Episode 4: Twilight (8)

When Soren came to the tower, I excused myself and headed straight for the kitchen.

Butter, flour, eggs, salt, milk, cacao—ingredients I had procured yesterday plus…a special rattan cage.

I needed to make sure there was enough available tableware for cooking and serving. So I counted the available pots, plates, and pans, before preparing the ingredients in earnest.

The kiln was an enticing option, but wanting to save time, I opted for the oven instead. The oven of this world wasn’t much different from the ones on Earth, it just didn't have all the advanced settings you’d find in your modern day equipment, so one had to manually adjust for the temperature and humidity.

I heard a whizzing sound as I was pouring the batter into the brownie moulds.

‘I shouldn’t be so rude as to not greet my guest properly.’

Placing the batter aside, I grabbed the rattan cage and walked over.

“Excuseeee me?! What do you think you’re doing…?! Did I not make my words clear…huh?!”

In the midst of the little fluff ball’s fury, I swung the cage like a net and in went the little bugger.

“Right. Now all you need to do is sit there comfortably.” I tied a little string around the lockhole.

“You… bastard, how dare you!” The most-noble fairy of the magic tower shall have the front seat to my cooking performance. She should be damned honoured.

“Escaping is a no-no. There are consequences if you don’t obey.”

“You…!” Obviously, the little fairy was not dumb to not attempt an escape. “W-Why?! Fireball…! AAHHHh!?”

Oh no, this isn’t just any rattan cage, it’s an elven product purposefully crafted to be resistant against minor magic in order to punish disobedient fairies… the fairy cage.

“Don’t tell me this is that kind of cage?!”

‘I mean… if the elves used it, I could too, right?’

The fairy’s entire body flushed strawberry red. I thought her previous rage red face was intense, but seeing this hue of crimson? It was on a whole nother level.

‘Fairies don’t actually blow up right…? There’s no such thing right?’

“I’ll release you once I’m done.” I headed back to my workstation to continue my work.

“You villain! You won’t get away with this! When I return to my master I’ll surely have you judged!”

“Sure… “ I wanted to meet her master anyways. Like, what kind of person would let their fairy run loose spitting profanities at an innocent bystander like myself?

Evening out the batter in the mould by tapping it on the table a few times, I then put it into the preheated oven. While it was baking, I prepared the ice cream.

Mixing various ingredients to get my special mix of vanilla cream, I then stirred it into a bowl with a speciality magic I came up with.

<Ice Magic: Ice Cream Preset>

As the cream was stirred in one hand, chilled air poured from the other.

This was a medieval world, so I had no modern ice cream machines to rely on. Back in the days, I used to make do with the salt and ice method. But once I got a feel for basic ice magic, I switched to this faster method.

It didn’t take long for the cream to solidify into a thicker mixture—voila, ice cream.

“You… what are you making?” Perhaps the fairy had admitted its defeat in body but not in pride, it launched a capricious question.

“Brownies with vanilla ice cream.” I promised lava cake to Lowe, but given the limitations of the kitchen, I decided on a simpler substitute. It may not be as sophisticated, but brownies tasted similar to lava cake.

“Brownies?”

“Yes. Brownies.”

The sweet chocolaty smell coming from the oven was beginning to spread all throughout the kitchen.

I estimated around another 10 minutes for the brownies to be complete, so I began preparing the plates and trays. As I did so, the fairy spoke.

“...Hey. Let’s strike a deal.” It was a cautious tone.

“A deal you say?”

“Give me a plate of whatever you’re making and let me go. In exchange, I won’t tell my master about what happened here?”

“I wanted to meet your master though?” Not convincing in the slightest.

“Shut up and listen. It’s for the benefit of both of us. If my master finds out, we’ll both be in big trouble.” Pushing through with sheer nonsense, she added some empty threats to her basely arguments.

“I won’t know until I ask.” We may get into trouble, but I’ll just pin the blame on you saying that you refused to let me see your master to begin with.

“...”

Winning the verbal fight for the first time since our meeting, I suppressed the smile that was threatening to come out.

“Useless son of a…”

“It’s a deal.”

