Atelier III - A Shift In Perspective
A path leading from the garden of the Serai-san residence, past the main and new houses, down to the fields.
Beyond the curtain-like construction sheet that serves as a back gate, verdant fields and paddies lie to the right. To the left, beyond a small shed, stretches fallow land. The area in front of that shed is kept wide open, probably for parking tractors and such, so that's where I summoned my familiars.
"Come forth, Seiten! Uten! Nomu yo!'
Three silver plates shone, and an eerie monkey, frog, and giant slug materialized.
"Ugyi?"
"Gekoo…"
"…(Zurooon)"
However, the three of them seemed a little confused that the place they were summoned wasn't a dungeon.
"Long time no see, you guys. So, how are those wounds? Still hurt?"During the second wave of the Dungeon Stampede, they followed my orders and defended the dungeon's antechamber to the death.
They got beaten to a pulp protecting that petrified hag and the Japanese Wolf Girl who couldn't move. So, despite their looks, they're really good folks.
"Hmm, they've healed quite a bit, but the deep wounds are still there... Right, then. Use this All-Purpose Recovery Potion to heal those injuries."
I'd been giving them my life energy and pouring magical power into their silver plates morning and night.
But, perhaps because the wounds were so severe, unhealed injuries still remained all over their bodies. So, for the remaining wounds, I directly applied the bodily fluids of a super giant aphid and also had them drink a men-tsuyu flavored All-Purpose Recovery Potion.
"Ge, Gekoo!?"
"Ugyigyi…"
"What do you mean 'disgusting'? Think of it as medicine and endure it! C'mon, drink it all up without leaving a drop."
[[[Kyuuwa~, pawawa~]]]
Then, just like the wounds I had received healed, the injuries the three had sustained closed up cleanly.
"Huh, what's up with you guys? Why so fidgety...?"
But Seiten, Uten, and Nomu, now healed, were all restless, their attention fixed on the scenery within their view.
Seiten was staring intently at the mountains visible in the distance, Uten was glaring hard at the rice paddies, and Nomu was stretching its periscope-like eyes out, looking like it really wanted to go to the deeply shaded area behind the shed.
"Ah... Okay, okay. I'll give you guys some free time. You worked hard back then. Just don't let anyone see you, alright? If the old man sees you, he'll have a heart attack."
Fortunately, the farm work for today was finished, and the old man was taking his nap in the main house.
Right now, this basin is deserted except for us, so I should at least let these guys get some fresh air. So, after giving them those instructions and granting them free time, the three happily began moving off toward their spots of choice.
…….
Later, as I was diligently working alone on making more All-Purpose Recovery Potion, Serai-san-san and Nina-san, having finished their tasks, came over. Serai-san-san had been on a long call with local friends, and Nina-san was probably checking market prices.
So, instead of the salt-added All-Purpose Recovery Potion which got poor reviews, I had them try the acid-added version.
"Ugh... This one's still warm, too! It's like drinking hot grapefruit juice..."
"It might be better once it's cooled down... but right now, it's a bit hard to drink..."
Hmmm, I got rejected for both the salt and the acid versions, huh.
"Muu... This is troublesome. Could it be from tasting too much that my tongue has gone numb or something?"
"Hey, Coach. Why are you even using a hot water bath in the first place?"
When Nina-san hit upon the core issue, I decided to come clean about everything and enlist both their wisdom.
"I see, so that's what it was."
"Hmm~, if that's the case, then maybe you don't need to bother with the hot water bath at all?"
"Eh, why's that, Shizu?"
"Because, this liquid is made from monster materials too, right? Then, wouldn't it be better to do it like when we process suits, by channeling magical power?"
“"Ahh!!"”
Wow, a moment of realization without even testing it!
Now that you mention it, that's right. I used heat to repair the vinyl resin, so my thinking was stuck on that.
"You're right, Nina-san! Channeling magic to process materials is something we've been doing all along, and I completely forgot about it!"
"Ah, in that case, hey. My [Sugar] and Shizu's [Nectar]! Let's use these too and try making a sweet version of the All-Purpose Recovery Potion!"
Oh! Three people together have the wisdom of Manjushri!
Great ideas just keep coming, don't they? It's unclear if we'll achieve a chemically stable fixation, but at any rate, it feels like the research has suddenly leapt forward. Yeah, yeah, this is great.