The Power of the Saint is All Around (LN) - Volume 6 - Chapter 4

Act 4:

Status Cure Potions

I STILL HADN’T FIGURED OUT what Prince Ten’yuu was after, but I had learned a lot about high-grade status cure potions.

After that day, I continued looking into them. I borrowed more books in addition to the first and read them one after another. I had always been interested in potions, so naturally I was really into these.

As I studied, I learned that potions and medicine were only superficially similar. Unlike medicine, potions were effective immediately after drinking them. That didn’t just apply to HP and MP potions, but status cure potions too.

Also, potions didn’t seem to have any dreadful side effects, which medicines often could. I couldn’t help but notice that there was nothing written about side effects in the potion books. Herbs seemed to be able to cause them, though. So I could only assume that something about rendering herbs into potions removed the danger of negative impact.

I asked the other researchers to confirm this, and they had the same understanding, so it seemed likely to be true. They had no idea why there were no side effects though, and no one had ever looked into it before.

This lack of investigation probably had to do with the fact that researchers were often more interested in finding out how to make new things rather than why the things they could already make worked the way they did. Also, the resources available for our research were finite, so it was in a way unavoidable that no one had taken up the inquiry.

Also, while this was a given for status cure potions, there really were a lot of types of recipes. It was similar to Japanese medicine, in that the effects subtly changed depending on what ingredients you used, even among recipes for curing the same problem.

Because of that, the explanation for each potion was composed of extremely long sentences that were excruciating to decipher—so much so that I got a headache reading them.

“Seeeiii,” Jude called my name from behind as I stirred herbs in a small pot.

“Yeah?” I asked. His exasperated tone made me hesitate to turn around, so I responded without moving.

I heard him sigh and felt him move to stand right next to me. I timidly looked up at him. He was wearing an annoyed look on his face, one he didn’t bother hiding, just like I’d expected. I knew it…

“What are you making?” Jude asked.

“Potions for curing headaches.”

“Is it a recipe that came out of that book you were reading?”

“That’s right. It caught my interest when I was studying.”

No matter how absorbing the topic, it was easy to lose interest if the text was hard to read. Therefore, I had decided to try making one of the potions to do something else for a little while. There were a lot of types to choose from, so I’d selected the cure for a symptom with which I was quite familiar.

“I get that, but do you really need to be making so much? You’re not gonna use it in an experiment, right?”

“No, but I do need to practice, right? You know what they say: it’s best to prepare a shelter against every storm.”

“Huh? People say that? Where?”

“I dunno.”

“You don’t remember? Whatever. Anyway, it’s not like you need to have shelters prepared or whatever. You can use magic.”

“Maybe I don’t need to be prepared, but other people do, right?”

“Yeah, but usually no one uses high-grade potions because they’re so expensive.”

Jude was right. People didn’t normally use potions to cure diseases. Typically, they would just grind up herbs known to treat their symptoms, then boil and drink the results. Also, while high-grade potions could cure a number of illnesses, they were much, much more expensive than the cost of the ingredients on their own. Even nobles didn’t down potions so casually.

One of the reasons high-grade potions were expensive was because of the alchemist’s fee. Since there was a dearth of alchemists capable of brewing them, the cost was naturally higher. Not to mention, yet again, many of the ingredients were themselves expensive.

“And these herbs you’re using…don’t cost that much, I see.”

“Yup. The ingredients for this potion are easy to get.”

True fact: some status cure potions were made from cheap ingredients. One of those kinds happened to be the potion for headaches that I was at that moment brewing in my pot. This potion was inexpensive because the ingredients were so easy to grow.

“Also, I got the ingredients from the clients, so the only resource I’m spending is my time.”

“Clients?” Jude looked at me quizzically.

Our colleagues, I explained. They had given me the required herbs in exchange for a share of the finished product. This way, we weren’t incurring any cost for the materials, and I would get some of the potions as recompense for my labor.

I figured the researchers thought this was a bargain on their end because they could just give me herbs they had grown themselves and wouldn’t have to spend money on an expensive potion.

One of my colleagues had proposed this deal in the first place. She had noticed that I was interested in making high-grade status cure potions and recommended I make the kind for headaches. As it turned out, she frequently suffered from migraines, which was why she had broached the topic. Other researchers had overheard the conversation and said they wanted in too.

A lot of my coworkers suffered from migraines. In a way, it seemed like an occupational hazard. It also seemed like the sort of thing that would be cured if they lived more regulated lives, but some of them refused to adjust their lifestyles, or rather, they couldn’t. These were the kind of people who forgot to eat and sleep because they got so engrossed in their work, after all. It was these same people who wanted in on the potion for headaches.

