Chapter 11.4

Chapter 11.4

After supper, they ended up agreeing to take up the remainder of the day and the next day to make various preparations, which was good, but…

「Hey, Elle. Ya sure ya wanna be part of this? It’d be mighty dangerous if men were to know the shape and size of yer chest or butt.」

「Yes. Although I do apologize for my lack of performance in those areas, still being a child and all……」

「What’s there to apologize about？」

While wryly smiling, Tatsuya commented on Aearis’s statement, as she didn’t quite get what Hiroshi was saying.

「Well, I was just saying that no one would really enjoy knowing all the particulars of my meager, childlike body.」

「Wait a sec, Elle. It’s dangerous to jump to conclusions！」

Tatsuya found himself panicking. In the present-day Japan, this sort of statement was dangerous in the wrong kind of situation. Already judging from Hiroshi’s reaction, just knowing the details of a young girl’s body would give him some serious shock.

「Dangerous, you say？」

「Yeah, dangerous.」

「But compared to Haruna-sama, I truly do only have a childlike physique.」

「Princess, that’s a special case！」

「Elle’s chest isn’t all that small.」

As Aearis continued to babble dangerous statements, the remarks from others kept coming.

「I tried to not say anything, but you truly are attached to Hiroshi, Aearis.」

「Do you think so？」

「Then let me ask you this. How would you feel about…uhh, the same information being given to Prince Bordeaux？」

「…I just got this really unpleasant feeling…」

「Oh, good. Glad to see that you haven’t stooped that low.」

This wasn’t exactly the kind of conversation that Tatsuya or Hiroshi could butt into, as the very thought made them exceedingly uncomfortable. Males weren’t suited for this.

「All things considered, Aearis…」

「What？」

「I don’t mean to say the same thing as Tatsuya, but you really should take more care from now on. Besides, compared to what I recall, you seem to be garnering quite the feminine physique.」

「From when we first bathed together, you have become 3.5 millimeters bigger. I wouldn’t even be surprised if your cup size has changed.」

「Umm, couldja leave that sort of thing for when we ain’t in the room?」

Hiroshi held his head while trembling as this risqué conversation continued. Were they purposely doing this or did they just not care if there were males in the room? Either way, the girls were certainly speaking in a carefree manner. Stimulated by some rather unnecessary trauma, even preserving his consciousness was difficult.

「So with that, Sensei, this is the perfect opportunity to rehabilitate as well as deal with Elle’s undergarments. Thank you.」

「No, seriously, the hell you sayin’…」

「People’s lives are at stake. You should make the best garments that you can.」

Hiroshi continued his verbal tug-of-war against Mio, who he thought to be saying rather impetuous things.

「There is no one here who would think badly of you for making some undergarments, Sensei.」

「Mio, I wouldn’t recommend being in such a rush.」

Unable to just watch as Hiroshi’s face grew weaker and weaker, Elena broke in and chided Mio.

「Now then, seeing as Hiroshi won’t be able to do anything at this rate, let’s change the subject to…」

「To？」

「The ingredients for the medicine are all together, right？」

「Oh, right. There were just a lotta things people were sayin’, so I forgot to be honest.」

As Hiroshi lowered his head in apology, Elena told him to not worry about it as she smiled wryly. In actuality, preserving a state of abeyance, Elena’s treatment, which would allow her to live daily life without relying on accessories or magic tools, was not at all to be prioritized at the moment. Not to mention that as long as the ingredients for the medicine were assembled, she could get rid of the poison at any time.

「Guess I’ll start by makin’ the antidote.」

「Oh yeah, is that fearsome fruit that quickly rots really all that important?」

「Oh, that? Concentrate its juices well enough and ya got yerself ingredients for a panacea.」

「Wha? Wait, what level?」

「If I try hard enough I could git it up to third-class.」

Upon hearing Hiroshi once again declare such an absurd thing, Makoto felt how painfully naive her cognition was. Elena’s face made it clear that she had run out of things to say and had given up. She was murmuring about what he meant by “third-class panacea”.

