Zoltan’s Rit

The day after, we went shopping.

As I made breakfast for the two of us, I thought back to how much

my day-to-day life had changed in the past couple weeks. I had been

living in a cheap little town house in the blue-collar part of town, but

now I had the apothecary of my dreams. The princess who had been

one of my companions back in the day had forced her way into my

home and was living with me, and here I was in the kitchen, making

breakfast for two.

"Life's a strange thing."

If someone had asked me way back whether I could have imagined a

future like this, the answer would have most definitely been no. I

could have seen a future fighting against the demon lord with Ruti in

the Hero's party, or a future keeping the capital's peace as the

second-in-command of the Bahamut Knights, or even a future where

I became a noble with a modest amount of land covering the village

where I was born and the surrounding territory… But running an

apothecary with a princess in Zoltan of all places…

"Not that this is bad, though."

I set the food on the two plates. Drawn by the scent, Rit jerked

herself up from bed, still looking sleepy.

"Breakfast."

Rit being with me and saying things like that with her carefree smile

had already become a small source of happiness for me.

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We had taken care of pretty much all the shopping yesterday, which

meant that today was:

"Taking care of the approval for Red's medicine."

"I'm not a big fan of calling it that, though. Doesn't red medicine

evoke a dangerous sort of feeling?"

Crimson medicine, a red drug. No matter how you put it, it sounded

foreboding.

"Then how about Redrit medicine? Which reminds me, we need to

get the store's sign changed."

"Were you serious about changing it to Red & Rit's Apothecary? If we

change the store's name, you can't go quitting on me later, you

know," I joked.

"Does that mean you'll have me stay here forever?" Rit fired back

with a playful grin.

"Okay, I get it. We can go by the sign shop, too," I responded with a

smile. "That and the approval for the new anesthetic. I already

bought the silver tableware for the gift, so all that's left is to head

over."

"It would be better to have a letter of introduction, but I can use my

connections to take care of that side of things."

"How like you, Rit, always on top of things. Thanks, that will help." In

such a situation, it was best that I just accepted the help the blond

girl offered. Rit was the top adventurer in Zoltan, so she had a lot of

clout.

"You're better at the actual negotiations, though, right?"

"Yep, leave it to me."

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I had felt confident about my ability to work out an agreement, but…

"Absolutely not!"

I was rejected point-blank. There wasn't even any room for

negotiations.

Dan, a middle-aged man with a bit of a gut, was the official working

for the council that adjudicated the approval of new medicines.

Maybe he was tired, but his face seemed haggard despite being a bit

chubby, and there were bags under his eyes.

"Please, wait. My medicine is a safe alternative with reduced

dependence. Can't we at least talk this through a bit first?"

"I don't need to talk anything through. Take your gift and leave!"

Up until after he had taken the letter of introduction from the highlevel bureaucrat that Rit knew, Dan had maintained a business smile,

even if he couldn't totally hide his lack of interest. But as soon as I

started to talk about the actual point of the visit—the medicine—his

attitude changed dramatically.

"Is there some kind of problem?"

"I-it's got nothing to do with you."

I knew the official's sudden change in mood wasn't because of us.

The shift only happened after he heard we were there to get

approval for a new medicine. From that, it wasn't hard to guess

something was up, but the crucial point of why he refused the

application wasn't clear.

I should have gathered a bit more information beforehand.

I never would have guessed it would end up like this, and I didn't

know anything about Dan. Even if I tried to negotiate, I didn't have

any sort of position from which to attack.

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Huh, am I getting complacent after leaving the front lines? I've lost

my edge.

Living a life as someone who just gathered herbs every day had

definitely worn away at some of my capabilities. Skills granted by a

blessing could never be lost, but your own ability to judge when and

how to use them definitely dulled without regular practice.

After Rit had gone to all that trouble to get me a letter of

introduction, it was a shame for it to go to waste, but there wasn't

anything we could do. We left the reception office.

"What was that about?!" Rit wondered, indignant.

Actually, there was a moment in there where she was seething and

seemed about ready to grab Dan by the collar. If I hadn't held out a

hand to stop her, and also taken the reins by asserting our position,

Rit might have resorted to using her strength to wring an approval

out of the poor man. Despite growing up a princess, she was the kind

of person who had trouble finding the patience for lengthy

discussions.

"I've really gotten weak. That wasn't something that could be

resolved with negotiations."

The first thing I needed to do was investigate the real reason he had

rejected us. It probably wouldn't take that long, but…having stepped

away from those kinds of adventures already, it was honestly a pain

in the ass.

