♣ Me at Age Seventeen – Part 1
“AHHH! I can see the sky! It’s so blueeee!” I shouted, standing on tiptoe and looking up at the sky.
But who could blame me? The Sugula was gone. Our world—Wisty Air—was saved. And for the first time in recent memory, I could see a clear, blue sky and a brilliant, glowing sun. I basked in its glory, taking a deep breath.
Aaah, it’s all so wonderful!
“I see we have fine weather today, Holy Woman,” one of the workers in Fort Deshmel said as she walked past me.
“Yes, we do!” I agreed.
“We can finally hang the laundry out! It’s all thanks to you and Lord Renge. How can we ever show our gratitude?”
“O-Oh! Don’t mention it!” I responded. “We still have to deal with all the monsters, after all…”
Yes, I was still here in Fort Deshmel, purifying monsters drawn to my power. But the Kaguya with a Will of Its Own was defeated and completely destroyed thanks to Renge’s power: “Hell Flame—Concept Erasure.”
Admittedly, it was a little hard to wrap my head around. But apparently because of this attack, neither the Kaguya with a Will of Its Own nor the Sugula could ever be made or come into existence again. Renge always lamented his power was only good for destruction. But thanks to him, our world no longer had to live in fear of those terrifying threats.
And now that we were free from spending our days afraid of the world ending, we could all go back to the lives we’d led before the Sugula appeared. The sky was blue for the first time in years. Only now did I appreciate how blissful that was…
“Hmmm… Maybe I should make a tonic today,” I thought aloud as the worker walked past me. “It’s been a while…”
Going back to my roots, as it were. The first medicine I’d ever made was a low-grade tonic, good for treating minor wounds. After that, I’d made medicine to relieve Grandpa’s illness.
Since we always needed low-grade tonics, I usually made them in huge batches. Yet today, I thought that maybe taking my time and carefully making a small bottle or two would be a good idea. It could even be relaxing…
“Holy Woman, someone’s here to see you,” another one of the workers called out to me.
“Huh? Ah, all right. I’ll be right over.”
A guest?
Feeling curious, I went back inside and headed down to the first-floor reception room, where I always had the workers lead the guests. After exchanging a few words with some workers outside the door, I entered the reception room to see five knights, each from different countries but all charged with defending Fort Deshmel.
“Hello… Is there a problem?” I asked.
“W-Well…” said Nelt, one of De Marl’s Crimson Knights. “We heard you make medicine often, Holy Woman. We were wondering if you might be able to help us with a…problem.”
“Yes…?” I prompted.
I realized their expressions were all quite grave. There was an unusual air about them that made me a bit anxious. Just what’s troubling them?
“We’re feeling…stuffy,” Nelt went on.
“Stuffy…?” I repeated.
“Our armor!” he cried suddenly. “It’s so hot and stuffy! We keep breaking out in heat rashes!”
“H-Heat rashes?!” I parroted, taken aback.
“That’s right! And it’s not just us! All the knights here are in so much pain! We can’t even bathe from all these heat rashes!” Nelt complained tearfully.
He looked so agonized, I was convinced he was telling the truth. Dad had told me the various countries had all selected handsome knights to send to the fort with the intent of seducing me to their side, so I’d initially been wary of them.
But now, I believed Nelt’s story. The knights probably really were tormented by heat rashes from their armor. And since he’d said they were speaking for all the knights in the fort, it meant this was a problem they all had! I had to find a solution to their problem.
That said, all I can really do is make medicine. And just healing the rashes won’t really solve the problem overall. I needed a more comprehensive solution. The first thing that came to mind was to make the armor more breathable somehow. But I don’t know the first thing about armor!
Is there a way, then, to keep the armor cool without chilling people’s skin? A cold body towel was the only thing that came to mind. But that doesn’t agree with some people’s skin.
Hmm…
“Can’t you just…take off your armor…?” I finally asked, out of ideas.
“H-Huuuuh?!” Nelt gasped. “Y-You’re giving us permission to strip?!”
“What?! N-No, I mean…I don’t get to decide things like that! I don’t know anything about armor! S-So I just thought maybe dressing more lightly would help! Was that a bad idea? And wait…wh-why do you need my permission to do anything?! And especially to strip?!”
