Chapter 1: The Small Apothecary

This is an isekai fantasy.

Thank you for your support.

There was a continent in a certain world.

At the center of the continent lay a forest filled with miasma, called the “Great Forest,” where monsters and demonkind lived, and the miasma overflowing from that forest, also known as magical essence, spread throughout the entire continent.

Under the influence of that magical essence, various beings were born, such as humans who could use magic, beastfolk, demonkind, and spirits.

Some increased their numbers, some took lives, and some were hidden… so they would not be taken.

At some point, caves inhabited by monsters began appearing all over the continent.

When monsters in those caves were defeated, their bodies would disappear, leaving behind items unique to them.

People came to call these monster-filled caves “dungeons,” and began venturing into them to hunt for rare and valuable items.

To the west of the Great Forest lay a country called the Rich Kingdom.

To the north were steep mountains inhabited by wyverns, while fertile lands stretched out to the west and south.

Beyond those fertile lands, to the west was a country whose territory extended all the way to the sea, and to the south was a nation known as the Forest Country.

The Rich Kingdom and its neighboring nations were less concerned with their relationships with one another and more troubled by dealing with the monsters spilling out from the dungeons.

The royal capital of the Rich Kingdom was called Royal Capital Rich, after the nation itself, and in one of its back alleys stood a small apothecary.

“Teo! If you don’t wake up soon, the stew will get cold!”

Teo always wakes up late, but since he went out drinking until late yesterday, he might not get up until around noon.

I guess I’ll be minding the shop this morning.

Teo is my guardian.

He has spiky brown hair and golden eyes.

His features are sharp, so I think he’s handsome.

Teo is an alchemist, but since he’s tall and well-built, he doesn’t look like one at all, and instead looks more like a carpenter or a blacksmith, a former adventurer.

I’m Alice, nine years old.

My mother left me, a baby at the time, with Teo, her former party member, and then disappeared.

I don’t even know if she’s alive or dead…

Since Teo never says anything, I guess… yeah.

To raise me, Teo quit being an adventurer and started a small apothecary called “Teo’s Apothecary.”

Normally, he would have taken me to an orphanage, though.

Ah, Teo’s awake.

“Good morning. Alice, I need to talk to you…”

Teo came down from the second floor and sat at the kitchen table with a serious expression… his hair was all messy.

Teo, you’re ruining your handsome looks, you know?

“Good morning. What’s the talk about?”

“Alice, you’ll be turning ten soon, right? Once your birthday comes, I’ll leave this shop to you, so you can do whatever you want with it.”

“Whaaat?! Teo, what’s going on?”

Teo suddenly said something shocking.

My tenth birthday will come in autumn, but still…

“You’ve already learned how to make all the medicines we sell in the shop, so there shouldn’t be any problem, right? I’ve got something I want to do.”

Yeah.

Teo taught me how to make all the medicines we sell in the shop.

Healing salves, potions, antidotes, and even medicine for paralysis.

Just being able to make potions is enough to make a living.

Hehe, Teo is both my guardian and my alchemy teacher.

Alchemy books are difficult, so I had to learn a lot of letters, and even when I’m minding the shop, he praises me when I explain medicines to customers.

“I can make medicines, but… what is it you want to do? Ah! Could it be you got a girlfriend? Teo, as long as she’s not weird, I’ll support you, so you should get married!”

When I smiled brightly at him,

“Alice, don’t get the wrong idea! You’ve started saying some pretty mature things lately. You’ve even started to resemble Sayuri…”

Teo looked at me with gentle eyes.

Sayuri…

Am I starting to look like my mother?

You see, it must have been hard for Teo to raise me, right?

I think it’s about time he got married.

Teo is almost thirty!

He spent his twenties raising me…

Well, he’s handsome, so I’m sure he had girlfriends, though.

“Teo, so I’m wrong? Then when you do get a girlfriend, let me meet her, okay? Hehe.”

“Yeah, yeah, got it. Alice, I’m going back to being an adventurer.”

“Huh, so you’re going back to being an adventurer…”

I want Teo to do what he likes, so I won’t oppose it.

I mean… I’m already the one running the shop most of the time anyway.

