Ch.21The Mercenary Captain Who Dislikes Women (2)

Let me take a look.

Fortunately, it’s spring now so there’s no risk of freezing to death, and in summer I can install awnings to block the sunlight.

With a river flowing nearby, it’ll be easy to draw water, which is convenient in many ways.

For feed, I’ll have the villagers give their leftover food scraps.

I’ll also make a special nutrition potion to spray on them.

Plus, with various potions, I should be able to raise them quickly.

After returning to the shop, I took ingredients from the storage and began making potions.

What I’m trying to make is a heat inducer and pregnancy accelerator specifically for pigs.

If I can make it properly, the pigs will definitely reproduce explosively.

While I was busy stirring the bubbling potion, Mirella, who had entered the shop late, held her nose.

“What is this smell?!”

“I’m making a new potion.”

“What kind of potion smells this terrible?”

When I explained the potion, Mirella grimaced and covered both her mouth and nose.

“So you’re saying just smelling this makes you pregnant?! Don’t tell me you’re making this for the administrator?!”

“Haha. No. It’s for the pigs. And how would someone get pregnant just from a smell?”

“Hmm, I guess you’re right. The baby seed has to go kyung-kyung inside. That’s right.”

Mirella nodded while saying something ridiculous.

“My arm hurts, so you stir this for a while.”

I handed the ladle to Mirella and sat at the desk to consider a few more combinations.

Put this in like this, take that out a bit, mix this, and do something with that one…

With Mirella as my assistant, I spent all day making several potions for clinical testing.

“By the way, I just thought of something,” Mirella said, dripping with sweat as she stirred with the ladle.

“Couldn’t you make potions for humans too, using this method?”

“What kind?”

“This. Potions that induce heat and pregnancy.”

“Well… if I really wanted to, I suppose I could make them. But of course, I won’t.”

“Why not?”

“They could be used for crimes.”

“Hmm.”

Mirella’s eyes narrowed with suspicion.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I was thinking it might help people who have trouble getting pregnant, but what kind of strange thoughts are you having? Huh? Don’t tell me you’re planning to slip that potion into my food and then…?”

“Aaaaargh!!”

I screamed to cut off Mirella’s words.

“Mirella. Pleeeease come to your senses!”

“I’m perfectly fine. But think about it. If you were going to make such a potion and experiment with it, who else would you have besides me who lives in the same house? And I happen to be a woman in the freshest age, just blooming…”

“Aaaaargh!!”

“Geez, so noisy. Can’t you take a joke?”

Mirella giggled.

But I know better.

That girl, she’s not joking.

It’s obvious to anyone who isn’t a fool that Mirella has feelings for me.

With that open-minded attitude typical of slum kids, she’s making these incredible advances toward me.

Objectively speaking, Mirella is really pretty.

She’ll probably become an even more wonderful woman when she reaches adulthood.

Honestly, it’s more than I deserve to have a girl like Mirella like me.

But it can’t be helped.

Mirella is still a minor, and even in this world, dating or marrying a minor gets you handcuffed.

And to me, Mirella is in the position of a cute and lovable little sister, nothing more.

There’s no need to say or do anything that might give her the wrong idea.

* * * * *

I’ve been experimenting with several clinical potions, but they’re not effective at all.

No matter how long I wait, the pigs show no signs of wanting to mate.

“Hmm, what could be the problem?”

Mirella, with her arms crossed, poked me with her elbow.

“Hey, hey.”

“What?”

“Don’t you think we should test this on humans first?”

“You want to drink it?”

“Hehehe.”

“Be quiet.”

After silencing Mirella, I fell into thought.

What could be the problem, really?

I’ve used all the knowledge I have, so why isn’t it working?

I need to research more.

“Hey! I’m serious about testing it on humans!”

“Stop talking nonsense.”

The proper order is animal testing first, then human use, not the other way around.

Especially for a heat and pregnancy accelerator.

Let me think more. There must be a solution.

* * * * *

Meanwhile, on a remote road near Odelin City.

The city guards were investigating dozens of goblin corpses that had been brutally slaughtered.

What they found after responding to reports from passersby was literally a sea of blood.

What on earth happened here?

As the guards expanded their investigation, they received suspicious information from a city hall official.

It was about someone who had visited city hall two days ago.

A man named Jack from a remote village far south of Odelin City had delivered documents from his village administrator.

