The Beginning Of Development

In the afternoon, I decided to go visit the residential district.

With the restoration and construction work settling down, it sounded like things were finally going to start in earnest.

“Feels weird to go empty-handed, so I’ll make something as a gift and bring it along.”

Mark was hugging the honey jar and dancing happily.

Tom also seemed to be up, so I left the two of them to watch the house and headed out.

In the residential district, rubble still remained on the plots belonging to the lower-ranked classes tucked away in the corners.

But on the main street, where the mid-ranked and higher classes had their plots, many houses were lined up in rows.

They were all simple wooden buildings, but production-job students had set up workshops, and students aiming to be merchants had opened shops.

There was even a restaurant, and the terrace seats were bustling with students leisurely enjoying lunch.

Everywhere on the main street felt lively and crowded—truly the look of development just beginning.

Just watching it made me feel energized too.

“Mmm, this is great! This feeling—lots of small energies gathering together and producing an energy many times bigger! This is what I wanted to experience, which is why I enrolled in a development-type academy! Let’s see…”

Out of curiosity, I thought about peeking into a shop that caught my eye, but…

At the entrance was a sign: “Special Training Class students not allowed.”

When I looked around, every single shop had a posted notice refusing me.

They all looked identical, so someone probably made them in bulk and handed them out.

“Good grief, so I can’t even shop in stores.”

Or so I thought, but there was exactly one shop without the notice posted.

The sign read “Akemi’s Potion Shop,” and a long line of male students had formed outside it.

“I’m not good at waiting in line, but… I promised Akemi I’d drop by after she opened.”

With no choice, I joined the very end of the line, when the girl holding the signboard went, “Ah!”

“Leopin-kun, you don’t need to line up. Akemi-sama said that if you came, you were to be shown in immediately. This way, please.”

Guided by the girl, I slipped past the line like some kind of VIP.

The guys waiting in line showered me with jealous grumbling.

“Damn it—he doesn’t even have a job, and he doesn’t have to wait…!”

“That’s usually a privilege for only top-tier jobs like Hero or Sage…!”

“Why is Akemi-sama favoring garbage like that…!?”

Inside, past the wide-open entrance, the shop was packed with customers.

Shelves were lined with small bottles of potions, and in the sunlight they cast a mysterious glow.

A girl at the checkout counter was loudly giving instructions.

“Okay! If you buy a potion, you can enter the room next door for five minutes! After five minutes, come back out and line up again, okay~!”

Even though I hadn’t bought anything, the girl led me into the next room.

It was thick with the heat of male students, all of them craning to peer into a window set into the wall.

Beyond that was what looked like an alchemy workshop.

In a dark room with the curtains drawn shut, Akemi was working by candlelight alone.

It was unbelievably mystical—and captivating.

The scent drifting out was sweet and heavy, and the male students were like flies drawn to a carnivorous plant.

“I see. If you buy something, you get five minutes to watch Akemi at work. But what are they even planning to do by watching that?”

Even so, it seemed irresistible to Akemi’s fans.

If Akemi tilted her face toward the window even slightly, they erupted—“Ah, she looked at me!” “No, she looked at me!”—making a huge fuss.

I thought maybe this was as far as I was allowed to go, but I was naturally guided all the way into the workshop.

The jealousy from the other side of the window got even worse.

“W-Why is some guy inside the workshop!?”

“Akemi-san’s workshop is top secret—so secret they call it the ‘Secret Garden’!”

“It’s every man’s dream…!? And yet, and yet—so jealous I could dieeeeee!”

So many murderous stares stabbed at me from all directions.

It was so unbearably uncomfortable that I decided I’d just say hello and leave quickly.

“Yo, Akemi. Business looks booming.”

“Mm-hmm, seems like it.”

“Here—an opening gift. Take this.”

Keeping the small talk brief, I pulled a ceramic piece from my coat pocket and offered it to Akemi.

“This is… a mortar…?”

“Yeah. I started pottery recently. I figured you’d use a mortar for alchemy work, so I tried making one.”

The instant Akemi saw the pattern on the outside of the mortar, she froze.

“Ah… could this be…?”

“That’s right. It’s the Black-Purple flower. I mixed the actual flower into the glaze, so the coloring matches perfectly, right?”

“How did you know… that I like this flower…?”

“How could I not? It was drawn on the sign outside.”

Before, when I’d met Akemi while she was working in a tent, I’d noticed the shop sign.

Along with the words “Akemi’s Potion Shop,” I remembered there being a black-purple flower drawn on it.

Akemi let out a breathy, astonished sigh.

“Ahh… I’m amazed…”

“To think there’s a man who can recognize the Black-Purple flower…”

That was also thanks to the job skills from Mana Farmer.

In the candlelight, Akemi’s eyes reflected like the surface of water.

Her glossy lips moved, spinning soft, moist words.

“…There was something I decided long ago.”

“What?”

“I can’t say it too loudly, so come a little closer. Bring your face closer, okay?”

When I did as she said, Akemi leaned in too, and whispered as if blowing breath against my ear.

“Mmm-hmm…! The first man who gave me this flower—I’ll never let him go for the rest of my life…!”

The next moment, Akemi hugged me tight like a spider pouncing on its prey—

…suddenly…!

—pulling me into her arms.

Before I could even think, “What the—!?” my body was wrapped in a soft sensation.

…Chu, chu, chu…!

And on my cheek, a clinging, sucking sensation.

From beyond the window came a deafening, explosive shriek.

“W-Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat!?!?”