“Five pounds of Redhill Moss. That’s certainly not a lot for our future purposes, but this should be enough to produce two batches of testing elixirs and one actual batch of the aiding elixir…”

  Alexa watched mindlessly behind Wilhelm as he checked the ingredients on his table. The Redhill Moss was…well, it was red, and it glowed slightly whenever it was touched.

  It certainly wasn’t something normal. It was a magical herb, obviously, and therefore, it was somewhat scary to Alexa.

  Still…that’s what I need to drink. He said the Defense Forces placed great effort into acquiring this, so for them to only harvest this much after a long time—it must be extremely precious.

  She watched as Wilhelm wore his gloves, then he turned to her.

  “Hey, did you hear me?” Wilhelm asked.

  “A-um…” Alexa stopped mindlessly staring at the strange herb and straightened himself. “Of course! I was merely inspecting that thing. I must admit though that it looks a bit unappetizing.”

  “Well, you’re not supposed to eat it. Matter of fact, it’s a poison if combined with different herbs at greater concentrations,” Wilhelm straightened them, before cutting a quarter of the length of the batch of moss. “Now, this will be our testing subject. Our goal today is to figure out what concentration you’re able to take.”

  This sounds like a medical test or something before a major operation. Alexa narrowed her eyes. So this peasant has medical expertise too?

  “Will…that hurt?” Alexa asked.

  “A bit. Our goal is to find which concentrations of the three will create a potentially lethal result. Then we’ll avoid using those concentrations when formulating the ingredient ratio of the elixir.”

  “So you’re creating a custom elixir for my tolerance?”

  “Yes. Otherwise, we risk adverse effects once you consume it.”

  He began crushing them into a fine powder using a mortar and pestle, before transferring three separate amounts into three measuring cups. One was one ounce, another two, and another three.

  “There, that’s going to be our samples for now. Give me a few minutes. I’ll just pour this into a cup of water, mix it, then I’ll place a drop of it on three tiny wounds on your skin.”

  “Wait, you intend to stab me with something?” Alexa recoiled, her mind remembering scary diseases that came from wounds. There were no vaccines or stuff here. What if it got infected?

  “Don’t be too scared,” Wilhelm said, as he poured each into their respective cups. “It’s not like I’d stab you with dirty tools, silly. I know enough soldiers who died from gruesome infections to avoid that. I have clean needles for the job.”

  Now that Alexa remembered it, he washed his hands before he started. In fact, this ‘laboratory’ he used as a workshop, was quite clean and organized, at least, at the best standards of this time.

  So maybe it wouldn’t be so bad?

  Soon, he finished preparing the mixtures. Afterward, she removed his gloves and washed his hands with a clear liquid.

  Then, he fished out a fresh needle from one of the containers on the shelf. Then, he washed it with that same liquid. It probably was alcohol, because he later wiped it on her skin when he demanded that she place it on one of the tables.

  “Alright,” Wilhelm checked if things were ready. The samples, the needle, and everything else. “Stay still, okay?”

  “I’m not a child,” Alexa blurted out with a pout, annoyed.

  Wilhelm nodded, and then, he stabbed it gently on three locations on her arm, each of them at least a finger’s distance from each other. Suddenly, Alexa watched as droplets flew from the cups, each of them landing on her wounds.

  Magic. He’s using magic to place it on me. How wonderful…I really want to do that too…

  “Now, we wait,” Wilhelm said.

  Alexa winced, as she felt a slight irritation building up on her wounds. It was mild though, but still, there was a growing redness in each of them. Then it was itchy. Within five minutes, each wound had a circle of reddened skin around it.

  “Well, it seems that the one-ounce and two-ounce samples are tied,” Wilhelm observed. “The three-ounce sample however produced an irritated area double that of the two-ounce sample. That’s beyond the danger zone. Alright, I have what I need now.”

  “Is that it?” Alexa asked. “It’s so itchy…”

  “That’s normal. In this case, we’ll use the two-ounce per cup formulation for the actual elixir. That’s the maximum concentration that’s safe to you, at least, to my estimates.”

  “I see,” Alexa withdrew her arm. “What now then?”

  She watched as he began cleaning the table and his tools.

  “I suggest you continue improving your glyph magic. I’m still waiting for another herb before I can concoct your first aiding elixir. We’ll have to test your tolerance with that herb too, since we cannot let anything go to chance when it comes to someone like you.”

  Is that what I’m hearing? So he’s doing all these precautions because he thinks I’m special? Ah, that’s right, this must be the feeling of being treated like a precious jewel!

  Alexa grinned.

  “Finally, you’re now learning your lessons, peasant. When dealing with a woman as fine as me, you should never be so sloppy at treating her. Precision and safety are the most important—”

  “Sure, ‘fine woman’ who blasted a ten-meter hole in her roof. You could have said thanks but instead you demand better treatment when I’ve already given you the best mankind can offer. Geez, being royalty sure has ridiculous perks huh?”

