The Power of the Saint is All Around (LN) - Volume 6 - Chapter 3

Act 3:

Goals

AFTER MY UNEXPECTED MEETING with Prince Ten’yuu, Jude and I immediately went to Johan to tell him what had happened.

“What? Prince Ten’yuu was here?”

“Yes. He approached us out of nowhere while we were watering the herbs.”

“What? I had no idea about this.” Johan covered his face with his palm and tilted his head back.

Johan informed us that he hadn’t been told that Prince Ten’yuu would be coming to the institute. Had he heard, I’m sure that he would’ve alerted us first thing in the morning. In fact, since we had been expressly trying to avoid such a meeting, he probably would’ve informed me the second he caught wind of it.

But no one had given him a heads up.

Jude and I exchanged a look. I was sure we were all feeling the same thing right now, Johan included. Sure enough, Johan immediately sent a message to the palace. We had to report this at once.

We soon learned that the palace hadn’t had any idea that this visit was going to happen either. It seemed that Prince Ten’yuu had just decided to show up without prior notice.

Was that okay? No, it wasn’t. Of course this was troublesome. For one thing, Prince Ten’yuu was royalty from another country. It was problematic to have someone like that just wandering palace grounds. Not to mention, he had shown up at a research facility that was chock full of confidential information. He claimed he had gotten lost while on a walk, but it wasn’t any surprise that he was suspected of industrial espionage—especially since the Research Institute of Medicinal Flora was where the Saint worked.

However, no one had told anyone from Zaidera that the Saint could be found there. Thus, this incident ended with the palace giving the prince a stern warning. And it wasn’t any surprise that they assigned him more guards so as to watch him around the clock.

Speaking of which, it wasn’t like they hadn’t assigned guards to the prince before. The knights assigned to him had offered to accompany him on his fateful walk, but he had politely refused, saying he was just going to get some fresh air in the garden that he could see from his chambers.

Apparently, a single knight had been watching the prince from a short distance away, just in case, but the knight had suddenly been called over by someone, and he had lost sight of the prince in that moment.

If you asked me, the problem was sending only one knight to follow him after he declined their escort.

In short, Prince Ten’yuu wound up bumping into us after one bad thing had led to another. But now that his visits to the institutes were over, I was relieved to see the palace take a stricter stance. The prince was told to inform the palace of his wish to wander ahead of time from now on. I thought I was in the clear.

However, it wasn’t until much after that I realized I was mistaken.

I had heard that Prince Ten’yuu focused his studies on medicinal herbs. This was the interest that determined how he used the free time in his schedule after his tours were over. So, he came back to visit the institute. However, I didn’t see him again, as we were informed of his arrival ahead of time, and I made sure to go elsewhere when he was due to come.

But what was I supposed to do if he asked for me personally?

“What do you mean?” I asked when that question was posed to me.

“Hm, you see, whenever he comes by, he keeps asking if the black-haired researcher is here.”

I was in Johan’s office as he explained, his expression perplexed, that Prince Ten’yuu had been searching for me during his frequent visits to the institute.

I was the only researcher with black hair.

The day I’d met him, he hadn’t made any comments about my appearance, but it seemed that he remembered the color of my hair. Even though he hadn’t said anything about it, perhaps the fact that I shared a hair color similar to his had interested him after all?

“This isn’t good,” I said.

“You can say that again.”

We both frowned. It wasn’t like I could say I’d be willing to see the prince again, given that the palace had told me not to. However, since we had met once before, this constant absence of mine had potential to become a problem in itself. It would definitely look like I was avoiding him.

But the fact was that I really was trying to avoid him. Yet it would lead to trouble if he figured that out.

We both racked our brains, trying to figure out what to do. In the end, we could only come up with one solution: ask the palace to figure it out for us. It’s always best to ask a higher power when you don’t know how to fix a problem.

We got a response the next day. The palace agreed that now that the prince had met me once, it would only lead to more problems if I continued to avoid him.

Johan had a grim look on his face as he told me that I was to be present the next time Prince Ten’yuu visited the institute. I was further warned about several things to keep in mind while he was visiting.