「Hey, can I ask you something？」

「What？」

「It’s not super close maybe, but we’re talking about a fruit that’s not growing too far off from here. Can you seriously make that level of a potion with such a fruit?」

「Yeah, that’s how it was in the game too. Well to be honest with ya, even with all o’that, there’s still all the other ingredients that I need, so it’s gonna be a while before I even go ‘bout makin’ panaceas or anythin’ else. And in the first place, solmizen takes a lotta time to harvest.」

「Ahh, okay, that makes more sense.」

It was after all really easy for them to rot. It was probably near-impossible for inexperienced players to harvest it.

「So specifically, what level do you concentrate them to？」

「Well, I’d say with five times the concentration I could make pretty much Class 5 panaceas. If I wanted to go to Class 3, I’d hafta try and concentrate it a hundred times more.」

「Wouldn’t it taste a bit different if you were to concentrate it that much？」

「Mm? Pffft, that ain’t gonna taste like nothin’ but tasteless water, no matter HOW much ya concentrate it. But well, if ya concentrate it a hundred freakin’ times, that in itself would be a panacea somewhere between Class 5 ‘n Class 4.」

Tatsuya couldn’t help but feel exasperated at Hiroshi’s words. Generally speaking, regardless of whether it was good or bad, flavor was something that told you whether or not the food was good or bad for your body. In other words, medicine with effects as great as that should normally have some sort of taste. And yet it was nearly tasteless. Though it was boorish to bring common sense into fantasy, he seriously wanted to question his reasoning.

「Well, this time around we only gotta concentrate it three times the amount, and we got plenty of other ingredients, so I’mma git right to makin’ it.」

Hiroshi said, heading to the kitchen. Maybe not for Mio, since she was still inexperienced, but for Hiroshi, this level of work wasn’t even work. For this type of medicine, a special bin was usually necessary, but that was because the complete effectiveness lasted no more than six hours, and for whatever reason, Prevent Rot could not prevent the effects of the medicine from going away. This time around, it would be consumed quickly after being made, so it didn’t matter.

「Huh? Hiroshi-kun?」

「Haruna-san, you have an errand in the kitchen？」

「I was thinking of trying and smoking a block of wyvern breast meat.」

「Yeah? I’m makin’ Ellie’s medicine.」

「Oh yeah, I forgot.」

Hiroshi wryly smiled. She could quickly remember everything she had heard and seen, but that only applied to lapses of memory. It wasn’t like she couldn’t forget about things like schedules or unintentionally skip things.

「Well, I’ll make it soon, so just wait a minute.」

「Mm.」

Haruna watched over Hiroshi from a suitable distance so as to not create unnecessary pressure as he worked. He had upped his skill with making potions a bit, and Haruna could tell that he wasn’t having much difficulty by himself.

「Done.」

「Well that was fast.」

「Well, that’s cause it’s simplistic for a potion.」

The current task was to make the strong, all-around medicine solmizen react with several ingredients and specialize in its effects.

「But all things considered, it might really be best to use a different item for the potion making stove…」

「Definitely.」

As Hiroshi was cooling it down until it was at a drinkable temperature, Haruna had begun preparing the chunk of wyvern. Sealing the grill air-tight, she lit the tip on fire after pushing the smoke out.

「Guess I’ll start by smoking it for a night.」

「Kay. Well, just do it however ya like.」

The heat having subsided, Hiroshi moved the medicine to a cup now that it was at a comfortable temperature, preparing a palate cleanser. Seeing that, Haruna took out something from the food storage. It was a gelatin-like substance with a fruit about as big as a mouthful inside. Wrapped around it was a translucent, gyuuhi-like sweet.

