Homecoming (15)

With so few chances available, I had to extract every possible clue for success from a single combination. Since I still had multiple attempts left, there was no reason to hold back—I just needed to make sure I didn't miss any hints.

That's right. I can do this. I can do it!

The biggest hint I'd gained so far was that combining the flower, stem, leaf, and root together had produced a reaction. It was a faint one, but that was the key point.

And the fact that water had reacted was encouraging as well. The reason? It suggested the combination might be possible without any additional materials.

If other ingredients had been necessary, there wouldn't have been any reaction in the first place.

I would gather these small hints one by one and use them to create a new recipe.

"Hmm."

Should I adjust the ratios first? Or try using an Attunement Agent?

The deliberation didn't last long. I still had ten chances left, after all. I could afford to take a bold approach at least once.

To confirm whether I could combine them using water, I decided to adjust the ratios first.

The first combination had been a 1:1 ratio, so this time I would try increasing the water to a 1:2 ratio.

"Hm?"

Using a scale to check the plant's weight, I adjusted the proportions and attempted the combination.

Having a proper home really was wonderful. Thanks to the equipment I'd bought in advance, I could measure the quantities accurately instead of proceeding by rough estimates or gut feeling.

With the increased volume of water, the contents of the pot mixed together far more readily. The reaction was good, too. I thought it would succeed.

But it failed. Just when I thought we were almost there, the water medium rapidly diminished, and the attempt ended in failure.

"This is..."

Even without Sister Mary pointing it out from the side, I understood. I had realized it myself.

This wasn't just a problem with the medium—it was a lack of water as an ingredient in the combination itself.

"We're short on water."

No wonder the first attempt had failed so quickly...!

This time, I adjusted the ratio to 1:3.

With more water, the reaction of the combination changed. The materials gradually blended into one, taking on a color that was hard to believe came from a plant.

Pink. Yes, the contents of the pot were dyed a pinkish hue.

The stem and leaves were green, the root yellowish, and the petals a light purple. So why had the combined contents turned pink? I had no idea.

But phenomena like this weren't uncommon in alchemy. So I simply accepted it and continued the combination.

The process didn't take long, and then the rainbow light that signaled a successful combination appeared.

I might have cheered at that moment.

The instant a new recipe was created was always so thrilling.

"Let's see..."

As the rainbow light faded, the contents of the pot revealed themselves.

It was a pink, pale pink liquid.

Considering the amount of water used at the start, the quantity wasn't large.

With Sister Mary's help, I carefully transferred the contents into a glass bottle.

"It's a new item."

A new item. Yes, that was the problem. The task that came with every newly created combination product...!

Figuring out its effects.

When I combined something with a clear purpose from the start, determining the effects was relatively easy.

But with combinations made without any particular goal like this, discovering the effects was difficult.

There were still combination products whose effects I hadn't figured out. The one made from lily of the valley, for instance.

I still hadn't determined its effects. Lily of the valley was hard to obtain, and I hadn't been able to test it myself.

A similar case was the Cooling Agent. I had eventually learned its effects and how to use it, but right after finishing the combination, I had no idea what it was for.

This one would have to go through the same process.

"Direct use is forbidden."

Sister Mary kept a close watch to make sure I didn't use the contents carelessly.

"A little ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠bit would be fine, wouldn't it?"

It might be something completely harmless to the body...

Anyway! Since the combination had succeeded, I recorded the method. Then I tried applying it further.

Specifically, by using an Attunement Agent instead of water.

"Red and yellow failed. Blue succeeded."

As expected, the combination using blue Attunement Agent in place of water succeeded.

The finished product had a softer pink than the water-based one—or perhaps a stranger quality? At any rate, even though both were pink, there was a slight difference.

I went ahead and combined all the remaining flowers.

Now, the next task was...

"What kind of effects could it have?"

The day was starting to wind down, so I figured I would rest and try to figure out the effects.

When Priest Daniel came home, we would have dinner together and all try to determine the effects as a group.

"First, maybe I should try smelling it..."

I used the version combined with the Attunement Agent.

I opened the lid and carefully took a sniff. A sweet scent wafted out, a little different from the fragrant smell the flower originally had. It wasn't the sweetness of honey or sugar, but I couldn't quite place what it was.

Sister Mary, who smelled it as well, also reacted with uncertainty.

"This is..."

There was someone whose reaction was completely different from mine and Sister Mary's.

That someone was Priest Daniel.

"Priest Daniel?"

For some reason, Priest Daniel's face had flushed slightly. And he seemed flustered.

"Is something the matter?"

"Ah, no."

Priest Daniel's reaction was suspicious. Seeing that shifty response as if he had noticed something, I fixed him with a steady glare.

"If you've figured something out, confess it."

When I pressed him, Priest Daniel's eyes darted about wildly. I couldn't tell what he had noticed to make him react like that.

"I-I'm sorry. I can't say."

Priest Daniel refused with a truly apologetic expression. Watching that, I felt irritated...

"This is an order from the Saintess. Confess!"

At my declaration, Priest Daniel's expression shifted rapidly before he finally let out a heavy sigh.

"I-I felt something like the sweetness of the opposite sex."

Uh, um...?

"W-what do you mean by that?"

"Y-you know how novels and such have expressions like that? How the scent of the opposite sex's skin is sweet, or..."

Uh, eh?