“They’re asking for way too much for simply providing you with the ingredients. They should just boil and drink a standard medicinal concoction.”

“Yeah, but the symptoms go away immediately with potions, so they’d prefer that. Ah, okay, they’re finished.”

The potions were done, so Jude helped me with the bottling. It went much faster than I’d expected. When I went to hand out the potions to those who had given me ingredients, he said he’d help me out with that as well.

I decided to give him a bit of my portion of the potions in thanks. For some reason, he smiled and said he was happy to receive something I’d made.

All the researchers were delighted by the finished product. After I turned my back, I could’ve sworn I heard one say, “Now I’ll be able to pull an all-nighter.”

Hey, make sure you actually get the sleep you need!

I only doled out one or two per person, so I wanted them to regard these potions as something to keep on hand just in case of an emergency.

A little while after that, the people to whom I’d distributed the potions reported the results back to me. I hadn’t been expecting any reports so quickly, since I had made these potions to be used when people felt like it. However, we were researchers. Everyone at the institute was an expert on herbs, and furthermore, they weren’t afraid to experiment on themselves. They dutifully brought me their results as soon as possible.

The outcome was as I expected, which is to say, some people reported absolutely no effects. As it turned out, there were several different types of potions that could cure headaches. From these, I had picked one that targeted migraines, but it didn’t work for everyone. 

I had worried that things might go wrong because I was an amateur, but no one’s condition worsened as a result of drinking the potion. There were no side effects either, which I had also expected, given what I read in the book. Fortunately, this applied to the individuals on whom the potion didn’t work as well. 

Nevertheless, I suggested that anyone who saw no effect from the potion go get examined by a doctor. I offered to heal these poor untouched headache-sufferers with magic, but they decided this would make for a good experiment and politely declined.

I guess I can’t say I’m too surprised by that outcome either…

“This is tough,” I muttered to myself as I held a headache cure potion above my head.

“What is?” Jude asked.

I looked over my shoulder and smiled wryly at him. “It’s hard to choose which kind of status cure potion to make.”

“Oh, that again? Yeah, it can be.” He smiled wryly back and nodded. He had likely heard about my results from the other researchers.

“Perhaps it’d be best to have them examined by a doctor before picking which kind to make,” I said.

“That’d be a good idea, but I doubt they’d recommend using a potion for treatment.”

“True,” I said as I remembered Prince Ten’yuu.

I still have no idea what he’s after. I assumed he was looking for some kind of high-grade potion that would cure a specific status abnormality. Or was he looking for someone who could make them? 

Based on the results of this one potion, I had a feeling that there was more to it than finding a single potion for a given problem. As the prince knew so much about potions, I was sure he had realized that. Which meant that his goal wasn’t just to acquire a specific potion, but to… 

The more I thought it over, the more depressed I became, so I shook my head in an effort to rid myself of the feeling and put the headache cure potion into the storage box.

***

I spent the following days studying high-grade status cure potions—until the day we were informed that Prince Ten’yuu would once again be visiting. For a time, he had been coming daily, so although the gap between this visit and his last had been brief, it felt like it had been forever.

Last time, I read a book to purposefully draw out his interest. I hoped that would lead me to his true intentions, but…what should I do this time? I thought when I heard the announcement. 

But then some time passed and I completely forgot about it. In fact, I didn’t remember that he was coming to visit until he spoke to me while I was out in the herb garden. 

“Hello.”

“Huh?!” I was watering the plants while lost in thought, so he took me completely by surprise.

I turned around, saw him, and quickly said hello back.

I-I totally forgot that he was coming. Did he only just get here? Or did he come from the institute? I wondered as the prince crouched down on the edge of the garden to more closely observe the plants.

“Are you the one growing these herbs?” he asked.

“Y-yes, that’s right. All of us researchers have plots for experimenting with, and this corner is mine.”

“So those neighboring plots belong to other researchers.”

“That’s right.”

Prince Ten’yuu remained crouched as he looked around.

I started telling him about the herbs I was growing. The ones I had just watered weren’t grown in Zaidera, so he asked me some questions about them. We started talking about more specific details, and he asked me to come closer to the herbs, so I sidled up beside him.

After we’d been like that for a little while, he suddenly changed the subject, his voice low. “By the way, do you know much about a disease that gradually weakens your body? One that would also leave you unable to move your limbs?”

