Chapter 53
Chapter 53
Winning Over the Alchemist
“Ah, an alchemist? Why? You finally got out of school on a day off, didn’t you?”
“There’s something I need to take care of for my future.”
“Alright. In that case, I’ll guide you.”
With Black Fang’s guidance, Idnia first went to meet the alchemist.
In the original game, Awakening Girl Concert, students are only allowed to freely go out starting from their second year.
Before that, they can only go on outings using accumulated points, but from the second year onward, they are allowed to travel between the academy and the village during evening hours.
From the second year, they can also take part-time jobs in the village, explore dungeons, and engage in various additional training and events.
But for now, since she had come out using her points, she needed to quickly collect the event rewards first.
Milena’s Amazing Magic Potion
The alchemy workshop with a suspicious-looking sign had a notice posted on the door.
“Part-time workers always wanted, academy students preferred.”
“Milena, this person is a dryad. Rumor has it she’s from the same root lineage as the academy instructor Naily.”
“Yes, I know. She’s almost like a clone swap.”
In Awakening Girl Concert, the two dryads looked nearly identical like twins, with the only differences being that Milena wore glasses and had much darker under-eye circles.
Knowing this, Idnia carefully opened the door.
Ding-a-ling, the bell attached to the door rang, and the dryad appeared at the counter.
“Welcome. Hmm. An academy student? Did you come for a part-time job?”
She was a dryad, yet she held a smoking pipe in her hand.
She had hollow eyes, wore glasses, and looked exactly like Naily, who also carried a pipe in her hand.
Combined with the shop’s name, the pipe, and her overall impression, she looked like a dangerous drug addict.
“I came to learn the recipe for a plant growth acceleration potion.”
The moment she heard that, Milena’s eyes wavered.
With a snap of her fingers, the shop’s windows shut on their own, and the back door also closed.
Black Fang flinched and prepared to move his hand.
“What are you thinking?! If you move, I’ll blow your head off—”
“It’s alright, Black Fang.”
Idnia stopped him.
Milena frowned.
“You come into my shop and threaten me? That’s what I should be asking. Where did you hear about that? If you’re an academy student, you should know that plant growth acceleration potions are illegal.”
In truth, first-year academy students would have no way of knowing that such potions were illegal.
A plant growth acceleration potion, as the name suggests, rapidly accelerates plant growth, increasing crop growth speed by tenfold.
It was once widely abused due to its benefits for food production, but because of severe side effects, it was now regulated.
A decisive factor that made the Sacred Beast Tribe come to hate the Holy Eldar Empire was a great famine directly tied to this potion.
The Eldar Empire, claiming moral support, had provided the Sacred Beast Tribe with growth acceleration potions when they were forced to reclaim barren lands after losing their fertile territory.
At first, thanks to the effects of the potion, the tribe achieved massive harvests, easing their resentment toward the empire and pushing forward with land reclamation and development.
However, excessive use of the potion depleted soil fertility rapidly. Crops grown too quickly developed weak structures with gaps in their stems, making them highly vulnerable to disease and pests.
Those pests then spread to otherwise healthy crops, leading to a catastrophic famine in which many members of the Sacred Beast Tribe starved to death.
And now someone suddenly came asking to learn the recipe for such a potion?
It was only natural for her to be wary.
‘The recipe is probably in the academy library too, but it’s faster to learn it here than to unlock the library with points.
Still, she’s extremely cautious.’
Idnia shrugged as she felt Milena’s guarded gaze.
“Let me introduce myself. I’m Idnia Katze Betelgeuse….”
“Oh. Then you’re Flora’s daughter. I was wondering what it was.”
Milena immediately relaxed her guard.
The unexpected reaction made Idnia flinch slightly, but she maintained composure and asked.
“It seems you were quite close with my mother.”
“She used to work part-time here occasionally. Ah, right. The recipe training fee is 200 shillings.”
“200 shillings?”
Black Fang was shocked upon hearing that.
Of course, Idnia had support funds from the bishop, but those funds had already been used for school uniforms and travel expenses, leaving her with less than 200 shillings.
In fact, Idnia had been sending part of her support funds back to the Betelgeuse Duchy to help support the royal household.
She had strictly instructed that her aunt Augusta must never touch that money, so the duchy’s finances were being managed with great difficulty. In such a situation, 200 shillings was a large sum she couldn’t immediately afford.
However, Idnia calmly reached into her clothes.
“That 200 shillings… would it be possible to pay in kind?”
“In kind?”
“Yes. This is vanilla flavoring essence.”
“Hmm… let me verify it. Oh.”
Milena cast a spell to examine the contents of the vial and was impressed.
“Pure vanilla. Not even vanilla beans, but fully extracted vanilla essence. And the concentration is incredible.”
She placed the bottle on a scale and evaluated its value.
“Hm… the concentration is so high I’m not sure how to price this. How about 140 shillings?”
“That’s too cheap. In Dynace, it would fetch at least double that.”
Black Fang jumped into the negotiation.
He didn’t actually know the exact price, but he guessed it should be more than double and spoke with confidence.
But Milena didn’t back down.
“Selling this in Dynace, you say? Then go sell it there.”
“…….”
Milena immediately countered Black Fang’s bluff. But Idnia nodded.
“Understood. Then—”
As she tried to take back the vanilla essence, Milena dodged her hand.
“Wait, hold on. Alright, it’s definitely good, but since the concentration is something I’ve never seen before, I’ll need to process it a bit. Let’s settle at 150 shillings.”
“Processing just means diluting it into another fragrance base, doesn’t it?”
