The first-ever Spicy Food King contest came to a successful close. The winner was an out-of-towner. Tori had expected someone from Lusaka Village to take the crown.

Tori stood on the podium she’d made herself and presented the winner with his prize. “Congratulations on winning the contest! Here are ten Miniature Healing Potions and ten Miniature Meditation Potions, as thanks for supporting our work.”

The man looked rather thin and small. Just by looking at him, no one would’ve believed he could eat so much food dipped in or soaked with the hot-and-spicy Potion.

The man smiled. “Thank you so much, Miss Tori. The hot-and-spicy Potion you developed is truly incredible. If I hadn’t used medicine made from red chili peppers before, I probably wouldn’t have won this contest. Everyone here can really handle their spice.”

Medicine made from red chili peppers?

Tori’s gaze sharpened. She chuckled. “By the way, our staff will interview you later and publish the story in the newspaper, so people who didn’t take part in the contest can read about it. Where are you staying right now?”

She heard a familiar address.

This man… was Ethan.

His build had changed. He was taller than Ethan had been before, but much thinner—as if something had grabbed his bones and pulled them up a notch. He’d changed his appearance, too.

Of course, that was a rather far-fetched guess. But Tori had to make sure.

For now, though, it wasn’t the right time to do anything.

If Ethan was hiding his identity, he must have a reason. And what about Sister Mi Luosha? She calmly turned around and announced to the audience below, “Let’s congratulate our winner once again!”

“Wooooo!!!”

“You’re a beast, man!!!”

The drunks, always eager to join in the fun, cheered and weren’t shy about singing his praises.

Tori had made quite a bit of money from this event. Her savings aside, the amount of wealth she could access had increased by ten gold coins. That was already the price of an advanced Potion.

But it still wasn’t nearly enough. Ten gold coins was far too little for Tori. She felt she’d need at least one purple gold coin’s worth of assets before she could feel secure living comfortably in this world.

And that wasn’t even a small goal.

For now, though, she had something else to do. Watching the customers coming and going in the shop, she said to Lydia, “Lydia, when you have some time later, go with Uncle Yabu to that inn and find our champion. Ask him how he feels about winning and what was going through his mind during the contest. Get as much detail as you can, then come back and tell me. I’ll write it up and send it to the newspaper.”

“Sure. Though I might not be able to go until tonight.”

“That’s fine. There’s no rush. He probably won’t leave today. And if he does, we’ll just make something up ourselves. No big deal.”

Lydia heard that and warily glanced at the customers around them. She gave Tori a reproachful look, as if to say she shouldn’t talk about that kind of thing here.

Tori just smiled. “I’ve got another Potion to work on. Bring me one of those earth spirits later—the one I bought a couple of days ago.”

“Okay!”

A little while later, when things had quieted down, Lydia carried the earth spirit into Tori’s laboratory. Before long, the customers heard a sharp crack.

Then two girls came out of the laboratory, covered in dust and grime. Their faces were both pitch-black, making it hard to tell them apart.

“What’s this? Earth spirits can explode too?!” a child complained, her voice ringing through the shop. The people burst out laughing. The shopkeeper was only eight, but she could be quite adorable at times. Customers with a little extra money enjoyed haggling with her and trying to get a lower price. Watching her get all worked up was a pleasure for some of the regulars.

“You two go take a bath. I’ll handle things here.” Old Yabu sighed helplessly.

“Old man, isn’t it like having two granddaughters to raise? You’re enjoying it too, aren’t you?” someone teased him.

“Oh, please! If I had granddaughters like these, they’d have driven me to my grave by now.” He said that, but he couldn’t stop smiling.

…

“My dear young master Ethan, what happened to you? You look like a mess! You won’t even show your real face, so I had to blow up my own laboratory just to slip over here without anyone noticing.” Tori was wearing Lydia’s clothes. They’d changed before the explosion. Tori had washed up a little and come out in Lydia’s outfit. She’d changed her hair color slightly, though it wasn’t dye and would wash out easily. Lydia, meanwhile, had gone straight into the laboratory in her place. All she had to do was stay there.

A series of sharp cracks came from the man before her, as if his bones were repeatedly breaking and twisting. At last, his height returned to normal, and his build changed back into the familiar shape Tori knew. He splashed water over his face, then revealed Ethan’s features.

“You can do that, too?”

“Someone taught me. It’s nice to have it come in handy.” He patted his chest. “I really have to thank you for this. If you hadn’t given me that concentrate, I don’t think I’d have made it. I might never have gotten out of the woods.”

Tori sat by the head of Ethan’s bed. “So, is Mi Luosha our enemy? She said she was going into the forest to find you, but was she actually planning to kill you? And did she invite me along because she wanted to use me as a hostage?”

