Potion Dealer (3)
The rumor spread like wildfire.
People, by nature, preferred flaunting what they had to those who didn't over keeping it quietly to themselves. Even Academy professors — men and women fluent in magic who churned out five or six papers a year — were not sages. Among them were those who simply could not resist the urge to say, This is a real secret, so keep it to yourself.
Of course, "keep it to yourself" was universally understood to mean "my mouth is itching like hell, so go spread this for me." Barely three days had passed since Felix's declaration, and already the rumor had seeped through the Academy's faculty and student body alike.
"Whoa, for real…! What the hell is going on?!"
And the fallout reached even her — an extra villainess noble daughter with fierce eyes and a beauty that still turned heads, currently gasping for breath as she barely managed to hide herself.
It was an ordinary morning.
Or rather — looking back on it, it hadn't felt quite ordinary at all.
As always, she had risen before dawn, finished a light warm-up, washed up, and headed to the cafeteria for breakfast. The moment she stepped inside, the shift in the air made her body flinch. Until just a second ago the place had been full of noisy student chatter, but the instant she entered, it went quiet — only for a heartbeat, but unmistakably so.
Rosaria, whose senses had grown sharper than most, noticed the change. At the time, though, she thought nothing of it.
She had just started eating when people suddenly began crowding around her. She set down her spoon and looked about.
"Um… Lady Evergarden?"
"? Who are you?"
"Pardon the intrusion. I am Harrington Britton, third son of Viscount Britton's house."
"Ah, right. And… what is this about?"
From among the many eyes fixed on her from across the room, one figure rose from his seat, approached Rosaria, and launched into a self-introduction. Of course, from her perspective, a complete stranger walking up out of nowhere and introducing himself left her with no idea what was going on.
"If it isn't too forward of me, I was hoping we might discuss the potions scheduled for production in Lady Evergarden's territory—"
"Hold on!!! Lady Evergarden! Speak with me instead! I am Mustang Gueril, second son of Baron Gueril! If it isn't too much trouble, regarding the specialty potions of the Evergarden territory—"
"Hey! Who do you think you are, leaving me out of this?! My lady! Let us talk!"
"No, please… talk with me!"
"I was first!"
"No! Me!"
"Uh? Eh? Ah?"
Starting with that third son — Britton or Burrito, whatever his name was — the students swarmed in like a pack of jackals that had just spotted prey, shoving and arguing over who got to go first. Rosaria's eyes started spinning.
All she had wanted was breakfast. Now a crowd was piling in and brawling over her, and she was simply baffled.
And that was not even the end of it.
"Lady Evergarden!"
"It's Lady Evergarden!"
"Found her! She's here!"
Unable to endure the atmosphere any longer, she returned her tray with less than half the food eaten and stepped out into the corridor — only to find students packed wall to wall, eyes locked on her as they charged.
"What is this?! What the hell is going on?!"
Her head still reeling from the morning's absurdity, Rosaria broke into a run down the hallway, fleeing for her life.
And then—
Thud—
"Wh-what the…!"
In her frantic escape she failed to notice the figure coming the other way around the corner, and slammed straight into them. (Rosaria herself, of course, was completely unharmed.)
"What in the world…! Who goes racing through the corridors first thing in the morning?!"
"Ah…! I'm so sorry!"
The person she had hit was no ordinary student — it was a faculty member.
"You are… of the Evergarden family, if I am not mistaken…"
"Ah, yes. Are you all right…?"
"Ah…! Of course I am fine! Perfectly fine!"
"Uh… Professor?"
Having landed hard on his rear, his face flushed an alarming shade of red, the professor took one look at the face of the young woman offering him a hand — and his eyes went wide as he scrambled to his feet.
"Haha! Ah, so spirited first thing in the morning! Mm! Yes, an Academy student ought to have that kind of energy!"
"Is… that so?"
"Of course, Miss Evergarden. You aren't hurt, are you?"
"I'm fine, but… Professor, you—"
"I am fine as well! However, Miss Evergarden… about those potions…"
"Eek."
The expression he had been wearing a moment ago vanished as if it had never existed. A bright, eager smile took its place as he closed in on Rosaria and brought up the potions.
"I am well aware they are not yet on official sale… but by any chance, might there be any leftover prototype stock?"
"I-I really wouldn't know. Well then, excuse me!"
"Wait…! Miss Evergarden! Just a moment! Wait, please!!"
