A Motherlode, Without A Doubt (6)

I saw Allena quietly slip out of the bedroom at dawn. From her expression, I could tell she was quite satisfied, and though what I’d forced on her at the very end weighed on my mind, she seemed to enjoy even that; in the end she gave me devoted clean up and I felt grateful to Allena, resolving to make her a good set of remedies later so she could take care of her body.

And after a doze-like sleep through dawn into late morning, it was Seria who woke me.

“Lord, please wake up!”

Because her voice sounded a little different than usual, I rubbed my eyes and forced myself up; the quilt slid down with a soft swish and fell under the bed. It seemed the blanket had struggled a bit too hard to get off the bed when Allena was leaving. And of all times, my other “personality” giving a good-morning greeting was poking up, clear as day.

“Kyaaah!!”

Seria covered only her face, keeping her eyes peeking through her fingers—what in the world was she doing…?

I was dumbfounded, but I carefully lowered my hand to cover the fellow giving that morning greeting and spoke.

“How long do you plan to stare?”

Only then did Seria seem to realize her mistake; she hurriedly turned around, stammering.

“S-sorry. I’m so sorry. I—I, by accident. I… uwaa…”

She stopped mid-sentence, flung the door open, and dashed out. I thought, is that really something to be that embarrassed about? But then again, she had seen a strange man’s genitals—maybe that reaction made sense.

But I started to feel oddly unsettled at how unruffled I myself was.

“What… is wrong with me…? Or am I getting weird…?”

Whatever it was, it didn’t feel like a good change. Resolving to be careful next time, I got out of bed; I didn’t like the state down below—obvious traces of love making—so I had no choice but to grab the quilt, roughly cover myself, open the door, and call out into the hall.

“Could you bring some water for washing?”

There was a washroom installed, but the tub worked by filling it with water to use. As if she knew exactly what I meant, Seria’s voice came back in a fluster.

“Is it… my turn this time…?”

“I’m not that kind of shameless man, you know? And the earlier situation wasn’t even something I intended… please don’t misunderstand me.”

“…But… um… I’m sorry. Understood. I’ll prepare the water.”

Seria scurried off. There seemed no sign that the misunderstanding would clear.

“This is bad… I might be treated like trash at this rate…?”

I was a noble now; even if they wanted to insult me to my face, they couldn’t. But I didn’t think it was good if my reputation itself turned into “trash” and that talk spread among the maids.

So should I explain what happened, for now?

Thinking that, I waited for Seria. After a while, Ariana and another maid came in carrying water buckets along with her.

It was always strange to see them hoist such large buckets so easily; today, as ever, one maid with a strong, sturdy image carried the jugs. Watching that, I reminded myself again that the common sense of this world should not be measured against the world I’d lived in.

While I sat there wrapped head to toe in the quilt, staring blankly outside, the tub filled. With Ariana and the other maid stepping back out, Seria stayed behind, which made me wonder, and I asked.

“Why are you still here?”

“…Weren’t you… planning to have me attend you for your bath…?”

“…I wasn’t.”

I felt a bit deflated. Seria’s fluster was obvious; face bright red, she squeaked “My lord is mean,” then darted out.

What on earth was “mean” here?

Because she thought I teased her?

Or because I didn’t have her attend my bath?

I didn’t know which part she meant, but I first walked to the door, carefully slid the bolt, and then hurried straight to the tub.

After that I scrubbed thoroughly to get rid of the distinctive smell, took the bath, and stepped out feeling relatively neat and clean. I put on the prepared clothes and was able to leave the room.

“Please clean the room a bit. The quilt and… things might be a bit dirty.”:

The maids sighed at my words; I felt needlessly sorry. So I tossed out a line.

“I’ll make cosmetics for you later, so please bear with the trouble.”

Meeting the late morning like that, I first went into the workshop and took two bottles of Physical Ability Enhancement Potion out of the subspace pouch. Then, as promised, I started on the “magic” of swelling those two bottles into a hundred.

It was diluting them to a frankly absurd degree, but I figured the performance would be similar to the low-grade products sold in shops.

Feeling sorry, during the purification and dilution with water, I even poured in mana generously and lavishly to make up for it, then finished the process and carefully poured into potion vials. When the quantity-expansion work for the lowest-grade physical enhancement potions was done, I packed them neatly into a leather sack and went down to the first floor.

They were quite heavy—enough to make me think about the weight. I was about to head to the room where the knights would be waiting when a maid spoke to me.

“The knights are in the garden right now. They’re dressing the ogre you brought yesterday…”

“Ah, working hard since morning. Thank you.”

“Think nothing of it…”

Leaving the maid behind, I went out to the yard, and sure enough, all five were near the ogre. Four were watching; one was skinning the ogre. He must have had experience after all. The hide was sliced away skillfully—with care so that no layer of fat clung to it and no cuts marred the skin—but the problem was that they didn’t seem to be getting used to it.

