Alchemist Karen No Longer Compromises, Chapter 352

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Chapter Three Hundred and Fifty-Two: Being Spoiled by Trust

“…Oh? Uncle Sepl—”

“Shh. You’ll wake Cyril.”

Sepl whispered, and Karen, who had peeked in through the open door, pressed her lips together.

It was nighttime. Noticing that the door to Lily and Sepl’s room was open, Karen had looked in to find Sepl holding Cyril, swaying gently to settle him to sleep.

After a while, Sepl carefully laid Cyril down and stepped out of the room with Karen.

“Listen, Little Karen… don’t look at me like I’m something suspicious. Even I know that soothing a baby isn’t exactly my style.”

Sepl scratched his head and spoke with some embarrassment. Karen shook her head in surprise.

“That’s not what I was thinking at all. I mean, at first I did think maybe you and a baby might look a little odd together—but watching you, there was actually no strangeness about it at all, and that’s what surprised me.”

That was why she’d found herself staring without meaning to. Sepl holding a baby didn’t just look fine—it looked completely natural, and that was what had struck her as strange.

“By the way, where’s Mrs. Lily?”

There was no sign of her in the room. Sepl tilted his head as well.

“Doesn’t seem like she’s come back from the annex yet. That’s why I went to pick Cyril up myself—has something happened?”

“Nothing’s been reported to me, so it probably isn’t anything serious. Let’s go fetch her together.”

“Sure. So what did you need? Don’t tell me you’ve brought a new potion.”

“I wanted to consult her about work. More importantly—Sepl, did you say something to Lily again? The other day, she would only accept a stuffed animal sachet after I’d taken the sachet itself out. Well, I secretly put one back in afterward, though…”

“Hey! Is the thing in Cyril’s cradle right now a potion too!?”

“Using potions from childhood won’t weaken the body, so you can relax. Thor’s living proof of that.”

“That’s not what I was worried about… well, if Lily doesn’t know, I suppose it’s fine.”

Sepl let out a heavy sigh and stepped out into the garden of the Ehlertt family’s mansion.

“I just don’t want Lily to change.”

“I don’t want her to change either! But Mrs. Lily—”

“What you are doing is just spoiling her under the guise of absolute trust.”

Sepl said it and patted Karen on the head as they walked side by side. Karen swallowed the words of trust she had been about to add—that Lily would surely be fine.

“It’s one thing for a girl like you to lean on my Lily like she’s your mother—as a husband, that’s something to be proud of. But Lily’s still just an ordinary woman, so go a little easy on her, all right?”

“…I think she’ll be fine.”

Karen said it with a slight pout as she walked into the annex. Both Sepl and Karen headed straight to the room where Lily was without the slightest hesitation.

“There, there. You’re a good boy. It’s all right.”

A sweet, gentle voice drifted out, and both Karen and Sepl stopped in front of the room.

“Ugh… hic…”

“The bad dream is over now. You’ll eat lots of delicious food, study hard, and then dance in the warm sunlight holding hands with everyone. When work tires you out, you’ll have a snack, spend the evening chatting away, and sleep soundly under a warm blanket—”

In the far corner of the large dormitory room for boys, Lily’s voice murmured quietly to a child who was crying in secret. Karen and Sepl slipped away from the spot.

“Looks like Lily’s going to be a while getting back, so would it be all right if I heard what you wanted instead? Once Lily gets like that, she’ll stay with that kid until she’s completely exhausted. Sorry about that.”

“You have nothing to apologize for. That’s also work I wanted to ask Mrs. Lily to do.”

“Work you want Lily to do?”

“I can’t spoil the children, but children need adults who will spoil them.”

Karen had no intention of coddling the children. She was aware of Waltride’s situation, and she had no intention of forcing anyone through a trial as well. But if they wanted to face one themselves, she would let them, however harsh it might be.

Harald had built a unique relationship of trust with the children, but Karen couldn’t imagine the children being able to lean on Harald for comfort. That was why she’d brought Lily.

“Mrs. Lily’s been getting used to life in the territorial capital lately, so I wanted to ask her to take on something else too. I was hoping she might do some cooking as well.”

“You want to hire Lily as a cook too, huh? Now that you mention it, she did say she had too much free time when the kids are studying and working.”

“Do you think she’d agree?”

“She’s been complaining the wages are too good for the amount of work—so I think she’d take it, but… is that alright? Lily’s cooking is good, her father trained her well, but she’s no match for the Ehlertt cook. Haven’t the kids gotten spoiled by that refined noble cooking by now?”

“That part’s fine!”

Karen said it with confidence, but Sepl looked skeptical. Was Karen letting her absolute trust get the better of her again and setting her expectations too high?