“W-Well, you see… For us, our armor is kind of like a means of identification. If we dress light, there’d be no way of knowing who’s affiliated with where. And it’ll also lower our defenses! Our countries sent us to guard you, Holy Woman. And such a move, as nice as it’d be, could get in the way of doing that. We can’t do it without direct approval from Deshmel’s master. In other words…you.”
“I-I see…”
They were here to guard me, after all. But if the knights were all in so much pain, I had to do something to improve their work environment.
In that case…!
“Understood!” I said. “I’ll make you medicine and have it distributed. And if that doesn’t help, feel free to use lighter equipment. Prioritize your health and take breaks if you need to! And if you do need to, then…yes, all the knights could discuss and pick representatives, like captains and vice-captains, that’ll alternate every week or month. People you can speak to in case you need to take time off. How does that sound?”
Is this all too much? Or maybe it’s a bad idea? Maybe…I can’t call these kinds of shots?
Nelt and the other knights exchanged looks, which made me even more nervous that I’d said the wrong thing.
“But if we do that,” Nelt said at last, “won’t that…mean we’re affiliated with Fort Deshmel?”
“Well…” I hesitated. “C-Can’t you ask your countries for approval to form a united unit within Deshmel? We’ve had trouble with the chain of command in the past because of this. If you’re going to keep working here, you should decide on commanders who’ll manage and organize your formations. And they’ll be able to monitor each other’s actions, too. It’ll help prevent the issues we’ve had before too…”
“H-Hmm… True,” Nelt replied. “You’re sure to become an important presence in the future. All the nations of the world should cooperate to keep you safe until the monsters are eradicated.”
He said this calmly. But the knights seemed to be looking at each other with suspicion. Dad had said the knights were all loyal to their countries, and while I wasn’t clued into any of the issues, there was apparently a lot of friction between the different knights.
But for now, I gave them my advice and left the primary job of organizing the knights to the experts.
“I’ll get to making a cure for those heat rashes, then,” I said firmly as I picked up my skirts and made to leave. “I’ll try to have it done as soon as possible. Once it’s ready, I’ll deliver it to the representative. So once you decide on the captains and vice-captains, let me know.”
“Roger that,” Nelt said.
“We’re counting on you for the medicine!” another knight finally spoke up.
“Thank you!” said another as he bowed hastily.
“S-Sure thing…” I said, trying not to blush as I turned and left the room.
Their enthusiasm was impressive, and I could feel their sincerity. I’ll get this medicine ready as soon as possible!
✦ ✦ ✦
♣♣♣
I hurried back to my room and opened my recipe books. Surely, I’d find a cure for heat rashes in these pages. But this time, I was dealing with a specialized medicine. I needed to make something that’d be good for inflammation symptoms, like anti-itch cream.
But since this’ll be used by men, they surely won’t want to use creams, so ideally, it’d have to be oral medicine. But then again…if they have sensitive tongues, a syrup might not be a good idea…so maybe it’ll be gelatinous and quick to dry on skin…? Ah…!
As I flipped through Grandma’s recipe book, I suddenly found a page titled: “Heat Rash Medicine—Good for Knights.” Of course, she’d have something like this—she made medicine for the knights of De Marl! Yeah! This is exactly what I need! Thanks, Grandma! Now…let’s see what the ingredients are…
♣ A remedy
♣ Collagen
♣ Earth Turtle Dragon Scale
♣ Water Spider Silk
♣ Colvo Leaves
“I think I have all of these in my ingredient storeroom,” I mused aloud, “so I can make it in time. But I’m running low on the amounts. What to do…? How long until Mister Giyaga drops by?”
I only had 500 grams of each ingredient in my storeroom. Colvo leaves I could pick from my herb garden. But I was running short on Water Spider Silk and Earth Turtle Dragon Scales. But since I knew Mister Giyaga would be dropping by soon, I decided to try making it with what little I had left.
“Hmmm…it looks fairly easy to make,” I muttered as I read the recipe over. “You use the remedy as the base, crush the Earth Turtle Dragon Scale and Water Spider Silk into powder, refine the Colvo leaves into an oil and mix them together. Okay, let’s get started!”
I got the ingredients from my storeroom, put the remedy in a pot, then put scale and silk into the mortar and started grinding them down with the pestle.