Chapter 87: What I Can Do Now

Five days after leaving the royal capital, we were able to safely return to the Margrave Heine territory. Unlike the trip there, the return trip was uneventful.

When we arrived at the mansion, we were greeted by the knights.

“Welcome back, Julius-sama!”

“Welcome home!”

“I’m back. Is everything all right?”

“Yes, everything is fine. No problem.”

It seems that nothing happened. I was relieved. I had been away from the house for about half a month, but that didn’t seem to be a problem.

After unloading my luggage and taking a breather, I called Lionel over. First of all, we needed to reconcile what each other knew.

I told Rosalia to show Mira around the house. Mira can understand our language. It would not hurt to let her know where she can and cannot go inside the mansion. Well, if she asked me, I’ll say something bad, so it’s also a countermeasure.

“Lionel, did you know that I got a present from my grandmother?”

“A present?　No, sir, I have heard no such talk.”

Lionel answered with a twist of his head. It seems that  father wants to keep the book of magic potions a secret as long as possible.

“I see. Then did you tell my father about the elixir?”

“Yes, I did. He was very surprised, but now that Margaret-sama has passed away, he will keep it a secret.”

I see. Maybe my father did not Mean to give me the book when I arrived at the townhouse. He probably intended to give it to me when the time was right.

But Lionel told him that I had created the elixir. What would father have thought?

At the very least, he would not think that I made it by randomly mixing  ingredients. If that was the case, how did I know how to make the elixir? Surely, he would have thought that Grandma had taught me.

That would mean that Grandma has already evaluated my ability.

He would think that the fact that I am creating easy-to-use potions one after another is the result of her training. That’s why my father hurriedly gave me Grandma’s treasured book of magic potions.

That would probably lead to his tacit approval for me to make the potions.

Lionel is trustworthy. It would be good to talk to him. Or, rather, I should talk to him and ask Him to help me.

“Lionel, my grandmother actually gave me a book of potions that she had been writing all her life. Surely that must mean that she recognized me as her successor, right?”

“Probably so.”

“Then, that means I may use the room where Grandmother used to mix her potions, right?”

“Yes, I suppose so.”

Lionel was a bit at a loss for words. What in the world did he think I was trying to say? What, Lionel, it’s not that difficult.

“ the equipment in the annex looks more up-to-date, so I’d like to move that entire facility into the main building. I need your help to move it.”

“Equipment?　Well, I can manage that much …….”

He looked a little relieved. I’ll have him bring the boxes that contain the various materials along. The quality of the materials in the box was not very good, but the box was very nice. If I could modify it with a magic circle, I could convert it into a long-term storage container.

The next day, Lionel got right to work. The old equipment in the main building was discarded and replaced with new equipment. Of course, I kept what I could use. The reason for this is to be able to respond when the number of people making magic potions here increases. Distilled water is used so often that I wish someone would always have it on hand for me.

In the meantime, I’ve been improving the long-term storage containers. Rosalia, who thought I was making a new magic tool, kept coming in to take a peek. Mira was also attached to me, as if she wanted to help me. She’s so cute. I couldn’t help but fall behind in my work.

“Brother, with these long-term storage containers, food will stay good for a long time, right?”

“yes, I think so. But, well, I may need to adjust the temperature.”

It would be difficult to store the finished dishes for a long period of time. All you have to do is maintain the optimum temperature, humidity and air pressure. But if you can do that, most ingredients for magic potions can be kept in high quality for a long period of time.

The “long-term storage boxes” I  made before weren’t airtight enough, so they could not store that long. At that time, that was not a problem because I used the materials immediately, but from now on, I will probably need to collect rare materials as well.

And those rare materials are not used immediately. Therefore, it is necessary to store them for a long time. This is where the old lady’s highly airtight box comes in handy.

“Julius-sama,, we have finished replacing the equipment. What do you want to do after this?”

“Yeah, that’s the thing, Grandma didn’t have a herb garden, did she?”

“Yes. I have not heard of such a story. I believe that she purchased all of the materials for Her potions from the Potions Guild.”

As expected, it would be bad for me to buy the materials for the potions. If there was a potion Master among the servants, I could have purchased it from him or her, but that seems to be impossible. Then I would have to cultivate it myself.

“I would like to expand my herb garden. Could I use the greenhouse that Grandpa and Grandma used?”

That’s right. In fact, the Margrave Heine family has a magnificent greenhouse. According to what I have heard, this greenhouse was provided by the state when Grandmother was welcomed into the country as a high-ranking potion master.

The government must have intended for her to use it to cultivate materials necessary for magic potions. However, the old lady did not do that. She simply used it to grow plants and flowers.

What happened in Grandma’s past? I can’t ask that now. Maybe  father might know something. I will ask him next time.

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