“Excuse me, if it’s all right, could you take this?”

At my voice from behind, the knights jumped and turned; the one who’d been working stopped and came over to me.

“What is that…?”

“The potion I promised. I’d like you to check the performance first, if possible. It’s hard to drink right this moment, isn’t it?”

While the blood-splattered knight looked herself over, the other knights turned pleading eyes toward the knight who owned the potions.

“Aenia, can we test the dose too?”

Apparently there were no ranks among the knights?

They addressed each other informally. The owner of the potions, called Aenia, nodded as if she had no choice and spoke.

“I was going to share anyway… and if my share ends up smaller, I’ll complain. Take fifteen bottles each. That should satisfy you, right?”

At Aenia’s words, everyone’s faces lit up and they nodded fervently. Then they carefully picked up the leather sack I’d set on the ground and each took out a bottle.

Then they looked at me with bright, shining eyes.

It was as if they were seeking permission. People’s hearts were funny, I thought. Before this, they’d barely spared me a stiff glance; now they were starting to see me a little differently.

Maybe it was because a Free Citizen had rocketed up the ranks; perhaps the established knights, who could be called nobles, had a tendency to look down on me.

“Those are yours now. Why the eyes seeking my permission? Go on, try them.”

“Ah… then gratefully…”

After a token show of modesty, they popped the stoppers and poured them down; their eyes widened.

Then they said something amusing.

“Tasty… what flavor is this?”

“A… clear, pure flavor… maybe?”

“This is… a revolution!”

“And the effect… what is this?!”

Only then did the knights’ expressions turn sharply astonished as they looked at me. Then, breaking off the incredulous looks, they began to vent mana through their whole bodies.

I hadn’t expected this development and was startled, stepping back. The woman who had acted as the representative when they arrived here asked me a question.

“What grade of potion did you brew, exactly?! Th-this efficiency… I’ve never tasted anything like… ngh?!”

She clapped a hand over her mouth mid-sentence. Wondering if it was a side effect, I took a step forward, but she raised a hand and told me:

“I-it was because the surge in strength was intense. My apologies.”

The other knights’ expressions were much the same as the one speaking now. And Aenia, seeing her comrades’ reactions, swallowed dryly and kept glancing at the leather sack full of potions, so I spoke to her.

“If it’s delayed by a day… will that cause some big problem?”

“That’s not it. Once a monster’s hide starts to rot, it decays uncontrollably fast. We’ve stuffed it with salt now for preservation… but as time passes, the grade will fall…”

She must have been anxious indeed to be like that.

“Then let’s have you finish the hide as quickly as you can.”

“…R-right, we’d better. We’ll go all out… all out…”

Aenia kept muttering “all out,” eyes pressing down a deep urge.

After that, watching the knights gradually rein in their mana, I casually asked a question.

“How does it seem?”

“…It’s tremendous. They say the medicines the lord makes are on a different level… I didn’t expect even this to be the same. Are we really allowed to receive such precious things?”

To the cautious question, I nodded and spoke.

“A promise is a promise; it should be kept. So drink those and get stronger, and keep me a little safer, won’t you?”

“…Leave it to us. We will protect Lord Baron’s safety, no matter what it takes…”

One knight even drew her sword and struck a characteristic pose as she answered. To be honest, I didn’t know what that pose meant at the time.

So I didn’t think much of it—but later, I had a chance to find out. Much later…

After handing the potions to the knights, I learned their efficiency was above high-grade, and I had to be quite shocked inside that, by my standards, that same potion was the lowest grade.

“Maybe I can’t use the stock solution as-is…?”

The saying that too-strong a medicine was poison came to mind. Yes, it would count as poison. It might violently boost physical ability, but I figured the side effects would be just as big.

So I realized I had to dilute most of the stock into the lowest grade for use, and in a situation where it was being rated as superior to the existing physical enhancement potions, all sorts of thoughts ran through my head.

“Is it the combination of herbs from the Forest of the Demon Dragon, my recipe, and my mana…?”

That was about the conclusion I could draw. For now, leaving the knight who couldn’t hold back her mana and had gone to spar in the lord’s residence courtyard, I stepped outside.

“It’s the lord!!”

Debik’s kids spotted me and came running. They were already 200% tamed by the “candy” I handed out.

“Some may never have tasted it even once… but none have tasted it only once.”

Thinking that, I automatically drew candy out of the subspace pouch. It was one of the things I did every day as a routine.

Taming the beastkin children—if the word “tame” sounds bad, to put it nicely, it was a “favorability grind.” If it could be done with candy made from a simple blend of herbs, it was a wildly profitable venture in my book.

Bluntly, these kids would grow up to be my future domain folk; and if they were domain folk who followed me well, wouldn’t they be useful in many ways? It was an investment aimed at the far future.

“All right, hands up! Both hands over your heads!”

“Waaaaaah:”