Chapter 8: 8.1

Chapter 4-8 : Preparation Before Escorting Ⅲ (part 1)

 

「Alright. I think I will make a Homunculus first.」(Sarasa)

After deciding what to make, I started preparing right away.

I can make Resonance Stones and Nord-san’s Floating Tent in time if I rush it, but I can’t rush making a Homunculus because they need to be incubated for some time.

I won’t make a human-sized Homunculus. I want it to be the size of a plush doll, so it won’t take long. I think three days should be enough.

However, this is my first time making a Homunculus, so I’m quite nervous.

If I fail, I will lose a lot of money. After all, Salamander scales and Hellfire Grizzly eyeballs, that I will use as the main ingredients, are very expensive.

「Umm… I think everything will be fine if I follow the procedure properly.」(Sarasa)

I read the Encyclopedia of Alchemy carefully once again and prepared the alchemy pot.

Because the size of the Homunculus will be small, I’m using my small-sized alchemy pot instead of the big one.

I put several Salamander scales, a couple of Hellfire Grizzly eyeballs, and a large number of Ice Fang Bat fangs into the pot, then I added some water and small magic stones and began stirring while injecting my magical power.

It was hard to stir at first because most of the materials are solid, but after stirring while injecting my magical power for a while, the materials lost their shape and turned into a red, muddy liquid.

「Nice. It’s going well so far.」(Sarasa)

I collected some other alchemical materials from the shelves and put them all in the pot.

I began to stir again until they melted together, and then I added beans, salt, and rust I took from rusted nails.

At this point, it looks like a bean soup but it doesn’t look delicious at all because of the muddy color and weird smell.

I continued stirring and injecting my magical power patiently for a while until the beans melted and the red, muddy color of the liquid started to fade.

After that, I added a bit more water until the liquid became pink and put it in a culture vessel.

The culture vessel I use is a cylindrical glass container about thirty centimeters in height and diameter.

「Now it’s time to put our hair in it.」(Sarasa)

I put Lorea-chan, Iris-san, Kate-san, and my hair in the culture vessel.

The strands of hair dissolved instantly the moment they touched the liquid as if melting in acid.

It has turned into a very dangerous liquid you don’t want to touch. I’m wearing gloves for safety but I still feel a bit scared.

After confirming that it was going according to the procedure so far, I carefully closed the lid of the culture vessel.

The last thing to do is to inject as much magical power as possible into the vessel.

According to the Encyclopedia of Alchemy, if you inject a lot of magical power before the incubation, a high-quality Homunculus will be born.

I had been injecting my magical power during the process but it was mostly used to change the shape of the materials. However, this time, the magical power will be used to determine the quality of the Homunculus.

Luckily, I have a lot of magical power, so I’m pretty sure that I will be able to create a high-quality Homunculus.

I put my hands on both sides of the culture vessel and began to inject as much magical power as I could.

「Hmmpp…!」(Sarasa)

As I injected my magical power, the liquid started to glow faintly.

The amount of magical power that the liquid can contain depends on the main materials used, and the limit can be judged by the brightness of the light produced by the liquid.

The liquid will glow brighter and brighter as you inject magical power. If the liquid is not glowing any brighter, that means it’s already full. At that point, you can stop injecting your magical power.

I’ve been injecting my magical power for several minutes now but the liquid still keeps getting brighter.

The liquid was able to contain more magical power than I expected, probably because I used Salamander scales and Hellfire Grizzly eyeballs.

It was only glowing faintly at first but now it’s glowing so bright that I have to close my eyes.

I can’t tell if it’s still getting brighter or not if I close my eyes, so I decided to just inject all my remaining magical power.

「Last spurt…! Hngggunununu…!!!」(Sarasa)

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Magical power can be recovered if I take a rest but this is the only chance to get a high-quality Homunculus, so I don’t want to waste it.

The light is getting brighter and brighter, and even though I’m closing my eyes, I can still feel the light stabbing my eyes through my eyelids.

I turned my face sideways to avoid the light, closed my eyes even tighter, and kept injecting as much magical power as possible until I reached my limit.

「ーーHaahh… Haaahhh… I can’t do it any longer…」(Sarasa)

I took my hands off the culture vessel, kneeled, and put my head on the table while breathing heavily.

Right after, the light that brightly illuminated the entire room began to get dimmer.

「Aahh… I’m so tired… I hope it will be born properly…」(Sarasa)

While resting my head on the table, I glanced at the culture vessel.

Now, the liquid is only emitting a faint pink light.

It’s clear and I can see small bubbles rising from the bottom to the surface of the liquid.

According to the Encyclopedia of Alchemy, you fail if the liquid is not glowing at all or its color turns muddy. That means, it is certain that mine is a success. Still, I can’t be sure until the Homunculus is born.

All I need to do now is to check on it and inject magical power from time to time.

If it’s going well, the Homunculus should be born in three days.

Conversely, if it’s not born even after I wait for five days, then it’s a failure. The expensive materials will be wasted and I won’t be able to help Iris-san and Kate-san if something bad happens during the escort.

I really hope it won’t happen…

「Ughh… I planned to make Resonance Stones after this but… I’ve run out of magical power… I guess I have to wait until tomorrow…」(Sarasa)

I used too much magical power but I’m not as tired as when I fought a Salamander a while ago. Back then, I couldn’t even move my fingers but now I still can move my body.

I slowly moved my hands and pushed against the table to raise my body but then I lost my balance and fell to the floor.

BAM!

「Ouch…」(Sarasa)

I wanted to get up but my body felt so heavy, so I decided to lay down on the floor for a while.

It’s almost winter, so the floor is a bit cold, but I really don’t want to move at least until my magical power recovers a little.

ーKnock knock!

Not long after, I heard someone knocking on the door of my workshop.

「Sarasa-san, I heard something fall. Is everything alright?」(Lorea)

「Yeah, everything’s fine!」(Sarasa)

「Are you sure? By the way, dinner is ready.」(Lorea)

「You guys can eat first. I’ll eat later.」(Sarasa)

「If you don’t want to eat dinner yet, you should at least eat some snacks. May I come in?」(Lorea)

「Eh? Umm… You may come in but don’t be surprised, okay?」(Sarasa)

「Hm?」(Lorea)

Lorea-chan, who seemed to be confused, opened the door and entered the room.

She then looked at me who was awkwardly smiling at her while lying down on the floor.

We then stared at each other silently with awkward faces for a few seconds.

「……..」(Lorea)

「……..」(Sarasa)

「Umm… What are you doing…?」(Lorea)

「Ahaha…」(Sarasa)

This is awkward…

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