Chapter 12: I’ll have a brief inspection! – 3

Chapter 12: I’ll have a brief inspection! – 3

‘…Why is that in there!!’

Thinking that, I quickly recalled why that defective product was mixed in.

…Of course, if I had remembered the reason, I wouldn’t be so embarrassed in the first place.

No matter how I think about it, the most likely possibility is that I was just sleepy at dawn and put it in randomly, causing an accident… but.

‘That’s why people shouldn’t wake up early and be active? I’m sleepy, so I’m causing this kind of accident!’

However, no matter how much you say something to your past self, reality doesn’t change.

I had to somehow fix this situation.

I don’t know what kind of reaction will occur unless I directly take that potion… I can just lie appropriately.

…Is the first thing you do to a friend a scam? I can’t help it!

What kind of things would I go through if I openly said that I brought drugs… well, not drugs, but something similar to a checkpoint!

“Ah, that? It’s nothing special, it’s a newly made potion this time. …It failed though.”

“Then why did you bring it?”

“Because it’s a waste? The effect is so bad that I can’t sell it for eating, but it’s pretty for decoration.”

In fact, as she said, the mixture of failures made this time had a very pretty color.

It was ambiguous to say what it was because it wasn’t a specific color… but if I had to compare it, it felt similar to the aurora I saw in a picture a long time ago.

In reality, it seemed quite useful as a decoration if you didn’t eat it.

“It’s definitely pretty. But, doesn’t a failure mean something is wrong?”

“Well… that’s true. Originally, the effect was more excessive than expected, so it’s a bit… should I say it’s dangerous?”

The side effect of the aurora light liquid that seemed to suck you in was the same as the mixture of failures made last time.

That’s addiction.

It not only gives you the feeling of walking around in a beautiful and pleasant illusion, but it actually gives you that pleasure… but in return, you gradually become addicted, that kind of potion.

…It really sounds like a drug when I explain it like this, but I swear! I didn’t intend to make something like this!

Then why did you make it? …Ask me who woke up at dawn and was half anesthetized by sleep!

Anyway, I didn’t intend to make it. Anyway, that’s right.

“What exactly is the effect? Is it very dangerous?”

“…Actually, I don’t know exactly what kind of effect it has. I can’t do clinical trials while eating it myself, can I?

I’m just guessing that way because more ingredients were added than usual when making the potion.”

Fortunately, unlike my mind, which was getting twisted because I was embarrassed, my mouth moved very smoothly.

By throwing words that are appropriately like the truth.

Well, the saying that I don’t know what the exact effect is is also kind of true. It’s because I haven’t eaten it myself or seen anyone who has eaten it.

“Hmm… it’s ambiguous. It’s definitely okay if you just use it for decoration, right?”

“In the first place, this is a kind of potion that takes effect after being ingested into the human body. There is no potion that has an effect without eating it.”

“Well, that’s true. But from now on, don’t bring things that have elements that could be dangerous like this. …Unnecessary words may come out.”

Christie said that and smiled.

…Since a person who doesn’t look like she’ll ever smile is smiling, it was definitely pretty.

It’s a face that you rarely see.

‘…Thank God, thank God. I’m getting through this without getting caught.’

Honestly, if Christie had seen me even a little negatively, she might have said something because it could cause danger anyway.

She’s not just any ordinary defense officer, but someone in the position of commander of the defense force, so it’s a position that needs to strictly adhere to principles.

But, fortunately, Christie didn’t seem to suspect me. Rather… she seemed relieved that it wasn’t a big deal like me.

“…And, if you’re going to sell it for decoration, is it okay if I buy it?”

“…You’re buying it? This?”

“I like the color because it’s pretty, and there’s also a place to put a small decoration in my office.”

On Christie’s face, who said that, there was a very slight emotion revealed.

In other words, that’s not just something she’s saying, but Christie’s sincerity.

And, I…

“Of course, customer! Would you like to buy some additional potions? It will be useful for training or something?”

I was serious about this potion business.

A customer who suddenly rolled in? I can’t stand this from a business perspective!

…I’ll suffer again because of this in the future… but I didn’t know that now, it’s something that will happen later.

