Chapter 112: Our Store is Open for Business! – 1

Chapter 112: Our Store is Open for Business! – 1

“Alright, if you bring me roughly these and those, I can start making potions right away.”

“……It’s more complicated than I thought. The ingredients too.”

“The making process is even more of a headache.”

“Honestly, just looking at it, it seems like you just throw all the ingredients in and boil them, and it’s done, you know.”

“If that were the case, I would have mass-produced potions and made a fortune ages ago.”

After a night of organizing various thoughts and the journey so far, the next day dawned.

Naturally, I couldn’t put off potion crafting any longer, so I immediately started, and Lily assisted as my helper.

At first, Lily looked confused when I explained the potion-making process, but once she saw me make a potion, she immediately nodded.

“So, what kind of potion are you making now, Boss-nim?”

“This time, I… no, we have to make quite a few potions, you know? A total of 9 offensive potions for myself, and various resistance potions to supply to the Knight Order, and so on.”

“The Knight Order? So, it’s a request from the Knight Captain unnie?”

“…It’s an Imperial order disguised as Christie’s request, but formally, yes.”

“Then, those potions first, of course…”

“No? I’m making mine first?”

The potions I need to send to Christie are generally not difficult to make.

…The problem is that there are so many of them that I have to do a lot of manual labor for mass production, but when considering the quality and effects of the potions, they fall far short of the level of potions I’ve made recently.

On the other hand, what about the potions I’ll use? Considering the system’s nature, they will definitely not be easy to make.

Most importantly, I need to make them for the ‘Alchemist’s Treasury’ to unlock.

“Is that, is that okay…? But they’re supplies for the Imperial Knight Order…?”

“Anyway, I’m the only one who can make potions in this country, no, on this continent.

If they rush me, I’ll just tell them that potion crafting is more difficult than expected and is delayed, and that’s the end of it.”

“Boss-nim…? Is that…… right…?”

“They don’t help with potion making at all, but they demand it, saying it’s for the Imperial family, so whatever.”

For your information, this is a fact I confirmed through Christie.

They said they couldn’t give compensation or anything else because it was a service from the Imperial citizens for the Imperial family and the Knight Order……

Damn it, this Imperial family seems to think that for an Imperial citizen, just being helpful to the Knight Order and the Imperial family is an honor.

……It’s true, and it is an honorable thing that spans generations, but that’s none of my business; all I care about is that they can’t give compensation.

“Anyway, those bastards won’t know as long as you and I keep our mouths shut.”

“…That’s called a monopoly and tyranny, Boss-nim.”

“If you don’t like it, pay me. Talking about the honor of service. I’m not a noble. Instead of honor, just give me money.”

“Aren’t you half-noble?”

Just as I was about to ask what she meant, a hazy memory popped into my head.

…It was Lily and Christie’s explanation when I went to restore the store last time, calling me the ‘First Citizen’ or something.

They couldn’t give me a noble title, so they gave me a quasi-noble title or something.

……Anyway, I’m making my potions first.

“…Just bring me the necessary ingredients. Christie didn’t even say when she needed them by, anyway.”

“Well… if Boss-nim says so, then it must be so.”

***

There was a brief commotion? But after that, things proceeded smoothly.

Lily brought the ingredients, I ran a simulation with them for a moment, and then made them in practice.

Of course, the simulation process probably just looked like me closing my eyes and thinking to Lily, but anyway.

…The major problem was that simulation and practice were a little different.

“…Tsk.”

“Is it made?”

“It is.”

“It’s amazing…… It was like wizards making magic! Or rather, should I say it was much more beautiful?”

“It’s similar, if you think about it, right? Since it’s about creating something using mana and mental concentration.”

“But your expression isn’t very good? Are you okay?”

……That’s because the potion was made, but as always, it wasn’t a satisfactory quality.

With ‘unusable quality’ written right in front of me, it would be stranger if I were in a good mood.

“It’s just that the result is so… you know.”

