Nopetions, reveal, and choice

"..." x2

"I even got a discount and received two bonus potions after buying 10 at once! I got a good feeling about these potions. They will definitely sell!"

I decided to take the risk and asked:

"So, what do they do?"

"These four are Disappearance Potions. If you drink one of them your body will become completely invisible and you won't leave any smell or magic signature around. They are very powerful!"

I knew better than to ask so I just stayed silent until Wiz continued.

"And this effect lasts for 10 whole minutes! So you could easily escape from any situation! The only downside is that all five senses are blocked off as long as the effect of the potion is active as well so you will have to remember the layout of the area by heart to run away successfully."

There it was. A seemingly useful potion at first, until you hear the detriments. Having all your senses shut off for 10 minutes sounded extremely scary and invisibility didn't mean invulnerability.

"Wiz-san…"

"Not interested? How about these ones? They are called Impenetrable Defense Potions. They boost your Endurance to extremely high levels for an hour so even a starting adventurer can survive in Gator's jaws without a problem! But they also cause a decrease in accuracy in all kinds of attacks, be it magic, ranged or melee for one day."

Megumin seemed to have a similar idea to me because we both looked at each other at the same time.

"Oh? They seem to have picked your interest!"

"N-not really… it's just… effect of this potion reminds us of someone we know."

I started to wonder if Darkness, by any chance, has fallen into a cauldron with this exact potion in it when she was a child. It sounded like a plausible scenario because her lack of accuracy seemed magical at the least.

"I know! You seemed to have a job related to scouting, right? How about these Eagle Sight potions. Their effect is ten times better than Farsight Skill! They only cause slight dizziness that depends on how strong your head is against alcoholic beverages!"

"I am not really good with alcohol, unfortunately."

"That's a shame…Well, I am sure someone will want to buy these."

Wiz has visibly deflated when I declined all her 'awesome' new wares. Seeing this I raised my hand with packaged food in it and asked quickly:

"Wiz-sensei, do you have time today for another lesson?"

That seemed to cheer her up. Similarly to yesterday, after we sat down Wiz treated us with some hot water containing a good amount of sugar and I took care of taking the food out of the package.

When the food was distributed on the table between all three of us I realized the mistake I've made. The dishes smelled fantastic and looked extremely delicious, just as Megumin has described them, but there was one small problem that I haven't thought of when I was ordering them. They required us using actual tableware.

And there was someone sitting directly next to me who couldn't do anything but move her mouth.

The day before I have bought some skewered meat in the stall nearby so there weren't any problems because I just had to hold the stick and Megumin would nibble on it. Using tableware to feed Megumin would be a little bit too much.

I started to wonder what should I do and I suddenly realized where exactly I was.

'Magic problems required magic solutions!'

"Wiz, do you have any potion in your shop that would restore someone's magic reserves?"

"Unfortunately I have no mana potions in stock. They are extremely hard to create and require a lot of rare ingredients. There's also the war that causes their price to skyrocket as well so probably no shop in this city would be able to procure them."

Unfortunately, my hopes were quickly shut down. I curbed down the urge to sigh and started hoping that my above-average Dexterity stat would be enough for this arduous task before me.

But before I started Wiz happily chimed in:

"Oh! But if it is to help Megumin, then I can definitely do something!"

Wiz seemingly understanding what was I getting at quickly stood up and walked behind Megumin's chair. Megumin was surprised at this sudden action so she observed Wiz warily. I saw the brunette shopkeeper reach out her hand calmly towards Megumin's neck and when Wiz touched it I saw Megumin recoil slightly.

"C-cold!"

But soon I saw a purple hue appearing around Wiz's hand that quickly changed into a stream of particles traveling down towards Megumin's neck. Megumin's face of confusion quickly changed into surprise.

"How did you do that?!"

When Wiz removed her hand I saw Megumin reach out her own towards her neck area and rub it energetically as if to check if everything is all right. Wiz, on the other hand, sat down calmly on her seat and started explaining.

"It's a special skill of mine. Drain Touch. Contrary to its name it allows me to not only absorb someone's magic, stamina, and vitality but also transfer them to someone. I cannot fill you up but at least you should be able to walk normally."

Megumin who seemed to indeed be able to move now quickly stood up and fervently started asking:

"Drain Touch?! Isn't that a skill that only High Undead can use?!"

"Yes, that's true indeed. And I am what you would call a Lich."

"..." x2

Megumin and I were left speechless. Megumin seemed to process the information about Wiz being an undead while I was wondering if it wasn't supposed to be a secret.

Wiz didn't mind our confused faces and continued.

"I've been thinking since yesterday and I decided that it should be okay to tell you my secret since we have known each other for years now."

I observed Megumin's reaction and saw her clenching her teeth and hands while she looked at the floor. Wiz didn't seem to expect that reaction and looked confusedly in Megumin's direction.

"You should have told me sooner! That is so cool! Aren't you the Undead King!?"

I knew it would happen. Wiz was surprised by the sudden excited yell coming out of Megumin and she looked nervously at the people walking by her shop.