“Huh?” I asked automatically, but he didn’t say anything back.

I frowned at the prince, but he merely pinched the leaf of an herb between his fingers to examine it.

I’m guessing he doesn’t want anyone else to hear? I doubted that his knight escort standing behind us could hear exactly what we were discussing. To them, it probably looked like he had asked me another question about the herbs.

If I had heard him correctly, he was asking me about a disease. If you were unable to move your body, that meant that your muscles had atrophied, right? I couldn’t claim to be an expert, but I had heard of such symptoms before. However, I knew that similar symptoms could arise from totally different diseases, so I couldn’t say for certain that I was thinking of exactly what he had in mind.

Not to mention, this was a completely different world. It was possible that the diseases here were entirely different from the ones found in my world of origin.

In any case, I lowered my voice as well and told Prince Ten’yuu only that I had indeed heard of such symptoms before.

“Is there a way to cure it?” he asked.

I thought for a moment, but again, I wasn’t an expert. I couldn’t come up with an answer. “I would have to do some research.”

It was possible that I just didn’t know about them, but I had a feeling that this world lacked a number of medications and treatments that had existed in my old world. However, this world did have plenty of things that my old world definitely hadn’t, such as magic and potions. That was the reason for my answer.

“I see…” Prince Ten’yuu’s expression darkened slightly. 

“Do you not have any way to treat it in Zaidera?”

“We have a means by which to slow the progress of the symptoms, but only that. A certain medicine that one drinks, which is said to revitalize the body.”

I was at a loss for what to say next. I watched the prince drop his gaze while still touching the leaf. If he was going to all this trouble to make it seem like we were talking about the plants, I suspected that we were dancing around the real reason for his visit to the kingdom.

If I wanted to keep my identity a secret, I needed to brush this all aside. However, I was a bit hesitant. I did enjoy talking with the prince, after all. We didn’t just discuss herbs unique to Zaidera and their related potions, but what sounded to me like medicinal cooking and the ingredients that went into that. All in all, I had been incredibly interested in everything he had to say.

That wasn’t the only reason for my hesitation though. Thanks to discussing my research with the prince, I had come up with some intriguing theories. And I had truly enjoyed the conversations that led to those ideas.

If I pushed Prince Ten’yuu away now, what would happen? Would I be able to continue our discussions, which I found so enlightening? Or would my refusal spell the end of this time I’d so enjoyed? This thought made me balk.

This was not a good relationship for me to nurture. I had been so cautious at first, but I had the feeling that just like the other researchers, I, too, had been caught in Prince Ten’yuu’s trap unawares.

But I want to go down this path just a bit longer. I probably won’t be permitted to look for a method of treatment, though. As I reached that conclusion, I felt like a terrible researcher.

So be it. It was possible that all sorts of people would be incredibly angry with me for doing this, but I had made up my mind. “Shall we try to find a way?” I asked.

“Huh?” Prince Ten’yuu looked at me with surprise.

I smiled at him. “I’ve never done any research on how to cure the symptoms you told me about. But this could be a good excuse, so shall we?”

He was flabbergasted. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. Oh! But if you happen to have any technical books from Zaidera that could be related to the issue, would you mind lending them to me? Perhaps there’s a cure among the herbs that grow there.”

“All right,” the prince agreed with a smile. “I brought several books with me, so I’ll bring them next time.”

“Thank you!” I smiled back.

Although Prince Ten’yuu was all smiles, he still looked sad, and he shook his head ever so slightly.

***

“You want to develop a new kind of potion?” 

“That’s right.”

After Prince Ten’yuu left, I immediately headed to Johan’s office. I told him the symptoms that Prince Ten’yuu had described to me and that I’d like to develop a potion that could cure them.

Johan dropped his gaze as he thought this over for a moment before looking straight at me again. “I know you’ve been fervently studying status cure potions recently, but why do you want to make another?”

“Uh, um…”

I didn’t want to tell anyone else the details of the conversation, since Prince Ten’yuu didn’t seem to want anyone to know. However, in order to make potions at the institute, you had to report your work to Johan. My eyes darted all about the room; I felt stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Johan sighed loudly at my hesitation. “Let me guess: This has something to do with Prince Ten’yuu?”

Right on the money. I nodded. “Yes.”

Johan smiled knowingly at me. “What’s got you so troubled then? Did he tell you not to tell anyone?”

“Not exactly. But I got the feeling he didn’t want it to get out, or something like that.”

