12 – First Lesson
The room was filled with an inexplicable smell.
A figure shook a beaker at a table next to a large bubbling cauldron.
“Ugh…what on earth is the issue?”
A petite girl had a fat navy robe draped over her.
The girl, with her rich, chin-length, slightly curly purple hair, rubbed her head.
A pair of round glasses sat on a pale face speckled with freckles, and her downcast eyes were accentuated by deep dark circles.
“I’ve been up for several nights already…”
“Sigh…”
Exhaling a tired sigh.
Just then, someone opened the door and walked in.
“Ms. Tyler, it’s time for the shift change.”
It was a man, also wearing glasses, looking just as tired as she was.
He was her part-time colleague at the potion shop.
“Yeah~ I’m leaving now~”
Responding in a casually stretched out tone, Joy Tyler put down her beaker and headed out of the room.
The rest of the lab also served as a storeroom, a shop filled with arrays of potions and alchemical ingredients.
Joy closed the door and stood at the counter.
“Welcome~”
“Yes, that would be 7 gold~”
“Please come again~”
But despite serving nonchalant customers at the counter for quite a while, something incessantly lingered in her mind.
It was about the potion she was developing.
Gender-change potion.
A potion that changes men to women, and women to men.
Joy Tyler had always held a peculiar s*xual curiosity.
She wondered what it felt like to reach the c
In her experience as a potion specialist, she felt repeated failures due to very minor errors.
The thought of ‘just a little more to go’ had led her to push her body to its limits for over half a year.
Even now, she hadn’t slept for three days straight. Her exhaustion had chronicled into a physical condition, where not even a stamina recovery spell would work properly now.
“Do I need more snail mucus ratio? Or… is it about the concentration of the magic stone powder?”
Amid her ongoing contemplation, a voice called out to her from a corner of the shop.
“Excuse me, we’ve run out of mana potions here.”
She looked over to see a woman dressed as a maid and a large man.
“Huh?”
Seeing the man, her focus on the potions flew out of her mind for a moment.
It wasn’t because he seemed too rugged for a nobleman.
It was because his hair was very dark black.
‘Does this black-haired guy go out for activities?’
She’d heard stories from her mother, but she’d never actually met him.
‘My sister’s fiancé?’
She had heard about the meeting not long ago.
She had made up an excuse about preparing a paper and didn’t attend.
Though she’s sociable and thought about acting like she knew him as he might become her brother-in-law, she was just too tired now.
‘Bothersome… let’s be friendly next time we meet…’
For now, she just had to deal with his claim.
“Yes~yes~ mana potions. Just wait a moment~”
With a dry tone, she entered the storage room.
“Where was the stock for mana potions… Ah, here it is.”
She then lifted up the wooden shelf where several mana potion cylinders were inserted.
But something caught her foot.
“What? I dropped one. Almost broke the expensive one.”
She picked up the rolling potion from the floor and inserted it back into the wooden shelf.
She returned to the shop and replenished the mana potion stock.
Her sister’s fiancé and his maid picked out four mana potions and came to the counter.
“That would be 20 gold in total~”
Five gold per cylinder. It was a disgustingly high price.
Naturally, it was expensive since it required the touch of a potion expert, who are few in existence, for the manufacturing process using all sorts of precious ingredients.
Lower-level wizards, unable to make much money, carry around 1 or 2 of these valuable consumable items as a contingency.
The housemate left twenty pieces of gold on the counter and they walked out of the shop with the potion.
“Come again~”
Joy had no idea.
That the potion she had been developing had finally been completed.
And that the gender-transforming potion she had completed had a similar color to the mana potion.
That she considered it a failure and carelessly left it rolling on the floor.
And that the man who was about to become her brother-in-law had just taken it.
“But, the brother-in-law doesn’t seem to be popular with women. My sister isn’t in the position to talk about men either but~”
She was enjoying gossiping alone, not knowing anything.
———————-
“Did the big brother come!?”
Christine runs over and warmly greets him.
