Chapter Fifty-eight: The Material for the Philosopher’s Stone
Waltride said she would bring in a knowledgeable associate about the request, so the serious discussion was postponed.
Karen, summoned again, was having tea with the princess.
“With my condition as it is, His Majesty recommended me to rest. The Ehlertt family kindly offered their home as a recuperation spot, and I gratefully accepted. There are royal retreats available, but I have more freedom here.”
Waltride was casual and unpretentious. She truly embodied the character that Julius had praised so highly. Karen, who had been nervous about meeting a princess, gradually began to relax. The more they talked, the more Karen liked her, and while her tension eased, her feelings of guilt and the pressure to definitely find a cure only increased.
“Oh, it seems he’s arrived.”
The door to the room opened, and a sickly-looking young man entered. From his attire, he was clearly not a servant but a nobleman. He had unusually beautiful hands.
“This is Frank Schiller. Frank brought me the critical information. He, too, did not know who to turn to in the absence of the head of the family, and he came to me, despite my being an outsider, for help. Frank, this is Karen, an alchemist. Julius brought her from the royal capital—she’s a specialist in potions using non-magical materials.”
“So you’re the alchemist rumored to have cured Master Sieg’s Bloodline Blessing. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I am Frank.”
“Pleased to meet you. I’m Karen, an E-rank alchemist of common birth, so there’s no need to treat me with such formality.”
“Not at all. A skilled alchemist deserves respect, regardless of social standing.”
Saying this, the nobleman Frank bowed respectfully to Karen, then raised his head and continued.
“Now then, could you please examine this cosmetic product?”
“So the ‘remedy’ was a cosmetic.”
Frank transferred a silver tray from the cart he had brought to the table.
“The appraisal yielded no results, correct?”
“Yes. It doesn’t appear to be a potion, but rather a poison made from non-magical ingredients.”
Frank nodded at Waltride’s question without even looking at her, and with a grim expression opened the lid of a small container on the silver tray. Inside was a white powder.
Karen leaned forward to examine it.
“A cosmetic product… so it’s face powder, then.”
“As you’ve suspected, it is face powder. Apparently using this makes the skin beautifully white. My sister obtained it from somewhere. As she continued using it, her condition became strange. I tried to persuade her to stop using it, but before she would listen, my sister collapsed.”
Frank’s weary expression crumpled with anguish. His body trembled slightly, conveying how seriously he was taking this problem.
“I’d like you to determine what this powder is—this substance that’s harming my sister while claiming to provide eternal youth. It definitely contains poison. I want to save my sister from it.”
“White powder, poisonous… hmm, a few possibilities come to mind.”
“You have an idea, Karen?! I’ve been investigating, but haven’t found much useful information.”
While Waltride’s eyes widened in surprise, Karen nodded gravely. She remembered seeing something like this in novels and manga in her previous life.
“I think the material in this face powder might be—”
“Lady Karen!”
Sara suddenly interrupted Karen with a loud voice before she could suggest the material. Karen flinched and closed her mouth. As everyone looked at Sara in surprise, she bowed her head respectfully.
“Everyone, I deeply apologize for interrupting as a mere servant. But please wait a moment. There’s something I must say to prevent our benefactor, Lady Karen, from disadvantaging herself.”
“Sara, what do you need to tell me?”
“You mustn’t speak the name of the material aloud, Lady Karen. Magic and alchemy require ‘magical power’ and ‘understanding.’ You shouldn’t easily give others ‘understanding.’ Especially if it’s understanding of poison knowledge, you must be even more careful with how you handle it. This is to prevent creating a world where anyone can make poison.”
“I… I see…”
Karen swallowed hard. Unlike her previous world, where poisons couldn’t be made without scientific knowledge, in this world thoughts could become a force affecting reality. Although understanding was said to be necessary, with enough magical power, one could compensate for a lack of understanding, and the power of will could even push chemical reactions forward. That was the nature of this world.
“…Then, to confirm whether the material I’m thinking of is correct, may I have a small amount of the face powder?”
“That’s fine, but what do you intend to do?”
Frank looked at her skeptically as Karen, being cautious not to make direct contact, transferred some of the powder into a mortar.
“I’m skilled at making potions with non-magical materials, so I want to try making a potion with this powder. If my understanding is correct, it should turn into a poisonous potion.”
Saying this, Karen infused the white powder in the mortar with magical power. But she felt no response, like hammering a nail into rice bran.
“Huh?”
Karen tilted her head and stopped her magical power, then took out an appraisal mirror she had brought. She looked at the white powder through the mirror, but no effect appeared.
“…It seems different from the material I was thinking of.”
“It’s understandable that it wouldn’t be so easy to identify. It can’t be helped.”
Frank said while dropping his shoulders. Despite his initial skepticism, he had been watching Karen’s alchemy with bated breath, only to now appear utterly dejected, as if he had sunk to the bottom of the earth. Karen continued speaking to encourage him.
“I thought it might be lead, but it seems different. However, I have other possibilities in mind—Ouch!”
“Lady Karen, I told you not to mention material names.”
“Ow, I’m sorry.”
Sara apparently pinched Karen’s side. Glared at sternly, Karen apologized with teary eyes, then turned back to Frank, who had a pale face again.
“If you don’t mind, could you tell me the symptoms of the person who ingested this poison?”
“…Stomach pain, nausea, difficulty moving, impaired vision, and she seems to have trouble hearing my words.”
Even after hearing the symptoms, there wasn’t a specific poison that came to mind. However, for face powder made with poison, there was one more possibility besides lead.
Karen infused magical power into a different mortar with newly separated white powder. She visualized just one of the harmful effects this poison was said to have on the body, wishing for that toxicity to manifest strongly. Feeling the magical power flow through, Karen sighed, set down the mortar, and checked with the appraisal mirror.
Mercury White Powder
Damages the kidneys.
“So it’s this one…”
One of the toxic powders used in her previous world long ago. Face powder made with mercury—an extremely toxic substance. In that world, an emperor of a certain country had even consumed mercury, believing it to be an elixir of immortality.
Karen recalled her memories from her previous life. As a child, she preferred fantasy novels to romance ones. Alchemy had been one of the fantasy elements she loved most. She remembered devouring related books at a library.
While alchemists were a fantastical concept in the era she had lived in before, it had once been a serious field of study pursued by philosophers. In that world’s alchemy, mercury—a liquid metal—was considered a mystical substance and believed to be one of the components of the Philosopher’s Stone.
The Philosopher’s Stone was said to transform metals into gold and grant eternal life.
“To think the same thing would become popular here too, claimed to be an elixir of immortality…”
Karen’s eyes gleamed brightly, her cheeks flushed. As a slowly spreading smile appeared on her face and she began to lean forward eagerly, she was suddenly pulled backward.
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