“I’ll take care of the shop, but Teo, don’t get hurt, okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll just start by getting back into it. Don’t worry, I’m strong!”

Really?

This is the first time I’ve heard that Teo was a strong adventurer.

“Well then, Alice, I’m heading out. I’ll be back at night, but close the shop by evening!”

“Okaaay. Teo, take care!”

We open the shop around nine in the morning, take a lunch break, and close around three in the afternoon.

When Teo is around, we keep it open until evening, though.

Since it’s a small apothecary in a back alley, most of our customers are regulars from the neighborhood.

Clack, jingle jingle.

“Welcome!”

“Good morning, Alice. Watching the shop again today? You’re such a good girl.”

“Good morning, Natalie. Teo is going back to being an adventurer, so I’ll be running the shop from now on. Hehe.”

When I said that with a smile,

“What?! Teo is leaving a shop to such a small child? What is he thinking?!”

“Hehe, it’s fine. Natalie, are you here for your husband’s pain relief potion again today?”

“Yeah, that’s right. Even dungeon-made potions only last two weeks, but the ones from here last a month. Lately, my husband says they’re lasting even longer. Alice, I’ll take one of the usual potions.”

I took the empty bottle from Natalie and grabbed a homemade potion from the shelf behind the counter, placing it into a bag.

“Here you go, Natalie. That will be three silver coins.”

Potions made through alchemy vary in effectiveness depending on the maker and the ingredients, so the price is set by the maker.

The minimum selling price is three silver coins, and the usual market price ranges from three to seven silver coins.

However, you can’t sell them unless you’re registered with the Merchant Guild, and of course, Teo, as an alchemist, is registered.

The homemade potions sold at this shop, “Teo’s Apothecary,” cost three silver coins and three copper coins.

If customers bring their own empty bottle, we discount the bottle cost, making it three silver coins.

Dungeon-made potions have stable effects and cost four silver coins wholesale from the Merchant Guild.

They are sold in shops for five silver coins, so the profit for the apothecary is one silver coin.

Considering the effectiveness, we could sell ours at the same price as dungeon-made ones, but since they’re made by a nine-year-old child…

For now, we’ll keep the price as it is.

Of course, we also stock dungeon-made potions.

With one silver coin, you can buy ten round breads that cost one copper coin each.

Ten silver coins make one gold coin, and one hundred gold coins are equal in value to a platinum coin, though I’ve never seen one.

“Alice, do your best. If I see Teo, I’ll give him a piece of my mind!”

“Ahaha! Thank you, Natalie!”

Natalie’s husband suffered a serious injury when he was young, and at the time, they didn’t have the money to heal it with potions.

Even now, the pain remains, and he uses potions to suppress it while working.

Potions cannot heal old wounds, they only suppress the pain.

So when the effect of the potion wears off, the pain returns.

If you drink a potion immediately after getting injured, most injuries can be restored to normal, but injuries that weren’t fully healed by potions, or wounds and pain that have had time to settle, cannot be completely erased.

They can be healed at a church by a saint, but apparently, it requires an outrageous donation.

In the evening, I close the shop early, make dinner, and eat first.

Of course, I also prepare Teo’s portion and place it in a wooden box.

This wooden box is a magical tool big enough to hold two plates, a masterpiece that Teo and I came up with together.

We used a magic circle and a magic stone on the lid to create a cold breeze.

It works by channeling magic into the lid to activate it, and with this box, food won’t spoil for two to three days even in summer.

Hehe, isn’t that amazing?

As I was about to head upstairs to my room, I heard the sound of the back door in the kitchen opening.

Teo’s back!

“Welcome back!”

“I’m home. Alice, you’re still awake?”

“Yeah. I was just about to go to bed. Teo, do you want dinner?”

“Yeah, I’ll eat! Alice, here’s a souvenir.”

Saying that, Teo laid out a pile of medicinal herbs used as ingredients for potions.

This makes me so happy!

Children without identification aren’t allowed to leave the city, as the guards at the gate will stop them.

Once I turn twelve and register with the Adventurers Guild, I’ll get an adventurer card, so I’ll be able to go gather herbs by myself.

“Wow! Thank you, Teo!”

“Yeah!”