Research (14)
Making ash powder was harder than I'd expected…. I had Holy Power to spare, but keeping the magic running still took real concentration.
It wasn't the kind of spell you could cast and walk away from, which made the whole process a hassle.
My sister and Sister Mary soon wandered off, saying they'd look around for anything else useful. Young Master?
"It would be dangerous for you to stay alone, so I'll remain and protect you."
There was no need for that… but he stayed by my side anyway, determined to keep watch.
"Shouldn't it be ready by now?"
"Hmm…"
Using magic again wouldn't be difficult… should I check?
"Alright, let's take a look."
I cut off the Holy Power sustaining the spell. Young Master reached out to grab the boulder blocking the entrance with his bare hands.
"Be careful."
"Pardon?"
"It might be hot from the heat."
Even without direct contact with the fire, sitting right in front of an entrance belching heat would have left it scorching.
"Ah, I see."
Despite my warning, Young Master carelessly approached the boulder and hoisted it up with one hand. Having mana made that sort of thing easy, I supposed?
"Ugh, it is pretty hot."
He carefully shifted the boulder aside and set it down. See? I told you it was hot…….
"What did I just say? Let me see your hands."
I grabbed his wrist at once and checked his palm. It looked a little red, but thankfully there were no burns.
"Give me the other one too."
"I'm really fine. You should check that instead."
"Right now, people matter more than that thing!"
When I snapped at him, Young Master flinched and held out his other hand. I snatched his wrist and examined the palm.
"Phew…"
Thankfully neither hand was burned. I felt a little relief.
"I told you there was no need to worry, didn't I?"
Why was he smiling with that confident look on his face….
"Is this funny to you?"
When I said it with a straight face, Young Master looked a little flustered.
"When someone tells you not to do something, don't do it. When they tell you to be careful, be careful."
I channeled Holy Power to heal him. The energy wrapped around his hands, and the red, swollen skin returned to normal.
"What are you smiling about… like you did something great."
When I glared at him, Young Master clamped his mouth shut and looked away.
"Did you do something wrong, or didn't you?"
I held his hands firmly and pressed the question. Young Master kept dodging my eyes and avoiding an answer.
"Helping is fine, but why do you make people worry like that?"
When I kept pushing, he finally lowered his head.
"I'm sorry. I'll be more careful."
"You mean it?"
"Yes…"
"Hmph…"
Only after getting a clear answer did I let go of his hands. Why did he keep doing reckless things like that….
Worrying about a companion was only natural.
Now, had the ash powder turned out well? I peered into the pit. Few pieces of wood had kept their shape. Most had turned a grayish white, and many had already crumbled into powder.
I poked the remaining chunks with the butt of my spear. Each tap sent them collapsing into powder — a sure sign they'd been made properly.
Alright, time to open the pit.
I adapted the earth-turning magic to tear open the top of the hole.
"Allow me to help."
"Yes, yes."
I held a sack open while Young Master used tools to scoop up the ash powder.
"Please be careful not to mix in any dirt."
"Understood."
Once we'd swept all the ash powder into the sacks, we took a rest.
"Now we just need my sister and Mary to come back."
"Yes."
"Sorry for getting angry earlier."
I felt like I'd gotten far too worked up over nothing. And I'd made such a fuss when I could have simply healed him….
"It's alright. I was the one being too careless."
The atmosphere grew a little awkward. Sister! Sister Mary! Hurry up and get back!
Once my sister and Sister Mary returned, we headed straight down the mountain. Everything we needed from the outdoors had been gathered.
What remained were the items we had to buy in the city.
We reached the city walls before the sun hit its peak, but something seemed noisy, and the crowd was thick.
"Looks like the Academy."
"Pardon?"
The Academy? Could it be the one from the rumors?
So the talk about them returning to the Capital had been true….
We quietly waited our turn at the back. With nobles among us and our identities clear, I expected to get through quickly, but something seemed to be holding things up.
"Is there a problem?"
"I doubt it."
What a hassle…. After about five minutes, people suddenly poured inside. Whatever the issue was, it seemed resolved. We passed the checkpoint and entered the city.
"So, what are we buying now?"
"Oil, sulfur, and whetstones."
"Whetstones, huh. I should pick some up myself."
"We'll buy plenty while we're at it."
I headed for a general store.
Inside, I carefully examined the merchandise.
"Hmm…"
Not all whetstones were created equal. Pick a poor one and it wouldn't sharpen properly — just ruin the stone and leave you fuming.
Then again, the whetstones I was buying weren't for maintaining swords. I planned to use them in alchemy combinations, so quality hardly mattered.
