Chapter Two Hundred and Twenty-Four: Panacea Request 2
“Now that you’re feeling better, soup alone isn’t much—want some bread too? There’s salad as well!”
“Ah… I don’t feel like I can eat solid food yet, so don’t trouble yourself.”
“If there’s no extra charge, I’ll have it.”
Urte wiped her tears roughly, and her stomach rumbled loudly.
“Crying made me so hungry!”
“Everything except the panacea is just regular food, so eat freely.”
Since Karen hadn’t appraised them, there might be dishes that had become potions, but it was trivial to Karen, so she clapped her hands without mentioning it.
“I’ll join in as well. Harald!”
At Karen’s signal, Harald brought in the dishes he had prepared in the kitchen.
“This bread is from my friend’s bakery. It’s really delicious!”
“So it really is just a regular meal… Won’t eating it together cancel out the panacea’s effects?”
“I wonder?”
“’I wonder,’ you say…”
“Originally, I made it because I liked the taste, and it just happened to become a panacea, and aside from the portions I’m giving you, I just made it as dinner, so it’s fine even if the effects disappear.”
Karen sat across from Urte and took a deep breath of the aroma from the soup curry Harald had brought.
“Ahh, I’m getting hungry. Once you smell this, you definitely want to eat it.”
Noticing Urte’s astonishment at Karen’s attitude, Karen grinned.
“Enjoy your meal, okay? Ms. Urte!”
“I’m starting to understand what kind of alchemist you are.”
Just then, Thor peeked into the reception room, carrying a tray with a soup curry set.
“I can eat with you too, right?”
“Of course, Thor!”
“I’ll intrude too!”
“Just like an elf. Not a shred of remorse.”
Paying no mind to Thor’s bitter words, Yuluyana sat in the seat of honor at the head of the table with a natural expression. Aaron, who ended up sitting next to him, recoiled in shock, but Yuluyana didn’t care at all.
After placing the soup curry set in front of Yuluyana, Harald looked at Karen.
“Lady Karen, Mister Ahim is waiting—what should I do?”
“Prepare a portion for him too.”
“What!?”
As Ahim, who had been peeking into the reception room, showed a surprised face, Harald nodded with "Very well" and returned to the kitchen.
“Hey, is it okay for me too? How much is it? Can I pay later?”
“It’s a welcome gift from your senior disciple, Ahim. Don’t worry and just eat.”
“…I’ll gratefully accept your welcome.”
“Cleaning up after my master feels like my job anyway.”
“It’ll become my job too from now on. Let’s do our best together, Karen.”
“Yeah.”
Karen and Ahim nodded at each other earnestly.
The person at the center of the conversation was once again engrossed in reading Karen’s paper, not even noticing his disciples’ melancholy.
“Lady Karen, the table seems full, so I’ll stay in the kitchen.”
“Come sit next to me! Come on, Thor, move over!”
“Okay.”
“…Eating among such an illustrious group will probably make me lose my sense of taste.”
Since Thor had been made to move over, there was apparently no escape, and Harald came over with his own tray, looking dejected.
Speaking of which, everyone here except Harald was C-rank or above. Two C-rank adventurers, one B-rank adventurer, two B-rank alchemists, and one S-rank alchemist.
“Even so, you’re my disciple, so you have to eat with us.”
“…Yes.”
Harald sat between Karen and Ahim with a complicated expression mixing tension and joy.
“Now, everyone, put your hands together.”
“Hands?”
“It’s Sis’ mysterious custom. Just go along with it.”
Since it was a group meal for the first time in a while, Karen had involved those around her in the ritual she usually did alone, just like in the old days.
Gratefully accepting Thor’s support, she continued with a smile:
“Itadakimasu.”
“Itadakimasu!”
When Thor said it loudly, Urte and Aaron, who had already started eating, said "Itadakimasu?" in unison as if drawn in.
