Chapter 127 – Elixir

At this point, it’s something worth seriously thinking about.

Is my body just the right size to hug and sleep with? Or is it because I’m soft and squishy? Or maybe, does my scent smell good?

I don’t know.

The fact that I’m even thinking about this is ridiculous.

Last night. Just like with Stella, Yurasia also hugged me tightly while sleeping.

After some pointless chatting, Yurasia fell asleep first. I lay there, going over the events of the day and sorting out my thoughts.

While I was doing that, Yurasia pulled me tightly into her arms. She even hooked one of her legs over me and wrapped around me.

Could I have gotten away? I could have, but I would’ve had to move roughly.

Yurasia is overwhelmingly stronger than me, so unless I used Mana, there was no way to get out quietly.

But moving roughly… Yurasia was sleeping so soundly that I felt bad about waking her up.

So I just slept as I was.

Thanks to that, I’m really tired today.

In that state… I woke up early and called Stella and Pina for training.

After that, the three girls, well, two, but for some reason Pina also felt noisy, chattered away.

Anyway, I listened to the three of them talking while we ate breakfast, then went back to my room, showered, and met up again.

The meeting place was my private training hall.

“Are you ready?”

At my question, Yurasia’s eyes sparkled with anticipation, Stella let out a shaky breath, and Pina hugged her own tail.

I wondered why they were reacting like this.

It’s because today is the day we take the elixir.

I’d told them that if you take it wrong, your body could explode and you might die, so except for Yurasia, the other two were trembling in fear.

How badly do they want to stay alive, to be that careful. I snickered as I put down my pouch and took out two elixirs for each of them.

“We’re not taking them all today. Two per person. The rest are for next month. If you get greedy and take them all now, your body really will explode and you’ll die.”

Stella and Pina swallowed nervously.

Yurasia, on the other hand, just made her eyes shine brighter.

I looked around at the three and spoke.

“So, who wants to go first?”

“Me!”

No need to ask. Of course, Yurasia was the first to raise her hand.

“As the eldest, I’ll set an example!”

“What example.”

“Hehe.”

Yurasia seemed to find her own words funny and sat in front of me cross-legged.

“Remember the last time you took an elixir? Just like then, swallow the elixir, relax, and accept my Mana.”

“Yes!”

The reason Yurasia isn’t nervous is simple.

When she was in the Duchy of Eustetia as part of the knight order, she took quite a few high-grade elixirs.

Each time, I would help her absorb it like this.

“But this elixir isn’t like the ones before. You won’t need to chew it thoroughly, just bite once and it’ll burst and soak in.”

“Wow… I’ve only ever heard of things like elixirs in stories. Only legendary items like those get absorbed like that, right?”

“Who knows.”

It’s different. An elixir doesn’t even need to be bitten once.

That’s, well… how should I put it. It feels like it’s alive and moving.

When you hold it in your mouth, it finds its own way and gets absorbed into your body. It’s unpleasant, honestly.

“Here, eat this one first.”

I handed a round pill to Yurasia.

“Oh… what’s this one called?”

“Its name?”

…What was it again. Dragon Horn Pill? Dragon Blood Pill?

It’s ivory-colored, so maybe it’s Dragon Horn Pill.

My memory’s fuzzy.

Anyway, I know it’s something dragon-related.

“…Does the name matter? You just need to know you’ll get stronger after eating it.”

“Still, shouldn’t I know what I’m putting in my body…?”

“What, don’t you trust me?”

“That’s not it!”

“Then just eat it.”

“Okaaay…”

“Put it in your mouth.”

“Okay.”

It’s not bad for the body.

It’s not an elixir you need to tailor to your body type.

Anyone can take it and benefit.

Of course, it doesn’t help people who’ve reached a certain level. But for Yurasia, it’ll be a huge help.

Yurasia stuck her lips out and peeled off the pill’s shell. Even the shell isn’t ordinary, it’s made by shaving dragon scales thin.

But that doesn’t make it rare.

The shell’s already used up all its power protecting the elixir, so now it’s no different from ordinary paper.

There was no need to tell them that.

No need at all.

“Huh…?”

The shell fell off the elixir and disappeared into dust.

“Was that some kind of magic treatment…?”

“No… There wasn’t any magic.”

Stella answered Yurasia’s question.

I just shrugged and put my hand near Yurasia’s heart.

From behind, on her back. Placing my hand as close as possible to her heart. Doing it from the front would be awkward… Yurasia’s chest would get in the way, and, well, it’s just uncomfortable.

“You’re doing it from behind again?”

Yurasia asked with a strange smile.

“Want me to do it from the front?”

“W-what?! The front?!”

“Just shut up and eat it.”

“Okaaay.”

With a sly smile, Yurasia quickly put the elixir in her mouth. With a pop, an unfamiliar Mana surged from her body.

“Focus.”

Yurasia didn’t answer and began absorbing the Mana I released.

* * *

“Ah… Miss…”

I looked at Yurasia, who was half-fainting, cooling her sweat-soaked neck.

“Ugh… yeah.”

