Research (4)
Next, I decided to try manufacturing a potent poison using an Attunement Agent.
I mixed the poisonous herbs, toxic mushrooms, and Attunement Agent together while pouring in a generous amount of Holy Power.
“Hmm-hmm-hmm.”
Maybe it was because I’d already succeeded with the poison pill recipe once before, but a little tune slipped out of me on its own.
This particular poison recipe took a long time and was pretty tedious, yet one glance into the pot was enough to re-energize me.
The contents were melting into a thick, well-blended mixture—clear proof that the combination was going smoothly.
After enough time had passed, a bright rainbow sheen appeared over the pot, and inside sat a purple poison pill.
“Ohhh!”
I’d added two new recipes to my repertoire in a single day. Technically they were just slight variations on existing ones, but still…
“I’ll take what I can get.”
“You’ve worked hard.”
“Hup!”
I froze solid in surprise.
“Ah, I’m sorry.”
“Y-Young Master? When did you come in?”
“About ten minutes ago.”
“By the way, what exactly did you make?”
Young Master stepped closer and peered at the finished product. Then he reached out as if to touch it.
“I-It’s dangerous—don’t touch that!”
I moved in a flash and caught his wrist, stopping him. He looked at me with a startled expression.
“I-It’s poison.”
“Poison…”
“Yes. You remember how we gathered poisonous herbs and mushrooms? I made it from those.”
“I see…”
I gently released his wrist and transferred the poison pills from the pot into a wooden container, sealing it tight. After firmly closing the lid on the container that held two pills, I wrote “POISON” across the top and immediately stowed it in my bag.
“Anyway, why did you suddenly start meditating like that?”
I’d spent the time comfortably working on my combinations, but I was still curious about his reason.
“Ah. My mana vessel expanded. It took a while to settle everything properly.”
“Huh?”
What was he talking about? Don’t tell me that wild ginseng was a true spiritual medicine?
“It was my first time eating something like that, so I was pretty flustered myself.”
Wait a second. If that was the case, then what about Sis?
“Why didn’t Mary and I react at all?”
Sister Mary and I had shown no reaction whatsoever. The only ones who responded were the mana-awakened Young Master and Sis.
“Perhaps it’s the difference between Holy Power and mana?”
“Is that it?”
Well, no harm done either way, right?
When I asked Young Master, he said his mana had increased by roughly ten percent. Sis, whose mana reserves had never been particularly large to begin with, had gained about twenty percent…
“Ah, if I’d known, I would’ve given my share to Sis too.”
“It’s fine.”
“What do you mean ‘fine’? I’m just saying it’s a shame.”
Sis getting stronger was something I welcomed wholeheartedly. That was exactly why I felt so disappointed.
“There will be other opportunities.”
Would there really? And would the effect even show up again? Tch. With something like this, the first time you take it is always the most effective. Splitting it four ways instead of keeping it for myself had been such a waste.
“Let’s just eat dinner.”
“Dinner?”
I cracked open the closed window a little and looked up at the sky. The sun was already setting.
“Time really flew by.”
“Yeah.”
For dinner we ate whatever leftovers remained from earlier. Even if we’d wanted something different, there was no way to obtain fresh ingredients.
“It’s not much, but it can’t be helped.”
The villagers refused to sell us anything—what else could we do? Once our stomachs were full, we laid out our sleeping bags and turned in right away.
Maybe because the day had been so productive from the morning onward, drowsiness hit me early.
“Did your research yield good results?”
“Uh, yeah, well…”
It was a shame it had turned out to be poison, but I’d still gotten something useful out of it. More importantly, what was I supposed to do tomorrow…?
Because I’d gone to bed so early, my eyes opened early the next morning as well.
“Ugh, still better than sleeping outdoors.”
There was no bed—just a sleeping bag on the floor—so the conditions weren’t all that different from camping out. Even so, the roof and walls blocked the wind, making it far more comfortable.
I stretched, got up, folded the sleeping bag, and set it aside.
“Is everyone still asleep…?”
When I turned my head, Sister Mary’s spot was already empty. She really was an early riser.
I grabbed a towel from my bag, left the room, and headed for the living area.
There I found Sister Mary already preparing breakfast.
“Isn’t it a bit early?”
“I just wanted to get things ready.”
I stepped outside and used water magic, then dampened the towel I’d brought.
After wringing out the excess moisture, I went back inside.
“What are you doing?”
“Just wiping myself down a little.”
A proper shower would have been ideal, but under the circumstances there was no choice… If the facilities had been even slightly better, I might have tried washing with magic. Such a shame.
“You’re going to wipe yourself down?”
“Ah, yes. I feel sticky. Washing properly would be best, but given the situation I’ll settle for a wipe-down.”
“I’ll do it for you.”
I almost refused, but those pitiful eyes defeated me. I carefully undressed in front of her, and Sister Mary gently wiped my body with the damp towel.
“Julian’s skin is incredibly soft.”
What on earth was this nun suddenly saying?! I was already barely holding back the embarrassment of showing my body to someone else; heat flooded my face in an instant.
Ugh! I fanned myself with my hand, trying to cool my cheeks.
“Not a single blemish either. It’s almost mysteriously clear.”
“Um, excuse me?”
Was this just how women were with each other? I didn’t know enough about female social norms to figure out how I was supposed to react.
I simply endured, praying the moment would end quickly.
Once it seemed she’d finished the places I couldn’t reach myself, I immediately snatched the towel away.
“I-I can handle the rest myself, so it’s fine.”
I spun around to avoid her gaze. Then I hurriedly wiped the remaining areas and pulled my clothes back on. Covering my skin brought a small measure of relief.
“Saintess.”
“H-Huh? Yes?”
Being addressed as Saintess out of nowhere left me unsure how to respond.
