Chapter Two Hundred and Twenty-Two: Elf Alchemist
“Sniff, sniff. This is the scent of the panacea that Ms. Karen makes.”
“Ah, Master. It’s been a while.”
After Karen returned from the dungeon expedition, her master listened to the events that occurred there, examined Karen’s panacea with great excitement, then shouted, "I have something I want to research, so excuse me!" and disappeared. That master had finally returned.
“Did your research progress?”
“I finished what I wanted to do. However, I can’t say the research progressed. Recently, there’s been someone following me around. It’s so noisy that I can’t concentrate.”
Yuluyana let out a sigh.
Though he was speaking in a light, playful tone, he was an S-rank alchemist. Even Karen had to stay cautious at B-rank; surely Yuluyana faced his own share of troubles, though he kept them to himself.
“Ms. Karen, you said you were going to write a paper on the panacea—how’s the progress?”
“I submitted it to the Alchemists’ Guild, but I have a copy. Please read it if you’d like.”
“With pleasure!”
When Karen spoke in a gentle tone, thinking of her master’s hardships, Yuluyana’s eyes sparkled.
When she went to get the paper from the workshop area and returned to the living room, there was Yuluyana elegantly relaxing on the sofa and Thor watching him intently from the corner of the room. Thor was on guard against Yuluyana like a cat with its fur standing on end.
“Thor, I told you before, he’s my master.”
“But he’s an elf.”
This was the second time they’d had this exchange since returning from the dungeon.
When Thor came to Karen’s alchemy workshop in place of the burned-down apartment, he ran into Yuluyana and instantly went on guard. Though Thor wouldn’t tell her what had happened, he apparently had some very unpleasant memories involving elves.
Incidentally, at that time, Yuluyana had somehow heard of Karen’s exploits in the dungeon and was in an excited state, so Thor was completely ignored.
While receiving the paper from Karen, Yuluyana laughed.
“Did one of my fellow elves cause you some trouble? I apologize. My kin basically regard humans as little more than insects. Ha ha!”
“Then does that mean all elves treat humans the way you treat Harald, Master?”
“Harald? He’s also one of your associates, Ms. Karen, and I think I’ve been relatively kind to him…”
Karen felt a chill run down her spine as she could tell that Yuluyana, whose face showed genuine confusion, was being serious.
“Then the way you treated me, Master—”
“Of course, I give you special treatment, Ms. Karen. I wouldn’t treat even an elf this courteously!”
Saying this, Yuluyana settled into a reading position on the sofa and stopped moving.
“It feels super weird seeing you actually hold a conversation with an elf, Sis.”
“So they’re at a level where conversation doesn’t work…”
“They’re the embodiment of arrogance. If I show them I’m stronger than they are, they become somewhat more willing to talk. But even then, talking to them is seriously irritating.”
Though Thor spoke loudly enough to be heard while irritated, Yuluyana didn’t seem to hear at all, his eyes sparkling behind his appraisal mirror glasses as he immersed himself in the paper.
Seeing this, Karen believed Thor’s words but couldn’t really grasp the reality of them.
“Well, as long as he’s kind to you, Sis, I don’t mind. Still, having panacea for dinner is pretty extravagant. I can pay for it—do you want me to?”
“There’s no way I’d make my little brother pay for dinner! What are you saying!?”
“I just thought even family should settle things properly.”
“If you say that, then almost all of my home cooking that you have eaten up until now was made with potions, you know? It’s a bit late for that.”
“I knew it. I always thought your cooking was somehow different, Sis.”
“You could tell just by eating it? I don’t even really understand it myself.”
“You notice once you’re no longer eating your cooking all the time. The stamina I thought would recover if I ate this doesn’t recover. The injuries I thought would heal don’t heal. The soup I made following the recipe you taught me—it should be the same as what I ate at home, but somehow it tastes bad. After I set out on my journey, things like that happened often, and at first I thought it was because traveling was hard, or that I had no talent for cooking, but I was wrong.”
Thor grinned as he said:
“It was because you were amazing, Sis!”
“Ehehe—”
Just as Karen was about to say bashfully, "It’s nothing much," the bell at the alchemy workshop rang. It didn’t stop after ringing once, but continued ringing over and over.
“Maybe Ms. Urte came? She might be desperate because she wants to heal Mr. Aaron as quickly as possible. That’s love for you.”
“She’s your supporter, right, Sis?”
“Yeah! Originally, I’m making curry for Ms. Urte’s husband to eat the panacea. It also serves as our dinner.”
When Karen and Thor went out into the hallway, Harald, who had been preparing to serve the meal, came out from the kitchen to the entrance in his apron.
“Please wait! I’ll open it now!”
When Harald called out to the persistent bell, it stopped ringing.
Harald, who opened the entrance door, widened his eyes.
“You are—”
“Is Karen here!?”
“Huh? Ahim?”
The visitor was Ahim, not Urte, who was scheduled to come visit.
“What’s wrong? I’m expecting a client soon today. Sorry, but can your business wait until next time, Ahim?”
“Let me just ask one thing! I heard an elf went in here—is there one!?”
“An elf? There is, but—”
“Excuse me!”
“Eh? What is it?”
Ahim pushed his way into the alchemy workshop.
For Harald, it was a familiar face, and Thor also seemed to remember Ahim, who had been the only other aspiring alchemist besides Karen at the commoners’ school, so when Karen watched in bewilderment, they didn’t try to forcibly stop him.
“Lord Yuluyana! So you were here!”
“—Tch.”
Yuluyana, whose reaction was delayed because he’d been reading Karen’s paper, made a face that was genuinely disgusted.
“The time has come for you to fulfill your promise! I’ve become a B-rank alchemist, been recognized at the alchemy conference at the Royal Exhibition, and was selected as the outstanding alchemist of the year! The promise was that if I became a B-rank or higher alchemist before age twenty, you would take me as your disciple!”
“Eh, did I make such a promise?”
Even Karen, who was just listening nearby, could tell. Yuluyana was clever and had a good memory, so he did remember. But he was brazenly pretending to have forgotten.
“It was an event from just ten years ago!”
“That was from when you were a child, an old verbal promise, right? I’m troubled if you take such things seriously.”
“For you as an elf, it’s a recent event!”
Ahim shouted, his face bright red.
“Why are you running away from that!?”
“I already have an excellent disciple in Ms. Karen, and her disciple Harald is also quite interesting, so I don’t need any more human disciples.”
The eyes of Yuluyana, who said this with a cold smile, were merciless.
“I did check your credentials… but your existence would only interfere with my research. As an alchemist who has played at research in your own human way, surely you understand how grave a sin it is to obstruct the work of an S-rank alchemist? Or perhaps you don’t? As a short-lived species with limited time to grow, are you incapable of true ‘understanding’?”
Yuluyana, who had been ridiculing Ahim, turned his gaze to Karen and spoke with an affectionate smile:
“Ms. Karen! Is dinner ready yet? Tonight is panacea, right? I’m looking forward to it!”
“…Master, you’re not getting any curry.”
“Eh!? Why not!?”
Karen gave the stunned Yuluyana a distant look. There were various things wrong with displaying his discrimination against humans right in front of Karen.
“Elves really are irritating, huh.”
Finally understanding Thor’s heartfelt sentiment, Karen nodded.