“I think I’m dying… My body feels weird…”

“Heh… Yeah. That’s understandable.”

Normally, I’d tell her not to be a baby, but I couldn’t bring myself to say it. She really almost died.

I don’t know about other elixirs, but with one as high-grade as the one Yurasia just took, absorbing even 60% is considered impressive.

But Yurasia absorbed 90%.

And she did it with both pills she just took.

How is that even possible? I don’t know.

Even with my help, an ordinary person couldn’t pull that off.

Not even me, Luna, Paulo, Arisa, or Kaloso.

None of the five of us ever achieved that level of efficiency.

Is this what it means to be a true genius…? Or is that word not even enough to explain it?

No matter how much I’ve seen and experienced, this is my first time encountering something like this, so I’m a bit stunned.

“But you didn’t die, so that’s a relief.”

“…Huh? What do you mean by that?”

“You really almost died.”

Yurasia’s face went pale.

“…So, what I felt wasn’t just me being dramatic?”

“Yeah. You held on well.”

I sincerely praised Yurasia.

At that, the trembling of Stella and Pina grew worse. On top of that, Stella suddenly stood up from her seat.

“…I just remembered something urgent I have to do, so I’ll be going.”

“Hii… Hiiik…”

Watching Stella, I thought seriously.

If Yurasia could do that, maybe Stella could absorb just as much?

Even if Yurasia managed to endure it, Stella might not. Then what would happen?

“Stella, you might actually explode.”

“…W-what? Why do you always have to say…”

“I’m not joking. I mean it.”

Flop, maybe her legs gave out, but Stella collapsed back into her seat.

“You going to be okay?”

“…Even if I’m not, I have to do it.”

“You just tried to run away a moment ago.”

“I thought you’d stop me…”

“Why would I stop someone who’s leaving?”

“What…? You said you’d come looking for me if I ever got kidnapped.”

Yurasia’s eyes went wide.

“Miss, did you really say that?”

“Yeah. I told her I’d go after her because she owes me a lot of money.”

At my words, Stella pouted.

“…So if I didn’t owe you money, you’d just abandon me.”

“Be quiet and sit in front of me.”

“…Hmph.”

With a sulky ‘hmph,’ Stella knelt down in front of me.

“I… like how Yurasia did it, cross-legged…? I can’t focus in that position, though.”

“Doesn’t matter. Sit however you’re most comfortable.”

“Okay… Then I’ll do it like this.”

“Let’s start with this one.”

“Mine isn’t a pill like hers, it’s more like a potion? What’s this one called?”

“Purifying Essence.”

Stella furrowed her brows.

“That sounds hard to remember.”

“You don’t need to know the meaning. Just remember it flushes impurities and toxins from your body.”

Purifying Essence. It means to regain the clarity and purity as if soaring through the sky.

The explanation sounds grand, but the effect is simple.

It’s an elixir that expels all the impurities from your body.

Yurasia doesn’t need anything like that.

She’s trained her Mana since she was young, and when I checked, there were barely any impurities in her body.

And Pina? She definitely doesn’t need it either.

As someone in touch with spirits, her body literally can’t accumulate that stuff.

Me? Of course I don’t have any, either.

But Stella is different.

Even if she learned magic from the Marquis of Verheigen family as a child, after that she studied on her own.

On top of that, she barely exercised and spent almost all her time in Gevihenum, so she probably has a ton of impurities.

“But I still have to know the name so I can brag about it later.”

“If you brag about taking this, people will try to cut you open to get what’s left in your belly, you know?”

“Gasp… It’s that rare?”

“It’s that rare.”

By now, there’s probably only one bottle left in the world.

Well… maybe you could find more if you searched, but who knows.

As far as I know, every elf capable of making Purifying Essence is extinct. So it’s probably impossible to find more.

I turned my gaze from the thoroughly terrified Stella.

“Yurasia… can’t move. Pina, can you go over there and fill up a bucket with water, and bring three, no, five big towels?”

The moment I said that, Pina got up, while Stella tilted her head.

“Why do we need those?”

“Well, that’s… hmm.”

I started to explain, but shut my mouth.

Why we needed wet towels was simple.

All the impurities in her body would be flushed out… so we needed them to wipe it all away.

Did I really need to explain that? If I told her, she might freak out and mess up.

“Just to wipe off some sweat.”

“Are you sure?”

“Just close your mouth and drink. Don’t gulp it all at once, split it into five sips. And while you’re drinking, don’t resist my Mana, just accept it.”

“Suspicious… but okay.”

Looking a bit put out, Stella opened the bottle of Purifying Essence and took a sip, then another.

She slowly drank it in portions.

When she’d taken her third sip, I sent my Mana into her body.

At first, she resisted on instinct, but it didn’t last long. Impurities started flowing out of Stella’s body.

One hour later.

When the purification was over, 

“Hic, huuuh… huuuuaaaang… I can’t… I just want to die. I can’t live like this! What is all this… it’s so humiliating… waaaah!”

Stella bawled her eyes out, showing us all the impurities that had come out of her body.