“…Well, having kids eat nothing but noble cuisine isn’t great for their upbringing either. Might be time to get their palates used to some commoner cooking.”

Sepl arrived at his own interpretation and headed back to pass the message along to Lily.

Karen erased her presence and slipped back to the children’s room.

Watching a child who feared the night find more comfort in Lily than in the stuffed sachet in his arms, Karen confirmed that her judgment had been right—and returned to her own room.

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Alchemist Karen No Longer Compromises, Chapter 351

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Chapter Three Hundred and Fifty-One: Someone to Look Up To

“Tereeesa. Having a hard time finding a party?”

“Shut up.”

When Karen showed up at the Adventurers’ Guild, Teresa, who had been looking at the quest board, shot her an unpleasant look. She didn’t try to run, though.

“What are you here for?”

“I came to bring you a new potion item today, Teresa.”

“Now that’s more like it.”

Learning it was a new delivery from Karen, Teresa grinned and settled into a chair at one of the round tables in the guild. But when she saw what Karen pulled out after sitting down diagonally across from her, Teresa wrinkled her nose thoroughly.

“…What is that?”

“A super cute stuffed animal! That also doubles as a monster-repelling sachet.”

“So it is technically an alchemy item…?”

Teresa accepted the rabbit-shaped stuffed animal from Karen. It had just enough monster-repelling power to count as a good-luck charm, and Teresa held it dangling by one ear as though it were something foul-smelling.

“Listen, is there some kind of alchemical… reason… why it has to be this shape?”

“It’s cute and wildly popular with children, that’s all.”

“Don’t treat me like a kid! …Tch! It’s a B-rank alchemist’s item, so I can’t exactly throw it away!”

“You might be better off not throwing it away.”

“Huh!?”

“Anyway—”

Karen changed the subject in the face of Teresa’s warning glare.

“You seemed to be looking for a party at first, but apparently you’ve been going in solo again lately?”

“…Obviously. The moment they find out I have no magical power, I’m dead weight. The moment they find out I’m connected to you, I’m a cash cow. There’s no way I can form a party.”

“But if you want to go deeper, you’ll need companions eventually.”

“Mind your own—”

Teresa snapped at Karen as though to bite her, but something—some wild instinct—made her fall silent before she’d finished.

In the next instant, Thor grabbed her by the head and ruffled her hair enthusiastically.

“Hey. Thanks for the letter.”

The letter Teresa had sent Thor about the equipment made from the scraps of materials the Crimson Thunder had given Karen had apparently reached him properly. Thor gave Teresa’s frozen head a rough ruffle and sat down next to her.

Until just a short while ago, Thor had been at Karen’s alchemy workshop manor, looking over the potions Karen had made. He’d been so absorbed in examining them that Karen had quietly slipped away to avoid disturbing him and come here.

“Your potions had all kinds of effects I’d never seen before, Sis. They were seriously interesting! I don’t really understand how that monster repellent works, especially, but there’ll definitely be times when we’ll want to lower the odds even by one percent, so I think it’ll come in really handy.”

“Really?”

Karen had made that potion specifically to help Teresa, given that she had no magical power. She hadn’t imagined for a moment that it might be useful for Thor’s party—and yet she’d lined it up alongside the other potions just in case, and now she blinked in surprise.

“The others are still scattered all over the kingdom picking up gear, weapons maintenance, and magical tools, so I can’t give you exact numbers without checking with them—”

Thor took out a piece of paper and jotted notes with a pocket quill.

“We’ll narrow down the load together as a team, so we can’t bring everything—but I’m pretty sure we’ll bring almost all of your potions. There are also a few I’d like to have resupplied through dungeon caravans.”

“I’d love to say leave it to me—but would a dungeon caravan agree to transport my potions?”

“These are potions from a B-rank alchemist, requested by an A-rank adventurer. The Merchants’ Guild isn’t going to say no. I’ll send word from my end too.”

Whether Karen and Thor’s thoroughly serious work talk had made Teresa feel out of place, or whether she was trying to behave herself in front of Thor—she began to quietly edge out of her seat. Karen grabbed her firmly by the shoulder.

“Putting the work talk aside, there’s something I’d like you to tell this girl, Thor.”

“—!”

Teresa bristled like a cat. She probably thought Karen was going to expose her bad behavior or the things she’d said. According to Karen’s observations, Teresa had been trying repeatedly to accomplish the trial of forming a party, and had been right on the verge of giving up.

In the end, though, with Thor there, Teresa remained as meek as a cat that had been brought into an unfamiliar home, and she couldn’t stop Karen from speaking.

“Tell her why it’s important for an adventurer to have a party. This one’s going solo.”

