Chapter 64

Since her mother was in the alchemy guild, she was coming to observe as her daughter.
Duchess Primrose was not only lending her name, but she was also helping the alchemy guild with its affairs.

“I used to stay only in the castle, but thanks to my daughter, I have a lot of things to do.”
“I’m sorry for the inconvenience, Mother.”
“Not at all. Hearing you say you still need my help… I’m rather happy.”

The mother also added that it was a joy for her daughter to need her.
As Yuria never had any children, it was difficult for her to understand why her mother was happy to do her a favor… But she could tell she wasn’t just saying that to ease her burden.

‘It would have been difficult if it hadn’t been for my mother’s help.’

Her help was like a long-awaited rain, as Yuria already had to deal with Yunette and other matters.

“I can’t believe the guild leader is Duchess Primrose!”

It was already surprising that the guild leader had changed, but his successor was an unexpected figure.
As time passed, the humming sound in the space where Yuria was echoed loudly.
The former guild leader stepped forward to control the noisy atmosphere.

“Everyone, be quiet. You’re being rude to the new leader.”
“Huh, I suppose they’re trying to buy this place to satisfy their curiosity, but do you think we’ll follow them if money makes them the head of the alchemy guild?”

Surprisingly, a guild member unleashed his thoughts against the Primrose duchy.
Even so, the former guild leader wasn’t surprised.

All the members of the alchemy guild were extraordinary, him included.
Alchemy. It began with the idea of making gold out of metal, but a discovery one day led to a change in its direction.

“That reagent. I didn’t close the lid by mistake…”
“Haha. It smelled really nasty. Your head must have hurt quite a bit.”
“No, rather… I collapsed while smelling it, but strangely, it didn’t hurt at all.”
“What?”
“I didn’t feel any pain at all.”

Originally, the temples didn’t think alchemists were good because they were trying to turn metals made by God into gold according to human will.
However, the discovery of the anesthetic led the temples to hold the alchemists in check in a different way.

“With anesthetics… wouldn’t it be easy to heal the areas that hurt without going to a priest? Something like pulling a tooth would be no problem at all.”
“If we study the anesthetic more, we might be able to perform other surgeries instead of just pulling teeth.”
“If we complete the ‘Elixir’, we can cut out the spot that hurts and get it filled up again right away. Then…”

The alchemists used to be ignored in many ways because they were a minority. Now, thinking that people might go to an alchemist instead of a priest when they were sick, the temple branded them as heretics.
The remaining alchemists had to prove that they were doing research that did not go against the providence of God.
Thus, the alchemists’ energy seemed to be cut off in the temple’s checks.

But not everyone had given up on research.
Some of the people who found that possibility gathered secretly and studied alchemy, as they did today.
It was not easy to study alchemy while being persecuted by the temple.
Because of this, everyone had a great sense of mission. To put it badly, they were a little crazy.

Wanting to save people, thinking that the human body is amazing, and so on.
They wouldn’t even be in the alchemy guild in the first place if they didn’t have a great tenacity in ‘fixing people’.
And there were many people from different parts of the empire in the alchemy guild.

Thinking about how to treat someone with these symptoms, wondering if a patient would be able to stay healthy… As they asked for advice somehow, they wondered if there was any skill they could get.
Even though the temple had the sacred power to heal a person at a moment’s notice, it accused another person of being blasphemous for attempting to heal someone.
Those who said they couldn’t just watch people die because most of them didn’t receive proper treatment from the temple on time…
Knowing what they knew, the alchemy guild was the place to discuss and exchange opinions about alchemy with each other.

“Does the Duchess of Primrose know about the history of alchemy?”
“Isn’t she just going to tell us to make gold? No, more importantly, does she even know what alchemy is?”

As one person stepped forward, the others raised their voices in an instant.
The guild leader’s voice grew louder as he tried to persuade them.

“Everyone. First of all, listen to the explanation…”

Yuria felt the need to step up at this point.
She opened the door to the basement which had no soundproofing at all.

“Hello. I am Yuria Primrose.”
“Oh?”
“She’s the daughter of Duchess Primrose, the new guild leader.”

Yuria stood in front of the members of the alchemy guild and introduced herself.
Then, she opened her mouth and spoke in an unshakable voice.

“I think it would be a good idea to personally explain why a new guild leader has been appointed. Isn’t that right?”
“…”

The noisy basement quieted down. But it was never out of respect for Yuria. It was more like an atmosphere to see what she had to say.
Despite the strange intimidation, Yuria showed a calm expression as she walked towards the center.

‘I can just tell them what I’ve been thinking.’

She had an idea while developing and researching cosmetics.

‘After-sun cream, which is applied to damaged skin. Even though there are some differences, I don’t think it’s much different from the ointment people use when they have a wound.’

Even though Yunette had become famous, it was still classified as ‘cosmetics’.
There were certainly some people who did not look for it because it was a cosmetic store even though their skin was damaged.

‘If I can approach it more professionally, those people will say it’s medicine that can be applied on their skin and do it without hesitation.’

And those thoughts became more and more concrete after seeing people say that a lot had changed after applying the cosmetics.
At first, it was simply a means of restraining Lilika from awakening as a saintess…

‘I want to do more for people’s health, not just their skin.’

All these things were going to be distributed through ‘Yunette’, but she had no intention of revealing that she was the representative there yet.

“I became interested in the alchemy guild because my mother almost died of lead poisoning a few months ago.”

Yuria did not reveal her other identity, but she prepared another motive.

“Until now, if a person died from lead poisoning, it was difficult to determine the cause. But I found a reagent that could reveal it.”
“W-what reagent?”
“It’s called ‘viikos flower’.”

One by one, Yuria gazed into their eyes, glittering with curiosity, and recounted how the viikos flower reacted when she tossed it into the lead pot.
And that if she left the situation as it was, her mother might have died of lead poisoning.

“If what you say is true… we can prevent people from dying of lead poisoning.”
“Also, I felt the need to research when I saw my mother use an item from Yunette recently.”
“Yunette… are you talking about cosmetics?”
“Yes. My mother uses cosmetics from that store and she no longer needs powder that contains lead.”
“No, that’s just to be pretty…”
“Whether it’s medicine or cosmetics. Isn’t it created out of the desire for people to be healthy and happy?”

After Yuria appeared and told a series of things, the atmosphere became a little more relaxed than before.

“No… I have a rough idea of why you became interested in alchemy.”

But the feeling of suddenness did not go away.

“How did I find that ‘viikos flower’?”

However, Yuria had no intention of letting go of the atmosphere that was leaning towards her side.
She turned to a flowerpot on one side of the alchemy guild before the guild members opened their mouths.
Then something amazing happened.
Yuria’s gaze only reached it, but a flower began to bloom in the pot that had nothing.
All the members of the alchemy guild stared at the scene.

“Huh…? What is that!”
“Did anyone use magic? What did you do?”
“If there was a mage among us, we would have known right away!”

Then, after a while, they looked at each other and made a fuss.
Common sense could not explain the series of processes in which buds sprouted and grew and flowers bloomed!

“Does this make any sense?”
“Who did it? Who?!”

The guild became so noisy that it couldn’t be compared to before.
Suddenly, they tried to discuss whether what they saw could be done with magic or with deception.
Yuria’s voice echoed quietly in the chaos.

“I did it.”

It was different from the tone before of waiting to see what she had to say.
In the serious atmosphere, all the attention was focused and the surroundings quickly became quiet.

——