TRPM 417

chapter 417

Grandmother Bokja attended some of the classes with us, but for others, she went straight to the laboratory.

Of course, she didn’t go alone—she went with an association staff member who had been on standby.

“Grandmother Bokja seems like a really nice person.”
“I think so too. She felt like a grandmother to me.”
“Hmm.”

Fortunately, most of our classmates seemed to like Grandmother Bokja.
Elena seemed a little wary of her, but that wasn’t a problem with Grandmother Bokja—it was Elena herself—so it wasn’t a big deal.

“Kim Eun-yeon, what does Grandmother do in the lab?”

I asked Eun-yeon. Surely she wasn’t just resting in the lab.

“Maybe… studying for a certificate…?”

Eun-yeon answered hesitantly, clearly unsure.

“You mean studying for the alchemy certificate, right? But wasn’t that something you were supposed to learn from me?”
“Well… yeah… but… when I’m not around… I’m supposed to learn from the staff member…”

Ah. That must be the association staff member in charge of Eun-yeon. Unlike the staff member in charge of Grandmother Bokja, this person had some knowledge of alchemy. Moreover, this staff member had often been present whenever Eun-yeon and I worked in the alchemy lab. So it made sense that they could handle teaching the basics of alchemy.

“Hey, what are you guys talking about?”

While I was having this conversation with Eun-yeon, Lee Doo-min came up to us, clinging like he usually did.

“Go away, you smell like sweat.”
“Uh… yeah… you smell too…”

We pushed him away because the smell of sweat from his body was overpowering.
By the way, the reason Lee Doo-min was sweating so much was that it was gym class. Now, after gym class, during the free time given at the discretion of the PE teacher, our class was taking the opportunity to spar.

Since I and Eun-yeon, a non-combatant, were exempt from sparring, we weren’t sweating at all. But the other students were sweating profusely, fighting according to their respective abilities.
Especially Ryu Ah-min, Ryu Ah-young, Lee Ha-eun, and Jin Chun-ha were panting and barely able to speak.

‘Back in the day, even if it was like this, Ha-eun wouldn’t have been panting so much…’

That was because Ha-eun was a grand mage, so no one else could spar with her.
But now, Elena, who had surpassed the barrier and was a spirit master, was in the same class. Sparring with her left Ha-eun exhausted like this every time.

‘If someone asked who was stronger, of course Ha-eun is stronger, but Elena has more stamina.’

Watching the exhausted kids, Eun-yeon asked Lee Doo-min:

“You’re… not tired…?”
“Huh? Why would I be tired? Besides, I’m a superhuman.”
“I know that… but…”

Even a superhuman has limits to their stamina. That must be what Eun-yeon meant. However, seeing Lee Doo-min full of energy, it was a bit of a cognitive dissonance.

“What about Eliot, who was sparring with you?”
“Eliot? He’s over there.”

At that, Eun-yeon and I turned to see Eliot where Doo-min was pointing.
…Eliot didn’t look very tired, but for some reason, he was sitting in a chair staring blankly at space.

“Why’s he like that?”
“Right? I’m not the only one who thinks that’s weird, right?”

I said that while looking at Eliot, and Doo-min nodded in agreement.

“Lately, he’s been lacking motivation, you know?”
“…Lacking motivation?”
“Yeah! He used to spar at least five times a day or his body would ache, but now he sparrs only three times and then goes home?”

…Even that still seemed like quite a lot of sparring. But I understood that Eliot’s motivation had dropped a bit.

“When did it start?”
“Hmm…”

After thinking for a moment, Doo-min recalled the approximate timing:

“I think it was just before the midterms.”

Before the midterms… The event that could have affected Eliot around that time…

“Ah.”

Perhaps it was when Elena surpassed the barrier.
If his motivation dropped after that, it could be due to feelings of inferiority.

‘I can understand him being demotivated.’

Even so, compared to the original Eliot, he was only somewhat demotivated, and still full of energy compared to others.

“No big deal then.”
“No big deal? Then who’s going to spar with me?!”
“……”

Was that the problem? I narrowed my eyes at Doo-min. Of course, it might have been a serious problem for someone who loved sparring like him.

“Eliot hasn’t stopped sparring entirely, he’s just cut back a bit. That’s tolerable.”
“Hmm…”

While Doo-min and I were having that conversation…

“Um…”
“Hm?”
“Shall I… try making… a motivation-boosting medicine…?”

