Chapter 1-16 : Critical Situation Ⅱ (part 1)

 

Iris-san woke up in the afternoon the next day.

I gave her potions for stamina recovery, but honestly, she woke up faster than I expected.

Normally, a person with such terrible injuries would stay asleep for a few days.

Does she originally have a very high physical strength?

Hmm… That must be the case.
She has a well-trained body after all.

「Store Owner-dono, I’m sorry for the trouble, and thank you for saving my life.」(Iris)

Iris-san, who had come down from the second floor with Kate-san’s support, bowed deeply in front of me as we sat together at the store table.

She is so well-mannered.
Perhaps she is from a good family.

「You don’t have to worry about it. Besides, Kate-san will pay for your treatment.」(Sarasa)

I turned my eyes to Kate-san as I said that, and she nodded.

「Eh? But I willー」(Iris)

「The one who asked the store owner was me, so I’m the one who should bear the debt.」(Kate)

「But I’m the one being treated…」(Iris)

「But you got injured because you protected me and those men, right!?」(Kate)

「Stillー!」(Iris)

The two began to argue which one would pay.

Fortunately, they were not trying to force the other to pay the debt.
It would be awkward if they did.

However, I should stop them from arguing about this simple problem any longer.

「Alright, alright!」(Sarasa)

I clapped my hands twice to interrupt them

Hearing the sound of my claps, they looked at me with an awkward face and bowed their heads.

「Aa… Store Owner, I’m sorry…」(Iris)

「I’m sorry…」(Kate)

「Ahem! It’s true that Kate-san was the one who asked me for help. However, I think it will be better if you two cooperate to pay. You know that it’s not cheap, right?」(Sarasa)

「Yes… To be honest, I can’t believe I’m still alive now… I can even move my arm without any problems… It’s hard to believe that this arm was separated from my body yesterday…」(Iris)

Saying that, Iris-san moved her arm slowly.

The movements looked natural, so it seems that her arm has really been healed.

Well, I knew that she would be fine because theoretically, she should be healed with my treatment.
However, I felt relieved seeing her arm fully healed.

「I also couldn’t believe it when I saw the store owner put your arm back! I never thought that there would be a talented alchemist in a remote area like this!ーーAh! I, I’m sorry…」(Kate)

Kate-san hurriedly apologized, but Lorea-chan and I could only laugh a little since we couldn’t deny that this is indeed a remote area.

「No, to be honest, I also think that this village is in a remote place. And by the way, I don’t have potions that can heal serious injuries anymore since I used all I had yesterday, so please don’t get injured again.」(Sarasa)

「I see… Well, I would be surprised if you had many expensive potions like that.」(Kite)

Actually, I made those potions because Master gave me materials, which were… of course, really, really expensive.

Honestly, my hands were trembling when I touched such expensive materials.
However, there was no point in preserving them, and as Master’s disciple, I thought I should make use of the materials, so I made those potions.

「By the way… How much does the treatment cost…?」(Kate)

Kate and Iris looked at me and swallowed saliva at the same time.

To be honest, I’m a little hesitant to tell them the price, but I should tell them sooner or later anyway.

「Umm… Normally, there will be a cost for the treatment itself, but I can make it free, so you can just pay for the potions… And the price of the potions is ーーー」(Sarasa)

After I told them how much they should pay, not only Kate-san and Iris-san, but Lorea-chan, who was listening to us, were dumbfounded.

Iris-san’s face, that got better as she recovered, turned pale.

Actually, I gave them a discount, though…

If you want to buy such potions in the royal capital, the price will be way more expensive.

「I.. I see… Guess we have to work really hard…」(Iris)

「U, Un… Let’s do our best together, Iris…!」(Kate)

The two, who had been arguing which one would pay until a while ago, looked at each other, held each other’s hands, and nodded at each other while trembling a little.

A beautiful friendship, I guess?

