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With a sigh, I wiped my forehead—even though I hadn’t broken a sweat—then took a bundle of dried aserica leaves… hesitated for a moment, and tossed it straight into the bowl of ash-water.

I set the bowl on top of the alchemy circle and traced a finger along one of its lines.

“Forge.”

The keyword for activation left my lips, and the circle slowly began to glow. Inside the bowl, currents of water swirled, breaking down the herb.

Distilled water infused with ash is one of the base ingredients for water-type alchemy. Since I didn’t have the equipment to make it here, I had to manufacture a batch all at once.

What aserica leaf could produce was a so-called Low-Grade Potion.

The method of making it was to dissolve the herb into the water using transmutation instead of heat. The water mana contained in the leaves was the key—apply heat, and it would immediately collapse. Sort of like vitamins.

Incidentally, if you tried to dissolve the powdered herb into ordinary cold water, it hardly worked at all. Given time, you might get a little, but the result was a low-quality mess, far from practical.

What I was making now wasn’t much better, but at least passable as a preservation fluid.

After some work, what I ended up with was a thick, dark green liquid.

It had activated properly, but thanks to the warped circle there were clumps, and some of the herb hadn’t dissolved at all—it was a terrible result. …Sighing, I gave up on that one, drew another circle beside it, and shifted the bowl over.

“Filtration.”

This time I cupped the bowl in both hands, then slowly raised just my hands upward. Impurities rose up out of the liquid and spilled over the rim.

I placed the expelled impurities on a leaf to dispose of later. When the liquid looked a bit clearer, I nodded.

Using a rough alchemy circle was like skimming with a coarse sieve—you had to repeat it many times to filter it cleanly.

Alchemy consumed far less mana compared to magic, but with my little mana pool, already lower than the average beastfolk, it still felt like hard labor.

Taking breaks in between, I repeated the filtering about ten times before finally managing a barely usable pseudo-potion.

The pale green liquid was still cloudy, with impurities floating visibly inside. Even the kind old Grandpa would’ve blown his top if I handed him something like this. Carefully, I sank the Rainyblue flower into it.

Ideally, I’d have used a quality potion as the preservation liquid, sealed inside a glass container… but this was the best I could manage.

“Alice… what’s that?”
“A degraded Low-Grade Potion.”

When I finally finished and was feeling exhausted, Filia, who had been glancing from beside me, came over and timidly peered into the container.

“You mean, that medicine that can heal wounds?”
“Yeah… though this one can’t really be used.”

The quality was far too low—good for no more than a scrape, and drinking it would probably cause stomach trouble. A failure, basically.

The potions sold by the Alchemists’ Guild were famous as healing medicine, but those classified as low-grade had another use: their cell-repairing, energizing properties made them useful as preservation fluid too.

Even this sloppy brew of mine should keep the Rainyblue flower fresh for about a month.

“Alice, good work!”
“Mm… worked, for sure.”

Sufi hugged me tight from behind, so I let my head rest against her without hesitation. The warmth was comforting.

“You… you can make potions, nya…?”
“This is a degraded version. A fake potion.”
“?”

Noticing Noche’s stunned tone, I made sure to add the clarification. Something this poor could never be sold. Even if I tried to deliver it to the Guild, they’d just laugh in my face.

“At best, it can maybe treat a scratch—it’s practically useless. But this is the very best I can make here.”

Alchemy was a craft that depended entirely on its tools. No matter how skilled the alchemist, without proper equipment, they were powerless.

My strength only mattered when the environment, facilities, and tools were all in place. Pretty harsh reality.

“Mmm…”

For someone like me, with barely any mana, doing alchemy barehanded meant that making just a few failures like this would take up the whole day. I was much more helpful handling butchering or cooking duties.

“Come to think of it, Alice, why don’t you go to the Alchemists’ Guild?”

Watching me brew a potion for the first time in ages must have reminded Sufi.

I instinctively flattened my ears.

I knew what she meant—why not try to get new tools from the Guild? In a town this size, there should be a branch.

“Do you remember when Grandpa took us to another town’s Guild before?”
“Yeah.”

That was about a year ago, back when Grandpa could still travel. He’d taken us on a several-day journey east from this city, to the town of Forligen, about three days by carriage.

Our destination back then was the Alchemists’ Guild in Forligen—the purpose was to get me an alchemist license.

The trip had been rough: I’d come down with a fever partway, and Grandpa’s health wasn’t the best either. Remembering that, Sufi furrowed her brows.

Still, the long journey paid off. I passed the exam without issue and, supposedly as the youngest in history or something like that, safely obtained my official alchemist’s license. A happy ending—at least on paper.

The real question was, why hadn’t I taken the test here in this town, where a Guild branch also existed?

*“The Guild in this town is a bit… you know…”*

That was Grandpa’s answer when I asked. Few travelers, an isolated backwater. According to Noche and the others, it was a town steeped in beastman discrimination.

…Yeah, I could put two and two together.

“So, in short—I want to avoid this Guild as much as possible.”
“I see…”
“Probably the smart move, nya.”
“……”

Sufi looked downcast but seemed convinced by my explanation. Noche nodded knowingly, while Filia stared off with a distant look, as if she had her own memories tied to this.

In stagnant places like this, power tended to swell unchecked. On top of that, the Luminism Church opposed alchemy outright, and this town lay deep in their sphere of influence. It wouldn’t be strange at all if the Guild here was entangled with them for the sake of maintaining power.

A beastman child, orphaned and raised by a skilled alchemist—if I naively showed up to their doorsteps, it wouldn’t be surprising if they stripped me of my belongings and sold me off.

That’s why my plan had been to prepare thoroughly here, then head to Forligen. Grandpa had acquaintances there, and I’d be welcomed by the Guild too.

My health was recovering little by little. Maybe it was about time to start making preparations to leave.

“This stuff looks totally different from the ones they sell, nya.”
“Yeah, without the bottles, it feels kind of weird.”

Noche and Filia spoke cheerfully as they gazed at the Rainyblue steeping in the degraded potion.

…It had only been a few days since we met, but I already felt reluctant to part ways.

Looking up at Sufi, she seemed happier than back in the village—probably because, for the first time, she’d found friends her own age.

If Noche and Filia didn’t mind… maybe staying here just a little longer wouldn’t be so bad.