“Ah. Well, you have to tell me anyway, right? It’s necessary for your safety.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

Johan was right. As someone who worked in a research facility in the Kingdom of Salutania, I had a duty to make full reports to Johan. Not to mention, the upper echelons in the palace wanted to know what Prince Ten’yuu was actually up to as well. This was to ensure my safety as the Saint.

Despite that, I felt unsure as to whether to tell the truth or not, when I took Prince Ten’yuu’s feelings into account. I also felt guilty, since I had caused this predicament by prioritizing my own desire to talk to Prince Ten’yuu for the sake of my research.

Now that Johan had more or less pointed that out and I was forced to think back on my actions, I was depressed by the extent to which I had been an awful employee. 

“So, what was it again? Your body gradually becomes unable to move anymore? I’ve never heard of a symptom like that.” Johan changed the subject as I sank into thought, probably hoping to lighten the mood.

Still feeling a bit down, I answered, “Where I come from, there were a few diseases that caused that sort of thing.”

“Interesting. And you had medicine that could cure it?”

“No, I’m pretty sure we didn’t.”

“So, you want to try to make something that didn’t exist even back in your home world?”

“That’s right. Things exist here that don’t exist back there, so I thought…maybe it’s possible that I could figure something out.”

“I’m not saying it’s impossible, but it sounds like finding the cure will be difficult.”

“You think so too?”

Johan nodded with a grin. “Yes. But why not try anyway?”

I stared at him, astonished. After everything he’d said, I had assumed he would be against the idea. “Huh? Really? I can?”

“Why not? This happens all the time with research. Some of us even get more motivated when we have a harder problem.”

“But—”

“I can see how Prince Ten’yuu’s been a good influence on everyone. It’d be nice to see if we can try to return the favor by helping him out a bit,” Johan said in a cheerful tone, ridding me of some of my guilt.

I hesitated before replying, “Thank you.” My smile was forced at first, but it soon widened into a genuine grin.

“Oh yeah, even if you do find a way to cure it, be discreet about the time and place when you make it. We can’t have him finding out your true abilities, after all.”

Basically, I wasn’t to actively experiment in front of Prince Ten’yuu. I was grateful just to have been given permission, so I had no quarrel with that.

“I understand.” I nodded, and Johan smiled with relief.

***

I worked basically every day for the two weeks after that conversation with Prince Ten’yuu in the herb garden.

First, I began researching diseases that made people unable to move their bodies anymore. This was where research on status cure potions always had to start. The potion wouldn’t work unless you accurately matched it to a specific condition.

After getting more details from Prince Ten’yuu, I moved forward with the essential yet straightforward part of the work: I read absolutely every single book related to the subject in the palace library, and I asked my colleagues all sorts of questions. I might have been able to do research more easily if only I’d had a computer and a search engine, but I didn’t, so I was stuck relying on the resources I had at my disposal.

Unfortunately, the results were disappointing. Not only could I not find any books that listed information about this illness, but no one had heard of anyone with this type of affliction either.

Perhaps even if someone did have that condition, people of this world had overlooked it because they had chalked it up to a weak constitution or old age? The lack of information made me think that this was a distinct possibility.

“Hmm, there’s nothing here.” I muttered in disappointment to myself as I closed the book I had just finished scanning.

“Doesn’t seem like you’re having any luck at all.” I heard a voice next to me and looked up to find Jude with a mug in hand. He had been watching me read, as he was on a break.

“The fact that I can’t find anything makes me wonder if such an illness even exists.”

“You said it’s a condition where you gradually lose the ability to move your body?”

“That’s right.”

“Maybe it’s described in a different way or something?”

“What do you mean?”

“Like, your body feels sluggish until you stop being able to move.”

“Oh, maybe.”

“Do you have any other ideas?”

“I do, actually. I’ve been wondering if there’s no records of it because people don’t think it’s an illness, even though it actually is.”

“Ah, yeah. I can see that.” Jude knew how much I had been researching lately, so this was probably why he had tried to give some advice.

Someone offering you their thoughts and opinions could be a real boon. It was an excellent way to help you think through other points of view. It was entirely possible that Jude was exactly right—that the condition was just described using words other than the ones I had been looking for.

Does that mean I have to restart my research from the very beginning? I sighed. “You might be on to something. I guess I’ll have to read every book all over again.”

“You’re not going to give up?”

“Not yet. I’ve only just begun, after all. And I mean, it bothers me that I haven’t found anything.”

“Why’s that?” Jude gave me a quizzical look. 

