Chapter 74
Chapter 74
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 74
Chapter Title: NO ADULTS ZONE (1)
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1.
Just like that, the day passed.
Cyan usually didn't wake up until past noon, but for some strange reason, she rose early this morning.
Probably because she had some special business to attend to.
"……Time to get going."
As always, Cyan donned a robe that blocked her presence from prying eyes and stepped outside.
As soon as she opened the door, warm sunlight poured in, revealing fine weather perfect for walking. For that reason, she decided to go on foot instead of using teleportation this time.
-Tap, tap
This mountain was the private property of the Turk Merchant Association, but the peak was Cyan's personal space.
So she could descend in quiet peace, but once she reached the bottom, that was no longer the case.
"……Hmm."
-Rattle! Clunk!
Dozens of wagons coming and going from the Turk Merchant Association.
"Everyone seems pretty busy."
"Oh, it's the High Elf. Good morning."
As she came down the mountain, even early in the morning, the Turk Merchant Association's employees were bustling about.
People loading carts full of goods and moving them to warehouses, others checking incoming inventory counts—even stacks of boxes piled high like a small tower made it hard to tell if this was a merchant guild or a factory.
"Thanks to the High Elf escorting us all the way to Arke, we've got tons of orders from the elves and dwarves. Just the raw materials alone number in the hundreds."
"Er…… Sorry about that? Did I end up giving you guys extra work?"
"No, no! Sure, more work is tough, but it means bonuses too, and vacations later on."
Cyan exchanged simple morning greetings with what looked like a site supervisor and had that conversation.
Come to think of it, she recalled the dwarves lining up to buy beer and jerky, and the elves queuing for meat made from beans, which made her chuckle a little.
The elves, who didn't know real meat, being amazed by the bean version, and the dwarves fighting over beer—it was all pretty amusing.
"By the way, what are we supposed to do with all those boxes?"
"Oh, those need to be moved to that warehouse by morning. They're full of dried beans, so they're pretty heavy—we're sweating bullets over here."
"I see. So just move them to that warehouse, right?"
"Yes, that's right…… but what are you planning to do?"
Cyan listened to the supervisor's explanation and walked up to the mountain of stacked boxes.
"……You'll see."
With those casual words, she placed her hand on a box.
-Crackle!
"Gasp?!"
A small spark followed, and then hundreds of boxes began floating into the air.
The startled employees gawked at the flying boxes, while Cyan, the center of attention, nonchalantly gestured them all into the warehouse.
-Thud, thud, thud
"O-oh……."
The boxes stacked neatly in the warehouse.
Moving one would take a full-grown man grunting with effort, but Cyan did it effortlessly.
"There, that should do it, right?"
"In-in-incredible!"
The supervisor stared at her in a daze.
He wanted to ask if she'd consider working here, but Stran had warned him never to be rude to the High Elf and to grant any request she made.
"It would've taken us three hours…… You did it in five minutes. Thank you so much."
He was especially grateful since it was a task they'd been fretting over to finish by morning.
"No big deal. Besides, I need you guys to get me three things in return."
"Things you need? What would those be?"
"Nothing special. Just these three on this paper."
Mandragora Root Mistletoe Fruit Black Goose Egg ◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ -Flash!
This time, Cyan teleported to the elves' land, Arke.
⚙ Neutral Stage ⚙ Land of the Elves, Arke Arke still retained its beautiful landscape full of lush green foliage, with dwarves and elves chatting as they walked the streets.
It was quieter than when the Turk Merchant Association had visited, but still plenty crowded.
"Hmm, this time……."
There, Cyan wandered looking for a certain shop and, after about ten minutes, found one with a leaf-shaped signboard.
'There it is.'
-Creak
The shop was labeled "Alchemist Gallery" in Elvish, and Cyan entered as if it were familiar.
-Tap
"Welcome. What potion are you looking to make?"
A fairy-tale witch-like elf in distinctive attire greeted her.
"Healing salve for wounds? Or mana recovery potion? Alchemist Gallery can get you what you need quickly."