And so, two days after that, we received word that Prince Ten’yuu would once again be our guest. It felt sooner than I had expected, almost as if on cue, but that was probably just my imagination.

According to the prince’s notification, he would arrive in the early afternoon, after he finished some other business he had to attend to.

The day of Prince Ten’yuu’s visit came, and I was filling bottles of mid-grade HP potions to be sold to the knightly orders when I heard a tiny voice coming from the door to the room. “Oh…”

Jude and I looked in the direction of the voice to find Prince Ten’yuu with a surprised look on his face, standing there with his attendant.

I placed the bottle I had been holding on my desk and bowed respectfully.

“There’s no need for that,” the prince said immediately. “Are you making potions right now?”

“Yes, that’s right,” I replied.

“That’s quite a number of them.”

“We make the potions the palace uses as well, so it does come out to be quite a lot.”

I knew he was going to comment on that. I’d had no other assignments recently, so it felt a bit refreshing to be working on potions again. The other researchers had grown accustomed to my production rate, so they never said anything about it when I had potion after potion lined up on my desk. However, Prince Ten’yuu was captivated.

Because I had been aware he was coming, I had brewed fewer than usual, but it seemed like I had still made too many.

“Were these all made by the same person?” he asked.

“No…”

This was a surprising question coming from him; he had to know how many potions a regular alchemist could make in a day. He was supposed to be well versed in medicinal plants, so there was no way he didn’t know that.

Why would he ask that, then? I looked at him curiously.

Prince Ten’yuu smiled bashfully. “Of course they couldn’t have been.”

Even he must have realized that he had said something odd.

Of course, the potions on my desk had in fact all been made by me. However, Johan had told me to hide my skills as best as I could. So, I lied, but I felt incredibly guilty about it; I’m a tragically timid person. That was probably why I trailed off there, and the room sank into silence.

I felt kind of awkward, so I bowed slightly to Prince Ten’yuu and went back to work. He must have felt the same way, as he didn’t criticize me for doing so.

While I wordlessly bottled a potion, Prince Ten’yuu watched me in silence for a moment before asking if it was a mid-grade HP potion. I nodded, and he touched his chin as a thoughtful look passed over his face.

Now what?

“Can you not make high-grade HP potions?” he suddenly asked.

“High-grade HP potions?” I accidentally responded with a question. I knew it was a rude thing to do, but before I could say anything else, he continued, unperturbed.

“I was just thinking that, in terms of division of labor, if you had to make this many every day, then it would probably be better to make high-grade potions instead.”

“That’s true. And we do indeed have people who can make them. However, there’s more potential for something to go wrong during the brewing process, so we don’t make the high-grade variety as often.”

“What do you mean by ‘go wrong’?”

“Well, without a high level in your Pharmaceuticals skill, you won’t be successful. Not to mention, most of the required ingredients are expensive.”

“Ah, that’s true.”

You had to make a whole lot of potions in order to raise your Pharmaceuticals skill. It took ordinary alchemists years of brewing mid-grade potions before they could reliably produce the high-grade sort. It didn’t take as much time if you focused on making high-grade potions from the start, but the cost of the needed ingredients was indeed substantial. Plus, you wouldn’t be able to recoup the costs by selling the potions you made if you only turned out duds.

And even if you did manage to somehow raise your level with mid-grade potions, the only way to increase your level after that was to start producing the high-grade variety. And in that case, the cost remained an issue.

The fact that the cost of the materials was high meant that the price of the potions themselves was similarly expensive. Only a very limited number of people could afford high-grade potions, so they were hard to sell. That made it difficult to earn back what you spent making them.

As a result, no one was allowed to make high-grade potions until they had a high enough level in their Pharmaceuticals skill to create them at a successful rate. That was common knowledge.

Prince Ten’yuu seemed to accept my brief explanation readily enough. He probably already knew what I meant anyway.

Incidentally, as it turned out, I had never once failed to make a high-grade potion. I likely owed my ability to raise my Pharmaceuticals skill level so quickly to the fact that I had more magical power than anyone I’d ever met—as well as the fact that I had access to a research institute.

