IWHERSFL 35

Winterberg Castle, the duke’s office.

“You’re here? Report.”

“Yes, Your Grace!”

When Raul gave the order indifferently, the servant bowed deeply and reported.

“We have delivered this month’s food and daily necessities to the cabin as well. We visit once a week to check on the duchess’s living conditions.”

In truth, it was all a lie.

Just like last month, all the food and daily necessities had been diverted elsewhere, and he had not gone to the cabin even once.

By now, that wicked woman would surely have starved to death and be rotting as a corpse.

The servant planned to go to the cabin at the end of the month to collect the remains.

He could simply report to the duke that the woman had finally escaped. Or say that forest beasts had torn her apart, leaving only bones.

The servant was certain the duke would welcome such news, but cold sweat soaked his palms as he lied.

“The duchess… her life looks difficult, but she’s getting by.”

“Her life looks difficult? I suppose so.”

Raul let out a short scoff and glanced at the servant with his clear blue eyes.

It was only a passing look, but the servant unconsciously hunched his shoulders.

“Good work. If there’s nothing else to report, you may leave.”

“Yes, my lord!”

After the servant left the office, Raul took out a letter from the drawer and read it again.

The sender was Balzac Leone.

He was a pharmacist living in hiding in one of the villages of the Winterberg territory.

After a dungeon appeared in the territory, Raul had hired him as the pharmacist of Winterberg Castle.

He had already personally confirmed the contents of this letter with Balzac.

A farming couple who suddenly appeared in a village one day and sold fruits and vegetables.

People who experienced strange effects after eating the fruits and vegetables they bought from them.

And supposedly, the wife of that couple had light emerald-colored hair, the same color as Muriel’s.

Hearing that story, Raul had felt a moment of doubt, but…

‘Just a coincidence.’

He dismissed the suspicion, thinking it couldn’t be true.

Weren’t those farmers said to be newlyweds? There was no way the wife could be Muriel. That woman was alone.

‘Still, I should go check it out myself soon.’

But for now, it was difficult to make time. With the sudden appearance of a dungeon, there was a mountain of things demanding his attention.

A dungeon appearing in the territory and the formation of a hub city was something to welcome. But at the same time, it was also a headache.

It wasn’t only adventurers sent from various regions who gathered in a hub city.

Notorious criminals and swindlers also sniffed out the scent of money and crawled in like sewer rats.

There was no doubt they would cause numerous problems, so preparations had to be thorough.

‘I need to reinforce the troops defending the hub city… increase patrols as well. And finish building detention facilities for criminals within the month.’

Most important of all was subjugating the dungeon.

Until now, Raul had supported other territories where dungeons appeared with troops and supplies several times.

But of the five lords who had received his help, only two contacted him first this time, offering support.

The other three pretended not to notice, making excuses about their own territories being in bad shape.

Even though repaying help in kind later was the proper way of noble society.

‘There’s also the possibility that Terni stirred things up.’

Duke Terni already seemed displeased by the appearance of a dungeon in Winterberg.

‘Willard Terni, that greedy old man, must be having a hard time enduring this situation.’

With a faint, cold smile, Raul adjusted his clothes and stood up.

It was 2 p.m.

Time to go inspect the knights’ training.

The three members of the Veratis Guild returned to the dungeon hub city.

Before they left, I asked them a few things.

‘We’ll visit the Veratis Guild branch soon. When we meet again, make sure to welcome us, okay?’

‘Ah, of course~!’

‘And… please tell the guild master about us too.’

‘Don’t worry. I know the guild master a bit. I think he’ll find it interesting and agree.’

I needed to visit the Veratis Guild branch in the dungeon hub city as soon as possible, but before that, there was something else I had to do.

Namely—

〈Let’s Become a Beginner Pharmacist!〉 Quest☆

You have finished reading Introduction to Pharmacology!

Now only practical training remains.

Make potions and raise your pharmacology skill proficiency! (^^)9

Current proficiency: 0 / 100

※ Each successful potion creation increases proficiency by 5 points.
※ A great success grants a high number of points.

