Chapter Two Hundred and Fifty-Two: Portable Panacea
“Hey, Sis, how was the orphanage?”
“Thor.”
As usual, Karen had been in the corner of the kitchen set aside as her makeshift alchemy workshop, and she lifted her head from peering into a regular pot beside her alchemy cauldron.
Thor, who had been out gathering information to conquer the territorial capital dungeon, had apparently returned.
“I was able to make my donation as planned. They seem to be having various troubles, and the priest who’s the orphanage director asked Mr. Julius for Ehlertt’s support, and Mr. Julius accepted, so I think things will get better from now on.”
August had seemed to think that Julius and the Ehlertt family must harbor prejudice against those with little magical power. Even though Julius, Helfried, and Alise were nothing like that.
So while he was surprised, he seemed relieved that Julius accepted the support request.
“But prejudice against those with little magical power… that’s not something we can just fix.”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“Just because you promised that Horst guy something doesn’t mean you should worry about it more than necessary, okay? You pushed the Earl’s family because of that promise, and the Earl responded by increasing the budget. That’s enough. End of story.”
Scolded by Thor, Karen smiled wryly.
“I do worry about it, but I don’t think it’s my duty to fix everything.”
“Well, as long as you know that. By the way, Sis, whatcha making?”
“A potion.”
“It smells like panacea, but… isn’t it something different?”
Saying this, Thor looked down at the solid curry roux arranged on a tray.
“I’m trying to make a solid panacea roux.”
“Roux?”
To the puzzled Thor, Karen rephrased:
“I’m making a panacea that’s easy to carry around. The panacea I make isn’t really the kind you put in a bottle and carry around, you know.”
“Yeah, yours is basically all food.”
“So I thought I’d make it in a more convenient form for people to take with them.”
“…Could it be, for me?”
“You’re going to conquer the territorial capital dungeon, right?”
What was in the pot Karen had been looking at was the solid roux broken apart and dissolved in hot water. After the water had boiled, she had turned off the heat and put in the solid roux to dissolve.
“If I appraise this pot of curry and the panacea effect remains, it’s a success.”
“Really? I hope it worked…!”
In front of the praying Thor, Karen held up her appraisal mirror.
Minced Vegetable Curry
Panacea (Small).
“Sis! It worked!”
“I’ve succeeded up to this point several times. The problem is whether it becomes a panacea when someone other than me dissolves the curry roux in hot water! Alright, Thor, you try next.”
“Huh? Me!?”
“Maybe you’ll succeed. You grew up hearing all sorts of things about non-magical materials from me.”
“You mean if I fail, I’ll ruin the panacea you went to the trouble of making!?”
“Do your best, do your best. You’ll have to do it yourself once you enter the dungeon anyway.”
“Ugh.”
Though Thor pouted in dissatisfaction, he pulled out a new pot as Karen instructed.
“Once the water boils, turn off the heat and break in the curry roux to dissolve it.”
“The way you’re explaining this isn’t how to make a potion at all—it’s completely cooking.”
“It’s pretty much the same as cooking. You add ingredients that are good for the body while understanding how they help. You make sure not to ruin the flavor balance as a dish. If you keep stacking beneficial effects while preserving that balance, the effects merge together and become a panacea. The goddess makes that happen.”
“Ugh. I’m scared thinking I might be destroying the panacea right now.”
Grumbling, he waited for the water to boil as Karen explained, then turned off the heat and broke the curry roux into it.
As he stirred it around and it dissolved, Thor said:
“Sis, it seems to have dissolved, but what should I do next?”
“Do you guys have your own appraisal mirror?”
“We do. It’s lower rank than yours, though.”
“Let’s try appraising it with that.”
“Is it okay to leave this here? Don’t I have to keep stirring it continuously or something!?”
“No, no. Well, I don’t know if you left it for hours, though?”
“I’ll be right back!”
Thor rushed out of the kitchen and immediately returned.
Bringing his party along behind him.
“I heard we’re at a critical juncture of whether we can take the panacea to conquer the Ehlertt dungeon! The panacea is good for beauty too, right!?”
“Being able to eat that delicious food even in a dungeon is a blessing.”
“Don’t treat panacea the same as cosmetics and delicious food…”
Chris made a tired face as he retorted to Wanda and Odo.
“Aw, man. Having the leader make it isn’t the same. It’s delicious because a girl like Ms. Karen makes it.”
“Then you don’t get any panacea.”
“When you say that, it sounds like I wouldn’t get a panacea even if I’m poisoned or paralyzed! That’s scary!”
“…”
“Deny it!”
As Luis nearly cried after his joke brought down a heavy punishment, Chris rubbed his stomach with a pale face. To Karen’s eyes, the playful exchange between Thor and Luis appeared adorable, but for Chris, it seemed to be a stomach-aching exchange.
“Well, even if it fails as a potion, you can still eat it as a normal tasty dish. Even when you don’t have an appetite, or something tastes a bit off, if you put it into curry, you’ll somehow manage to eat it.”
“Yeah… being able to eat even without appetite is a blessing…”
Though he looked the oldest and appeared to be a proper adult, Chris smiled wryly while exuding an underling-like air.
Wanda pulled out from her bag the most typical form of appraisal mirror—in other words, a magnifying glass-type appraisal mirror. Though it closely resembled Karen’s appraisal mirror, it appeared to have fewer decorative patterns.
“…It says Panacea (Small) potion! Sis!”
“Then you can take it to the dungeon.”
“How much is this?”
“It’s useless to try to pay. The price hasn’t been decided yet.”
“I know the price of small panacea! B-rank adventurers have all the money they need! Setting aside food to eat at home, this is payment for a potion I’ll use as an adventurer! I’m definitely going to pay for it!”
Karen secretly smirked at Thor as he fiercely pulled out his wallet.
To make this solid curry roux, she first created a medium panacea, then kneaded wheat flour into it. Adding wheat flour to solidify it lowered the panacea rank to small panacea, but completed the solid roux.
If Thor knew it was originally medium panacea, he would be dying to pay the medium panacea price. But Thor would never know that.
“Heh… heh heh heh.”
“Ugh… whenever you laugh like that, it means something’s up… damn it… I can’t figure it out!”
Thor couldn’t see through the reason for Karen’s evil grin and continued holding his head.
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