What Was With This Country… Two Emperors? (2)

A little later, I saw Rita come into the master’s office hugging a big bowl. It had arrived in under three minutes after I asked, which told me how desperate the women were.

“Will this do?”

“It’s plenty. Then could you please wait outside for now?”

“How long will it take?”

“Mm… as fast as thirty minutes, or up to about an hour.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

Rita’s eyes shone as she thanked me and stepped out, which only added pressure. If, after all this, it proved ineffective, it would be awful.

Still, the recipe rising in my head kept insisting it would be perfectly effective.

I had no choice but to trust it.

After that, I mixed in the ratio of 1 part powdered Hon Rabbit horn, 2 parts powdered Big Boa heart, and 4 parts powdered Seollem Flower petals. Then I blended purified water and consecrated water at a 1:2 ratio—about one liter—and poured it into the bowl of powders to combine.

At first the mix felt too dry, but as I kneaded steadily while infusing mana, it began to clump into a large mass, and a subtly spreading scent felt refreshingly clean.

I didn’t know what produced that fragrance, but it seemed to announce that the medicine was indeed coming together properly.

The scent filled the room and even began wafting outside, and the problem was that people out there started to stir.

I wasn’t sure what exactly set them murmuring, but just about when I finished kneading and began pinching off little finger-joint–sized bits and rolling them into pills, the door burst open and Rita and several women came into the room.

“…What is it?”

“What is that smell? This fragrance… what on earth?”

Their eyes were confused. It was a lovely scent, sure, but was it worth all this fuss? Watching me set down the very first pill, Rita asked,

“Is it finished?”

She pointed at the pill; I shook my head and said,

“It’s in the drying stage. I kept moisture to a minimum, but it still needs to dry a bit for full efficacy. I think about thirty minutes. That’s why I said thirty minutes to an hour.”

“Ah… that’s why. Understood. Tell us the moment it’s ready. We’ll test it immediately. I’ve prepared test subjects.”

“What are you… testing… ah—don’t tell me?”

Their sly smiles were scary. I offered a silent prayer for the poor men doomed to be devoured behind those smiles, averted my eyes from the women, and just kept rolling pills.

After about thirty minutes, the first pill I’d set down gave off a faint glow. It seemed to be complete.

I gathered several pills that were glowing at ten-second intervals, took a deep breath by the door, and hesitated to open it because of the strange heat and intensity I felt outside.

I couldn’t just stand there forever. There was still plenty of dough waiting to be finished. Resolved, I opened the door—and the noisy guild hall went dead silent. With every gaze converging, my hand trembled as I raised it and said to Rita,

“F-Finished…”

I had never imagined women’s gazes could be this terrifying. Rita quickly took the pills and strode off. Five men were sitting there looking utterly cowed—one of them was Guts, the guild master—and I felt guilty.

“Rest in peace… please let it work…”

Rita handed each man a pill and some water and urged them to take it. The scene had the gravity of a last meal for the condemned. Guts, the first to swallow, shot me a glance that said, “Save me.”

Was that the look of a steer being led to slaughter?

No—more primal than that. I forced myself to ignore it and waited for the result. I would decide whether to make more based on what happened. After about five minutes of tense silence—

Guts looked down at his groin with a start, eyes wide. Seeing that, Rita and the other women all glanced at the same spot on all five men; noticing the bulging rise, Rita seized Guts by the wrist and hustled him away.

And then?

As for those two, I had no idea. In any case, once the women realized their men were beginning to “raise their heads,” they moved fast—and the rest of the women all turned their eyes to me.

They were clearly saying “hurry up,” but I addressed them first.

“This isn’t for handouts. It’s a medicine that was difficult to make. Please wait until Mr. Guts and Ms. Rita return… I’ll keep working until then.”

Disappointed sighs rose here and there. Watching four women drag off their newly revived men, I silently wished them… a safe return.