Success reward: 5,000 coins
Failure penalty: None

That’s right.

The moment I finished reading Introduction to Pharmacology, the system gave me a quest—and the reward was a whopping 5,000 coins.

I hadn’t been able to save coins because I kept buying daily necessities, but if I got 5,000 coins at once, I could immediately open the hidden shop.

As soon as I accepted the quest, the “Pharmacology” skill appeared. Its level was still 1.

Based on my guess, it seemed I had to fill proficiency to 100 to level it up.

“Alright, let’s start.”

I opened my inventory and laid out the materials I had gathered so far on the table.

Since there wasn’t a proper workspace, I had no choice but to use the storage room temporarily.

“Muriel, is there anything I can help with?”

“No, there isn’t.”

“Master! If you need Ninny, just say the word!”

“Yeah, thanks.”

As expected, Lysian and Ninabel were hovering around me.

They were the type who couldn’t feel at ease unless they interfered in everything I did, so I’d gotten used to it by now.

‘Let’s start with the most basic recovery potion.’

The system didn’t provide potion recipes separately.

In other words, I had to make potions using only the knowledge gained from Introduction to Pharmacology.

I wasn’t bad at memorizing things, so I had already learned most of the manufacturing methods in that book.

And only after reading Introduction to Pharmacology did I understand why pharmacists were so rare.

There were thousands of medicinal herbs and poisonous plants in this world, and a pharmacist had to remember them all and know how to use them properly.

Knowledge of herbalism was extremely complex. For example, some poisonous plants looked very similar to medicinal herbs, and using them incorrectly could easily kill someone.

And some herbs could be used as medicine in their leaves, stems, and roots, but their flowers had strong toxicity and had to be handled with care.

Accurately measuring the herbs used in potions was also important. For some herbs, even a 0.1-gram difference could turn medicine into poison.

‘The ingredients for a low-grade recovery potion are… tender leaf feather grass, blue umbrella mushroom, and a D-rank or higher monster core.’

For tender leaf feather grass, the stem and leaves are used separately, while the root is crushed to extract its juice.

The cap of the blue umbrella mushroom is finely chopped, but the stem is added whole.

And for the monster core of D-rank or higher…

‘Use one with high transparency and about the size of a child’s fist.’

Just then, a core that perfectly met those conditions caught my eye. I quickly picked it up, washed it clean with water, and put it into the pot first.

As I carefully proceeded step by step, an hour passed before I knew it.

“Ugh…”

I pressed my sore lower back with both hands and did some light stretching.

Lysian and Ninabel were sitting quietly in a corner, watching me.

“Master! If your back hurts, should Ninny give you a massage?”

“Um… no, later. I still have a lot to do.”

“Hang in there, Master…!”

Encouraged by the spirits, I focused again on potion making.

Next to the table was a brazier, and inside the hot pot on top of it, the ingredients were bubbling away.

It smelled like… boiling herbal medicine. The kind of smell you often notice in the lobby of an oriental medicine clinic. Could potions actually taste like herbal medicine?

‘I’ll try drinking it once it’s done.’

For about forty minutes, I carefully controlled the heat while boiling the potion.

That wasn’t the only thing to watch out for. I had to add an exact amount of water at the moment the potion began to thicken, and I had to add the tender leaf feather grass root juice every five minutes.

‘Wow, this consumes an insane amount of mental energy…’

Having to concentrate so intensely was extremely exhausting.

My stamina was dropping fast too—it seemed being a pharmacist required good physical health as well.

‘Ha… I want a strong body too, and soon…!’

As I silently made that wish, the potion was finally completed.

Ding!

Low-grade Recovery Potion creation complete! (Decent success)

Completion: ☆☆☆
Effectiveness: ☆☆
Taste: ☆

〈The taste is bad, but for a first attempt, a potion with fairly good effects has been completed!〉

Pharmacology skill proficiency: 5 / 100

For a first attempt, this was a pretty decent result.

But the taste… one star?

‘Is it really that bad…?’

〈Notice〉
A taste so bad that even if two people eat it and one dies, the other wouldn’t notice!

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