Homecoming (14)
I had originally planned to focus on alchemy, but after meeting the Young Master, I ended up with other work on my hands.
Taking his advice, I reinforced the walls built around the village.
It was nothing sophisticated—just stacking the crude earthen walls higher—but it should still have an effect.
Of course it would!
I had expended mental energy and holy power casting magic to make them. They had to work!
"Ugh, another day wasted like this."
"Haha, looking at these sturdy walls, wouldn't you say the hard work was worth it?"
It better be…
"Daniel, let me check the wound on your arm."
Priest Daniel immediately unwrapped the bandage and held out his arm. Roughly six hours had passed since applying the ointment, so the effects should have shown by now.
"Let's see…"
The two wounds on his left arm were already healing. He wasn't an ordinary person to begin with—as a priest with holy power, his recovery was superior to a normal human's, and with the ointment's effects layered on top, the wounds closed quickly.
"Hmm, looking at the condition…"
There wasn't a huge difference, but the side treated with ointment made from materials gathered deeper in the forest was healing faster.
"The materials gathered from deeper inside are more effective."
There could be other reasons, but based on the results, ointment made from materials imbued with mana seemed more potent.
Still, I couldn't be certain. I needed more varied comparisons before drawing a firm conclusion.
I mustn't jump to hasty judgments.
"I should record this…"
Ugh—the drain on my mental energy was already making me feel exhausted.
When I returned home, Sister Mary was cleaning.
"You're late."
"I had some work to do."
Sister Mary didn't ask for a reason. That somehow felt uncomfortable, so I came clean.
"You raised the walls higher?"
"Yes. The Young Master said horses can jump, too."
And quite high at that…! Looking at the horses we keep, that does seem true.
"You've worked hard."
Hearing Sister Mary's praise made me feel like I'd been fishing for compliments.
"Anyway, I should just hand out the soap and rest."
I really needed to research the materials I'd gathered before they spoiled… but I was giving up for today.
The large bars of soap I'd made had already been divided into appropriate sizes by Sister Mary. She was a truly capable assistant who got things done without being told.
"I've prepared everything."
"Shall we go, then?"
I packed the soap, cut into convenient sizes, into a basket. With two baskets in hand, we left the house.
"All right, let's make the rounds."
Starting from the nearest houses, we slowly went around distributing soap.
There was just one problem…
"This is called soap. It's good for washing your hands or bathing."
The villagers simply didn't know what soap was. Even my adoptive parents, who had been the village chief, couldn't afford something so expensive and hard to obtain—how would anyone else know?
"Do we have to use it?"
"No? Just use it once in a while when you get really dirty."
They looked skeptical, but since I was the one giving it to them, they accepted it for now.
"Thanks."
"Don't mention it."
I explained the basic usage and handed out the soap.
"They don't seem very happy about it."
Sister Mary seemed bothered by that. After all, a single bar of this soap sold for a fortune in the city—how could they react like that?
But the people of our village didn't know that.
"They don't know its value."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. Even I never used soap once before I went to the city."
That was why they reacted that way—they simply didn't understand its worth.
"I see…"
Anyway, we visited other places as well. Especially at homes with children, I stressed the importance of cleanliness—soap, specifically—as I handed it out.
"It's good to be careful until the child grows up."
My friends Ted and Yuri also looked bewildered at the soap.
"R-really?"
"Yeah. Babies this age die so easily, you know."
Roughly speaking, our village's infant mortality rate was around thirty percent? Out of ten children born, three would die before the age of five for various reasons.
"This is a way to raise that survival rate even a little."
Washing your hands thoroughly with soap before handling a baby was good. But when bathing the child, the soap could be too harsh, so caution was needed—and so on.
I poured out every bit of knowledge I had.
"Th-that's an amazing thing, then."
My friends didn't seem to understand even half of my explanation, but they accepted the soap with dazed eyes.
"Here, houses with kids will use it often, so I'll give you plenty."
I'd only given other houses one bar as a sample, but for homes with children, I packed a full four.
Going around the village like this distributing soap, the sun was already setting before I knew it.
And last—well, not quite…
We arrived at the Instructor's house.
"What brings you at this hour?"
"This is soap I made."
The Instructor's eyes went wide the moment he saw the soap. As expected! A knight—a civilized man! The Instructor knew what soap was!
"Isn't this a precious item?"
"Yes, it is. But I made it myself, so it's fine."
I also assured him it was safe, since I'd used it many times myself. Since the Instructor had a child, I packed him a generous amount of soap, and he was thoroughly delighted.
"Hmm, this feels rewarding."
Unlike the others with their lukewarm reactions, he was genuinely happy and grateful, which filled me with pride.
This was the joy of sharing!
Last was my adoptive parents' house.
"You're here at last?"
Mother was already waiting at the door—she must have heard the news.
"Mother? Were you waiting for me?"
"I was."
Led inside by Mother's hand, I pulled out the last few remaining bars of soap.
