Tiger, Let's Eat Churu
Countess Veloz's support might as well have been cheat-level.
Starting with funding, she provided every foundation needed for alchemy.
That was why the developers had put up a speed bump so you couldn't target Countess Veloz the moment the game started.
Namely, they had set the cure's crafting difficulty at three stars.
On top of that, the core ingredient was none other than tiger beastfolk blood.
Tiger beastfolk were strong and fierce.
Because of that, both getting close to them and obtaining their blood was difficult.
The remaining ingredients were easy to get, but because of that single tiger beastfolk blood, it was a potion that ranked among the harder three-star recipes.
But I had a tiger beastfolk right beside me.
Her Affection was low, but this world wasn't a game trapped inside a system—it was reality, overflowing with freedom.
The method didn't matter.
I just had to get the blood somehow.
I wasn't trying to do a transfusion, and I wasn't going to mass-produce the potion.
Less than half a soju glass would be enough.
That much couldn't be hard, right?
***
Fuck, it was so goddamn hard!!!
I had forgotten that Taira was strong enough to be counted among the best.
I tried several methods to make Taira bleed.
I gave her a thorned rose as a gift.
Because women liked flower gifts.
If she grabbed the rose and pricked herself on a thorn, a few drops of blood would be nice, and if not, I could build Affection with the rose, so either way was fine.
Taira gripped the rose stem with her whole hand, like she was making a fist.
I had thought she would prick herself on the thorns and bleed, just as planned.
But what got hurt wasn't Taira's hand—it was the rose.
The rose stem snapped in her tight grip, and the blossom drooped its head like a pasqueflower.
No matter who looked, it did not seem like her Affection had gone up.
On top of that, my goal of making her bleed had failed too.
The thorns on the rose stem had their tips blunted, as if they'd been struck by a hammer.
It was an unquestionable failure.
Having grasped that Taira was stronger than I had thought, I called her to the bathroom.
Pretending to soap up, I scattered foam all over the floor.
No matter how tough she was, if she slipped, she would bleed.
My plan was to obtain blood while pretending to treat her.
Everyone has a plausible plan.
Until they see a backflip.
As planned, Taira stepped on the soapy tile floor and slipped.
But after losing her balance, she spun backward once like a gymnast and landed.
If there had been a scoreboard, it was a landing perfect enough to hold up a 10-point sign.
This method was also a failure.
"The only method left now is to cause bloodshed while sparring......"
No matter how much I thought about it, the only future I could picture was me getting hit by Taira's fist, collapsing, and dying.
Too much freedom was also a problem.
It would be nice if it presented options and methods like a game.
'If this were a game, what would I have done.......'
Huh?
Come to think of it, the game I had possessed was a potion management game.
I should have been thinking about solving this with potions to match the genre, but I had only been thinking of the wrong-headed method of solving it with force.
Just then, I remembered a good recipe.
***
Potions with effects, potions with no effects at all.
Potions didn't come in only those two types.
There were also potions that had effects but also side effects—commonly called failed works.
[Lowest-Grade Aphrodisiac Potion (Failed Work)]
Effect: Increases bodily sensitivity for a set period. Inflicts the [Heat] debuff for a set period. Causes [Bleeding (Lowest)].
From the description alone, it sounded like a terrifying potion, but the point to focus on was precisely that it was "Lowest-Grade."
Even if it was called heat, it was only enough to slightly redden the cheeks, and even if it was called bleeding, it was only enough to cause a little nosebleed.
Even if Taira was tricked into drinking it, she would only feel that something was off, and the efficacy was weak enough that she wouldn't be able to call me out on it.
The only problem was how to get her to drink it.
My goal wasn't to make her bleed—it was to obtain blood.
Therefore, I had to be with her when she ingested that potion.
So I considered secretly mixing it in while we ate together, but....
As you know, she wouldn't even touch anything I had prepared.
Even my potions, which were hot on the black market and impossible to get because they sold out, just piled up—I had never seen her drink one.
If she treated potions like that, would she eat food I had prepared?
I could vividly picture her refusing, saying, "I will eat separately later."
"Haa... should I try using this?"
Churu Physique (Stage 1): Your blood takes on the properties of Churu.
It was a perk I had received after learning that the external traits of beastfolk weren't outwardly visible.
It had been a perk whose use I couldn't figure out.
I had thought my blood had turned into Churu, but my blood actually gave off an ordinary metallic scent instead of Churu's fishy smell.
It seemed that, just as the description said, it had only taken on the properties—but what the hell were the properties of Churu?!
Even if it meant it was tasty like Churu, that was a problem.
I was already a body that received death threats from beastfolk because of my past deeds, and now my blood was supposed to become delicious too?
It wasn't some gift package that provided both revenge and a meal.
For those reasons, I had never intended to use this perk until now.
'If I ever had to use it, now would be the chance.'
Conveniently, the animal that was Taira's motif was a tiger.
It was a feline.