“Um, you’re back”
His smile slips out because she’s cute, but for now, he just wants to rest.
It was a rather tiring day.
‘I’m relieved there were no incidents at the potion shop though.’
“Ah, mother said to call the big brother when he is home!”
I scratched my head.
I want to dive into bed quickly, but the balance of strength was heavily tilted towards her.
“Alright, let’s go quickly.”
When we got to the reception room, Maria and another woman were sitting on the sofa having a conversation.
Surprisingly, the guest had pointed ears. She was an elf.
“Mother, I brought the big brother, ah! It’s teacher Celiana! Long time no see!”
Christine seems to be spherical towards her.
The elf called Celiana stood up and gracefully bowed her head. It was quite different from the noble greeting I had learned.
That’s probably an elf greeting.
“Long time no see, Christina. Have you been well?”
“Yes! I missed you, teacher!”
She rushed over to Celianna and embraced her.
Celianna, as befitting an elf, had a slender and agile body.
From Noble mtl dot com
‘Nowadays, it seems like all elves are endowed with large breasts’
It was a bit disappointing.
“Thomas, say hello. You are to be taught magic by her.”
Maria introduces her to me.
“My name is Celianna. Nice to meet you.”
“I am Thomas Anderson. Nice to meet you.”
I raise my head to take a closer look at her face.
‘She’s extremely beautiful’
She looked more beautiful than any actress who had ever portrayed an elf in a film.
I’ve heard that the people of this world also acknowledge the beauty of elves.
‘Indeed, extreme beauty is recognized everywhere’
Maria opened her mouth, looking at the two of us alternately.
“Let’s start the lessons from tomorrow. Do you have any other plans for tomorrow morning, Thomas?”
As if I would.
“Well, I planned to return to the clothes shop, but that can be done in the afternoon.”
“Okay. Then Celianna, please visit again tomorrow morning.”
“Yes, Maria.”
As Celianna was about to turn around and leave, Christine suddenly interrupted.
“I don’t have any classes tomorrow! I want to take a lesson from Teacher Celianna after so long! Can I join with my brother?”
The elf must have been in charge of Christine’s early magic education.
Maria reluctantly gave permission.
The Anderson family is weak towards Christine.
“Okay, but you can’t disturb Tom.”
“Yes! I’ll just be watching from the side!”
That I, Thomas Anderson, am learning magic…
Honestly, if I said I wasn’t excited, that would be a lie.
That night, I tossed and turned, feeling like a kid the day before a picnic.
“Imagine a glass marble.”
I am sitting on the floor, listening to the magical lecture of an elf instructor.
‘Are we not supossed to feel the magic first? Isn’t that the rule of thumb?’
Although a little puzzled, I imagine a glass marble following the teacher’s instructions.
“You need to picture it in your head as vivid as if you were seeing it in reality.”
‘I’m good at that kind of thing’
Having read genre novels for roughly 15 years, I had confidence in my imagination.
In short time, I visualized the shape of a glass marble in my head as if a video was playing.
“That’s enough.”
“Now, open your eyes and suggest to yourself that there is a glass marble on your hand.”
Open my eyes and do it?
I did as I was told for now.
But the elf teacher started to say something ridiculous.
“You have to see the marble actually placed on your hand. You should also feel its touch with your hand.”
“You mean, start seeing hallucinations?”
“Yes. That is the middle phase in the three stages of magic manifestation called ‘visualization’.”
“When do we use magic powers?”
I asked about the thing I’d been curious about from the beginning.
“You’ll use magical power in the last stage of manifestation after visualization.”
I made all sorts of efforts to see hallucinations according to the instructions, but I couldn’t see anything.
“It’s not working.”
Of course, it wouldn’t work. Isn’t it going to be something like a quack or a madman if it happens?
Seliana, however, smiled as if agreeing with my thoughts.
“It’s natural that it doesn’t work. That’s why we need materials now.”
“Master, here!”
Christine, who had been watching the class next to me with bright eyes, handed me a bag.
The bag contained the artifacts and potions we bought yesterday.
But why