The tension visibly drained from Teresa’s body. An expression like “oh, is that all?” crossed her face. But her color changed almost immediately.

“Are you saying you don’t have any intention of becoming an adventurer?”

Thor’s sudden assumption that she wasn’t serious about being an adventurer left Teresa staring at him in disbelief.

“I—I do!”

“Then why aren’t you forming a party? I mean, if you’re trying and just can’t manage it, that’s a different story—”

“—There are… quite a lot of people who are after Lady Karen.”

“That’s a perfectly good reason to turn them down.”

Teresa started to look relieved—but Thor continued:

“Still, a party is absolutely necessary.”

“—It’s necessary.”

Teresa didn’t ask for the reason. She simply stared at Thor, and with nothing more than that, she accepted what he said.

“I’ve been saying the same thing as Thor, though. You listen when he says it, hm.”

Karen made a show of looking dejected, and Teresa panicked and glanced at Thor.

“W-Wait! It’s not like I don’t respect Lady Karen or anything!”

“Well, I am a high-ranking adventurer. Makes sense that when it comes to things specific to adventuring, my words would land easier.”

“Right! Exactly! That’s all it is!”

Karen was doing her best not to laugh at Teresa’s flustered state. Teresa caught on and shot her a glare. Thor watched the exchange out of the corner of his eye and said:

“Listen to what Sis tells you properly, and you could make it to A-rank, Teresa.”

Teresa flinched. Even in front of Thor, she couldn’t completely hide her inner conflict, and she fell silent as though struggling to swallow something back. Even so, she eventually nodded.

“…Yes.”

“That was the most reluctant yes I’ve ever heard!”

Thor clutched his stomach and burst into loud laughter, while Teresa, for the first time, allowed herself to pout in front of him. Still, there was a trace of happiness about her as she settled neatly into the seat next to Thor, clutching her rabbit stuffed animal sachet.

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Alchemist Karen No Longer Compromises, Chapter 350

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Chapter Three Hundred and Fifty: New Product

“Actually, I’ve been experimentally making a product and selling it to some of my regular customers, and the reception has been very good. Starting today, I’d like everyone to help me make this new product.”

It was work time.

With those words, Karen placed something on the table, and the children’s eyes went wide.

“A stuffed animal…?”

“That’s right! I’ll give each of you a sample, so take a look and see what it’s like.”

“A sample?”

As the children tilted their heads in confusion, Harald and Lily went around handing out the stuffed animals from baskets. And then the children noticed almost immediately.

“Oh! It smells sweet!”

“Is this the scent of a calming sachet?”

“Exactly. This is a stuffed animal—and also a sachet.”

“It’s so cute…”

The first to clutch them tightly were the youngest children and the girls. This wasn’t an ordinary orphanage, so they couldn’t go outside freely, and most of them had almost no personal belongings. Even the boys, after a moment of hesitation, began slowly hugging the stuffed animals to their chests.

“I’ll give one to each of you as a model to work from, so take it back to your room and write your name on the tag.”

“Answer Lady Karen when she speaks to you.”

“Yes!”

Karen glanced sideways, thinking Harald was at it again with his peculiar training, and held up a stuffed animal shaped after a rabbit-type monster.

“Actually, the one who gave me this idea is Lena.”

“Lena did?”

“!?”

Every child turned to look at Lena at once. The girl herself was the most stunned of all, freezing up on the spot. Finding herself the target of every gaze in the room, Lena looked around frantically like a cornered small animal, then bolted behind Lily.

“I saw Lena tucking a sachet inside a stuffed animal, and I thought it was a wonderful idea.”

“…Oh, that time.”

When Karen’s explanation finally brought the memory back, Lena’s face showed recognition—and the children erupted.

“That’s amazing, Lena!”

“Lucky you, Lena. I want my idea turned into a product too!”

“How did you come up with it!?”

“Eh? Um…”

Lena, who had shown almost no emotion during all the times the children had glared at her or whispered behind her back, was now flustered beyond anything Karen had ever seen, sweating from every pore, trembling all over. She looked just like the stuffed rabbit she’d been clutching.

Karen smiled fondly as she thought that, despite how mature Lena could be, she was still a child after all, then announced to the group:

“I intend to pay Lena a creator’s fee for this idea.”

“A creator’s fee?”

“Does that mean she gets money?”

“Yes. Though I won’t be handing over cash directly—I’ll hold onto it here until she comes of age, and, as a general rule, give it to her then.”

Karen had once had her soap idea taken from her. So having received an idea from someone, she wanted to make sure they were compensated for it.

The issue was that these were children with no experience of the world, and it was easy to see that handing them a large sum of money directly would, in nine cases out of ten, not end well.