I had barely read any novels from this world, so I didn't know. But my previous life was different. And similar expressions had existed in the novels of my previous life as well.

Hearing Priest Daniel's words, Sister Mary's face turned red.

"H-how should I put it? The sweetness you feel when in love? I felt something like that..."

Among us, only Priest Daniel—who alone had romantic experience and had engaged in sordid relations with women—had picked up on it.

And as complete virgins, Sister Mary and I both flushed bright red at the rather risqué remark.

Another problem was that, with his inhibitions loosened, Priest Daniel was spilling his innermost thoughts without restraint.

"People often say a faint milky scent comes from a woman's body, and there's a bit of that feeling too. Should I call it body odor? It's strange that the scent from a person's body would be sweet, but when a woman is in love, that kind of fragrance really does emanate from her. A subtle yet sweet sort of scent. If I raise the intensity a bit, it's also like the sweetness that comes when bodies are pressed together."

I approached the unrestrained Priest Daniel and struck him across the mouth.

Yes, I didn't stop him—I hit him. And hard.

"That's enough! That's more than enough!"

Honestly, what was he saying in front of women!

Only then did Priest Daniel come to his senses and bow his head in apology.

"Ugh..."

Anyway, so that was what Priest Daniel had sensed.

"M-maybe it's just because Daniel is a pervert that he felt that way...?"

Sister Mary spoke in a small voice, apparently embarrassed. It was a lovely gesture completely unlike her usual confident demeanor. And Priest ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Daniel coughed awkwardly, looking ashamed.

I carefully smelled the fragrance again.

This was that kind of scent? Why on earth would it smell like that? I carefully sniffed it again while avoiding the two of them's gazes, but I still couldn't tell at all.

Only that, as I kept smelling this fragrance, my body seemed to grow warmer.

And Sister Mary, who had been watching my actions, quietly took the item away.

"Sh-should I try using it myself?"

At my mutter, Sister Mary glared at me with sharp eyes.

"I'd rather use it myself."

Priest Daniel, volunteering to sacrifice his body again this time, could be called a model knight... but...

Somehow it felt unpleasant and uncomfortable.

Before I could stop him, Priest Daniel tilted the glass bottle and poured some of the contents onto his hand. Then his hand moved toward his mouth.

"Y-you're going to drink it?!"

Whether he hadn't heard me or not, Priest Daniel proceeded to toss the pink liquid from his palm straight into his mouth.

"Do you even know what that is before eating it?!"

"With the Saintess here, would I die just from eating it?"

That was...

Even so, wasn't that a bit too bold?

First, I had him sit down and asked him to tell me what kind of reaction appeared in his body and how he felt. After about five or ten minutes, a reaction appeared in Priest Daniel.

Only, it was hard to watch.

Sister Mary and I weren't doing anything at all, yet Priest Daniel's face turned red. As ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠if his blood was rushing, or something. His breathing grew a little rough, and he also mentioned that the part of his palm where the pink liquid had touched felt slightly itchy.

"What in the world..."

Sister Mary looked completely clueless.

I was similar, but somehow, somehow it felt like I had seen something similar somewhere...

The memory was vague and hazy.

"Priest Daniel? Are you all right? Why did you eat that so carelessly."

"I'm fine. This is all for the sake of the church."

Even in that state, Priest Daniel did his best to report his condition, and I recorded it.

"Sigh, so what is it, then?"

After deliberating, Priest Daniel quietly led me to a room. It was an action whose reason I couldn't understand, but I followed for now, and once we were alone in the room, Priest Daniel let out a rough breath.

"Th-this is purely a condition, my changed condition. It is absolutely not a personal feeling, so please don't misunderstand."

With an expression full of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠shame, Priest Daniel declared this and then whispered softly to me.

"S-strangely enough... I've gotten hard..."

What?

Th-th-this person, what is he saying right now?!

I jumped back in shock, distancing myself from Priest Daniel.

Priest Daniel seemed a little hurt by my reaction.

"I-I'm only stating the objective f-facts. My body strangely grew hot and feverish, and then forcibly... I-I g-got hard. Absolutely! Absolutely! I did not look at the Saintess or Mary with strange eyes. That medicine? It seems to be because of that."

The heat that had risen from my fluster seemed to spread through my entire body.

Come to think of it, even when I smelled it, I had felt something strange...

"Th-that's just how it is!"

Having finished speaking, Priest Daniel fled the room as if running away. And from the sound of the front door opening, it seemed he had fled the house entirely.

My footsteps as I left the room wobbled unsteadily. I had just heard a truly flustering explanation.

And from Priest Daniel's honest account, I roughly got a sense of what the item I had created was.

It was clearly something called by various names—love potion, aphrodisiac, stimulant, and the like.

No wonder it had seemed strange...

I gathered all the finished combination products, put them in a box, sealed it, and wrote a memo. For the "Handle with Care" and "Dangerous" parts, I wrote them in this world's language... and in the language of my previous life, I wrote "Aphrodisiac."

Sister Mary asked what had happened, but for the sake of Priest Daniel who had mustered the courage, I kept silent.

The next day, when I went to the house where Priest Daniel was staying to check on how the horses were doing, I caught a scent similar to chestnut blossoms. Having once been a man myself, I knew full well why that smell was there. So I quietly kept silent and pretended not to notice.

Priest Daniel seemed flustered about why I had come, but I acted as nonchalantly as possible, as if nothing had happened.