***

Unfortunately, I failed to sell other potions to Christie.

Of course, it’s not that Christie said no outright, but I just gave up neatly because she hesitated a little.

I’ll have many opportunities to see Christie in the future anyway, so I don’t want to cut off the relationship that’s slowly starting to form by being obsessed with this.

“Then, I’ll come again tomorrow?”

“Okay. See you tomorrow.”

If you listen to it, it’s a stiff and business-like greeting.

But I could tell that Christie was trying her best in that it wasn’t just “Okay.”

‘Maybe it’s because it’s before the start of the novel, or because the Duke is alive, but she’s a little cuter and more lively.’

Christie, who showed the epitome of stiffness and emotionlessness until she met the main character… now looks like a slightly stiff ‘human’.

If it was the time when the novel just started, it would have taken a long time for such a reaction to come out.

Christie was good at hiding her inner self and heart, and she had to grow up to be good at it.

Originally, the main character was a kind of refuge where she could show her true self…

It seems that the situation will be different now.

‘Well, it’s not my business? Whether the main character has an engagement partner or not.’

I just ignored it because it didn’t seem to have a big impact on the future of the novel.

I have bigger problems to worry about than that.

For example, dealing with a woman who is carrying a child who looks sick and has picked up a ‘stamina potion’.

“…The child seems to be very sick.”

“Yes… The treatment fee required by the cathedral is too excessive… I’m grasping at straws.”

Her story was roughly like this.

The child is sick, but the treatment fee required by the cathedral where the clergy are is excessively expensive, so she can’t receive treatment.

She came to the market to earn money somehow, and she saw the effect of the ‘stamina potion’ I was selling yesterday.

Since the child is too critical to collect the treatment fee required by the cathedral anyway, she came to buy my potion.

“Yesterday… is it the same price as what that guest gave you?”

“Yes, yes?”

“1 gold coin… I only have about 90 silver coins now, but I’ll give you the remaining 10 later…”

“Who the hell said the price was 1 gold coin?”

A word that came out reflexively.

But, I didn’t think I said it for nothing.

“That guest gave me an excessively high price on her own. In the first place, I was thinking of a price of about 10 silver coins…”

“10 silver coins? …Are you kidding me? Are you doing that considering my situation?”

“No, I’m serious? It’s not difficult to make this, so the raw materials aren’t that expensive.”

My situation is that I have to make money now, and I’m intentionally getting involved with the main characters for that purpose, but… I don’t intend to sell potions at an excessive price.

In the first place, I’m not just thinking of receiving Elena as a customer in the future, and there may be people who really need this healing potion at a cheap price like now.

The development of medicine is slow in this world.

How can medicine develop well in a world where you can go to a clergyman and give them money and your sick place will be healed immediately?

It’s really only at the level of first aid, and the value of healing that clergymen demand is increasing day by day… that’s the setting.

And, no matter how brazen I am and sometimes sell my conscience, I don’t want to extort money by taking advantage of those people’s situation.

In the first place, this potion doesn’t have a fraudulent effect like a panacea.

I don’t want to sell general, and even potions that are strong in side effects, like potions that help in battle and are bought by people who can afford to live a little, like ‘stamina potions’ like that.

“And, I shouldn’t say this from the seller’s point of view… but the child may not get better by eating this. So it’s better to buy it carefully…”

After all, the effect of this potion is to recover ‘stamina’, not to cure the disease.

Rather, if it’s a child around 10 years old, they may get more sick because of the magic power that is cut down as a side effect.

But, despite my words, the woman insisted on buying the potion.

…She even gave me a few extra silver coins and kept saying thank you.

It was a bonus that she disappeared in an instant before I could return the silver coins.

“No, why are you trying to pay more money like this?”

I was stunned after receiving the silver coins, and the surrounding merchants were looking at me with a look of being moved.

As if I had shown great warmth.

…It seems like I’ve been misunderstood in a strange way.

“You were a more serious and warm person than I thought? Lucia. You didn’t look like that yesterday.”

And… it seemed that the head of our great dark organization was also among the people caught up in that misunderstanding.

No, I really just sold it at the regular price…?