Chapter 31 — New Ingredients
Chapter 31 — New Ingredients
Translation: Godtl
Perhaps it was because she was too small and unimpressive. After returning from the neutral zone, she hadn't been able to eat properly, so she had become gaunt.
'Never mind, it doesn't matter anyway.'
Lelia pulled herself out of deep thought before she could become sadder.
Near the tower, several soldiers, workers, and servants were coming and going.
Just as Cedric and Damian had said, it seemed they were really renovating it into a place for viewing constellations to give to Julianna as a birthday gift.
'...Hmph.'
Lelia bit her lip hard. To Julianna, they were reliable and wonderful older brothers, but to Lelia, they were practically villains.
'It's fine. I have friends stronger and more wonderful than Cedric and Damian.'
Moreover, I was the leader of those friends.
'No need to feel intimidated. Now I have this too.'
Lelia touched the necklace. Her mind felt reassured.
But just then, an uneasy thought crossed her mind.
'What if it's all a dream and it doesn't appear again?'
Lelia swallowed nervously with tension and touched the blue jewel. Fortunately, the screen appeared perfectly intact.
Just then, the alchemy tool floating in front wiggled and displayed a speech bubble.
[Master! To clear the added recipes, you need to acquire new ingredients! Currently, 'new ingredients' owned by Master: 0.(•᷄⌓•᷅)…]
"…."
'New ingredients...'
After pondering for a moment, Lelia checked the new recipe list. The ingredients for the newly created recipes were all deactivated.
[system: [!] A new alchemical substance from this world. What kind of ingredient could it be? Look around your surroundings to find the ingredients!]
Come to think of it, those deactivated ingredients were quite bothersome.
She remembered that in her past life too, those gray inactive ingredients had bothered her so much that she had played the game like crazy.
'Is it really telling me to look around? Like an augmented reality game?'
Lelia started walking in the opposite direction from the tower. Then the alchemy tool displayed a speech bubble.
[~~Yay~! (ง˙∇˙)ว~(ว˙∇˙)ง Searching for ingredients~~]
'It's correct!'
But now wasn't the time to leisurely search for new ingredients and unlock recipes.
'Sadly, I have to escape today, so I'm busy.'
Just then, perhaps reading Lelia's inner thoughts, the alchemy tool displayed a new message.
[Would you like to proceed with auto-search? ʕ•̀ o •́ʔ]
'Auto-search works too?'
[We can identify materials present along Master's route and auto-search! The fee is 1 gold per hour.(๑•̀.•́๑)]
'I guess it can read my mind and answer...'
Lelia blinked in amazement. The alchemy tool started spinning round and round as if excited.
'1 gold per hour...'
Lelia looked at the owned gold written at the very bottom of the screen. It was money she couldn't use in reality anyway.
'A shame. I have so much money.'
Since she had no use for it anyway, she thought it worked out well.
'Then I'll proceed with auto-search.'
[Excellent choice, Master! I'll let you know immediately when ingredients are discovered!∠(･`_´･)]
[system: 'Auto-search 'is in progress--]
Lelia touched the jewel again to hide the screen and started walking diligently.
She headed toward the east gate where the castle's servants passed through.
Standing at the edge of the woods, Lelia observed the numerous people coming and going through the small castle gate.
'So many merchants coming and going.'
Probably because Julianna's birthday banquet was approaching.
'In the original work, they threw a party so grand it made people stick out their tongues...'
Lelia lowered her body to avoid being seen and approached where the carriages passed through.
The castle servants and merchants were all focused only on moving their cargo. Only spirited voices urging each other to hurry echoed back and forth.
Lelia slipped into the third warehouse where servants no longer passed and hid her body.
'Let's secretly get on a carriage leaving the castle and slip out.'
A good idea. The carriages of merchants passing through the Imperial Palace had lax surveillance. After all, they were people who passed through every day.
'Is leaving like this the right choice?'
