I'm an alchemist. I've dumped self-restraint into the trash - Chapter 24

“Ugh… So cold.”

Early in the morning, feeling a chill that was almost freezing, Raith opened his eyes. His body felt strangely heavy, perhaps because he had fallen asleep on a hard chair.

Stretching as he stood up, he noticed the pot and other tools that had been left out since the night before.

“Ahh…” Raith said, as if he had seen something he would rather not have. Even so, he couldn’t pretend he hadn’t seen it. “I guess I’ll clean up…”

Appearing reluctant, he began cleaning. Being active first thing in the morning wasn’t exactly something he looked forward to.

“Hahh…”

He moved quickly, and thanks to that, finished cleaning within a few minutes. Sitting back down on the chair, Raith rested his body. In his hand, he held the potion that he had made last night.

“Alright.”

He couldn’t just keep on resting. Raith grabbed his bag, stood up, and left the room. When he started heading towards the living room, he saw that Laffy seemed to be awake already.

“Good morning, Laffy.”

“Yeah, good morning.”

Laffy wasn’t surprised to see Raith. He had planned to stay at Laffy’s house to make the potion in the first place.

“Where’s Amelia-san?”

“She went home a little while ago, since I can take care of Sylvia now that I’m home. More importantly…” Laffy said, fixing her gaze on Raith’s hand. Raith smiled wryly at how easy to understand her reaction was.

“Yeah, don’t worry. The potion’s complete.”

“It is…? That’s good,” Laffy said, deeply relieved. No matter how skilled of an alchemist Raith was, that didn’t change the fact that she had been anxious.

Now that he took a closer look at Laffy, he could see that she was still a bit tired. She had been so anxious that she couldn’t sleep well.

“…Anyway, mind if I use your bathroom? I’m planning to check on Sylvia after that.”

“Yeah, that’s fine. It’s straight down that hallway, on the right.”

“Thanks.”

Raith followed Laffy’s directions and headed to the bathroom. He was still half-asleep, so without hesitation, he splashed cold water on his face to wake himself up.

“Phew…”

Even though it had only been one day since he’d almost died, the fatigue had completely disappeared. As he reflected that this was yet another result of enduring his teacher’s unreasonable demands, his eyes started welling up. Raith, who had possibly been through more experiences than even an adventurer where he could have died if he’d been unlucky, basked in the experience of being alive.

“Ahh, it’s wonderful to be alive…”

While Raith expressed this sentiment that wasn’t befitting of an alchemist, he got dressed.

“Sorry to keep you waiting. Well, I guess I’ll go do it now.”

“Yeah, please do.”

Raith headed to Sylvia’s room along with Laffy, who had been waiting in the living room. When he entered the room, Sylvia, who was already awake, was seated up on her bed.

Even so, her body was still in poor condition, and she was sitting with her back leaning against the wall. She looked pale, as if she would lose consciousness at any moment.

“Sylvia…!”

“Nee… san…”

Sylvia smiled weakly, and Laffy rushed over to her in a panic. Raith arrived at her bedside and looked her over once again.

“Analyze.”

The disease was progressing quicker than expected. That was the first thing Raith thought after he discerned her physical condition with Analyze.

If Raith and Laffy had taken their time, they probably wouldn’t have made it in time to treat her.

“Sylvia, drink this.”

Raith held the potion up to Sylvia’s mouth for her, since she couldn’t move. While Laffy propped her up, Sylvia slowly drank the potion.

“…Nothing’s happening?” Laffy said, looking worriedly at Sylvia, who had blue markings on her skin. Sylvia didn’t seem to feel the effects either, as she was looking down at her body curiously.

“This potion is slow-acting. So, just in case, keep on resting for today. Also, don’t,” Raith said, giving the last word strong emphasis, “use any magic until I say it’s okay.”

Even though he had suppressed the Vett’s magical energy absorption with alchemy, if she released her magical energy, worst case scenario, she would lose all of it and die.

Raith looked at her with a serious expression, and Sylvia nodded in agreement.

“Well, the threat to your life is gone for now, so you can relax. Rest up today.”

Raith’s serious expression suddenly changed to a friendly smile.

“Thank you… very much,” Sylvia replied with a faint smile.

“Well, I should go home right about now, then. I’ll come to check on you again tomorrow.”

“Alright… I really appreciate it, Raith.”

“…Right, if anything happens, you can count on me anytime.”

***

“…”

“What are you spacing out for?”

“I was just thinking, it sure is peaceful.”

“Saying stuff like that makes you sound old.”

“Please stop, I’m only a teenager,” said Raith.

After leaving Laffy’s house and going home, Raith had gone to Daisy’s shop. Today just happened to be a day she needed him to help out.

Compared to the life-or-death game of tag in the forest, this was a peaceful moment, so Raith ended up feeling listless.

“It was only the day before yesterday that I almost died.”

“Just what happened to you that almost killed you…?”

“Well, some stuff happened, so I had to go into the forest to collect some ingredients. Then, I encountered a ridiculously strong Skeleton there. I thought I was gonna die,” Raith said indifferently, and Daisy shot him an astonished look. Then, suddenly, she appeared to ponder this.

“Hey, that Skeleton you encountered, isn’t that the monster that attacked the adventurers you saved before?” Daisy said, abruptly changing topics.

“Hm…?” Raith turned it over in his mind for a moment and then remembered. He had used an elixir to save an adventurer girl, he recalled.

That had caused him to be assailed by a mountain of designation requests, though.

“At the Adventurer’s Guild, they’ve been saying that monsters showed up in a forest where there shouldn’t have been any. In addition, it seems that there was a giant Skeleton among them. Apparently, the adventurers you saved said the same thing when they were asked about it.”

“Seriously?”

In other words, the place that he and Daisy had talked about where monsters had suddenly appeared had been none other than the forest where Raith had lived.

“So, what happened to that Skeleton?”

“It was defeated,” Raith said casually, and Daisy, who had been making potions, suddenly froze.

“…Did that really happen?”

“Well, I wasn’t the one who defeated it, obviously. The adventurer I was with defeated it for me.

“…That Skeleton, they’ve been saying it’s at least A+ rank.”

Raith had been smiling as he talked, but suddenly, his expression turned serious.

“…You serious?”

“I’m serious. I’m super serious.”

It was at least A+. In other words, it was possible that its rank was even higher than that. It went without saying that defeating a monster like that solo wasn’t normal.

Raith had been vaguely aware that Laffy was strong. If one were to precisely measure her strength, she would be top class even among S-rank adventurers. She was at a high enough level to be undisputedly declared as the strongest.

“Who’s the adventurer who came with you?”

“She’s a young lady by the name of Laffy…” Raith replied in astonishment with an odd tone.

“Why are you being so formal all of a sudden… Hold on, wasn’t Laffy the youngest person to become an S-rank adventurer?”

“Wow.”

“Speaking of amazing people, wouldn’t she give you a run for your money?”

Usually, only Raith was praised or surprised, but Laffy had achieved enough to be on par with him. Though Laffy herself didn’t care about that.

“Actually, it’s amazing that you managed to become acquainted with a big shot like that.”

“I feel the same way.”

Raith was sincerely grateful that he had met Laffy.