Mages were divided into ranks. That didn’t surprise Tori. Take water magic, for example: when her mother used it to make something like an air conditioner, it could last for about half an hour. Tori could only keep it going for a little over a minute.

So her mother was probably about the level of a First-Rank Mage. Whether First-Rank Mages had some other title—like “mage apprentice”—Tori had no idea.

Tori also didn’t know how high the ranks of Mages in this world went.

But that wasn’t important. What mattered was that the village chief had filled his notebook with all kinds of useful knowledge. Tori thought most of it was pretty basic, but it was still precious.

Even if it had only the tiniest bit to do with making Potions.

Tori looked over the somewhat haphazard notes in the notebook.

“Moongrass. I know this herb is the main ingredient in Miniature Meditation Potions, but my teacher never showed me exactly how to make Meditation Potions.”

Now that was quite the bombshell to start with.

No wonder so much moongrass was grown, yet each plant still fetched a steady copper coin. Tori had always wondered how something like moongrass could hold its value when it wasn’t edible like red peppers.

The main ingredient in Miniature Meditation Potions!

That made perfect sense.

Could eating moongrass directly help with meditation? Tori couldn’t help wondering. Then she spotted a note from the village chief: “I wondered if eating moongrass directly might have an effect, too. The answer is no. That makes sense… If it worked, there’d be no reason for people who grow moongrass not to eat it.”

Well, there went that hope before it even got started.

“Moongrass actually tastes pretty good, though. It upsets your stomach a little, but it’s got a hint of sweetness.”

There’s no need to read this useless description, Chief. And you really did eat it, didn’t you?

Tori carefully read the section about processing moongrass. One note caught her eye: “I’m a little puzzled by how my teacher processes moongrass. He soaks it in a special liquid. When I asked why, he told me to master the basics first! I know what he means. He just wants money, doesn’t he? Too bad my family doesn’t have that kind of money.”

A liquid? Soaking?

Extraction…?

Tori quickly figured out what was going on. Sure, she’d spent most of her life working at construction sites—even if she was still young. But she’d studied civil engineering at one of the country’s top universities, after all. Sometimes a woman just ends up in the wrong line of work…

She was sure this process was some kind of extraction. As for the special liquid—alcohol? Petroleum? Petroleum probably wasn’t practical. So, alcohol? Or maybe some kind of special Potion solution?

Her interest was piqued. She felt like a chance to make money was right in front of her.

If she could figure this out, moongrass extract might be incredibly useful. So how could she get alcohol? Make distilled liquor? That still wouldn’t give her the right conditions for extraction…

No, no. She shouldn’t be thinking about how to make Potions right now. Tori suddenly realized that. Potion-making techniques in this world were far too tightly guarded.

Unless she went to the Magic Academy and got access to that world, making Potions was basically a pipe dream. Unless some Potion Maker suddenly dropped dead right in front of her, letting her loot a whole pile of recipes.

Of course, that was just wishful thinking.

The notebook’s greatest value to her right now was—

Right.

Learning about all kinds of things she could sell, then making a fortune before she went to the Magic Academy. That was the only way she’d be able to get by there—and climb the social ladder…

With that in mind, Tori flipped through the old village chief’s notebook at lightning speed. At last, she found something that really caught her interest.

Fungi.

In other words, mushrooms.

Depending on the species, these fungi could be worth quite a bit. The problem was that they were easy to misidentify, and eating the wrong one could lead to poisoning. Most fungi were poisonous. Unlike in her old world, where plenty of cultivated varieties were safe to eat.

Tori’s eyes lit up as she read the old village chief’s notes on several kinds of fungi.

“The white hoof mushroom is a white fungus that looks a lot like a horse’s hoof. It’s edible and delicious, and nobles love it. You can usually find it beneath Azure trees a day or two after it rains.”

This was it!

Azure trees after the rain, huh? That meant if she had some Azure wood shavings, she could stuff them into a bag and water both ends every day. There was a good chance she could grow white hoof mushrooms.

If nobles loved them—

That meant gold coins.

No, no. Don’t get ahead of yourself.

The village hunters often brought mushrooms back after going into the woods. Of course, they only brought back common ones. They wouldn’t dare bring back anything unfamiliar—one wrong bite and someone could die.

If she sold white hoof mushrooms in any real quantity, she’d definitely attract trouble. She didn’t think a little girl like her could protect her mushroom-growing method.

Besides, Azure wood wasn’t common. She’d heard that, like moongrass, these trees were blessed by the moon. Their entire trunks were pale blue, completely unlike ordinary green plants.