Hours passed, and Rita and Mr. Guts still hadn’t come back. The waiting women began lodging complaints with the guild, and at last a woman from the counter slipped into the master’s office and asked carefully,

“Um… since they’ve been waiting so long, could you tell us the sale price…?”

“I don’t know how to price it yet. When Ms. Rita or Mr. Guts returns, I’ll set a reasonable price and sell it. Please… ask them not to be too impatient.”

“We have to keep the desk running too… this is difficult.”

Even so, her eyes were fixed on the finished pills. I saw a flicker of desire there, and I quietly picked up three pills and handed them to her, saying,

“Please help me out.”

She looked startled at first, then a slow smile bloomed—she clearly had troubles of her own.

“I’ll do my utmost!”

And she headed out. It seemed bribes worked anywhere. Just three pills—but after what she’d just witnessed, she knew this wasn’t some half-baked remedy.

I was sure she’d hold the crowd outside. Then I packed up my tools, slung the kit, and stared at the stacked pills, thinking.

‘Even this much will surely feel like not enough…’

There were roughly seven hundred pills. That would surely sell out in a single day. I didn’t know how the price would settle, but one thing was certain: with demand like this, even at a low price I’d make a fortune.

But by the look of things, this was not something that could be sold cheaply. Since nobles would covet it, the market price would likely be set high.

Still, I needed Rita or Guts to decide, and about two more hours passed before Rita returned, neat and composed.

“…Where’s Mr. Guts?”

Rita blushed and shook her head.

“The master needs to rest today.”

Ah, so he had gone to a better place. Watching the greed ripple in Rita’s eyes as she looked at the pills, I asked,

“Was the effect… good?”

“Beyond imagination. Are you… a god?”

How much fun had she had to ask me if I was a god?

It was ridiculous, but I could only smile awkwardly.

“Look—if this gets out on the market, you might lose your freedom. You could spend your life making nothing but these pills. I think its impact far exceeds the wound treatment.”

“…It’s just a virility tonic.”

“Not ‘just.’ Given the Demon God’s curse on humanity, it’s no exaggeration to call it a divine blessing.”

“…What do you think we should do?”

“…The master and I discussed options. Hear them and decide.”

I told her to go ahead and listened.

“First, release it fairly cheaply to the public. That would have a clearly positive impact, and the people would take your side. But the powerful would be offended, and you might face their checks.”

“And next?”

“Second, supply to a few wealthy patrons and nobles. You wouldn’t have popular support, but you’d win clear favor with the powerful. The downside is huge: some power-broker might move to strip you of your freedom.”

“…I’d like to refuse that. Is there more?”

“Yes, one last proposal.”

“What is it?”

“As I said earlier—present it to Her Imperial Majesty the Empress. Two benefits. One, if you’re lucky, you could be granted a title and become a noble. Two, even without a title, as someone who greatly benefited humanity, you could gain her protection. Either way, you wouldn’t walk away empty-handed.”

So, not releasing it to the market but offering it to the Empress was the maximal gain. If she governed benevolently, the people would benefit too; if not, it might become a tool of despotism.

In short, I wouldn’t be in control of my own fate.

“What if I abandon everything and run?”

“You’d be caught and escorted back before leaving the empire.”

Horrible. Escorted—like I’d committed a crime? Treated like this over a single medicine?

It was an absurd world.

Whether she understood my feelings or not, Rita said,

“Rumors are spreading fast. After hours like this, Her Majesty has likely already been informed.”

“…Isn’t the capital quite far away?”

“Don’t underestimate warp magic or the intelligence service.”

Right—this was a world where magic breathed. Even if there weren’t radio waves crackling messages everywhere, there were high-performance travel arts that could cross vast distances in an instant.

In the end, this ridiculous situation might shake the empire. Why had I done any of this?

I had come all the way from the Apoca Kingdom to the Terakan Empire to live quietly and unnoticed, and now things felt tangled and blown out of proportion.

Resigned to “whatever happens, happens,” I spoke.

“Whatever it is… let’s try something. Hah… let it be what it will…”

Rita looked at me with a pitying gaze.