Karen had been around the same age as these children when it happened to her. So she had tried to interpret it charitably, thinking that perhaps the Gubert Trading Company had simply been unable to give her the money because of her age… but Karen already knew perfectly well that no such consideration had been behind any of it.

“I want everyone else to remember this too. If you bring me an idea that can be turned into a product, I’m prepared to pay a creator’s fee. And if you learn to make potions, I’ll pay you individually for that as well. If any of you want to become an alchemist, I’ll help with that too.”

Among the children who had initially been innocently excited about the idea being turned into a product, the older ones now grew serious and began to listen intently. Every one of them had surely thought at least once about what lay ahead after coming of age—and had felt, to varying degrees, disappointed and hopeless about it.

“Becoming an alchemist may be out of reach for most of us, but… it means we can have money and become independent regardless.”

Karen tilted her head at Mark’s words.

“I wouldn’t push anyone out with nothing to their name regardless. Think of it as—the wages you’ve earned through your work here, minus living expenses and such, and then some added on top.”

“Wait, you’re actually paying us?”

One of the children’s eyes went wide. Apparently, they had been expecting to be turned out with nothing. An ordinary orphanage wouldn’t be that cruel—but children with so little magical power might well have been treated differently.

Karen had grown up in the adventurers’ district, where the orphanage was full of adventurers’ children. Perhaps she had not truly understood, on an emotional level, the futures these children might have faced in a territory far from the royal capital.

“Of course—you work every day, after all. Oh, but I will be taking my cut, just so you know!”

Karen said it in a deliberately blunt way, and the children, entirely unfazed, looked up at her with clear eyes and asked:

“Sure. But—aren’t we working in exchange for being allowed to stay here?”

“Choosing not to study is an option. So is choosing not to work. You could go that route… though I wouldn’t recommend it.”

The children swallowed.

Karen intended to take responsibility for them as their guardian until they came of age. But she couldn’t extend that indefinitely beyond that point.

“I’m simply recommending that you use the time while you’re still young to prepare for the life you’ll have as adults—for your own sakes. Right now, if you stumble, there are adults here—me, and Lily, and Harald—who will help you.”

“Teacher Harald too?”

The children looked dubious. Harald cleared his throat and spoke:

“I am someone who was helped. And so—even if you cannot become an alchemist, even if you produce no results, even if no ideas come to you—I will not abandon those who do not give up, who keep trying and keep holding on.”

Harald’s declaration settled into the children, sinking in.

“—Just as Lady Karen helped me.”

As though that were the best possible guarantee, the children’s faces broke into expressions of genuine, heartfelt relief.

It was a mysterious relationship of trust, but perhaps they actually made a surprisingly good teacher and students. Karen watched their bond with a somewhat puzzled expression.

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Alchemist Karen No Longer Compromises, Chapter 349

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Chapter Three Hundred and Forty-Nine: Upgraded Version

Late at night, Karen invited Julius to one of the rooms in the alchemy workshop manor and smiled meaningfully.

“Welcome, Julius. To the ultimate relaxation space, crafted by the hands of Alchemist Karen…”

Julius pressed a hand to his forehead with a deflated expression.

“It seems I’ve lost, for giving you time.”

“Do you really have to look that disappointed?”

“No, no—I’m happy, Karen. I can tell you’ve put a great deal of thought into this for me.”

He said it, looking around the high-end salon-style treatment room Karen had put together, drawing on memories of spas from her past life. It seemed he was being sincere, though there was also a slight sense of disappointment in his words.

Just what had Julius been hoping Karen would do? If the old woman had never come, and Karen had let herself be guided by Julius—would it truly have ended at just a kiss?

“Karen’s Esthétique is going to relax body and mind for you, Julius! Alright, first—take off your jacket. I’ll give you a massage!”

“Body and mind, she says.”

“You’re curious, aren’t you?”

Karen lit the incense and began helping Julius out of his jacket.

“My mind is always at ease when I’m with you.”

“I want your mind to stay at ease in all sorts of situations, all the time. Like when you’re with Brother Helfried too—you can be relaxed then, right? Alright, lie down here. Face down!”

Julius did as Karen directed and lay face-down on the towel-covered bed. Karen climbed on top and began pressing the acupoints along his broad back.

“Hmm. Your muscles are so developed I can’t even tell where the tension is…”

“It feels good… where exactly did you learn this technique?”

Something in his voice had an edge to it, and Karen tilted her head in genuine puzzlement.

“What are you imagining and why are you upset about it? It was my father! And Thor.”

“Then that’s a relief.”

“I also practiced on adventurers to earn pocket money.”