Basically, because my base level was high, my maximum MP was high too, so in a single day, I could make more potions than your typical alchemist. On top of that, I grew the ingredients for high-grade potions right in the institute’s garden, which meant they didn’t cost me all that much to make. Finally, I sold the potions I made to the knightly orders, so I recouped my costs smoothly enough.

It was thanks to all this that I had reached a high enough level to consistently churn out these rare and powerful potions.

However, I kept the fact of my high level secret from Prince Ten’yuu. Johan had explicitly ordered me to do so, after all.

After that, we had more or less harmless and inoffensive discussions about herbs, and that was it. Just as I was finished bottling potions, it was time for Prince Ten’yuu to leave.

***

Now that I didn’t have to keep avoiding Prince Ten’yuu, I spent more time in the institute. Truthfully, I wanted to go back to living at the institute again, like I used to, but that motion was rejected. According to the palace officials, it was safer for me to be in the palace. To be fair, it was more secure than the institute, where outsiders frequently visited.

I was at the institute working again when Prince Ten’yuu visited.

I heard from the other researchers that he came extremely often now. According to the palace maids’ gossip, he frequently visited the other research facilities as well. Given all that, his schedule was jam-packed enough that people were starting to worry if he was getting enough rest. Hopefully he wouldn’t run himself ragged.

“Are you making potions today too?” he asked as I stirred a small pot.

“Yes, I am.”

Normally I would have made them all at once in a cauldron, but I made potions the usual way on the days when Prince Ten’yuu visited.

It was annoying, to tell the truth. However, this was another command from Johan. I was afraid of what would happen if I didn’t do as he said. Not to mention, if Prince Ten’yuu saw me making potions with a cauldron, he was sure to start asking me all sorts of difficult questions.

If I had to choose the lesser of two annoyances, obeying Johan’s commands was the clear winner. So, I made potions like normal people did. Absolutely normal.

“Are you making mid-grade HP potions today as well?”

“Yes, those are the ones most requested.”

“You don’t make any other kinds of potions?”

“Once in a while I make MP potions too. Those are mid-grade as well, of course.”

“I see.”

There were more knights than mages, so I was usually assigned to making HP potions. MP potions, on the other hand, made for about a quarter of the institute’s usual quota. The rest of our time was spent on the HP variety. From time to time, we brewed other potions as well, but proportionally, the vast majority of our time was spent on those two main products.

As it turned out, HP and MP potions raised your skill level the same amount, so the general rule of thumb was to make HP potions when trying to level yourself up.

However, that probably wasn’t the answer Prince Ten’yuu had been angling for. After I told him I made MP potions too, his facial expression didn’t change, though he seemed despondent.

Maybe I should ask what he was hoping for? I thought, but then he spoke first.

“Can you not make any other potions besides those two kinds?”

“You mean besides HP and MP potions? We usually order special brews from other brewers.”

“And you’ve never made them before?”

“I’ve made some simple kinds, like those for curing abnormal status effects.”

With a level high enough to make mid-grade potions, you could make a few kinds of potions that healed status effects. I had made the types I knew the recipes for once, just to try it.

When I told him this, he asked me what types they had been, so I mentioned a few well-known ones. Just as I expected, the prince knew the recipes for them as well.

After chatting for a bit about it, we got to talking about the status cure potions they made in Zaidera. Some of the recipes he described used ingredients I had never heard of, even though they healed the same effects as potions with recipes I knew. These seemed to be ingredients found only in Zaidera. As one would expect, other countries had different kinds of medicinal flora.

As the prince was telling me one recipe, his attendant’s eyebrow twitched for a moment. It occurred to me that the recipe he was describing might not be common. I prayed it wasn’t a state secret.

I continued talking to him about this and that for a good long while. Our conversation was interesting, and before I knew it, it was the end of the workday.

We had never talked for so long before, so I got worried for a moment, but it seemed everything was okay. I asked the prince if he had any other plans for that day and was relieved when he said no.

The following day, I went to the palace library. I didn’t know if they would have them or not, but I wanted to see if there were any books on herbs in Zaidera.

