Becoming a temporary instructor and then immediately having a day off feels strange.
In short, today is a school holiday.
I visited the Alchemist Guild in Einzheil alone and immersed myself in research.
What I am making is aroma oil.
It is produced from natural materials to create essential oils, then combined with highly volatile alcohol. Right now, I am researching the essential oils themselves.
Normally, they are created through many steps such as crushing and squeezing, steaming and cooling. But if you use alchemy’s basic skill, Decomposition, it is simple.
To avoid failing at decomposition, it is important to clearly recognize what you are separating.
But it is not necessary to understand every tiny component.
For example, imagine a mixed fruit juice.
When you separate it, you do not need to know exactly how much of each fruit is inside. If you separate it into water and everything else, you get a lump of fruits with the water removed.
If you instead separate it into orange and everything else, you get mixed juice with the orange removed. It is very straightforward.
So once you extract the essential oil once and understand what is inside, it becomes a simple task even for students.
And since nothing is wasted, it is more efficient than squeezing or steaming and condensing the vapor to obtain oil.
…From the perspective of my original world, this would be an unbelievable skill.
Honestly, the basic alchemy skills of Decomposition, Synthesis, and Reconstruction are absurdly convenient and easy to use.
Still, making essential oil is easy, but the problem is quantity…
I did not expect that citrus essential oil would require so many citrus peels. I ran all over town and collected everything people could spare… but the efficiency is terrible…
From five kilos of citrus peels, I only obtained fifteen milliliters of essential oil.
And this is still more efficient using alchemy than squeezing normally, which is astounding.
If one drop is 0.05 ml, and you use 49.5 ml of base alcohol to make a one percent aroma oil, ten drops is 0.5 ml.
Meaning that from five kilos of material, you can only make thirty bottles.
If you had five kilos of potion grass, how many potions could you make…
Among all of them, roses are the worst…
From fifty roses, I extracted only two drops…
On television, I remember they said one drop, so alchemy doubled the efficiency!
…Even so, that is only 0.1 ml.
To make a one percent aroma oil, you would need five hundred roses.
If you wanted a stronger concentration…
One bottle does not use much, but this is still a problem. I asked the Adventurer Guild and Aina and the others to gather wild flowers and plants that could be used as fragrances. Still, I wonder if they can really collect enough of the nicely scented ones like lavender and jasmine.
「How is it going? Is it progressing?」
「Ah, Riito-san. Yes, somewhat. Though the efficiency is poor.」
The reason I came to the Alchemy Guild instead of using my alchemy room at home was Riito-san. Since she also researches cosmetics, I hoped to receive some advice from her.
But she told me to research on my own first, and she was right, so I began my work.
「Of course, of course. Perfume is inefficient. Pure perfume made from raw materials is a luxury item. Ordinary people can only afford something heavily diluted. And would you really pay for that out of your own pocket when it is not even for yourself?」
That is the problem.
As a temporary instructor, the budget I can use from the academy is limited.
So, everything I research must be paid with my own money.
Requests to adventurers are also out of my pocket.
「I do not want to crush their motivation now that they finally feel motivated. Fortunately, we managed to contact the flower farmers in the royal capital and Einzheil, along with the farms we favor. They agreed to sell us flowers that cannot be put on the market for a cheap price. If what they make takes off, I think the future problems will be manageable.」
「Even then, when we think about the expected demand, it will not be enough.」
「That is true…..」
For the high-end line, selling to nobles is no problem.
But thinking about supporting the living expenses of ten people, the amount we can make is too low. Making something affordable for regular customers seems too difficult.
The practical work depends on them, and helping them with that is my job, but still… hmm.
Maybe I should pay attention to the containers as well.
If I need to, I could process glass myself and produce them.
But doing that for years or decades would be rough.
I could ask a glassworker, or maybe one of them could learn to make them. Without Multi Copy or Handing, producing finely crafted items in large quantities will be difficult.
「You are terrible, you know. I cannot believe you are trying to create a rival for my business.」
「Uuugh… I did not mean it like that. Since you are in the beauty field, I thought it would be different…」
When I consulted Riito-san about this, she puffed out her cheeks and told me to do it myself first.
Thinking about it, it is only natural. I am teaching something that might become close to my senpai’s field of work.
「Perfume is part of beauty, you know. Cosmetics often have added scents, and you will probably make soaps someday too, right?」
「Yes…」
「I already make soap, you know. Ahh… if you become popular, I might end up wandering the street.」
「I… I am so sorry…!」
Of course, Riito-san works at the Alchemy Guild, so she will not actually be out on the street, but it is true that I am creating a rival for her business.
The pressure from behind slowly crept closer, as if a purple presence slid down from my shoulder to my arm.
But that presence vanished just as quickly.
「…Just kidding. Enough teasing my junior. Shall I help you?」
「Eh?」
「I said I will help you. You are my cute junior. I might be giving an advantage to a future business rival, but you brought me a lovely souvenir the other day. Having a junior who needs constant attention makes things hard for a senior like me.」
Despite her words, Riito-san covered her mouth with her hand and laughed softly.
She looked so kind that it was almost like she was glowing.
「Actually, I have a secret trick. I do not know how others do it, but my method keeps the oil barely diluted and does not require much material.」
「O… oh…」
「And with enough time, you can get a large amount of oil.」
「R… really? Something that revolutionary…?」
「Yes. But you must keep this method a secret. Tell your students the same. If it spreads, my sales will…!! Well, maybe not, but this really is my deepest alchemist secret.」
「Of course! I will make sure they never tell anyone!!」
I should have them sign a contract if I must.