"S-sorry about that Megumin, please don't shout. Or else people will-"

"And why are you not surprised, Kazuki?! Wiz-san is a lich. A Lich! One of the most powerful undead in the world!"

"I knew about it already-"

"Wha-?!"

It took me and Wiz a while to placate Megumin to sit down and stop shouting. I let Wiz describe our first meeting and she didn't mention her being a Demon King General so I guessed that part was the true secret.

Fortunately, before Megumin could start arguing again, her stomach gave an obvious signal that it was done waiting patiently for the food that was standing on the table and getting colder with each minute.

For some reason, she seemed to become angrier after taking the first bite and then looking at me even though the food was delicious. I had no idea why.

After we were done eating, to ensure that no more arguments appear I asked:

"Wiz-sensei, could you give me another lecture?"

But before Wiz could answer Megumin fervently yelled out:

"I think we should start with an Explosion Magic lecture today! Yesterday you took the lecture from Wiz-san first even though you promised to prioritize Explosion!"

"I mean… we are at Wiz's so -"

I tried explaining that obviously, Wiz's lecture had the priority since we were using her shop for it and we could just do Explosion one later in her home but Wiz quickly interjected.

"I don't mind. I don't get many customers anyway, so you can go ahead. I am sure I can learn a thing or two from Megumin."

Megumin seemed very happy about Wiz's comment and soon started shamelessly talking about Explosion Magic. After quite a few Megumin's lectures, she was already getting to the concepts that were too hard for me to understand immediately so I had to frequently ask questions.

A few times when I couldn't understand something no matter how many times Megumin tried explaining it in an easier way Wiz politely chimed in and added her own commentary that helped me understand. Megumin didn't seem too happy about the fact that I understood Wiz's explanation easier than hers.

After around two hours I had to forcefully stop Megumin's lecture because it was getting harder and harder to think. Megumin didn't seem satisfied at all but reluctantly sat down and asked:

"How much Skill Points do you need for Explosion Magic now?"

I took out my Adventurer card, looked at numbers and happily answered:

"49. Good, it decreased by 5 points already."

Megumin took a look at my card and frowned slightly without commenting. She had unnaturally contemplating look on her face but after having my brain fried I decided to just absentmindedly look around the shop and talk about random things to let my brain rest before the next round of lecture.

After a few more minutes of chatting, I told Wiz I was ready for her lecture and so she started:

"Yesterday I've told you some of the basics about handling magic but from now on I would need to start speaking about the specifics of each element. I would recommend that you choose a certain type of Advanced Magic and I will focus on explaining it."

"I am not sure which one I should choose. Do you have any recommendations?"

Wiz was an extremely knowledgable person so of course, I used this situation to ask for her opinion. Contrary to her merchant skills her magic experience was nothing to scoff at.

"Ummm… considering that you are planning to learn Explosion that is known as the most destructive spell I would say that you should take on some more versatile type of magic as your second one."

She made a small pause but quickly continued.

"Although I could teach you about a few different elements like Lightning or Wind, I think my forte - Ice Magic would suit you the best. It can be used either as a defensive measure or to immobilize someone. There are offensive spells in Ice Magic as well, of course."

Lightning Magic sounded a little bit cool but I had to agree with Wiz that it would be nice to have a little bit more diverse set of skills. What if ever met an enemy that I didn't want to kill? After my clash with Succubus Xyllisa, I doubted that Lightning Magic would be a perfect candidate for a peaceful solution. Explosion seemed even less likely to help in such a scenario.

Wiz didn't hurry me up at all and waited for me to make my decision. After a minute or two I realized that there wasn't any reason to give a 'final' answer. It wasn't like I had to spend any Skill Points yet. I would get Wiz's lecture about Ice Magic and if changed my mind I would just ask her to change the topic of her lecture.

"Then please teach me about Ice Magic."

Wiz smiled widely and started her lecture in the earnest. Thankfully, similarly to the day before, Wiz started the explanation with the basics of Ice Magic like how to use mana properly to produce water and then ice for example while showing examples on her palm. It got harder when she started explaining more difficult concepts but I still managed to last for another 2 hours.

"Thank you again, Wiz. See you."

"It's really not a problem. You can come again whenever you want."

"Goodbye, Wiz-san."

After deciding that I had enough knowledge packed into my brain for the day I thanked Wiz, left the payment on the table and left with Megumin who now could walk normally again thanks to the kind Undead King's actions.

"Now that you can walk, do you still want to go shopping with me?"

"Sure!"

Megumin didn't seem to have any plans so she happily nodded to my question.

(A/N: With this chapter, I've officially written 100k words! Wooohoooo. It doesn't seem that awesome when I know someone that can easily dish out 70k a week but it still is a massive achievement for me. With celebration out of the way:

1)Please, review my fanfic if you have some spare time!

2)I realize that this is getting redundant but as always: share your opinion with me! Do you think that my novel is getting too slice-of-life or boring? I honestly like writing about stuff like this but I am partially writing for myself and partially for the readers so I would appreciate the feedback.

3) If you want you can join my discord server to ask any questions or to hate me or something. https://discord.gg/9dPZfu4

See you!

PS. Nope(Po)tions)