Act 1: Journey

Act 1:
Journey

 

IT HAD BEEN A YEAR since my summoning. The seasons had cycled, and spring was on the horizon. However, we were as yet mired in the end of winter. Although milder than in Japan, the climate near the capital city was still cold.

Despite the chill, I had taken myself yet again to the Royal Magi Assembly’s practice grounds to train with my magic.

The grounds were outside, but I wore only a light robe on top of my regular clothes—rather than, you know, a proper coat. I could get away with such lightweight clothing because the robe was enchanted with Fire Magic. It formed a layer of warm air around my body when worn, like a personal heater, and it made being outdoors in this weather quite comfortable.

Grand Magus Yuri Drewes had gifted me this convenient—and expensive—item. He’d claimed he was giving it to me because he didn’t want me to catch a cold, but I suspected his generosity came only half from kindness. The other half likely stemmed from some kind of ulterior motive.

Just as I was casting a Holy Magic spell as a warm-up exercise, Yuri arrived at the practice grounds. Speak of the devil and all that.

“You have improved considerably.” Wearing a painted-on smile on his handsome face, he looked beautiful as ever. However, looks can be deceiving.

This may sound rude, but in truth, Yuri was well known to be single-mindedly obsessed with magic. It was quite a shame, really.

“Thank you,” I said.

Yuri dispensed with the pleasantries and jumped immediately to what he wanted to know. “Are you going to try calling on the Saint’s powers now?”

“Yes. I just finished warming up.”

By “the Saint’s powers,” he was referring to the magic I had used in the western forest, which had dissipated the miasma swamp and all the monsters it belched up in one fell swoop.

Despite his numerous obligations, Yuri always came to join me during my daily post-lesson practice, but only because he wanted to see me use the Saint’s magic again. I was pretty sure that had something to do with why he’d given me the enchanted robe as well.

I could see the glimmer in his eye as he waited for me to cast again. I felt bad keeping him waiting, so I prepared myself.

I looked away from Yuri, took a deep breath, and summoned my conviction. Why did I have to do all this? Because since our return from the western forest, I hadn’t managed to cast the spell again.

The research institute and the western forest—these were the only two places I had managed to use the Saint’s magic, but I still had no idea exactly how I had done it.

I had been told that I must have tapped into my powers as the Saint both times, but, well, each time, the effects of the magic had been different. The first time, I had improved the effectiveness of herbs. The second, I eliminated the black swamp that we suspected had been created by the miasma.

However, one thing had been the same each time: the gold color of the magic. When this golden magic suddenly burst forth from inside me, it always felt as though it was literally pouring out of me. Therefore, since I remembered how it felt when I cast the magic, I had a feeling that if I could just figure out how to summon up that feeling, the rest would be easy.

The problem was that I had no clue where to start. I had tried a ton of different things, but I still hadn’t figured it out. This feeling of groping around in the dark searching for an answer gave me traumatic flashbacks to working in Japan.

Stop that, self. I gotta concentrate on the magic now. I refocused myself on the magical power circulating through my body. Thanks to months of training, I could now identify the feel of the magic in my body the moment I focused. I examined that magic, but I didn’t find any sign of the golden kind I was hoping for.

But if I recall correctly, at the time, there was some kind of bursting feeling in my chest. Hmm. Hmm, hmm, hmm…

A few minutes later, I dropped my concentration and let out a sigh. How in the world was I supposed to figure out how this magic worked? I didn’t remember doing anything special at either time, let alone anything specifically magical.

“Is it difficult?” Yuri asked.

“Yeah, I still have no idea how to put my finger on it.”

“I apologize for not watching your process more closely back in the forest.”

“Really, it’s not something you should be apologizing about.”

“But I really, truly regret that I was unable to verify how it worked. If only I had properly observed the magic, then by now, we could be…” he sighed.

Let me put it this way: At the time when I cast the magic, everyone was busy trying to stay alive, including Yuri. Nevertheless, when we got back to the palace, he had been devastated by my inability to call on the powers of the Saint again. If I had figured out how to use the Saint’s magic on command, right about now I would probably be subject to Yuri’s various experiments.

In short, the rest of Yuri’s sentence was probably supposed to be something like “by now, we could be in the thick of so, so, so many different trials.”

