable) than the last. Since it was so easy to tell them apart at a glance, I decided to adopt those colors for my own labeling system as well. The blue ones were just your run-of-the-mill potions and could heal your everyday external wounds like gashes, bruises; that sort of thing. Yellow was your intermediate potion, and fixed up things like internal damage and broken bones in addition to the other wounds the blue could. Finally, you had your red potions, which were powerful enough to bring you back from the brink of death, but you’d probably want to wait and see if the situation could be solved by taking a blue or yellow potion first. My policy would be to wait a day at least a day before deciding to use a red potion.

I’d make my goal for today to get enough money for dinner and a place to sleep, so there was no reason for me to take any risks while I still didn’t know up from down in this world.

I headed along the main road until I found an inn, so I could check out their rates. A night at the inn with dinner and breakfast cost four silver coins. I guessed a silver coin was something like 1,000 yen, then? If that was the case, then I guessed my blue potions were worth one coin, and my yellow one about five? Well, I should be fine for tonight, so long as I could scrounge up about five coins.

Following that, I decided to head to the Hunter’s Guild right away, after asking a nearby hunter where it was.

Welp, I’d say the building in front of me definitely seemed like the Hunter’s Guild.

There was a mark on the front with a sword and a spear clashing with each other, and the sign on the front said “Hunter’s Guild.” All right, I can actually read it! The place had swinging doors that looked like they were right out of a Western flick. I didn’t know if it was because it was nighttime or what, but those swinging doors were the only things being kept open, while the normal doors were shut tight. I bet it was the opposite during the day—so long as it wasn’t winter, or if the weather was bad, or something.

Hrm... It was kinda hard to get myself to go inside... But if I didn’t go in there, then I could say goodbye to having dinner and a place to sleep tonight...

I steeled myself and finally made my way through the door. I shouted out, “Anyone here!” in my mind...but in reality, I slipped in through the barely ajar doors without saying a word. Life was cruel, however, and the bell hanging above the door made the loudest jangling sound you could imagine as I snuck inside, causing everyone in the room to stare directly at the entrance to the guild—and at me.

It looked like working hours were over for most of the receptionists here, since most of the counters were completely devoid of people. Only one of them was still open... I wondered if that was the nighttime service counter or something, but no one was lined up there.

In stark contrast with this side, the area just behind the counters was roaring with activity. There were tons of tables all lined up over there, with people who were probably hunters stuffing their faces and downing all kinds of alcohol as they chatted away with each other. It looked like there was some sort of counter way in the back providing food and drinks for everyone. Yeah, these kinds of places always seemed to be set up like this.

Wait, shouldn’t this be the part where someone says, “Hey, this ain’t no place for a kid,” or something? Or maybe, “Hey there, little missy, how’s about pouring us another glass of the good stuff?” You know, something like that...

Huh? Were they ignoring me? I mean, it wasn’t like I wanted to get involved or anything... It was just, I had my pride as a woman. And I felt like that pride was slowly being chipped away... No, it was nothing! I was just going to head over to that counter now like a good girl!

And so here I was. I’d made it to the nighttime counter.

The receptionist here looked pretty intense, and she gave off a harsh vibe... But I bet she didn’t want to hear that from me, especially when people always told me that I was the one who always had a harsh look in her eyes. There were no other counters open right now, so it looked like I had to take my chances with the scary lady.

“Um, excuse me...”

She’s totally glaring at me! But still, I couldn’t back down now. My dinner and my place to stay were both riding on this. All those potions I drank earlier were sloshing around in my stomach right now, but I wanted some actual, solid food, dang it! Oh, and a soft bed as well, of course.

“Erm... Is it possible for me to sell potions here?”

“You’re kidding me, right?”

Eep!

“What are potions? Some type of medicine? Go to the apothecary if that’s what you have. Why would you even bring them to the Hunter’s Guild? Are you stupid or something?”

Shot down...

Right, so this wasn’t the right place to sell potions... Then that meant I had to at least try and move on to the next step!

“I’m sorry, this is my first time leaving my hometown in the sticks, so I don’t really know anything... If I don’t sell these, I won’t be able to eat or find a place to stay tonight. Where could I find the apothecary and the doctor?”

“Yeah, fat chance either of them would be open right now. Besides, the doctor is out of town for a while; he’s off to a nearby village. The apothecary went to a neighboring town to see a couple that just got married. Seems like they had a kid or something. I’d say they’ll probably both be back sometime tomorrow or the next day, though.”