Perhaps due to tension, her heart started wavering strangely. In truth, she was afraid.
The world wasn't safe enough for a ten-year-old young girl to wander around freely.
'Still, as long as I have this necklace...'
At the very least, she wouldn't encounter dangerous situations. Moreover, if she was lucky, she could even start a business.
'Though alchemy is illegal...'
Still, if she didn't get caught by the temple, she could live quite wealthy. High-ranking nobles often purchased alchemical potions secretly.
'If necessary, I can make flame potions and attack.'
Among the recipes and materials she already possessed, there were quite a few things useful for self-protection.
'Don't hesitate.'
Lelia made a firm resolution and spied outside through the crack in the door.
After a long time passed, it was late afternoon.
Several soldiers appeared. They approached the merchants preparing to move their cargo and asked something.
A merchant with a bushy beard shrugged and shook his head.
The soldiers looked troubled and this time approached where the servants were. Right in front of the warehouse where Lelia was hiding.
Thanks to this, Lelia could hear the conversation between the soldiers and the servant.
Perhaps they were acquaintances, as a tall soldier naturally called out to the servant.
"Hey there."
"Oh my, long time no see, sir."
"Yes, greetings can wait... did you happen to see a young girl with silver hair and green eyes wearing a robe?"
At those words, the male servant carrying cargo while sweating tilted his head and answered.
"Haven't seen anyone like that at all. What's the matter?"
"...It's nothing. His Highness the Prince is looking for her. If you find her, bring her to the main castle immediately."
"Yes, well. Understood, sir."
When the soldier left, the servant bowed his head.
Lelia, surprised, had been holding her breath the whole time, and only after the soldiers disappeared did she finally exhale.
'The twins are looking for me? Why?'
Why indeed. Their purpose was clearly to torment her.
'To show off in front of Julianna, acting like wonderful older brothers, they probably want to punish me, who's practically a villain.'
Nasty fellows.
Lelia bit her lip and suppressed her angry feelings.
In the original work, the two brothers weren't villains at all.
To Julianna, they were kind older brothers, and to the imperial citizens, they were respected princes. They were generous to the Imperial Palace's subjects, strict with knights—perfect beings.
Moreover, with their handsome and dashing appearance and excellent manners, they were the ones who made noble ladies' hearts flutter at every ball.
They were truly the very model of exemplary princes.
But to Lelia, they were objects of fear. Perhaps even more frightening than Emperor Perseus.
The Emperor simply found Lelia repulsive, but the princes believed they had to torment Lelia to avenge their mother.
'Since Princess Iris really did torment Mom a lot...'
Lelia clenched her fist tightly. Knowing they were looking for her made her heart even more anxious.
'Tonight, I have to get out of the Imperial Palace no matter what.'
Eventually, the sun set and late afternoon arrived.
It was when the last merchants who had entered the Imperial Palace were leaving. Lelia quietly slipped out of the warehouse.
Then, walking like a stray cat, she stealthily climbed onto the back of a cargo carriage.
Fortunately, there was a small space next to the large boxes where she could hide her body.
'Ugh. If I were just a bit taller, I wouldn't have been able to hide.'
Lelia curled up round in that space. And waited for the carriage to depart.
She was so tense that cold sweat streamed down her, but passing through the castle gate was surprisingly easy.
The carriage rattled past the castle gate and traveled along the road.
Seeing the gate grow distant, she felt a strange sense of liberation and fear that made her head spin.
'Now I really need to keep my wits about me.'
Unlike the safe Imperial Palace, outside was dangerous. But in some ways, the inside of the Imperial Palace was just as dangerous for Lelia.
Lelia made up her mind firmly and hugged her bag tight. Having packed only the bare minimum of precious items, the bag was light.
A small rabbit doll, fountain pen and letters, the pocket watch.
That was all.
She would have liked to take everything from her mother's cottage, but already the pocket watch and this necklace were enough.