Allen came back quickly, clutching the humanoid root of a Mandrake he had just picked from the underground garden—and already killed.
"Helena, look, what's your father wearing on his head?" Luna pointed at Allen's head for their immobilized daughter, somewhat clumsily trying to catch Helena's attention in a tone used to coax children—but she had overlooked the fact that only the other girl's eyes could move right now.
Only then did Allen hurriedly yank off the pair of green earmuffs he had put on earlier to pull up the Mandrake and stuff them into his pouch.
"Helena, this potion still needs to simmer for a while... but I promise it'll be quick..." After saying that, Allen deftly set up a cauldron, lit a fire, cut away everything except the Mandrake's root, placed the humanoid part into the cauldron, and began processing the other medicinal ingredients.
Allen did not use water or Charms. Instead, he carefully used a brush to clean the dirt off the monkshood, an ingredient often used in Invigoration Draughts, while telling a story to his Petrified daughter. "Oh, Helena, speaking of which, ancient Greek wizards had an even crueler way of harvesting Mandrakes. They used to loop a rope around the Mandrake's stem, tie the other end of the rope to a hungry dog, then stand at a distance and throw out a piece of meat. The starving dog would lunge at the meat, and at the same time, they had to blow a hunting horn to drown out the screams. The dog would pull with the rope and tear the Mandrake out by the roots—and by the time the exposed Mandrake stopped screaming, that poor dog would already be dead."
Seven minutes later, gray-brown steam had filled the air above the entire tabletop. It was the