Chapter 12: Apothecary Emma
The morning after the house was completed, on a beautifully clear day.
Lydia sat at a work desk in a bright small room on the first floor.
Test tubes, flasks, pharmaceutical tools, and medicinal herbs were neatly arranged on the desk.
She held her magic staff and quietly chanted.
“âLevitation.â”
The leaves used as medicinal ingredients floated gently into the air.
Using fire magic and wind magic, she dried the leaves and ground them into powder.
She placed the powder into a sphere of water created with water magic and spun it slowly in midair.
Then she poured the completed green liquid into a bottle.
She sealed it and held it up to the light.
“Yes, perfect.”
Leohart, who had been watching from behind, let out an impressed sound.
“Thatâs remarkable. No wonder elven medicine is said to be so potent.”
“Is it different for humans?”
“Iâve seen it a few times, but they usually just light a fire and make it. I donât think they use much magic.”
Incidentally, today was the day they would go to the adventurersâ guild.
She planned to have the quality of the medicine checked before supplying it.
When she consulted Leohart, he suggested that elven recovery potions might be too effective, and that it would be better to bring lower-grade recovery potions first.
Lydia tilted her head.
Even in the Elven Kingdom, she had often been asked to make recovery potions, but she had mostly made high-grade or special-grade ones.
“Wouldnât it be strange if I brought something as low as a lower-grade potion?”
“If that happens, we can always make more and bring them later.”
Though she was not entirely convinced, she decided to trust Leohart and proceeded to make lower-grade recovery potions for now.
After putting the recovery potions into her favorite leather bag that she had recently bought, Lydia began preparing to go out.
She went to her bedroom on the second floor, opened the green wardrobe, and took out a flower-patterned dress that looked human-like.
After changing and standing in front of the mirror, she muttered softly.
“For this outfit, maybe honey-colored would be better.”
With a light flick of her magic staff, her platinum-blonde hair changed to a honey color.
Her blue eyes turned green, and her slightly pointed ears transformed into small, rounded human ears.
“Now I look human no matter how you look at me.”
Lydia spun happily in front of the mirror.
Picking up her leather bag, she went down the stairs with light steps.
Leohart was waiting downstairs.
He was wearing adventurer-like clothing, a cloak draped over his shoulders, and a sword at his waist.
Combined with his naturally handsome looks, he appeared very dashing.
He widened his eyes when he saw Lydia.
“Iâm surprised. Your hair and ears, is that magic?”
“Yes, it is. It wonât last very long, but I thought it would help me blend in.”
She spun lightly in front of him and asked how it looked, and Leohart covered his forehead with one hand and began to tremble.
“âŚPerfect.”
“Really?”
“Yes. It makes me want to skip the adventurersâ guild and go somewhere else with you instead.”
Lydia laughed softly.
“You look handsome too, Leohart. I bet the girls adore you.”
When Lydia praised him like that, Leohart suddenly turned serious.
“When youâre here, Lydia, thereâs no way I could notice other women.”
“Hehe, thank you. That makes me happy.”
When Lydia thanked him honestly, Leohart gave an awkward, wry smile.
Then the two locked the house and started walking toward town.
After leaving the forest, a stone-paved road stretched ahead, with more and more houses and shops appearing.
When they reached the main street, passersby looked at the two of them in surprise.
Some men stopped without thinking, while some women flushed red.
Lydia was impressed.
âMy goodness, Leohart really is popular.â
Thinking how handsome he was, she looked up at him, only to find him wearing a slightly irritated expression.
She heard him mutter something like, “Thatâs why I didnât want this.”
âSo he doesnât like being popular, then.â
While thinking that, they continued walking, and a large building came into view ahead.
A sign reading âAdventurersâ Guildâ hung above it.
“Itâs quite large.”
“Yes. It seems thereâs a dining hall and shops inside as well.”
After Leohart opened the heavy wooden door for her and they stepped inside, they found themselves in a vast open space.
Tables and counters were lined up, and many people in armor carrying weapons were present.
âSo big.â
As Lydia stood there in a daze, a young man in armor casually glanced at her.
He widened his eyes and froze as if struck by lightning.
“Hey, whatâs wrong all of a sudden?”
The other men he had been talking with followed his gaze to Lydia and reacted with the same astonishment.
Lydia hurriedly checked her hair color.
She wondered if the magic had worn off, but it was still honey-colored.
She checked her ears as well, and the magic was still in effect.
As she wondered what was going on, Leohart silently stepped in front of her.
Seeing Leohartâs expression, the men who had been staring quickly looked away.
“Whatâs wrong?”
When Lydia asked, Leohart turned back to her with a smile.
“Itâs nothing. I just made them understand a little.”
“âŚIs that so?”
Following Leohart to the counter, they were greeted by a pleasant-looking woman with a smile.
“Welcome to the adventurersâ guild. Weâve heard about you from the town office.”
She then called out toward the back, “Emma!”
A young woman in a white coat came out.
She had dark brown hair and eyes and wore round glasses with thick lenses.
“This is Lydia, an apothecary. Could you take a look at her medicine?”
“Sure! I understand!”
Emma bowed politely to Lydia.
“Iâm Emma, one of the guildâs apothecaries. Nice to meet you!”
“Iâm Lydia. Itâs a pleasure to meet you.”
Lydia hurriedly bowed back.
Then, seeing Leohart off, she followed Emma deeper inside.
The back area was a wooden corridor with doors lining both sides.
Emma opened the door at the very end and said, “Please come in!”
Inside was surprisingly spacious but cluttered, with worktables and shelves packed tightly with bottles.
Lydia looked at the bottles filled with medicinal herbs on the shelves.
âI see herbs Iâve never seen before.â
As she examined them with excitement, Emma took out something like a large thermometer from a drawer and placed it on the desk.
“Lydia, did you bring the medicine?”
“Yes. Here it is.”
Lydia took out the recovery potions she had made and gently placed them on the desk.
Emma said, “Excuse me,” lifted one bottle, and held it up to the window.
“It looks very well made. Letâs measure its effectiveness.”
According to Emma, the thermometer-like device was a magical tool called an âeffect meter,â used to measure the potency of recovery potions.
Looking closely, the scale was labeled “Lower,” “Middle,” “Upper,” and “Special.”
âOh, Iâve never seen this before.â
Thinking how useful it looked, Lydia watched as Emma carefully opened the bottle.
She tilted it slightly and dripped a few drops of the potion onto the tip of the effect meter.
The device glowed faintly, and the bar slowly began changing color from the bottom upward.
Emma spoke excitedly.
“Oh, itâs already passed lower-grade. This might be middle-grade.”
“I see.”
Watching the bar change slowly, Lydia felt relieved.
She was glad she had listened to Leohart and brought lower-grade potions.
âSo this is what they mean when they say elven medicine is more potent.â
Perhaps it was about one level stronger than what humans usually made.
However, the color continued to rise even after passing the middle-grade mark.
“Amazing. It might even reach upper-grade.”
Emma said cheerfully at first, but gradually fell silent.
As the bar continued rising past the upper-grade mark, Lydia began to feel uneasy.
What exactly was going to happen?
Then, in the silence, the bar finally stopped changing.
“Uh, s-special-grade?”
Emmaâs stunned voice echoed through the room.