episode_0527

Three days have passed since the day Mirif suggested that I try making a potion.

On a free day at church, she took some time to stop by the pharmacy building and cautiously visited Professor Bellus’ waiting room.

-dripping.

“Professor Bellus?”

“Ah, Miss Mirif. You came.”

“Yes. I was a little interested in what you said last time… .”

An offer from him to try making the potion himself.

It was a proposal that was quite appealing, so Miripros had no choice but to accept it. Even now, many patients at the Academy Church were suffering from a lack of potions, and were spending each day in pain.

If you can take the time to make your own potions, you can reduce the number of people who have a hard time. Of course, it will take some time to learn enough to actually use it.

“First of all, let me tell you that the only thing I can teach you, Miss Mirif, is knowledge about low-level potions. If Miss Mirif were a student in the pharmacy department, it would be okay, but if I were to teach more than this to a student in the theology department, it would cause some problems.”

“Yes. I, that alone is enough for me.”

“If Ms. Mirif were to transfer to the pharmacy department, I could impart even more knowledge to you… but I can’t ask that of someone who worships God.”

“… I’m sorry. No matter what Professor Bellus says, I can’t give up my faith… .”

“It’s okay, Miss Mirif. It would be a bit difficult to explain the potion here, so let’s move to the lab.”

Professor Bellus takes you to his lab, mixing in some jokes that you can’t tell are jokes or not.

Professor Belus’s laboratory, located in the innermost part of the research building, reminded Mirif of the alchemist’s workshop when he was an adventurer. Except that it was much more organized and neatly organized than the scenery he had seen at the potion shop he had visited back then.

“Yes, is this the professor’s lab?”

“It’s both a laboratory and a workshop. About half of it is used to make potions to take to the church.”

“Ah… .”

“As I said last time, this is something I do because I like it, so you don’t need to worry about it, Miss Mirif. I use the largest studio among the professors in the Department of Pharmacy, so I think this is like a usage fee.”

Even so, which professor would dedicate half of his research space to helping others?

Mirif gathered his courage as he watched the potion dripping down the test tube.

Professor Bellus was indeed a man worthy of respect. Not just as a kind professor who regularly brought potions to the Academy Church, but as a dedicated man who deserved the respect of all.

“First, let’s start with the basics. Are you ready, Miss Mirif?”

“Yes!”

“First of all, there are three main ways to make low-level health potions. One is to make them using the relatively common material, Lepiane Grass… .”

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

About a month had passed since Mirif began learning how to make potions from Professor Bellus.

Three prayers a day. Four hours of specialized lectures every day. During the other free time, Mirif was almost always at the church, treating injured students.

With attendance at the lab added to her after-school schedule and private lessons from Professor Bellus, Mirif steadily learned how to make potions on her own every night.

“Health potion is a wild fluffy grass extract in the Lepiane pool. Magic stone is a catalyst… .”

For Mirif, who had always used divine powers to treat patients, this was knowledge from a completely different field.

Even most pharmacy students entered the school with some basic knowledge of potions, so in order to understand Professor Bellus’s lectures, which were explained according to the standards of such students, they had no choice but to spend time at night.

However, she could not stop treating patients during her personal time, thinking that it would be like neglecting her main job under the pretext of studying, and the side effects were bound to appear in her body before long.

“So when making magic potions, be careful not to heat the garlic… .”

-Nod, nod… .

“Miss Mirif, are you tired?”

“… Ugh, uhh, yes?!”

Mirif, unable to fight off sleepiness, sits down and falls asleep, but wakes up in a hurry after hearing Professor Bellus’ words.

However, she knew better than anyone that she had dozed off, so she couldn’t help but feel embarrassed when Professor Bellus called her.

“Sorry, sorry!”

“It’s okay, Miss Mirif. You seem a little tired from coming to my class every day these days.”

“Oh, no…! It’s not that I’m tired because of the professor’s class! It’s, it’s just, y, I haven’t been able to sleep well lately… .”

Strictly speaking, it could not be said that Professor Bellus had no influence. From the day he began giving her pharmacy lectures, her body began to feel fatigued.

It was only because Mirif had strong mental strength that he was able to endure until now, but a normal student would have probably collapsed from exhaustion in less than two weeks.

“Studying is good, but you should also take care of your health. If Miss Mirif, who has to treat other students, collapses, how heartbreaking would other people be?”

“Sorry, sorry.”

“We’ll end today’s class here. Go back and get some rest and try to relieve your fatigue for a while. Until tomorrow.”

“… Me, tomorrow too… ?”

“Yes. Right now, Ms. Mirif is not taking my pharmacy class, but taking care of her own body.”

“… … .”

Mirif felt a strange sense of guilt at Professor Bellus’s words of consideration for her.

The professor who thinks so much of me takes the time to give me private lessons, but I end up sleeping during his class.

It was natural for Mirif to feel guilty about her actions of repaying kindness with enmity.

“… Yes, Professor Belus. Let’s go back now for today.”

“Yes, Miss Mirif. Rest until tomorrow, and I’ll see you again the day after tomorrow.”

“Yes… .”

How can I apologize to my professor for my sins?

Mirif was feeling complicated because of another new worry that had arisen.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

And then, the next day.

-Knock knock.

“… … .”

Class time when Professor Bellus has not yet arrived at the lab.

There was a priestess who sneaked into his laboratory.

-Knock, knock.

“… Phew.”

Miriff confirms that no one else has entered the lab besides himself and quietly locks the door.

Her expression, holding a mop in one hand and a broom in the other, seemed at first glance extraordinary.

‘I have to finish this quickly before the professor comes to work.’

What Mirif chose to apologize to Professor Bellus was none other than cleaning.

The lab itself wasn’t particularly messy, as it was a place to make potions, but the dust that accumulated in places like bookshelves and under desks would sometimes catch her eye.

Professor Bellus was always the one who refused to do anything, and it was a bit ambiguous to even do a proper cleaning, so I couldn’t touch him normally, but today was different.

Deliberately entering the lab earlier than the professor, cleaning up the corners, and leaving. That was the way Mirif had thought of to apologize to the professor.

‘I know that this is not enough to make up for the rudeness I committed toward you, Professor.’

However, the thought that Miriff always kept in his mind was that if you commit a sin, you have to pay the price accordingly.

Even though I couldn’t tell the professor that I had been cleaning secretly, it was a good deed that I couldn’t tell anyone about.

Mirif was the one who believed that good deeds were meaningful in and of themselves, even if they were not specifically known to others.

-Swish, swish.

“… … .”

-Crunch, crunch, crunch.

“… … .”

Underneath narrow gaps where vacuum cleaners are difficult to fit, and on top of bookshelves where dust can easily accumulate if you let your guard down.

Mirif continues to clean every nook and cranny with a broom and mop, focusing on places that are easily missed during regular cleaning.

As the dust collected in the dustpan and the mop gradually became dirtier, I felt a strange sense of accomplishment and my uncomfortable feelings gradually disappeared.

‘I don’t know when Professor Bellus will notice, but even if he asks, I’ll just pretend not to know.’

If he didn’t notice, it wouldn’t really matter. In any case, it was important to Mirif that his actions were helpful to him in places he didn’t know about.

With that thought in mind, Miriff was wiping down the bookshelf when he pulled out a thick brown book to dust it off.

-Drrr.

The bookshelf she had been wiping slid down to the left wall, revealing the space that had been hidden behind it.

“… … .”

…beyond the dark space, along with a long, unidentifiable staircase leading underground.