Once, the hunter had even snapped off a branch of Azure wood for the children. He said the trees only grew deep in the forest, and that reaching them was a mark of a Mighty hunter. Ordinary hunters wouldn’t dare go that far in.

Did that mean this dream was doomed, too?

She turned to the next page and suddenly spotted another kind of mushroom.

“The poisonwing fungus is pretty potent. It looks like a bird’s wing, and comes in red and black varieties. I’ve seen this fungus before. This time, someone seems to have asked my teacher to make a poison. A poison made from poisonwing fungus? What kind of Mighty person are they trying to poison? If I hold a poisonwing mushroom, will it kill me?”

“This is it!”

Tori shouted in excitement! She realized she’d fallen into a rut. Medicine didn’t have to be something that helped people. It didn’t have to be the sort of thing that could only be sold as a remedy.

Poison worked, too!

Making medicine to save someone was hard. Making something to kill them was easy, right?

Take this so-called poisonwing fungus. Did it really need to be made into a Potion to kill someone? At worst, it was just a little less toxic. When all was said and done—if it couldn’t kill a person, couldn’t it at least kill… a mouse?

After all, mice were a deadly threat to people like them. And the mice in this world could really put up a fight. They were at least tougher than the mice in her old world.

Children couldn’t handle them.

Adults warned children to stay away from mice. A single bite could give you all kinds of diseases, and if you couldn’t afford an expensive bottle of “healing potion,” you’d probably die.

She remembered her father killing a mouse.

A mouse darted out. Her father formed an ice spike in his hand and threw it, but the mouse nimbly dodged. It took him half an hour to catch just one mouse.

His aim wasn’t great, after all. And it wasn’t like they could set the house on fire.

Rat poison.

Yes. Rat poison.

Rare ingredients were hard to find, but poisonous ones were everywhere, weren’t they? Like that “oil toad” she’d run into the other day. She’d heard it was highly poisonous, though she didn’t know if she could take one on…

Following the village chief’s notes, Tori went from place to place.

“Tori! Come play! We found a super interesting place! There might be treasure!”

Tori paid no attention to the calls of the other kids, who were about her age. If there was treasure, why hadn’t they found it already? If there really was treasure and the adults hadn’t taken it, that meant they couldn’t. Though, maybe she could—she was the protagonist, after all. One burst of protagonist luck and she’d get it!

That would definitely mean fighting for her life and kicking off the main quest. Too much trouble.

Tori just wanted to make money.

Tori didn’t care about any of that. She kept taking the village chief’s notebook around with her, searching the village for poisonous things she could find.

When Xilika came home with the cloth, she froze.

“Tori… unless I’m mistaken, I told you never to touch this poison orchid—and I’ve heard this one’s poisonous, too…” She eyed the things laid out around the house warily.

For a moment, she didn’t even dare step inside.

Tori beamed. “Mom! Don’t worry! As long as you don’t mistake these for something else and boil them up to eat, everything’s fine!”

Xilika wanted to throw the whole lot out, but Tori had been acting so sensible lately that she decided to ask first. “Did the village chief tell you about these?”

Tori nodded at once. “Yes! Grandpa Chief told me! He asked what I wanted to do, and I said I wanted to be a doctor. So he told me that to be a doctor, I first had to learn to recognize poisonous things! Then I’d know what to use to treat people!”

Xilika found that quite convincing and gave a hesitant nod, her face full of admiration. “As expected of the village chief. He studied at the Magic Academy, so he must be right. When you go to the Magic Academy, you should become someone like him—knowledgeable and wise. Understand?”

“Of course, Mom! I will!”

Did it matter whether the village chief had actually said that or not? She felt a little bad for the old man, but once she’d perfected her rat poison—

She’d help the village deal with its mouse problem. That would make her richer and make life better for everyone in the village. The chief wouldn’t have any objections to that!

Tori looked at the pile of poisonous ingredients in the house, feeling rather pleased. But first, there was something she needed to do—her gaze turned to her mother.

“Mom, I need you to help me with something.” The sly look in her eyes made Xilika nervous. But what kind of mother was afraid of her own child? Xilika gathered her courage.

She put on a gentle motherly smile. “What is it, Tori?”

“Mom, I need to learn about medicine. These things are poisonous, right? The village chief said some poisonous things stop being poisonous when you cook them, but I don’t know which ones do. So we need to test them.”

“You mean… you want me to eat them?”

“Of course not!” Tori didn’t think she was that evil. “I was wondering if you could help me catch a mouse, Mom?”

“…Huh?”

“Mom, could you help me catch a mouse? I’ll help, too.”

“…”

“Mom? Mom?! Mooooom!!!!”