Since Karen always did it, Harald had long followed her example. Yuluyana misunderstood and said, "Is this a necessary action before eating the panacea?" Seeing that, Ahim also put his hands together, saying, "So this is for the panacea…”
When Karen began eating and dipped pieces of bread—naan she had asked Fiene’s bakery to make long ago—into the soup curry, cries of "Eek!" rose from all the alchemists except Harald.
“T-To so casually destroy the panacea…”
“H-How terrifying…”
Yuluyana and Ahim turned pale, but Karen munched away with a calm face.
“This bread—I call it naan—is delicious when you dip it in curry and eat it. I recommend it.”
“If so, I’ll follow your suit, Lady Karen.”
Ahim, in the opposite seat of honor, frowned as he watched Harald tear bread and dip it in the soup curry, following Karen’s example.
“Karen, this guy’s an E-rank alchemist, right? And I heard his magical power is E-rank too. Sure, becoming an E-rank alchemist with that magical power is impressive, but you’re still letting him eat a panacea?”
“Harald is my disciple. Besides, he’s an E-rank alchemist, but he can make potions that neither you nor Master can make, Ahim.”
Karen placed her hand on Harald’s shoulder, whose expression had become tense at Ahim’s contempt, and said:
“If anyone comes closest to making a panacea after me, it’s probably Harald.”
“—What exactly is this panacea you make?”
At Ahim’s question, Karen nodded thoughtfully.
“When I make a potion with multiple overlapping effects, it feels like the goddess upgrades it into a panacea.”
“Upgrade… a potion. Certainly, when making medium healing potions or large healing potions, there is that kind of feeling.”
It had long been known that when multiple non-magical materials were used in a potion, the potion’s name would change. If there were about two or three types of materials, when appraised, it would have a name reflecting those materials. However, once the number exceeded four ingredients, the name became vague about the materials. If the effects were similar, even potions made from different ingredients would be grouped under the same vague name.
By using rarer ingredients, it became possible to produce potions with two or more effects. Karen suspected that when the number of effects increased further, they would eventually merge somewhere along the way and become a panacea.
“You have to understand the properties of the ingredients you use and have the goddess acknowledge that the multiple effects overlap naturally. Just throwing ingredients you understand into a pot won’t work. …And there’s one more important factor for making a panacea, but the goddess has restricted it so I can’t tell anyone.”
When making panaceas, Karen always put in medicinal herbs. Herbs could transform into things other than potions—they compensated for something still missing when Karen’s curry was elevated into a panacea. If she understood completely what was lacking, she would eventually be able to make a perfect panacea.
Because she couldn’t teach Harald this important part about medicinal herbs transforming, Harald had no choice but to realize it on his own.
“Well, read the details in my B-rank promotion paper.”
Although no one could reproduce it, the fact that she couldn’t write everything was due to the goddess’s restrictions, so, apparently, this was fine. It was the privilege of a high-ranking alchemist.
However, she was able to write it in Japanese, which no one else could read. Even with the goddess’s restrictions, writing in ciphers that no one else could read was apparently allowed, which was why high-ranking alchemists recorded their research in coded form.
The Japanese parts looked like obvious code to other people, so she could only hope someone might decipher them someday. It was questionable who could ever decipher text written in a language and script that didn’t exist in this world, but Karen lacked the ability to turn it into elegant poetry or create her own code within the goddess’s limits.
“I’ll decipher it someday, Ms. Karen.”
“Please stop trying to decode it while eating.”
Karen said sharply.
“Since it’s such delicious food, please eat it properly and enjoy it!”
“Indeed—it is a precious panacea, after all.”
Yuluyana suddenly stopped reading Karen’s paper, and Ahim also resumed his meal. After swallowing a spoonful of soup curry, Ahim said:
“This is good.”
“Right?”
“…I could eat this every day.”
“Every day is a bit too extravagant for a panacea.”
While Karen laughed merrily, Ahim devoured the soup curry and finished it completely.
