Ethan’s room was quite simple. In the small space, a Moongrass plant sat beside the bed. Many inns liked to use this plant as a decoration by the window because of its unusual color. It was cheap, too.

The room had only a bed by the window, a wooden cabinet beside it, a desk on the other side of the window, a chair, and a wardrobe.

It was a perfectly standard single room, without even a table for entertaining guests.

Fortunately, there was room for Tori’s drinks, too. She carefully explored the room, but didn’t find anything important. The most she found was Ethan’s clothing—some garments that looked rather expensive. The fabric was high-quality and unlike what Ethan had been wearing, so the Third Young Master really had been hiding his identity.

She didn’t find anything written down, either—no letters, no notes, nothing of the sort. Tori was a little disappointed. It never crossed her mind that she was prying into someone else’s private affairs.

In the end, she could only shake her head in disappointment and sit down at Ethan’s desk. She took out the old village chief’s notebook and her own, then used what she’d learned from her recent experiments to revise the old chief’s notes.

Fortunately, there was a quill on the desk, along with a bottle of ink. It was a little more convenient than an ink pen, since writing with an ordinary one smudged easily.

“The elements in red peppers are probably concentrated mostly near the pepper’s tip, though not necessarily right at the end. You can gently squeeze it with your fingers—the harder spots are where the elements are more concentrated. The magic is stored inside the pepper…”

By the time Ethan returned to his room, he already knew Tori was there, waiting for him. He figured his room was tidy enough. There wasn’t anything he needed to hide.

He noticed that the door was open. Inside, the girl was carefully comparing the two notebooks, writing something down with a quill. She looked focused and serious, frowning every now and then or tugging at her own hair.

Sunlight streamed through the window and fell across the girl’s profile, giving her an almost sacred air.

He figured he must have been seeing things.

“Knock, knock.”

Even though it was his own room, Ethan still knocked on the door to let the girl know he was back. She looked up at once, her first reaction wary, like a little rabbit hearing a rustle nearby. Then her expression quickly relaxed.

“Young Master Ethan, I’m sorry. I borrowed your quill for a moment. I just thought of something…” She quickly gathered her things and put both notebooks back on her person.

Ethan shook his head to show he didn’t mind. “Can you make magic-related potions now?”

At that, Tori sounded less sure of herself. “I can make a few things, but I’m not sure if they’re what you’re looking for, Young Master Ethan… I can show you how I make them.”

Ethan nodded. “Of course. I’m not too busy right now.”

Tori took out her supplies and began demonstrating the steps for him. When the clear liquid finally appeared, she looked a little uneasy. “This is what I made, Young Master Ethan. I don’t know if you’d call it a Potion.”

“Of course you would! What happens after you drink it? You must’ve tested it on mice.”

He made it sound as though he knew me really well. Still, when Tori heard him say “Of course,” she couldn’t help but feel relieved. “After the mice drank it, half of each one turned to ice while the other half caught fire. Then they died.”

“So, it’s a poison?” Ethan frowned.

Tori hurried to explain. “Then I tried drinking it myself. It can increase the power of the magic you use. No, ‘power’ isn’t quite the right word…”

She gritted her teeth. “I can show you.”

A small flame appeared at her fingertip. “This is how strong my flame is normally.”

Then the girl drank the Potion and closed her eyes, drawing the elements within her into order. She opened her hand, and a palm-sized flame appeared in it—but it went out almost immediately.

“Like that. You have to do a lot of preparation beforehand. You need to wait patiently for the Potion to take effect, and you can’t use magic until it’s fully worked. The results are pretty good, but it drained all my magic at once.”

“Can something like this really be called a Potion?”

Ethan was surprised by the result. “You only used red peppers and ice mint. You really are talented, Tori. This is definitely a Potion.”

“But the process is really simple, isn’t it? I just crushed them and used a little magic…”

Ethan shook his head. “You’re not old enough to attend the Magic Academy yet, so you probably don’t know much about this. Besides, this knowledge only appeared in the new textbooks—the ones compiled by the great Witch. They revolutionized a lot of what we know about magic. It was an educational reform. Otherwise, I could only tell you that you’re ‘talented’ without being able to explain why.”

He sat down on the edge of his bed. “I can tell you in advance. Elements and magic are actually two different things. Elements come from everything in this world. They aren’t used up, nor do they increase or decrease; only where they’re stored changes. Every living thing in this world can absorb and manipulate elements. That ability may be conscious or unconscious. Meditation is one way humans learn to control the elements.” Tori’s own understanding lined up with this.

