The Young Lady Who Feels Empty Down There
“Ugh, it's so hot...”
“Alchemy workshops have that vibe.”
“Why?”
You could think of an alchemy workshop as the blacksmith of the magic world. Since it's a space for crafting all sorts of artifacts and potions, the temperature rises inside from stuffing it full of alchemical ingredients and boiling them, just like pouring metal into molds at a forge.
“Ah...”
Marian, who had only just stepped out into the world, was already spacing out and starting to sweat. The workshop's heat was a bit much for her.
“Owner around?”
“Y-yes, how can I help?”
“Two Cold Actions, and pack up these ingredients listed here.”
“Right away! Cold Action first.”
Reading Marian's gloomy mood, Chloe ordered a potion for her. The alchemist bowed and disappeared into the workshop, soon returning with a blue drink that looked like it held a piece of the sky.
“Here, have this.”
“What's this?”
“It's called Cold Action, a beverage.”
Cold Action. A potion that literally gives a cold sensation. Being an 'action' potion, it wouldn't save you from dying in a fire, but for Marian struggling with the sweltering heat unique to alchemy workshops, nothing could be better.
“M-magic spoon...”
“I'll handle it for you. See? All good? Go on, try it.”
“D-delicious...!”
Marian gulped down the soda-flavored Cold Action and broke into a beaming smile, grinning even wider at the tangy fizz followed by cool refreshment.
That solved Marian's heat problem for now.
Ugh, so hot...
Confirming Marian's good reaction, Chloe downed her own Cold Action. Even for Chloe, who had visited alchemy workshops countless times to stock up on gear for assassination plans, the stifling heat never got any easier to bear.
“Owner! How long to gather everything?”
“With so many ingredients... about an hour?”
“We'll browse the workshop in the meantime.”
“B-but there are things in here that ladies might not want to touch...”
“Don't worry. We've been here before; I know what's what.”
“A-alright! Still, please be careful!”
The owner gave one last warning, and after a moment's thought, Chloe took Marian's hand and headed deeper into the shop.
“Follow me.”
“Huh? Okay.”
In the end, right now, the only reason Marian might take an interest in alchemy was 'I want to catch thieves like Chloe.' That was it.
To properly motivate her, Chloe needed to show her alchemy's many uses—and this workshop was the perfect place to encounter its diverse products.
“Young Lady, look at this.”
“Ooh...!”
Leading Marian inside, Chloe held out a globe that looked like it captured a winter hill. A snow dome, enchanted so the snow fell endlessly without shaking. Pricey, sure...
But I've got plenty of money from Rosetta anyway.
She'd worried Marian might refuse, but Rosetta had shoved so much cash at her it felt excessive. No money worries—Chloe was ready to pay for anything that sparked Marian's interest, luxury or not.
“Don't you want one?”
“Y-yeah. I want it too.”
Snow rarely fell in the empire's east. Summers weren't lethally hot, and the rainy season didn't pour endlessly. That made the Evergreen Grand Duchy produce forty percent of the empire's crops—a boon, but it also meant Marian had hardly ever seen snow.
“P-pretty...”
Marian took the snow dome from Chloe, unable to hide her awe. Seizing the moment, Chloe drove the point home.
“These are super expensive, you know.”
“Expensive?”
“Yeah, so they say making them yourself is way cheaper...”
“It is?”
“To keep the snow falling like this, you need to know alchemy. Sounds tough, right?”
“I-is it really hard...?”
“Huh?”
“I-I wanna make one... with Chloe...”
Chloe's scheme worked perfectly. So well, in fact, that Marian specifically wanted to make a snow dome with Chloe.
“Then let's buy the materials to make one too. We'll do it together, promise.”
“Yeah!”
Truth be told, Chloe had already requested snow dome materials on that note to the owner... but no need to mention that. If Marian realized everything was falling right into Chloe's plans, she might get sulky.
“Young Lady, this clock changes its light to match the time. You slot the hour and minute hands into the center...”
For now, Chloe focused on sparking interest, showing her as many items as possible.
“This is a toy spider. Inject reagent into the core, and it moves like...”
“Eek!”
Testing the waters, Chloe showed a few iffy ones, but spiders were a no-go for a little girl, as expected. As Chloe scrambled for something safer...
“Height-growth potion?”
Marian had picked up a weird potion box.
“Hmm... this one's iffy.”
“Why? Being tall is good.”
“It'd be fine in your growth spurt, but for adults, side effects can hit.”
“Then I can take it. I wanna be tall, like Chloe.”
Like Chloe? An odd benchmark. Marian was still growing strong, just shy of Chloe's height—and Chloe couldn't grow anymore. No need for sketchy alchemy potions; she'd outgrow Chloe naturally, maybe even surpass her.
“Tall, I wanna be tall.”
“They say the tall ones always want more...”
At that age, height was non-negotiable. Chloe remembered it well. Back in the assassin squad, she'd been the tallest kid, drawing jealous glares, but she'd bragged about surpassing the older boys by years. One even smacked her head with a spoon, yelling she shouldn't grow more.
He'd been dead serious, and Chloe had boasted without thinking. For kids that age, height was everything.
So Marian throwing a fit for height potion wasn't weird. No real reason to stop her.
But...
“Not here.”
“Why?”
“I'll make it for you myself.”
No way was Chloe feeding Marian some off-the-shelf height potion from a random workshop. Body-altering alchemy was among the trickiest. One slip in processing, and who knew what disaster? Feeding unknown potions to her charge was insane.
If Marian took an alchemical potion, it had to be one Chloe made herself.
“Don't worry about potency. I'm pretty confident in my alchemy skills.”
“Okay, then I'll wait till Chloe makes it.”
“Thanks for understanding.”
Marian got it, thankfully. They browsed more alchemical curios, and an hour slipped by.
“Customer, your order's ready.”
“Whoa...”
Chloe's alchemy gear filled three travel bags. Too much for her alone, and no way she'd ask Marian. But Chloe had a fix for that.
“Threw in a little extra. Pick it up at the Grand Duke's Castle today.”
“Th-the Grand Duke's Castle?”
“Say it's Chloe's stuff; they'll deliver it right to me.”
“G-got it...”
Money wasn't everything, but with Rosetta's generous funding, Chloe spent like water.
“Alright, let's head home, Young Lady.”
“Whew, that was fun.”
Business done at the workshop, Chloe and Marian stepped out and strolled the city streets again. Unlike an hour ago, a cool breeze now rustled through Grinid's downtown, sweeping over them refreshingly.
But.
“Gasp...!”
Part of that breeze slipped under Marian's dress skirt, the chill brushing bare skin enough to make her realize something crucial was missing.
“Ch-Chloe...!”
Right.
“M-my panties are gone...!”
Panties. Hearing that an arm's length from the street, Chloe felt a dizzying vertigo.
Why the hell were her panties gone?
“Young Lady, don't maids usually dress you?”
“Th-they didn't...”
“What?”
“I-I always dress myself... Got excited to play with Chloe, forgot, hurry...”
From Marian's rambling, Chloe caught something off.
Have those maids lost their minds...?
They assigned a dedicated maid to an outsider like her—yet ignored the Grand Duke's sole daughter's dressing? She'd get the full story back at the castle.
But first...
“Ch-Chloe...”
...calm the panicking Marian.
“Divine punishment, divine punishment...”
She was a devout believer, and scriptures deemed sexual exposure a grave sin. Panicking made sense.