Chapter 5
"All right, we're here! Hurry, hurry! There's something I wanted you to make. Oh, I'm Zephyrus. Nice to meet you!"
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Zephyrus-kun. I know you, though? We're from the same village. I mean, we're childhood friends, right? Why introduce yourself now??"
Keeping my energy up for no particular reason, I arrived at the alchemy shop. Then I remembered I'd meant to come here later—and that I still hadn't introduced myself—so I went ahead and did it, carried away by my enthusiasm. But the girl seemed to already know me.
Her face was practically covered in question marks.
She had no idea that I didn't know her name.
Well, no wonder she was confused.
No problem. In a situation like this, I just had to bluff my way through.
"Come on, when someone introduces themselves, you have to introduce yourself back. That won't fly once you leave the village, you know?"
I made something up and pushed ahead. She seemed to find it plausible enough, and spoke as if she'd accepted my explanation.
"Oh, is this practice for the academy? Now that you mention it, you said earlier that you were going around greeting people... Um, I'm Hannah. Nice to meet you?"
"Okay, okay. Just like that, just like that."
It seemed the girl was called Hannah-chan.
She hadn't had a name in the game, after all.
Even though this was 〈Dan-Katsu〉 as I knew it, there were all kinds of things about it that I didn't know scattered around me.
Even just learning Hannah's name was a fresh experience!
Since I'd managed to bluff my way through, I went into Hannah's home and alchemy shop with her.
She led me to a room in the back, and a nostalgic sight greeted me.
This place was still just like 〈Dan-Katsu〉.
I only ever went into the alchemy shop in the original 〈Nameless Village of Beginnings〉 when I replayed from the beginning, so it felt like ages since I'd last been here.
"Um, would you like some tea?"
"Oh, sure! Thanks!"
Hannah, who was acting strangely, offered me some tea, so I immediately accepted.
Come to think of it, I'd stopped speaking formally somewhere along the way. Was that because of our forced march just now?
Hannah disappeared deeper into the house after hearing my answer, then came back a little while later.
It looked like green tea, judging by its color.
This was something I'd never seen back when it was a game, either.
I took a sip, and it tasted exactly like green tea.
My first food or drink since coming to this world.
It has flavor! And a fragrance, too!
"Um, how is it?"
"...I'm moved!"
"That much?!"
Hannah was overreacting, but I wasn't joking.
I was genuinely moved.
And I could feel my thoughts about the future flare back to life.
This world had food items.
There'd been plenty of times when the food on the screen had made me think, "Damn, I want to eat that."
Now that it was real, I was going to try every single food item.
I made up my mind.
Anyway, now that I'd enjoyed my tea, it was time to get to the point.
"Hannah, by the way, where are your parents? The shop seemed to be closed."
"Um, well, I don't think my parents are here right now."
I knew that. Her parents were triggering a subquest somewhere else. The alchemy shop wouldn't open until I'd cleared it. I was relieved to see it worked the same way here.
"Well, that works out perfectly."
"P-perfectly?!"
At my words, Hannah's face instantly flushed bright red.
Ignoring her suspicious behavior, I took something out.
"I want you to use this to perform 'Alchemy.'"
"Huh?"
Maybe she'd gotten the wrong idea, because Hannah looked at my face, then my hand, then my face again. Her cheeks were fifty percent redder than before.
"What's wrong?"
"N-nothing! Nothing's wrong! Th-this is a request for 'Alchemy,' right...? You should've said so sooner!"
Stammering, she rattled off words as if trying to cover something up, then snatched the slime jelly from my hand.
This slime jelly was the drop item from the slime I'd defeated earlier.
My first drop in this real world. That was a little moving, too.
My first drop item was kind of slimy.
"S-so? What are you making with this? The only item I can make with slime jelly is Slime Konjac."
"No, I don't need Slime Konjac. For now, I want you to mix this in."
"...What is this?"
"Muddy water."
"I can tell just by looking! If I mix in something like this, it'll be a huge failure!"
"That's fine. I want to fail spectacularly."
"I don't get it..."
When I showed her the muddy water I'd just collected nearby, Hannah got confused again.
Is there any gear that protects against confusion?
Anyway, Hannah seemed in no hurry to move, so I reminded her, "Who was it that saved your life?" and gave her a push. At last, she reluctantly brought out the 〈Alchemy Set〉 and began preparing for 'Alchemy.'
"This combination is definitely going to fail."
"Yeah. It's definitely going to be a huge failure!"
"Ugh, I don't get it!"
"You'll see."
The 'Alchemy' Skill creates items by combining materials.
However, crafting requires recipes, and using materials that don't match one results in a Fumble. Using completely incompatible materials causes a Desert Fumble.
And when you get a Desert Fumble, a certain phenomenon occurs.
That was what I was after.
Hannah kept groaning as she prepared for Alchemy, then put the slime jelly and muddy water into something like a small earthenware pot.
Then she equipped a 〈'Alchemy Lv. 1' Bracelet〉, which had the 'Alchemy' Skill embedded in it, and finished getting ready.
"Um, are you really sure you want to do this? There's still time to—"
"All right, do it!"
"Waaah! Don't blame me if something happens! 'Alchemy'!"
The moment Hannah's 'Alchemy' activated, the earthenware-pot-shaped alchemy cauldron began glowing green, then instantly clouded over black and belched out a puff of smoke.
Good. From the looks of it, that was a complete Desert Fumble.
A few seconds later, something slimy crawled out of the alchemy cauldron.