Chapter 176: Gold Pass

　Breakfast time ended while we continued to talk about some of our plans for the day. Finally, I asked him about something I had been wondering about.

“Dear brother, how is brother Cain doing?”

“Ah, Cain. He seems to be doing well. I don’t know why, but it seems like he’s trying to increase the number of swordsmanship tournaments from once a year to two or three times next year. He is trying to get support from the members of the swordsmanship club.”

“I see”

“Julius, do you have any idea what Cain is doing?”

　Oh, it’s his usual smiling but not smiling face. What do I do?　Should I be honest here? I’m sure that eventually Brother Cain will say, “Julius told me,” so let’s talk about it first.

“Actually, brother ……”

　I told him what had happened. I didn’t mean to agitate Brother Cain. I also told him that I was just trying to get him a little bit more focused for the future, since he hadn’t shown any interest in the student council. I don’t know if he got the message though.

“I see. I’m grateful that Cain has become interested in the student council as well as martial arts, but when I heard the reason for that, I started to feel a little worried about the future. Well, I won’t be at the school then, so I guess I can say it doesn’t really matter what happens.”

　I began to think hmmm. Perhaps he is concerned that the academy will become a martial arts academy. And apparently that would be a problem. In that case, we have no choice but to form a rival faction.

“Maybe you should start supporting the academic, magic, and artistic factions from now on.”

“Yes, that’s right. I know, but how could you come up with such a thing?”

“Huh? That’s because I’ve also heard stories from friends, and I’m getting a lot of insight.”

　I laughed hahaha. Maybe it was a bad idea? It is strange for a child who didn’t even attend school to care about cliques.

　My older brother, who had been staring at us me, said something to the servant as if he had remembered something. The servant immediately brought a single golden card.

“Julius, you have received the entry permit to the royal castle that I was telling you about the other day. Here is the entry permit. If you show it, you will be able to enter the castle without any formalities. It is very important, so don’t lose it.”

“How important is it?”

“Well, apart from you, the only people who have it are the royal family.”

　I don’t like that. I want to give it back now. But without it, a carriage with the national emblem will come here. I want to do something about that before it becomes anymore rumors spread.

“I humbly ask that you keep it in your possession.”

“Also, with it, you’ll have access to all the facilities in the castle, so use it wisely.”

“Yes, sir.”

　I don’t know what’s going on here.

　The gold pass was very effective. I went to the castle gate in the Margrave Heine family carriage and headed to the reception area reserved for high-ranking nobles. I show them the Gold Pass. The guard is surprised. I pass right through. It was very fast. It did attract some attention, though.

　Next time, instead of entering the castle right away, I will take my time and act like my belongings were being inspected.

　I stopped the carriage at a stop and headed for the royal Magic Potion Division’s station. There was no one to pick me up because I had told them firmly yesterday. However, there were concerned eyes staring at me.

　If this is the case, it might be better to have someone come and pick me up. I will ask one of them to do so. I am sure there will be a dispute over who should pick me up.

　As we talked about yesterday, the next few months will be a training period for making magic potions. I will be able to make magic potions more or less freely because of this. Since there seems to be a cold going around, I might as well make a cold remedy.　If I make a very sweet medicine with syrup, children will be happy to drink it.

“What would you like to do today, Julius-sensei?”

“I suggest checking the process while making the basic recovery potion, and if we have time, try making the antidote. Both are good magic potions to have.”

　Everyone seemed to be convinced and started working together. I’m going to make the magic potion while I’m also paying attention to how everyone else is doing.

　Cold remedies can be made from medicinal herbs and antiseptic herbs. It is similar in construction to the antidote, but both materials can be made in small quantities. I’m thinking of adding honey or syrup to it.

　I really wanted to add royal jelly to the mixture for a nourishing tonic, but unfortunately royal jelly is not known to exist. Maybe I should go looking for it in the spring.　It might be in a killer bee nest or something.

　As I was smoothly making cold medicine, a thought occurred to me. Pneumonia has symptoms similar to the common cold. If the children contract pneumonia, it could be life-threatening. Shouldn’t I make a magic potion that works well against pneumonia as well?

　For that, I need poisonous moth scales. I wonder if I can find it in the icehouse-like material storage room.

“I’m off to the icehouse.”

“Julius-sensei?　If there are any materials you need, I’ll get them for you.”

“No, that’s all right. Everyone, please continue to practice hard. Even though you are getting used to it, don’t neglect each and every task. Always give your full attention to what is in front of you.”

“Yes.”

　That’s it. It’s best not to get used to it and unwittingly start to cut corners, because you’ll never figure out what went wrong. I made a quick tour of the mixing room just to be sure, and then headed for the ice room.

　The servants have been following me closely, so I’m not alone. It seems that the servant who is with me is not an ordinary person. I think he’s probably a ninja.

“it’s julius-sama. Are you using the ice room?” 

“Yes. Let me take a look inside.”

“Of course. I’ll turn on the light.”

　The soldier in charge of the access to the ice room turned on the light. A slightly cold wind was coming from the other side of the open door. Yeah, I still think this ice room is a bad idea. It has to be cold. It’s useless if it’s not about the temperature of “Wow, that’s cold!”.

　The soldier controlling access to Himuro turned on the light. A slightly cold breeze comes from the other side of the open door. Yeah, I think this Himuro is bad after all. It doesn’t mean much unless the temperature is like, “Wow, that’s cold!”

　Moving around in the icehouse, I checked the ingredients. Come to think of it, I have never asked what kind of materials are in here. I think there’s someone keeping track of it. If so, it would be bad to take anything out without permission. I’ll ask them later.

　As we had talked about yesterday, they did indeed have enough material for two more rounds of the panacea. The quality of the materials is lousy, but it’s much better than nothing. I’d like to switch to better materials for the advanced recovery potion and the strong antidote one of these days. That should make the magic potion much easier to drink.

　Hmmm, there are some materials I don’t understand. Kappa hands?　What in the world is this used for? Oh, there is a shell of an aardvark. Did they exist?

　Despite these discoveries, I found the poisonous moth scales I was looking for and returned to the mixing room.

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