Ethan shook his head. “That’s not quite right. Mi Luosha isn’t the enemy. It’s some entity behind her, one that can control her. I really don’t know why they want me dead. But I can say for certain that there’s something wrong with the Witch Church. That thing definitely isn’t a Witch. There’s some kind of monster in that Church—a terrifying monster.”

That was more or less what Tori had imagined. It was like when she’d first asked Mi Luosha, “Your Witch Church worships Witches. Do the Witches even know?”

She remembered a line from a game she’d played once, spoken by a certain god: “Is it not the faithful who need the gods, rather than the gods who need the faithful?”

“The way you put it…”

Maybe her own power was too limited, or maybe her understanding was. Either way, Tori hadn’t sensed anything like the so-called power of faith. If no such power existed, then the Church was just an organization. What it needed was the name of a god—the creator of the world or the ruler of the Demon Realm in the Witch Era. That was what the Church needed.

“So you can’t show your face openly right now?”

Ethan considered it. “Not exactly. I have to reach the Extraordinary level. Once I do, I’ll be able to protect myself.”

“Are you serious? The Extraordinary… I can’t even make an advancement Potion for that. Are you planning to break through just like that?”

“No, not exactly.” Ethan hurriedly waved his hands. “I mean, what if I had the formula and the ingredients? Could you make it? What if I even had the right amount of Potion ingredients?”

Tori stared at Ethan. Ethan stared back at Tori.

Sunlight spilled through the window onto their faces.

At last, Tori smiled. “You’re pretty brave, young master Ethan. Forget whether my skills are up to the task—how can you trust me with something like this? What if someone bought me off? I’m the sort of person who’ll do the job if someone pays me.”

“Invest in me, and you’ll get much more in return. You wouldn’t give up a gold coin just to get one copper coin, would you?”

“You’ve got some nerve, young master Ethan. You’re being hunted so badly you don’t even dare show your real face, and you can still talk like that. With guts like yours, I’ll take the deal.”

Tori shook her head. “Give me the formula, but keep the ingredients for now. Give me a week. Once I’ve advanced to The Weak, I’ll make it for you. Right now, I doubt I could control the elements and magic precisely enough, even with the formula.”

“Have you already figured out your own Potion series?”

“It’s not like I have a choice! Things have come to this. Even if it’s the simplest, most straightforward Potion—and the least useful one for me after I take it—I still have to make it for you. What do you think?”

Ethan laughed. “You’re getting cuter and cuter, Tori.”

“Talking like that won’t make me any nicer to you. Anyway, how much does an advancement Potion for an Extraordinary usually cost?”

“I’ve heard it costs one to three purple gold coins.”

Tori sucked in a sharp breath. “I’m starting to regret our deal. Making an advancement Potion for you for free? Maybe I should just sell you out instead.”

Ethan blinked. In the end, Tori took the formula and left.

She took a roundabout route back to the shop, went into the laboratory, and switched places with Lydia. Then she walked out in plain sight. “Lydia, I’m going out to buy some things. Keep an eye on the shop.”

She’d already learned a little about the advancement Potion Ethan needed. It was a Light-type Potion called the Light Armor Potion. After taking it, the user’s innate skill would let them form a layer of light armor over their body. It could refract their position and offered a degree of defense, too.

It didn’t seem to be one of the Fantasy-series Potions Ethan had mentioned.

That wasn’t the important part. To make this Potion, her own all-purpose series—the Weak-level Potion, Series One—would have to be Light-aligned. It would improve every attribute, but its innate skill would be a Light-type skill. To be honest, she’d planned to base it on the Life element instead. Life meant vitality, after all. Staying alive was what mattered most.

So, the ingredients she needed were—

She went to the blacksmith’s shop. “Do you have any lodestone?”

“Lodestone? I have some. How much do you need?”

Tori answered without hesitation. “As much as you’ve got.”

It wasn’t realistic to go looking for lightning-struck wood now, so she’d have to try making it herself. Hopefully, it would work. The other ingredients should be possible to gather in some quantity.

She hired a carriage, loaded it up with lodestone, and brought it back to her laboratory.

There weren’t many lightning-element Mages. At least, it was hard to find one in Blackwater Town, so she’d have to generate electricity herself. Electricity produced magnetism, and magnetism produced electricity. How to preserve that element and make it exist within a material was the problem she had to solve over the next few days.

Three days—no more than three. That was the deadline she set herself. She needed enough time to prepare her own advancement Potion. Only after she successfully brewed a Potion for her own level would she be able to make the Potion Ethan needed.