Chapter 37
"That's unusual."
"Did you figure something out?"
Dorea dropped reagent onto the sediment clinging to the flask and watched the reaction.
The reagent dripped onto the potion residue left after it burned white, swelling like mercury dropped onto aluminum and forming a peculiar shape inside the flask.
The result, made of pure-white crystals, resembled coral.
Dorea's eyes sharpened.
Dorea used a pair of tongs to reach into the flask and break off a piece of the white substance.
Dorea licked it with their tongue.
"Salty."
"Me too."
Dorea broke the white substance into smaller pieces again, and one rolled across my palm.
I picked up a small piece and licked it with the tip of my tongue. Just as Dorea had said, it was salty.
"Is it salt?"
"No, it's a mana-infused substance. It doesn't look like anything else was used. They soaked salt in mana and mixed it into water."
"Is that all?"
"I don't know who made it, but they're simple-minded. They did little more than force mana into it to amplify its effect."
Dorea clicked their tongue and criticized the skill of whoever had made the potion.
"It's terribly wasteful. The mana put into this would be enough to make thirty thousand low-grade potions and then some. I have to ask, though—was this made as a joke by the chief mage of the Blue Magic Tower?"
"Does someone have to be the chief mage of a magic tower to make something like this?"
"Their skill at infusing mana would have to be at least that good. Do you think it's easy to confine this much mana in ordinary salt? Hundreds of times more mana is being spent just to contain it. But if the purpose was to show off one's mana control, there could hardly be anything better."
Insults and praise coexisted.
Dorea's expression relaxed as they shook the salt sculpture inside the flask, breaking its shape apart.
It crumbled into powder, and whenever the flask moved, some of the remaining clumps collided with one another and grew smaller.
"Still, it doesn't seem to be a suspicious concoction. Perhaps a wizard made it as a test and dumped the leftovers here. It would be a waste to throw away, but it's difficult to find a use for it."
"I see. Then..."
I pointed at the salt powder inside the flask.
"Can you track mana using the mana remaining in this salt?"
Dorea's hand stopped.
Dorea narrowed their eyes and glared at me.
"There is a way."
"Then..."
"But I don't want to."
Dorea waved their hands dismissively.
"It's obviously the work of a powerful mage. Even if I don't have much longer to live, I don't want to buy a quick death for myself."
Dorea clicked their tongue.
Dorea rekindled the fire in the furnace and heated the pot.
"Don't pass that kind of danger off onto an old man."
Dorea's wariness was unmistakable.
"I didn't explain enough."
I tossed the small salt crystal pinched between my index finger and thumb into my mouth.
"I'm asking you to find a material that has good compatibility with mana. I already know who the owner of the mana is."
"Earlier, you said..."
"I said I didn't know what it did. I never said I didn't know who made it."
"Hmm..."
Dorea still seemed reluctant as they crossed their arms. Dorea agonized over whether I was telling the truth or improvising to deceive them.
".....It's safe, right?"
"I guarantee it. If you complete this, we should be able to obtain high-quality mana herbs."
Dorea's eyes lit up.
"Can it be finished right away?"
"Wait. I'll prepare it immediately. Thanks to you, I've felt like I've returned to my younger days lately!"
As expected, the best way to persuade someone was to appeal to their desires.
Dorea's hands moved skillfully across the workbench.
Dorea poured the salt powder into a mortar, ground it with a pestle, and mixed it with black powder. Dorea added a reagent from the cupboard, kneaded the mixture, then tossed it into the furnace and burned it.
Dorea ground the thoroughly charred mixture again and stuffed it into a small pouch.
The process looked incredibly simple, but the proportions, pressure, and timing were all perfect.
Dorea let the pouch's cord hang down, grasped both ends, and held it up for me to see.
"This is mana-tracking incense."
It was an incense pouch for tracking mana.
"It's made by giving mana a scent. If there is a material nearby that is compatible with mana, the incense will glow and guide you to it."
Dorea handed me the incense pouch.
"I'll put it to good use."
"But be careful."
Dorea added with a stern expression.
"The scent won't spread very far, but if there's a monster within its range, it will target you first. You won't be able to travel discreetly."
"I'll keep that in mind."
I tucked the necklace into my clothes and left the shop.
***
The next morning.
Elena and her party members had gathered at the guild training ground outside the city walls.
The early-morning air was still quite chilly, and the party members each shivered.
Before setting out, they checked their equipment.
Elena now inspected her equipment out of habit, but her mind had drifted elsewhere.
Yesterday, Mister had smelled of an unfamiliar woman.
She had assumed the strong medicinal scent had come from Dorea's shop, but there had been a long strand of pink hair stuck to Mister's collar.
And it had been extremely long.
Had a woman with hair like that been near Mister?
'Was Mister seeing someone?'
She felt terribly uncomfortable.
She lightly kicked at the dirt with her toes, taking out her frustration on an innocent pebble.
Whether Mister dated someone or met a woman was none of her business. Mister had merely chosen her as someone to look after him. What right did she have, when all she had ever done was accept his help?
Her mind understood that perfectly, yet her chest felt tight and stifled.
That flashy pink hair kept flickering before her eyes.
A wave of inexplicable irritation surged through her.
"Elena, why do you look like that first thing in the morning? Did something happen?"
Mira sidled over and asked while checking her bowstring.
Elena hesitated, then carefully opened her mouth.
"If traces of a woman were on a man you knew... For example, if a woman's hair were stuck to his clothes... what would that mean?"
Though the answer had already taken shape in her mind, she desperately tried to ignore it and sought an answer.