Cyan silently pondered as the familiar elf greeted her.
After a few minutes of quiet contemplation, just as the shopkeeper approached wondering if something was wrong, Cyan finally spoke.
"……Yohimbe tree sap, white serpent blood, a dark wyvern egg, and red lily juice, please."
"Yohimbe sap and white serpent blood…… wyvern egg and red lily juice? Are you making a potion, or just need the materials?"
"Just the materials."
Cyan spoke as flatly as possible.
But the shopkeeper glanced at the note, then at Cyan's face and back, her cheeks flushing as she exclaimed "Oh my! Oh my!" and hurried inside.
The reason was that these ingredients weren't for ordinary uses.
In fact, yohimbe sap and white serpent blood were illegal to trade anywhere outside Arke.
They were potent aphrodisiacs, anesthetics, and stimulants dozens of times stronger than caffeine—anyone could guess what potions they went into.
Ingredients for spring medicine.
However, Cyan only wanted their individual effects, not for the usual purpose.
'These materials are a pain.'
Anyway, possessing them could lead to arrest in other countries due to their extreme potency.
But in the elven lands, they were exceptionally permitted because elves as a race had naturally low libidos.
For the prosperity of the race, they allowed various uses? It was some laughable backstory like that.
"Here you go! Anything else? We have mood enhancers too."
"……No need."
Thus, Cyan could guess what the shopkeeper thought of her.
'She's smirking. Must be lots of elves buying these.'
She couldn't explain herself verbally, so paying and leaving quickly was her best option.
-Flash!
Next, Cyan busily teleported around various places.
Among the gathered materials, she plucked a few sacred tree leaves from Arke and bought the strongest liquor from a tavern in Asral City.
All were necessities for her "conversation" with the "brat" she had to meet—essential for using the portal to the world's rift.
'……Sigh.'
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ 2.
"Lady Cyan, so what are all those?"
Louis, who had been quietly watching Cyan, tilted his head and asked.
-Ssssh…….
"Poison. One drop kills a human instantly."
Right now, Cyan had even brought out a lamp to grind various ingredients into powder and heat some till boiling.
But their state looked ominous.
Louis lamented inwardly, wondering what demonic deed this demon was up to now.
"Poison? Why?"
"I wouldn't need it for your build. But if I go like this, I might shatter a few mountains, so I'm making something to hold back."
Come to think of it, she mentioned a new commission from the Turk Merchant Association—specifically, meeting the infamous "Brat of the Grendel Mountains," which Louis had only heard rumors of.
[ "That one outdoes me in pure physical combat. Physically and personality-wise, otherwise worthless." ]
And this brat supposedly surpassed even Cyan in raw martial prowess.
Louis, who knew Cyan could pulverize castle walls with a punch, worried what monster would emerge this time.
Plus, she'd called it more troublesome than that previous demon—doubted she'd return unscathed.
"Separated the yolk?"
-Squelch.
"Yeah. Next, pour the boiling white serpent blood into the whites without spilling."
-Squelch.
As he watched Cyan, a wriggling, sticky creature assisting her perfectly caught his eye.
"……Lady Cyan, where'd you pick up that tentacle? It doesn't look normal at all. Did it eat a few people or something?"
"Who knows. At least it's more helpful than you."
"W-well, if you say so……."
Louis reacted familiarly to her curt reply, scrutinizing the creepy gray tentacle.
-Squelch! Squish!
Despite no fingers, it gripped and released glass vials deftly.
Not only did it understand Cyan's words—which no longer surprised him—but it measured precisely what even normal people struggled with, aiding the potion perfectly.
It was something taking tentacle form.
Definitely not a mere tentacle, that loathsome wriggler.
"……The Brat of the Grendel Mountains guards a 'sanctuary' somewhere in the range, honing martial arts alone as a dragonkin."
"Dragonkin? That brat's a dragonkin?"
As Louis played chess with the spare tentacle, Cyan began explaining the brat.