The raw hunger written across his face made Rosaria's blood run cold, and she fled once more. Even as the professor's desperate calls chased her down the hall, she forced herself to ignore them and kept running.
And so Rosaria spent the entire day on the run, dodging every pair of eyes hunting for her.
Which brought things to the present.
"Everyone's lost their minds. The second they spot me, they come charging like a zombie horde…!"
Having barely finished her classes, Rosaria had barricaded herself in Felix's laboratory and was now grumbling as she replayed the day's events.
"Well… it just means the potions are that popular. You could look at it as a good thing, couldn't you?"
"Easy for you to say. When they followed me all the way to the bathroom, I nearly passed out!"
Ever since word got out that the Evergarden territory would be selling potions, people had latched onto Rosaria — a member of the same Evergarden family — desperate for a piece of the pie. She shuddered with pure revulsion. One image in particular still burned behind her eyelids: a student staring at her through a fifth-floor window, eyes gleaming with a manic light.
"How long is this going to go on?"
"Probably… for a while yet."
"What?! Just how special are these potions supposed to be…!"
"Hmm… let me put it in terms you'll get. You know those RPG games big brother always plays? How do you level up in those?"
"Huh? Uh… you hunt monsters, run dungeons, clear quests… that kind of thing?"
"And what if there was a potion that just made your level shoot up the moment you drank it?"
"I'd whale for it in a heartbeat!"
"Exactly."
"…Ah."
Once Felix explained it at her level, Rosaria — who had been hounded all morning without the faintest idea why — finally understood the reaction. Absorption rates varied from person to person, but mana recovery, stamina restoration, heightened focus, overall condition recovery… for people living in a fantasy world, a potion that delivered all of that with zero side effects was nothing short of a premium cash-shop item.
"Still. If they're this obsessed already, once the potions actually go on sale, we're going to be sitting on a gold mine, right?"
She was exhausted from a full day of unwanted attention, but a broad smile was already blooming across Rosaria's face. The more interest they drew, the more she could picture the crowds that would throng to buy once sales began.
"At this rate, I could literally bathe in gold in a tub, couldn't I?"
"Gold? You could fill an entire grand bathhouse with diamonds and still have some left over."
"F-for real?! That much? Whoa… that's insane. So does that make me a chaebol heir now? Labor emancipation? Young and rich?"
Felix's words only sent Rosaria's imagination soaring higher.
"Then we can pay off every last bit of debt we owe that Bjorn guy — baron or viscount, whatever he is — right?"
"That part isn't even a matter of time. The problem is that simply clearing the debt doesn't solve everything."
"? What do you mean?"
Viscount Bjorn and the Evergarden territory were already deeply entangled. More precisely, what they faced went well beyond ordinary pressure from the viscount.
"As long as the other side is sitting on a nuclear bomb called monsters, just paying back the money isn't enough."
"Can't we just strike first and go, 'Hey, they've got monsters'?"
"A trial between nobles doesn't end that cleanly. Once proceedings start, without airtight evidence you're looking at two years minimum — and it becomes a contest of who breaks first. If they dump the bomb on us in the middle of that, the best-case scenario is mutual destruction."
"On top of that, our family has zero political backing, while they already have solid support from the imperial side. That puts them at a clear advantage."
"Urrgh… this is seriously complicated. So is there no way out?"
The more Felix explained, the more Rosaria's head spun. It was clearly the other side's fault — so why did her family have to suffer for it? She muttered under her breath, clutching her head.
"There is. Why do you think I put on this whole show in the first place?"
"Huh?"
Felix turned a sly smile on Rosaria.
And then—
—Knock knock.
"Ah. Right on time."
"Who? Is Tene here to get her blood drawn again?"
"That can wait. Looks like something took the bait I scattered."
Click—
At the crisp knock on the laboratory door, Felix walked over and opened it at once.
"…Huh? There's nobody here?"
"This is…"
Even though he had opened the door the moment the knock sounded, no one stood on the other side.
"Is that a letter?"
In its place, a single letter lay alone on the floor.
"Looks like we've hooked a big one."
While Rosaria tilted her head at the sudden delivery, Felix murmured with a smile.
Pressed into the white sealing wax at the center of the letter was a dragon crest. As anyone would know, the white dragon was the emblem of the Empire — and only one place in the realm was permitted to stamp that mark upon a letter.
It was a letter from a member of the imperial family.