And thus, I spent the rest of the day trying my hardest to use the magic again, only to come up with nothing.

 

***

 

One cold day in spring, I had stayed cooped up in the institute all day since I didn’t feel like going outside.

“Sei, are you making more potions?” Jude asked.

“Yup, that’s right. We’ve been getting a lot more orders lately, you see.” I’d had this conversation a number of times since coming to this world.

“But aren’t you making way more than necessary again?”

“You think so?” I tilted my head as I looked at the potions before me. I heard Jude sigh deeply.

You don’t have to sound that exasperated. I wasn’t lying about there being more orders.

At first, I’d only made potions for the Knights of the Third Order, but now I was making them for the Second Order and the Royal Magi Assembly as well. You see, the whole palace now knew the rumor that the potions made at the institute were more effective than those made anywhere else.

This wasn’t the only reason for the order backlog, though. Due to the influx of monsters in recent years, there was a high demand for potions in the general market as well, and for a long time now, there had been a widespread shortage. A layperson might think we should therefore just increase how many potions we made, but the matter wasn’t so easily resolved.

Potions couldn’t be made just by following a recipe. The higher-ranking potions required subtle magical manipulation, and the maker needed to have the appropriate skill level in Pharmaceuticals. If the maker’s level was lower than the rank of the potion they wanted to make, their attempt would fail, and they’d be left with a bunch of boiled plant matter.

As a result, while there were quite a few people who could make mid-grade potions, very few could reliably produce high-grade ones. Also, since potion-making required magic, the number of potions a person could make in a day was limited by the amount of MP they possessed. Once they ran out, they were unable to make any more until they rested or drank an MP potion. This limitation was considered the main reason why raising one’s Pharmaceuticals skill was so difficult.

Therefore, the problem couldn’t be solved simply by “making more potions”—the world was already producing them at capacity.

Potions were a particular necessity for the knightly Orders, due to their value during monster-slaying expeditions. With the increase in the monster population around the capital, the number of required potions had also soared.

However, even though the palace got first dibs on newly produced potion batches, they couldn’t monopolize the market. While high-grade potions were expensive and out of reach for most commoners, low-grade ones were largely obtainable. If the palace bought those up too, they would foster discontent among the common folk.

The palace officials recognized this and as a result closely managed the palace’s potion consumption. Thus, although they had increased the amount of potions they procured for the knightly Orders, they were unable to acquire any more than they already did. As such, the knights were forced to let minor injuries heal on their own, while mages who could use Holy Magic were asked to tend the more dire wounds.

All of this was why the potions made at our institute had caught everyone’s attention. Not only were they more effective, we were able to produce more per day than the medicine shops in the capital. The Orders couldn’t resist jumping at them after enduring the chronic shortage of years past.

“Maybe they did put in more orders, but I doubt they increased them by this much,” Jude said.

“I swear I’m keeping the requested number in mind while I make them.”

“Really? I kind of doubt they’d ever order this many high-grade HP potions. Johan’s gonna yell at you again.”

All the potions lined up in neat rows before me were indeed the high-grade variety. The herbs required to make them were expensive, so they weren’t used unless absolutely necessary. And…fine, Jude was right. The Orders hadn’t ordered quite as many as I’d made.

But I only made so many because I wanted to raise my Pharmaceuticals skill, which I could only do by making potions. However, my level was now so high that even making high-grade potions wasn’t increasing it.

Given the cost of the requisite ingredients, Johan had told me to stop making so many of them…and I was trying to be careful about my quota, I really was, but… Oof, I guess I wound up making too many after all.

“What about the other kinds the Orders asked for? Don’t you have to make those?” Jude asked.

“Oh, I did.”

“What? You’re done already?”

“The majority of what they asked for were low- and mid-grade potions, you know.”

Jude had told me before that I could make far more potions in a day than the average professional alchemist. So many more, in fact, that it would take most alchemists multiple days to match what I could cough up in just one.

I suspected this had something to do with my absurdly high base level. An individual’s base level determined their maximum HP and MP, and from what I had heard, alchemists typically weren’t even at Level 10. Logically, since making potions required imbuing a brew with magical power, people who had more MP could make more potions. I didn’t know exactly how much more MP I had than someone at Level 10, but I was pretty sure the difference was, shall we say, considerable.