Ahhhhhh... It’s all over...

I slumped down to the floor, my dreams of hot food and a warm bed fading into nothingness. Why didn’t Celes have any money ready for me before she set me loose here?!

...The answer was simple of course: because she was Celes.

Damn it, damn it, damn iiiiiit! My tears were completely blurring my vision at this point.

Thankfully for me, it looked like the sharp-eyed receptionist had a heart of gold after all. After watching my miserable breakdown, she took pity on me and came to my rescue.

“All right, guess there’s no way around it... I’m in charge of the place till morning, so I’ll use my authority to help you out a little. I’ll say it now, but this is only for tonight, got it? There’s no ‘next time’ for this, even for the days I’m on duty again!”

“Y-Yes, I got it! Thank you very much!”

A drowning woman would take any lifeline she could get, and it was safe to say I was pretty desperate right now.

“Then first off, I’ll let you borrow one of the folding beds we use for employees who need some emergency shut-eye. I can’t actually let you into the staff-only area or anything like that, so you’ll have to make do with one of the corners around here. If you come crying to me about how the floorboards are too hard or if your blanket is too thin or something, I’m tossing you back out on the streets!”

“U-Understood!”

“Next up is food. I don’t plan on giving you any kind of money, so you’ll have to do something about that on your own. I’ll be nice and give you permission to work here for the night, so go earn your dinner money by selling your potions or whatever to those hunters back there. You could also run errands, rub their shoulders, or pour them drinks or something. That could also be a good way to get them to share some of their food with you... However!” The receptionist slammed a hand on the counter for emphasis. “HOWEVER! No selling your body, got that?! If you do, I’ll beat you AND the guy who paid for you half to death before kicking you out, so make sure that sits tight in that pretty little head of yours!”

She glared even harder at me with those piercing eyes of hers. Even though I was able to pull off being pretty firm with God and Celes, I wasn’t about to push my luck with the receptionist from hell here. I bowed over and over to express my gratitude before scurrying off to the dining hall packed with tipsy patrons. If the doctor and apothecary were out of town, then I should have plenty of chances to peddle my potions to everyone.

The receptionist’s shouts rang throughout the dining hall, clearly audible for everyone to hear. Despite the harsh look in her eyes, the hunters were all totally on board for doing anything they could to help the cute young girl with her plight. Not to mention they were all pretty used to women with harsh expressions thanks to the receptionist, Gilda.

Kaoru looked to be about fifteen years old...but that was only if she was still in Japan. To the people from the land of the rising sun, Westerners who were twelve or thirteen looked like high schoolers, or even college students, if they were unlucky enough. The opposite was also true, of course. There were plenty of cases where Westerners would mistake fully grown Japanese women for children. To this day, that they would be given all sorts of candy and treats when traveling abroad never ceased to baffle these women.

In this world, people looked at Kaoru like she was around twelve years old at best—the sharp-eyed receptionist included. If she actually did look to be fifteen or older, there was a chance everyone here wouldn’t have been this nice to her. It was possible they could have told her to put up with an empty stomach for a night and just sleep outside since she was an adult. No matter what world you ended up in, it seemed like children and all the beautiful people were still the only ones to get special treatment.

“Would anyone care for a potion? The blue potions can heal any type of cut or wound, and they only cost one silver coin! The yellow one can cure everything from broken bones to internal damage, all for the low price of five silver coins!”

That was the sales pitch Kaoru tried going with, but all she got from the hunters she was trying to help were bitter smiles. A single silver coin could buy about three or four mugs of ale, and all it would take was another silver coin to get you a decent amount of food and other snacks. No matter how much they wanted to help her, they weren’t about to cough up a silver coin for medicine a kid probably made out of weeds or something. They might have been able to at least laugh it off and call it some type of diet supplement if she made it cheaper, but that would only be if it was for a few copper coins. They would’ve sprung for a small silver coin at most.

Kaoru was beginning to panic once she realized the potions she was so proud of probably weren’t going to sell.

Why can’t I sell these? There seems to be plenty of injured hunters here from what I can see.

Were they planning on having their friends heal them up with magic later? Maybe they had to rely on potions when they were on the job and didn’t have a healer in their party, but they could get healed on the cheap from another party’s healer when they were back in town. It was true you probably didn’t need to worry about MP once you were back, and they may be able to get fixed up for the same price it would cost to treat them to a drink or something...

