Extra’s Rebirth: I Will Create A Good Ending For The Heroines - Chapter 416

Chapter 416: Making A Pill [I]
“This is my crafting table…” Rosalia said as she pushed open the small wooden door at the back of the shop and guided them into a room within the premises.

Unlike the front of the store, which was cozy and filled with the gentle scent of herbs, this room carried a medicinal smell… for good reason too, there were old elixirs, crushed roots, and traces of steaming concoctions.

The room was clean and organized overall, but the working table itself wasn’t spotless.

Used vials sat scattered across the surface, each containing traces of different colored formula, dried residue crusting the glass like stained memories of failed experiments… which was one of the reasons why Azel loved to compare Alchemists to mad scientists, they were very alike especially in the handling of their workplaces.

“Sorry it’s not clean,” Rosalia said with an embarrassed grin as she approached Esme with an open book. “I was trying to recreate…”

She lifted the book high enough for Esme to see the page clearly. Esme’s eyes widened instantly.

“Oh my Miracle Elixir… that’s not an easy thing to make.” Esme adjusted the basket of ingredients she had gathered earlier from the shelves.

Her voice had shifted into her ‘serious alchemist’ tone. “You’re tackling something like this already?”

“I know, but still, it’s an amazing recipe, my lady.” Rosalia had a nervous glow in her eyes… it was half pride and half terror that her idol might scold her. “It’s one of your best formulas.”

“Well, I actually got the idea from my cousin,” Esme replied casually as she moved toward the table. “So you can put the praise in her name.”

Azel followed her, watching the exchange with mild amusement. Rosalia bowed respectfully toward them before retreating to the front table, leaving the two of them alone to work.

“Rosalia is really helpful…” Esme muttered as she began clearing the vials from the table… one by one, sweeping broken glass bits aside, stacking intact ones neatly, wiping the stained surface clean with a cloth she found tucked inside a drawer.

Azel watched her, impressed by how quickly she transformed the messy workspace into something workable.

‘Haven’t actually seen pills or elixirs being made before my very eyes…’ he thought as he looked around at the tools. ‘This is way more interesting than I expected. Who knows? Next to runes… a little alchemy would fit nicely.’

If he was lucky enough, he could be something like a Rune Alchemist.

‘I’m sure something like that exists.’ He thought, ‘This world is too crazy for anything otherwise…’

“I hope you don’t mind doing this for our first d-d-date…” Esme finally forced out the word, her voice cracking with embarrassment.

She kept her eyes down as if lowering her gaze would hide the pink blooming on her cheeks.

Azel turned to her with a grin that came way too naturally to him. “Of course I don’t mind. A date doesn’t have to happen in a restaurant… if we both enjoy something or want to learn, it can turn into a date too.”

She stiffened, looked away even more and her face flushed deeper.

“… Whatever.”

‘Is Esme a tsundere?’ Azel wondered, amused as she quickly busied herself by pulling out the ingredients she had selected.

He didn’t recognize most of them, but just like with the kitchen ingredients, the names appeared in subtle system tabs as he focused.

There were several ingredients laid across the table:

Mindpetal Leaves, Whisper-root Powder, Lunar Dewdrop Resin, Ember-bud Shavings, Crystal Mana Sand, Sypri-Honey.

‘Crystal mana sand…? What is that…sand made with mana?’ he thought. Sure, food items were strange in this world, but alchemy ingredients were a whole new level of bizarre.

Esme caught his confused expression and sighed softly.

“I forgot you didn’t learn Alchemy yet, so I’ll tell you what the ingredients are.” She grabbed the cauldron, lifting it with both hands, but then paused remembering how earlier she’d stuck her tongue out at him in an attempt to look cute.

‘Ahhh… I feel so embarrassed,’ she thought as heat rose in her ears.

Sybil could make cute expressions effortlessly, her face was fit for it. Maybe even Flare and Sylvia. But she? Her face was too serious for cute things…

Still, she lifted her other hand and motioned for Azel to come closer. The instant he stepped in, she presented the cauldron to him.

“This is a cauldron,” she explained, tapping its smooth enchanted metal. “It automatically uses ingrained enchantments to heat or cool the pill. It’s a very important tool for Alchemy… especially if you’re making pills. You don’t strictly need it when crafting elixirs or vials once you get enough experience, but since you’re a beginner, this will be your best friend.”

“I see,” Azel nodded, leaning closer to inspect the runes carved into the metal.

“If you’re planning to get one,” she continued, “you should write to me or something. I can call favors in and get you a very good cauldron.”

“Hm? You’re going to be my sugar momm—”

She elbowed him in the chest… hard but Azel didn’t even flinch.

“Idiot. For that, I’ll charge you for it. Hmph. You can’t even let someone do something free for you without teasing them.”

Azel sighed dramatically, then smiled as she focused on the first ingredient.

“This is Sypri honey,” she said, lifting a small jar of thick white syrup. “You can only get it in the Aegis Empire. It’s made by creatures called Tees. Their honey is pure white but tastes sweet, and it’s good for consumption… even in medicine. It’ll be our base.”

She poured the honey into the cauldron. The thick liquid slid down in smooth ribbons until it coated the bottom.

Then she tapped the side of the cauldron, activating its enchantments. It began warming immediately, soft bubbling rising like gentle breaths beneath the surface.

“The cauldrons heat quickly and cool down just as fast,” she continued. “That’s what makes them so—”

Azel, out of curiosity or stupidity… she wasn’t sure dropped a single speck of Inflating Salt he had probably been hiding into the bubbling honey.

The reaction was instant.

The honey violently expanded upward, exploding into thick yellow foam that shot straight at their faces like an angry whipped cream cannon.

“Huh—?!” Azel barely had time to blink.

“GREAT going, Idiot…” Esme groaned, wiping foam off her lashes only to see Azel’s face completely swallowed by fluffy yellow bubbles.

Only two holes remained… one for each eye staring at her in stunned betrayal.

“You look dumb.”

And then she broke.

Her laughter burst out uncontrollably as she began holding her stomach as if she couldn’t breathe.

The foam dripped off Azel’s chin like melting snow, only making her laugh harder.

‘…Idiot.’