“…I see. Well, I’m not going to blame you for anything you did to survive.”

“Oh, and Lyos too. Ah—is that why you were upset? But he was sick at the time, and I was a child.”

“…”

Julius went silent. Karen kept massaging his back.

She had almost completely forgotten what her father’s back had been like by now, but there were some things she could understand even without remembering it clearly. Without a doubt, Julius’s back was broader and more powerfully built than her father’s by comparison.

Although—now that she thought about it—her father might have had Julius beat in sheer volume in certain areas. Particularly around the midsection. There had been a certain soft roundness right around where Karen was sitting now, a belly that stuck out a little in front—she had been thinking back on her father while working on Julius’s back when Julius moved.

“Oh!”

Before she knew it, Karen had slid off Julius, and Julius had rolled over and was leaning above her. His golden eyes gleamed even in the dim room.

“Inviting me to what amounts to a bedchamber at this hour of the night without a second thought—surely you understood that such behavior might naturally lead to exactly this sort of situation?”

“Of course.”

“…Hm?”

Julius, who had been speaking in something close to a warning tone, suddenly looked confused.

“This woman Karen came fully prepared, naturally.”

Lying on her back on the bed, Karen said it with a resolute expression.

“We’re engaged now, and you said you wanted a reward that was more than a kiss… I never had any intention of disappointing you, not from the start.”

Karen finished speaking despite becoming bashful at the end, and Julius buried his face in his hands.

“Wait, I only wanted you to have some sense of danger.”

“I even wore nice underwear, just in case!”

Julius went still, the expression on his face stunned, and swallowed hard. Then, after a long moment, he managed to get words out.

“—I have no intention of laying a hand on you until we are married.”

“You’re the one who pushed me down!?”

“That’s true… it occurs to me that premarital intimacy is considered normal among commoners.”

“It’s different for nobles, I know. But we’re engaged now. Haven’t we come far enough for it to be alright?”

“…That aside, I still want to eliminate as many factors as possible that could give you a reason to reconsider marrying me.”

“Even if you turned out to be absolutely terrible at it—”

Karen had been about to make another bold declaration, wearing that same determined expression, but Julius silenced her with his lips.

A single long kiss—continued until Karen understood, thoroughly and firsthand, that there was absolutely no chance of her reconsidering the marriage on those grounds.

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Alchemist Karen No Longer Compromises, Chapter 348

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Chapter Three Hundred and Forty-Eight: Those Who Watch Over

“Lady Karen, you have a visitor.”

“Me?”

Sara’s voice came through the door, and Karen looked up and responded.

“Is there really anyone in the Ehlertt capital who would come looking for me? Who is it?”

“She said she had something that ought to be returned to you… I beg your pardon. As the visitor is a commoner, I will ask her to come back another day.”

Since Karen had answered, Sara entered the alchemy workshop, only to suddenly stop in her tracks. She must have seen Karen leaning over Julius and immediately tried to make a hasty retreat. However, Karen quickly moved away from Julius and hurriedly stopped her:

“It’s fine! I’ll see her! Julius, you can wait until later, right!? …Right?”

“And just when I had such a rare opportunity to have you make the first move…”

“Julius!”

“Of course, Sara was in no way at fault. When she brought me something to drink while I was waiting, I gave her no indication that this room should be off-limits—and it would be hard to imagine the situation changing so quickly in such a short time…”

Leaving Julius muttering with his face buried in a sofa cushion, Karen followed Sara out of the room.

She didn’t recognize the elderly woman who had been shown to the reception room. She looked like someone who might live in the adventurers’ district—and despite using a cane, she hadn’t sat down on the sofa, standing awkwardly beside it as though unsure what to do with herself.

“Hello. I’m Karen. Please, you don’t have to stand there—sit down.”

“Oh, I couldn’t possibly. Please don’t trouble yourself on my account…”

The old woman said it with a self-deprecating air, then remained standing and, with an expression of considerable tension, began to speak:

“I am honored to meet Baroness for the first time. I am but a humble proprietor of a goods shop. The thing is, through a rather strange chain of events, I came into possession of a potion that I believe belonged to Lady Himmel… and I thought I should return it.”

“…Oh, a potion of mine? Did I drop something?”

Called by the baronial title she wasn’t accustomed to hearing, Karen took a moment to realize she was talking about her. The old woman had apparently come to return a lost item. But what item exactly?

“I have already handed it over to that lady.”

At the old woman’s words, Sara stepped forward and presented a silver tray.

“I am certain someone must have dropped it accidentally, without ill intent. Surely, no one would willingly part with a potion this precious—”

“Oh? This is the panacea I gave Teresa.”

