CH 319

Words : 1014 Updated : Oct 5th, 2025

Liza Was Interested In Concocting Medicine “I brought over the herbs that I made. …Is Ms. Gelda going to help today?” “Yes. Because it would take too long for me to do it alone.” “So you brought the herbs for us. I will be helping Milina today.” “Thank you, Ms. Gelda.” As you had to mix it until it was dry with a pestle and mortar, both of your hands would be full. And so you would not be able to make any wind. That was why Milina asked Ms. Gelda for help, since she appeared to have some free time. “…What is that…for?” Liza asked as she saw the pestle and mortar that Ms. Gelda was holding. I suppose she had never seen one before in the slums. There were a lot of things here that were new to her, and she was always curious. “This is a tool used to grind and mix all kinds of things. Do you want to watch?” “I can?” “Of course. Milina, I’ll help you as well. It was originally my job, after all.” “Very well. Though, I was quite happy that you trusted me to do it.” “Yay!” “Wuff-wuff.” In order to show Liza, I decided to help them as well. Even though it was something that I was supposed to do, it was easier to leave it to others. Of course, I couldn’t do it alone either, so it was good to have help. Liza was excited to be able to see how it was done, and Leo seemed enthusiastic as well. I suppose she wanted to impress her. Leo was helpful, because she could use wind magic. “In that case, I will bring another pestle and mortar for you to use, Mr. Takumi.” “Thank you.” And so Mr. Gelda went to fetch one as we all moved to the drawing room. “Now, let’s do this then.” “Yes, master. I will do these over here, and you can do those.” “That’s fine with me.” Ms. Gelda had placed the pestle and mortar on the table, and so I lined up the herbs next to it. I sat on the right side of the table, Milina sat on the left, and Leo was in the center. Leo took that position because it would be her job to create the wind. Liza sat in a chair next to me and watched. “Alright, it’s time, Leo.” “Wou. Wouuu…grau.” “Woah! Mama is making some nice wind!” “Yes, Liza. Leo is using wind magic to help this dry faster.” “Mama is amazing!” “Wuff!” I put the herbs into the mortar and started grinding them. Milina did the same, and after it turned into a kind of gel, I asked Leo to create some wind. Liza felt the wind as well, and she closed her eyes as if enjoying the gentle breeze. If this was after we had eaten, I’d be afraid that she’d fall asleep. Leo barked smugly after hearing Liza’s words. She was happy to have been able to show off. “You’re a lot better than me at this, Milina.” “It’s because I had to do it a few times yesterday.” While Milina was doing the same thing as me, the way she moved her hands was a lot faster. Well, I suppose you would get used to it after doing it that many times. Even I was trying to relax my shoulders so I wasn’t any more tense than I needed to be… But I was still slow. Still, I couldn’t leave everything to her. And so I decided to focus on my work so I wouldn’t fall too far behind. “Phew… That’s the first batch done.” “Yes. …We will have to do it a few more times though.” After a while, the contents were dried and turned into powder. As Milina and I were a little tired after mixing it, we rested while Ms. Gelda gathered the medicine together. Milina rested her arms and muttered while looking at the herbs on the table. I had gotten carried away and made so many herbs because Liza was watching, and now it meant we would have to mix them many times. It might be easier if we could do it all at once, but the mortar was not big enough. Besides, the book had said to avoid making a lot at once. And this was not the kind of thing where I wanted to risk failure. In any case, it would just take longer to dry if there was a lot, so it wouldn’t save that much time. “Papa, I want to do it too!” “Hmm, are you sure? This is quite tiring, you know.” “I see. Well, it’s simple enough. But tell me if you get tired, okay?” “Yes!” Liza nodded cheerfully. After watching me do it, she must have wanted to give it a try as well. She was interested in everything new. And so it was best to let her try it as long as it wasn’t too difficult. As long as the amount of herbs was correct, then it wasn’t anything difficult to do. While it was tiring for me and Milina, we could still do it until it was finished without resting. Liza would probably get too tired halfway through, but that was fine. “Alright, put in these herbs…and then pick up this stick and crush them like this.” “Uhh…like this?” “Yes, that’s it.” I put the herbs in the mortar and held it in place. Liza then used her small hands to hold the pestle and then crushed them with all of her might. She was too young to be able to hold the mortar by herself while crushing it. Still, she was using a lot of strength. Milina had also started on her second batch, but it seemed like Liza was going at a similar speed to her.

CH 319

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