TUSM 10

Chapter 10

“…What is this?”

“An antidote.”

Come to think of it, Caius was a patient too.

He’d been exposed to black magic for far longer than the farmer I met in the orchard. Some insane black mage had even openly tried to plant a curse directly into Caius’s body.

If Caius had been even a little weaker than he is now, he probably would’ve already lost the use of a limb or two.

Not that he was exactly fine as things stood.

Just look at that pale skin.

If he closed his eyes, I’d believe it if someone said he was a corpse.

Caius tugged coldly at the corner of his mouth.

“You haven’t forgotten that you fed the Crown Prince medicine and brought him all the way here, have you?”

“I haven’t.”

“And yet you’re telling me to take this?”

His voice was icy.

“You’ve got some nerve.”

Given what Charlotte had done, I didn’t really have much room to talk, but I wished he wouldn’t look at me so terrifyingly.

This really is good medicine, you know.

Around this time, Caius was dealing with black mages almost daily. Naturally, he suffered from chronic headaches and fatigue. Because insomnia kept him from sleeping properly, his nerves grew more and more frayed.

If you think about it, that was my fault.

I was the one who wrote him that way.

“Please calm down. Even if I were desperate, do you really think I’d try something so blatant?”

I put on the most harmless expression I could and held out the vial to him again.

“It’ll purify a body tainted by black magic. I made it more concentrated than the ones for the territory’s residents. I guarantee the effect. So… if you think about it, it’s like a bribe? Asking you to stop thinking about killing me.”

Caius’s gaze lingered on the vial. That was all. Until my hand started to feel awkward, he didn’t move, as if lost in thought.

With his smile gone, his face was impossible to read, so I waited quietly for him to react.

At last, Caius lifted his head.

“…This is strange after all.”

His golden-yellow eyes scrutinized me closely.

“Did something happen to your head while you were being transported?”

If we’re being precise, something had been wrong even before that.

“You’re not going to take it?”

“No, I’ll take it.”

Caius finally accepted the vial. Before I could say anything, he downed it in one gulp.

“Come to think of it, I do have some resistance to black magic. Might as well test it before giving it to the territory’s residents.”

You could’ve just taken it nicely—why do you always have to ruin the mood?

“Don’t ask me for more later.”

I said sharply, then picked up the basket I’d set down.

Caius’s heavy gaze followed me. His expression gave nothing away.

“If you want revenge, you have to stay alive first, don’t you?”

His eyes narrowed.

“You said you want to find the culprit.”

In the latter part of the story, Caius struggles just as desperately as Fabian to bring down the mastermind. That bastard threatens the world, but before that, he’s the goal Caius has chased his entire life.

He can’t be falling apart already. Physical strength is national power, after all.

And more importantly, unlike the original story, if I’m going to claim the divine relic, I absolutely need this man’s cooperation.

“I want to live too.”

“……”

“So please, if possible, try switching to a plan where you keep me alive for a long time.”

I really want to go home, you unfilial bastard.

I shrugged my shoulders as if pleading and left the apothecary. Caius stayed where he was, watching me until the moment I closed the door.

“Yawn… I’m sleepy.”

The next day, when I came outside holding a basket of potions, the sun was already high in the sky.

Pulling an all-nighter just to make magic potions. Even in my senior year of high school, I always made sure to get eight hours of sleep.

Still, thanks to the hard night’s work, I’d made plenty of potions.

By the time I reached the orchard, farming was already in full swing. Unlike yesterday, many residents were out and about.

Hmm, they’re doing well.

The land that had been full of corruption was now packed with young saplings, and some crops had already sprouted new shoots.

Since the soil had just been regenerated with magic, the crops would grow at an astonishing speed for the next few days.

Which meant my snacks would be plentiful.

Very nice.

“You’re working hard.”

“Cough… oh, Mage?”

The farmer who noticed me looked startled.

“No, what brings you all the way out here? Cough, cough.”

“The Mage came?”

“That woman is the Mage?”

“She’s not a black mage?”

“She is a black mage, but they say she can use white magic too.”