Karen opened the cover of the silver tray and recognized it immediately. She labeled the potions she made for sale differently from those she gave to Teresa, so it was obvious at a glance. She noticed the old woman’s shoulders stiffen and she fell quiet—and the realization clicked into place. The old woman mentioned in Sepl’s report—the proprietor of the goods shop where Teresa had sold the panacea.

“Isn’t this actually the potion Teresa sold to you, rather than a lost item?”

“No, surely not, that—”

“Lady Karen, you’re frightening the shop proprietor with that approach.”

“Hm?”

Sara’s interjection made Karen blink.

“Normally, it would be unacceptable for an adventurer under a noble’s patronage to sell an item gifted to them by that noble instead of using it.”

“Ah. Is that why you came to return it? Even though Teresa sold it to you and received money in exchange? To make sure there wouldn’t be any trouble for Teresa—how thoughtful.”

“I’m sure you genuinely mean that, Lady Karen, but it sounds as though you are slowly backing her into a corner.”

Sara cleared her throat. Karen looked back at the old woman, who had broken into a cold sweat and gone pale—clearly deeply mistaken about what was happening.

“Please don’t worry. I’m not angry at all!”

“Is that so… I am grateful for your generous words. But—will Teresa’s sponsorship be revoked? Even if it is, now that this panacea has been returned to you, surely Teresa’s offense can be—”

“No, no—I have no intention of revoking Teresa’s sponsorship!”

“Then why are you so—”

The old woman trailed off, a look of relief and confusion mingled on her face. Karen watched her for a moment.

“…It seems Teresa has been well looked after by you.”

The old woman averted her gaze as though to escape Karen’s eyes.

“I never did anything kind for that insolent little brat.”

“She is infuriating, isn’t she? With that personality, she’d have a hard time surviving even with magical power. The fact that she’s made it this far must mean someone has been watching over her.”

“Watching over her—I’m just a humble goods-shop owner who had no choice but to buy the junk a girl like Teresa brought in if I wanted to stay in business.”

Karen picked the panacea bottle up from the silver tray and pressed it into the old woman’s free hand—the one not holding the cane. The old woman looked up at Karen with a bewildered expression, and Karen smiled.

“Please use this yourself.”

“But—”

“Teresa said she sold the panacea to fund travel expenses, but she never had the slightest intention of leaving the Ehlertt territory.”

The old woman’s expression shifted to one of complete incomprehension, and Karen kept smiling.

Teresa had wanted to show Lena the reality of the situation—through her own story, through the sight of a magicless child and a parent who had cast that child away. On top of that, she had tried to climb by cutting down her own father. And beyond that, she had wanted to help the old woman who had dealt with her fairly, buying and selling without turning her away.

“That knee of yours doesn’t work, right? The poison from a monster?”

“How did you know…? Ah, but of course. A noble would naturally investigate the background of those around someone they’re sponsoring.”

“The travel funds, the whole incident—it’s possible that everything, even the entire affair, was a pretext Teresa came up with to give you the panacea. She wanted you to have it, and she had to find some way to make it happen.”

Chasing two birds was nowhere near the half of it. Just how many things had Teresa been aiming for at once? Karen may have underestimated her cleverness.

“An incident… So that girl has gone and caused another mess, has she?”

The old woman made a weary face, and Karen laughed and nodded.

“Oh, very much so! Which is why I intend to tease her about all the trouble she went through just to give you that panacea—so please, go ahead and use it. It gives me better material for teasing if you do.”

“Tease her… you say.”

Something in the old woman’s expression finally eased.

“You know that child well, Lady Himmel. She’s not what anyone would call a good girl, not with a clear conscience—but she’s not a bad one either. She’s forever doing foolish things, but… please, don’t abandon her.”

The old woman bowed her head, thinking of Teresa. Karen regarded her warmly.

“I won’t abandon her. Though I intend to treat Teresa as an adventurer, not a child—so it may not look quite the way you’re imagining.”

“No.”

The old woman no longer seemed intimidated by Karen at all, and spoke plainly.

“In fact—from my perspective, I’ve always thought Teresa had the temperament for adventuring. That’s part of why I kept an eye on her.”

“Even without magical power?”

“Even without it, there’s just something about that girl that makes you want to believe she might amount to something. …After all, I was an adventurer once myself.”

The old woman gave a wry grin, took the panacea bottle firmly from Karen’s hand, and bowed deeply.

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Alchemist Karen No Longer Compromises, Chapter 347

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Chapter Three Hundred and Forty-Seven: Reward

“I’m home, Karen.”

“Welcome back, Julius! …Did you take a bath?”

Karen looked at Julius as he arrived at the alchemy workshop manor—relaxed and freshly clean—and Julius smiled.

