The Meow-Meow Potion

After looking in on Jane at the potion shop, Blow stopped by the library — and found every eye in the place gathered on him at once.

"I-isn't that Blow Deblique?"

"It really is...?"

The murmuring that found his ears whenever he came here, he let slip past him as lightly as ever, and walked on in.

What met him inside was the Omnipotent Mana Stone, a thing of such staggering scale that the eye could hardly hold it all at once. Suspended in the empty air, the dark navy stone poured out mysterious characters of an ancient script in a glow of sapphire, and beneath it stood a structure of white marble — the thing they called the Altar of Knowledge — grand enough to leave anyone who looked upon it feeling the weight of the place.

Every time I see it, the scale is absurd. If someone sold that, what would it even go for?

Done with his brief admiration of the stone, Blow made his way toward the first-floor desk where the librarians sat.

His reason for coming was simple. Say that among the things he knew from that other world, there was a fact as plain as this — hand warmers sell well in winter. In his days as Han Ji-hoo he had never been on speaking terms with science, so of course he had no idea how to make one, nor any real grasp of why the thing worked. All he had ever done was tear a packet open and shake it for all he was worth.

However good an idea might be, without the knowledge to develop it and the wit to work it into something usable, it was worth nothing at all. That was why he now haunted the library nearly every day, and why his present aim was to lay in a broad store of knowledge about this wide continent, Caipol included.

Never had to worry about this sort of thing when I was running the convenience store.

While Blow was missing the answers that used to appear at the click of a laptop, a familiar face recognized him and came over to say hello.

Dark green hair, freckles, round glasses — Linne, a second-year who these days was treated as something close to a regular employee.

"B-Boss. Hello."

"Linne! So you're working here too?"

Whether it was the handful of times they had already met, or all the money he had pressed into her hands, she was far less tense than the first time she had faced him.

"I-I'd be embarrassed to call it w-work. It's volunteer service!"

"Hm? It's not a job?"

"I j-just love books too much! I'm doing it as v-volunteer work!"

She stroked the stack of books piled in front of her, looking thoroughly pleased with herself. A flicker of mischief stirred in Blow, and he put a question to her.

"Like it better than selling potatoes?"

"Huh? Of course!"

Her face asked why he would even bother with such a question. Catching the faintly wounded look on him, Linne stammered an addition.

"Ah, n-no, I mean, it's not th-that I don't like it, exactly..."

"You weren't sorry about the pay, though."

"Not at all!"

The ready answer seemed to please him. Blow nodded.

"Then we're good. If you want weekends too, say so."

"I-I'm at the library all weekend..."

"Mornings?"

"I-I sleep in a lot..."

"You can say no if you don't want to."

"I-it's absolutely, absolutely not that I don't want to! I want to sleep less too, it's j-just that I can't quite manage it. I-I'm sorry."

Lost in her apology and at a wit's end, she seemed to come to a decision. She clenched both fists and spoke.

"I-is there a book you're looking for, by any chance? I'll h-help you find it!"

"I'd appreciate that. Right now I'm after climate, or geography. A book with some new technology in it would be good too."

"If it's climate, what sort of climate do you mean? There are books divided by region, and if you'd rather build up from theory, you'd be better off starting with a theoretical text! Technology, technology... if you just tell me whether you want the magical engineering side that's rising fastest right now, or ordinary scientific technology, I'll find it for you!"

For once, not a single stammer. It poured out of her smooth as water. Blow, who had wandered into the library without settling on a single thing he meant to read, only felt his head grow more hopelessly tangled.

"Nothing on ingredients, then?"

"Th-there is! I'll sh-show you."

"Something with material on sweetness would be good."

"S-sweetness? I don't know the details all that well, b-but the food books are in Section C, s-so let's go that way!"

She set off at an easy pace as she said it. Blow matched her step for step and looked the library over as they went. The strangest thing to meet his eye was, without question, the shelves that climbed all the way to the ceiling — upperclassmen leisurely drawing books down with flight magic, while the younger students groaned and dragged ladders along beneath them.

"O-our library is so well stocked that students from the schools nearby use it too!"

"I know."

"Oh— y-you already knew."

Blow pointed off toward a few cadets in knight's armor, standing in the distance.

