Dolores is surprised to suddenly receive a text while at Bingo. "I'll be out until late, Dolores. Don't wait up, Izo." Dolores grins impishly before turning to the handsome man flirting with her. "Berry, do you want to come over to my place for an early nightcap?"
Berry eyes twinkle with delight and happily replies, "Why I would be delighted to Dolores." With that, the two depart from the Bingo game to the amazement of some and the amusement of others. There were going to be wild rumors about them about them the next day, but for now, that was just fine by them.
*
Izo had texted Dolores she wasn't going to be home until very late. With ease, she makes her way to the construction point. There was plenty of construction still going on as Izo casts an illusion spell. She easily strides into the construction site and makes her way to the 5th level.
The 5th level not only would be a good place to concoct her potion without attracting attention but a place without any distractions. Sure, enough despite the construction being done overhead, not even vibrations made their way down to the 5th level.
From her inventory, Izo pulls out bowls and other items needed to concoct potions plus a couple of cheap ingredients from an all-natural herb store. She even takes out a measuring cup to make things easier to pour. With care, Izo places the bag onto the floor and begins to take out brown paper parcels with the names of the herbs inside carefully written on crisp paper. She had to give Valentine credit, he had done a good job. She was going to have to hold up her end of the deal.
Izo takes out her phone and scrolls her notes. She had written down potions that were rare. High-class healing potions were expensive due to ingredients needed. Well, that was easy, she had once discovered how to create a high-class healing potion using water and tea leaves. All she needed was to chant a spell over the water and it became holy. The reason she used water and tea leaves because potions taste terrible. Tea, on the other hand, doesn't taste like shit when you drink it even without sugar.
However, for the sake of appearances, Izo was going to make the potion more complicated to make sure her secret wasn't so easily found out. She was just going to add a bunch of cheap herbs she had bought from the natural herb store until it tasted terrible, before casting a spell. The common sense of this Earth is that the worse it tastes the better it is.
Humming Izo makes sure to toss in harmless ingredients together such as rosemary, lavender, chamomile in a stone mortar as she happily pounds away. A green mush emerges to which she adds random harmless seeds, pumpkin, sunflower and so forth. The green mush turns to a light green slime thing. Taking a spoonful, she grabs an empty potion vial and drops it in. Just add water and some flour to thicken the mix, presto a vile looking potion was ready.
Carefully corking the potions until full, Izo does this until the mix is gone. She had about twenty vials, which was just enough to pay off her loan and pay the initial salaries of her people. She certainly could create more high-level healing potions, but she wanted to keep the high demand price for them by limiting the stock produced since she was counting on the rest of the potions to pull her out of the red.
Izo closes her eyes and begins to chant, "Sanr 'l Qrpo 'Nuao." The bottles begin to glow as the mix inside the potions glisten before turning into a dark blue glowing substance. Personally, she would never drink a glowing substance, but hey, whatever works. With that, done she places the potions into her inventory for now.
Izo moves onto the next potion on her list invisibility. She was counting on this potion to be the real moneymaker. Invisibility potions did not naturally exist on this Earth yet and only existed in the form of dungeon items. Seeing as there was a lack of stock, Izo was going to create a supply for the demand. However, she was going to have to be careful. She didn't want some villain or evil organization to gain hold of them, leading to her being the responsible party and being liable for the evil organization's actions. She refused to be sued and wasn't about to pay out a settlement, that would no doubt involve giving up the actual recipe.
Rather than selling it in her auction house, Izo was going to sell the supply to a party, the guild. Not only would that pay off her guild tab, but push her guild class up as a sign of appreciation from the guild. She was going to dilute the potion lest any adventurer gets any funny. The potion would only mask individuals in front of monsters and not other humans.
With a happy whistle, Izo dilutes the potions potency. "Betony, Snow flower, spider web, toe of frog, wings of bat, Porto Spine, Devil's claw, etc." With care, she mixes the items in a brewing cauldron and stirs. To create an invisible potion takes a lot of time and most importantly care. The final ingredient must be added just before it boils, eye of newt and it would ready.
Time passes slowly until the brew turns pink signaling that it is about to boil. With care, Izo drops into a handful of eye of newt, before swiftly stirring. The pink brew froths for a moment, before turning a strawberry milk color. Satisfied, she carefully uses a measuring cup to pour the potion into the vials until the brew was gone. She had made 90 invisibility potions, a little less than she expected, but not bad at all.
The corked potions went into her inventory when Izo glanced at the last potion on her list. There were a couple of others she wanted to create, but she was missing sufficient materials to create more than one or two. She was just going to hold onto the rest of the herbs until she had enough supplies to create a batch of them.
The last potion was going to be a beauty potion. This potion would surely pull in all types of clientele especially the wealthy kind. Of course, there were similar potions on the market but none that would have this kind of potency. Izo's beauty potion not only would ensure clear skin and a glowing face, but low-level healing such as acne scars, unwanted blemishes, and sunspots. Without out a doubt, this would become one of her staples in the business.
Rather than cleaning out her cauldron, Izo pulled out a new one to keep from wasting her time. With care, she chopped or poured the ingredients needed into the cauldron. "Wisteria, Tagriel, Venus teeth, toes of toad, Rose, a lock of succubus hair, etc."
As she stirs, Izo mysteriously grumbles, "Double, double toil, and trouble." A sweet scent begins to fill the air as the potion turns to a flamboyant glowing potion. It froths for a bit as Izo lets it boil one last time before pouring the brew into vials. Satisfied at having made a little over a 100, she begins to gather everything and put everything away.
Satisfied the area is clean and everything has been gathered and placed into her inventory, Izo sneaks out. Despite the lateness of the hour, construction workers are still at work. A tinge of guilt suddenly hits her. Perhaps, she could have been patient and not requested the building be completed so swiftly.
*
Dolores in a bathrobe waves goodbye to Berry at the door. Berry cheerfully winks and strides out of the condo. Letting out some giggles, Dolores pauses in the kitchen to grab a snack as a voice from the couch drily says, "Who was that, Dolores?"
Dolores just about chokes and fearfully says, "Miss, I had no idea you had come home."
Izo sits up and stares at Dolores with an impish grin. "So, do we need to set up ground rules about bringing back home, one's date? Or should I give a talk about-," before Izo can continue Dolores clamps her hands over Izo's mouth.
Dolores embarrassingly says, "My apologies, Miss, but I am a grown woman. From now on, I will make sure to go over to his place rather than bringing them back." Dolores removes her hand from Izo's mouth, but Izo just smirks at her. Dolores lets out an indignant huff and grumbles under breath, "You, young people, think you invented Sex."
Izo cheerfully climbs up to her feet and heads to her room. But over her shoulder, she says, "Make sure to eat plenty of liquids and sugar, Dolores."
Dolores cheeks flush brightly but can't think up a single comeback by the time the door slams shut. With angry mutter, she grumbles about sleeping in tomorrow and not making breakfast or dinner. She was going to take a day's rest and enjoy it. And with that, she slams the fridge door returning to her room with a pack of cookies and juice.