“I didn’t want to come see you covered in the dirt of travel.”

Karen looked down at herself in dismay.

“I’ve been shut up in this workshop manor for days—I’m definitely grubby too…!?”

Potion development for Thor and the Crimson Thunder, textbook creation for the children, producing potions for the shop alongside fulfilling advance orders, and on top of all that, developing custom potions for clients with unusual side effects from their Bloodline Blessing.

Lately, Karen had been engaged in a daily chicken race against her own limits, constantly wondering how many spinning plates she could keep in the air at once. Even though she loved bathing, she couldn’t deny that she had been taking advantage of this world’s attitude that bathing every day was not the norm.

“I’ll go take a bath too, so… wait a bit.”

“You’re adorable no matter what you look like, Karen.”

“Could you let me go?”

Julius had caught her arm as she tried to slip past him and now held her in an embrace, smiling pleasantly.

“Heeeeey!”

“There is nothing more beautiful than watching you throw yourself into your work.”

“Let. Me. Go.”

“I want to be near you, and yet I’ve been out gathering materials for your work. The least you could do is show a little appreciation. It wasn’t particularly difficult for me, of course.”

“I am genuinely grateful for that! Really, Julius! Not many adventurers can just pop down to the tenth floor and back!”

While developing potions for Thor’s party, Karen had needed materials the Ehlertt capital Adventurers’ Guild didn’t have in stock, and she’d been writing letters to inquire about availability in the royal capital—when Julius had simply gone into the territorial capital dungeon to fetch them himself.

“That’s not quite enough, Karen.”

“Hooray, the finest knight in the Ehlertt Order! The pride of Lord Helfried—Brother Helfried’s little brother!”

“Hmm. That’s a gratifying thing to hear in its own way, but the reward I’m hoping for is something else.”

Julius smiled knowingly, fully aware that Karen understood what he was asking for, and his smile deepened as she struggled pointlessly against it.

“You know what it is I’m asking for, don’t you?”

“If you let me go right now, the reward might get an upgrade!”

Karen threw that out in desperation to escape the face drawing closer to hers—and Julius immediately released her.

“I look forward to it.”

“…Wait. Did I just walk into a trap?!”

“I had no intention of trapping you, Karen. Go on, hurry up and get in the bath. I’ll wait on the sofa. I wonder what an upgrade from a kiss might look like.”

“Hold on. Was a kiss already the baseline for the reward?!”

“It was. In my mind.”

Julius said it with a serene smile. Even if it genuinely wasn’t a difficult task for someone of Julius’s ability, it had still been dangerous work done for Karen’s sake. She wanted to repay that by granting what Julius hoped for, and frankly it wasn’t something she was opposed to herself.

—And yet Karen fled to the bathroom installed in the alchemy workshop manor.

“I really am… a completely different person from my past life…”

She turned the hot water from the heating magical tool on full to cover the sound and pressed her hands to her head. The idea that even thinking about doing more than kissing would make her blush and squirm with embarrassment was simply unimaginable from the perspective of her past life.

“Did I carry over a completely different soul, with only the memories intact…? Or is it the same soul, just a different body, so everything feels different…?”

As she turned it over, her thoughts drifted to questions of the soul, the nature of trials, and then to the goddess herself. Her attention scattered, and gradually the embarrassment faded.

But the moment she stepped out of the bathroom and spotted Julius, it all came rushing back.

“Welcome back, Karen. I’m expecting that upgrade, you know.”

“Ughhh! Sit down and stay there!”

Karen steered Julius, who looked ready to come and meet her, back to the sofa and approached him herself.

Julius lay stretched out on the large sofa, waiting. Having stopped by the bath first, he was dressed in relaxed clothes. Karen glared at that calm chest of his with something bordering on resentment, face bright red, and leaned over him.

Julius smiled with quiet happiness and closed his eyes.

Fresh from the dungeon and yet his skin glowed with magical energy—just as Julius had said, it clearly hadn’t been a difficult task for him. But there was something about Julius that suggested he would accomplish dangerous work for Karen regardless of the risk, and she needed him to understand how much she treasured him.

“Thank you, Julius.”

She murmured it as she touched his cheek, and slowly brought her face closer.

But just as their lips were about to meet, there was a knock at the door.

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Alchemist Karen No Longer Compromises, Chapter 346

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Chapter Three Hundred and Forty-Six: Empty Vessel 2

“Hey, hey, hey! What happened!?”

Karen hurried out in a flurry, and Lena immediately lifted her face and thrust her fist toward her.

“This.”

“What? What is it? …A sachet?”

In the hand Lena held out to Karen was a sachet.

“That scent… is this a sleep sachet?”

