Though Sandra had warned me to be careful about my spell Measure Mana, especially in terms of leaking information to others, she still understood its usefulness. We immediately began working to create powder and capsule forms of medicine to recover mana.
“We currently only have access to moonflowers, so we can’t try to combine it with other things to multiply its effectiveness,” Sandra said. “First, we’ll try ingesting raw moonflower, drying it out and turning it into a powder, and boiling it. We’ll determine which is the most effective out of those methods.”
“Got it. Let’s do this.”
Moonflowers were incredibly bitter and difficult to eat, but I told myself this was for my mother’s sake and dove into the experiments. After spending the entire day trying different methods, we learned the following:
Ingesting raw moonflower recovered 20 MP. The bitter flavor was much too intense raw, but it was nothing you couldn’t force down. You definitely wouldn’t be asking for seconds.
Boiled moonflower recovered 10 to 30 MP. This was the most difficult to ingest of all the preparation methods. Not only did boiling intensify the smell and bitter flavor, but it also left the herb wilted. You had to drink the water that the herb was boiled in too, since if you didn’t, it wasn’t as effective.
The powdered form of the dried moonflower recovered 50 MP. This was the easiest to ingest, and it was the most effective. It could be consumed in one gulp with the aid of water. If you were to let the powder sit in your mouth, the flavor would be worse than when eaten raw. Sandra had asked me to leave it in my mouth to see if the way it was ingested would change anything. I was sure that all the color in my face had drained at that moment.
✦ ✦ ✦
“For now, I think that turning the moonflower into a powder and putting it into a capsule will create something Lady Nanalie can consume,” Sandra said. “Thank you for all of your work, Sir Reid.”
“Professor Sandra, I will be forever grateful for and resentful about what you did today,” I said, gagging a little from all the moonflower I’d ingested.
Every time I’d swallow some form of it, Sandra’s eyes had glimmered with excitement. She would jokingly pester me about the flavor and insist that she’d “made it with love.” While she was having the time of her life, I was so pale from the awful flavor that I couldn’t even react. If it were to taste the same in potion form, this drug would definitely take away your health and motivation while restoring your MP, which would make it useless.
I’m going to tell her—no, order her—to prioritize the flavor, I vowed to myself.
“Wooow. If that’s how you’re going to behave, I’m not going to tell you.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked, gagging again. “What won’t you tell me?”
In the end, she wouldn’t tell me what she was keeping from me. She said something about how I would find out later today or tomorrow and seemed very pleased with herself. I had a bad feeling about this secret, but I didn’t have the energy to press her any further. Seeing me so limp put a mischievous smile on her face, and she proceeded to offer me a hint.
“Let’s see... I think you can find out what it is from Lady Meredy. You should try speaking to her.”
“What? Mer knows? Even though she’s not here?”
“Yes. I believe Lady Meredy is the most knowledgeable about this.”
What’s something that I don’t know but Mer does?
As I continued to ponder that, Sandra took off. “That’s all for today. Goodbye, Sir Reid.”
What was that about? I thought as I left the training grounds.
Mer was waiting at the entrance for me. “I’m back, Mer,” I greeted, holding out my arms to hug her like I always did.
“Oh! Brother!!! Welcome ba— Huh?!” Mer had been running toward me, but she suddenly stopped in her tracks.
“Huh? Uh...Mer?”
I cautiously walked closer to her, but she kept backing away from me. Her eyes began to well up with tears, which were now streaming down her face, and her adorable face crumpled into a frown. I had no idea what was happening, and I was completely flustered.
Just then, she ran into the mansion and screamed in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear, “You’re stinky, brother! My brother isn’t stinky! You’re not my brother!!!”
“What?!”