  This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

  “P-peasant, why can’t you ever let me speak my mind freely without insulting me halfway through?!”

  +++

  Alexa mindlessly checked her system notifications as she lay on her bed, swaying her feet a bit as she lay down on her bed.

  System. Say, am I doing fine?

  “Oh come on! It’s been like a week already and you’re still on and on about that?”

  Alexa sat upright in her bed, red-faced and annoyed. Then, she facepalmed. She instead checked out her personal stats.

  “Well, for nearly a month and a half in this world, there’s certainly not a lot of changes on this one,” she sighed, before lying down on her bed. “I’ve worked harder in that timeframe than I ever did in my life, yet there’s barely been any rewards.”

  She pouted a bit at the ceiling.

  “Is this just how hard life and survival are? I wish I could just be a normal princess who doesn’t have to worry about all this. Become stronger? What’s the point? I want to laze around with a nice gentleman to take care of me, not this.”

  But, then again, that was impossible. She’d read the novel again earlier, and even with all these changes, and her effort to get stronger, nothing had changed. She still died to that Archdemon.

  Ultimately, all that Alexa wanted was to survive without…dying later anyway because she was a coward. Most of all, thinking about it, even if those people annoyed her—Wilhelm, Phoebe, and even her knight, Alfred, the thought of them dying during that incident didn’t sit right with her.

  Not to mention the many people who’d die as well. Even if they were commoner peasants, they were still people, and the thing that Alexa hated the most was blood and people dying.

  “Especially when I’m the only one who knows the future…”

  She frowned. She couldn’t tell anyone about this book, or anything about her not actually being the original Alexa Theresa. It was just too risky, so she could only try to solve this on her own by setting the world’s characters in the right direction.

  But was she doing that properly? Not enough changed after all…

  She checked her questline.

  “Rose Eyes and Civila Mandato…” Alexa murmured. “Will those two change things if I acquire them?”

  She looked down at the 3rd sub-quest. Glyph magic had to count to that, no?

  Hey system!

  “Finally, you’ve become useful. I swear, why does everyone have to annoy me first before being useful—?”

  “Shut up! It’s literally ten o'clock in the evening! Knock it off, will you?”

  Alexa sighed, as the system interface disappeared. Then, she plopped back down on her bed, pulling up her blankets.

  “I’ll finish the third sub-quest then,” she vowed to herself. “Then I'll try my best for the first and second. Even if I don’t like to work for all of these silly things, if it means I save myself and all of those people…”

  She began dozing off.

  “Then fine. I’m their next Empress after all…I can’t fail them…especially when they all work so hard for me…”

  If she failed in this task, that’d only harm her pride after all, and as the most perfect woman in existence, her pride was the most precious thing to her.

  She soon fell asleep.

  +++

  “Well, that sure isn’t bad now,” Wilhelm smiled as he inspected the test papers that Alexa produced. “Seems like you’re getting the hang of drawing a basic ignite spell quite easily now. They’re more uniform.”

  “Is that so?” Alexa asked, tired from the day’s hard work.

  “Yep,” Wilhelm nodded, placing the papers on her desk. “This, combined with the fact that you’re running around to improve your SPD stat, should mean that we’re clearing a lot of hurdles to get you set up as a proper mage.”

  “I see…”

  Alexa smiled a bit as she looked down at the desk.

  He didn’t call my drawings garbage anymore.

  Slightly elated, she looked up at her instructor, now finally ready to enact her last plan for today.

  “Wilhelm,” Alexa called out, this time, using his first name at last. “Am I allowed to use mana ink now?”

  “What? But for what reason? Why waste it?” Wilhelm asked. “It’s not as if you’re experimenting with the variations of your glyphs anyway. If you’re just practicing and improving your levels and mastery of your skill, usually drawing them repeatedly until your ability to copy them uniformly is enough.”

  “But I want to see the fruits of my labor,” Alexa demanded as she curled her fist with determination. “I want magic. That’s why I pursue this. Drawing fancy stuff with normal ink on paper simply doesn’t feel the same.”

  “I see…” Wilhelm laughed a bit. “I suppose it makes sense. That kind of thinking is only natural with those driven to pursue magic.”

  “Exactly. So please let me experiment with it! I know I fumbled the last time because I disobeyed your advice, but now I have you, my instructor, in the same room so it should be safe.”

  “Alright. Try it once then. I’ll permit it. Is it an ignite spell that you want to do?”

  “Nope!” Alexa shook her head. She needed a different spell from those two that she had already used back then after all. “Instead, I wish for a spell that creates a bubble of water that floats in the air! I’ve played around enough with fire. So why not play with water this time around?”

  She gave Wilhelm a bright smile, enough that he seemed to relent.

  “I swear, if it’s me that has to mop up this room after you play with water magic, I’ll actually lose it.”

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