Crap, I made my prices too high! But, wait... They should need potions for when they’re out there on the job too. I could be making all sorts of trouble for myself if I make them too cheap... What should I do?!

A tough, middle-aged hunter called out to Kaoru as she agonized over her next move.

“Hey, little missy, think you could rub my right leg for me? I think I might’ve been a bit too rough with it today, since it feels like it could cramp up any second. Man, that’d hurt like hell if it did. How about we make your payment these two sausages here?”

“One leg rub, coming right up!”

Kaoru happily bounded over to the man out of sheer joy. She’d always given her mom and dad massages for tips, so she was fairly confident in her skills. The hunter was just about the same age as her dad as well, so she didn’t shy away from doing it at all. It was almost the exact same feeling as when she would do it to her dad. Besides, who could say if the man really was feeling like he would cramp up, or if he simply made it up as an excuse to give Kaoru something to eat? No matter the reason, the hunter’s eyes were half-closed in pure bliss, as Kaoru put her all into massaging his leg, which was around the time the other hunters saw that and started getting rowdy.

“Do me next! My shoulders need a good rubbin’, and I’ll give ya two of these chicken skewers for it.”

“I’ve got a quarter of a boar steak for ya if ya can gimme a back massage!”

“All that’s gonna get stuck in her throat if you lot just keep giving her food! Here, I’ve got a mug of grape juice for you! That’s way more valuable than these scraps they keep trying to give you!”

“Damn... Then, I’ve got fruit! Go ahead and ask me for anything you want! Oh, but peaches’re out of the question. Those things are way too expensive!”

“Oh, come on, you lazy bum! It’s the hunter’s spirit to act tough. Man up, and get the girl a peach, dammit!”

“B-But...”

The fierce-looking receptionist took a look back at the dining hall, raising her eyebrows somewhat. It even looked like the corners of her mouth were pulled up ever so slightly. Perhaps you could call that a smile on her part, though there were very few hunters who’d believe that theory. That went especially for those who knew just what type of personality she had.

After a short while of Kaoru being fed by the hunters, she finally managed to say, “Please, no more food! I’m stuffed, so I’ll take copper coins if you can spare them!” which the hunters gladly obliged.

Suddenly, the doors to the guild were flung wide open. It happened a little while after Kaoru had eaten her fill and was starting to get paid in copper coins.

A female hunter who looked to be in her mid-twenties came bursting in the guild, shouting, “Someone show me where a doctor is, I’ve got someone seriously wounded here! Tell them to get their clinic open!”

Just a second later, a man around his early thirties with a well-defined physique rushed in carrying another blood-soaked man on his back. They were followed by an archer who looked like he had just turned twenty, who was carrying a sword and some armor, which probably belonged to the injured man.

“He got done in by a graybear!” the man shouted as he carried his wounded comrade. “Please, we have to hurry!”

The receptionist came running out from behind the counter, her usual intimidating demeanor replaced by a more serious expression. Facing the four who just came in, she told them the one thing they didn’t want to hear:

“Doctor’s gone to one of the nearby settlements and won’t return for some time. The apothecary’s also left for a neighboring town. I dunno if they’ll return by tomorrow, or sometime later than that. All the hunters here are familiar with emergency first-aid techniques, so our only hope is to cooperate with ’em, while using any medicinal herbs you may have on hand...”

Expressions of despair clouded the party members’ faces. Anyone here could tell it was obvious these weren’t the type of wounds that could be handled by amateurs. They laid the injured man down on a blanket spread out on one of the tables, standing around in a daze.

“What are you all doing?!” Kaoru shouted. “We need to hurry up and cast a healing spell on him! With this many hunters, there should be at least one or two healers around, right?! Also, you should also be giving them your high-grade potions, a person’s life is on the line here! You can just get them to pay you back afterward! Why are you all just standing around?! C’mon, guys!”

The hunters continued standing where they were, blank expressions on their faces, as if they couldn’t comprehend what Kaoru was yelling about in her sudden outburst.

“Forget it, just get out of the way! I’ll do it!”

She pushed aside the people standing in her path to make it to the table where the injured man laid. His armor was already off, so she went ahead and swiped a knife from the middle-aged man who carried him in to begin cutting away the parts of his clothes near his injuries. His wounds were now out in the open, blood still pouring from the gashes.

