71-Episode 71: Lost Medicinal Herbs and Great Loss




 Upon our return, we quickly asked the ship's doctor on the Goodlooser to examine the herbs that Mr. Calm and his team had collected.
 On the way, we were asked to sell the airship to the seaside nationals, but we politely declined, saying that it wasn't a technology from the Kuujima.

Hmmm, there are some medicinal herbs that can be sold in their own right, but they are still too weak to be the highlight.

Nuh-uh...

 In the end, none of the medicinal herbs we brought were decisive, and Calm and the others nodded in disappointment.
 If it wasn't something that the country's top brass would agree with, the trade itself might be cancelled.

''This is distressing...''

"Hmm, trade by airship is tempting, but...

 Because there is nothing that I want, the atmosphere of the negotiations is slightly heavy.
 Hmm, the medicinal herbs I've been collecting are the same as those of Mr. Calm and the others....

 Oh, but there was one kind of herb I hadn't been given to look into.
 But it's not such a rare herb.
 Well, I'll ask them anyway.

 And that's when it happened.

"Commander Calm!

 A number of knights descend from the sky in a panic.

''What's going on!''

 Mr. Calm scolds his subordinates who have interrupted the important negotiation session.

''Mo, I'm sorry! Shh, but my men!

Calm down! What about my men?

 Mr. Calm blackmailed the panicked knight and made him explain what had happened.

'Ha, yes! While exploring Morishima, one of my men was attacked by a demon and had his arm ripped off!

"What, what?!

 The sudden shocking report caused everyone present to color up.
 I looked and saw one knight, accompanied by his companions, groaning and kneeling down.

'Show me your wounds!'

 The ship's doctor immediately looks at the knight's arm.

''The demon that tore his arm off escaped without further ado, and we, who didn't have any good medicine, could only bind the wound to stop the blood...''

This is not good. If you don't get this fixed soon, you'll bleed to death.

''Ugh, can you fix your arm?!''

 The ship's doctor shakes his head at the knight's words of concern for his companion.

The only potion that can grow an arm is the legendary elixir. If I could at least get my arm back, I could connect it with the finest potions, but in any case, with the herbs we have here...

Oh, no...

Let's at least disinfect the wound and use our recovery spell to stop the blood. That way we can save our lives.

Yeah, please.

 At the ship's doctor's words, Mr. Calm regretfully asks.

'All right, I'll do what I can to help...'

Um....

 Let's see, I think it's a shot if you use a recovery spell that restores physical deficiencies rather than so-and-so.
 I apologize for interrupting the strangely serious atmosphere, and I call out to the ship's doctor.

'What is it? This is a situation where time is of the essence!

I'm sorry, sir, the missing part... no, no, I'd rather use this herb, wouldn't you?

 That's when an idea flashed in my mind.
 Instead of using recovery magic to fix it, I thought it would be a good trade highlight if I fully healed my injuries with a potion made of herbs.

 I take out a yet-to-be-appraised herb from my magic bag and show it to the ship's doctor.

'Hm? What the hell is this? I've never seen this plant before, is it a medicinal herb too?

 Huh? You don't know the ship's doctor?

It's a common tekan grass used to make a hypo-portion.

...Tecan grass? Could it be that Tecan grass that was lost in the Great Loss of Medicinal Herbs?

 Huh? Is Tecan grass a lost medicinal herb?
 I mean, what is the Great Mourning Loss of Medicinal Herbs?

"Well, what is herbal mourning for loss?

Don't you know about the Great Loss?

 No, I haven't.

''The Great Loss of Medicinal Plants is an epidemic that occurred suddenly hundreds of years ago that killed many plants. Some of the plants that died in that incident included rare medicinal plants, hence the name 'Great Loss'.

 Heh, I didn't know there was such a thing.

It's also said to have caused the inability to formulate many of the medicines of the past, resulting in the loss of many lives and medicine recipes.

 Wow, it was a rather serious case.

Did you know about this, Liliera?

