"Then, you drank a potion that would cause blindness in your left eye. Since it had been diluted several hundredfold, the effect was not obvious. Some mint was added to mask the distinctive stench of this medicine. A very good idea."
The saint said with a smile.
The second potion did indeed sound like a magic potion being practiced. But diluting it a hundredfold and deliberately adding mint seemed somewhat suspicious. Taken together with the first magic potion, the first two potions seemed to have been meant to conceal what she truly wanted Shade to drink.
"Oh, the third is a truly ancient medicine. It had already appeared when I was still young. I never expected it to still be passed down into the next epoch."
The saint smiled again.
"It has many names, but only one main purpose: identifying sex."
"Identifying sex?"
Shade asked hesitantly, then thought of even more possibilities.
"Yes. Male creatures tremble all over after drinking it, while females experience no effect at all. In very ancient times—well, the Third Epoch—some terrifying and strange things occupied the world. To distinguish them from humanoid intelligent creatures, people of that era invented a series of medicines. This was merely one of the most insignificant. Judging by your expression, you seem to understand something now."
"Yes. A conspicuous target concealing the real target... I see. In that case, that delivery mission..."
Shade narrowed his eyes.
Miss Galina's delivery mission had seemed reasonable in retrospect, yet it had always felt strange. Only now did he finally understand that strange feeling. Perhaps that mission had been similar to this one. The point had probably not been to bring back the makeup case. The point of the mission had been to get Shade to try opening it.
He still remembered that when