"I'll just grab something roughly."
I decided to choose the whetstones casually and prioritize the oil. While I was looking them over, Sister Mary had been selecting oil and seemed to have already found something usable.
"Is that one alright?"
"Yes. I was looking for something cheap, so it isn't plant oil, though."
"That doesn't matter."
There was a reason general stores carried oil. This was the kind used for making torches. Once we settled on the oil, we paid at once and bought the whetstones as well.
"Now we just need sulfur…"
This was harder to find than expected…….
I knew sulfur collected from nature was toxic. Apparently there was some method to strip the toxicity so it could be eaten, but that was well outside my area of knowledge.
"We'll have to check every place that might sell it."
"Shall we split up?"
"No, I don't think that's necessary."
We went through all sorts of shops — general stores, even gem shops that sold raw stones — searching for sulfur. And we found it in an unexpected place.
A medicinal herb shop selling sulfur….
"Isn't this sulfur dangerous?"
"It's dangerous if you just eat it raw! Follow the instructions and you'll be fine."
Well, I wasn't planning to eat it — I was using it as a material, so it didn't matter…. The price was higher than expected, so I couldn't buy much.
I had money to spare, but since it was for experiments, spending freely felt wasteful….
"We've bought everything we need, so let's head back."
"Yes, let's hurry back."
Young Master had been anxiously scanning our surroundings for a while now.
"Is it because of the Academy people?"
Young Master had attended the Academy himself… and with nobles in that envoy party, there might well be people who would recognize him.
"Haha…"
"What could possibly happen?"
Even if we ran into someone, what would come of it? Just exchange greetings and that would be the end of it, right?
"Just in case."
On the way back to the inn, we ran into exactly what we didn't want to encounter.
"Looks like Academy people."
The Academy group we'd seen at the checkpoint earlier was substantial. Over a hundred, nearly two hundred? A force of that size was on the move.
With nobles among them and even a prince, the large numbers made a certain kind of sense.
"Looks like they're staying here for the night."
Even though there was still plenty of daylight, they were resting…? If it were us, we'd have kept moving a bit further.
"With so many distinguished personages, they probably wanted to avoid camping outdoors."
Ah! Of course — with so many important people, camping would be difficult.
"What a real nuisance."
We ignored the crowd and entered our inn. Young Master had been fretting that someone might recognize him, but nothing of the sort happened.
Once we reached our room, we unpacked first. By now, everyone knew what to do without being told.
Without any instructions from me, they sorted the supplies, arranged them for easy use, and cleared away anything unnecessary. And that wasn't all — the preparations needed for alchemy were set up smoothly as well.
"Ahh, this is so convenient."
When I made a show of lounging about, Sister Mary smiled and Young Master grinned too.
"Alright, shall we begin the experiment?"
I clapped my hands once, and everyone focused. It felt a little strange, but this wasn't the first or second time — I'd gotten used to it.
First, I tried combining Bubble Grass with ash powder…. Unfortunately, nothing happened and it failed.
Next, I added oil the way you would when making soap.
The combination of Bubble Grass, oil, ash powder, and water also failed.
"How can this fail?!"
It was just the normal soap-making method with Bubble Grass added on top. Wait — had I also added Holy Power? But it still failed.
"Strange."
I had Sister Mary make soap using the same materials as they were. And a short while later, soap was made.
All that was different was the absence of Bubble Grass and no use of Holy Power….
"It's soap."
"Why?"
Could the method be wrong? I stared at the soap Sister Mary had made. Did I need a different approach after all?
"Hmm…"
Time to change methods.
First, make a new Attunement Agent!
The yellow Attunement Agent made with sand was probably earth-attribute! So this time, I'd make an Attunement Agent of a different attribute!
The whetstone probably wouldn't be useful… even if the combination succeeded, it felt like it would just produce another yellow Attunement Agent.
What I needed to use here were sulfur and ash powder….
Sulfur was, in a way, a mineral similar to sand, so if I excluded that, only ash powder remained.
It could be considered wood, at least….
Let's try it and see.
I used the same ratios as when making the yellow Attunement Agent.
And for the first time in a while, the light of success appeared.
"Rainbow light — success."
What would it turn into? I hummed as I finished the combination.
The bright rainbow light faded, and what remained in the pot was a vivid red liquid.
"Congratulations on your success."
Young Master got ahead of himself with the celebration. I chuckled and transferred the contents of the pot.
I didn't need to wonder what it was.
This was clearly an Attunement Agent. My instincts told me so.
Now it was time to try combinations with this Attunement Agent.