"You'd have to be an idiot not to notice. Anyway, Linne. Besides sugar, is there any way to get a sweet taste? Something they do where you're from, maybe."

"I-I'm not very w-well versed in food, um! H-how about raisins?"

"Don't ever say the word raisin again."

Cowled by the firmness of it, Linne watched his face. In truth it wasn't her fault. Only the unpleasant texture of raisins studded through bread — something he had met in the world he had lived through — had flickered past him.

"Nothing else?"

"W-what about maple syrup?"

"Maple syrup? Isn't that expensive?"

"It ought to be cheaper than sugar."

"Not bad. Then take me to wherever there's a book on maple syrup."

It seemed to please him. Blow nodded, and jotted a note about maple syrup in his notebook.

"Yes! B-but isn't there someone right near you who already knows maple syrup well, Boss?"

"Hm? Who?"

"S-Senior Skadi."

"Why Skadi?"

He looked at her as if he had no idea what she meant, and a flicker of fluster crossed Linne's face.

"B-because maple syrup comes from the North. I-isn't Senior Skadi northern? Her given name and her family name both feel completely northern..."

"Skadi? She's from the East. Though yeah, the name's a bit like that."

"B-but then why the surname Hetaya..."

"That's a long story, if we're getting into it. Next time you see her, ask her yourself."

But the memory of Skadi tipping beer down her throat in that blustery way rose up, and Linne shook her head as if seized by a spasm.

"N-no thank you."

"Read a book on northern history, then. The food section looks like it's over this way, doesn't it?"

A great many books on cooking had already opened out before his eyes. While he paused, Linne, who had gone on ahead, pointed to the very top of a shelf.

"The books on maple syrup are over here!"

"Right. I'll just pick through what's here and read whatever looks decent. Thanks."

"I-I'll head back, then."

"Sure."

Blow set about choosing books. Linne hovered at his side for a little while, fidgeting, then slipped away and stepped back out of the aisle.

A cart came into view, heaped with books that still needed sorting. She went to it and began dividing them by section — and then a title caught her eye.

Hmm... huh?

Glancing about as though she were committing some terrible crime, Linne quietly slipped the book into her own bag and took up the cart again.

After classes, the department head's office of the Student Welfare Department — first floor of the student council building at Caipol Municipal Magic School — was furnished with quiet modesty, nothing showy about it. The department head's seat, set right against the window and kept neatly in order, stood empty, and Hervena and Skadi, come in the capacity of guests, had taken the chairs opposite.

The two of them had been deep in talk about the training they had put in over lunch when the door opened. James came in with Julbert, the man he served, and they offered a light greeting as they entered.

"Haha. It's been a while, both of you."

Julbert held out a hand with a bright smile, and Hervena and Skadi took it, carefully.

"Hello."

"Good. Sit."

With that he ambled over to the department head's chair. Behind him, the face of James, his right hand, was as stern and unyielding as ever.

"Skadi. Feels like quite a long time since I've seen you. Getting on all right?"

"Yes. Well enough."

"I hear you're still drinking your way across town."

"Haha! I think my stomach's starting to object."

Skadi played it off with a joke. But there was a thread of tension in her eyes and her voice that was never there when she faced Blow. Julbert was a son of House Mertios, which currently held formidable sway at the center, and a senior who belonged to the student council.

"These days it's Blow's tavern, is it?"

"Yes. The potatoes there are just too good."

"I've been meaning to stop by myself. Work's kept me from it."

"The beer's excellent!"

"So I've been told."

Saying so, Julbert dropped white sugar into his tea and stirred it round.

"James will have told you, but I called you because I have a proposal. The student council presidential election."

"Yes. We heard about that."

"I'd like the two of you to lend a hand. This cohort, even a noble like me has a chance, wouldn't you say?"

Ordinarily, if there was royalty among the students, the presidency fell to them. That was the custom. The current president was Randolph himself, the Second Prince. But there was no royal blood among this year's fifth-years, and where there was no royalty, the children of the great houses competed with one another.

Calling to mind the way Julbert had carried himself these past few years, Hervena gave a small shrug.

"If you stood, Senior, wouldn't you take it easily enough even without our help? You're on friendly terms with everyone."

"I want an overwhelming victory. There's the next term to think of, too."

