“……Emma!”
A startled scream escaped my lips.
It was surprising that my friend collapsed suddenly. Emma was an even more special presence to me than that.
She was the first person I almost lost after receiving the letter from the future.
I had vowed to protect her and intended to continue doing so. But seeing Emma, pale as a sheet, lying there, it was only natural for my mind to stop functioning.
A foreboding nightmare resurfaced.
The image of Emma lying silently, her face ashen after having spilled her guts.
I rushed over to check on Emma’s condition. Fortunately, her breathing was faint but steady. It didn’t seem like she was in immediate danger of dying.
Nevertheless, I couldn’t shake my anxiety and desperately looked around.
I wondered if there were any usable potions Emma had prepared.
But her workshop, which I hadn’t visited in a long time, felt strangely unfamiliar.
Where I used to see a few familiar potions, now all that remained on Emma’s potion shelf were things I had never seen before.
It looked like a week’s worth of overnight work.
Was there any reason for Emma to make all those potions?
Uncertain, I momentarily fell silent. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the luxury of time to ponder.
I cradled Emma in my arms and got to my feet.
I intended to call for help or head to the temple. If she had fainted, it meant her body had suffered significantly.
Even if it wasn’t a matter of life and death right now, the opinion of an expert was essential.
As I stood up holding Emma, a faint groan escaped her lips.
“Ugh, I-Ian… huhu…”
Even the words she murmured unconsciously were my name.
I didn’t know what mindset Emma had while making potions, but it was clear she was at least related to me.
That made my heart ache even more.
Desperate, I spoke to Emma in hopes of helping her regain consciousness.
“Emma, Emma! Can you hear me?!”
“I-I… ugh…”
Emma’s trembling eyelids opened.
Her pale green eyes looked up at me. She frowned briefly at the pouring light before gradually regaining her sight and staring blankly.
Emma was gazing at me without uttering a word.
It seemed she was unaware of what had happened. With a dazed look, Emma alternated her gaze between her body and my face, before finally asking me in a bewildered voice.
“…Is this a dream?”
“No, Emma. This is reality.”
I let out a sigh of relief that Emma had regained consciousness, but I spoke firmly, fearing she might faint again.
“And you just fainted… What on earth were you doing?”
The words of reproach slipped out of my mouth, fueled by my racing heartbeat.
I felt a little guilty once I said it.
After all, what wrong could Emma have done? If there was a fault, it lay with the person who gave her such a reason to overexert herself.
Most likely, it was my fault.
I let out a sigh and glanced down. I didn’t have the face to look Emma in the eye.
Still, Emma’s face was turning redder by the moment.
“S-So… it’s not a dream?”
“Yeah, it’s reality.”
Even so, Emma murmured in disbelief.
“I-I’m being held by Ian?”
“…Why is that?”
Could it be she felt uncomfortable?
After all, Emma was still a maiden in her prime. It was only natural that she would be sensitive to a man touching her.
Even in a crisis like this.
If I explained the circumstances, Emma wouldn’t blame me, but it must have been confusing for her since she had just opened her eyes.
Just as I was feeling a bit downcast because of the situation…
Emma covered her flushed face with her hands and then, in a voice full of happiness, said,
“I could die like this…”
No, she shouldn’t.
I was momentarily taken aback by Emma’s statement, which meant she’d give up the life I had just saved, and I couldn’t help but chuckle.
If Emma was that happy, then it made me happy too.
After basking in each other’s warmth for a while, Emma finally got down to the ground with a timid gesture.
Her face was still as red as ever.
She hesitantly greeted me, her ears flushed.
“…I-Ian, long time no see.”
“Yeah, Emma. What’s been going on? You didn’t even show your face when I was discharged.”
It was only after I saw Emma standing on her two feet that I could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
In response to my still worried voice, Emma hesitantly opened her mouth slowly.
“…I heard you collapsed from overusing potions.”
I tried to say something in response to that but fell silent again.
It was frustrating, as if a stone had lodged in my mind.
I felt like I should offer words of comfort, but it seemed I had to convince Emma, and my oratory skills were not very refined.
I could only guess her feelings.
The words I finally managed to squeeze out were short.
“…It’s not your fault.”
“Uh-huh, it is. I realized how selfish I have been.”
She had been making potions to help me even at the expense of her living expenses.
There was nothing selfish about Emma’s dedication.
Yet, despite that, she was saying this.
That she had behaved selfishly all this time.
I couldn’t understand, so I called her name.
“Emma…”
“I just wanted to treat you well.”
Emma, looking utterly diminished, bared her heart.
“Making potions is all I know how to do… Since I can’t fight by your side, I thought I could help even in that way. So, I thought giving you plenty of potions would be sufficient.”
Emma had done many things for me besides that.
When I said I was sick, she would cook for me, and she visited Lupeisia every few days trying to persuade her.
But all of that must have felt insufficient to Emma.
“However, that wasn’t the case at all. The things I thought I was doing for you were actually harming you. Overusing potions… Why didn’t I consider that?”
“It’s not your fault.”
I declared with certainty once more.