“Th-then she’s different from those bad ones…?”

“Hey, why ask so much?”

The residents scattered around murmured and gathered toward me. Some faces I’d seen yesterday, others were new.

Standing there with the basket, I examined them carefully.

Some just looked tired, but most were pale, with dark circles hanging down to their chins.

If I’d been any later, there would’ve been quite a few patients.

“Thank you so much, Mage. Cough. Thanks to you, the harvest will increase soon. I was really worried about what to do with this land….”

“Indeed! I planted a tree this morning, and just like magic, it shot right up! I thought it really was magic!”

Well… it is magic.

Even the people who’d been cautiously avoiding me until yesterday gathered around, grinning broadly.

Not “witch,” but “Mage.”

That sounds better than I expected.

“Cough, but what brings you here today?”

“Oh, I brought this.”

I held out the box of potions.

“It’s a nutritional supplement and an antidote. It’s good for your health, so please take some.”

“An anti… dote?”

“Yesterday I noticed everyone looked unwell and was coughing. That’s all leftover effects of the black magic that used to linger in this land. Some neighbors collapsed, right? If you give it to them too, they’ll recover.”

Go on, be moved and call me Mage again.

“Ah… I see.”

What? Why that reaction?

The response was lukewarm.

I expected them to rush to take the potions, but instead the residents exchanged glances and hesitated, no one reaching out first.

“You’re not going to take it?”

An older woman asked cautiously.

“It really is safe… right?”

“Huh?”

“I-I’m not doubting you. It’s just… you’re suddenly being so kind….”

I get it.

They were grateful for restoring the land, but I hadn’t fully shaken off the suspicion of being a black mage yet.

It was a little deflating, but understandable.

These people had suffered a lot at the hands of black mages. Naturally, their impression of them was terrible.

“It’s perfectly fine. His Grace the Grand Duke took it yesterday too.”

“Th-the Grand Duke did?”

“Yes. He downed it in one gulp.”

No need to mention that he’d volunteered as a human test subject.

Even so, my explanation didn’t move them.

Now I was starting to feel a bit hurt.

I mean—hey. I stayed up all night making these.

“Why would I go through the trouble of restoring the land just to poison you all with bad potions? If something happens to you, who’s going to grow my snacks— I mean, fruit?”

“Well… that’s true.”

An awkward silence settled in.

Honestly, these people.

I was just about to feel genuinely offended when, suddenly, a hand shot out from the crowd. It was the farmer who’d shouted “Witch!” and collapsed in the field yesterday.

“Ah, whatever! Either way I’m sick, aren’t I? I’ll take it. Cough, cough. This coughing is killing me!”

Gulp.

The farmer downed the potion in an instant.

The area fell dead silent.

“…Hey, a-are you okay?”

“Huh?”

“W-what, what! What’s happening?!”

The farmer slowly grabbed his throat, eyes going wide.

“The coughing… it’s gone?”

“What?”

“It’s gone! My throat doesn’t hurt either! I feel stronger too!”

Just moments ago his face had been streaked with dark shadows, but now he was jumping up and down, vitality shining on his face.

The residents staring blankly at him finally snapped to attention, as if struck on the head.

“Wait, seriously?”

“Then me too, me too!”

“What are you all doing? Grab one already!”

As if the earlier silence had never existed, the residents rushed forward all at once, grabbing potions.

“It’s real! I’m not coughing!”

“My muscle pain is completely gone!”

“What on earth….”

See? What did I tell you.

“There’s plenty, so take one each. Share with your neighbors too.”

“Yes, Mage! Thank you, truly, thank you!”

“What are you doing, Aiden? At least give the Mage a basket of tomatoes!”

“Hey, I was about to!”

One farmer bustled about and then thrust a basket full of tomatoes and strawberries into my arms, bowing deeply and telling me to come anytime I needed fruit.

“Long live the Mage!”

“A true benefactor, a benefactor!”

Haha, yes.

Get healthy quickly and grow my fruit nice and fast.

I’ll eat as much as I want.