After traversing through the desert that night, Lotus easily set up tent with Raaji who was very hesitant as they sat around the campfire. Almost immediately, Raaji took out his homework and began working on it right away. Though he was injured, he wasn't a fool to think that this little excursion was something he should be happy over as a consequence of his injury. Rather, he knew that by Jamil's decision to have him separated from the other residents was to also keep him from being the target of wasting other people's time complaining as they exercised under the sweltering heat of the sun while he would be the only one stuck in the dorms studying in the shade. In another way of the teenage boy looking over this situation of Raaji's, it was also to keep him from getting both sides in trouble and less of a mess for him to take care of.
How could he not see that?
It was rather simple and to think that the vice-dorm leader would think that he wouldn't know.
"This isn't right." Lotus pointed out to his surprise.
"What?"
"The ingredients for the potion is correct and the order isn't wrong, but, if you think about it a little more, the liquid of this grass and the oil from this beast can't mix so simply because their properties are different." Lotus pointed out with a frown as she looked over his book, "No matter how much you mix it or how much you change the temperature between hot or cold, it won't mix so easily."
"Huh?" He looked up in bewilderment as he began to realize that what she said was right, "But the cure for acidic burns are these ingredients. If I can't mix them so easily, then how..."
Lotus thought for a bit before she noted curiously, "How often do you cook?"
"Eh?" He raised a brow in confusion.
"There's a process in cooking called emulsification." She explained, "For example, the ingredients to mayonnaise has oil and vinegar in the list. In order to mix the two without separating, you need the correct order of mixing and timing to get it to combine. That's emulsification. If you take into the consideration that this potion is also used for the skin you can also assume that its texture is similar to lotion too. That's one way to think about a hint if you get stuck in situations like this. Each potion has its own process. Even if cooking is different from alchemy, some of its knowledge can be shared. Using emulsification, you can turn the potion into a smooth texture."
"I see!" He nodded upon understanding, "So this potion is all about timing and mixing."
Lotus nodded, "The potion to treat burns in general is the same process. It also requires timing and mixing to be in order."
Raaji sighed, "I get it now... It would probably be bad if I didn't add this in. But, can't the teacher have told us about this?"
Lotus shrugged, "Would anyone be willing to be that helpful and provide with all the knowledge in the future? Mister Crewel is teaching us this right now, so you can think this for yourself and not rely on others so often. This is a problem-solving skill..."
"Got it." Raaji nodded and added this in.
"Jamil-senpai hadn't taught you emulsification, yet?" She asked curiously.
"The Vice-dorm Leader?" Raaji looked up in confusion.
"Jamil is good at cooking so he should know about emulsification." She responded, "I've heard that he was able to complete the potion that heals burns and was one of the two able to concoct this potion. But, if Jamil doesn't want to share, then he probably has his own personal reasons."
"Personal? How could this be personal?" Raaji frowned in confusion as he recalled the scene he witnessed earlier, "Could it be that you dislike the Vice-Dorm leader?"
"Dislike?" Lotus hummed in thought as she pondered, "Rather than dislike, it's more like I respect him by his forethought, but worried at the same time..."
"You respect and worry about him?" He muttered in confusion, "Why would that be?"
"Don't you know?" Lotus raised a brow, "I figured you might have figured it out just by being around Jamil and Kalim or even hearing about their family, but you just choose not to care."
"It's because I don't care about others in the beginning." Raaji said firmly with a frown.
Confirmed his thoughts, Lotus nodded, "Very well. Kalim-senpai came from a wealthy merchant family of the Land of Hot Sands. Probably the wealthiest family. However, that doesn't show, now, does it?"
"Seriously?" Raaji looked up in bewilderment.
Lotus nodded, "However, wealth and fame goes hand in hand with dangers. With so much wealth and a big family with so many siblings, there's bound to be rivalry with other business and within the family. Maybe even assassination attempts on him."
"But, it doesn't look like he's cautious at all for his own life." Raaji recalled quietly, "Even when I was about to quit Night Raven College, he encouraged me to keep trying personally..."
"Okay, so he's not a cautious person at all." Lotus said with a small shrug, "But, in the dorm and around him, who is the most cautious person?"
Almost at once, her words brought an image to his mind as he said in disbelief, "You can't mean... the vice-dorm leader?"
Lotus smirked, "Jamil Viper. The Viper family has served under the Asim family for numerous years and is one of their most trusted servants. So, it's natural that the heir of the family and the eldest child of the Viper family would know each other since childhood and Jamil is able to take care of so much on his own. He can just be taught how to do so from a young age."
"But, Jamil-senpai is more vigilant than Dorm leader Kalim..." Raaji muttered in bewilderment, "Shouldn't it be the other way around?"
"It should." She nodded in agreement, "But, from Kalim's personality can you imagine him accusing someone for something even if that person was his own half-sibling?"
"The dorm leader accusing someone..." Raaji shook his head quietly, "No. He's hardly ever accused anyone of anything or even punished them harshly. Wait, then Jamil-senpai..."
"Bingo." She sighed in dismay, "He's been the most vigilant for Kalim's safety from a very young age. Even personally makes the food for Kalim to have every meal time. The only time they don't is when he's injured. Not to mention, Kalim has an outgoing personality, but I've never seen him at a single stalls buying snacks of anything. It was all just material objects instead."
"Wouldn't that just mean he's been avoiding food poisoning from the start, then?" Raaji suggested.
"But, would he reject food offered to him at his own will?" Lotus asked curiously, "The normal reaction of people wanting to give the others snacks would be happy and depressed when the other person rejects, correct?"
"The dorm leader dislikes it when those around him are having a hard time or feeling sad." Raaji said with a frown, "That's why he often held parties too. All of the food would be prepared by us and the Vice-dorm Leader. So, why would he reject food and make someone else sad, ah... Could something have forced him not to?"
"He could be told that he can't have food made by anyone else, but Jamil who serves under him directly." Lotus said with a wide smile, "The only person capable of doing and force Kalim to do so is either his father or his mother. They probably made a specific rule for him that he can only have food that Jamil makes and no one else."
"That would protect the Dorm leader from all possible ways of getting poisoned." Raaji concluded in shock, "So, the reason you respect the Vice-dorm Leader is because of this? That he's able to complete his work diligently with forethought? But, why are you worrying so much?"
"There's that..." Lotus shrugged, "But, do you know how Kalim was able to transfer to this school without the letter of acceptance?"
Raaji frown in thought as he pondered over her words, "The dorm leader's grades have always been a little above average for a long time and Jamil-senpai was the same, even though he knows as much as how to make the potion that heals burns was through emulcification. Ah! His background!"
"Looks like you aren't afraid to announce your conclusion either." Lotus smirked deviously.
Raaji quickly clamped his mouth shut when he realized his err.
"Actually, you're not wrong." Lotus responded with a wide smile, "I've overheard from the third years that the dorm used to be old and poor, but that all changed last year. Quite a coincidence that it was only during the time when Kalim-senpai came this school, right?"
"So, it was through the back door?" Raaji said in bewilderment.
"That's right." Lotus responded with a wide smirk, "However, I can't say his rise to dorm-leader was also through the back door or not."
"Huh?" Raaji looked to her in confusion.
Just what does she mean? Kalim have the fame of his family, power, and wealth, so why didn't he get his position through his donation to the school?