The Alchemist And The Dispatched Devil (4)

One day, on the way back after Zaras and I had been summoned to the Academy by the Great Alchemist Vermission to report on our progress so far,

Zaras stopped me, saying she wanted to ask my advice, and I listened to what she had to say on the Academy rooftop.

“Right. So basically, ‘Pallas Cook, the one you’re assigned to,’ has apparently been in a bit of a slump lately, and you want me to take a look at her?”

I deliberately paused and emphasized that particular phrase as I summarized her request, putting as much of a What the hell are you talking about? tone into it as I could, but Zaras simply nodded over and over as if to say that was exactly right.

Zaras looked every inch the stereotypical devil, yet her gestures were strangely comical, and I nearly found myself completely disarmed by them.

“Weren’t we supposed to be competing with each other? You did go and tell Mitt something she didn’t need to know the other day, remember?”

Even so, our current positions still made us rivals competing through the respective people we had been assigned to.

I narrowed my eyes at Zaras and stared her down with as much intimidation as I could muster.

But she clasped her hands in front of her face as though praying to me and said,

“No, I truly am sorry about that. But Pallas-san has been trying so hard, and now she’s hit a wall, and I simply can’t stand watching her secretly hold back tears when no one is looking. Lept-sama, I don’t know what methods you used, but you have the Devil of Knowledge with you, don’t you? Please, I’m begging you—would you lend us your wisdom?”

Then she bowed her head.

…A sigh nearly escaped me.

Not because of Zaras.

It was a sigh directed at myself, because even though we were competitors, once someone I considered a friend asked me like that, I could not help wanting to do something for them.

“…Fine. Then how about we talk to our respective partners, and if they both agree, we switch places for about two weeks?”

Zaras immediately raised her head, nodded happily several times, and thanked me.

Just thinking about how I was going to explain this to Mitt was already giving me a slight headache.

There was a chance she would misunderstand and think I was abandoning her, then sink into depression, so I would hide absolutely nothing and persuade her as sincerely as I could.

“One more thing. I don’t think you’d do it, but considering what happened last time, I’m saying this just in case. Mitt really is a good girl, so if you try to exploit her feelings this time, I may consider you a friend, Zaras, but I’ll still erase you so thoroughly there won’t even be dust left.”

I stepped closer until my face was near hers and carefully enunciated every single word, and Zaras agreed while sweat trickled down her forehead.

So even someone who looked that thoroughly devilish could break out in a cold sweat.

As expected, Mitt nearly burst into tears when I explained it to her, Villa looked mildly exasperated with me, and after contacting Zaras again, the swap was officially decided two days after our conversation.

And so, although I had seen Pallas Cook from a distance before, I finally met the girl I had never actually interacted with face-to-face.

After meeting her and exchanging a few words, I found her to be… well, a girl who seemed as though she might break from trying too hard.

“So you’re the one Zaras said would be switching with her for a while. You’re… surprisingly human-looking for a devil. Thanks for coming all this way. But you can take it easy while you’re here. I can deal with a little slump like this myself.”

She spoke a little too quickly, and toward the end it sounded almost as though she were trying to convince herself, which made me understand why Zaras had asked for help.

This girl, Pallas, tried far too hard to be excellent and to live up to everyone’s expectations.

Precisely because she was naturally talented, she had never learned how to ease up, voice her weakness, or rely on others, and instead pushed herself alone right up to her limit.

Her complexion did not look particularly healthy either, and if possible, she seemed to need some rest.

But even if I told her that, Pallas probably would not accept it willingly.

So for now, I stayed silent and observed her as she compounded medicine through alchemy.

Though to be honest, I did not even really understand what she was making, but Villa probably did.

Pallas tapped the pot with her staff, triggering a reaction, bottled the liquid remaining in the large cauldron… and frowned.

Out of habit from watching over Mitt, I had been ready to deploy defensive magic at any moment, but I guess explosions really did not happen all that often…

Then again, even Mitt had barely caused any explosions over the past few months, even when attempting to make an item for the first time, so her growth really had become clearly visible.

“Villa.”

Pallas appeared to be completely ignoring us, but things would never move forward if this continued.

So I addressed Villa, who had been observing Pallas’s compounding.

“Yes, My Lord. From Villa’s observation, there is one flaw in Ms. Pallas’s attempt to create an advanced healing potion. The amount of mana used when accelerating the extraction reaction is slightly excessive.”

At those words, Pallas turned around and stared intently at Villa, the crimson sphere resting in my hand.

That was a refreshingly straightforward reaction. Very good.

“Unlike lower-grade medicines, advanced medicines extract and use only the beneficial components from a larger number of ingredients. In this attempt, the extraction reaction was likely accelerated too strongly, causing undesirable components from the ingredients to be incorporated as well.”

Yeah, I had absolutely no idea what any of that meant.

My only thought was, What’s with that? Alchemy sure wastes a lot of material.

But Pallas apparently found something meaningful in Villa’s explanation, because she immediately resumed compounding.

“…Villa, I’ll leave things here to you. I’m going to make some food, so support her for now.”

After confirming Villa’s agreement, I placed her on the table and headed for the kitchen.

Judging from Pallas’s condition, she probably neglected her meals too, so I could not expect much from whatever ingredients she had stored away.

Even so, I decided I would make her something warm and as easy to digest as possible.

Later, when I waited for a suitable stopping point and told her it was time to eat, she predictably started saying that her work was more important than food, so I confiscated Villa.

When I told Pallas that if she wanted Villa’s support, she had to listen to me, she took her seat with an extremely dissatisfied expression.

But after taking one sip of the stew, her eyes widened, and then she began vigorously working her spoon; when I timed it for the moment her bowl became empty and asked whether she wanted seconds, she hesitated briefly before silently holding out her bowl.

The appetite-stimulating spice I had secretly added seemed to have done its job properly.

Alchemy made no sense to me, but after cooking for people for so many years, I had at least a little confidence in my culinary skills.

“Why is a devil cooking in the first place…? It was delicious. Thanks for the meal.”

The fact that she properly said that after eating suggested that, despite everything she was carrying inside, she was fundamentally an honest girl.

Now then, judging from this, getting her to eat regularly probably would not be too difficult.

Next would be sleep, and after that, getting her to take a day off.

Using Villa as bait, I would see just how far I could get.

Once she actually experienced those things, she should realize that proper rest would improve her efficiency.

Pallas was already regarded as intelligent and talented, so as long as I made her notice that, she would probably be able to correct her own habits from there.

…That did make me more than a little curious about how Mitt, who had once been regarded as a failing student, was doing right now, but she occasionally cooked alongside me, so her meals were probably fine.

And with Zaras around, I had no concerns about her physical safety, while the two of them were both surprisingly talkative, so they would probably get along well.

Even so, two weeks was a slightly awkward length of time—too short to completely reform Pallas’s lifestyle, yet too long to leave Mitt entirely in someone else’s hands.

I was the one who had suggested the duration, but perhaps I should adjust it a little.

For example, every few days I could switch back to check on Mitt while Zaras checked on Pallas, and although we would still end this first arrangement after two weeks, we could swap again once or twice afterward.

I would contact Zaras about it later.

For whatever reason, once I became involved with someone, I was the type who simply could not stop worrying about them.

Once I knew their circumstances and their personality, I could no longer see Pallas as merely Mitt’s rival.

For now, I supposed I should start thinking of a way to make Pallas take the day after tomorrow off.