Chapter 30: Blessing in Disguise
After supper, Kyouka broke one of her rules and ran toward her basement in her casual clothes. Now that she was in a relationship, it seemed she would wear casual clothes much more, so she didn’t put much thought into her own rules.
She even called it a development.
Nith followed her. He stumbled once on his way down, for his eyes weren’t looking straight ahead but below, at that bountiful cake. He cursed out loud.
Kyouka smirked, “Well, well, if that isn’t a way to keep you human.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised to find some beauty potions here,” Nith replied.
“Here I thought you would be honest again! I’m one hundred percent natural!”
“No need to state the obvious,” Nith spat.
Within the basement, Kyouka opened one of the sealed shelves, in which a vial with a dark-purple shard sheathed in green liquid rested. She held it carefully, inwardly frightened that she might drop it.
She put it on her workbench.
Following that, Kyouka walked over to Nith and helped him take off his sweatshirt. Just in his shirt, one could see bandages wrapped around Nith’s arms.
The bandage on his left arm had a large red stain. Blood was still pooling there, suggesting Nith had suffered a significant wound.
Earlier that morning, Nith had decided to extract one of the veins. He had requested Kyouka’s help, and after a long argument, he convinced her to perform the operation.
Using her alchemy utensils, Kyouka carefully removed a part of the vein. Consequently, Nith suffered excruciating pain, with blood constantly oozing from the wound.
Kyouka fed him her high potions and poured them over the wound. This combination of resources stopped the fountain of blood, and the potions’ anesthesia effect had stacked enough to dull the pain entirely.
Through this process, Nith obtained a dark-purple shard. At first, the vein was so dangerous that Kyouka couldn’t hold it with her utensils. It liquefied everything.
It became a shard after Kyouka stored it in water. That said, normal water didn’t suffice for long. The shard devoured the water and threatened to break through the glass.
Nith told her to fill the vial with poison from the danger zone’s monsters. It bought them some time, but Kyouka still had to refill the vial with poisons at least three times a day.
“You still don’t feel a connection to it?” Kyouka asked.
Nith shook his head. “I’m probably too weak. But this alone is a powerful object, which we can use in various ways. We should continue.”
“Let me look at your wound first,” Kyouka demanded.
Using a scope, she examined Nith’s laceration. Her eyebrows furrowed the longer she inspected it.
“My healing potions have barely healed it and even left a mess behind,” she said.
Nith knew what she meant, as he had studied various potions and the body’s structure when he had been alone in his noble mansion.
He said, “Healing potions fall short compared to healing magic, particularly when it comes to advanced wounds. Have your potions not washed away the dead cells?”
“I’m afraid not,” Kyouka replied. “This means using the same amount of potions won’t be enough. After the third dose, your body will have adapted enough that my potions won’t have any effect. We can’t rely on my potions for this, Nith.”
“Don’t jump the gun yet, Kyouka,” Nith said in a low tone. “It means we have to upgrade your potions, enough to match advanced wounds. I’m the perfect lab subject for it.”
“You…” Kyouka started, then stopped herself. “You’ve always been like that. If you have any ideas, we can try them. But if it gets to be too much for you to handle, we’ll stop immediately and call a healer.”
“…Got it,” Nith said.
“You really got it?” Kyouka asked again, knowing her man.
“I got it,” Nith nodded. “When you say stop, we stop. No questions asked.”
Smiling brightly, Kyouka nodded and embraced Nith before letting him go and asking for his idea.
She sat at the workbench and looked at him with crossed arms, no longer in a cheerful mood.
Nith sneered, “We’ll poison your potions. Make them live in harmony. Leave the cleaning of the dead cells and other unnecessary stuff to my poison. The dirty work is on me, while my gorgeous bitch uses her magic and gets everyone’s praise. No one will ever think that poison can do this much.”
“Such an amazing metaphor that I nearly missed you calling me a bitch again,” Kyouka replied, narrowing her eyes. “The idea is good, but getting that harmony, especially with what we have on hand, will be difficult. We could buy some stuff off the market, but I suggest we wait for the shinies to be appraised first. They should fetch us enough money.”
“Oh, you’re going to sell them?”
“I’ll keep the best for us and sell the rest. I don’t need this many. If we find ourselves in a tight spot, selling potions for more will be the way. I’ll use a proxy in that case.”
Nith didn’t know what to say. It was rare for him to be at such a loss for words, but Kyouka going beyond her usual character and thinking ahead left him speechless. Perhaps it was the second time, as back in the danger zone, he couldn’t speak when she shielded him with her body.
He smiled, “I have a few ideas for the items we have on hand. Let’s try them first.”
“Okay,” Kyouka nodded, turning around to lay various poisonous items on the workbench.
As she worked, Nith sneaked up behind her. He draped himself over her, his height towering over her. His touch made Kyouka freeze, her cheeks suddenly reddening.
He leaned in and bit her earlobe, “I don’t know… felt speechless, and now I feel like embracing you… this damn poison is making me act out of character. A few words are rolling off my tongue.”
“…”
“Love you.”
“…Me too.”
As Kyouka looked down, unable to turn her feelings into body language, clenching the workbench’s edge while her heart raced, Nith gently tapped her ass with his knee.
He said, “Back to work.”
“You asshole! How could I… how could I fall for a bastard like you?!”
“Knock it off. I’m more frustrated than you are.”
“Keep it to yourself! Don’t burst my happy bubble so soon!”
“My happy bubble burst when I couldn’t move my arms. Feel my pain.”
“Fuck you!”
