An Awkward Cohabitation (3)
A sigh escaped me at the pathetic behavior of the two men—or rather, of one man in particular. I couldn't understand why gathering materials of all things had them flaunting their competitive streaks like that.
And the biggest problem was…
"Young Master Maximilian? You do realize that if this fails, it'll be completely unusable, right?"
Alchemy was certainly an incredible craft, but the fallout from failure was no joke. No matter how expensive the materials, the moment a combination failed, they vanished. Unlike other work, where you might salvage a portion or reuse materials without issue, alchemy carried an enormous risk.
And yet they wanted me to use minerals—ingots, no less—as materials? Fine by me! Whether expensive or not, the chance to experiment was certainly a good thing. The problem was that these weren't items I'd purchased with my own money.
If they were mine, losing them to a failed experiment would just be a shame. But someone else's belongings?
Ugh… just thinking about it was horrifying.
"I-It's fine."
The young master said it was fine, but his hands and pupils were trembling slightly.
Iron was expensive enough as it was, wasn't it? Considering how high a price my Scrap Iron had sold for? An ingot containing silver? Or that Black Iron ingot or whatever it was called? One alone would cost over ten gold—no, more than twenty. And there were dozens of those ingots. I didn't even want to calculate the total value.
When I looked at the young master with suspicious eyes, he flinched in alarm.
"I-I mean it…!"
"Alright."
Looking at the materials, I wanted to start combining them right away, but it was already quite late, so I held back. I decided to leave the combining for tomorrow and suggested we have dinner.
The two childish men were a disaster even at the dinner table.
"Please have some more meat."
Priest Daniel tried to pass me some of his share.
"Aren't you going to eat, Daniel?"
"It's just that the Saintess seems to be eating so little…"
Well, of course I was. I'd originally been a commoner and had never lived a life of abundance. Growing up as the village chief's child, I'd been relatively well-off, but there were still limits to what a commoner could have.
There had been times when I got by on a single meal a day, and times when there simply wasn't enough food to eat much. As I got older and the village became more prosperous, my appetite had grown somewhat, but I still didn't eat a great deal. There had been plenty of times I'd regretted not being able to eat more.
Which is to say, even if Priest Daniel offered me meat, I could barely manage to eat it.
"I'm full. I can't eat any more."
There was nothing I could do about having a small stomach.
"It's true that Miss Julian would do well to eat a bit more."
The young master seemed to agree with him. Maybe it was inevitable. If I roughly considered Sister Mary's portion as one serving, I ate about 0.7 of that. Watching my older sister put away nearly 1.5 servings, the difference was almost double. The young master ate nearly two to three servings, so of course my portions looked small by comparison.
No—they really were small.
"I know that. But what am I supposed to do when I'm already full?"
The young master suddenly placed a piece of meat from his own plate onto mine.
"Young Master?"
"Just one more piece, please."
"Ugh…"
I was genuinely full.
"I'll give you some of mine as well."
Priest Daniel suddenly went into overdrive and plopped a sizable chunk of meat onto my plate. It was a little larger than the piece the young master had given me.
As I sat staring blankly at my plate, the young master somehow found an even bigger piece and set it on top.
"Please, go ahead and eat."
Looking at the three pieces of meat now piled on my plate, I felt like I might retch.
"I'm not eating it!"
I shouted at the top of my lungs and fled.
Why on earth were they competing over something like that and tormenting me?!
I went to bed early that evening, and when I woke early the next morning, I headed out to the open yard to loosen up my body.
In the yard… two people were already there ahead of me.
The young master and Priest Daniel.
And the two of them were glaring at each other, no less.
"What are you doing?"
The atmosphere felt off, so I quickly intervened.
"Ah, you're awake."
"Yes. Since it's morning, I thought I'd do a bit of light exercise."
It was something I did regularly, so their reaction seemed oddly fresh. Probably because Priest Daniel was there?
"It's nothing."
The young master dodged the question, and Priest Daniel averted his gaze.
I lightly loosened up, then pulled out the staff I'd set aside in the corner—a weapon to stand in for my spear. The young master came scrambling over, eager to spar with me.
"Not you, Young Master. Daniel? Let's have a go."
"S-Saintess…"
Priest Daniel murmured quietly.
"I told you not to call me Saintess, didn't I?"
"I-I'm sorry."
"Come on, grab a weapon already."
Priest Daniel looked flustered and tried to refuse.
"What are you doing? Miss Julian is asking you."
The young master needlessly scolded him. Awkwardly, Priest Daniel moved to fetch a wooden sword.
"Must we really do this?"
"Yes. Get into position so I can warm up."