“R-Really?!”

‘Regardless of whether or not she’ll report it to her master, I should at least repay her for letting me use the kitchen… indiscriminately.’

“Think of it as the rental fee for today. I’ll be using the kitchen again tomorrow, and the day after that too.”

“Deal!”

⌌✧ ⫺⪼▫◆▫⪻⫹ ✧⌍

“Tempering magic… tempering magic…” Corin muttered as she scrutinised the shelf for a particular magic reference book she needed for completing her assignments.

Her gaze going up and down the shelves, aisle to aisle. Completely focused, she failed to notice the pink hair girl passing through and…

“Ah.”

“Ah!”

She walked directly into the saint. But unlike the first time, Corin’s arm was empty. On the contrary, it was Lowe who carried a stack of things this time around.

The books were tossed into the air and scattered across the floor. Corin gasped, her complexion turning pale as sheet.

“S-Sorry!” She felt like killing herself.

“Ah… it’s you again.” Lowe meanwhile, felt more intrigued than she was upset by their second encounter. What a coincidence to bump into each other again?

“I-It’s okay, you don’t need to help! I-I’ll take responsibility.” Corin scampered to gather the books scattered around.

Lowe flashed a sympathetic smile. She picked up the one book closest to her and let her fetch the other three.

“I’m truly sorry!”

“It’s okay.” Lowe expressed, receiving the books with gratitude. “...But you looked like you were looking for something. What were you searching for?”

“Searching…? Uh… a book. Um, about tempering magic… forging-type magic tools.” Corin’s voice trembled.

“Magic tools? Mages have to study about those things, not just magic?”

“P-Partly… it’s important to learn how to use them because magic nowadays isn’t just using your hands.“ Corin explained.

“Oh.” Lowe blinked. It was as if a whole world had opened up.

Indeed, studying magic wasn’t just about a deepening of knowledge. It was also a means of making humanity’s life easier. Magic spells, magic tools, magic engineering… without these, the world wouldn’t be what it is today.

Corin nodded fervently.

Lowe nodded to her nod.

And Corin to Lowe’s nod.

In response Lowe nodded again.

And then Corin began to pale.

An awkward silence lingered between them.

Lowe erred a moment then suggested. “How about asking the librarian for directions?”

“Ah, um that… I don’t want to disturb them…” Actually, Corin knew that even if she sought a librarian, the person would merely point towards a particular section of the humongous library. It wasn’t like they would find the book for you …

“At this rate you’ll just be running in circles. Come on.”

“U-uh!”

Whether or not Lowe realised it, her title as the Saint obligated the librarian to personally guide them.

Once Corin found her book, she was dragged along by Lowe to the laboratory.

Corin had no courage to refuse anymore after the Saint’s kind request of wanting to get to know her better.

‘Is it because the Saint suspects me of something? Did she already know? What if this is a test? Or is this kind of punishment because I knocked into her not once, but twice!’

Thoughts of anxiety swirled around Corin’s head, dark heavy clouds weighed on her.

Sitting on the lab table situated between the magic prodigy Glenn and the most renowned Saint… not to mention the callous stare of that big knight sitting some distance away alone… Corin could barely concentrate on anything written in the book she brought. She needed a quiet place to focus, yet to speak her request to leave was akin to discourtesy, her conscience didn’t allow it! It was a horrible dilemma!

And just when Corin thought things couldn’t get any worse…

“How has everything been with Mr. Eugene?” Glenn posed such a question.

“Great! E-Everything has been fine! O-Of course s-sometimes he’s scary but he… he…” Mr. Eugene had never made any unreasonable demands without a just reason. Yet Corin felt that this time he had crossed a line.

“You didn’t get into any big trouble because I accidentally caused you to drop all those potions yesterday?” Lowe asked, sounding concerned.

“N-No! Not at all… He just asked me to procure the items again… um…” Still, just because a dark mage was being fair didn’t mean he wasn’t suspicious!

“Does sound like something Mr. Eugene would do.” Glenn remarked, nodding.

“R-Right?” Corin tried to convince herself.

Just then, the lab door opened.

“I’ve come with the dessert…?”