As Jude and I were talking, Johan appeared.

Speak of the other devil! I thought.

“Sei, there you are, there’s something I need to—” Johan’s gaze froze on the high-grade HP potions on my desk.

Eep. It was just like him to pop up before I could put them away!

“Hm. I don’t mind your professional enthusiasm, but I think you’ve overdone it a bit,” he said.

“Sorry…”

I really had been keeping the specific request in mind when making them. However, the amount of vials on my desk exceeded the request by an order of two, maybe even three.

Johan must have realized that, but he didn’t scold me. Given the sheer amount of overkill, I would have grimly accepted any admonishment, which was why I apologized when I saw him looking at me with that familiar exasperation.

“Well, as it turns out, I wanted to talk to you about potions,” he said.

“You…you did?”

The unusual seriousness of his expression made me tremble with fear. Was this the day he cracked? Was I in for the reprimand of a lifetime? I straightened my posture and made myself look attentive as Johan began.

“You’re not going to be making any more potions for the time being.”

“Huh?! Why not?”

“Because it’s become difficult to acquire the ingredients.”

“What?!”

Johan went on to explain that fewer herbs than usual had been imported to the capital this past fall. The harvest from the domain where most herbs came from had been frightfully small this year, so there was a shortage of herbs in markets everywhere.

The shops we procured our supplies from had been working hard to make sure the institute got its usual deliveries, but it had finally started to become difficult for them to source our orders. Johan had just received word that, for the time being, none of our orders could be filled.

“Well, that sounds bad,” I said.

“Yes. I had heard back in the fall that there might be a shortage, but I hadn’t imagined they would outright halt deliveries.”

“How long do you think it will be before we can order again?”

“We can’t say for sure, but the shopkeepers think it’s likely to take a while.”

“That’s really bad.”

The domain in question exported not only the herbs that went into low-grade potions but those required for mid- and high-grade potions as well. Normally, the ingredients for low-grade potions were relatively easy to cultivate regardless of local climate. However, the herbs for mid-grade potions were a bit more difficult to grow. They didn’t take in regular soil, and it required some effort to nurture them. The ones in the institute’s gardens depended entirely on the hard work of our researchers.

In the domain that supplied herbs, there were a few tracts of land where mid-grade potion ingredients grew with little to no effort, so they were vigorously cultivated as a prime local product. This same area also had a forest where the herbs used in high-grade potions grew wild, so they exported those as well.

After a meticulous harvest, these herbs were transported to the capital. However, sometimes the universe interfered and the period during which they could be transported deviated from expectations, which was what Johan believed had caused the scarcity in the fall. Though supply had increased since that early shortage, it hadn’t yet recovered, and now we faced a total stoppage.

Johan wasn’t the only one who believed that there had to be some kind of problem at the site of origin—the officials in the palace did as well. Therefore, they were sending an investigative team from the palace to the domain.

“What will we do about the orders from the knights?” I asked.

“The only thing we can do right now is stop filling them.”

“Mm, understood.”

Having said what he needed to, Johan returned to his office. Jude and I went back to our own work as well. However, since I had been told to stop making potions, I didn’t exactly have more work to do.

I couldn’t help thinking as I cleaned up my work station. There weren’t as many monsters around the capital now, but the knights were still going out on their expeditions… But now they wouldn’t have as many potions, even though they were still going to need them. If this shortage continued, sooner or later something bad was bound to happen.

I sure hope things go back to normal soon.

 

***

 

One early afternoon after class, I was quietly flipping through a book in a corner of the palace library. I’d had magic class that day, so it would have been a better use of my time to head over to the practice grounds, but I just wasn’t in the mood, so I was poking around in the library instead.

I had picked out an herbology encyclopedia. It contained detailed drawings of herbs and descriptions of their benefits. I had read this book once before, but I was zeroing in on some new interesting tidbits this time.

As I picked it over at length, something suddenly occurred to me: the book listed all the parts of the country where herbs were grown, and a certain name kept popping up. I nonchalantly flipped back in the book and found that numerous herbs came from that same place, including the ones used in both HP and MP potions, as well as those used in potions for curing status abnormalities.

They must export a ton, I thought, and then I remembered where I had heard of this place before—it was the very domain that had recently stopped shipping as many herbs.