“I was just curious, so I wanted to ask…”
Sister Mary hesitated briefly, then fixed me with a serious look. That expression made me swallow hard. What exactly was she about to ask with eyes like that?
Was it something serious?
“Why do you call Emma ‘noona’?”
Uh… wait, what?
“E-Emma noona?”
“Yes. Isn’t ‘noona’ the term a younger brother uses for his older sister?”
Her question—that between two women it should properly be “eonni”—left me completely speechless.
Uh… what was I supposed to do about this?
I had two options.
First: tell her I used to be a man.
She might be skeptical, but if Sis backed me up, she’d have no choice but to believe it.
Second: just lie.
If I gave some plausible reason, she’d understand, right?
After a brief moment of thought, I made my choice. Option two.
Someday I’d have to tell the truth. But right now I still had no way to return to being a man, and revealing everything would only create more confusion.
Besides, explaining that I’d once been male and making her understand it sounded like a huge hassle!
“I just got used to it, you know? I’ve called her that since we were little.”
Aside from the part about calling her “noona” because I’d been a boy, it was the truth.
“Is that so? I thought there might be some special reason.”
Young Master had probably been curious too… yet somehow he’d never asked.
“And there’s one more thing I’m curious about…”
Maybe it was because we were alone, but Sister Mary was talking more than usual.
“W-Why do you call Maximilian ‘Young Master’?”
Uh… I hadn’t really explained that either, had I? Of course we’d introduced ourselves. We’d only confirmed names and ages, though…
“Y-You heard his name during the introductions, right?”
“Yes. He introduced himself as Maximilian Meyer.”
The fact that she hadn’t grown suspicious even though he had a surname was strange. Did the church have people who weren’t nobles yet still possessed family names?
“H-He has a surname, doesn’t he? That’s because he’s a noble.”
Sister Mary blinked her eyes wide, as if she truly hadn’t realized.
“A n-noble?”
“Yes. He’s the heir of the barony where I used to live.”
I still didn’t understand why someone like that was following me around, but…
“A noble…”
“Shouldn’t you have realized he was a noble the moment you heard he had a surname?”
From a commoner’s perspective, possessing a family name was practically synonymous with being a noble.
“I take it the temple has people with surnames?”
“W-Well… yes, though only a few.”
So that was it after all…
“Then it’s understandable you’d make that mistake.”
“So he really was a noble…”
More importantly, should I start correcting the way I addressed Sis soon?
When it was just the two of us it didn’t matter, but in front of other people it would be better to be careful.
It wasn’t a huge problem, yet people could easily get the wrong idea, and someone might even call me out on it.
The best way to avoid annoying situations was to head them off early.
“May I ask how the two of you came to travel together?”
How was I supposed to explain that…? While I was still fretting over it, Young Master appeared.
“I committed a grave error toward Miss Julian, and I am escorting her as atonement.”
He’d overheard us?! Since when had he been listening?
“Young Master? Eavesdropping on a conversation between women is rather lacking in manners, don’t you think?”
When I voiced my complaint, Young Master bowed his head.
“My apologies. I couldn’t help myself once I heard my own name.”
But we hadn’t been hiding anywhere—we’d been talking in the open living room where anyone could come and go. I couldn’t entirely blame him.
“Well, we were the ones talking in such an open place, so we’re partly at fault too.”
“I’ll go finish preparing breakfast.”
Sister Mary looked at the two of us and smiled for some reason. Then, using breakfast as an excuse, she neatly escaped the situation.
How sneaky!
We stood there staring at each other awkwardly. What was I supposed to say now?
“Ahem. What do you plan to do today?”
“What do you mean?”
“Will you be leaving?”
Ah, so that was what he meant. We hadn’t decided yesterday.
“Well… the villagers clearly want us gone, so we should probably leave, right?”
The thought of staying just one more day kept lingering.
“It seems you still haven’t made up your mind.”
“We’ll decide once everyone’s gathered later.”
I spoke while loosening up my body. While Young Master and I exchanged idle small talk waiting for the food to finish, a knock sounded at the door.
“What is it?”
Was someone actually coming here?
Sister Mary was cooking, so I supposed I should answer.
When I opened the door, the man who’d called himself the village chief yesterday was standing there.
“Hmph.”
The chief looked me up and down, then furrowed his brow. Why? I lowered my gaze to check myself. I was dressed properly, wasn’t I?
Did he just dislike me on principle?
“When are you leaving?”
He spoke without any preamble. After everything that had happened yesterday, not even a word of thanks—just “when are you leaving”…
It left a thoroughly bad taste in my mouth.
“We were already planning to leave.”
Even so, I maintained proper courtesy toward the village chief.
“Good. That settles it, then.”
His shameless behavior—not a single word of apology—made my brow twitch, but I held it in. I did my best to keep any of it from showing on my face. Whether my expression management succeeded or not, the chief simply turned around, hands clasped behind his back, and walked away.
Ugh! So irritating! So frustrating! So infuriating!
“You handled that well.”
Apparently Young Master had been watching from behind.
“I have no idea why he’s acting like that, and it just makes me more annoyed.”
“There are times when it’s better not to know.”
I went back inside, working to cool my temper.
“What happened?”
Sister Mary asked as she set the breakfast table.
“The village chief came to ask when we were leaving.”
“I see.”
“So I told him we’d leave today.”
Even if only out of sheer irritation, we were definitely leaving today.
It was time for breakfast, yet Sis still hadn’t gotten up.
Eager to eat quickly and get on the road, I went to wake her.
“Sis! Get up already! Let’s eat!”
Whether it was low blood pressure or something else, Sis groaned and struggled to rise.
Seeing her like that made me feel sorry, and I regretted rushing her. It wasn’t something she could easily fix no matter how hard she tried… I felt bad.