"If all that work caught up to you, of course you'd get fatigued."
After setting down Cassion's wrist, I leaned against the windowsill.
Now that I think about it, when one's fatigue were to accumulate, their body's condition wouldn't be the same.
This man was so far removed from rigorous swordsmanship training before, but he endured it and even bested a knight in a match.
After swordsmanship training, he didn't lag behind with his magic training either.
I told him that he shouldn't sleep less at night, but I'm not sure if he heeded my advice.
When setting a goal and striving to achieve it, the moment that the goal could be seen on the horizon, people tended to act foolishly.
Besides that, the amount of mana he could control increased and he also recently saw his family, who'd been trying to kill him all this time, so he was only bound to be fatigued.
Perhaps it's laudable enough that he collapsed only now.
Staring at his closed eyelids quietly, I opened my lips.
"He even has a fever now, will he be okay?"
"Your Ladyship also fell ill just a couple days ago."
Logan's firm answer was understandable.
However.
"Do you think he and I are the same? Our Maxwell is weak¹, you know."
I meant it sincerely, but as they listened to my words, Diana and Logan's expressions changed spectacularly.
As though they had rehearsed it, they looked at me at the same time. Then, as they glanced down at Cassion, they nodded together.
"Indeed…"
"He is still unskilled in many ways."
Diana and Logan spoke one after another.
I murmured only to myself, but the way Cassion's circumstances elicited pity made me chuckle.
"Anyway, there's nothing to worry about. As long as he takes a few days off and drinks his medicine, he'll recover quickly."
"Alright then."
As Cassion remained asleep all the while, Logan examined him. Those closed eyes did not open.
Logan jotted down a few notes on a notebook that he brought, then with a snap, he closed it.
Looking tired as he pressed a hand over his eyes, Logan turned to me.
"And about the 'elixir' you told me about the other day."
"Ah, right. How did that go?"
Back then, a few days after Diana's revenge—
I wrote down what I could still remember about the elixir's recipe and gave it to Logan.
I had to choose ingredients that existed in this world—there were only a few kinds.
But even procuring those few things wouldn't be easy.
Most of the ingredients and preparation methods would be unfamiliar to Logan, and even if they were common in this world, the efficacy would be slightly different.
Besides, the person who originally made this elixir was a person who was half-transcendent and half-human.
Starting with the vessel of the individual who would be making it, the difference was stark, so it would be difficult to make exactly the same medicine.
In the end, our conclusion from this endeavor would be to study a new method of formulating.
The ingredients had been tweaked a little, and the formulation method was slightly different as well.
There's no guarantee that this would end up successful, but likewise, there's no guarantee that we would fail. It's worth a try.
"Are you making any progress?"
I asked again, urging but without any pressure.
Logan nodded with an expression that wasn't all too confident, but also not too bad.
"First, I have successfully studied some of the mixing methods that you've given me. As for the other things, progress is still ongoing."
"Oh."
It was only a fraction of the work, but I was a little impressed to know that he'd succeeded in that regard because even that wouldn't be easy.
Without revealing a reaction, Logan continued explaining.
"I was worried because it's mostly a formulation of Eastern medicinal herbs, oddly enough, but when I tested it, there were no side effects and its efficacy was good."
"…Test? How exactly did you test it?"
A dangerous scenario fluttered in my mind.
That is, Leo's misdeed against Diana's younger sister in the original novel.
Logan might have caught on to what I was insinuating. He just looked back at me with disbelief in his eyes.
"Don't worry. I myself am the test subject."
"You did it yourself?"
He surprised me in a different way.
"What if you fall ill because you did that?"
The man fell silent.
He gazed into the air as though to gauge something. Then, he slowly opened his lips.
"I'm somewhat resistant to poison. You don't have to worry about that happening."
"…Aha. That reminds me, you did say that your specialty is poison."
There's no way that someone handling poison wasn't marginally tolerant to it.
I had a fleeting thought that his body was in the perfect condition to handle medicine and potions.
Suddenly, the sleeping Cassion caught my eye.
'Come to think of it, Cassion needs to develop some resistance to poison.'
I should ask Logan to make a potion that could develop Cassion's poison resistance next time.
While I was distracted by these random thoughts, Logan continued speaking.
"Anyway, the progress right now isn't bad in many ways, however the medicine you most desire couldn't be formulated to the best of its potential because of the lacking ingredients."
"If it's the most desired, then you mean a rapid development potion?"
"Yes, a rapid development potion."
Exactly as it's called, it was a medicine to accelerate one's growth.
Drinking this medicine would improve one's internal strength and would make one's qi flow smoothly. At the same time, it would also purify one's blood and help the body recover.