After various inquiries, the guards discovered that this man named Jack had purchased pigs.

The guards dug deeper into this Jack person and discovered something surprising.

Jack, the owner of the potion shop in Starting Village.

He was the very same Jack from the phrase “Potions are invincible and Jack is god” that was once popular among the foolish children of Odelin City.

An investigation report was submitted to the mayor stating that “Jack from Starting Village, who has performed various miraculous deeds, has now completely eliminated the goblins that posed a potential threat near Odelin City.”

Upon seeing this, the mayor immediately decided to send a dispatch to the royal palace.

Since ancient times, the extermination of monsters has been an important indicator for evaluating a city’s administrative capabilities.

How many monsters lurking around the city were killed to ensure the safety of the citizens is included in the city evaluation materials at the end of each year.

The mayor of Odelin City intended to exaggerate the report as if he had personally invited Jack from Starting Village to hunt the goblins, making it appear as his own achievement.

The messenger carrying the mayor’s report galloped down the northern road.

And was instantly killed by an arrow that flew from an unknown direction.

Shadow-like figures in masks emerged from the forest and searched the dead messenger, finding the report.

They were Remugen mercenaries stationed not far from Odelin City.

The mercenaries, who had committed the bold crime of killing a royal messenger and stealing official documents, immediately returned to their base and reported the contents to their leader.

“Oh, Jack from Starting Village. Slaughtered thirty goblins on the spot, you say.”

Adelheid Remugen, the leader of the Remugen mercenaries, licked her lips as she read the report.

“This is quite interesting.”

The mercenary leader had already heard strange rumors about Jack and his potions.

A remote rural village barely visible on a detailed map.

The nonsensical rumor that some man was performing miracles there.

At first, the mercenary leader thought it was just a kind of salvation myth reflecting the hopes of those living in poverty and despair.

But now, that content was explicitly written in an official dispatch heading to the royal palace.

Unless the mayor of Odelin City was insane, he wouldn’t have written unverified information in a royal dispatch.

This meant that the stories about this Jack person weren’t entirely unfounded.

A man who makes crops grow, explosively increases fish catches, and slaughters thirty goblins.

Truly interesting. Enough to make one’s mouth water.

* * * * *

While Mirella and I were busy making potions, the door opened and several people entered.

They were adventurers, wearing sturdy leather armor and carrying rather threatening weapons.

Their faces and necks were covered with sword scars, making them look quite experienced, but why would they come to a beginner’s shop like this?

“Hello! Welcome to Jack and Mirella’s Potion Shop!”

Mirella ran over to greet them.

However, the adventurers completely ignored Mirella’s greeting and casually browsed the potions and various beginner tools on the shelves.

“We heard rumors that the potions here are very good for the body.”

One adventurer spoke to me.

“Ah, yes. That’s right. We pride ourselves on the highest quality.”

“Hmm. Then everything from here to here.”

Like a wealthy person visiting a duty-free shop, the adventurer pointed to an entire shelf.

They’re buying all of that?

They don’t look that rich.

As I was bringing a box to pack the potions, the adventurer pointed to the pig heat and pregnancy accelerator clinical potion on my desk.

“What’s that?”

“That’s not for sale. It’s an experimental potion.”

“I see.”

When I handed over the box full of potions, one of the adventurers took it.

As he reached out to me, the skin between his long sleeve and glove was briefly exposed, revealing part of a tattoo.

Is that the tattoo of the Remugen blade-wielders?

Knowing their notorious reputation, I tensed up, worried they might try to take the goods without paying.

Fortunately, however, they paid the full price for the potions and left.

“Who were those people? Are they some noble family’s private soldiers?” Mirella asked.

I shook my head. “They’re Remugen mercenaries.”

“Mercenaries? What’s that?”

“People who fight for money.”

Hmm, Remugen mercenaries…

This feels suspicious.

I should talk to the administrator just in case.

“Whaaaat?! The Remugen mercenaries are attacking our village…?!”

The administrator shouted.

“Uuugh, then I’ll be taken prisoner, subjected to unspeakable acts, and beheaded… This isn’t the end I was hoping for…”

“Ah, Administrator. Please pull yourself together.”

“Oogh! Ogogogok! Kuhehuk!”

When I forced the potion into his mouth, the administrator started making insane groaning sounds.

Anyone listening would think I was putting it somewhere other than his mouth.