I had a lot to think about when it came to the prince, but that was one thing, and this was another. As a researcher of potions, I was extremely interested in the ingredients unique to Zaidera.

Using what I learned back in Klausner’s Domain, I might be able to come up with a new type of potion, I thought. I just had to learn more.

I actually managed to find some books on Zaidera. However, there weren’t that many, just like I feared. What’s more, they were more like reports than books, since they were about socioeconomics—knowledge necessary for diplomacy. I didn’t find any books about native plants.

If I asked the librarian for an encyclopedia on plants in Zaidera, I was sure they’d order one for me right away. However, this was another world. It would take some time to receive a book from abroad. There was no way I could wait, as someone who had come here with such enthusiasm.

I guess I could search what books we do have to see if there’s any mention of plants, I thought as I picked up one of the books about Zaideran economics.

As I skimmed, I found records of the local specialties in all the regions of Zaidera, just like I was hoping for. I focused on this specifically, since I wanted to know if any regions specialized in cultivating and exporting herbs, like Klausner’s Domain.

As these were books about another country, they were a bit outdated and didn’t cover that many topics. But I looked them over anyway, just to see if anything caught my eye.

“Hmm, too bad. There’s nothing written here.” After looking through several books, I hadn’t found the information I sought.

I raised both arms to stretch, starting to accept that I would probably have to wait for the library to order some books for me. The fastest way to do that would be to ask the librarian. The palace would surely be able to acquire a vast variety of different books.

However, I felt a bit unsure. At present, I had no real need to research herbs from Zaidera. The thought of bothering the palace’s librarian with a request for books for such a personal desire made me feel a bit guilty. I wouldn’t have any reservations if I only had a reason. Then I could make my request with confidence…

Was that really the only way? After thinking for a bit, Franz’s face popped into my head.

My company had been made in order to sell my skincare products, but for one reason or another, Franz was also importing groceries from Zaidera for me. I had a feeling that books were quite a bit out of his field of expertise, but what did it matter at this point? It would be far easier for me to bother him than the palace librarian.

I didn’t know if he’d be able to actually acquire any books, but it was worth a shot.

I stood from my seat as I made up my mind to visit the company on my next day off.

***

On my next day off, I had a meeting with Franz and Oscar at the palace.

Originally, I had planned to go to the company itself, but after I requested the meeting, Franz had said he would rather hold it there. I was disappointed, as I had wanted to see how the shop was doing, but he was adamant, so I relented.

I arrived at the meeting room to find Franz and Oscar already there. I was there on time, but I felt a bit bad. They had probably been waiting for a while. However, when I took my social position into account, I had to be the one who showed up later, so it couldn’t be helped. I still wasn’t used to this kind of thing, though.

After I said hello to the two of them, I sat down on the sofa. We chatted a bit about how the shop was doing before I asked him the question for which I had called the meeting.

“You would like me to order an encyclopedia of plants found in Zaidera?” Franz asked me.

“That’s right.”

He dropped his gaze to the table and began thinking it over.

“And what do you want this encyclopedia for?” Oscar asked. “To research more ingredients found in Zaidera?”

“That’s part of it, but I want to know what kind of herbs they grow there too.”

“Herbs?”

“Yeah, we have a guest from Zaidera at the palace right now, you see.”

“Oh, yeah, the imperial prince?”

“Yeah, that’s right. And…”

I told Oscar the events that had led me to want to order this book—how I’d had a chance to talk to the prince at the institute and how he had told me about a potion that used ingredients unique to Zaidera, which made me curious about their herbs.

As I gave my brief explanation, Oscar grew interested, and he began to ask me more questions. “You know a lot about potions, right? Considering how interested you are, does that mean the prince also knows a lot about potions as well?”

“Yeah, I’d say so. And not just potions but herbs too. I heard he’s discussed complicated related subjects with other people as well.”

“Oh yeah? And what did you tell him?”

“Nothing much. All I did was answer his questions.”

“What kind of stuff did he ask?”

“Hmm, for example, he asked if I could make high-grade potions and if I could make potions other than those for recovering HP and MP.”

“Huh. Interesting.”

“And it was while we were talking about potions that could cure status abnormalities that he mentioned herbs from Zaidera.”

