—Inside that room, a strange scene was spread out.
As the person creating said abnormality, Leyce was completely oblivious to it. All he was doing was carrying out Daisy's instructions, simply performing『Extraction』 and 『Purificaiton』 over and over again.
If Laffy were to see inside that room, she'd likely facepalm out of shock. Certainly, Leyce wasn't acting in opposition to her advice, neither making an elixir nor showing one to anyone.
However, his actions were pretty much at the same level outside of common sense.
「『Extraction』『Purification』『Extraction』『Purification』『Extraction』『Purification』」
He was invoking his alchemy at an unthinkable speed. Furthermore, there was nothing to complain about in terms of quality. Even only looking at his speed, it would likely be around fifty times the speed of any normal alchemist.
「Fu-…… like this seems about right.」
In a single breath, Leyce put an end to his continual stream of alchemical invocations. The scene in front of his eyes was of a line of bottles filled to the brim by a clear liquid.
Because Daisy had requested that he simply do as many as he could, he had made them at a lower quality for the sake of speed. Although he wasn't sure quite how many he had made, his pace was not bad.
Although he wasn't sure how long Daisy wanted him to spend on it since she gave him no time limit, he was pretty sure that this amount would satisfy her.
I'll magnificently complete my first quest, and prove to Laffy that I'll be fine even if I'm by myself.
As Leyce spun himself a flawless plan (ha) in his head, he grinned in self-confidence with a laugh.
And then, as he was just about to start working for a second round,
「How are you feeling I wonder, is a little break……」
While saying these words and walking through the door to the room, Daisy was looking as worn out as ever. As she entered the room she stiffened, and her eyes widened.
「Huh, is it already the end?」
Leyce asked, but he received no response.
「This, is….」
Daisy wandered around the room on unsteady feet.
「These weren't brought from outside… the number of medicinal herbs has decreased, they were really made here…」
So she muttered in disbelief at the state of the room.
「Uh, um-……」
As his existence was ignored, Leyce timidly called out.
「Leyce!」
「Y, yes!」
At the sudden loud voice, Leyce reflexively straightened his back as he replied.
「What exactly did you do!? What method did you use to make this quantity in such a short time…?」
「W, well, I didn't really do anything in particular… I just used normal alchemy…」
「Normal? You can't work this fast using normal alchemy!」
In the case of Laffy and Sylvia who don't really have much knowledge in regards to alchemy, so when they saw Leyce using it for the first time they were only vaguely surprised. Daisy was a different case.
Having studied alchemy for around the same amount of time as Leyce, Daisy knew enough to be aware of how far outside of common sense Leyce was.
That's why it was simply unbelievable, making her suspicious.
「Now, tell me! What did you do!」
「No, I really just did it the normal way… sigh, would it be faster just to show you?」
Leyce, seeing that Daisy was unlikely to listen to him, he gave up on explaining orally. Reluctantly, he began showing daisy the work he had been doing previously.
「『Extraction』『Purification』」
In a single moment, the medicinal herb was changed into a liquid and had its impurities removed.
As she watched this spectacle unfold in reality, Leyce's doubter Daisy opened her mouth.
「You, j-j, j, just now……!」
「See, I wasn't lying to you. It was nothing special. I just used regular alchemy.」
「That, is normal……?」
There Daisy's mental capacity reached its limit, her eyes beginning to turn round and round.
And then—
「Kyuu……」
With a plop, she collapsed on the floor.
「Nn……」
「Oh, did you wake up?」
Struggling to open her heavy eyelids, Daisy slowly woke up. Reflected in her eyes was a familiar ceiling, and the back of her head felt a soft and elastic sensation.
「Huh……?」
And then, Daisy thought.
Why is Leyce's face so close?
And she then understood the situation.
Daisy was now resting on a lap pillow.
「W, w-w, why a lap pillow……!」
The red-faced Daisy quickly got up while shouting to the blank-faced Leyce.
「Well, you collapsed suddenly, and since it would be bad for me to just walk around your store without permission, but also wouldn't be right to just leave you lying on the floor, I decided to give you a lap pillow.」
Since he had done it in good faith, Daisy was unable to pursue the matter further. In order to calm down, she took a breath, two, then three.
Daisy cleared her thoughts and remembered back to just before she fainted.
「Due to my lack of sleep and the shock of that scene, I passed out…… How pathetic of me.」
Most of the fatigue from Daisy's face was now gone, and the bags under her eyes were gone. However, she had exposed such a shameful display to a man whom she had only met that day.
「Sigh…… Leyce, it's regrettable but I'll recognize you. Certainly, your skill is genuine. But why is it that your skill isn't famous?」
「I only came to the royal capital recently. Until then I had been studying alchemy out in the countryside.」
「… I see.」
Daisy showed a look of deliberation for a few moments, before a smile crept to her face as if she had a good idea.
「Nee, Leyce, would you be okay to occasionally help out here like you did today? Of course, I'll pay you.」
「Huh? Ah, It's fine if it's this much.」
「And, if you help sometimes and if you're able I hope you could teach me alchemy.」
「Me?」
Unfortunately Leyce didn't have any experience teaching alchemy to another person. But if it was just at the level of what he'd done that day it would likely be doable.
It's not like it was every day, nor did it seem like it would be much of a burden.
「Well, understood.」
「It's decided. Then, bring out the request forum.」
In accordance with her words, Leyce took out the request forum from his breast pocket. Daisy quickly signed it and returned it to Leyce.
「Yes, on the completion of your request, thank you for the hard work. I hope to continue to receive your favour from now on.」
Daisy then bowed lightly with a mischievous smile on her face.
And like so, bound by an agreement to teach his client alchemy, Leyce completed his first request.
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