Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 169: Look Forward to the Icehouse!
The next morning, just like the day before, I saw Brother Alex off before heading to the royal castle. He had repeatedly told me, until his mouth might as well have gone sour, to behave myself.
For the record, I was always behaving myself. Trouble was the one that came strolling towards me with a leek on its back. None of this was my fault.
“I wish everyone would just keep quiet.”
“That won’t do, Young Master Julius. Our employer is the Margrave, and at present Lord Alex is the one commanding this townhouse.”
“Hmm. No plans to come under my command instead?”
The servant shook his head. Apparently not. I felt rejected.
While I was nursing that slight disappointment, the royal carriage arrived at the gate. Just like yesterday, the country’s crest was proudly displayed across the front.
At this rate, rumours were inevitable. A royal carriage was visiting the House Heine townhouse every single day. Was that really all right? Father and Brother Alex were going to end up clutching their heads. I didn’t think it was my fault. Probably.
The carriage rattled along the road towards the royal castle. The reason the song ‘Dona Dona’ didn’t immediately start playing in my head was probably because there was at least a faint ray of hope waiting at the place I was being carried to.
After all, I could make the magic potions I loved. I couldn’t work completely freely yet, but once I’d taught the Royal Magic Pharmacists enough, that should become possible. My dreams were expanding by the minute.
Just like yesterday, the carriage entered the royal castle without any particular inspection. What would happen if I actually tried to bring something dangerous inside? I preferred to believe they simply trusted me that much.
I had swordsmanship practice today, but of course I hadn’t brought my own sword. Weapons were forbidden inside the royal castle, even for high-ranking nobles. Only knights were permitted to carry them.
There were already people waiting at the carriage stop. Five today. Knights and mages nearby watched with puzzled expressions. It was only a matter of time before rumours about me spread through the entire castle. I needed to stop this before then.
“Good morning.”
“Good morning, Julius-sensei!”
I somehow prevented my face from twitching and forced it into a smile. Smile, smile. I didn’t want a rumour spreading that I was scolding the Royal Magic Pharmacists.
“Lord Giovanni, I know the route now, and I have servants with me. You don’t need to meet me in the morning.”
“But everyone wants to come. All fifteen of us were going to come today, but we realised that would be too conspicuous, so with tears in our hearts we drew lots and limited the greeting party to five.”
Yes. I recognised the effort. I did. But something was still wrong here. If all fifteen had shown up, it would have caused an uproar. And if that happened, the servant would write it in his notebook.
Ah. He was writing this down right now.
“It’s fine. I can reach the headquarters by myself, so from now on you don’t need to greet me.”
“Nooo…”
The Royal Magic Pharmacists looked heartbroken, but I returned their disappointment with a firm refusal. I couldn’t spoil them here. If I did, my presence—and the rumours surrounding it—would only grow larger. I had to stop things at this point.
“Then today we’ll begin making the Advanced Healing Potion. From what I saw yesterday, the ingredient quality isn’t very good, so we won’t be able to make a high-quality result. But you can still learn the proper method.”
“Understood! Julius-sensei, we look forward to learning from you today!”
Everyone answered in perfect unison.
Ah. The servant was writing in the notebook again. I probably couldn’t explain this away anymore.
Apparently the method I taught for the Advanced Healing Potion was revolutionary enough to make the scales fall from everyone’s eyes.
“Julius-sensei, is it truly all right for you to teach us such a secret technique?”
“It’s not a secret technique. This is normal, all right?”
“This is normal… As expected of Lady Margaret. She truly was the disciple of the world’s greatest magic pharmacist.”
So Grandmother really had studied under someone incredible? Well, yes, maybe that did make sense. The magic-potion book I’d inherited from her was obviously strange. Even accounting for scribbled additions, some of the writing used characters from a different era. Where had Grandmother’s teacher obtained it?
The mystery only deepened, and nobody alive probably knew the truth anymore. I wished I’d asked Grandmother more about it while I had the chance.
“Unless the quality of both the Advanced Healing Potion and the Strong Antidote improves, the Panacea made from them won’t improve either. This is an essential technique if you want to make a proper Panacea.”
“And yet you teach it to us so generously. Julius-sensei, we’ll never allow this secret technique to leave this room.”
Giovanni and everyone else nodded with grave expressions.
Honestly, I didn’t care if the method itself spread. Once I came of age and became a full-fledged magic pharmacist, I intended to publish it anyway. That would only move the schedule forward. In fact, having the Royal Magic Pharmacists spread it might even be faster.
But asking them to do that was probably a bad idea. They would hate the thought of revealing their ‘secret technique,’ and they would absolutely spread my name along with it. A child who hadn’t even come of age revolutionising magic-pharmacology methods? Dangerously dangerous!
“I think a certain amount of information leakage is unavoidable. But please keep the fact that I taught you confidential. If that secret gets out, my life itself could be targeted.”
“That’s certainly true.”
“We can’t speak of this. Should we form a blood pact?”
“Don’t.”
Oh no. I’d said something I shouldn’t have. Forming a blood pact with me would put them one step away from becoming my slaves. And hey, don’t write that line in the notebook either.
I decided that continuing this conversation was dangerous and forcibly changed the subject to the icehouse.
“By the way, I drew the plans for the icehouse we discussed. I’d like to hear everyone’s opinions.”
“You drew the icehouse plans?”
“In one day?”
The Royal Magic Pharmacists looked at one another. Maybe they hadn’t actually believed I would bring finished plans. But this needed to be dealt with quickly. A mere refrigerator was almost pointless for what they were storing.
I spread the plans across the table. Nobody answered. They seemed stunned into silence.
Maybe making a true icehouse really was a bad idea after all.
But honestly, revealing the long-term storage box would be much worse. Forget ancient technology; that thing used principles that didn’t originally exist in this world at all. It wasn’t merely an OOPArt. It was beyond OOPArt level.
Am I the only one thinking some servants need to learn the should be more afraid of the alchemist in the family than the lord… personally I would make everyone in the house have a severe case of diarrhea wi some kind of potion so they learn the consequences of their actions…
Personally you might do that – but the story is being written by a Japanese person, as his self-insert wish-fulfillment story, and obviously he has about as much strength of will and character as a torn, wet paper bag. I get frustrated at how Julius just rolls over and accepts that he is going to be fussed at and blamed because other people – namely adults – are doing things that he can’t stop or has no control over. Or, the way his brothers act like he did something bad when they are the ones who asked him to fix, make, or do the thing that happened – like the Lake Spirit situation. Julius didn’t say anything, it was Cain who turned to him and said, “is there anything you can do to help?” Like it’s Julius’s fault Cain opened his fat mouth and pushed Julius to forefront.