「What’s this？」

「Mana Eater Gelatin and a rind pastry. I already made the other thing, so I was thinking we might as well have it with supper.」

「I get attention all the time, but man, Haruna, yer also makin’ a buncha interestin’ stuff.」

「Yeah, but that’s practically all I do.」

Haruna made an excuse with a wry smile at Hiroshi’s comment. Incidentally, Mana Eater was just as the name suggested, a half-gelatinous lifeform that ate one’s mana to power up. This would normally be the natural enemy of magicians, but despite being a half-substance, it couldn’t survive without oxygen, so it was also in a sense a pitiful creature that failed to consume Tatsuya and instead was brought down by him.

Digressing here a bit, since the core of the mana eater tasted like sea urchin, they were also using it in mini courses of food. Although it certainly was a strange creature, like how dying would make it fully materialize, Haruna didn’t particularly care about this. Furthermore, in today’s mini course meal, the centerpiece would be the small pot used to cook the dashi from the wyvern’s body, as well as dashimaki that was made using eggs from a slightly strange creature, as well as things like soba zousui that substituted for rice, and other products that had the highest degree of finesse put into them. Of course, this was more of a joke in addition to being mini, so the amount of products was scarce compared to the usual amount. However, it was a little odd to just put all of the food out on the table instead of little by little, as was the formality.

「I made ‘em, for what it’s worth.」

「Wow, that was fast.」

「Well after all, as long as I have the ingredients, then there ain’t no task too difficult.」

「If it were me, then I’d make the medicine using the equipment here. It’d have a success rate of about 80% though……」

「That’s the difference in years showin’. Ya just gotta give up ‘n do yer best to train.」

He said, handing the medicine that had cooled down to body temperature to Elena. Thanks to the other ingredients’ composition mixed in, the medicine had become a vague, blueish greenish color. Accepting it with an odd expression, she drank it in one gulp. The taste was odd and difficult to describe. She twisted her face at the seriously weird flavor for only a moment before heat raced throughout her entire body, chasing out whatever had been consuming her in every corner before. After the heat had subsided, the slight fevers, headaches, nausea, and especially that feeling of fatigue that had regularly affected her every month that symptomatic therapy had been unable to fully erase had finally vanished without a trace.

「Amazing…The headache, nausea, fatigue…it’s like I never had them…it’s all gone……」

「Well, I can’t do nothin’ ‘bout the after-effects, but now ya shouldn’t ever hafta die by poison like this anymore.」

The rest could be taken care of with rehabilitation. There was no further treatment to be made.

「Yer stamina ‘n resistance are pretty low right now, so as a precaution, make sure not to overexert yerself, kay? Yer liver’s weakened too, so take it easy on the alcohol.」

「Very well. You went to all this trouble to save me, so I have no intention of dying from neglecting my health.」

「That’s good. Honestly, I don’t wanna see no funeral for ya, lady.」

Wryly smiling at what Hirosi had said, she washed away the strange lingering taste in her mouth with the palate cleansing juice. Then, without hesitating, she brought the unknown pastry that Haruna had prepared into her mouth.

「Refreshing, yet rich. What is this mysterious flavored thing and the rind on the outer surface?」

「A mana eater. There was some flawless gelatin, so I did a little experiment.」

「…Comes down to that again, I see…」

Letting your guard down in the slightest at their dinner table would give you the fate of eating the exquisitely distributed remains of monsters. The food was tasty and had no negative effects on the body, but it was still disturbing to hear what some of said monsters were. Wyverns, she could deal with, albeit a little surprising, but mana eaters? She did not think for a minute that she wanted to eat those.

「Now then, guess I’ll take a bath and sleep.」

「Once I finish up some other things, I’ll get right on to bathin’ ‘n then sleep.」

「Sensei, you need to make undergarments. The shape has already been made.」

「Ya gotta be kiddin’ me…」

Hiroshi had ended up being shut down, as in the end it would involve life or death, so he set to reluctantly working on it, thinking of what dangers to protect the clothing from and feeling like he wanted to spit out blood. The next morning, Haruna saw a bra and pair of shorts for children, made beautifully as Mio’s illustration had intended (albeit rather big considering her age), as well as a deathly pale Hiroshi in the corner of the room, twitching in a spasm.