“My father gave it to me. I really don’t know anything,” I said. “If you need some, you can take my whole batch.” I offered all five bottles I had to the young man.
“Aren’t these precious potions?” he asked.
“I haven’t a clue,” I replied. “Potions aren’t really my thing.”
If regular potions wouldn’t do the trick for his issue, I couldn’t just leave him be. I decided to make more potions after my exams.
“It’s very expensive and rare,” he said. “I can’t take all of this.”
“Oh, it’s fine!” I assured him. “I’m sure they’ll start appearing on the shelves again soon!”
“How would you know that?”
“Er, uh… Call it a woman’s instinct.”
He glared at me, his petrifying gaze making me feel like prey. “I contacted pharmacies numerous times and begged them to start selling this again,” he said. “But the store owner kept telling me that this was a difficult request to fulfill.”
“I-I see…” I muttered.
That reminds me, the merchant I had handle all my sales for years visited my house. In tears, they begged me to make more potions, but I was busy with my studies and had Father take care of it for me. Was this young man pressuring the merchant? If so, I feel bad for the merchant… Still, I truly didn’t have time to spare, and I didn’t want to spend it chatting away.
“Um, will you kindly let me go?” I requested. He clutched my arm tightly, and I felt like a dog on a leash. He swiftly released me from his grip upon my request.
“What’s your name?” he asked.
“Oh, I don’t think there’s any need for me to introduce myself!” I said, spouting a cliché line before I fled from him like a scared rabbit.
I heard him call out, asking me to wait, but I couldn’t waste any more time. In the end, I didn’t eat in the courtyard; instead, I munched on my bread in the square near the fountain, where people dotted the area, and studied for my exam, hoping to cram as much information as I could.
✦ ✦ ✦
ONCE the exam was over, I made it back home with Mother. A month later, the results arrived, and I was relieved that I passed the written portion of the entrance exam. There were over seven hundred applicants, and four hundred were accepted. My grades ranked 320th out of the four hundred applicants who passed. Given that I was only able to study for a month, I did my best. It made me worry, admittedly, wondering if these grades would help me pass the rest of my exams, but it wasn’t as though I spent my days idly. Father hired a private tutor for me to prepare for the practical portion of the exam. I felt like I gained some confidence.
I started brewing potions again as well. I didn’t know that there was a man out there who responded well only to my potions. He came across a bit scary, but since he was surrounded by squirrels, I believed he must be kind at heart. I made quite a bit for this order, so I hoped it could ease his suffering.
I moved on from studying textbooks to practical lessons. For the next portion of the exam, I had to recite my name and origin and perform three spells in front of the exam proctor. The applicants had muttered that this year’s practical portion was especially difficult.
The first spell for the test was a levitation charm that could make an object float in the air. The second spell was Analysis, which allowed the user to detect details of an object, and the third chant was Homer, which could deliver letters via magic. The most difficult of the three was Analysis, but I’d learned this spell as a child and used it often when picking medicinal herbs. I didn’t need to practice it.
The second most difficult spell was Levitate. It was challenging to control one’s magic to lift even a single feather. My private tutor told me that those who mastered Levitate could easily soar through the skies and move massive boulders or carriages, items that a person couldn’t possibly physically move by themselves. Homer required the user to successfully analyze the recipient’s mana and create a proper magic formula to send the letter. It was tricky in a different sense.
I spent my days practicing these spells until the exam, and of course, I made sure to make potions on the side as well. Father told me that the merchant cried tears of joy when I fulfilled orders again. No doubt a certain someone was pressuring the poor merchant quite a bit, and I felt a touch guilty about that. As a side note, I only made the potions. Mother ventured out and plucked all the herbs I needed, hoping that I could spend as much time as possible studying for my exam.
My entire family was helping out so that I could achieve my dream, and I was desperate to get into the school so their efforts wouldn’t be for naught. My desire to get accepted grew by the day.