Volume 1 - CH 15.2

Chapter 1-15 : Critical Situation Ⅰ (part 2)

「Kate-san, you draw water from the well in the backyard. Lorea-chan, can you guide her there?」(Sarasa)

「Understood!」(Lorea)

As Lorea-chan and Kate-san hurriedly headed to the backyard, I went to the warehouse to pick up some potions.

It will be a little hard because she’s not only injured.

I need a potion to attach her arm, a potion to cure the disease, a potion to restore her physical strength, and a potion to eliminate the poison from her body.

The injuries and the poison will greatly reduce her physical strength and can be life threatening.

After packing the necessary potions and tools in a bag, I returned to the store area.

At the same time, Kate and Lorea-chan brought two buckets of water.

「Kate-san, take her severed arm and clean the area around the cut. Can you do it?」(Sarasa)

「Leave it to me!」(Kate)

It would be a tough job for people who aren’t used to it, but Kate immediately took the severed arm and began to clean it.

In the meantime, I approached the injured womanー No, Iris-san, and cut the part of her clothes that covered her torn arm, and then I washed the cut area.

Even when I washed her wound, there was almost no reaction from her.

Her vital condition seems really bad. I have to hurry!

After Kate-san finished cleaning the severed arm, she gave it to me.

Immediately, I poured half of the potion on both cut surfaces, and poured the remaining half into Iris-san’s mouth while carefully pressing the cut surfaces against each other.

Then, her arm, which had been torn off, was connected neatly.

This is the third time I have seen this kind of terrible wound being healed.

However, I still think that it’s kinda strange.

After that, I poured the other potions into her mouth.

「Ck! Normally, you don’t take money when it comes to someone’s life.」(man A)

「Alchemists are money-grubbers, after all.」(man B)

Umm, I feel like I heard voices…

Ah, those must be voices of those two useless men.

Why are they still here even though they are not helping with anything at all?

「You bastard…! Apologize to her!」(Kate)

As Kate raised her voice, I put my hand on her shoulder to calm her down, and pointed my index finger at the men.

「Hey, you two, how about this: From now on, both of you will bring all materials you collected from the Great Sea of Trees to me. Since I’ll use them to save people’s lives, of course you will give them to me for free.」(Sarasa)

「H, Haa!? The heck are you talking about!?」(man A)

「That’s right! There’s no way we will give materials we got by risking our lives for free!」(man B)

「”Normally, you don’t take money when it comes to someone’s life.” You said that yourself. Besides, people would do reckless things more often if they knew that I would treat them for free. First of all, you Collectors can earn money thanks to alchemists buying your materials!」(Sarasa)

The men were speechless after listening to what I said.

Do these people think that alchemists have an inexhaustible amount of money?

And actually, the materials used to make potions to heal Iris-san aren’t something that I can buy with my savings.

I just happened to make these potions because Master gave the materials to me.

And by the way, normally, you won’t be able to find these potions in stores.

「I’m sorry for their behaviour. They’re jerks but even though it’s temporary, they’re still my party members. Please forgive them.」(Kate)

「Kate-san, you don’t have to apologize, but….. since you guys are not helping at all, can you get out of my store, please?」(Sarasa)

Saying that, I pointed to the exit.

The two men looked at me with dissatisfied expressions at first, but then they got out after Kate glared at them.

Really… What selfish men…

Although they complained about money, in the end, they made Kate pay the entire treatment cost.

「Lorea-chan, can you lock the door and close the curtains?」(Sarasa)

「Right away.」(Lorea)

Lorea-chan quickly locked the door and closed the curtains.

I used light magic to illuminate the store area that became slightly dark.

Then, I tore Iris-san’s clothes with a knife and removed the cloth wrapped around her stomach.

「This is…」(Sarasa)

There was a claw mark on her stomach.

「It was a four armed bear-like beast. It could even spit out flames…」(Kate)

「Four arms… Poison… Flame… I see….. The monster who attacked Iris-san must be a Hellfire Grizzly…」(Sarasa)

This is weird… They’re not monsters that should be in this area…

While wondering, I washed the wound on Iris-san’s stomach.

As I wiped her wound, Iris-san responded a little.

Looks like she began to recover her physical strength.

「But… This is terrible. I think I should use one more potion.」(Sarasa)

Thanks to the first potion I poured into her mouth, it seems that she has recovered a lot.

However, the wound on her stomach still looked terrible.

Could it be… This wound was originally even worse than now…?

I took out another potion and poured it into Iris-san’s mouth again.

Although it’s not as great as the first one, I think this potion is enough.

Of course, this is also a very expensive potion.

「Honestly, I don’t want to give her too many potions because it might weaken her… But I guess we don’t have any other choice.」(Sarasa)

You can heal wounds and illnesses with potions, but it doesn’t mean that you can use them as much as you want.

Using too many potions that have a powerful effect is very dangerous.

There is a risk that some effects will interfere with each other and cause unexpected side effects.

However, in a case like this, I have no choice but to use it, or else, Iris-san might die.

I have to carefully adjust the dosage to minimize the side effects.

After I poured a potion to treat wounds onto her stomach, I poured another potion to recover physical strength into her mouth little by little.

After a while, the rashes on Iris-san’s skin gradually disappeared, and she seemed to get better.

Looking at her friend’s condition that was getting better, Kate-san let out a sigh of relief and bowed to me.

「Those men are still amateurs. I’m sorry if they offended you.」(Kate)

「No, it’s okay. It’s normal that they think alchemists are greedy since most of our products are expensive.」(Sarasa)

Looking at Kate-san’s apologetic expression, I shook my head.

Honestly, they irritated me a little, but it’s true that we, alchemists, sell expensive products, so I kind of understand how they feel.

However, I can’t sell products that are supposed to be expensive too cheaply, let alone give them for free.

If I do that, the other alchemists would be forced to sell their products cheaply too.

Eventually, they will lose motivation to continue working as an alchemist and quit.

For a country that wants to increase the number of alchemists, this is something to be avoided.

Therefore, the price is controlled by the country, and excessive price reductions are not allowed. (chapter 1-2)

In the first place, the materials used for alchemy are expensive.

The reason why they are expensive is Collectors are risking their lives entering dangerous places like the Great Sea of Trees to collect them.

Moreover, the risk of losing materials due to failure during the alchemical process is high.

If you want to make a difficult artifact using expensive materials, you might go bankrupt if you make mistakes.

Unfortunately, the general public seems to not understand this reality.

They only see us, alchemists, as rich and greedy people who sell expensive products.

I, myself, also thought that being an alchemist was a very profitable job, but after I entered school, I understood that making profit as an alchemist is not that easy.

Well, you can be rich, but it’s extremely hard.