Kays Translations

Chapter 166: Julius-sensei’s Helpful Lessons

I thoroughly inspected the inside of the icehouse—or rather, the refrigerator. As expected of the royal castle, it contained plenty of rare ingredients! Unfortunately, almost all of them were of the lowest quality.

I desperately fought back the urge to scream, “This is basically rubbish!”

When I returned to the townhouse, I might have to dig a deep hole and scream into it. There was no other way I could endure this waste.

Still feeling miserable, I returned to the compounding room. A respectable amount of distilled water had already been prepared. So the equipment itself was perfectly functional. Why hadn’t anyone been using it? I wanted to sit them down and question them about that for a solid hour.

“You’ve prepared enough distilled water. Thank you. This is quite good-quality water.”

“Thank you very much!”

I wasn’t lying. Appraisal judged it high quality. Still, that was strange. I’d expected the equipment to produce top-quality distilled water. Had their technique fallen that far? No, they had probably barely ever made distilled water before. In that case, this was understandable. I would look forward to their improvement.

“Then let’s make Elementary Healing Potions. Everyone, take one medicinal herb.”

My fifteen disciples each picked up a herb. Ah, Lord Giovanni was joining in too. His eyes were sparkling as if he were asking, ‘What are we going to do now?’

“First, dry the medicinal herb until it’s completely crisp. All of you can use fire magic, correct?”

And so Julius-sensei’s magic-pharmacology lesson began. This was the first time I’d taught anyone since Lady Fabienne. I wondered how she was doing. Being here was making me want to see her again.

I taught them carefully from the drying stage all the way through extraction. Naturally, I demonstrated every step first so nobody would do anything strange.

They had earned their positions as Royal Magic Pharmacists for good reason. Their magic control and compounding skills were excellent. Once I showed them the trick, they absorbed it like water poured onto parched earth.

“Th-this is a true Elementary Healing Potion…”

“Then what in the world have we been making all this time? Don’t tell me it was rubbish!”

Freshly completed, beautifully clear green potions were lined up before them. Everyone stared at the bottles like children who had just discovered a new toy.

“You all did very well. Now, let’s actually drink them.”

“Whaaat?! W-we have to drink them?”

“Are you certain, Julius-sensei?!”

Their panic made it painfully obvious that they knew exactly how awful the potions they normally produced tasted. And they’d been making patients drink those things with straight faces. How sinful.

“It’s fine. I guarantee the quality and the taste.”

I gave them my most reassuring smile, but everyone only smiled awkwardly back. Did they think I was lying? I wasn’t. The potion was simply tasteless and odourless. I had deliberately avoided sweetening it because I didn’t want anyone getting addicted to drinking medicine for fun.

They opened their bottles nervously and drank with their eyes squeezed shut. A moment later, every eye snapped open. Everyone looked left and right at everyone else with exactly the same expression, and I burst out laughing.

“Julius-sensei, you don’t have to laugh at us.”

“Sorry, sorry. But now you understand, don’t you? The old method really was wrong.”

“Indeed,” Giovanni said. “After the goddesses’ blessing disappeared, we believed that proper-quality magic potions could never be made again.”

Everyone around him nodded in agreement.

Come to think of it, the cathedral story said the goddesses had been defeated by the Demon King. Had that caused magic-potion quality to decline?

But I’d met a goddess myself. Maybe the goddess I’d met was responsible for magic potions, while the other goddess had been responsible for healing magic. If that second goddess had disappeared, perhaps that was why healing magic had vanished from this world. It would also explain why I’d met only one of the two.

“Lord Julius, is something the matter?”

“Hm? No, I was just thinking. As you’ve seen today, if you follow the proper procedure, you can make magic potions of reliable quality. So don’t give up. Keep researching.”

“You’re absolutely right, Lord Julius. We’re deeply impressed.”

With that, every Royal Magic Pharmacist in the room dropped to one knee and bowed their head.

Oh, this was bad. If anyone else saw fifteen royal professionals kneeling before a ten-year-old child, there was no telling what sort of rumours would be born.

“Young Master Julius, it’s almost time for lun—p-please excuse me!”

Bang.

The door slammed shut.

The worst possible timing. Why did our servant have to come for me at exactly the worst moment? Was this fate? Was this the power of destiny at work?

I immediately declared the day’s lesson over and chased after him to silence the misunderstanding.

“Wait! You’ve misunderstood!”

I ate lunch in the dining hall for general palace visitors that Brother Alex had shown me. There were several other nobles nearby, though I was the only child sitting there alone.

The food was about the same standard as lunch at the townhouse: soft bread, golden soup, a fresh salad, and roast beef. It was frustrating to have to concentrate on table manners. If I could have eaten however I liked, it would have been much more enjoyable.

“Forget what you saw earlier.”

“But, Young Master Julius… I was instructed to report everything to the Margrave and Lord Alex if anything happens.”

“Nothing happened. That was an illusion. All right?”

“Er…”

He wasn’t convinced at all. This was hopeless. Brother Alex was definitely getting a report.

Still, it was only one out. If I behaved from now on, maybe I’d escape with nothing worse than a lecture.

That afternoon was just exercise at the training ground. Surely nothing troublesome could happen there. Probably.

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