Chapter 35
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I'll purchase divine power with money.
Chapter 35
I'll acknowledge your beauty, but when did I ever say it was very good?
Don't fabricate things.
"If my money runs dry and my beauty fades, I might be discarded. So I'll have to manage both carefully from now on."
I couldn't help but let out a dry laugh at the absurdity.
Of course, having both was beneficial to me, so instead of denying it, I decided to change the subject.
"The blessing has disappeared, but it doesn't seem to hurt much."
You still have the mental capacity to spout nonsense, after all.
"Well, the speed at which the black stains rampage is noticeably slower than before."
I examined the stains surrounding him.
The black stains were moving more actively than when the blessing was in place, but they looked far better than when there was no divine power at all.
Back then, Lute Sheary seemed almost crushed beneath those stains.
Yet aside from occasionally trembling hands, he showed no sign of it.
A truly resilient one, that man.
"Ah, it's not bad. But having already tasted the sweetness of painlessness, I can never go back to how things were."
Lute Sheary touched his throat where the divine power rested and smiled beautifully.
"Now I'm a man who truly cannot exist without the Saintess."
"...."
I had trained my mental fortitude extensively during my detective career in my first life, so I wasn't easily swayed by temptation.
I never imagined I'd nearly crumble to a beauty trap in my second life....
"...Enough with the unnecessary talk. Just give me the necklace. If it hurts, I should think about receiving a blessing right away."
I deliberately averted my gaze from Lute Sheary, who was smiling intentionally.
Not just Lute Sheary, but Airic Dert and Seth Noel too—this world had far too many beauties.
And they were all around me.
For a smooth second life, I needed an unwavering mind that wouldn't be shaken by beauty traps, but did such a skill exist?
【AI System is verifying...】
【No major issues have been detected in the user's mental fortitude yet. Mental fortitude updates will proceed if problems arise, so please note this.】
At the AI's confirmation, I let out a deep sigh of relief.
I could stop worrying about beauty traps.
"Ah, I'd like to, but there's a problem. People are coming this way right now."
People are coming?
At Lute Sheary's words, I turned my head in confusion.
Not long after, loud voices began echoing from outside the door. They were familiar voices.
"Wait, the Saintess is currently with a guest...!"
"Saintess! Please spare me some time! It's urgent!"
Cutting through Victoria Lawrence's protest came a loud voice—none other than Genric's.
"Potion! I've finally created a potion at a sellable level!"
And it came with truly astounding news.
"Right now, wait, just a moment."
I jolted up at the unexpected news, rushing toward the door before stopping myself.
While it was good news, blessing Lute Sheary's body took far greater priority.
"Ah, I'm fine."
Lute Sheary waved his hand, noticing my concern.
"I've been wanting to examine the potion anyway. The pain is manageable, so please don't worry about me—go meet with the people first."
Certainly, as my business partner, Lute Sheary had every right to inspect the potion.
Still, his situation of having to endure pain weighed more heavily on my mind.
"Even so, the blessing won't take long, so perhaps the Duke first...."
"No. I'll examine the potion first."
But when he refused so firmly, what could I do?
"If you insist, then I apologize, but we'll examine the potion first."
I opened the door.
The three members of the potion creation team were weeping uncontrollably, blocked by Victoria Lawrence.
To be precise, only Genric was crying.
"Please come inside."
After patting Victoria Lawrence's shoulder—worn out from restraining them—I ushered the three inside.
They had entered confidently, but the moment they saw Lute Sheary lounging leisurely on the sofa, they stiffened instantly.
Lana's face drained of color the instant she recognized him.
"I-I-I'm so sorry! I had no idea the guest was the Duke! I'm terribly sorry for the intrusion!"
Lana bowed repeatedly to both Lute Sheary and me, then shot a withering glare at Genric and Wolfgang Schmidt.
The two men hastily clasped their hands together and bowed their heads.
"We apologize!"
"We're truly sorry!"
The hierarchy had been firmly established.
"This works out perfectly. Allow me to introduce you—this is Duke Lute Sheary, who will be distributing the potion you've created to the market."
"Gasp! The D-Duke himself?!"
Lana was now on the verge of fainting entirely.
I hadn't explained this to them. It seemed Airic Dert hadn't mentioned it either.
I scratched my head, then turned my attention to Wolfgang Schmidt, who appeared the most composed.
"Wolfgang, explain the new potion to me."