"So this is that… soap thing?"
"Y-you heard about it from someone else?"
"I did."
Well, no need to build up the suspense, then.
I immediately took out the soap and explained.
"It's roughly something like this."
"So it's a good thing."
"Yes, yes! There isn't a huge amount, but please try it."
"Thank you."
Mother carefully placed the soap on a shelf like a decoration and told me to stay for a meal since it was getting late.
"I need to look after Mary and Daniel."
I declined for now. It wasn't that I felt uncomfortable… but my adoptive mother assumed I did.
"Right, I'm sorry for making you uncomfortable."
"Ah, th-that's not it at all."
"You're an adult now, so I understand."
No, I really wasn't uncomfortable…
"And I heard a high-ranking person came to visit."
Was this about the Young Master?
"Yes, well, he's someone I know well, so you don't need to worry."
"I see. You two seemed to get along well."
Hmm? Had she seen me with the Young Master?
"At least you won't have to worry."
My adoptive mother squeezed my hand and stroked the back of it.
"Look at your older sister. All her peers are married with children, and she still has no partner."
Uh, uh……?
Why was the conversation going this way?
"W-well, Older Sister has her abilities, so that's why."
I was worried about my sister too. She was so blunt and had zero interest in romance… Who would take her?
"Yes, so at least you should marry early so your father worries less."
Father?
I got the distinct feeling my adoptive mother was operating under some grand misunderstanding. And with my adoptive father being brought up too, my instincts screamed that I needed to get out of there.
"I-it's getting late, so I should go."
I fled the scene and bolted home.
Arriving home, I ate my fill of the dinner Sister Mary had prepared and got ready for bed.
"Is it a bit early to sleep?"
I was ready for bed, but it still seemed early.
Well, there was something to do! Recording!
A summary of today's experimental results.
When combining materials imbued with strong mana gathered from deep in the forest, the quality improves.
However, further verification is still needed.
And finally…
"What kind of flower is this……"
I decided to look it up in the encyclopedia with the actual specimen beside me.
Its distinctive shape made it easy to find. Because of its bell-like form, the encyclopedia listed it as a Bellflower…
"No special medicinal properties?"
I knew not every flower or plant was used as medicine, but I never expected nothing to be written at all…
Looking at the detailed entry, there was a reason.
"Already extinct?"
It was a flower I'd never seen before either, but extinct? Was there a reason? The encyclopedia didn't list the cause of extinction.
"But a surviving specimen was living in the Forest of Delusion…"
The forest was dangerous and people didn't approach it, so it must have survived.
Anyway, this Bellflower didn't seem to have any special properties discovered yet.
I'd have to try using it myself to find out, wouldn't I?
I had no idea what it might produce… No, I didn't even know if combination was possible, so I shouldn't get my hopes up.
But it was too late now…
"I've checked it, so I should sleep."
I tucked a bookmark into the encyclopedia, tossed the gathered flowers aside casually, and headed for bed.
Sister Mary, who was still awake, carefully tidied up the things I'd flung aside.
When I woke from a deep sleep, my head felt a bit foggy.
Was it from using so much holy power yesterday? I ate a light breakfast and immediately prepared for alchemy.
"Are you planning to use that flower?"
"Yes, that's why I gathered it."
I had plenty of other materials to use, but nothing compared to the fun of discovering a new recipe with a new ingredient.
"Whew, shall we begin?"
The simplest and most frequently used combination was with water.
But it failed.
I wasn't disappointed, though. I now had a variety of recipes, and among them were specialized combination agents called Attunement Agents.
I would try each of these three Attunement Agents.
First, plant-type materials usually worked well with Yellow Attunement Agent, so should I start with that?
I took the bottle of Yellow Attunement Agent from the shelf. Pouring the agent into a small cauldron, I plucked the flower portion and dropped it in to attempt the combination!
The result was a failure.
"Hmm, too early to be disappointed."
Next, Red Attunement Agent!
Failure!
"Not yet!"
Blue Attunement Agent, you're up!
Failure……!
"Why, why…!"
Was the ratio off? Even so, none of the reactions had been promising.
"Perhaps you need to use the roots and stems as well?"
I pondered Sister Mary's suggestion for a moment.
Certainly……
With most medicinal herbs, the efficacy varies by part, right? For flowers, the petals, stems, and roots can all have different properties. Of course, there are also cases where they must be used together for the effect to appear.
Considering that……
"Use the stems and roots together…?"
That was a possibility too!
I hesitated a bit because I had so few flowers usable as materials, but I decided to take Sister Mary's advice.
I put the Bellflower's stems and roots into the cauldron along with everything else, then filled it with water. And combined.
"Ohh…"
There was a faint reaction. It didn't feel like it would succeed, though. Still, the fact that there was a reaction mattered. In other words, this method was correct.
To draw out the flower's properties, putting in the stems and roots together was the right approach!
How many flowers remained—ten?
I still had ten more attempts!