It sounded like it really was an herb-picker’s paradise, just like you’d expect from somewhere known for its premium exports. I had no idea what was causing its recent shipping troubles, but the scope of the impact had to be even huger than I’d imagined, considering how many herbs seemed to be sourced from there. Even ordinary citizens used potions to cure status abnormalities from time to time, after all.

Maybe it was just my personality to fixate on a thing once it occurred to me, but I was starting to consider investing some serious time in learning more about this region.

Just then, I heard the library door open with a creak, and I spotted a head of fluffy brown hair enter through it.

“Oh, Sei!”

“Oh, hi there,” I greeted the girl.

She was Aira Misono, the other girl who had been summoned to this world at the same time as me. In about a month, she was going to graduate from the academy she was attending. I wonder what she’s doing here at the library.

“Don’t you have class right now?” I asked.

“Not today. I was actually just on my way to the Magi Assembly, but there was something I wanted to look into first.”

Aira told me that classes were already over for those who were going to graduate this year, so she only had to go to school if she wanted, while those with bad grades were busy taking supplementary classes. It didn’t sound all that different from high school in Japan.

Aira received excellent grades, and moreover she had decided to join the Royal Magi Assembly upon graduation. Therefore, she had decided it would be more worth her time to go to the Assembly to do self-study instead of take supplementary classes at the academy.

She was proficient in not only Holy Magic, but Water and Wind as well. However, until recently, she had been solely focused on raising her Holy Magic level, so with her new ambition, she had been training more in the other elements. Her skills were increasing at a remarkable rate. In fact, since so few people were proficient in multiple elements, the mages were hopeful that Aira would become one of their top-ranking mages once she leveled up.

She was currently taking the same kind of classes and training that I was, but there was a theory she was having trouble understanding, so she had dropped by the library to try to figure it out.

While the Royal Magi Assembly had a ton of literature regarding magic, most of it was extremely technical and difficult for a beginner to understand. I had come to the library to learn more about magic myself in the past, so I knew how Aira felt.

“Are you here for research as well?” Aira asked.

“Yup, herbs again. Oh, but, if possible, please keep the fact that I’m here a secret.”

“Ah, okay.” Aira smiled wryly.

Why did I want my presence to be a secret? Surely it wasn’t hard to guess.

Lately, a full third of all my magic classes had been dedicated to one topic: the Saint’s powers. I was still having trouble summoning them and was no closer to understanding how to do so.

That might have been a more bearable problem if it weren’t for the fact that Yuri was still upset that he wasn’t able to research my Saintly powers to his heart’s content. He had continued to accompany me to the practice grounds after lessons, but his patience was clearly reaching its limit. He was now using my class time to try and trigger my magic.

If Lord Smarty-Glasses hadn’t stepped in, the whole class probably would have descended into Yuri’s Research Bonanza. It was thanks to Erhart’s interference that I was only losing a third of my study time to Yuri’s insatiable curiosity.

As such, I asked Aira to keep my location a secret because I didn’t want Yuri to know where I was hiding. If he found out I was reading a book about herbs instead of on the practice grounds, he would surely come swooping in to drag me off for more prodding. No doubt about it. Even the other mages would agree with that assessment.

And sure, I was interested in my powers as the Saint. I could use them to enhance herbs, for one. However, it was taking a bit of a mental toll to devote so much time to something I just couldn’t do. That was probably part of why I didn’t feel like heading to the practice grounds in the first place.

“I had thought medicinal herbs were unique to this world, but it seems like they aren’t,” Aira said with a hint of nostalgia as she peered at the book I was reading. The page I had opened to just happened to feature an herb that was common back in Japan, too.

“That’s right,” I said. “Back home we called them just herbs, but they consider them to be medicinal herbs here.”

After a bit more conversation, I heard the library door open again. We both looked up to find Liz had entered.

“A good day to you both,” she said.

“Heya. Long time no see,” I said.

“Hello,” said Aira.

It felt like it had been ages since I last saw Liz in the library. Despite all the tension between her and the crown prince, Liz was still being educated at the palace to become the future queen. Unlike Aira and the prince, she still had one more year before she graduated from the academy. As a result, it was no exaggeration to say that her days were mostly spent traveling between the academy and the palace. She was a terribly busy young woman.