The student council of Caipol Municipal Magic School ran on a peculiar arrangement.

In keeping with that principle of the founder, the school left nearly everything short of the processing of grades in the council's hands. It drew a line, played the referee watching over it, and declined to step in so long as no one crossed. Finances, the making of school rules, their enforcement — all of it belonged to the student council.

That arrangement, laid over the standing of Caipol Municipal Magic School itself, had made the presidency one of the highest things a person of that age could win. Small wonder, then, that the sons and daughters of great houses who hungered for a name should covet the seat. Once, the council had been assembled on the recommendations of teachers and ordinary students. These days it had become the practice to install the very people who had campaigned together. The offer Julbert was making to them now, then, was no different from the offer of a seat — and perhaps, too, an invitation to keep walking the same road even after graduation.

"I only called you today to make the offer. You don't have to answer now. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Before the campaign is fine, halfway through is fine, even right at the end. It's all the same to me."

Julbert kept an unhurried smile the entire time, and watching him, Skadi's eyes narrowed.

Hervena's top of the year, fine. But why me?

Unable to set the question aside, she opened her mouth in a careful voice.

"I was wondering why you called me."

"You get along with the students remarkably well, don't you, Skadi? The Student Welfare Department needs someone who can mix across every station. You seemed a natural fit."

"I've never done council work, and my grades aren't anything to speak of."

"That hardly matters. Once a new council is formed, the president holds the appointments anyway. If the workload worries you, I'll see to it that it's no burden at all. That's why I chose Gollan as my running mate."

"Gollan? You mean Senior Gollan Surf?"

Julbert nodded, and surprise settled over Hervena's face. Gollan Surf was one of only a handful of department heads in the council's history to have been born a Commoner, and he currently headed External Affairs.

"Who else is running?"

"Yulia, head of Public Relations."

"Ah. Of House Edfolk..."

"Yes. I've worked alongside her, so I know — she won't be easy. As you're aware, the Edfolk family's strength is no small thing, is it?"

That's just as true of you, Hervena wanted to say, but she lifted the teacup in front of her instead.

"And I hear Rebecca Settelund is standing as the candidate for vice president."

"Rebecca Settelund? Isn't she the daughter of the Northern Grand Duke—"

Hervena broke off and glanced at Skadi. Beside her, Skadi's jaw was set, and her nails were biting into her palm.

"Yulia seems rather taken with Rebecca. I think she means to make her vice president this time, and put Rebecca up for president the next."

With that, a brief silence settled over the office.

Presently Julbert sipped his tea and went on, his voice gone soft.

"As I said, there's no need to decide quickly. Truthfully, I'd be satisfied so long as neither of you crosses over to Yulia's side."

Hervena had meant to decline. She decided, instead, to take the small opening he had left her. Whatever else, the time was drawing near when she too would have to choose — whether to remain with the Deblique family, where Blow was, or go to another house. But the problem right in front of her was Skadi's face, which had soured sharply the moment the Northern Grand Duke came up.

"Will you think it over, then?"

"Yes. I think we ought to, for now."

Hervena, watching Skadi, had answered in a hurry. Julbert smiled at the two of them and nodded.

"Good. Think it over calmly. There's still time."

"We'll take our leave, Senior."

"See you soon. With good news. Before October's out would be even better."

The farewell had barely ended, and Skadi and Hervena had barely stepped outside, when they came face to face with Greig Campbell, standing there wound tight with nerves.

"Hey there! Hervena."

"Hello, Senior."

"Ahem. Nothing you want to say to me?"

He kept clearing his throat, pressing her for an apology, and Hervena ground her teeth.

This is about last time, isn't it?

She was just thinking that perhaps she really ought to have crushed him back then — when Skadi ignored him completely and walked straight past.

That, in turn, put Greig in a foul mood, and he shouted after her.

"Skadi!"

"What?"

Her voice had gone razor-thin. She was usually so breezy, so quick to laugh a thing off, that everyone lingering near the office startled and looked that way.

"I— well..."

"If you've got nothing to say, I'm going."

She swept her hair back in irritation and strode outside. Hervena didn't miss the opening. She hurried after Skadi at once.

"That insolent—!!"