I explained that I had told Prince Ten’yuu that I was familiar with the symptoms he described. Now I would look like a liar if I came back to him saying I couldn’t find anything about the illness.

Also, it would be a problem if he asked me where I had heard about it. I could probably just say that I had forgotten, though. However, I hesitated to tell him such a lie, because I couldn’t forget the expression on his face when I originally said I’d heard of such an illness. He had looked like he had finally found a sliver of hope after being on the verge of giving up. I was incredibly reluctant to snuff the spark I had lit in him.

“But if I can’t find anything, I guess there’s nothing I can do about it.”

“Yeah. It’s not like you can lie and tell him you found something either.”

In the end, talking to Jude didn’t change anything. For the time being, I prayed I’d find something as I reached for the next book.

A few days went by, and I still hadn’t found anything despite keeping in mind Jude’s thought about different sorts of descriptions. Then we got word that Prince Ten’yuu would be visiting the institute.

For a moment, I felt like my time had finally come. I was unbelievably depressed, but I knew it would probably be for the best to just tell the prince the truth. I awaited his arrival feeling like a criminal who had received their sentence, paging through a book as the minutes slipped by.

“I apologize for skipping the usual pleasantries, but did you manage to find any information?” Prince Ten’yuu asked immediately after saying hello. He must have been awfully eager to hear what I had learned, and it killed me to give him the bad news.

“No. Unfortunately, I did not.”

Prince Ten’yuu frowned, just as I’d thought he would. “I see. I did some research as well and couldn’t find any new information either.”

“I am so, so sorry. And, um, I’m afraid I can’t remember where I first heard about those symptoms either.”

“It happens quite often. Don’t worry yourself with it.” The prince smiled slightly. However, the smile vanished soon after and his gaze dropped to his feet, a sorrowful expression on his face.

“Um…” I wanted to say something, my heart pinching with concern.

He instantly recovered that slight smile. “Oh, don’t mind me.”

During research, there are times when it takes an exceedingly long while for this essential part of the process to produce any results. In other words, it was entirely normal that I hadn’t yet found anything despite all the investigation I’d done. Despite this, Prince Ten’yuu looked quite disappointed. It was probably because of that hope that had just awoken within him. However, he also expressed an understanding that this sort of thing happened a lot. If he had predicted this outcome, then was there another reason why he looked so sad?

I wonder why he made that face. Is it okay if I ask him? I was a bit worried about doing so, but I ultimately couldn’t keep my anxiety bottled up inside. “Is something troubling you?” I asked cautiously.

He hesitated before answering. “No.”

“Um, if you don’t wish to tell me, then that’s fine, but you never know. It might help in our research.”

The prince hesitated again before slowly saying, “We might not have enough time.”

“Time?”

“Yes. We’re running out of time.”

What does he mean by that? 

That question was answered by his next confession. My frown grew ever deeper as he continued.

Prince Ten’yuu’s mother was a concubine of the emperor, and she was suffering from an illness that caused the symptoms we were researching. At some point, the prince’s mother, who had once been able to walk normally, had begun to trip and stumble. Not long after that, she could no longer hold a writing brush. A doctor had examined her, but he had been unable to determine the cause, since he had never heard of such symptoms. The condition had since progressed, and the prince’s mother was now confined to her bed, unable to stand.

Notably, while the prince couldn’t say exactly when the symptoms had started, she had already endured them for several years before she was first examined by a doctor. In other words, it wasn’t an illness that progressed quickly, but when I considered the fact that she couldn’t get out of bed anymore, I understood why Prince Ten’yuu feared that she didn’t have much time left.

“So your mother is the one who’s sick.”

“Yes…”

As we spoke, I found myself remembering my own mom, whom I doubted I’d ever get a chance to meet again.

In Japan, I had taken a job so far from where my parents lived that I’d had to get my own place. I’d probably only seen them once a year. It was likely because I had been used to that that I hadn’t missed them too often after I was summoned to Salutania. 

But that was also probably because, in my memory, they were still alive. Imagining one of them being sick like Prince Ten’yuu’s mother, not knowing whether they would live to see another day…it hurt my heart.

This complicated things. At first, I had been planning to make a potion that would cure a status abnormality, since potions could instantly cure effects, and you didn’t have to bother worrying about how long treatment would take.

However, in this case, it was possible that wouldn’t be enough. After all, the slightest difference in symptoms meant that a given status cure potion might not actually work. And in that case, we would have to find an entirely different kind of potion.

If only there were a potion that could cure any effect, no matter what it was…

I quietly made up my mind.