“I see.” Oscar touched his fist to his mouth and dropped his gaze to the table.

Now it wasn’t just Franz lost in thought but Oscar too. Had I said something that sincerely bothered them?

“Is something the matter?” I asked.

“Hmm. So does His Highness also know a great deal about status cure potions?”

“Yeah. He knows the recipes for all sorts of status cure potions, even though they all require different ingredients depending on what they do.”

Oscar and Franz exchanged a look, then turned to me.

“Something has been troubling me as of late,” said Franz.

“Oh? What’s that?” I asked.

“Well, this is part of the reason I decided to meet with you here at the palace.” The usual gentle smile Franz wore vanished, leaving me a bit apprehensive.

What could he mean?

When I asked, it was Oscar who answered. “Do you remember Captain Ceyran, whom we met back in Morgenhaven?”

“Yes, what about him?”

“He’s here as well. And he’s looking for an alchemist.”

“An alchemist?” I couldn’t help but frown at the word. Thinking back to the events in Morgenhaven, a possibility occurred to me. “Do you think it might be because of the potion I gave him?”

“Yup, I do.” 

Oscar’s instant confirmation made me hang my head, bewildered.

Back in Morgenhaven, I had given Ceyran one of my own potions, a high-grade HP potion at that. I had worried that he might notice it was more effective than regular potions on the market, but I’d figured I could just claim it was because the potion was high-grade—assuming he even noticed. Besides, only mid-grade potions had been for sale in Morgenhaven. Surely he wouldn’t know the difference, I thought. I had been so sure that I could convince him its grade was the reason for its potency.

However, it seemed that line of thinking had been my downfall.

“I suspect Captain Ceyran’s had some kind of misunderstanding,” Oscar said.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“He probably thinks that there’s someone who sells high-grade potions on the streets or something.”

“Huh?”

I had been disguised as a merchant’s daughter when I met Ceyran. That must have caused the confusion.

Hearing this explanation made an indescribable look cross my face. Oscar chuckled dryly as he told me more about Ceyran’s activities.

Ceyran had been looking for a talented alchemist even before we had met him in Morgenhaven—an exceptionally talented one, in fact. He had yet to find one that fit the bill.

That came as no surprise. Alchemists capable enough to make high-grade potions were usually employed by the government.

Then, in the middle of his search, he had suddenly received that strange potion—and from a commoner, no less. Given Ceyran’s unfamiliarity with Salutania, it wasn’t all that strange that he’d come to believe that he’d be able to find the kind of alchemist he was looking for in the capital, even if he had been having a hard time finding one in Morgenhaven.

Oscar didn’t know the minor details, but it seemed like Ceyran had found hope, and consequently he had started looking for the alchemist responsible for the potion I had given him. However, he had been unable to find them by himself. Not that he had much hope of ever doing so, since there were hardly any alchemists who sold high-grade potions in towns, even in the Kingdom of Salutania. Furthermore, those with such skills were often employed at major companies, and they kept their true identities concealed.

And yet Ceyran still hadn’t given up. As a last resort, he had reached out to directly ask Oscar for assistance.

“Of course, I didn’t tell him the truth,” Oscar said.

“Thank you. So, is this the reason why you asked to meet here in the palace today, Franz?”

“While that is part of it, I do have another reason.”

“Which is?”

Since my debut into high society, the nobility at large now knew what I looked like, so I had planned to go to the shop in disguise. I had intended to wear the same brown-haired wig and glasses that I had worn back in Morgenhaven. But if I had, Ceyran would have been able to recognize me—Ceyran, who had gone so far as to ask the shop about his mystery alchemist.

There was a possibility that he had been keeping an eye on the shop to see if any alchemists stopped by. And if he spotted me visiting, a familiar daughter of a merchant, he might have tried to speak to me.

Frankly, I thought the possibility that this would have happened was terribly high, as Franz and Oscar had refused to tell him the identity of the alchemist. I assumed it was the reason Franz had suggested we meet here, but it turned out that wasn’t it either. I gave Franz a puzzled look.

The real, actual reason was entirely unexpected.