“I have to make a profit too. Even if I buy it at 30% of the Dynace retail price, I’m barely breaking even. And you’ll need many materials if you plan to continue alchemy, right? You’ll be dealing with me in the future anyway.”
“Understood. If you put it that way.”
“Good. Deal’s settled. That leaves 50 shillings. What will you do?”
“Well…”
Idnia reached into her clothes and took out another bottle of vanilla essence.
“Would you purchase this as well?”
She asked cautiously.
She didn’t know how much Milena needed this item, but Milena blinked and took the bottle, placing it on the scale.
“…I suppose I’ll need to give you change. Alright. I’ll teach you the growth acceleration recipe and give you 100 shillings in balance.
By the way, do you need anything else?
It’s better to trade goods rather than cash—I don’t have much liquid money right now.”
“Then I’ll buy some empty potion bottles and materials.”
“Materials?”
“Yes, sulfur, salt, and ingredients for the growth potion.”
“…Those are quite expensive. Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’ll purchase them.”
Idnia bought the materials and tools needed for alchemy production.
Droppers, beakers, distillers, iron wire, brass wire, and more—costs quickly added up.
“You still owe me money. Just pay 40 shillings. Surely you don’t have any more vanilla essence, do you?”
“I’ll cover the rest through extraction part-time work.”
“Extraction part-time work? To earn 40 shillings?
Well, academy students are always welcome as workers, but you seem confident in extraction.”
“Yes. What should I extract to earn 40 shillings?”
“…Follow me.”
Milena opened a trapdoor in the floor of the workshop and descended.
Below the alchemy workshop were various facilities, including a massive press used for extracting peanut oil.
It worked by placing peanuts wrapped in cloth between a metal plate lid and base, then tightening the lid using a large screw to compress the peanuts and extract oil.
Normally used for extracting oils like peanut or sunflower oil, here it was used to press mandragora roots instead.
“Mandragora extract is best when obtained through pressing.
But even after pressing, the remaining pulp still contains useful compounds.
Your job as a part-timer is to use extraction magic to pull out the remaining active components and fill these bottles.”
“How much per bottle?”
“Each bottle is priced depending on the grade of active components. If it’s too diluted, we won’t buy it. The lowest grade fills one bottle for 10 shillings, and lower-mid grade is 30 shillings.”
“What about higher grades?”
“Ha. You’re still a first-year academy student, right?
Even the lowest grade will be tough for you. Wouldn’t it be better to just pay cash and be done with it?”
“Do you use a dedicated magic wand for extraction?”
“Of course. Here—”
“Then…”
Idnia examined the mandragora extract remaining in the press and quickly assessed whether the active compounds were water-soluble or fat-soluble.
“It appears to be a water-soluble alkaloid… slightly basic. The location seems to be within the inner cellular matrix. Good.”
Having grasped its properties, Idnia picked up her magic wand.
“Extract.”
She cast extraction magic toward the mandragora pulp.
“Hm?”
Milena, watching with her pipe in hand, was suddenly startled by a strong vanilla scent.
“What are you doing? That’s not mandragora extract.”
“Please watch.”
Idnia first filled a bottle with vanilla essence, then cast the extraction spell again.
This time, mandragora extract began to flow properly…
Milena’s mouth dropped open as she watched, pipe still in hand.
An incredible amount of extract was being pulled from the pulp, and its color was anything but ordinary.
Idnia extracted about one bottle’s worth of active substance and turned to Milena.
“How is this?”
“Wait, let me test the composition… hmm….”
Milena examined the extracted mandragora solution and was shocked.
“…Top grade? From already-pressed mandragora pulp? The concentration of active ingredients is even higher than after pressing.”
She looked at Idnia in astonishment.
“So how much is that worth?”
“…….”
Milena opened her wallet and began counting money.
“80 shillings?”
Idnia accepted the money and shrugged.
“The raw material belongs to me. You only did the extraction. I can’t pay more than that.”
Judging by her words, it was clearly worth more than that originally.
“Alright. Understood. Then please teach me the growth acceleration recipe.”
“Very well. But… what are you planning to use it for?”
“For cultivating a garden.”
“Do you know the side effects?”
“Yes. It can leave plants hollow inside despite looking healthy on the outside.
It also weakens soil fertility and makes crops highly vulnerable to pests. I’m aware.”
“Good. I’m glad you know. But… what was that earlier? How did vanilla scent come from mandragora?”
“That’s my trade secret, so I can’t just tell you. Curious?
The recipe costs 200 shillings to learn—how much would it cost to explain that?”
“….”
Milena hesitated after hearing Idnia’s words.
She wanted to pay to learn it, but doing so would completely shift control to Idnia.
Still, she was curious.
“Ugh… how about exchanging recipes?
I have quite a few other ones.”
“Most recipes can be obtained from the academy library anyway.
The reason I’m paying for them is simply to save time unlocking the library.
For recipes that aren’t urgent, I can just wait and get them later. I don’t see the need to go that far.”
“What? How does a first-year know which recipes are in the library?”
“Ah, you’re Flora’s daughter. Right.”
Milena assumed Idnia had been briefed by her mother about the academy’s secrets and let it pass.
‘In truth, I don’t even remember my mother’s face. But I’m grateful she didn’t press further.’
Idnia smiled faintly.
“Just kidding. The real reason I came here is to get closer to you.
I’ll be doing extraction part-time work here going forward, and I was worried you might have preconceived notions about me because of my mother.”
“Hmm?”
“I’ll teach you the recipe.”
Idnia decided to share the recipe as a gesture of goodwill toward Milena.
‘She’s someone I’ll need to maintain a relationship with anyway. Teaching one recipe is a cheap price to pay.’