I had been pretty busy myself since I started taking classes. Our constant missing each other was, in that light, inevitable.

“I see you are reading up on medicinal herbs again.” Liz peered at my book and smiled.

You know, it was likely that every time we saw each other here, I had a different herbology book open.

“It’s been a nice change of pace,” I told her.

“Even though it’s work-related?”

“Finding different uses for the essential oils you can extract from plants has been an interest of mine for a long time.”

“Do you mean like for aromatherapy?” Aira asked.

“Exactly.”

“What’s ‘aroma therapy’?” Liz asked with a quizzical look.

“Well, it’s…”

Aira and I began to explain the concept to her. As we talked, the topic gradually shifted to the recent herb shortage.

“We have been talking for quite a while. Are we keeping you longer than we should, Sei?” Liz asked.

“Nah, I’m fine—this reading counts as the research part of my job. Plus, it’s not like I can make potions even if I do go back to the institute.”

“Whyever not?”

“Well, you know, because of the shortage. We no longer have ingredients, so my boss put a moratorium on all potion creation.”

“Now that you mention it, I do recall hearing such a thing. The prices of herbs have gone up everywhere.”

“Have you ever heard of Klausner’s Domain? Apparently it’s famous for its herb varieties.”

“Indeed I have. It’s sometimes called the alchemist’s holy land.”

“Is that so?”

Klausner was the name of the lord who ruled over the region where the herb shortage had started. All the regions in the Kingdom of Salutania were referred to using the name of their respective feudal lord. I wanted Liz’s opinion on the topic, seeing as she was receiving education fit for a queen, which included knowing all the ins and outs of the regions in the kingdom.

I gave her a quizzical look at the mention of a “holy land,” and this time it was Liz and Aira who explained something to me.

(Aira knew about Klausner’s Domain thanks to her classes at the academy. Maybe she was taking a geography class?)

In any case, according to them, Klausner’s Domain was known not only for its high yield and wide variety in medicinal herbs but for the potions they developed in the region.

It was also said that herbs grew in such abundance and variety that the locals had developed unique potions that weren’t well recorded. In fact, every family of alchemists in Klausner’s Domain had secret recipes for potions that had been handed down through generations. For ages, countless alchemists had visited the domain in order to learn how to make these secret potions, which was why the region had come to be called the alchemist’s holy land.

“Wow, so they make a real diverse spread, huh?” I said.

“That’s correct,” said Liz. “I have never been, but my father has.”

“Did he see the actual potions?”

“Yes, and he has even seen them being used. One of their test subjects was someone who worked for my family, and he reported that the effects of the potion weren’t the least bit exaggerated, either.”

“Really, now?” I was starting to feel kind of excited hearing about all these secret recipes and so forth. Perhaps one of them might even exceed the strength of your typical high-grade HP potion? I wonder if I could convince them to teach me how to make it!

After we all went our separate ways, I was still distracted with all sorts of thoughts about these unknown potions.

 

***

 

“Huh?”

As I walked down a hall in the institute, carrying a box of potions, I happened to glance out a window and spot Knight Commander Albert’s horse entering our courtyard. Well, that’s odd. Does he need to talk to Johan?

Usually, it was Johan who went to the knights’ barracks when he and Albert needed to consult with each other. Albert only came to the institute when he was escorting me home.

By the time I reached the entrance, Albert was just coming in. “Sei, always a pleasure. Is Johan in?”

“Yup. He’s in his office.”

“Thanks.”

He immediately set off in the correct direction. I didn’t even have to tell him where it was.

Hoo boy. This looks like it might take a while. And he came all this way on horseback—I bet he could use some refreshments. I put my box of potions by my station and headed to the dining hall to make some tea.

Once I had a nice little platter, I made my way to Johan’s office and knocked before entering. “Pardon me.”

Johan and Albert looked up as I joined them, their expressions somewhat grim. Whatever they were talking about, Albert’s sudden arrival meant it required immediate attention. I had no doubt it was troubling news at best.

However, since this was a conversation between the head researcher of the Research Institute of Medicinal Flora and the knight commander of the Knights of the Third Order, it was above my pay grade, so to speak. I intended to leave the tea and cookies and go. But when I tried to make my exit, Johan stopped me.

