Chapter 45: Boisterous Man I"ll be making potions from morning today as well.
I headed to the castle"s distillation room after I got changed.
Corinnsan, the exclusive pharmacist, started her days early in the morning. Most of the time, she would already be working in the distillation room by the time I got there.
People in this world commonly started work when the sun came up.
I was following that model but Corinnsan started work earlier than that.
I tried to start work at the same time as Corinnsan once, but she told me to come at the same time as everyone else.
She didn"t want people to see what she was working on in the mornings.
It seemed to be related to the secret recipe and she didn"t tell me in detail.
Corinnsan was already making potions when I arrived at the distillation room.
"Good morning."
"Ah, morning. Can you prepare some Intermediate HP Potions today? The amount we need is written in the memo over there."
"Okay."
I did as Corinnsan said. I looked at the memo and prepared the ingredients for the Intermediate HP Potions.
The ingredients lined up on the table were a little different from the ones taught at the Research Inst.i.tute.
That was because we needed to mix medicinal herbs that weren"t normally used.
Instead, the amount of ingredients used were less than usual. That was because it was Corinnsan"s secret recipe.
There were a lot of different kinds of secret recipes and she taught me that one.
I put the ingredients into a pot and began mixing, then the distillation room door opened loudly.
Some time had pa.s.sed since I"ve started work, but it was still early in the morning.
I looked at the door wondering who would come here this early, and I saw a tall man, who could be described as a giant, with a scary face entering the room.
His height wasn"t the only thing that was big.
He was a bit thick.
Everyone at the 3rd Knight Order was muscular, but this man exceeded them.
He had thick muscles on his upper arms and chest.
I felt like the room got narrower because he was so wide.
He had short brown hair and sharp amber eyes.
His hair colour was similar to Director-san"s, but I felt like it was more dry and brittle.
I"d never noticed it until now, but Director-san took proper care of his hair.
Someone called out to me while I was thinking that.
"Oh? Your apprentice, granny?" He looked around the room and said when he noticed me.
Was granny referring to Corinnsan?
Corinnsan taught me a lot of things, and the other people had an unspoken agreement about me being like an apprentice, but I was worried about whether it was fine to say it out loud.
I worried over how she would answer and she came out of the room at the back of the distillation room.
"You"re so noisy in the morning. Can"t you be a little quieter?"
"I tried to be quieter!"
"How? Then, what do you want?"
"Oh…… I came to pick up the potions we ordered yesterday."
"You guys. We only received the order last night, did you think it would already be finished?"
"Ah, no. Of course not, sorry but…… We need it in a hurry now……"
Corinnsan glared at him and his voice got weaker.
His fl.u.s.tered state was like a dejected dog getting scolded by its owner.
He didn"t actually have droopy dog ears, but it felt like he did.
Corinnsan was small but she was very scary when she was angry, so I could see why the man would cower before her.
Even so, it was only natural that Corinnsan got angry.
The man had ordered potions yesterday, just before work finished.
It wasn"t this man, but I remembered someone from a mercenary group had come in to place the order.
They hadn"t given a deadline, and it would have been nice if it could be completed by the afternoon.
I was in the process of making them.
There weren"t any problems.
"It can"t be helped. Sei."
"Yes."
I nodded when Corinnsan called me.
I took the required amount out of the storage shelf at the back of the room and prepared them.
They had ordered quite a lot of potions and the man was stunned when he stared at the potions I had put onto the table.
He didn"t think that we would be able to prepare the amount they"d ordered.
Why was there extra potions when there"s a medicinal herb shortage?
The culprit was me.
It acc.u.mulated because I was practicing Corinna"s secret recipe for Intermediate and Advanced Potions.
Of course, I got permission from Corinnsan before I practiced.
Corinnsan had said, "They"ll sell anyways."
Therefore, like at the Medicinal Herb Research Inst.i.tute, they kept potions here for emergencies.
"I knew you could do it, granny."
"Tsk. Thank Sei if you want to thank someone."
"Sei?"
"The potions are made by Sei. I can guarantee their effectiveness." Corinnsan said and the man looked at me again.
I felt his gaze, introduced myself, "My name is Sei" and bowed. The man came towards me.
"I"m Leonhardt. I a.s.semble the mercenary groups in the castle."
He held his right hand out, so I thought that he wanted a handshake and held mine out too. He shook my hand firmly. He smiled and said, "Nice to meet ya", while patting my left shoulder. I stumbled.
"Leo! Don"t treat a woman so roughly!"
"Woah! Sorry!"
"I-it"s fine……"
I straightened my posture and looked up at the man who was hastily apologising.
He had apologised immediately so he probably wasn"t a bad person.
"My bad. You alright?"
"Yes. I"m fine." I smiled while replying and he looked relieved.
"Also thanks for the potions." He took the box containing the potions and left after he said his thanks.
The distillation room was silent once again.
At any rate, he was a lively person.
I thought that it was unusually silent in the distillation room after he left.
Early afternoon.
Corinnsan took me to the medicinal field on the outskirts of the capital.
When we came from the Royal Capital, we went past some wheat fields. The medicinal herb fields were on the other side.
As expected of a medicinal herb producing area.
The Medicinal Herb Garden at the Royal Palace was big, but this was bigger.
Klaussner"s capital was surrounded by forests, so I couldn"t see that far, but the field spread out to near the forest.
The field was outside of the castle walls but Corinnsan said it was safe.
Demons rarely appeared close to castle walls, and the ones that did were mostly weak.
Corinnsan said that even she could handle weak demons.
Corinnsan taught me about the medicinal herbs in a section of a huge field.
It"s the so-called practical training.
We squatted in the middle of the field and I looked at the herbs while I listened to Corinnsan"s explanation.
I don"t know about the herbs that I"m looking at.
It was probably something unique to this world.
At the very least it wasn"t a herb that I"ve heard about when I was interested in aromatherapy.
"This herb is ineffective by itself, but if you mix it with other herbs then it"s recovery rate increases."
"So you can decrease the amount of herbs you use if you mix this into a recipe, right?"
"That"s right."
That medicinal herb was used in Corinnsan"s secret recipes.
The herb was used after drying, so I couldn"t recognise it even if I saw it.
This wasn"t usually recognised as a medicinal herb because it was only effective when used with other herbs.
We got up after Corinnsan finished her explanation, so that we could go to the next section.
I stretched because my body was stiff and a loud voice called out from behind me, "Oi, so you were here?"
I turned around at the unfamiliar voice, and saw a muscular man running towards us.
It was Leonhardt-san; the person who had come to the distillation room that morning.