"...."
What? Why wasn't he answering?
"Wolfgang? ...Where did this guy go?"
Looking again, he was standing there with a calm expression, eyes open but completely unconscious.
What, was meeting Lute Sheary really that shocking? Wasn't he the one who brought them here on Lute Sheary's recommendation?
Regardless of the reason, since he was in no state to explain, I turned my gaze to Genric.
Now that I looked, the one who had been sobbing was actually the most composed.
"Genric, would you explain?"
"Ah, yes! I was dying to do exactly that!"
Fortunately, Genric wiped away his tears and immediately sprang into action.
He set the potion down on the table in front of the sofa where Lute Sheary and I sat. It was the same orange hue as the sample I'd first created, but the color was far more vivid than before.
"I mentioned it to you before, didn't I? If you blend the Amin flowers and Lindal flowers properly, they'll produce the most extraordinary effect rather than poison."
"Those two plants?"
Lute Sheary, hearing this explanation for the first time, voiced his doubt.
He clearly already knew that when those two plants combined, they became a severe toxin.
"Yes. It's a discovery I made after two years of research."
"Oh, did you finally find the right ratio?"
Genric shook his head at my question.
"No, unfortunately I haven't discovered that yet. But instead, I found a new ingredient that can harmonize the effects of both plants regardless of the ratio!"
He exclaimed with an animated expression and pulled a flowering branch from his pocket.
"It's this!"
"Hmm, that's...?"
A tiny orange flower, no larger than a thumbnail, with small blossoms clustered densely along the stem.
It was none other than the Hyas flower, which grew naturally only in the Sun God's Temple.
"You don't mean...?"
"Yes! The effect is truly remarkable!"
To summarize Genric's explanation:
While researching divine power during this potion's creation, I discovered that the Sun God's divine power harmonizes smoothly with other forces without much resistance, likely due to its potent healing properties.
So I decided to try adding the Hyas flower imbued with divine power.
After Lana and Wolfgang joined in and conducted experiments with frenzied intensity, the Hyas flower's divine power neutralized the toxicity of both plants, exactly as anticipated.
"Of course, I intend to continue searching for the optimal ratio. Once I find that as well, a truly supreme potion will be born."
Genric beamed with an extraordinarily cheerful expression.
It seemed like the first time I'd seen him wear such a bright smile.
"So this contains the Hyas flower, Amin flower, and Lindal flower? How potent is the potion's effect?"
"It's at least five times more effective than the sample I showed you last time. It's suitable for selling as a prototype."
Five times more potent. That's truly excellent, isn't it?
And if I add my blessing on top of that?
The effect could be absolutely extraordinary.
I patted Genric's shoulder with delight.
"All three of you worked hard. Since you've succeeded in developing the prototype, you'll receive a bonus."
"Ah, you're truly the best, Saint. I'll continue to serve you with all my heart."
Genric, moved by this perfect financial remedy, shed tears of joy. Then he patted Wolfgang's back, who still seemed dazed.
"Did you hear? We did it! Let's keep pushing forward with all-nighters of research!"
No, sleep isn't something you only get after death.
But seeing that even Lana, who had briefly lost her composure, was now quietly smiling, it seemed they wouldn't listen anyway. I simply let it go.
The three of them soon left the Reception Room after apologizing profusely for the intrusion.
"I was worried because the Duke and the two alchemists we found had completely different personalities, but now they work together very well."
After seeing the three off, I spoke to Lute Sheary with a smile.
"Thank you for finding such excellent alchemists."
"Actually, it wasn't that difficult. Wolfgang Schmidt was already someone we had our eye on as a talented prospect."
This was something I had never heard before, so I was taken aback.
"Is that so?"
"He's such a brilliant genius that other alchemists grew jealous and refused to let him join their guild. Well, his rigid and inflexible nature certainly didn't help matters either."
"Then why didn't you hire him?"
"The reason I sought out an alchemist was because of my illness. After falling out with the faction of the Sea God, he was my only remaining hope."
Since I had already tried all the potions available on the market to no avail, it seemed I had eventually turned to seeking out an unconventional alchemist like Wolfgang Schmidt.
"But just before hiring Wolfgang Schmidt, I happened to come across an ancient tome."
"An ancient tome?"
"Yes. It was an ancient text written about sacred relics of light."
And at Lute Sheary's next words, my face went rigid.
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