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*Clang**Clang**Clang*…

The sound of a bell?

Louis woke up when he heard the sound of a bell in the distance.

A view of the ceiling he had never seen before…

I’ve been reborn, right?

Today is the day I’m going to experience blacksmithing; I’m looking forward to it.

I got ready and went down to the dining room to order breakfast.

The breakfast was similar to last night, two pieces of hard bread and a dish of beans and vegetables.

The bread still was still so dry it took all the moisture out of my mouth.

The beans were surprisingly good and made me feel quite full.

I remembered that my father, who had died, had eaten a lot of potatoes and beans when he was evacuated during the war, and he said that even though they lacked nutrition, they made his stomach feel full.

After finishing breakfast, I took a walk to Pete’s blacksmith shop.

When I got to the store, Pete instructed me to go around the back, and I entered the workshop from the back of the building.

The workshop was quite large, as I had expected.

It seemed that the workshop was already ready for blacksmithing.

First, Pete instructed me to watch the process of making a sickle, and I decided to closely observe the entire process.

The metal is heated in the furnace, struck and shaped, cooled and sharpened, and the wooden handle is attached to complete the process.

I had an image that Japanese swords were made with different materials for the blade and other parts and that the process took hours, but maybe it was because the object was a sickle? But because it was a sickle, it took much less time than I had imagined.

“Now, do it how I did it.” (Pete)

“Yes.” (Louis)

As I recall, I hold the material with iron tongs, put it in the furnace to heat it up, and try the same procedure as Pete.

I can feel something as I strike the metal.

Huh? I can somehow understand it.

This is similar to the feeling I had when I wrote the letters yesterday.

I know where to strike, how much to strike, and when to cool it down, so I can do it.

I finished the work in almost the same amount of time as Pete, and the resulting sickle looks much sharper than Pete’s.

Pete lets out a gasp of admiration.

“Louis, you’re already better than me, you know. Is it really your first time?” (Pete)

“Yes, it was my first time, but I seemed to know where to hit and how hard, so I just let my intuition do the work.” (Louis)

“You have a talent for blacksmithing, don’t you? If you study under a famous blacksmith, you could become a famous blacksmith.” (Pete)

I told him that nothing would come out of his excitement, so I made two or three sickles, which turned out to be sharp in even less time.

I wanted to make more than just sickles, but I ended up making only sickles.

I was told that there were no more materials, to begin with.

We finished making it earlier than planned and had a chat over tea.

Pete told me that even at the age of 20, he wanted to be an adventurer rather than a blacksmith and that his desire to be an adventurer has been smoldering for a long time.

If the desire is so strong, why doesn’t he try it? It’s much better than not trying and regretting it.

I told him that it was too early to give up without experiencing it, but he said it was impossible because knowing his aptitude, experiencing other professions would be a detour.

I told him that everyone is different, so I wouldn’t force him to do anything, but I thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to be an adventurer who could forge.

I thanked him again for letting me experience blacksmithing, and I left Pete’s workshop to go to Camus’s Apothecary.

I decided to leave Pete’s workshop and go to Camus-san’s apothecary store to ask her if she would let me try my hand at making potions.

I arrived at Camus’s apothecary and called out to her.

“Hello Camus-san. Would let me experience making potions?” (Louis)

“Ah, Louis-kun. I’d be happy to show you how it’s made, but I don’t have enough of the ingredients available for a hands-on experience.” (Camus)

I asked her if she could just allow me to observe.

In this world, there are many different types of potions, such as heal potions to heal wounds and injuries, stamina potions to restore strength, and antidote potions for curing poisoning, and the ingredients and effects vary depending on the potion.

The most label for them is beginner potions, intermediate potions are called mid-potion, and advanced potions are called hi-potion.

Naturally, the higher the price, the better the effect.

The highest level potion is called the cure-all Elixir, and it is said to be an insane potion that restores even the parts of the body that are missing due to injury, etc. The recipe is unknown, and I’ve never even seen it, but it seems to exist.

I think it’s just an outlandish story.

Also, listening carefully, a potion is sold by an apothecary, but since it requires magic power, it is made by an alchemist, someone who can use Alchemy Magic.

The apothecary sells the potion while listening to the patient’s condition in the store.

Camus-san is a beginner-level alchemist and can make potions, so she is both an alchemist and an apothecary.

When I got permission and entered the workshop at the back of the drugstore, there was a small bottle for potions, a beaker like an experiment, etc. in the workshop, and it was a room with a scientist flavor.

“Thank you for visiting!”

“Yes, then, let’s have a look at what we’re making after having a lecture.”

Making a potion roughly consists of four steps.

1. Grinding

2. Extraction

3. Permeation (Magical Power)

4. Fixing the effect of the potion

When Camus-san said “roughly,” she meant how to make a beginner’s potion, and she didn’t know how to make more advanced potions.

And depending on the herb used, whether it’s dried or fresh, the size of the grinds or how it is ground, whether it’s extracted using water, alcohol, or oil, the quality and quantity of the magic power for permeation, as well as the quality and quantity for fixing the medicinal effect, the shelf life will differ.

If I had listened to a classroom, I know whether Camus-san’s potion is made correctly. That’s what I thought as I listened.

“You can tell the level of a potion, by the way, it’s made, and if you can appraise it, you can tell more as you are appraising it.” (Camus)

“I see, each creator makes the potions a little differently, but you can check the levels of the potions they make, and so the finished products have different levels.” (Louis)

I was praised for my quick comprehension.

This old man is but a simple man who is happy when a beautiful young lady compliments him.

She showed me a tool that could distinguish between beginner, intermediate and advanced levels based on the clarity and color of the finished potion.

Half of it had a gradation from light blue to dark blue while half was a white plate.

By the way, I couldn’t find any window glass for the house, but the small bottles for potions are glass.

I heard that in some areas they use pottery bottles to keep the price down.

There is no difference in efficacy between glass and ceramic bottles, but since you can’t see the inside of the ceramic bottle if you buy it from a strange place, you might get a bad product.

After the lecture, I got to see the actual making of the potions.

She showed me how to take out the medicinal herbs.

The name of the herb was Hirupo grass, and this time she was going to use the dried kind.

She took out a few leaves on a plate, whispered something softly, and finally chanted [Grind], and the leaves in front of me fell on the plate with a rustling sound.

Oh! I was surprised because I had assumed that she would use a mortar and pestle or yagen. [T/N: Yagen is the Japanese grinding tool that uses a rolling wheel and boat. It’s very common to see in anime or manga about ancient Japan.]

Camus-san put the pulverized leaves into a container of water shaped like a flask, whispered, and at the end, she whispered [Extraction], and the water turned brown as it whirled around in the glass container.

Apparently, the medicinal ingredients were extracted, but it looked like a very murky oolong tea.

Then, she transferred the contents to a glass container of the same size while filtering the brew, and as soon as she was done, she whispered again and at the end, she whispered [Permeation], and the color inside the container showed a dramatic change as soon as she said the final word.

It turned from brown to blue.

Is this a chemistry experiment? It was so flashy that I wanted to shout.

It is also glowing a little bit.

After finishing the process, she transferred the blue liquid from the large container to smaller bottles.

After arranging a few bottles, she whispered again and chanted [Medicine Fix] at the end, and it glowed a little stronger than before, then the glow disappeared with a swoosh.

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