“Would you like to join us?” Johan had recovered his usual smile as he asked.

“Aren’t you two talking about something important?”

“We’re finished.”

Is this really okay? It seemed so urgent. And I’m kind of on the clock myself. Also, if we’re having tea, I’d rather like to get a cup, too… Oh, fine, why not?

I admit—even if whatever was going on was none of my business, I was a little worried. How could I not be after seeing those grim faces? Especially considering how important these guys were!

I sat down next to Johan and glanced at Albert just as he was taking a sip of his tea. I watched his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed, and the wrinkle on his brow faded away. After taking a bite of a cookie, his expression calmed, too.

That initially gave me a bit of relief, but then Albert met my eye.

Ack, I’m staring at him again!

Even worse, Albert had the nerve to smile in that intimate, inviting way of his, and it just made me so incandescently self-conscious that I had to avert my gaze.

“Hey, have you two forgotten I’m here?” Johan said irritably.

“Of course we haven’t!” I protested, but I don’t think I sounded all that convincing—even though it was the truth. How could I forget my boss was in the room?

“Al’s going to be leaving the capital for a bit,” Johan said suddenly with a sidelong glance at me.

“Huh?”

I looked to Albert and found him wearing an uneasy smile. “As you know, the situation around the capital isn’t nearly as dire as it was. Therefore, it’s been decided that I’ll be heading out to the countryside next.”

“You mean because the miasma’s gone—as well as the monsters?”

“Yes.”

“Is everyone from the Third Order going?”

“Not everyone, but the majority will be coming with me.”

Only one thought entered my mind, and it hung there, inescapable: It’s finally happening.

Now that spring was nearly here, it would be easier to travel than it had been during the winter. It was the ideal season for long trips. But that wasn’t what had made this turn of events inevitable.

Despite that inevitability, I still felt tense—perhaps from anxiety. Or maybe I had let myself relax and fantasize about futures that could never be, seeing as it had been a few months since our excursion to the western forest.

Immediately after our return, there had been rumors that the number of monsters near the capital had drastically decreased. The knightly Orders had continued to conduct monster-slaying expeditions, and they had also reported a reduction in monster population, but the higher-ups hadn’t wanted to make assumptions, and so we’d been in a bit of a holding pattern.

But now months had passed, and it seemed they had confirmed for themselves that the monsters weren’t likely to return. As a result, the palace had grown more confident that the capital was finally safe.

At the same time, a flood of requests had come pouring in from the countryside nobility—requests for the knightly Orders to be dispatched to their domains.

Unlike in the capital, the number of monsters in the countryside continued to increase, and the situation was growing desperate.

It wasn’t like these nobles weren’t doing anything. They all employed mercenary companies to fend off monsters in their respective domains, and despite the recent spike in the monster population, they had managed to deal with the threat by sending out more frequent expeditions of their own. However, there was a limit to how much any mercenary, company, or noble could do.

In times past, the palace had dispatched the knightly Orders to provide additional aid whenever a given noble lacked the personnel to deal with threats to their people. Now that word of the capital’s newfound peace had spread, those nobles were all hoping the palace would send their knights, just like they once had.

“Where are you headed?” I asked Albert tentatively.

“Klausner’s Domain, for the time being. We’ll also be checking in on other domains along the way.”

“Oh—the domain that exports all those herbs?”

“That’s right.”

Huh. That name just kept popping up again and again. In any case, this certainly explained some things.

“The palace must be troubled by the herb shortage,” said Johan—which was exactly what I was thinking.

“Indeed. It’s been a problem for your institute, too, hasn’t it, Johan?” Albert asked.

“Yes, and I’m sure it’s impacting the knights as well.”

“You’re not wrong. Although we’re not facing as many monsters now, we still have to go out and exterminate the rest.”

And whenever they did that, injuries were a given. They needed potions. We all did. No wonder the palace had decided it was so critical to finally dispatch their knights.

“When are you guys going to leave?” I asked.

“We have to make some preparations, but I think in about two weeks.”

“Two weeks? Okay.” I nodded. “I’ll get myself prepared, too.”

“Get yourself prepared?” Albert asked. He and Johan eyed me with suspicion.

Huh?