The moment Priest Daniel carefully took his stance, I charged in. Using the staff, I executed spear techniques.
Priest Daniel's skill was better than I'd expected. He blocked my staff as if it were nothing. But whether because he couldn't attack me or wouldn't, he only defended.
Honestly, it was frustrating. Even though he was only defending casually, it felt like an iron wall. If there had been counterattacks, I could have told myself I'd had no choice but to focus on blocking them.
But he was only defending.
Was it really okay for someone who'd originally been a priest and had only converted to a Holy Knight three months ago to be this strong? Was this what a true genius looked like?
It was completely different from sparring against Young Master Maximilian or my older sister. I keenly felt the gap in skill. Had he always been this outstanding?
"Huff, huff…"
I was out of breath.
"Let's wrap this up."
Frustrating. So frustrating.
"Phew! You're strong."
Priest Daniel scratched his head. Hadn't he said he'd won the selection tournament outright to claim his position? A genius really was a genius, it seemed. For someone without talent like me, it was a realm truly hard to reach.
After working up a good sweat, I washed myself. Pouring warm water over my body and scrubbing with soap felt incredibly refreshing. Then we all ate the breakfast Sister Mary had prepared, and I got ready for alchemy.
"These are incredible materials."
"Right?"
Sister Mary had been working as my assistant for three months now. In other words, she'd developed an eye for these things.
"Both of you brought excellent materials."
"Which is exactly why I feel bad just using them freely."
Especially the ingots—they were so, so expensive I could barely bring myself to look at them.
"Well then, shall we try a combination?"
First, I transferred the hardened earth Priest Daniel had collected into a large basin and added water to turn it into mud.
"It's ready."
As if reading my mind, Sister Mary had the pot ready.
"I really should make a proper alchemy cauldron one of these days."
I'd been using a regular cooking pot, but I was starting to want a dedicated alchemy cauldron.
"We have plenty of ingots, so feel free to use them."
The young master held out an ingot of Black Iron as he spoke.
"That can wait for later."
I poured the pre-made Attunement Agent into the pot, then added the mud, sand, and stones in order. Priest Daniel watched quietly, apparently fascinated by the alchemy.
"Want an explanation?"
"I'd be grateful if you would."
I shrugged and looked at Sister Mary.
"I'll explain."
Sister Mary really was quick on the uptake.
I focused on the combination while quietly listening to Sister Mary's explanation. She'd memorized everything I'd taught her well.
"What a mysterious power."
"The Saintess has already established a variety of combination methods, and among them are items that could bring about a revolution in the world at any moment."
"I-Is that so?"
I was focused on the combination and couldn't check Priest Daniel's expression, but he was probably astonished.
"Nah, a full revolution is a stretch. More like something that could bring about a little change."
"Even that is remarkable. As expected of one chosen by the Goddess."
Priest Daniel's voice trembled slightly. I chuckled. Well, I'd decided to take it more easily now. Arguing about it wouldn't make the fact that I'd already been chosen go away… and making various things with alchemy was already enjoyable. Later, I could just make potions and spread them around.
As time passed, a rainbow light appeared from the pot, and inside was Scrap Iron.
But it was a little different from usual?
"Hmm?"
"Is something wrong?"
Sister Mary looked slightly concerned.
"Ah, it's nothing major—just that the color is a bit different."
The Scrap Iron I'd made this time was a deeper color. Originally it had been quite mottled, but now the blotches were fewer, if that made sense?
"Hmm…"
I tried to recall the differences to figure out why.
"Could it be due to the iron content?"
Huh?
The moment I heard the young master's words, it clicked.
"That's it…! That's entirely possible."
The stones Priest Daniel had brought were the dark-colored ones known for high iron content. The ones I'd used before? Just rocks I'd picked up casually. They had some iron mixed in, but the content had probably been pitiful.
That was why the mottling had been so severe… and with higher iron content, the blotches had decreased?
I carefully removed the finished iron.
"Hmm…"
Even in this state, mana—no, Holy Power—conducted through it well.
"Here."
I tossed the iron to Priest Daniel. He caught it lightly and examined it from every angle.
"What do you think?"
"I-I'm not really sure, but it seems like a fine product."
The young master gave a slight scoff at Priest Daniel. Then he snagged the iron right out of his hands.
"Even at a glance, both the durability and mana conductivity are excellent—it's more valuable than ordinary iron."
I more or less ignored the young master's words and prepared for the next combination. I was about to start right away when… the two of them started growling at each other behind me.
"If you're going to get in the way, get out!"
The two of them jumped in surprise, glanced at each other, then turned their heads away and fell silent.
They were being such a nuisance.