Chapter 57: Concern A little while after the sun rose, only the clatter of equipment was heard throughout the distillation room.
I could occasionally hear the voices of the pharmacies talking to each other, but they were all quiet in their work.
I was also silently making potions without exception.
A few days have pa.s.sed since I had the discussion with Captain-san and the demon subjugations are finally starting tomorrow.
It wasn"t like they didn"t need potions at all, just because I was going with them.
It didn"t hurt to be well-prepared, so they were bringing potions with them as always.
I was preparing for that.
"I"ve heard the rumours, but you"re really extraordinary," I couldn"t help but shiver because I was surprised by the voice behind me.
I turned back while raising a shocked voice and Leo-san was standing there with an expression that matched his tone.
When did he get here?
I"d imagined that some flashy noise would resound whenever Leo-san came to the distillation room, but I didn"t hear it today.
I was so immersed in my work that I could barely hear the noises around me.
That aside, there was a word that worried me.
"A rumour, you say?"
"Yeah. I heard that the new pharmacist can make a considerable amount of potions."
His gaze was fixated on the potions on top of the table and it was gaze I always saw.
To be more specific, it was the same gaze that Jude, Director and Corinnsan had.
"Where did you hear that rumor?"
"Of course, it came from here. Also, from my guys."
"The mercenaries?"
"They always come here to pick up potions, don"t they? Some of them saw you while you were making potions."
It seemed that the mercenaries also saw me making potions.
I wasn"t being careful not to be seen, but I had a feeling I tried to be careful anyway.
I looked downwards and it seemed like Leo-san misunderstood something, since he said in a panic, "Ah… I"m sorry. I"ll be careful of how I talk."
"Huh?"
"Eh? Is that not it?"
"What do you mean?"
"No, because you might think something like I shouldn"t talk like that to the 【Saint-sama】……"
"I don"t. I don"t mind if you talk to me normally. Rather, I"m bothered if you change the way you talk."
I was wondering why he suddenly changed the way he spoke and it seemed that he"d just remembered that I was the 【Saint】.
And because I was looking downwards, he misunderstood and thought that I had been offended by his att.i.tude.
He totally got it wrong.
If he"d talked like that from the beginning then it would have been fine, but to change the way he talked half-way through the conversation was a little…
I don"t mind if he talks in a friendly way, but it feels like he"s putting distance between us when he talks all formal and it hurts a little.
"I see. Then I"ll act like normal."
"Please do."
"No, it"s easier for me too. I"m really bad with formal stuff," Leo said and smiled widely.
I was lured in by his smile and smiled as well.
I was relieved that he would act normal around me and once again brought the conversation back to the rumour.
According to Leo-san, after the first eyewitness came back to the mercenary group, he made a big fuss about the extraordinary amount of potions the new pharmacist was making.
The mercenaries told everyone about what he saw but no one believed him at first.
Well, of course they wouldn"t.
Because he told them that Intermediate Potions, which normal pharmacists could only make 10 of in a day, were rapidly being arranged as they were finished, and covered up a whole desk.
But, the first eyewitness insisted that it was true and the other people got curious, so they started to come to the distillation room in turns under the pretext of picking up potions, so that they could see it for themselves.
No wonder a different person came to pick up the potions each time.
Needless to say, the result was that the testimony of the first witness was proven correct.
"So, you came to confirm it as well Leo-san?"
"Oh, well yeah."
From the flow of the conversation, I thought that Leo-san had also come to confirm the rumours, but he was being vague.
Did he have another objective?
I tilted my head in confusion and looked up at him and he scratched his head while speaking heavily, "Are these potions for the Knight Order?"
"Yes. I have already finished the ones for the mercenary group."
"I see, I mean that"s not it……"
I wondered if he was worried that I was putting off the potions for the mercenaries, but that doesn"t seem to be the case.
It didn"t seem like he was going to keep talking, so I started working again and waited for him to continue.
"Oh, are you going on the next subjugation as well?"
"I am. I came here from the Royal Capital for this."
"With the Knight Order, right?"
"Yes."
The thing that was so hard for him to talk about was related to the demon subjugations.
I wonder why he"s asking that. I looked up at Leo-san and he looked worried.
"What"s wrong?"
"No, well, I was wondering if you"d be alright."
"What do you mean?"
"At the subjugation."
"Excuse me?"
"I know that you"ve been to the forest to subjugate demons before, but I"m worried after all."
"Are you worried about my ability on the battlefield?"
"Rather than that…"
I tilted my head wondering what he was worried about and Leo-san explained it to me while pausing a lot.
Leo-san knew that I went to Ghost Forest on a subjugation mission because of a rumour.
In addition to this, he heard a little about the subjugation from Captain-san.
He knew that I was supporting the knights like a normal court mage would.
But, there was a difference in strength between the demons at Ghosh Forest and the demons at Klaussner Forest.
He was worried about me coming along on the subjugation, regardless of how many I"ve been on before.
Even if the demons in Klaussner have decreased for a while now, there were still a lot of them.
Nevertheless, they had only decreased near the city, and only for demons which appear in the gra.s.slands, therefore they hadn"t decreased much inside the forest, which was a distance away from the city.
In this world, the demons that appeared in the forests were stronger than ones that appeared in the gra.s.sland.
In addition, the demons that appeared in Klaussner were stronger than the ones that appeared in the Royal Capital.
From those things, the subjugation this time would probably be harsher than the one at Ghosh Forest.
Leo-san was quite right to worry.
"I can"t say anything since I"ve never been in the forest here, but I don"t think I would suddenly go into the deepest part of the forest; so it will be fine."
"Well, the demons deep inside the forest are stronger. And if you were suddenly to say that you wanted to go to the inner parts, then the knights would be the first ones to stop you."
"You"re right. I would stop myself too."
"I guess so. As you said, slowly go into the inner parts of the forest after you"ve checked out your surroundings, okay?"
"Okay. I"m quite strong, even if I look like this," I laughed and joked and Leo-san joked back, "Oh? You"re full of confidence."
Yes, it"s not a joke, just my basic level might be the highest in this world.
I didn"t say this out-loud though.
"Even if I"m partic.i.p.ating, I"ll be in the support group so I won"t go out on the frontlines. The knights are escorting me."
"I see. So, there was no point in me worry, now was there?"
"No, thank you very much for worrying about me."
I"m really glad that he"s worried about me.
Since Leo-san arranges the mercenary groups, he"s very helpful.
He was worried about me even though I wasn"t in the mercenary group and he even came to see how I am.
After that, Leo-san talked about what it was like inside of the forest and left the distillation room.
Translator: Blushy
Editor: SenjiQ
I did the dumbest thing this morning… I thought I had this chapter translated and posted, but I didn"t. For some odd reason, I had the next chapter after this translated… And was confused for a whole 20 minutes this morning trying to find this chapter, to realise that I hadn"t translated it at all QwQ.