“What do you need to prepare for? Oh wait, do you mean preparing potions for the expeditions?” asked Johan.

“Yeah, of course, but I need to get lots of other things ready, too, right? Like clothes, and—”

“Whose clothes?”

Their expressions remained unchanged. I got the feeling we were all on different wavelengths. Had I jumped to the wrong conclusion?

“Wait, don’t tell me you’re planning on going, too?” Johan asked as if having some kind of epiphany.

“Uh, yeah? Hadn’t we talked about that?”

From the way they were looking at me with such surprise, it seemed my going anywhere hadn’t been on the table until now.

That’s odd. Didn’t we have a whole discussion about this just a couple months ago?

“I guess it might have come up…” Johan trailed off.

“Would it be better if I stayed behind this time, considering my current…situation? I mean, I wouldn’t say I’d be completely useless—since I can use Holy Magic and all.” I made my inquiry cautiously, shrinking down a little.

By “current situation,” I was referring to the little problem with me not being able to call up the Saint’s power whenever I wanted. Johan seemed to catch my drift, his look serious. That was fair. What help could I be to an expedition if I couldn’t cast that critical magic?

However, my Holy Magic would still be useful in a support role, what with all the healing spells I could cast. Although it wasn’t like I was the only person who could do that—other people had Holy Magic too, even if no one was at my level. That in itself wasn’t an argument in favor of my necessity.

Johan’s eyes got a far-off, calculating look to them. “You seem pretty excited about this.”

“Uh…”

“You’re hiding something, aren’t you? Out with it.”

Okay, okay. Until now, I had avoided any topic that had to do with being the Saint like the plague, so of course my sudden enthusiasm made him wary. In fact, way back when, I had been very much the opposite of enthusiastic about the prospect of joining future countryside expeditions. Perhaps obviously, I’d much rather have spent my time doing research at the institute.

But, well… “I, uh, happened to hear that Klausner’s Domain is sometimes referred to as the alchemist’s holy land.”

And with that, Johan’s expression turned from suspicion to exasperation.

I’m sorry! I just have a feeling I’d never get to go if it weren’t for this opportunity.

Albert looked confused, seemingly still catching up to the gist of our conversation. Johan sighed and explained a bit of what was meant by that nickname, and as he did, Albert’s lips quirked into a grin.

“Well, so that’s how it is,” he said. “You want to expand your knowledge there, right, Sei?”

“I do.” I reflexively dropped my gaze, feeling awkward, not to mention a bit worried that my reasoning was actually pretty frivolous—I mean, Albert and his knights were going to be risking their lives.

However, neither Albert nor Johan seemed bothered in the least.

“Well, to tell you the truth, there’s a veritable treasure trove of herbology knowledge in Klausner’s Domain—things we don’t have record of here in the capital. It might actually be a good thing for you to go there and learn from an alchemist or two,” Johan said.

“The knights would be stationed there for some time, too,” Albert added.

“Does that mean I can go?” I looked at them each in turn, which earned me some oddly tight smiles from both.

“Actually, I’d like to ask you to,” Johan said.

“In fact, the palace has already requested your presence,” Albert added.

“They did?”

“I’m afraid so. However, we were initially opposed…and were just discussing how best to turn them down.”

They explained their reticence was based in the as yet finicky nature of my Saintly power. They were worried that if I wasn’t able to cast the magic again, I would be subject to criticism from not only the palace but the people of Salutania. My general lack of interest in monster slaying was another reason for their opposition.

“Ah. I apologize for causing so much distress,” I said.

“No, please don’t worry. We were the ones who pushed you.”

“That’s right. Don’t trouble yourself with it.”

The two of them smiled as they insisted I shouldn’t worry. I felt kind of bad, since I was suddenly sure they had been having meetings like this for a while—especially as, now that I thought about it, I hadn’t really experienced any unpleasantness from the palace since I started living at the institute.

“Thank you for all you’ve done for me,” I added with a short bow.

“Hmm? Why do you say that?”

“No particular reason…”

Both of them looked at me curiously.

Perhaps to them this consideration for my feelings was only natural and not worth being thanked for, but I was grateful to them anyway. However, I felt too shy to explain any of that, so I just shrugged off their peering with a smile as I thanked them yet again in my thoughts.