Greig raged, beside himself that the mere third daughter of some border noble had dared to ignore him. And the shadow of Julbert, who stood watching, only went on lengthening.

That evening, at the Nyx Inn, before the dinner service opened.

Hans, Linne, Rowbedi, and Blow were studying, with perfectly serious faces, the potions Jane had laid out before them.

"So these are the ones we can sell the moment the potion shop opens."

"Yes. Potions I've tested thoroughly."

There were three. On the far left, a clear blue. In the middle, an orange muddied with a good many other colors. And at the end, a pink one, thick-looking, with something floating in it.

"What are they?"

"From the left: a hangover remedy, for clearing a hangover. The mana potion I used. And..."

She stopped, as if embarrassed, and then added the rest.

"...the Meow-Meow Potion."

"Meow-Meow? What's that?"

"A potion that lets you turn into a cat."

"A cat!!"

The word hit her and Linne's face lit up on sheer reflex. She rounded on Jane, thoroughly excited.

"Senior, i-is that really true?"

"Mm. A potion I spent every hour of my second year making."

"Wow!! S-Senior, could I try drinking it just once, just once!"

"Linne."

At the firmness in Blow's voice, Linne cleared her throat and backed away.

"I remember this blue one."

"Yes. You drank it that day."

"That day?"

"The day of your Spirit Summoning Ritual, Lord Blow. The orange one as well."

Remembrance put a look of embarrassment on his face.

"Right. The blue one tasted fine, and it worked well enough."

"That's right. There are so many drinkers around here, I think it would sell."

"You barely drink, though. And you went and developed all of this?"

"Well, that's..."

Jane's gaze settled on Blow, not quite as subtly as she might have hoped. He avoided those eyes with some care, and picked up the Meow-Meow Potion glittering pink at the end of the row.

"This one really turns you into a cat?"

"Yes. I'm certain."

"Really?"

"Yes."

Having heard that much, Blow popped the cork clean off and held it out to her.

"Then drink it."

"What?"

"I said drink it."

"I-I'll drink it!!"

Linne, who had dropped back, suddenly burst forward and pleaded with him in earnest.

"A cat! A cat! I-I've always wanted to be a cat!"

"Even so, shouldn't the one who brewed it drink it at least once?"

"Huh? W-why?!"

"Could turn you into a dog."

Linne, apparently convinced, fell back. Jane stared as if she had lost the power of speech, and pressed her mouth into a flat line.

"It is a proper potion, I'll have you know! Do you have any idea how many experiments I ran!"

"Then run one more."

"Right now?"

She asked it as if she couldn't believe ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠him. Blow only smiled, and pressed her.

"When, then?"

"This lasts four hours. What about the dinner service?"

"Linne's here."

He said it as if it were nothing at all. For the moment, Jane had little choice. She picked it up. The tips of her ears had gone red with a shame she couldn't quite swallow, and she asked him once more.

"R-really?"

"Yeah."

"......"

"I gave you the manager's seat at the potion shop. Take responsibility for it."

"...Just this once."

Speaking as if resigned, she took the potion and went up to the second floor. Linne, excited as a child, sparkled and shouted.

"I can't wait, I can't wait, I can't wait!"

"You like cats that much?"

"O-of course! I-I even have a cat in my magic circle!"

And out of it popped a cat already settled into a loaf.

Hans, watching, was helpless with delight.

"S-so cute!"

"Healing Form?"

"Agh! Failed again. No — hey, Meow! Move, hurry up!!"

The healing magic known as Healing Form took a sphere that closed wounds and restored vitality, substituted it for the shape of a living creature, and summoned the result. A guided heal, in essence — a healing spell with the habits of a guided missile. The trouble was that if the thing simply sat there and refused to budge, the way the cat was loafing in front of Linne now, baked stiff as a loaf of bread, the magic was utterly useless. Walk over and try to absorb it yourself, and you only bounced off.

"Don't most people use little birds? So the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠thing will actually fly over."

"C-cats are cute, I'm telling you!"

She shoved her glasses up and declared it with such finality that Blow could do nothing but keep his mouth shut.

"She ought to be coming down any moment now..."

Rowbedi had been watching the second floor. He had barely finished speaking when it came into view — a dainty white paw, and a pink jelly.