'Yes, in case you were wondering. When I was an adventurer in the town of Hequizi, I was taught by a senior who specialized in medicinal herbs. He told me that if I found a herb that had been greatly reduced due to the Great Loss, I could sell it for a high price, so I had to take it home with me.

 Oh, I see.
 Maybe it's because it happened hundreds of years ago and Liliella didn't know about it at first, so I wonder if it's just a famous story among researchers.

But it was common in Morishima, right?

What did you say?

 The ship's doctor rolls his eyes in surprise.

"Oh, that's right. So Morishima is so far above the ground that it wasn't hit by the Great Loss pandemic!

 Well, if you ask me, that might be true.
 There were ball rabbits that were not seen on the ground on the empty island, and it wouldn't be surprising if there were plants that had survived on the forest island all along.

''Sensei........''

What? This is not good.

 The ship's doctor was very excited, but came to himself when Mr. Carm called out to him.

'Ah, no, mmm. Anyway, I said hypotony, but can you make a hypotony out of tecan grass? It's true that that would be a great way to heal because it would also restore your strength and lost blood, but hypotonus is difficult to mix and takes a long time to make, you know?

 Huh? It was a pretty major high-potato recipe in a previous life, but you really don't know that?
 And how difficult is it to mix a hypothesis? That's a funny thing to say.
 If it's only a hypotonous potion, I'm sure a slightly more mature apprentice of a medicine man would be able to make it in no time.

 ........Oh, I see. I think a lot of recipes were lost along with the medicinal herbs in the Great Loss.
 If that's the case, it wouldn't be surprising if the recipes using the tecan grass were lost, right?

 Hmmm, the Forest of Demonic Beasts and Inner Ocean were created, the Sky Continent was lost, and even the Great Loss of Plants?
 Oh, and there was also something called Lost Magic and Lost Items, and a lot of events happened while I was a bit dead.

 But I'm also curious about the cases that involved demons in those incidents.

 Anyway, now I have to explain to you how to make a high potion.

''Let's see, if you mix this herb with the medicinal liquid extracted from steamed aea grass, you can make a high potion.

That's all you have to make? All you need to make a hypothesis is meagh grass, ahad grass and bagia grass, right? I mean, ailanthus is just a cheap herb that you can buy in general.

Yes, you can make it with that recipe, but a recipe using Tecan grass and aea grass is cheaper and faster.

 Oh, and now that they're treated as a lost herb, it doesn't mean they're cheaper, does it?
 We don't have much time, and I think we should actually let you try mixing this one.

'Well, I'll actually mix it up for you now, so you can check out what you've got. Mr. Calm, can I have a bunch of the Aehrweeds in there?

 I point to the aea grass that Mr. Calm and the others brought with them to see if it could be made into a trade product.

'Yeah, yeah, that's fine. Here you go.

After receiving the aegypti from Mr. Calm, I take out two containers from the magic bag, one for the mixing table and the other for the extracted liquid.
I put Tecancho and Aericha into each of them.

Normally, I would prepare each ingredient after steaming it, but this time it will take some time, so I'll just make it by magic and make it easy.

Well, by magic?

 I hold my hand over each of the herbs in the extraction container and activate the medicinal extraction magic.

"Component Separate!

 Then the herb wilted in an instant, and the medicinal liquid seeped out of the cut when it was collected and filled the container.

''What is this magic?

 It's just a medicinal extraction magic, but for some reason the ship's doctor is surprised.

It's just a medicinal extraction spell.

Magic to unleash a potion? I've never seen that kind of magic before.

 Huh? It can't be that way, though.
 I think it's a magic that is usually taught to students of pharmacists.

This is a magic developed to extract the medicinal properties of herbs that require delicate handling without destroying them. I think it's a magic that any medicinal master with a certain level of ability would know, don't you think?

'So such magic exists...? But where in the world did you get that kind of magic...?

 Hmm, maybe the ship doctor didn't learn medicinal extraction magic from his master?
 But I wonder if that's possible?
 I think medicinal extraction magic is an essential magic if you're in the medical field?

