Each of the judges picked up the potions I’d provided them for the taste test. Some wounded Divers had also been invited to confirm the healing properties of potions during the presentations. They all stared at the orange-colored liquid for a moment, then they tipped the contents into their mouths.
“Ah.”
“Interesting.”
“Oh.”
“Hmm?”
“It...tastes like ordinary honey water.”
Well, yeah. That’s the point.
Its healing effect on the injured Divers was about the same as that of an ordinary potion too. They were obviously glad to have their wounds healed for free.
Meanwhile, Grado was having a never-ending staring contest with his reflection on the potion bottle.
“Mr. Grado,” said the moderator.
“Wait,” said Grado. “I’m conflicted. If this even has the slightest hint of the bitter thea taste...”
I wondered if he’d drop dead right then and there. Actually, if it was bitter, I’d probably be the one who’d get killed.
Eventually, Grado braced himself and tipped the potion into his mouth. His eyes then shot open, and he shouted, “I-It’s honey! It tastes exactly like honey!”
He flailed his arms around excitedly, which was kind of unseemly of him considering his age and position.
“A long time ago, I tasted a drop, just a mere drop, of a potion. It was so bitter that I spent an entire day and night writhing around in agony. I never thought I’d see the day when bitterness was completely eliminated from a potion,” said Grado, getting emotional in his own little world.
“It really is like honey,” said the Divers Guild master. “I’ve never had anything like it. Come to think of it, I wonder why no one has made something similar already.”
Greenia replied, “No one has been able to. A completed potion doesn’t mix with other fluids, and mixing in flavors during the brewing process wouldn’t eliminate the bitter thea taste. There was no way to completely change the flavor like this.” She then turned to me and asked, “How in the world did you make this potion?”
“Oh, uh, it’s all written here if you’d like to see,” I said as I took the recipe out of my jacket pocket and handed it to the moderator.
“What? But...” said Greenia, eyes wide.
“What is it?” I asked.
“You’re handing over the recipe just like that? This is the fruit of your labor. Shouldn’t you keep it a secret?”
“Oh, I planned on making the details public in the first place,” I said.
“But why?” she asked.
“I mean, that’s the point of the exhibit, right? We publish groundbreaking potions so everyone gets to know about them. It’d be pointless if my potion doesn’t become widespread after putting in the effort to make and present it. That’s why I picked something that is easy to make and uses ingredients that anyone can acquire. Oh, but I’ll be charging the Divers Guild for the recipe, of course,” I said.
I’m sorry, I lied to make myself sound cool.
I was mostly doing it to fulfill Torpaz’s request. Though I didn’t have any qualms about making the recipe public. It wasn’t as if making it widely available would hurt me in any way.
“Yes, of course...” said Greenia.
“You’ve put that much thought into this? Ah, I’m so incredibly moved!” said Grado dramatically.
Grandpa, you’re gonna burst a blood vessel. Let’s take a deep breath.
The truth was that the honey potion meant nothing to me, but of course I wasn’t gonna say that. I couldn’t. My undershirt was soaked with cold sweat.
Greenia accepted the recipe from the moderator and looked at it with Gale, who was sitting next to her.
“Well?” asked the Divers Guild master.
“Oh my, there are quite a lot of differences from a regular potion recipe,” said Gale.
“I see. He didn’t just mix the ingredients together; he split up their roles instead,” said Greenia. “Instead of adding honey into the potion, he extracted the effects of the thea and implemented them into the honey. This necessitates additional steps because magic is needed in several of the steps, but it makes it possible to turn honey into a potion. And by applying this principle—”
“Yes, you can use it for things other than honey,” I said.
“As I thought.”
Indeed, the strange drink called “potion” couldn’t be mixed with other things by normal means. Because of this world’s so-called “law of complete existence,” once a potion was completed, it couldn’t be blended with anything else.
“What is this ‘Anti-separation’?” asked Greenia.
“Oh, that’s an original generic spell I made. I wrote down how to use it in the corner,” I replied.
Greenia fell silent and started rubbing her eyebrows. I figured it was because I’d shared an original spell so freely, but it was nothing but an ancillary spell that I’d made to mix things that were difficult to mix. It wasn’t like the anti-deterioration spells I’d used for my gold potions or the pressurizing spell that used a ton of mana, so I didn’t really mind giving it out. Besides, I thought of it as a donation to potentially further magic development down the line.
“You think you can make this?” Gale asked her.
“Yes, but...not everyone can,” replied Greenia.
“Really? But Kudo just said he made it in a way that everyone can follow.”
“It requires a certain level of skill. However, a veteran potion-meister should have no problem with it,” she said.
“Is it that difficult?” asked the Divers Guild master.
“The magic required is one thing— It’s easier to just show you,” she said, then she beckoned him and the Potion Guild master over.
“Wh-What are these numbers?!”
“Hmm... Such specific numbers and procedures.”
They were shocked by the recipe, and I couldn’t blame them. The recipe was full of strange numbers like 226 and 741, and these portions weren’t just specific; there was no obvious rhyme or reason to them. Of course, I hadn’t tested every minute increment to see what would work or not. They were just how the numbers had ended up after being converted from the units of my world—grams of the metric system, that was. It was the same thing with converting grams into pounds or meters into yards. The numbers would’ve been all over the place if I’d measured using units of this world, so I’d converted the numbers into grams and milliliters, made some minor adjustments, then rounded them up. I hadn’t thought it’d work so well at first, so I’d been surprised by the results.
“How did you come up with such specific numbers?” asked Greenia.
“Oh, actually, I’d like to keep that to myself if you don’t mind,” I said.
“Yes, I understand... I’m sure you’d like to keep some things secret.”
“Aha ha...” I laughed dryly.
There’d been a lot of steps in making the potion, and it’d required minute adjustments to my magic according to the amount of ingredients used, so it’d taken a lot of precision and mental energy. But even a potion rookie like me had been able to pull it off, so anyone who spent time making potions daily shouldn’t have any issues making this one.
Though, I’d been brutally trained by Sensei. Everyone should be thanking her, not me, seriously. Sensei could probably save the world with ease if she felt like it. I couldn’t help but wonder why she was so demonic.
Grado excitedly asked Greenia, “So, is it possible to put this potion into circulation right away?”
“Yes, if both guilds can make the arrangements,” she said.
“Then make it happen, Guild Masters! This will save many of my brethren’s lives! They can dive into dungeons without worrying about drinking those terribly bitter potions ever again!” said Grado.
“Oh, you’re more worried about that than their wounds?” I wondered aloud.
The Adorner I’d run into before had said something similar. I had a feeling their inability to drink potions wasn’t just a matter of preference. Grado had mentioned how he’d writhed around in agony from a single drop. Maybe it was more like some sort of curse.
“Well, this will definitely be a hot seller,” said the Divers Guild master.
“Of course. Even if there were no demand, Adorners will buy them all!” said Grado.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they bought up the entire stock for future use.
Oh, now’s a good time to bring this up.
“I’d like to add a condition if you don’t mind,” I said.
“Oh? What is it?” asked Gale.
“It’s about who gets the recipe. How about only small-scale workshops that make their potions with care get access to it?”
Greenia narrowed her eyes. “Is this out of concern for the current state of potion workshops?” she asked.
“W-Well, something like that. Yes,” I said.