“It’s the captain’s employer that troubles me,” Franz said.

“His employer?”

“Yes. I looked into it a bit, because I was curious as to why the captain was looking for an alchemist in the first place, you see.”

It was something I had overlooked during my dealings with him in Morgenhaven, but Ceyran had an employer. That employer was from a company in Zaidera, and they were the one who Franz had actually been dealing with. That company also had a chairman and a sponsor on top of that. It was the sponsor who concerned Franz.

“It appears that the sponsor is the same imperial prince who is currently in the palace,” Franz told me.

“Huh?” I froze.

“And taking the circumstances into consideration, it’s most likely the truth.” Oscar’s agreement cinched it.

By circumstances, Oscar was referring to how Ceyran’s ship had arrived at Morgenhaven’s port at the same time as the ship Prince Ten’yuu had sailed in on. I didn’t know what exactly he meant by this, so Oscar explained further.

Prince Ten’yuu had crossed the ocean to reach the Kingdom of Salutania. There were all kinds of dangers on the sea, so when crossing it, ships traveled in fleets. This particular fleet had been made up of the ship the most important person traveled on and the ships guarding that ship. However, it was common for other kinds of ships to join too, for example, ships ferrying people with whom the important person had good relations.

This time, the most important person was Prince Ten’yuu, and the people in his retinue who traveled with him were scholars and merchants. Based on that, Franz had deduced that Ceyran’s employer was connected to Prince Ten’yuu. After some further investigation, he had discovered that Prince Ten’yuu was the sponsor of that employer’s company.

“What do you mean by sponsor?” I asked.

“Someone with a position similar to yours with our company. Although I doubt the prince has been developing new products like you have.”

Me? I’m considered a sponsor? Oh yeah, I suppose my social position is more or less on the same level as a ruling monarch.

Oscar must have guessed what I was thinking, because he started laughing, thoroughly amused.

I never would have guessed that Prince Ten’yuu had a connection to Ceyran…

Okay, time to recap. Franz and Oscar were worried about stuff, so they had decided to meet me at the palace. One of the things they were worried about was the fact that Ceyran was looking for an alchemist. The reason he had started searching for one in Salutania was because of the potion I had given him back in Morgenhaven, but he had in fact been searching for a skilled alchemist for a long time. The other thing they were worried about was Prince Ten’yuu, who it turned out was connected to Ceyran.

These two things combined had led them to come up with the following theory: Ceyran was looking for an alchemist because Prince Ten’yuu had asked him to. The fact that the prince was so knowledgeable about herbs and potions supported this theory.

That was the reason why they had asked to hold this meeting here in the safety of the palace. When I started considering the implications of the prince’s sponsorship on Ceyran’s behavior, I had a feeling that Franz and Oscar might have concluded the same thing.

“What if it’s not Ceyran who’s really looking for an alchemist, but the prince?” I asked.

“We also think that might be a strong possibility.” Franz nodded with a solemn expression.

They think so too, huh? I frowned. I had a bad feeling about this. But why is he looking for an alchemist? Taking everything into consideration, I get the feeling that he’s not simply looking for someone who’s really good at making potions.

“That all being said, we’d like you to stay away from the shop for the time being,” said Oscar.

“I understand.”

“It’d be one thing if we were just dealing with Captain Ceyran, but His Highness is another matter entirely. I doubt we’d be able to fool him for long.”

“What do you mean?”

Oscar was referring to the company itself. During his dealings with Ceyran in Morgenhaven, Oscar had used another company as a middleman. He explained that he had done this because he had gotten the feeling that it would be the safest thing to do after I gave Ceyran that potion.

It had worked. Ceyran assumed that Oscar and I belonged to that middleman company. Ceyran must have made his inquiries about the alchemist at that middleman company too.

However, everything those middlemen bought from Ceyran ultimately wound up at the Saint’s company. If he tracked where the shipments went, then he might figure out the connection to my company.

I wondered if I could visit the shop in a different disguise. However, Oscar dashed that hope. “We can’t be sure they won’t figure out that any disguise you wear and the Saint are the same person, so just avoid it altogether just in case.”