"Then let's try asking his boss," Rit suggested.

"His boss? …Yeah, I guess so."

Right, I had Rit on my side. I'd just have to use her status as the top

adventurer in these parts as much as I could.

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"It's an honor to have a visit from the one and only Miss Rit."

Rudolf, the head of the department in charge of rules and

regulations regarding commerce and industry, was a man in the

middle of his life with a bit of gray hair starting to show. He was

smiling amiably, as if genuinely happy to meet the young adventurer.

"The truth is that I'm working with Red now, and there was

something I wanted to ask about, if you didn't mind."

"Ohhh? Miss Rit, famous for her solo work, is teaming up? I can't

wait to see what comes of it. Mr.…Red was it? It's an honor to meet

you."

There was no need for me to mention here that I was a D-rank

adventurer. I just flashed a vague smile as I took his outstretched

hand.

"Anyway, we came to inquire about getting approval for the sale of a

new drug to be used as an anesthetic, but we were rejected by the

man in charge of overseeing the approval."

"Ah, I understand," Rudolf said, nodding apologetically. "I'm quite

sorry about that, but your timing is a bit unfortunate for that sort of

request."

"I guess something really has happened, then?"

"As expected of Miss Rit, I suppose. Yes, as you say, there's been a

bit of a problem. It's not really something to be talking about where

others might hear, so I'd like to ask you to keep this to yourselves."

"Of course."

Rit and I both nodded in affirmation before Rudolf continued.

"About a month ago, a medicine that Dan approved turned out to

have a powerful narcotic effect if it was prepared slightly differently,

and in the shadows, it has been spreading like wildfire among our

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poorest residents. Even some among the nobility have started using

it."

"A drug that was approved a month ago?" I asked.

I was a little confused by that. Even though I was stocking my own

medicines, I would have guessed Newman or one of the other

doctors would have mentioned a new drug.

"I suppose you're familiar with medicines, Mr. Red? Even so, it's not

surprising you wouldn't know about it. A large amount of the drug

was prepared outside Zoltan before it was approved. As soon as the

approval was granted, it was all brought in and then apparently

immediately sold to people who had already reserved orders of it.

The intent was to sell it as a narcotic from the very start, it seems."

"Really? It would seem like, after going to all that work to get the

approval, selling it that way would obviously lead to regulation, even

if it did earn a big initial profit. I would think a continuing stream of

sales would be hard to maintain."

"Yes, it's quite the puzzle. Perhaps it's just the shortsightedness of a

novice herbalist. Anyway, it has been quite the black eye and a bit of

a problem for us, so Dan has been working day and night to deal with

the fallout while receiving no small amount of reprimand himself."

That explained it, then. Secretly, I had been more than a little angry

with that chubby man, but I was able to sympathize a bit more after

having learned of his position. It must have been rough. I wanted to

make a point of having the next medicine I came to him for approval

be something to settle a nervous stomach.

"Since it's you making the request, Miss Rit, I'm sure there won't be

a problem. Could you let me see the paperwork? I'll take care of the

approval myself."

"Really?! Thank you very much!"

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We ended up getting the approval rather easily from an unexpected

source. Rit's influence was really something.

…I had known, of course, but it was still a little depressing. Back

during my adventures, I had been in charge of negotiations. It stung

a bit to know that this was all I could accomplish without the

influence that came with being a member of the Hero's party.

We showed Rudolf the documents regarding the medicine, he

double-checked that there weren't any problems, and he issued the

official endorsement.

With that, I could at last sell my medicine without issue.

After leaving the council building, my shoulders slumped a bit as we

walked.

"Sorry, all I could do was rely on you for everything."

Even though I had said I would take care of the negotiations myself,

in the end, Rit had been the one who got it done. I couldn't help

being a little disappointed in myself.

In response, the young woman, who walked ahead of me, turned

around and shook her head.

"All I've done is rely on you for cooking. Does that bother you? Do

you cook because you want me to apologize?"

"…Of course not."

"Red, I'm glad I could help you out. There's absolutely no reason to

apologize. I'll help you as often as you need me to from now on. I'd

do anything for you."

Mentally, I was rather taken aback at the unexpectedly

straightforward affection. Rit paused, too, while the two of us faced

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each other. I wasn't so uncouth as to ask her why she would go that

far for me.

"Thank you, Rit. I… I, uh… I guess this means I'll be counting on you in

the future as well."

"Yep!"

Drawn in by Rit's cheerful smile, I ended up smiling, too.

"It will take a bit of time until word about the effects of the new

medicine spreads," Rit said.