“It looks fine, though…?”

“It probably won’t work properly. Just throw it somewhere. I’ll deal with it later.

…But don’t actually throw or drop it.”

I just made it by looking at the ingredients, so I don’t know exactly what potion I made, but…

Given its red color and the unusually large number of hot ingredients, could it be a fire magic type?

Hmm, fire magic cast somewhere in the house. It seemed perfectly optimized for ending up on the streets in an instant.

“But what kind of potion was that just now?”

“…I don’t know? I just tried one of the ingredient combinations I researched.”

“Then maybe there’s a problem with that combination?”

“Ah, no, that’s not it. I think I just messed up a little while making it…”

I don’t know where that was.

I clearly did it exactly like the simulation, but the problem is I don’t know what real-world variable intervened.

I need to know what the problem is to fix it, but not knowing is the problem.

*……Shouldn’t you at least know what kind of potion you’re making?*

‘Was that important?’

*Extremely? You don’t just roughly plan out how to combine ingredients when you make potions, do you?

You need to know what effects the potion has to do well on the spot.*

At Ria’s words, I used the system to find out what potion I was trying to make.

…Hmm, ‘Flame Veil Potion,’ huh. This was truly a potion that would literally screw things up if used in the house.

Its effect… is it an upgraded fire version of the usual ice mist?

*How is it? Do you have a better sense of how to make it now?*

‘…It’s surprisingly strange how just reading the name and effect changes things.’

It’s hard to explain in words, but it felt like I had obtained an instruction manual.

Like I suddenly knew exactly what to do and how?

“Um, Boss-nim? I brought the ingredients here.”

“Huh? I didn’t ask you to bring anything specific, though?”

“…I have a good memory, you know? I failed earlier, so this time, I’ll succeed!”

Thanks to Lily bringing the ingredients at just the right time, I could immediately start potion crafting.

And, the result was, of course……

“No…! Why the hell is it acting up again…!!”

I screwed up. To be precise, in a slightly different way than before.

“Why the hell! Why! Do you put side effects into a potion like this!!”

……I never thought an offensive potion like this would have additional side effects.

***

The potions I make generally don’t distinguish between friend and foe.

To put it bluntly, if my future self made a potion that dropped a meteor, everyone would happily get crushed and die together under that meteor.

With one exception, potions used through the ‘Alchemist’s Treasury’ attack everyone but me.

That was the original side effect of the magic-type potions I made.

“Does ‘the flames prioritize burning the target who used the potion’ just mean ‘burn to death’?”

However, this time, an additional side effect was attached.

Even if I register and use this potion in the ‘Alchemist’s Treasury,’ this kind of penalty was still quite burdensome.

In the first place, would anything bad happen if I made a clean potion without side effects? It already doesn’t distinguish between friend and foe, does it?

“……Calm down, Boss-nim.”

“Ah.”

“…You completely forgot I was here, didn’t you…?”

……Honestly, I had genuinely forgotten that Lily was with me right now.

If I had been aware, I would have acted a little less crazy.

…At least I wouldn’t have been grumbling and yelling at the potion.

Realizing I had done that in front of a girl younger than me, I felt my face gradually flush red.

Of course, that girl seems more mature than me, but anyway!

“Th-that, Lily? I didn’t mean to do that…”

“It’s okay. It was just… hmm, cute.”

“……? Yelling at a potion?”

“If it were anyone else, I think I’d have thought they were crazy first, but since it’s Boss-nim, it just looked cute?

I guess that’s why looks are important.”

I was momentarily flustered by the unexpected answer, but I decided to think about it for a moment.

…I briefly imagined a girl with my face grumbling because things weren’t going well.

……If it wasn’t me standing there, it might have been, somewhat? Cute.

No, even so, isn’t that going a bit too far…?

…And, the moment I thought that, a notification popped up in front of me.

*Trait, ‘Bewitching Charm,’ is active.*

…Ah. That was a thing, wasn’t it?