「If your arm had been cut off cleanly, I wouldn’t have had to use this many potions. Besides, your stomach’s condition was also terrible.」(Sarasa)

「Aa, no, Store Manager-dono. It’s not like I’m dissatisfied with the price. I’m really grateful that you saved my life.」(Iris)

「She’s right. We were just surprised with the price. I managed to get Iris’ arm back before we left the forest, but honestly, I didn’t think the alchemist of this village could completely heal her arm at that time. So I’m really grateful to you.」(Kate)

「Ah, I should thank you too. Thank you for retrieving my arm in that dangerous situation.」(Iris)

Even though they were in a very dangerous situation, I wonder how she could afford to pick up Iris-san’s arm.

「Regrowing an arm would be impossible for a human, but I thought that there might be someone who could reconnect your arm… I didn’t want Iris to lose her arm after all.」(Kate)

While saying so, Kate-san stroked Iris-san’s arm as if to confirm that it was really there.

Iris-san then held Kate-san’s hand and saidー

「Thank you, Kate.」(Iris)

Un, un! What a beautiful friendship! How nice!

Honestly, I’m a little jealous since I don’t have many friends.

「Sarasa-san, can an alchemist regenerate someone’s lost arm?」(Lorea)

Ah, I can understand why Lorea-chan is wondering that because most people think that we can do anything with alchemy.

Iris-san and Kate-san who have more knowledge than Lorea-chan, smiled bitterly while making an expression like, “Nah, it’s impossible”.

Howeverー

「Yes. Some alchemists can.」(Sarasa)

「「Eeeehhh!?」」(Iris & Kate)

Hearing me answering Lorea-chan’s question, Iris-san and Kate-san raised their voices and looked at me with surprised faces.

Un. I can understand their feelings.

「First of all, the ones who can do that are only high-class alchemists like my master. And of course, it requires a tremendous amount of money that is impossible for ordinary people to pay. So yeah, it’s not wrong to say that ‘it’s impossible’.」(Sarasa)

Listening to my explanation, Iris-san nodded.

「I see… I feel like it would be impossible for me to be able to pay…」(Iris)

「We are just ordinary people, after all…」(Kate)

It’s not an amount of money that ordinary people can prepare, and of course, you can’t just say “Put it on my tab” to a high-class alchemist.

If you only have a normal job, you won’t be able to pay for it.

Therefore, common people will just give up even if they know there is a way to get back a lost arm because they know they won’t be able to pay for the treatment.

And because the materials are very valuable because Collectors have to risk their life to get them, the alchemists can’t just treat people for free out of pity.

「I see… so that’s how it works…」(Lorea)

「Don’t worry, because you’re my store’s employee, I’ll help you right away in case of emergency.」(Sarasa)

「…But… How can I pay for it…?」(Lorea)

「By payroll deduction?」(Sarasa)

「I will be working forever, then!」(Lorea)

「Don’t worry, I’ll give you an employee discount.」(Sarasa)

「I don’t think it’s an amount of money that can be covered with an employee discount…」(Lorea)

I laughed at Lorea-chan who sighed after saying that.

Indeed it might be impossible for Lorea-chan to pay such a huge amount of money.
However, I think it will be possible if Lorea-chan works hard like Maria-san in Master’s store, so I want her to do her best.
I don’t want to lose her after all.

「I’ll heal you completely if you get injured, so don’t worry, Lorea-chan.」(Sarasa)

「Uhh…. I don’t know if I should be happy or not…」(Lorea)

 

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One Comment

  1. I’m guessing her master has the foresight to recognize that there was a possibility that, with newbies coming to the village, there would be someone that would end up getting seriously injured. She didn’t want her student’s first patient to end up dying and driving down her reputation, even if it would’ve been ridiculous to blame her for not being able to save someone in her condition in most cases.
    Whether or not she’s doing this all to genuinely help her or that she didn’t want her material generating resource to get hampered by a bad reputation… I guess that’s TBD. Personally, I hope she’s just a bit tsun with her affection towards her cute, promising disciple. Like with her writing her a book about how to run a business overnight. That was super cute.

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