 Me? I learned this from my mentor in a previous life.
 He said that if you're going to be a sage, you should at least be able to make the highest-ranked potion, and he taught me that.

And now that we've extracted the ingredients, we can prepare the formula.

 But if it's about a high potion, it's just a matter of adjusting the amount and mixing the ingredients, though.

 I pour the liquid medicine into a measuring cup and gently mix it with a crystal rod for mixing.
 The color of the two solutions gradually blended into a beautiful green color.

The hypothesis is complete.

 I show everyone the finished hypothesis.

'Ha, how easy is it to make a hypothesis...'

 The ship's doctor muttered dumbfoundedly while opening his mouth.

 What kind of trouble did the ship's doctor have in making this kind of a surprise?
 Oh, but yeah. The ship's doctor may have to make the medicine in a rocking ship, so it may be more difficult for that reason.
 In addition, considering the long journey, they will need to use only herbs that can be preserved, so the degree of difficulty is probably higher.
 So, to the extent that they specialize in the ship doctor's concoction techniques, they are conversely unfamiliar with how to make ordinary medicines?
 Hmmm, I'm learning.

'Come on, sir, let the knight have a drink.

Oh, yeah.

 Mr. Calm, who received the high potion from me, gives the knight who lost his arm a potion.

''Uh-uh...''

 Then the knight who took the potion begins to groan and suffer.

'Oh, hey! Are you okay?

 The knights around me come over to me, asking if I really wanted them to take it.

'It's fine. Please take a good look at your companions.

" " " " " What? ....? What?

 Not only the knights, but even Mr. Calm and Mr. Burn and the others rolled their eyes in surprise.

''Ugh, the arm I should have lost is growing back...?''

 Okay, okay, the concoction is working.

What is this...?

 The ship's doctor asks me, shaking and waving his hands in the air.

It's a hypothesis.

A hypothesis? A potion that makes my arms grow back, like this, like this, like a hypothesis?

 Huh? I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

'See, even a normal wound will heal as the flesh rises in the area where it was injured, right? High-quality hypo-portions work strongly with such natural healing power to regenerate the defective area. In essence, it's growing an arm in the same way that nails grow and hair grows.

"...the order of magnitude of the comparison is too great!

 Huh? Why are people so surprised?

'Well, I didn't expect to find enough potion ingredients to regenerate a lost body...'

Yeah, right! Not because it's a hypothesis, but because it's a Tecan grass hypothesis, which is why it has such a medicinal effect!

Huh?

'This is ... this is a great hypothetical! That's not the same as the high potions on the market right now! This potion that can cure physical deficiencies is already a new potion beyond high potions!

 No, no, no, that's not much of an exaggeration.

So these herbs are...?

Yes, I'd say it's literally the centerpiece of this trade!

"[Ooh-tsu!

 There was an exclamation from almost everyone present.

'Good, now we have a product to trade with...'

'Thank you! Thank you! You saved my people from losing their arms!

I would like to express my deepest gratitude!

 Mr. Calm and the others thank me from the two joys of being able to produce trade goods and having their friends' wounds completely healed.

'By the way,'

 While everyone was happy to have found a trade highlight, the ship's doctor was the only one who spoke to me with a serious look on his face.

'What is it?'

"Hmm, this is a very important request...

 What the hell do I need to ask?
 Maybe there's still something wrong with it?

"Can you teach me the extraction spell you used earlier?

 What? Not herbs, but magic?

Magic that is brilliant! With that magic, we can extract more herbs in less time and more reliably! That way we won't waste herbs due to extraction errors and we can make more medicine! Please! I want you to teach me that magic!

 Hmmm, it doesn't look like he's joking and I wonder if he's serious?
 And, well, it's a magic for extracting medicinal properties, and it can't be used for bad things, so I guess it's okay.

'I understand. Well, let me tell you.

Oh, thank you, Master!

"Why master?

 Haven't we seen this pattern before?

Master is going to revolutionise the potion industry with his help.

 There was no potion industry!
 Eventually, in a desperate move, I became the ship's doctor's mentor, teaching medicinal extraction magic until the Goodruiser departed.