“I guess you’re right.”

Even if they didn’t put two and two together, if I was spotted frequenting the shop, then there was a high risk that they might be able to determine the source of the potion.

It was entirely possible that all our efforts would prove fruitless, but if we wanted to avoid letting Ceyran or the prince make these connections, for now I was to stay away from the shop.

But after thinking about everything, I had a feeling that Prince Ten’yuu already knew who I was. So far, all he had done was ask me about herbs and potions. It seemed harmless enough, so…perhaps things would be all right the way they were.

I left my meeting with Franz and Oscar feeling unsure about that.

***

I was reading a book I had borrowed from the palace library when I heard a lively voice from the door to the institute. Prince Ten’yuu had arrived, just as we had been informed he would in the morning.

I turned a page as I listened to the hustling and bustling get gradually closer.

“Hello,” I heard from behind me.

I turned around, pretending to have only just noticed him. I saw Prince Ten’yuu, his attendant, and two knights who were his escort. There was also a researcher, who I assumed had been chatting with him until now.

The prince stood at the door for only a moment before making his way over to me. I still hadn’t greeted him yet, but he didn’t show any sign of caring.

I tried to stand up to curtsy, but he waved me down. Then his gaze fell to the books on my desk behind me.

“Are you researching something today?” the prince asked.

“Yes. I am currently researching high-grade potions for curing status abnormalities.”

“High-grade, you say?”

“Yes. While I typically make mid-grade potions, after our discussion the other day, my curiosity was piqued, so I decided to do a little bit of studying.”

When I told him this, it worked as I expected: I managed to grab his interest. He looked over the contents of the book with much curiosity.

I mentally sighed with relief.

After my meeting with Franz and Oscar the other day, I had been racking my brain to try to figure out how to deal with the prince from now on. I had heard that he would be studying in Salutania for a whole year. I didn’t have any confidence at all that I’d be able to hide my true identity for that long.

So what was I to do? Perhaps it would have been best to just keep dealing with him the same way I had been. But I wasn’t willing to just spin my wheels until his time in the kingdom was over.

The idea my tiny brain came up with was to take action to put this problem to rest as soon as possible. First, I decided to try to figure out Prince Ten’yuu’s goal. Without knowing his goal, I couldn’t act, so my ignorance was likely putting me at a disadvantage. Information was key.

Also, frankly, I was exhausted. I was an anxious mess, always afraid that he’d figure out who I really was. Franz, Oscar, and I had deliberated a bit, but in the end, all we could do was hypothesize and guess. I was incredibly tired of having to walk on eggshells because of theories. Therefore, it would be far easier to figure out his goal and make choices from there.

However, I knew I might really screw up if I tried to be too aggressive. Thus, I decided to take a more passive approach. For example, leaving things in the prince’s view that might be related to his goals and thereby inviting conversation.

And so, I selected a book from the palace library based on my previous conversations with the prince. It was a book containing the recipes for high-grade status cure potions.

“These high-grade potions sure cure a lot of different illnesses,” I remarked.

“Yes. It’s the same in my country as well.”

“Is that so? There are simply so many of them that it would be hard to remember them all.” I smiled in amusement as I complained about the sheer extent of the variety. The prince did the same.

There really were a whole lot of these kinds of potions. And truthfully, I didn’t know that much about them at all. I was only pretending to know a bit to get information out of the prince.

The reason I didn’t know much about status cure potions was because I’d never had a need to learn them. I had only made high-grade HP potions in order to raise my Pharmaceuticals skill level, after all. Not to mention, I just never really had a chance to make them anyway, since the palace ordered them from elsewhere. Apparently, all sorts of problems could arise if the palace had the institute take over making all of their potions—they had long-standing deals with companies to honor. 

As a result of all that, I had never made high-grade status cure potions besides the ones we used at the institute.

“The herbs used for these recipes are the same as the ones used in my country as well,” Prince Ten’yuu said.

“Really?”

“Yes. At least as far as the ones written about in here are concerned.”

“Then you must have more kinds of potions in Zaidera than we do. I remember you mentioned herbs that we don’t use in the kingdom.”