“I want to put it inside.”

With a firm tug, Lena ripped open the stuffed animal’s belly. The threads of the stuffed animal, pried apart with her fingers, came loose in a pitiful mess. Inside the stuffed animal, which was packed with scraps instead of cotton stuffing, Lena pushed the sachet farther and farther in.

“This helps me sleep, but I like this one more.”

“So the sachet helps you sleep, but you like your stuffed animal better—so you were putting the sachet inside the stuffed animal?”

“Mm. I want this one too. …It smells like Lily.”

Lena hugged the stuffed animal with the sachet now tucked inside its belly and buried her face in it, her voice thick with tears.

“Lily smells like Mama.”

“I know what you mean. Mrs. Lily does smell like a mother, doesn’t she? I’ve never met my own mother, though.”

“You haven’t?”

Lena looked up at Karen with wide eyes. Karen sat down on the edge of the bed where Lena lay and nodded in a way she hoped was easy for Lena to understand.

“My father told me a long time ago that my mother had died—but then later he came home with a younger brother, so I always wondered if maybe he’s my half-brother. Ah, I mean, maybe we have different mothers.”

When she had heard it from her father at the time, Karen had asked nothing more. She never found out, and she didn’t particularly want to know now.

“…Hm.”

Lena let out a breath of a reply, giving away nothing about whether she cared or not. Watching Lena clutch her stuffed animal in that small body of hers, Karen felt a flicker of guilt and said:

“Even without parents, you can get by well enough. We’ll take care of you here until you’re an adult.”

“Lena has Mama and Papa.”

“Well…”

Lena rejected Karen’s comfort outright, even now. Did she not yet understand the situation she was in? Karen was puzzling over that when Lena slowly looked up at her.

“They’re… still there.”

The eyes that looked up at Karen were dry—the tears all gone, clear and still.

“I don’t know yet if they’ll hate me like Teresa’s parents, or hug me like Michael’s sister.”

Karen’s eyes went wide. She had assumed Lena was crushed by the premonition that her parents had come to resent her, the way Teresa’s had. She had even thought that Lena might be despairing after being confronted with the fact that she did not have an older sister like Ottilie. Not just Karen but Harald and Ottilie had likely thought the same. But Lena, it seemed, had been holding on to a possibility.

“…If that’s what you were thinking, why couldn’t you sleep?”

“Because I keep having bad dreams… but I still don’t know yet.”

The mere fact that Lena was here was answer enough, Karen thought. Lena probably knew that somewhere inside herself too. That was why she was having nightmares.

However, there was still a possibility that she had been sent away from the territory not because of her parents’ wishes, but because of the lord’s order. Michael had witnessed what he had—yet there remained a possibility, however small, that Lena’s parents loved her in their hearts but couldn’t show it in front of others, too concerned with appearances.

“…If Lena becomes an alchemist—”

Lena held her stuffed animal tighter and tighter as she spoke.

“I’m sure Mama and Papa will hug me… absolutely.”

If only she could prove that she was valuable. Karen kept her mouth shut and swallowed the tactless question of whether love could truly be pure if it came with conditions.

Even if Lena managed to become an alchemist. Karen could not rule out the possibility that seeing their daughter return after all that hard work might awaken some real affection in her parents.

Would she end up like Teresa, or like Michael? Apparently, Lena had made up her mind in order to increase her chances of being loved like Michael.

“Lena wants to become an alchemist.”

She spoke it with her eyes wide open, clutching her stuffed animal with a grip that might have crushed a living thing. Karen nodded quietly.

“I will support that goal of yours… That is why I took all of you in.”

Honestly, Karen had nothing but a bad feeling about it. Lena’s parents, in all likelihood, would not accept her in the way Lena imagined.

“A long time ago, I was a commoner—and I had far less magical power, and I was still very inexperienced as an alchemist, and someone I had a promise of marriage with abandoned me—”

“I don’t need that.”

Karen had been trying to use her own experience as a way to warn Lena about the future that might await her—and Lena cut her off with a sulky look.

“Don’t need it. Won’t listen.”

“Is that so?”

“Going to sleep now.”

Lena turned her back to Karen and lay down on the bed. This clever child had understood exactly what Karen had been about to say—and had refused to hear it. Karen smiled wryly.

“If Mrs. Lily sees her stuffed animal like that, she’ll get a shock, so let me sew up the belly before she wakes up.”

“…Mm.”

Still facing away, Lena held the stuffed animal out behind her.

Karen took it and sewed up its belly.

The sachet tucked inside had probably lost some of its potency as a sleep aid—but Lena, hugging it close, let the tension drain from her body almost at once and drifted off to sleep.

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