Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Six: The Elf’s Understanding
“I… I am truly sorry, Lady Karen…”
Although she had planned to stay at the Ehlertt family’s house and return later, Karen came back home. When she did, Harald had collapsed in the kitchen with a fever, so Karen’s work began with carrying him down to the underground bedroom. Next, since Yuluyana claimed he had no memory of Harald eating or drinking anything, she fed him barley porridge. Just plain barley porridge, not a potion.
“Harald, you don’t need to apologize. I should have spoken to Master about it myself.”
“But…”
“Whether you enjoy Master’s teachings or not, it’s not as if you could ever stop him, right?”
In the end, there was no way Harald could have stopped Yuluyana’s rampage. As for whether Karen could stop him—Yuluyana was at least an elf who could be reasoned with.
“If I brewed you a potion to bring the fever down, you’d probably get back on your feet right away. So tonight, you’ll stay put and rest.”
It wasn’t a fever from illness—it was either from overexertion, stress, or simply the result of being made to drink too many magical power recovery potions.
Faced with Karen’s stern words, Harald nodded obediently.
“Yes… There’s no need to waste your precious potions on someone like me… who can no longer make the non-magical ingredient potions I had finally learned to create…”
“Once you get better, you’ll be able to make them again, I’m sure.”
“Will I really… be able to make them again…? Even though I received teachings from Lord Yuluyana, an S-rank alchemist… and ended up in this sorry state…”
“Let’s think about it together until you can make them again. Okay?”
“Yes…”
Although Harald tried to hold back his tears, he couldn’t suppress his sobs. Karen sighed, left his room, and headed to the living room where Yuluyana waited.
“Master, may I speak with you?”
“Yes.”
From the way Yuluyana straightened his back, it was clear he felt some sort of guilt. Still, Karen understood that it wasn’t sympathy for Harald. Karen certainly didn’t think she could change the mindset of this elf who had apparently lived for hundreds of years.
So Karen carefully chose her words in a way Yuluyana could understand.
“Isn’t Harald a rare talent, even from your perspective, Master?”
“Yes…”
“You’ve never seen anyone make potions with as little magical power as Harald before, have you?”
“That’s right…”
“Then wouldn’t crushing such a valuable person be detrimental to the advancement of alchemy?”
“You are absolutely right…”
“I’m glad you understand.”
“But I never thought Harald would break from just that much.”
Looking at Yuluyana’s pouting, dejected face, there probably hadn’t been any malice.
Karen tilted her head, wondering how to explain.
“Harald has little magical power, so he’s physically weak. Please treat him as much weaker than you think he is.”
“But Harald’s physical strength, setting aside magical power, was almost the same as that of other humans his age, wasn’t it? I checked.”
Yuluyana looked puzzled, and Karen wondered exactly what and how he had checked. If Yuluyana had ordered him to, Harald would have obediently complied with anything.
And indeed, in terms of physical strength, Harald probably wasn’t that weak.
“Master, as an elf, you’ve probably never felt this, but in this world, living without magical power is in itself constantly somewhat painful.”
“Painful?”
“Yes, it is. It’s hard to breathe, hard to move, and you constantly feel pressured. I experience that sensation too when I use up all my magical power. Harald must always feel like that—painful and suffering. Since he’s been that way since birth, I don’t think he’s even aware of it himself.”
“I thought humans could live without magical power, but that’s not the case?”
“We can survive, certainly. Though probably, in a place without magical power, life would be much easier…”
“But here, near the dungeon, there was almost no magical power.”
“But there still is some, definitely.”
When Karen stated this firmly, Yuluyana fell silent with a "hmm.”
“Humans with almost no magical power need to eat three balanced meals a day, and ideally eight hours of sleep at night.”
“Really? You’re not just trying to let Harald slack off, are you?”
“It’s true, Master.”
Thinking about it now, the reason she had been able to attend school while being dragged around by Lyos, staying up all night for days and skipping meals, was probably not just due to youth, but also thanks to her magical power.
Magical power had been supplementing her body, allowing her to withstand recklessness.
Karen looked up at Yuluyana and said:
“I state this definitively. Harald needs that.”
“…If you say so, Ms. Karen, then perhaps that’s true.”
Yuluyana had the quality of considering that whatever Karen said might indeed be true. Since Karen could make potions that Yuluyana couldn’t, Karen might understand things that Yuluyana didn’t grasp.
Taking advantage of this, Karen stated it decisively. She should have said this for Harald’s sake from the beginning, as his employer.
Thinking it was good that she understood before going to the dungeon and could stop Yuluyana’s rampage, Karen returned to her room to change clothes.
The next morning, even after waking up and his fever breaking, Harald still couldn’t return to a state where he could make even non-magical ingredient potions.
During the time before the dungeon investigation team’s departure, they tried various alchemical approaches—distilling water, grinding materials, filtering, boiling, separating—but still, Harald couldn’t regain the ability to make non-magical ingredient potions.
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