"Ah? She really is a witch?"
This was an outcome Shade had never expected. At that moment, he had no interest whatsoever in the opera below; news of a witch was obviously far more interesting.
"What does this Miss Edwardz do?"
"She is a master of potions and alchemy. When you first came down with a fever and fell unconscious during the Randall River Valley incident, she was the one who helped identify that bottle of concentrated pink essence of yours. If Grandma Cassandra's alchemy and potion-making rank second in the Council, then first place must belong to Edwardz.
"Besides being a witch, she ostensibly runs a pharmaceutical company in southern Delarion, purchasing herbs and turning them into medicine. She also has the most followers among us, since potion-making and alchemy are the easiest crafts to attract people with. In recent years, her pharmaceutical company has even begun entering the field of chemical pharmaceuticals and has partnered with Sister Devlin's Snake Heart Hospital—Paradise Island Pharmaceutical Joint Company. You must have seen its advertisements in the newspapers."
"Yes. Disinfectant alcohol, iodine tincture, earthworm oil, quinine water... Their Apothecaries have many exclusive formulas."
Though Shade had no need for such things, he had seen their advertisements many times in the newspaper's advertising section.
Although the existence of Ring Arcanists meant that medical and chemical standards in this era, which greatly resembled the "Victorian Era" of his homeland, were somewhat more advanced, doctors still had very limited means at their disposal. Bloodletting and enemas remained common treatments among doctors in remote regions.
Pharmaceutical companies capable of producing the medicines Shade had listed were quite rare. While Paradise Island Pharmaceuticals had not exaggeratedly formed a monopoly spanning the Old Continent, it could still be called one of the very best.
"Great Witches all seem