Chapter Three Hundred and Thirty-Four: Sponsor’s Seriousness
“Can you hurry up? It’s not like I’m free all day, you know.”
In the reception room of the alchemy workshop manor, Teresa sat sprawled across the sofa opposite Karen with an air of sullen defiance, her words deliberately grating. That said, her bravado existed only in her words. Her feet dangled and swung restlessly, betraying exactly how unsettled she was.
Even this rude behavior was probably her way of desperately trying to maintain her composure. Being inside a noble’s mansion and whatever Karen was about to do next—everything was undoubtedly putting Teresa on edge.
“Let’s start with the potions.”
With that, Karen began lining up bottles on the table.
“Small healing potion, medium healing potion, large healing potion—”
“Hold on, what? A large healing potion?”
Teresa’s composure collapsed immediately as she lurched forward.
“What are you talking about? Is this a joke? You’re lying, right?”
“Use the appraisal mirror if you don’t believe me.”
“A-A magical tool?”
Teresa probably had almost no opportunity to see even the lowest grade of magical tool in her daily life. Karen had offered her the use of her appraisal mirror, but Teresa didn’t even reach out to touch it.
Karen rummaged through her things, and Teresa, having somewhat collected herself, spoke up again with a half-smile:
“Hey, Karen—aren’t you getting confused about something? Today was supposed to be about giving me potions to support my adventuring. It wasn’t supposed to be a day for showing off what potions you can make, was it?”
“Yes, yes. I know.”
Karen stifled a laugh at the sight of the flustered Teresa and kept laying out more potions.
“Small magical power recovery potion, detox potion, panacea.”
Karen had first been thinking about potions for Thor and the Crimson Thunder. And then she had remembered: Thor’s party wasn’t the only group of adventurers who wanted potions from her. Teresa—just like Thor, an adventurer sponsored by Karen. Of course, Karen had intended to prepare potions for Teresa as well.
But then she had realized something. The potions she wanted to prepare for Thor would also benefit Teresa. And in some cases, the reverse was true as well. Their ranks as adventurers were worlds apart. But they were both, equally, adventurers who challenged dungeons.
She might not have an intuitive sense of what adventurers of Thor’s caliber required, but when it came to what Teresa needed as an adventurer, she had so many gaps that all sorts of things came to mind. And as it turned out, nearly all of it was also likely to be needed by Thor’s party.
“Antibacterial soap, bandages with a healing effect, monster-repelling incense—though I should mention that last one is still in the prototype stage and only has a mild effect, so just treat it as ordinary incense for now.”
If a space devoid of magical power could be created, monsters would be reluctant to approach it. Knowing the principle and making it work in a potion were two very different things.
This was a prototype incense. It was designed to consume the surrounding magical power as it burned, gradually enhancing the incense’s effect. As the ambient magical power was depleted, the result would be a space that monsters would avoid.
—At least, that was the concept. In practice, Karen would have been happy if it worked about as well as a mosquito coil.
“I think my head might break.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment, shall I?”
Teresa stared at Karen in a daze, head in her hands.
“A… compliment?”
“Hmm… You don’t even have the spare energy to insult me.”
Karen laughed, then reached for the last bundle she’d set to one side.
“Use those potions and this together—and come back out of the dungeon alive.”
Teresa took the bundle from Karen with a puzzled look, opened it, and tilted her head. What she held was a piece of clothing made from black leather with red spots—garish and almost toxic-looking. It was a child-sized shirt and trousers, stretchy enough that they would likely fit Teresa’s body perfectly.
“What… is this?”
“Salamander leather undergarments.”
“What!? Salamanders are B-rank monsters!?”
Teresa nearly dropped the salamander undergarment but caught it in a desperate scramble just before it hit the floor, then stood there panting, having worked herself into a panic all on her own.
Before Teresa could settle down enough to hide her shock behind insults, Karen began explaining:
“It’s from a salamander on the twentieth floor of the Ehlertt capital dungeon. Being B-rank monster leather, it’s tough, and it’s supple and elastic, so it absorbs impact too. On top of the well-known fire resistance, it actually has cold resistance as well—which makes sense, since salamanders live in desert floors with extreme temperature swings.”
“Hold on… this is… for me…?”
Teresa had moved past shock into something close to the pure, guileless wonder of a child. Like a child who had never been loved by her parents, opening up for the first time at receiving genuine care from an adult.
But Karen poured cold water on that sweet moment of emotion.
“Even wearing that, conquering a dungeon will be a brutal trial for you, Teresa.”
It was all but the same as calling Teresa hopelessly weak. Teresa flinched, and the tears that had been welling in her eyes retreated.
“Which is exactly why there’s room to climb.”
Battered by an overwhelming flood of gifts, just on the verge of letting her guard down over B-rank equipment—and then brought up short, called weak.
After all that whiplash of emotions, Teresa… smiled.
“Yeah. You’re right. The goddess doesn’t let you ascend if the trial’s too easy. You don’t want to shower me with gifts and watch some dumb kid get excited about it—you actually want me to climb for real.”
“Wear your regular clothes on top. So no one knows you have expensive gear—”
“Stop treating me like an idiot. I know that much. Obviously, I’m going to hide it! Something this incredible on someone like me with no magical power—if anyone found out, it’d definitely get stolen!”
Teresa’s eyes lit up, and her voice rang with excitement. Not the bright eyes of a sheltered, beloved child—the brightness of an adventurer.
“I’ll use your potions where no one can see, too. That’s fine, right?”
“Yes. The advertisement for my potions as your sponsor can wait until you’re stronger. In fact, ‘you becoming stronger’ is the advertisement.”
“Ahaha!”
Teresa laughed with delight. It was the laugh of an adventurer—a kind of brightness that carried just a hint of something wild.
“Thank you, Karen.”
The simple, straightforward words of gratitude caught Karen off guard more than anything else.
“I’ll definitely ascend the step—and come back alive to show you.”
Teresa hugged the salamander undergarment to her chest, smiling quietly. It was the most at-peace Karen had ever seen her look. Karen watched in silence as Teresa, in her own way, settled into a quiet kind of resolve.
A little while later, Karen let the secret out.
“Actually, about that salamander leather—Thor gave it to me. He said I could use any materials I didn’t need for potions however I wanted, so I asked for the leftover scraps—”
“KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”
Teresa erupted into a frenzy of excitement and went bounding around the reception room, undergarment in hand. Karen watched her rampage freely and exhaled with relief that she had thought to move anything breakable out of the room beforehand.
No comments:
Post a Comment