Mira's eyes widened.
"Oh my, has our cheeky party leader finally caught the spring fever?"
She was intrigued by the chance to give the youngest party leader romantic advice.
Elena was at exactly that age.
'At Elena's age, it wouldn't be strange for her to have one or two boyfriends.'
Unless she intended to enter a convent, it was strange for a girl Elena's age to still be a virgin.
The first man in the life of a woman who had remained chaste this long.
Mira's lips twitched.
"You're talking about a man you like, aren't you?"
"I don't like him. He's just someone I know."
"Come on, don't dodge the question."
Mira's curiosity grew, and she stepped closer.
"Who is it?"
"Um..."
Mira's eyes sparkled as she pressed Elena for an answer.
Elena fidgeted, then eventually stuck out her lower lip.
"...Mister."
Mira's expression twisted for an instant.
Eck.
The infamous A-rank adventurer.
Because he was one of the city's only three powerhouses, every adventurer in Reator had heard rumors about his whereabouts.
A scumbag who made women cry, beat people, and extorted other people's belongings.
Rumors were everywhere that he slept with women indiscriminately, and Elena had fallen for him.
"Ah, y-yes. Mr. Eck. Hmm... In cases like that... it's obvious."
Mira broke into a cold sweat.
To get this child to give up on Eck, she would have to tell her the truth.
Eck's name was smeared with filth.
Elena was already in Eck's clutches, but it would be too tragic if he captured her heart as well.
Mira and the other two party members had steeled themselves, asked Eck to take them on, and entered his service, but Elena seemed not to know his true nature.
"W-what else could it mean that a woman's hair was stuck to his clothes? It's proof they're so intimate they even walk around with their bodies pressed together. They spent the night together."
"T-the night together?"
"A gallant man like Mr. Eck probably keeps two or three women around."
"Two or three women."
Elena's shoulders slumped.
'Of all people, she had to fall for Eck.'
Eck was someone she could respect as an adventurer, but as a person, he was another matter.
Besides, how many years apart were Eck and Elena?
In just a few years, Elena would be left caring for an old Eck.
As a fellow woman and as a member of Elena's party, Mira couldn't stand by and let this lovely maiden be caught in an old man's clutches and prevented from blooming.
'But I can't say it outright.'
After all, Elena's party had come together through Eck's arrangement. Without his help, they would still be bottom-tier adventurers crawling along the floor.
Eck also oversaw their combat training from time to time, so Mira couldn't openly confront him.
Even if he was the worst kind of person, she respected him as an adventurer.
Mira would tell Elena the truth, but leave the decision to her.
That was the best Mira could do.
However, as she carefully observed Elena, Mira soon furrowed her brow.
A hunter's keen eyes detected a subtle discrepancy.
Elena looked bitter.
"Did you think there was no hope?"
"Huh? What?"
"No, I mean... You reacted as if you hadn't intended to become Mr. Eck's woman."
"Huh? I'm just a doormat who takes care of Mister. Whether he brings women around or not has nothing to do with me. If Mister saw me as a woman, he would have made a move on me already."
Before Mira could say anything, Elena continued.
"It's just a strange feeling. If Mister has someone he plans to marry, I'd have to keep seeing Mister for a long time too. Thinking about that makes me feel a little awkward... and strange."
"Aren't you jealous?"
"Jealous?"
Elena retraced her own feelings.
Jealousy.
"I don't know. Maybe what I'm feeling right now is jealousy?"
"If you don't know, then it isn't jealousy."
At least, it wasn't jealousy born of romantic feelings.
Mira realized the true nature of the emotion Elena held.
Elena's past, which she had told them about in the forest; her family's circumstances; the resolve with which she had become an adventurer to overcome them; and Eck's help.
If Elena had been jealous, she couldn't have said, 'I don't know.'
"Elena, could it be that..."
Mira suddenly found it difficult to answer.
'...Do you see him as a substitute for your father?'
She couldn't bring herself to finish the question.
Watching Elena let out a bitter sigh, Mira closed her mouth.
Just then, someone approached from the direction of the city gate.
"Good thing I caught you before you left."
A low voice rang across the training ground.
It was Eck.
Elena's head snapped up. Strength flooded her shoulders, which had been drooping moments earlier, and she ran toward Eck to greet him.
Eck handed Elena a pouch.
"Take it."
"What's this?"
"It will help you find mana herbs. Be sure to collect any herbs that react to this. And..."
Eck briefly explained how to use the pouch, which appeared to be a magic tool, along with its precautions.
Mira watched the two of them.
Now that she knew what lay behind Elena's gaze as she looked at Eck, the scene appeared different.
She became terribly troubled.
"Mira, what's wrong?"
"Is there a problem?"
Hans and Duke approached and asked.
"Do you know what the biggest headache in the world is?"
"Why are you suddenly asking?"
"Being in debt?"
Mira let out a deep sigh.
"It's when you start hoping you might become family with someone you want to call family."
"What are you talking about?"
"I don't know either."
Hans and Duke tilted their heads.
"Mister, I'll find lots!"
"Be careful of ambushes."
"Yes!"
Meanwhile, Elena answered Eck energetically, like a child receiving an errand.
Mira watched the scene and quietly swallowed her plan. How could she break the blind stubbornness of someone who wanted to become family with him?
That was no longer an emotion that could be resolved by simply having someone talk her out of it.
Elena and Eck becoming a couple.
'...Huh?'
Thinking about it, Eck's abusive behavior had diminished ever since he met Elena.
No, it had all but disappeared.
'Were they actually meant to end up together?'
Mira fell into serious contemplation.