Kays Translations

Chapter 87: What I Can Do Now

Five days after leaving the royal capital, we returned safely to the territorial capital. Unlike the journey out, the trip home passed without incident.

The knights welcomed us at the mansion.

“Welcome back, Lord Julius!”

“Welcome home!”

“I’m glad to be back. Did anything happen while we were away?”

“Nothing of concern, my lord.”

I had been absent for roughly half a month, yet the household and territory had continued smoothly. That was reassuring.

After the luggage was unloaded and I had rested, I summoned Lionel. We needed to compare what each of us knew.

I asked Rosalia to show Mira around the mansion. Since Mira understood human speech, they should learn where they were and weren’t permitted to go.

It also prevented them from hearing a conversation that might worry them.

“Lionel, did you know Grandmother left me something?”

“A gift? No, my lord. I heard nothing about it.”

Father evidently intended to keep the recipe book secret for as long as possible.

“Did you tell him about the Panacea?”

“Yes. He was extremely surprised, but after Lady Margaret’s death, he agreed that the matter must remain confidential.”

Perhaps Father hadn’t originally intended to give me the book immediately. He might have planned to wait for an appropriate moment.

Then Lionel told him I had made a Panacea.

Father could hardly believe I had produced it by combining random ingredients. He must have concluded that Grandmother had taught me privately, and that my improved potions were the result of her instruction.

That would mean she had already judged me capable.

Perhaps that was why Father quickly entrusted her treasured book to me and quietly accepted my potion-making.

Lionel was trustworthy. I could tell him enough to gain his help.

“Grandmother left me the potion book she compiled over her lifetime. Surely that means she recognised me as her successor.”

“I believe so.”

“Then I may use her compounding room, correct?”

“I… suppose so.”

Lionel sounded wary. What did he imagine I was planning?

“The equipment in the annex is newer than the apparatus in the main building. I want to move the entire set into Grandmother’s main compounding room. I’ll need help.”

“Only the equipment? Yes, that can be arranged.”

He looked relieved.

I also wanted the locked boxes containing her remaining ingredients. The materials were in poor condition, but the boxes themselves were excellent. With added magic circles, they could become proper long-term storage containers.

Lionel began the move the next morning. The unusable equipment in the main building was discarded and replaced, while anything serviceable was retained.

Eventually, more people might work in this room. Distilled water, in particular, was used so often that I wanted someone to keep a constant supply prepared.

While the servants and knights moved the apparatus, I improved the storage boxes. Rosalia repeatedly came to watch because she assumed I was making a new magic tool. Mira followed me everywhere, eager to participate. They were both adorable and slowed my work considerably.

“Big brother, would food remain fresh for a long time in these boxes?”

“Possibly, but prepared meals would require carefully controlled temperature as well.”

Long-term storage depended on temperature, humidity, air pressure, and an airtight seal. If I controlled all of them, most potion ingredients could retain their quality for much longer.

My earlier storage boxes hadn’t been airtight enough for truly long periods. That hadn’t mattered when I used ingredients quickly, but rare materials might remain unused for months or years.

Grandmother’s precisely fitted metal boxes were ideal foundations.

“Lord Julius,” Lionel said later, “the equipment has been installed. What should we do next?”

“That’s what I wanted to discuss. Grandmother didn’t maintain a medicinal herb garden, did she?”

“Not to my knowledge. I believe she purchased all her ingredients through the Magic Pharmacists’ Guild.”

I couldn’t safely do the same. A child buying specialist potion ingredients would attract attention. If a licensed magic pharmacist served among our household staff, that person could order them, but no such employee existed.

I would have to cultivate them myself.

“I want to expand my medicinal herb garden. May I use the greenhouse Grandfather and Grandmother once maintained?”

House Heine possessed a magnificent greenhouse. According to the household records, the Crown had provided it when Grandmother was welcomed into the kingdom as a high-ranking magic pharmacist.

The intention must have been for her to cultivate valuable potion ingredients there. Yet she eventually used it only for flowers and ordinary plants.

What had happened in Grandmother’s past?

I could no longer ask her. Perhaps Father knew something. I would question him when he returned.

Previous chapter | TOC | Next chapter