14 – Double Apologies
The Duke’s royal mansion in the countryside.
Despite the late hour, a guest had arrived.
“I’m sorry for causing an unfortunate incident.”
Duke Tyler bowed his head deeply.
Beside her, was a little girl wearing a large robe that did not suit her size.
“Sor, sorry…”
Joy conveyed her apology with a shaky face and a bowed head.
“How is the condition? Any other abnormalities?”
The Duke asked with a worried face.
The victim’s figure could not be seen.
“He woke up once to eat and is now sleeping. There were no symptoms other than fatigue.”
“That’s a relief.”
According to the testimonies of Serliana and Chris,
The potion Thomas drank was a potion with transformation capabilities.
The transformation time was less than 10 minutes, after which he returned to his original shape.
He then fainted due to serious exhaustion, which was presumably a side effect of the potion.
“It may be insufficient as an apology, but please accept this.”
The Duke handed over the upscale wooden box he had been holding.
“This is…”
Maria was taken aback as she opened the box she received.
Inside the box was a milk-colored potion wrapped in velvet.
“It’s an Elixir. It should heal any other side effects, if there are any.”
Maria couldn’t not have known this.
This mysterious potion, of interest to anyone who is a magician, not necessarily an alchemist.
A panacea that heals all conditions, wounds, and diseases, and maintains health for several years even after administration.
The empire monopolizes its manufacture, producing less than 100 a year, making it an incredibly rare commodity.
Though it is usually used as a gift and almost never appears in the market, when it does, it easily surpasses a thousand gold pieces, a highly expensive potion.
“This seems excessively extravagant.”
Maria closed the box and pushed it back.
It was too indulgent to drink just for fatigue relief.
“If you’re uncomfortable, think of it as a future mother-in-law looking out for her son-in-law’s health in advance.”
As it was impolite to decline twice, Maria passed the elixir to her butler.
“Please give my regards to Thomas. I regret disturbing you at this hour. Goodbye.”
The duke turned to leave.
“Wait, hold on!”
Joy halted his departure.
All eyes were drawn to the girl with full, cherry-colored hair.
“So, did it really work? I mean… Did Thomas actually transform into a woman? If he wakes up, could you send him to my laboratory…”
“Joy!”
The duke hit his daughter’s head with his fist.
“Ouch!”
Joy held her head in her hands, her eyes watering.
Maria gave a bitter smile.
“Please see them out.”
After the duke and his daughter left, Maria instructed her butler.
“Give the elixir to Thomas when he wakes up. Explain the specifications and instructions as well.”
“Yes, madam.”
As her butler exited, Maria collapsed on the sofa.
She wondered if she should tell Thomas that the one who made the potion was the duke’s second daughter.
“Better not say anything…”
He would naturally find out with time. Until then, there was no need to unnecessarily stir the pot.
—————-
– Knock Knock
“Come in.”
Butler Carol entered and began to prepare my bath.
He was already awake long before she came to visit in the morning.
It was because he had slept almost all day yesterday.
He felt extremely tired after drinking that strange potion.
Even the stamina recovery spell cast on him by the Anderson mother and daughter didn’t do him much good.
The only fortunate thing was that he felt a bit better after the long sleep.
Still, he felt some fatigue.
“Oh right!”
He hastily checked his pocket.
It was there.
“Thank goodness… really, it’s a relief”
He almost lost his precious friend who had been with him for several decades.
“Ah…”
He had forgotten that Carol was nearby.
However, she ignored his strange behavior and handed him a cold drink and changed his clothes.
After his preparation for the day was completed, Carol took out something from her bag.
It was a milky potion in an ornate bottle.
“What is this?”
Now, whenever he saw a potion, he was on edge.
“It’s an Elixir.”
She explained the effects of the Elixir to him.
Simply put, it’s a panacea.
‘Elixir… A name I’ve seen a lot in games and genre pieces.’
After the explanation, she handed it to him.
“This is an order from Miss Maria for you to use in case of emergency.”
From Noble mtl dot com
“I’ll make good use of it.”
He wouldn’t refuse since it seemed valuable.
Perhaps he could sell it in case of emergency later.
“Here’s today’s schedule. In the morning, we visit a clothing store, and there’s a magic lesson in the afternoon.”
‘Ah… I remember we were supposed to go there yesterday, but we couldn’t make it to the clothes store.’
He heads towards the royal highway with Carol.
As I approached the clothing store, there was a buzz of activity around the shop. People huddled together, murmuring and peering into the store.
“Is that Duke Tyler?”
“The Commander-in-Chief!”
Familiar names reached my ears.
“Excuse me, I need to get through.”
Exhausted, I spoke in a low tone deeper than usual, prompting the obstructing crowd to turn around.
Mostly women.
“Whoa, what a sizeable man…”
“Hey, look at his hair.”
“A sorcerer?”
They turned pale as if they had witnessed something terrible and cleared the way.
I felt like this world judged my appearance less favorably than in Korea.
Now that I considered it, the men here were all slender and delicate; my type wasn’t common.
‘I thought being transported to another world was supposed to make even the ugly look handsome!’
To make matters worse, there was this ‘sorcerer’ label, which made the commoners even more avoidant.