“H-Hey...”

Kaoru ignored the flustered man. She didn’t have time to deal with him now.

“Somebody bring me the strongest alcohol you’ve got, bottle and all! Hurry!”

With dumbfounded responses, a few of the hunters ran off to the food and drink counter and brought back many bottles of booze with them. Kaoru used her teeth to pull out the corks before dousing the man’s wounds with the contents of the bottles. The injured man had been unconscious up till now, but as soon as the alcohol touched him, his back arched and he screamed bloody murder.

“I know it hurts, but it beats being dead! Pain is proof you’re still alive!”

The men didn’t say a word. They could only stand around watching, their eyes wide as Kaoru took one of the potions she made from her pocket—the yellow one, specifically. She held it out toward the female hunter who had come rushing into the guild first.

“Make him drink this! I only have one of the yellow kind, so don’t spill it!”

Maybe it was because the woman got the hint from the intensity of Kaoru’s expression, or maybe it was because she just wanted some hope to cling to, but she silently nodded and took the yellow potion. She moved the injured man’s head so his neck was completely straight, then took some of the potion inside her own mouth. She grabbed the man’s chin to open his mouth, then used mouth-to-mouth to feed him some of the potion.

She did it twice, then a third time, until the entirety of the yellow potion had made it down the injured man’s throat. At the same time, Kaoru was pouring the blue potion directly onto the man’s wounds. Not only was the alcohol she asked for earlier acting as a disinfectant, but she was using it to wash away the blood and dirt, as well, so she could apply her potions directly onto his injuries.

She took out a second blue potion and drenched him in it as well. That’s when the effects began appearing, and dramatically at that.

The flame of life looked to be all but extinguished from the man when he first came in, but, after drinking the yellow potion and having two blue potions poured on his injuries, the deathly pallor in the man’s face was replaced with color once more. Not only that, his once-torn skin bubbled and swelled as it knitted itself back together again before everyone’s eyes. He’d already stopped bleeding, and his breathing had become stable. His injuries alone hadn’t been enough to bring him to death’s door in a single blow, but rather, he’d been brought to the brink of death due to a significant amount of time passing after suffering so much internal damage and blood loss. That was the reason his wounds didn’t call for a red potion, but could be dealt with using a yellow one. Pouring the blue potions directly onto his injuries had proved effective as well. It wasn’t a perfect recovery, however, since it wasn’t as if the potions could also replace all the blood he’d lost...

But everyone who saw what had just happened knew what it meant: He was going to be alright.

Now that the specter of death no longer loomed over the injured man, the female hunter was clinging to him, while the middle-aged man who carried him in could only stand there in a daze. The young archer, who was carrying all the equipment, had already dropped to the floor.

Maybe it was because he’d been too busy worrying about his injured friend, but the middle-aged man had a deep gash on his left arm that was still bleeding. Kaoru was amazed at just how tenacious and focused he was to carry another man while looking like that. However, he was losing a bit too much blood from his wound. Judging by how deep that gash ran, it would take a considerable amount of time for it to heal, and there was always the chance it could end up leaving a scar. That would be a bit of a waste—no, it would be a huge waste for a guy like him. Smoldering middle-aged men were the treasures of all humanity.

Kaoru silently offered her last blue potion to the man.

“Wh-What are you doing?! You think I could just use something as valuable as that on just a few scratches?!”

“Quiet, you. Just shut up and drink!”

“...Y-Yeah, okay...”

After being glared at by Kaoru’s trademark harsh eyes, the man obediently took the potion and drank it all down. The next moment, the deep gashes on his arm healed and closed themselves.

The guild hall had fallen into a dead silence, when somebody muttered under their breath: “It’s a miracle...”

The next moment, the hall erupted into cheers.

“““YEEEAAAHAAAHHH!!!”””

“Attagirl, little missy! Attagirrrl!”

“I had her rub my leg! What the hell was I thinking...?!”

“That was to help her out when she was hungry, so there shouldn’t be any problems there!”

“Why was I such an idiot?! Why didn’t I buy that medicine for a silver coin back then?!”

Mugs were shattered in hearty toasts. The tipsy hunters kept on shouting while Kaoru was being tossed about like a ship in a storm in the middle of it all. It was pandemonium, a scene right out of hell, that was centered around an angel—one that just happened to have a very harsh look in her eyes.