Eun-yeon said this.

“You’re not thinking of making something that directly affects the mind, right?”
“No! Of course not… It’s just a medicine to… stimulate hormone secretion…”

Hormone stimulation… Naturally…

“You know you have to be careful with such medicine, right? Excessive hormone secretion can cause problems. Also, depending on the situation, it could be addictive.”
“I know…”
“Then…”

If she understood the precautions, there was no reason to stop her.

“And…”
“Hm?”
“I want to make it with Grandmother Bokja…”

I pondered for a moment, then nodded. If Grandmother Bokja were just an ordinary alchemist who had recently awakened her abilities, I would have stopped Eun-yeon. But Bokja had long mastered her abilities and had already successfully created the focus-enhancing medicine.

‘If she was alone, she might make a mistake, but with Eun-yeon, it should be fine.’

Bokja would have to make several medicines herself anyway, and for an alchemist, a medicine regulating hormone secretion wasn’t too difficult.

“Go ahead.”
“Yay!”

With my permission, Eun-yeon smiled brightly and called someone—likely the association staff member in charge of her.

“Unni…? After school… I’m going to make medicine with Grandmother… Yes… what we need is…”

Eun-yeon ordered the ingredients to make the hormone-stimulating medicine. Watching this, Doo-min whispered just loud enough for me to hear:

“Wow… she really is an alchemist, huh?”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“Well, she’s smoothly ordering herbs with unfamiliar names. It’s giving off a professional aura.”

Indeed, someone not in the field wouldn’t usually know those herbs.

After school, I, Eun-yeon, Grandmother Bokja, and the staff member supporting her went to the alchemy lab.

“Grandmother, what did you learn from Unni today?”
“Today, I just learned how to safely handle basic tools and herbs.”
“Really? Then let’s make a medicine together today!”
“Will I be of help?”
“It’s fine! You’ve already made a focus-enhancing medicine. Today’s medicine is a bit more complicated, but not too difficult!”

Eun-yeon’s expression was bright as she spoke. Perhaps unable to refuse, Grandmother Bokja smiled lightly:

“Alright, Eun-yeon, teach me well.”
“Yes!”

The staff member supporting her chuckled:

“She seems closer to Eun-yeon than to me, her relative, whom she met just yesterday.”

She didn’t seem upset at all. On the contrary, she seemed happy Bokja and Eun-yeon were getting along.

“Hmm?”

As we headed to the lab, some familiar people were carrying unfamiliar boxes.

‘Ah, the herbs Eun-yeon ordered through the staff have arrived.’

I recognized them because these same people always delivered herbs.
However, the boxes were slightly different than usual. Usually, they came in regular post office boxes, but today they had a strange brand label.
Eun-yeon also read the Korean on the label.

“Sinse… herbs?”

Sinse Herbs?

‘Could it be from Sinsegyo… meaning the herb farm my mom runs?’

If the association purchased from Sinse Herbs, it must have been high-quality. That meant the herbs grown at Sinsegyo were likely better than those from ordinary dungeons. It also raised the reputation of the herb farm.

‘Good.’

Since the association bought from Sinse Herbs, the quality was guaranteed. Once that fact spreads, other companies unaware of the herbs would likely try to purchase them. That meant my mother’s business would thrive.

“Please check and stamp here.”
“Yes, confirmed.”

Entering the lab, I saw the organized boxes of herbs.

‘Not all the herbs were from Sinsegyo, it seems.’

There were a few regular post office boxes too.
Sinsegyo focused on cultivating herbs that had high demand but low supply, so common herbs weren’t included.

“Um, senior?”
“Hmm?”
“Do we have to open and sort all these ourselves?”

The staff member in charge of Bokja asked the staff member in charge of Eun-yeon.

“Yes, but don’t worry. We won’t make you handle herbs you don’t know how to deal with.”
“Phew…”
“Some herbs start decaying the moment they touch the air. Would you want to handle those?”

The staff member opened the boxes and began sorting the herbs skillfully.

“Grandmother! Let’s start making the medicine!”
“Alright, what should we start with?”

Eun-yeon and Grandmother Bokja began making the medicine, selecting a few herbs and experimental tools from the sorted boxes.

“……”

I quietly decided to leave the lab. There was nothing for me to do here.