I cursed the gods inwardly. Not that they had actually summoned me here.
Entering the store, I saw two red-haired women bowing to the shopkeeper.
‘Oh, that person…’
I recognized both of them.
One was Duke Tyler, and the other was the woman I had seen in the store two days ago.
Next to them stood a butler from the Duke family, clasping a bundle that seemed to contain rolls of fabric.
“Elven silk? I cannot accept such a precious gift. It was just a minor shock.”
The store owner appeared to be declining a token of apology from the duke. Judging by the reaction, this elven silk must be quite valuable.
But why would the duke come all the way here to apologize?
My mind raced to a conclusion.
‘That’s right; he mentioned a younger daughter.’
Though I hadn’t gotten the details, I had heard that my fiancée had a sister.
‘Now that I think about it, that girl also had red hair.’
I couldn’t fathom why that didn’t strike me that day.
Even in this world, such a bold, red hair color was not commonly seen.
‘That girl there must be Betty’s younger sister.’
I noticed her vitality exceeding her older sister, but I quickly pushed that thought away.
I decided to wait until their act of penance was over before greeting them.
Then, the shop owner spotted me and waved his hand.
“Oh~ Anderson’s son. Welcome!”
The woman feigned knowledge at an opportune moment.
‘Ah, this is gonna make things complicated for me.’
I responded with a feigned chuckle and a slight bow.
The mother and daughter of the ducal house turn around and catch sight of me.
And freeze with surprise.
‘What’s up with them?’
I greet them as well with the elegance of a refined noble.
“Good day, Your Grace. Is the lady standing beside you your daughter?”
“Hold on! Thomas! There’s a situation…um…? My daughter?”
The duke spat out words rapidly at my arrival, but paused to consider after hearing my words.
After a brief moment of thought, he reset his expression to his usual cool demeanor.
“Ah, yes. That’s Joy, my second daughter. Joy, this is Thomas, your soon-to-be brother-in-law. Please share your greetings.”
But Joy was still shocked, glancing at her mother in disbelief, unable to understand.
The Duke shot her a glaring look and smacked her round bottom with his palm.
“Ouch!”
Only then did Joy regain her composure, bowing deeply to me.
“I-I’m Joy Tyler. I apologize for any inconvenience caused during our last meeting.”
Her ears beneath her tucked hair were flushed bright red.
What I noticed now was that although her appearance was markedly different from her sister, the tone and the manner of her speech were pretty much the same.
Even if it wasn’t in their physical appearance, siblings indeed bear a resemblance.
‘I got told often that I started to resemble my brother as I grew up.’
A feeling of nostalgia washed over me.
“Then, I’ll presume you’ll accept this and take my leave! Apologies once again. We’ll pay another visit in due course. Now, we need to get going as our schedule’s tight…”
Leaving these words behind, the Duke hurried out of the store, holding his daughter’s hand.
Leaving a box of Elven silk on a table in the corner of the shop.
“Sigh…”
The shop owner exhaled deeply.
Suddenly, I asked out of curiosity.
“Is that really expensive?”
“It’s expensive~ Well, it should be expensive… It’s my first time seeing it so I’m not sure of the exact price~”
Suddenly, I thought of the ice cream cone I had eaten before.
‘That was also Elven’
“Can magic be cast on that fabric too?”
“Correct~ You can enchant elven silk~”
‘It must be terribly expensive…’
The value of a magical item being very different from a normal item is a concept I know from games.
‘Well, I should quickly handle my affairs and leave.’
“Is the preliminary work done?”
“It’s done~ In fact, I thought you were coming yesterday, so I did some more work ~”
The clothes she brought out from the workshop were high-quality suits.
On quick glance, it seemed black but on closer look, you could see a slight navy hue on the luxurious fabric.
The shirt to be worn inside was already done, probably because there were similar kinds of clothes in this world.
“It’s almost done… Your hands are incredibly fast.”
“hahahaha~ Even I can’t do it all by myself at this time~ There are some assistants inside.”
Apparently, there must be people in the back working on various things.
Afterwards, I tried on the clothes, paid her, and left the shop.
“See you again in three days~”
Upon exiting, I looked up at the sky and saw the sun hadn’t crossed midpoint yet.
Come to think of it, I had forgotten something…
“Ah.”
“What is it?”
Carol asked as I stopped abruptly.
“I need to go file a complaint.”
“Uh, where at?”
“At the potion shop.”
I hadn’t thought of that.
Regardless of how medieval the world may be, customers should be able to make claims if the goods they bought are defective!
“Let’s go, Carol. That’s not some object that costs 1 or 2 silvers, it’s worth 5 gold.”
“Ah, wait a moment, Mr. Thomas.”
“Yes?”
“In fact, that issue has already been resolved. The potion shop has officially apologized to the duchy… Oh, yes! The elixir that was delivered to you this morning, that is the compensation!”
Carol, who usually appears cool, is now unusually flustered.
“Hmm…”
I squint suspiciously at her.
“By the time you were lying down, everything had been resolved…”
“Then, let’s be done with it. Let’s head home.”
“Yes, let’s go, Mr. Thomas.”
Carol returns to her usual detached demeanor.