The delicious smell of chocolate very quickly permeated the lab. Corin suddenly felt as if she had just been sent to heaven…

What was this amazing scent…?!

Kairen, holding two trays, stared in Corin’s direction. The image of heaven in her mind, shattered.

“You should’ve asked for help…!” Lowe quickly stood up from her seat to help him carry one of the trays.

“I can do this much alone.” He shrugged.

“Wow.” Glenn mused.

“What is this? Kairen, you’re actually a master in cooking too?” Soren showed another face of bewilderment.

“I made brownies instead of the usual lava cake, but it should taste similar.” Kairen began distributing the brownies and ice cream combo to each person as individual servings, not forgetting Corin.

She was taken aback.

“T-Thank you. I-Is this really alright?” The rich, enticing scent wafting from the cake was irresistible. She’d almost convince herself to eat it even if it would kill her.

“It would be awkward otherwise. Besides… even that freeloader is having one.” Kairen pointed to the small creature—fairy—on the table, happily munching away at the brownie serving almost as large as herself.

“T-Thank you.” She felt really embarrassed, yet given this pleasure, she didn’t really want to refuse either.

“What did you say this was again?” Soren was astonished. Having taken a bite of the ice cream brownie combo, he couldn't believe what he was tasting.

“This is bliss.” Lowe’s expression melted.

“Amazing as always.” Glenn ate with a gleeful smile.

Corin was just about to take a bite of the brownie when she suddenly felt the vial in her pocket shuffle around. Her pupils quaked.

‘What if I said this was some kind of supplement?’

If Corin added some of the liquid to her own and said to the others that it was harmless… would she be able to tempt the Saintess to try?

‘B-But what if it actually is dangerous? W-What if I fail?!’

Either she puts everyone’s life at risk, including her own; or face criminal charges for attempting to poison the Saint.

In the midst of the rising dilemma, Corin brought the spoon to her mouth. The sweet, savoury, and juxtaposed temperature of the desert exploded in her mouth. The heavy burdens she had been carrying on her shoulders completely vanished.

For a moment, she thought she had truly ascended to heaven.

⌌✧ ⫺⪼▫◆▫⪻⫹ ✧⌍

Alternating between dessert and potion making in the morning, to card games and story sharing sessions at night, the first couple days at the magic tower passed just like that.

Of course, I wasn’t dumb to not pay attention to potential threats that existed around us. We were in a ‘scenario’, and the enduring peace of the moment felt almost foreboding.

So far there had been one suspicious movement from the man Eugene—that being Corin’s presence in our group. She had been hanging out with us almost every day. What intern is so free to leave her mentor behind like this?

YiLin’s testimony’s added weight to the suspicion.

“I was told by my master to keep a close eye on that girl.” YiLin, the gluttonous fairy said. “Anyways, you’re quite the suspicious entity yourself. How are you good at swordsmanship, baking, and even alchemy at your age? Are you secretly an elf posing as a human? Why can’t you tell me what potion it is that you’re making?”

“No comment.” I glanced at YiLin once, then turned back to my work station without saying anything more. I could feel her rolling her eyes behind me but it wasn’t my problem.

YiLin had become considerably docile thanks to the baked goods she had the past few days. She had learnt the value of patience when dealing with a person who could threaten her with an absence of sweets.

‘At least she’s obedient.’

Carefully, I sliced the side of my wrist to collect the blood. After which it was titrated into the biophobic slime substrate until it looked translucent red.

To preserve the slime which had absorbed my blood, I then soaked it in pieces inside the heparinized blood amplification solution.

All in all, I created another six pocketable vials for this batch of anti-blight potions. In total, I had ten, including the four from the previous batch. I had more substrate, but those I planned to keep aside for reference use.

These potions could last about a month if it was kept cool. Otherwise, in a warm-humid environment its half-life could be as short as a week.

Although the efficacy had yet to be tested, I was confident that since I had followed the recipe to a T, it should work as intended.

‘Well, I reckon the time where we fight a blight-infused chimeraisn’t too far off.’

This faux anti-blight potion will cover for the probability that something goes wrong.