An alchemist’s techniques are their treasure, and it is unthinkable to be taught something like this.
Yet Riito-san is willing to teach it to help me. I have to repay that kindness.
「…If it spreads, it will be your fault. If I cannot make a living anymore, will you take me as your disciple and let me live in your house?」
「No no, aren’t you Reinrich’s disciple? Besides, you have far more knowledge and experience than I do.」
「I am not exactly Reinrich-sama’s disciple… hm. You are doing that on purpose, aren’t you?」
「…」
I instinctively glanced away.
I said I would repay her kindness, but this was different.
Why was there suddenly a possibility that not only the students but even Riito-san might end up coming to my house?
「…Then no helping you」
「I am sorry! That was a lie, a lie, a joke! I understand! If anything happens I will definitely help you! I will even prepare a room at the house for that time so please!!」
「Hmph… you probably do not want someone older anyway, right? I do not mind」
「I never thought that. And we are around the same age, aren’t we…? You may seem like an onee-san and you are dependable, but you are a kind and beautiful ideal onee-san」
Really, if I had an older sister like her, she would be perfect.
Strict but gentle and reliable, and she would help me whenever I was truly in trouble.
Although… the part about her sometimes doing naughty teasing… if we were actually related by blood that would be bad. Yeah.
「H… heh. C… could you say that one more time?」
「Around the same… age, aren’t we?」
「Not that! The part at the end!」
「The ideal onee-san?」
「Are you teasing me? The part before that! After the kind part! What is this? Are you getting revenge because I teased you? Were you not taught to be gentle with girls!?」
「Ah, the kind, beautiful, and cute ideal onee-san」
「Cute got added! Hyaa! You are teasing an onee-san who is not used to being praised! Honestly!」
She slapped my shoulder, but Riito-san looked incredibly happy.
She seemed as delighted as when I brought her that souvenir.
「Not used to being praised…? Riito-san, you are so beautiful, there is no way that is true. If it is, then everyone you have met so far must have terrible eyes」
「Wha… uh… o… oh… is this it. Is everyone weak to this…? Are you using some sort of charm skill on your words? It will not work on an onee-san like me! Leave everything to your beautiful onee-san!」
While slapping me again and again, she held her cheeks and squirmed, then thumped her chest and made her breasts shake, then even shook her whole body to make them bounce. She was busy in every direction.
Her upbeat mood, huge smile, and overflowing confidence left me a little confused, but since she was helping me, I tried not to show it.
…Was she really that happy to be called beautiful?
But now that I think about it, even though she puts so much effort into her appearance, not being praised might actually be tough on her.
…From now on, I should pay attention to the little things and praise her whenever I notice something.
「Well then, without delay… I will give you this. This little one will solve everything」
「This… this? This is…」
「Yes. It is a slime」
What Riito-san took out from her chest area was a transparent slime sealed inside a clear bottle.
It was small and fit in the palm of her hand, with a tiny core and a thin membrane that barely made it recognizable as a slime.
「A slime can be useful?」
「Yes. This is an ‘Oil Slime’. Oil Slimes constantly release oil from their epidermis. The ones found in nature are omnivores and collect oils from all sorts of plants or animal remains, then mix them and mutate into something else. But this one is still pure and untouched by anything」
「Ah, so that means…」
「Exactly. For example, give it that rose essential oil. One or two drops is enough. As long as there is water, it will last for a while. Then place it with water inside a glass case. After some time, the oil will rise to the surface and you can collect it. By the way, the concentration remains at 99.98 percent of the original」
「Ninety-nine point nine eight… that is practically unchanged」
「Yes. It is beyond what a person can perceive. However, it is rare to obtain an Oil Slime that is still pure like this one. Most Oil Slimes try to absorb any oil near them right after birth. I will give you a few, but when you use them, only use precious oils like rose」
「U… understood」
It was clear that this was extremely valuable.
But with this, rare essential oils that were hard to collect in quantity would become much easier to obtain.
Not only that, but it would save the money that would normally be spent on extraction, which meant more funds could be used for other materials.
If we relied entirely on Oil Slimes for all sources, it might look suspicious due to how little money we spent. Someone might question where the materials were coming from.
So, it was best to produce a portion normally to keep things natural.
Still, I never expected it to be slimes…
Between lotion and imitation rubber products, slimes really were incredible.
「By the way, Oil Slimes do not eat the oil they produce, so when they stop releasing oil you must give them new essential oil. If you give them a different one at that time, they will produce a different oil. But if you mix oils, they might mutate, so be careful. And these ones have been trained so they will not attack people, but they will die if they do not get food」
「Trained?」
「Yes. If someone else learns the method and tries to copy it using a naturally pure Oil Slime, it will either escape or attack them」
「Ah… right, they are monsters after all」
Even though it looked so soft and bouncy and cute, it was still a monster.
I could not see any expression, but as I watched it, I felt as if it tilted its head and it really was a little adorable.
Even though it did not have a neck.
「Huh? Riito-san, you can train slimes?」
「W… well, yes. Ah, but that is a secret, alright? I cannot teach you that」
「I understand. Just giving me these little ones is more than enough. I will need to put real effort into the next souvenir」
There was no way I could ask for more than that.
Still, training monsters… so that was possible.
Maybe a job like Monster Tamer actually existed.
「Ano, you will bring me more? Then I suppose I should teach you a bit more so the quality of your souvenirs improves」
And so, while receiving Riito-san’s guidance, I listened, took notes, and found I had quite a lot to explain to the students once the break ended.
To be honest, without Riito-san’s advice, I probably would have failed.
As expected, having a specialist was important.
I was reminded once again that the knowledge of an alchemist was a treasure.
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