"Yeah, mother's a green dragon, father's beastkin. Her physical prowess likely exceeds most dragons. Your kind weaken when turning human."
"I see…… But surprising. How's a dragonkin living centuries? They're famously shorter-lived than humans."
The Brat of the Grendel Mountains.
A half-dragonkin born 500 years ago to a dragon and beastkin.
Raised by her beastkin father, she grew normally until, at human age 16, the 'incident' occurred.
"She entered the Grendel Mountains alone and didn't return for days. Her father sought her mother's help, but even dragon power couldn't find her."
"And? What happened?"
Cyan impassively inspected the potion vial.
The tentacle handed it over, and she stirred it into a froth.
"……Unable to find her, the father consulted the great sage who knows all, enduring mortal perils."
And asked the sage:
Why couldn't he find his child no matter how he searched, and what happened to make her vanish?
The sage replied:
"Your child no longer exists in this world." Exists no longer in the world.
To her magic-illiterate father, it was incomprehensible yet revealed the gravity.
His child was gone from this world, to a place beyond even dragons.
But the next answer gave hope: the reason for her disappearance.
"The child drifts in a place belonging to no world, adrift in the nowhere crafted by the great Transcendent of old." "That's why the brat vanished—sucked into a 'portal' in the Grendel Mountains."
"Portal?"
"Yes, paths between worlds. She got trapped in the 'World's Rift' via the one there."
Finishing the explanation and potion, Cyan pulled other items from her subspace.
"Whew."
Among them, small-sized clothes bought in advance and a pack of strawberry milk.
Whatever the purpose, Cyan took a deep breath and picked up the completed potion.
"Anyway, she escaped somehow, but the side effect halted her physical growth. Gained an unnaturally long lifespan too."
"……You rushed the ending. Feels like key parts are skipped."
"Old tales bore me, and now I need to test this potion's effect."
Cyan showed the vial with its ominous black sheen.
Looked lethal on sight.
"Th-that's safe to drink?!"
"Demons don't get poisoned. You'd die from side effects, but I won't."
Plus, Louis instinctively recoiled in disgust.
"Side effect is death?! What's it even for? Why those ingredients?"
"You'll see when you look at me."
"Eek?!"
With that, Cyan downed the vial.
-Sizzle!
A drop hit the floor, smoking and corroding it.
"Urk……!"
"Lady Cyan?!"
-Thud!
Simultaneously, Cyan clutched her chest and collapsed.
Louis rushed over, fearing a botched potion, but Cyan waved him off as if fine.
"Nngh……! Kgh!"
Then, groaning in agony, she convulsed on the floor.
"Y-you okay?!"
-Sizzle!
"Urk, nngh! Gh……! Hah!"
Black smoke leaked from her body.
Not fire, thankfully, as she rose groaning.
"Th-that quick……!"
-Squelch!
She muttered to the tentacle, which poured strawberry milk into a cup and handed it over.
Cyan gulped it down eagerly.
The smoke subsided, heat and pain fading.
"Hah, haah!"
"You okay? Was that safe…… Huh?"
With the side effects seemingly over, Louis approached again and noticed something off.
"Lady Cyan, right?"
Cyan had shrunk, now Louis's height, body youthful overall—chest unchanged, but otherwise childlike.
And then—
"Ugh, tastes awful! No wonder it kills—pure poison flavor……."
"Y-your voice."
Her usual calm tone had pitched higher.
Not drastically, but distant from her norm—listenable, yet different.
"Whew, anyway, potion complete. Made it perfectly since I brewed it myself. So, Louis? Do I look young enough?"
"Y-yeah…… You do. What is that stuff?"
"De-aging potion, literally. The brat won't talk unless you're a kid."
The cause of all changes: Cyan had de-aged.
Unbelievable, but she looked Louis's age—evident from her ill-fitting clothes slipping off.
"……."
"What's wrong? Cat got your tongue, Louis?"
Thus, Louis silently hugged the tentacle like a doll and lay on the bed, saying nothing.
The tentacle, concerned, covered him with a blanket and dimmed the lights.
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