He spoke at length, sounding well-versed in the subject. “Magic, on the other hand, is different. According to the Witch, magic comes from the Demon Realm. The Demon Realm is a world made entirely of pure magic. People draw magic from the Demon Realm through meditation and bring it into their bodies.”

“The Demon Realm…”

“Our era is the Witch Era. Before that came the Creator Era. According to the histories, the Witch replaced the being traditionally believed to be the Creator—the one described in ancient myths as ruling the Demon Realm—and became its true ruler. That’s why the era changed. Of course, the war had actually ended many years before the Witch Era began. It was just that the Witch’s actual control over the Demon Realm began with the Witch Era. The struggle between those two supreme beings went unseen by the world.”

Could there really have been such a thing?

Tori felt as though a vast epic were unfolding before her eyes. All she could do was listen.

“The idea that magic and elements are two different things is also a relatively recent one. It came from the Witch’s teachings. Before that—and even now—many people still believe that magic itself has an elemental attribute. Fire magic, water magic… That’s how people usually describe it.”

Ethan gave Tori a complicated look. “The most important requirement for a Potion Maker is the ability to completely separate elements from magic. It’s a kind of talent, but it’s also a drawback.”

“People like us…” Flames began to dance across Ethan’s palm. “We can’t separate elements from magic. They coexist within us.”

Tori froze. “Wait, no. If I let the elements and magic exist together, they react with each other and turn directly into magic!”

“Exactly. That’s the drawback for people like you. Think about it carefully. Magic comes from the Demon Realm, but in a sense, it’s everywhere. Elements are everywhere, too. Yet that doesn’t cause magic phenomena all over the place. Of course, natural magic phenomena do occur, but they require special conditions. Do you understand what I mean?”

“...You mean people like us, who can distinguish magic from elements, end up forcing them to react with each other?”

“Right! People only learned about the hardships Potion Makers face in recent years. I’ve heard that before Potion Makers came along, people like you were looked down on because using magic hurt you. They thought you’d never be able to climb the ladder of magic.”

“That was because people didn’t know magic and elements were two different things. Later, when Potion Makers appeared, the status of people like you rose. But that was a trade secret. Unless you became a Potion Maker, no one would tell you any of this. It wasn’t until the Witch’s revised textbooks came out that people like us gained a deeper understanding of people like you.”

Right.

So it counted as a kind of talent.

What could Tori say? She had nothing to say.

“Also, this trait means people like you can’t become Magic Swordsmen. A Magic Swordsman is someone like me, who pushes magic and magical weapons to their limits in close combat. You can only be Mages, who cast large-scale spells from a distance. In practice, you’re slower at casting than other Mages, because you have to separate the elements and magic, then combine them again. That makes you weaker in battle.”

Magic Swordsmen? Mages? Seriously, people like us are that hopeless?

“But that doesn’t matter too much, since you created advanced Potions. At first, people thought Potion Makers were just contributing to everyone’s welfare. That is, until their secret became known.”

“So the first Potion Makers to create advanced Potions probably just wanted to bring their combat strength up to the level of ordinary Mages. They simplified the casting process by using Potions to partially alter their bodies, letting them fight like ordinary Mages. Though later, it was proven that ordinary Mages became even stronger after drinking those Potions.”

“…”

“So this is both your talent and your drawback. When I saw you make that rat poison, I thought you might have a talent for this. I didn’t expect you really would.” He nodded with a smile. “It’s time to keep our promise. I’ll give you the recipe for the Miniature Meditation Potion. In return, you’ll give me everything you make apart from the portion you use yourself. Of course, I can supply the ingredients. What do you say?”

That wasn’t good.

It meant she’d just be doing the processing herself. When you got right down to it, there wasn’t much difference from tightening screws on an assembly line.

Tori wanted to refuse.

“Don’t rush to say no. I know you want to become a merchant, but before you can be one, you need to build up your knowledge. Many merchants start out as apprentices. Making Potions for me will help you learn and give you a way to sell your products. What do you think? I have more recipes than just the Miniature Meditation Potion. Of course, these recipes are… compensation from my siblings and my father, on the condition that I find a Potion Maker.” He gave a self-deprecating laugh, then glanced at Tori meaningfully. “Did you think I’d give you something for nothing?”

“All right.” Tori really couldn’t refuse.