"Meow~"
The Crystal Shoes had barely landed before Shade when he heard the cat meowing, and it was clearly a complaint:
"Oh, what's wrong?"
Following the sound downstairs in concern, Shade happened to encounter the cat coming up. Then he caught an indescribably strange smell permeating the house.
It was not foul, but it still made him feel somewhat nauseated. The cat, with its more sensitive sense of smell, had clearly endured it for quite a while already.
The cat had stayed on the third floor and refused to come down. When Shade came to the 2nd Floor alone, covering his mouth and nose, he saw Dorothy and Luvia busy in the dining room. They were not cooking. The young ladies were both dressed in black, stain-resistant robes suitable for alchemy and potion-making, their hair tied up, gloves on their hands, and masks over their faces.
The dining table was covered with flasks, mortars, long-necked bottles, glass condenser tubes, droppers, separation pipettes, and various other tools.
"Why didn't you do your experiment in Room Three on the Third Floor? Why did you come down here instead?"
Shade asked while holding his breath. Seeing the windows tightly shut and the curtains drawn, he understood that they were worried the neighbors would notice the strange smell—perhaps someone might think Tobesk's Renowned Detective was practicing ancient alchemy, namely extracting gold from urine.
"Good evening, Shade. You're back~ Luvia performed a divination before we began making the magic item, and it said that conducting the experiment here would give us the greatest chance of success."
The blonde Miss Writer explained through her mask. Whether because the mask worked well or because she had already gotten used to it, she showed no disgust toward the smell in the surrounding air:
"The Philosopher's Stone is so