Since he had just finished learning it, Dekan remembered every step of making the antidote.
Meanwhile, Mie helped him prepare the ingredients they needed.
To Dekan's surprise, Mie prepared everything exactly to his liking, making the work twice as easy.
But whenever she had a spare moment, she seemed to observe Dekan from up close.
Dekan stayed focused, but Mie's movements kept distracting him.
The danger his sense of smell picked up kept needling his nerves.
That scent from earlier seemed to be more than just her natural fragrance. There was also the smell of some specially made medicine.
It was just like... the Hypnosis Gas he'd made himself?
He had no idea what it did.
But it definitely couldn't be good.
Dekan secretly cast Purification on himself several times.
"That was so easy. Looks like we work well together."
Mie said with a smile.
Working together, the two of them had successfully made an antidote in less than ten minutes.
"Smooth sailing, all done!"
Dekan tidied up the workbench, looking like he wanted to leave as soon as possible.
"By the way, Dekan, I heard you're a genius at making cards?"
Mie tidied up alongside him and asked.
"People are just flattering me to death."
Dekan replied coolly.
It seemed word of the Epic card he'd made during the third-tier exam had already spread quickly throughout the Royal Capital.
"Heh-heh. I don't know who's flattering you, but you made Princess Alice cry!"
"How did that get around too?"
Dekan couldn't help giving Mie a serious look.
He didn't think those attendants would dare spread rumors.
And there was no way Theresia would go around telling people about Alice's embarrassing moment.
Mie seemed to have guessed what Dekan was wondering. She fell silent for a moment, her expression meaningful, then said, "Alice lives next door to me. Yesterday, she came over and cried to me for ages. Her eyes were all swollen."
"..."
Hearing that from Mie made him feel a little guilty.
Honestly, that scatterbrained princess was a good person—at the very least, she was straightforward.
She hadn't tried to make money off him, and she hadn't tried to make him owe her anything.
The main reason he hadn't made any money was that there was something wrong with her card-making technique.
With materials like those, even if she managed to make the card, there would hardly be any profit.
Still, seeing Alice like that at the time, he just couldn't resist teasing her.
"Is Alice all right?"
"She's fine. But I had to comfort her for ages. I also told her not to tell her brother or the king about it, or you'd be in trouble, Dekan."
"...Well, then, I really do owe you my thanks."
"So how are you going to thank me?"
"Just say what you want. I don't get many chances to owe someone a favor."
"Then please lower your guard around me."
"That's the one thing I can't do."
"You're so mean. I've been nothing but sincere with you."
"Sincere? Even if Alice went to you to cry, I doubt she'd tell you all the embarrassing details, would she?"
Dekan raised an eyebrow. He'd suspected for a while that Mie was bluffing.
"Oh, you caught me."
Mie wasn't flustered in the slightest. She pressed a fingertip to her lips and smiled.
"Hmph."
Dekan turned to leave without another word. He picked up his book and walked off without looking back.
Mie didn't try to stop him. She merely called after him, "Are you interested in making poisons?"
"Of course not. What respectable person spends all day refining poison?"
Dekan's steps faltered slightly, but he kept walking.
"You borrowed Poison Refining I and II, didn't you?"
Mie's light voice rang through the quiet classroom.
Dekan finally stopped and turned back to look at her.
Mie held up a book and waved it at him. It was Poison Refining III.
Dekan furrowed his brow, then quickly relaxed it.
A heartfelt smile followed.
Mie smiled back without reservation.
They'd confirmed it with a glance: she was one of the good ones.
The two of them seemed to have found a friend through books.
You should've said so earlier.
As long as you liked Poison Refining, you were family.
What was wrong with joking around?
Dekan: "Want to study it together?"
Mie: "Sure."
The distance between them seemed to vanish in an instant.
Like two researchers with the same interests, they sat down at the workbench, preparing the equipment again as they talked.
Mie: "Don't you think it's a waste to make only an antidote from the poison we just made?"
Dekan: "Got another idea?"
Mie: "We could make an anti-antidote to improve the poison. The weakness of this new poison is that it's too easy to neutralize. If we can improve it, it'll be perfect."
Dekan: "Great minds think alike. I can also analyze the toxin and combine its principles with poison magic to use in card-making."
Mie: "Heh-heh. I've come up with some poison spells and potion recipes of my own, but I'm not good at making cards. If I worked with you, maybe we could make some interesting cards together."
Dekan: "Then what are we waiting for? We've got to produce something today, one way or another. No leaving until it's dark."
The sky had turned faintly red, and the potion-making classroom had grown dim.
Only the two of them remained in the empty classroom.
The atmosphere was the sort that could easily set one's imagination running.
But both of them were so focused that they didn't notice the strange mood.
Once they got into research mode, even Mie became unusually serious.
"Knock, knock!"
"You two need to leave this classroom."
It wasn't until a teacher from the Alchemy Academy came in and reminded them that they looked up and noticed the classroom was empty.
They also realized they were getting a little hungry.
It was so easy to lose track of time when you were doing something you enjoyed—especially with a partner who shared your interests.
"Looks like we'll have to stop here for today."
Dekan sighed and reluctantly set down the bottle he was working with.
The classroom and laboratory would both be locked up soon.
After all, this wasn't a library. They kept all kinds of potions here, so access was strictly controlled.
On Saturdays and Sundays, the students weren't allowed in when there were no teachers on duty.
"But our research is just getting to the crucial part, isn't it?"
Mie said with a frown.
Dekan: "Got any good ideas?"
Mie: "Come to my room. I converted the storeroom into a potion lab. If you don't have anything else to do today, we can stay there until night."
Dekan hesitated. "Until night?"
Mie kept smiling, and he couldn't figure out what she was thinking.
Mie countered, "I don't mind. Do you?"
Dekan: "..."
Mie: "How can we let our dedication to research go to waste halfway through?"
Dekan: "You've got a point. Let's go!"
Before you continue