It was a necessary medicine for Cassion, as he needed to grow in a short period of time.
That's why I really want the rapid development potion to be made successfully…
"You said that there's not enough ingredients. If you do have the ingredients, will there be any other problem?"
"There won't. I succeeded in making a potion that's of a similar kind to the recipe you had given me. However, I ran out of the ingredients I needed the most while I was studying it."
"Can't you ask Blanca to procure more? There's nothing she can't get her hands on."
At my declaration of my firm belief in Blanca, Logan's brows rose.
"She can procure it. But it would be difficult to find those ingredients within the Empire, so she would have to import it from abroad. It will take a while."
"How long…"
"Perhaps, about two years?"
Hoh.
I'm at a loss for words. If it'll get here in two years, then that's too late.
Cassion's resurrection was due on the coming-of-age ball next January.
"That's too late already. Is there really no way to get those ingredients within the Empire?"
Well, it's clear that it's unobtainable when Blanca had yet to start discussing the price.
Nevertheless, I couldn't help but think it's a shame.
"At this moment, the ingredient doesn't exist in the Empire. It's been extinct for more than two decades now."
"Extinct? Which ingredient?"
"The antlers of a white deer."
So it's that, the antlers of a white deer.
In the case of the rapid development potion, Logan had to research and modify the ingredients and formulation for this elixir.
It was an unfamiliar item, so those white deer antlers must be one of the improvised ingredients.
'Even just hearing about it makes it seem unfamiliar.'
As I nodded, I tried to brush off my disappointment.
It was a shame, but we have to let go of what we couldn't do.
It's not a habit of mine to waste time on things that wouldn't work.
In my mind, I saw a deer with a white body and yellow antlers, but with a meaningless shake of the head, the image gradually faded.
Along with the deer's silhouette.
All of a sudden, I was filled with a strange feeling as I associated the words 'white deer' with the white-furred and yellow-horned animal.
"Wait, did you say white deer?"
"Yes. A white deer."
"Then… the deer's body is white, and the antlers are yellow?"
As I mumbled, Logan nodded as he looked at me with questions in his eyes.
"Yes, that's right."
Leaning against the window frame, I tapped a curtain with my fingertips. Tok. The thick curtain made a dull sound.
I closed my eyes for a moment and thought about the original novel.
And I wondered, where exactly I saw this deer that I had a strange feeling of déjà vu.
My rumination didn't last long.
Soon enough, I realized where I saw it.
That was quite the massive episode. Funny how I didn't think about it right away.
With a grin now on my lips, I opened my eyes. Still, the green-gray eyes looked at me dubiously.
"I'll get it for you, that ingredient."
Hearing my confident declaration, the questions in his eyes grew even more.
"You're going to procure it? How?"
"How, well. Instead of that, I can tell you that the time I'll need to get it will be about… two months?"
"That's better than two years."
"Certainly."
It seemed like he wanted to ask further, but instead, he nodded.
"Then, I'll trust you and wait for it."
I could roughly guess his unsaid question.
It couldn't be procured by Blanca, who he was loyal to, so how could I get it in just two months?
However, I didn't have to answer a question that I wasn't asked, so I just hummed.
"Of course, Doctor."
Logan rose from his seat.
It's an implicit gesture to say that their business here was over.
As I was still leaning against the windowsill, I watched Logan as he was ready to go out. However, I opened my lips once more because something occurred to me belatedly.
"By the way, what do you think about him?"
"Who are you referring to?"
"You know already but you're feigning innocence. I'm talking about your student."
At the mention of that student, Logan scratched his forehead. While putting his notebook into his coat pocket, he responded.
"I don't recall having a student or anything like that."
His voice was once again firm.
Diana had been listening quietly until now, but with a pout, Diana interjected.
"Zobel will be very disheartened if he heard you say that. He treats you like a teacher, you know."
Logan stared back at Diana without answering. He just shoved his pen in his pocket.
I laughed a little as I watched Logan act that way.
His voice was entirely firm and his attitude was absolutely negative, but his expression didn't look all that bad.
"Yeah, be nice to Zobel. He's someone I especially entrusted to you. If you teach him well, he'll be a decent pharmacist."
My words were to pacify him, but Logan's straight brows knitted slightly.
It seemed like he noticed that I was teasing him.
Anyway, just like Blanca, he's quite quick-witted.
His green-gray eyes were sullen now, and with an equally sullen voice, he answered.
"Well… Even with his skills now, he's not bad as a pharmacist. To the point that you wouldn't believe he's actually a knight."
____________
¹ When Rosetta said Cassion is weak, it was more like in the 'fragile', 'delicate' or 'frail' way.