That night, we sat at the living room table, discussing how best to

increase sales for the shop.

"Though, the first question is whether a new anesthetic will even sell

at all," I added.

"Yeah, it would be good to have another drug with a more obvious

effect that people would want to buy."

"That's easy to say, but…"

All I had was the first-tier preparation skill. There was a limit to the

medicines I could prepare.

"I've got a wide breadth of knowledge but no specialized skills. There

isn't a medicine I know of that fits such a convenient niche."

"Right…"

What I had that other apothecaries didn't was that I didn't have to

worry about monsters while gathering herbs. I could also reach the

mountain in a few minutes when it would otherwise take someone a

day, maybe half a day if they had put a normal amount of points into

a skill that increased movement speed. It was a big advantage, but

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without a difference in the medicines themselves, that wouldn't lead

to a significant increase in sales.

"At most, it just helps when we actually run low on medicine," I

muttered. In just one day, I could get more than enough of a supply

ready to sell, and it would only take half a day if I limited my

gathering to what was actually needed.

"Do you have any ideas?" I asked.

"Hmmmm," Rit mused, closing her eyes.

She was probably connecting with her blessing and checking again if

there was anything she could do with the skills she had.

"We could try making a magic potion using spirit magic? I could work

on it together with you."

"Yeah, that might be a possibility. If we advertised it as being made

from your magic, it would probably sell among adventurers in

Zoltan."

That said, Rit's blessing—Spirit Scout—was fundamentally in the

Warrior tree. Its magic was more of a trump card, working best as a

hidden ace up her sleeve.

"I know my magic isn't really that strong," Rit said, looking a little

depressed.

She had probably noticed my expression. The blond girl was well

aware that her magic was more supplementary than a main feature.

That much was obvious from the fact that she used a two-sword

style of fighting that occupied both her hands, even though she

would have to use her fingers to make a seal to activate her magic

skills.

"Other than that… Yeah, I've got nothing!" Rit raised both hands,

throwing them up in a sign of defeat. Generally speaking, the skills

provided by blessings were oriented toward battle. There were

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hundreds of different weapon skills, but the whole of making

medicine was covered by a few tiers of Preparation skills—those

being Elementary, Intermediate, and Advanced. It was a rather small

number of ranks, despite such a wide variety of curatives.

Blessings were created for the purpose of conflict. That was what the

holy church's clergy taught. If you asked me, that much was clear just

from the breadth and depth of combat skills compared with the

vaguer tier structure to productive skills. This meant that, when it

came to medicine, unless we hired someone with Intermediate

Preparation or higher, there wasn't much else we could do.

"It's a difficult thing to solve, even though your cooking is so good,"

Rit said.

She seemed to be enjoying snacking on the white radish and pickled

octopus laid out on the table. Though the girl praised it heavily, all I

did was boil the octopus before pickling it. Then I sprinkled some salt

on the radish. It was because of my Cooking skill that even simple

dishes turned out pretty well.

"Maybe that's it? Maybe you could sell food out of the apothecary?"

"Don't be silly. All I have is Elementary Cooking, and it's just level one

at that. There's no way I could match up against a professional chef."

"With how good even this sort of cooking tastes, I think it would

probably work."

"Serving food would mean a ton of extra work. You couldn't call this

place busy, but it's not so little work that I can do an entirely

different job at the same time, too."

"I guess so. Too bad," Rit responded, looking disappointed.

But an apothecary serving food… That was something I had never

heard of. I started to laugh a little subconsciously, but then…

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"An apothecary that serves food?" Something about what Rit said

had piqued my interest, and I started thinking about it.

"What is it? Are you really considering running a restaurant, too?"

"No, not that… But there is something I want to try," I said as I stood

up. Rit seemed interested, following along behind me while asking

what I had hit upon.

I took some powdered immune-system-boosting herbs. Usually, the

plant was used as a preventive against fatigue and sickness and was

fairly effective in treating colds and other mild illnesses. However, its

taste was extremely bitter. It was the kind of medicine you'd want to

give children with weaker immune systems, but it wasn't uncommon

for them to throw it back up after drinking it because of how awful it

tasted.

I dissolved a little bit of the powder in some water and mixed it in

with some apple jam. Then I took the jam and spread it around a pie

crust and put it in the oven. Thanks to my Elementary Preparation

skill, I could protect the active ingredient from the heat. And thanks

to my Elementary Cooking skill, I could arrange the dish so the bitter

taste of the medicine would help bring out the jam's sweetness. It

took only ten minutes to bake the crust.

