Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 181: Shocking Pink
“What? It’s only a cold? Don’t scare me like that. So there are fewer children than when I came last time because some of them are sick?”
“Yes. I didn’t want them to pass it on to you, Lord Julius, so I told any children I suspected of being ill to stay in their rooms.”
I see. My visit had put the children in an awkward position. Sorry about that.
But they didn’t need to worry anymore. I was here—the magic pharmacist.
“I brought something along just in case something like this happened. Please bring the box.”
At my signal, the servant bowed and brought over the wooden crate. The children stared at the box on the large table with their mouths hanging open. Nero looked just as puzzled.
“I heard that colds were spreading through the royal capital, so I made some cold remedy. I may not look like one, but His Majesty the King has granted me legal permission to compound magic potions. In other words, I’m a recognised magic pharmacist.”
“At your age?!”
“Yes, Nero. Are you surprised?”
“Very.”
Nero’s eyes became so perfectly round that his already cute face somehow looked even cuter.
Nero really was a boy, right? He wasn’t fooling me, was he?
His surprised expression warmed my heart, but the other children looked distinctly gloomy. They clearly knew how awful ordinary magic potions tasted. Their faces practically said, I absolutely don’t want to drink that myself.
“Then let’s go give the medicine to the children with cold symptoms.”
“No, Lord Julius. I’ll take care of that.”
“I can’t leave it all to you. As a magic pharmacist, it’s only natural that I confirm whether the medicine works. Besides, some of them might be suffering from something other than a cold.”
When I said that seriously, Nero’s face stiffened.
Did he have some idea what it might be? Perhaps one of the children had symptoms that didn’t look like an ordinary cold. I was glad I’d made the trip myself instead of simply sending supplies.
“Then let’s see Lelie first. You look tense, Nero. You’re worried about your sister, aren’t you?”
“I…”
Nero lowered his eyes.
Yeah. I was getting a bad feeling about this. We needed to go to her quickly. I urged Nero onwards and headed to Lelie’s room.
“Big brother? Lord Julius too?”
Lelie had been coughing over and over. She looked to be in considerable pain, yet she still tried to smile, probably because she didn’t want to worry her brother.
Nero had been right to worry. This definitely looked like lung disease.
Prevention really was better than cure.
“I heard you were ill, Lelie. It looks like you’ve developed lung disease. Your cold must have worsened and spread to your lungs.”
“Lung disease…”
Nero’s face went pale with despair. Apparently, according to what he knew, lung disease was incurable.
But that wasn’t true. Its mortality rate might be higher than that of an ordinary cold, but it wasn’t necessarily an incurable disease.
Wait. Was lung disease actually regarded as incurable in this world?
I’d never really thought about that. Maybe I needed to take another hard look at what illnesses existed in this world, how people understood them, and which magic potions were available to treat them. Conveniently, I was constantly going in and out of the Royal Magic Pharmacists’ Corps. They should have plenty of records on the subject.
“Big brother…”
“Lelie…”
“I brought a special magic potion for you, Lelie,” I said as brightly as I could so the room wouldn’t sink into gloom. “Say goodbye to those painful symptoms. If you drink this, the lung disease should clear up quickly. And to finish things off, you’ll drink an elementary healing potion to counter the strain the first medicine puts on your lungs. After that, you should be able to play again.”
The children in the room stared at me with their mouths open.
And, naturally, the servant was writing something in his notebook.
Stop it!
“Here, Lelie. I’ll tell you in advance that this lung-disease medicine was specially compounded by me. You can expect the taste to be just as good as the effect. I made the elementary healing potion too, so you can look forward to that one as well.”
Ah. Lelie’s face tightened. Even though the medicine could take away her suffering, she clearly didn’t want to drink a magic potion.
I glanced at Nero. She might not listen to me, but she would listen to her brother.
“Lelie, His Majesty the King recognises Lord Julius as a magic pharmacist. You don’t need to be afraid.”
“I-I understand. I-I’ll drink it.”
Her hands were trembling.
I took a vivid pink bottle from the crate. Everyone’s eyes widened again at the sheer strangeness of the colour.
Looks mattered, after all. Maybe shocking pink was a little too much. I might tone the colour down next time.
“Here you go. It’s ridiculously sweet, so be prepared.”
“Y-yes.”
She accepted the bottle with a deeply doubtful expression. The moment she took her first gulp, Lelie’s eyes opened even wider than before.
Then she drank the whole thing in one go.
“Oh, it’s so sweet!”
She looked utterly astonished. The other children immediately began whispering among themselves, and several stared at the crate as though they wanted some too.
No. Absolutely not.
I wasn’t going to let perfectly healthy children drink cold medicine and waste our limited supply just because it tasted good.
“Next is this elementary healing potion. I sweetened this one as well to make it easier to drink, but after the last potion it may not seem quite as sweet.”
“That’s okay!”
Apparently reassured by the first potion, she drank this one without hesitation. Once she finished, a strange expression crossed her face.
Had something changed in her body?
“Lelie?”
“Um… it hurt just a moment ago, but now it doesn’t. It feels strange.”
I couldn’t help bursting into relieved laughter. Lelie’s cheeks turned red as she looked at me.
“That’s the magic potion working. Surprised?”
“Yes. Very surprised.”
Her eyes sparkled.
And it wasn’t only Lelie. Nero and every child around us had the same look in their eyes.
“Thank you, Lord Julius.”
Nero bowed, looking as though he might cry. Lelie was his only immediate family. He must have been terrified.
I patted Nero’s head. His cheeks turned red with embarrassment.
“All right, let’s go distribute cold medicine to the other children with symptoms. I brought sweets too, so we’ll have a snack once we’re finished.”
The children answered cheerfully, and I went from room to room with everyone, handing out magic potions.