And cats liked Churu.
***
I had already won over the head chef with three potions.
I had her mix the Lowest-Grade Aphrodisiac and my blood into the soup and bring it out.
I ordered him to mix the same into my soup as well, so no one would be suspicious.
Anyway, even if I ate it, it was just an aphrodisiac weak enough to cause a nosebleed and my own blood from my own body, so there was no problem.
"If only Taira would eat it, and if only the effect would work."
She didn't happen to have potion resistance that made it not work, did she?
Just then, Taira entered the dining room.
"It's my break time. Why did you call for me?"
She was my personal maid, and she had a separate break time?
Setting that question aside, I pointed to the chair across from me.
"Sit. Eating alone felt lonely."
"...Are you asking me to be your conversation partner?"
"Something like that."
I had various conversations with Taira, who sat in the chair.
Most of it was about the black market, and there was no talk at all about me being a prince or about beastfolk.
-Knock knock
"The meal is ready, Your Highness."
"Bring it in."
The head chef came in pulling a cart.
On the cart sat two dome-shaped cloches.
The head chef set down one soup plate each in front of me and Taira.
At that, Taira immediately rose from her seat.
She showed clear intent to refuse.
"I prefer to eat separately."
I pointed at the head chef, who was still standing by, with my eyes and asked.
"Are you disregarding the head chef's goodwill?"
"Is the head chef not close with Your Highness?"
She meant that I might have conspired with the head chef to put something in her soup.
It was a truly unjust accusation.
Of course, it was true that I had conspired with her and added the aphrodisiac and my blood.
Was it a failure after all?
I should just eat alone and aim for the next opportunity.
I opened the cloche that had been covering the bowl to keep it warm.
I closed my eyes and took a long sniff.
Even though two additives had gone in, it only smelled like an ordinarily delicious soup.
-Rumble, clack
When I opened my eyes again, Taira was sitting back down across from me.
Had someone put gizzard shad in the soup?
"You said you weren't eating."
"Yes, I won't eat it. I'll just look."
She said that, but her eyes, which had been half-lidded as if uninterested until just moments ago, had grown round.
Her gaze was fixed on the soup bowl, and her nostrils hadn't stopped flaring for a single moment.
If you ate chicken in front of a friend on a diet, wouldn't they look at you with those eyes?
"...Is the offer to eat together still open?"
"Sure, since the soup hasn't gone cold yet."
"Then I will eat."
"Yeah, help yourself."
"No."
A firm refusal.
"I want to eat the one Your Highness was eating."
"Umm... why? Wouldn't it be better to eat a fresh one?"
"No, the one you were eating looks delicious."
"My saliva's in this one, you know?"
"Have you not only had one spoonful? You have not put the spoon back in, so it is fine."
The moment she finished speaking, I stabbed my spoon into the plate.
And I stirred the soup.
So it would mix well.
"Oh dear, my saliva touched it?"
"A seasoning that not just anyone can taste has gone in as well."
The soup placed in front of her wasn't even in her sights.
As expected, Taira showed more interest when I pretended not to want to give it to her than when I handed it over right away.
She could have said she wouldn't eat it because it was dirty, so it had been an action close to a half-gamble.
Fortunately, it succeeded.
Anyway, even after all this, she still wanted to eat the soup.
This Churu stuff might be more impressive than I thought.
I had thought it was just an ability with no effect at all.
While smiling inwardly, I outwardly made a big show of reluctance and exchanged the soup bowls.
"Haa... fine. If you want to eat it that badly."
Taira took a silver needle from her pocket and touched it to the soup and the spoon.
She had never once taken that out when I ate.
I hadn't even known Taira had a silver needle.
Taira meticulously checked with the silver needle whether poison had been added.
But the aphrodisiac I had made was, strictly speaking, a potion.
Even if it had side effects, as long as it was a potion, it wasn't classified as poison.
I didn't really know why.
It was probably just game logic.
Fortunately, the game's rules applied in the world I had possessed as well.
The silver needle did not change color.
Once it was confirmed that there was no poison, Taira, relieved, gulped down her saliva and stared at the soup.
Taira, who had licked her lips with her tongue, scooped up a spoonful of the special soup.
-Nom
The moment Taira took a bite of the soup, an unexpected situation occurred.
A perk window popped up.
[New Content]
[New Ingredient Appeared]
{New ingredients unique to the DLC, which did not exist in the main story, have appeared! Try making new potions with the new ingredients.}
[Perk: Ingredient Magnifier]
Ingredient Magnifier: You can view the effects of ingredients in detail.
Maybe because I had also eaten a spoonful earlier, the aphrodisiac's side effect belatedly activated for me too.
Warm liquid ran down my upper lip.
I wiped the liquid with my finger and checked it with my eyes.
[Ingredient Magnifier]
Churu (I): When ingested by beastfolk, potion effects are doubled for a set period.
Wait, potion effects were doubled?
Then Taira....