“I’m not so sure. Is this a record of every single one of the recipes for high-grade status cure potions made in this kingdom?”

I had a feeling that I had finally reached my mark. Thank goodness. It had been a wild guess, so there had been a possibility that I was wrong.

My heart raced a little as I responded. “This was just a book I happened to find in the library. There might be books with other kinds of recipes as well. Is there a particular kind you’re looking for?”

Prince Ten’yuu’s gaze wavered slightly at my light probing. Was he unsure about whether it would be okay to answer? I was impatient to hear his response, but I endured. If I tried to rush him, I was afraid that he’d clam up.

After a pause, he smiled. “I’m not looking for anything in particular. I was just curious if there were any unusual recipes or not.”

From the sound of his voice, it seemed like he was talking normally. However, the expression that crossed his face, even though it did so for just a brief moment, told me a different story. I was probably the only one to notice that too, since I had been watching his expression closely.

“Oh, I see.” It was unfortunate that he wouldn’t tell me, but I tried to gain control of my disappointment by telling a joke. “There really are a lot of status cure potions, aren’t there? If only there were a single potion that could cure them all, no matter what it was.”

“Something that could cure them all?”

“Yes, like a panacea, for example,” I rambled on. “If such a thing existed, then you wouldn’t have to memorize so many recipes.” 

Panacea: a kind of medicine that would cure any illness. It was a term I had run across in the video games I played back when I lived in Japan. 

It sure would make things a lot easier if we only had to memorize one recipe, even if it was difficult to make.

Meanwhile, Prince Ten’yuu repeated the word quietly to himself before smiling. “It really would be nice if such a potion existed. I bet with something like that, you’d be able to cure as yet incurable illnesses too.”

“Yeah, as well as illnesses that can’t be identified at a glance.”

“I’m sure you’re right. Do you know much about such things?”

“Hmm, I’m not sure.” I couldn’t say anything either. I wasn’t a doctor, but in the world I’d come from, it had been easy to obtain all sorts of information. There was a decent chance that I knew some things the doctors of this world didn’t.

Despite that, I shied from the idea of saying I knew a lot about health and wound up giving a vague answer.

Prince Ten’yuu gave me a dubious look, so I said I only really knew about symptoms. That was true, since I didn’t know how to actually cure illnesses.

“You know about symptoms?” he pressed. “Like what?”

“Hmm, well, you know, there are a lot of symptoms that don’t necessarily tell you what the underlying condition is… Like, how about when someone still feels sleepy no matter how much they sleep?”

“Isn’t it normal to feel sleepy? That can be an illness?”

“Yes, an illness where you feel sleepy throughout the day—and it’s not due to not getting enough rest.”

“I had no idea there was such an illness. Do you know of any others?”

“Let me think… If you lose a lot of weight at a rapid pace or if you stop being able to move like you’re used to.”

He hesitated for a moment. “You know of an illness that leads you to lose a lot of weight and prevents you from moving?”

“Yes. By not moving anymore, what I mean is that your muscles rapidly deteriorate or stiffen. The details of the symptoms differ depending on the illness.”

I couldn’t remember very much. But I was pretty sure that there were lots of symptoms that appeared similar but were actually different.

Prince Ten’yuu’s face grew deadly serious as he thought over what I said.

“Your Highness, it is about time for us to be on our way,” Prince Ten’yuu’s attendant said during the pause in our conversation.

It sounded like the prince had another engagement.

“That time already?” he said. “My thanks for yet another interesting conversation. I hope you will be willing to chat with me again at a later time.”

I watched the prince leave the room and quietly sighed.

I had been unable to figure out what Prince Ten’yuu was after. However, there was no doubt that he was interested in high-grade status cure potions. And considering the look on his face, that had to be his ultimate goal.

However, I still needed to confirm it. I would probably have to take a wait-and-see approach for a while. I didn’t like the idea that I would have to continue dealing with this anxiety-induced exhaustion, but I raised my arms up as if brushing the feeling away and yawned.

For now, I should finish reading that book I borrowed. I did enjoy looking at potion recipes, for some reason.

My eyes fell once more to the book on my desk.