"I think I could use medicine as an ingredient in cooking!"

Rit looked utterly flummoxed; she hadn't considered such a thing

before. I retrieved the golden-brown pie.

"How about a taste test to see how it worked," I offered as I cut the

pie in half with a knife. It at least looked like a perfectly normal jam

pie. Praying for a success, we each took a bite.

"It's pretty good!" Rit said.

"Yeah, the medicine's bitterness doesn't stick out at all like this."

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This way, even a kid wouldn't have to feel like they were actually

taking any awful-tasting medicine.

"With a pie, it won't keep very long, so maybe I should go with

cookies? I'll give that a shot, too," I added.

"Then how about baking a bunch of smaller cookies to use for public

taste tests? It's just a nutritional supplement and immune-system

booster, so there shouldn't be any problem if healthy people ate

them, too, right?"

"Yeah, that's a good idea."

"I'll go around handing them out tomorrow!"

The two of us locked hands happily. The next day was shaping up to

be a fun one.

On the following day, Rit took a basket filled with cookies and spent

a few hours handing them out to farmers and adventurers among

the northern district and blue-collar parts of Zoltan. While she was

doing that, I offered a taste test to the few customers who came by

the store.

"The feedback was good!" she reported excitedly.

"Same here," I responded.

The two of us were beaming as we looked at each other. Whether

we would actually be able to sell them was likely to take a while

longer to know for sure, though. No sooner had the thought crossed

my mind than the bell by the door rang.

"Pardon me."

"Welcome!"

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A woman who looked a little tired came into the shop. Maribelle, her

name was, if I recalled correctly. She was a mother from the laborer

side of town.

"I heard that you had a medicine in the form of a cookie here…"

Could business have already been picking up?

"Yes, we do. At the moment, we have a nutrient-enhancement

cookie that is effective against colds. Would you like to try a

sample?"

"Oh, that bitter medicine…"

I offered her one of the small biscuits. After hesitating for a moment,

she steeled herself and bit into it.

"?! That's good! My daughter might even be able to eat that without

throwing up! Even if I mix the medicine with milk, she always has

trouble keeping it down, so I was totally at a loss for what to do."

Maribelle beamed, and then she added, "I'd like to buy some,

please."

Apparently, news of the medicine spread quickly by word of mouth.

Before nightfall, several customers had stopped in to buy some

medicinal cookies.

"I'd like five, please."

"Of course," Rit answered.

Standing at the counter, she dexterously wrapped the cookies in

bags. There were no more of the smaller taste-testing cookies left.

But even without them, seeing one person after the other buying the

little things made other customers want to get some, too, and in the

blink of an eye, the cookies were selling expeditiously.

In only thirty minutes…

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"I'm incredibly sorry, but that was the last of today's batch. We will

be making more tomorrow, though, so please come again." Rit and I

ended up apologizing to the customers as we held up the empty

baskets.

Once all the customers had left, the two of us beamed at each other

with looks of satisfaction. Then we high-fived.

The cookies were by no means incredibly profitable, but it was

gratifying to be able to sell out completely like that. Plus, having so

many customers in the shop, which was usually pretty empty, made

it feel like I really was running my own business for the first time.

"That's Red for you! You really are amazing!"

"No, it was only thanks to your advice."

"Really? …I'm happy to hear that." Rit's face turned a little bit red.

Something about how she looked was so cute. I couldn't help myself.

I grabbed her and lifted her into the air.

"Wah?"

With my shop finally coming into its own, I was a bit over the moon.

"Thanks for being with me, Rit! If it wasn't for you, I would have just

stayed bored and alone behind the counter in an apothecary that no

one visited!"

I held Rit up and spun in a circle happily. I'd said something incredibly

embarrassing, but at the time, it hadn't bothered me.

Despite being so assertive when she was making her own pitch,

when I was the proactive one, Rit ended up flushing pink shades, not

knowing what to do with herself.

"Y-yeah… I think I would have always been alone in Zoltan otherwise,

so…I'm glad I could be with you," Rit mumbled as she turned crimson

and hid her cheerful smile behind the blue bandanna around her

neck.

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Unfortunately for her, I was a battle-hardened former member of

the Hero's party. My Perception skill was pretty high, so I didn't

happen to have the kind of ears that would conveniently miss that

line.

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"I'm going to remember that, word for word," I said.

Rit's face turned a deeper red, and she fell silent in my arms. It was

clear she was smiling, even though it was hidden beneath the

bandanna. I could tell what she was feeling perfectly well, even

without a mind-reading skill.