“I made the choice. It wasn’t a decision I made knowing how things would turn out, and if I hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t have achieved victory.”
“…Ian.”
Hesitantly, Emma called my name. The look in her eyes was filled with longing.
“You’re an amazing person. Now, there’s no one in the academy who doesn’t know you, and soon the entire continent will hear about your exploits. But compared to that, I’m just… a commoner girl. All I do is collapse and owe you a debt worth 10,000 gold or only seek your help when I’m troubled…”
“You’re not just a commoner girl, you’re ‘Emma.’”
The only thing I could say to Emma was that heartfelt response.
Perhaps it was unexpected, as Emma’s eyes widened.
“Because it’s you, you’re special and precious. Being a commoner and only receiving help… please don’t say such things. And you told me to forget about the 10,000 gold.”
“…How can I forget that?”
As Emma absorbed my words in silence, she spoke with a sad smile.
“I’m a bothersome girl, so I could never forget that. And if it continues like this, I’d lose my place by your side…”
Emma’s gaze turned towards the bubbling kettle.
I couldn’t tell how long it had been boiling. With potions, even a tiny difference can lead to vastly different effects.
They’d have to be thrown away.
Emma scanned the shelves filled with new potions with a wistful expression.
“So, I stubbornly continued my research all this time. But don’t misunderstand, I didn’t want to avoid seeing you; it’s just… I thought if I repressed those feelings, the time would come when I could face you proudly.”
“…Don’t hold back anymore.”
I carefully took Emma’s delicate hand.
It felt a little cold, possibly from a lack of blood.
A sigh mixed with anxiety escaped my lips.
“I was worried about you.”
Emma let out a soft laugh.
Yet, her laughter still sounded a bit pitiful, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that she would continue to overextend herself.
I sighed deeply.
It seemed that a conventional approach wouldn’t quench Emma’s thirst. It was that feeling of being in debt to me that was the problem.
Eventually, I decided to change the subject.
“…So, was all your hard work worth fainting over?”
“Somewhat?”
With a touch of newfound confidence in her tone, Emma proudly showed me the shelves filled with potions.
“The potions are fundamentally toxic. It’s the same for all medicines, not just potions. The poison used differently is what makes it medicine. Initially, I was trying to reduce the toxicity, but that was always a limited attempt.”
I didn’t know much about pharmacology anyway.
So, I could only nod along with each of Emma’s explanations. She giggled at my response, finding it cute.
It was the first pleasant smile I had seen today.
“Then how about leaving the toxicity as is and combining effects? After all, Ian, when you fight, you tend to take multiple potions.”
It seemed Emma had been pondering such a dilemma for the past few days.
How could she be more helpful to me?
Those potions must have been the outcome of that thought process.
It was undoubtedly a significant challenge for Emma as well. Mixing two effects into one potion wasn’t as simple as it sounded.
There must have been countless failures along the way.
Speaking of which, “combat”…
A thought flickered in my mind, so I asked Emma.
“Is it possible to not only strengthen the effects but also leave the toxins?”
“…Uh-huh, it’s not impossible.”
Emma seemed to ponder for a moment, tapping her lips with her finger, before shaking her head.
“But it’s too dangerous. If the potion’s toxicity exceeds a certain level, then it’s closer to poison than medicine. People don’t do it because they can’t; it’s because it’s dangerous.”
“Then what if you made poison entirely?”
Emma’s voice stopped abruptly.
Then she looked at me with a puzzled expression. I just thought it was a chance to relieve Emma’s conscience, so I decided to ask her for a favor.
“Emma, could you make a narcotic? One that can knock someone out as quickly as possible.”
“If I start tonight, it could be possible…”
Just as the question “What will you use that poison for?” was about to escape Emma’s lips…
A rumbling noise interrupted the workshop.
I was someone who generally kept my meals consistent for muscle maintenance. There was no way I was hungry at this hour, so that sound could only have one source.
Emma’s face, which had been silent for a moment, grew warm again.
Her head bowed in embarrassment.
Looking again, I noticed that Emma’s complexion still looked pale. She seemed to have lost weight, and I was worried she often skipped meals.
I cautiously asked her.
“…Did you not eat?”
“Uh, yeah… Actually, the grocery expenses were too high.”
It seemed that the few hundred gold I had given last time wasn’t even close to enough.
New research requires colossal funds, after all. Given that Emma had been immersed in her research every day, it seemed she didn’t even have time to think about going into the forest to gather mushrooms.
I sighed and said to Emma,
“Shall we go grab a meal?”
“Eh? Uh… okay.”
In the end, I ended up feeding Emma far more food than was reasonable for her that day.
Until she cried out that she couldn’t eat anymore.
And I earnestly warned Emma.
“If you skip meals or overexert yourself again, I might feed you even more.”
Emma pouted her lips, then spoke shyly.
“…If it’s just the two of us, I don’t mind. It’s not bad.”
She was truly a girl who didn’t know how to take care of herself.
Thinking I should regularly visit Emma’s workshop, I shook my head.
And the next day dawned.
It was finally the day to return home.
