I Want Silver Peaches

Having gathered every ingredient except the Silver Peaches, I brought them to Ramiza-san, our alchemist.

Ramiza-san had closed her customer-less shop and was devoting herself entirely to compounding.

I went around to the back and knocked on the compounding shed before letting myself in.

The air inside was thick with a sweet scent that nearly overwhelmed my nose.

"Oh, you're here. That was quick."

"I've got everything except the Silver Peaches. Go ahead and get started."

"Ooh, very capable. Maybe I should have you gather materials for me sometime."

"I don't mind, but wait until all this is over."

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

She had a massive cauldron-like pot over a fire, stirring its contents.

Less alchemist and more outright witch, if you asked me.

Ramiza-san herself had a beautiful face, but the dark circles under her eyes that never seemed to fade despite plenty of sleep, combined with her black clothes and gloomy aura, really sold the image.

Not that it was a problem for her work as an alchemist.

Come to think of it, the bronze statue incident had caused a massive uproar in this city, and the Church of the Sun God had lost followers dramatically.

The ones who remained weren't particularly devout, just people going through the motions.

Even the clergy seemed to be avoiding proselytizing.

I wondered how things were in other cities throughout the Kingdom. That was something worth keeping an eye on.

I couldn't rule out the possibility of Azu and Elza clashing with the Church of the Sun God again someday.

While I mulled that over, Ramiza-san was deftly compounding the ingredients.

The sweet scent grew even stronger, almost suffocating.

"I'm opening the window."

"Go ahead."

I covered my mouth and nose with my right arm, opened the window, and let fresh air fill the room.

Finally, I could breathe properly.

I took a deep, long breath.

"That's an incredible amount."

"Two hundred units of perfume alone."

Azu seemed impressed. Was she interested in perfume?

She might still have some childishness to her, but she was a girl, after all.

I should get her a scent pouch sometime.

It would help reduce the stress of adventuring, too.

The soap side of things just needed packaging to be complete.

How quickly we could finish the perfume was the key to meeting the deadline.

"The Silver Peach extract still isn't enough, as expected."

Ramiza-san shook a stoppered flask, and only a tiny amount of liquid sloshed inside.

That appeared to be the Silver Peach extract.

"I'll keep working on the rest, so do your best to get it, okay?"

"So it really is necessary."

"Well, I could make something decent enough without it, but if it's going to a duchess… that's a bit, you know."

There were times you could afford to cut quality and times you couldn't.

This was firmly in the latter category.

Silver Peaches… I'd gathered information while Azu and the others were away.

I'd been curious about them for a while now, so I'd done thorough research.

Silver Peaches could be obtained on a specific floor of a certain labyrinth or deep within the Forest of Death.

They had the peculiar trait of rotting about thirty minutes after being picked, so they were typically eaten on the spot.

Incidentally, eating one slightly boosted your abilities and extended your lifespan by a small amount.

If you processed them immediately after harvesting using special methods, you could finally extract their essence, which imparted an extraordinary luster to skin.

Mixing that into perfume was the secret to creating something even nobles would covet.

The perfume normally on sale didn't contain Silver Peach extract.

He'd brought some along as a prototype when he went on his peddling trip, and it had led to unexpected results.

If the Silver Peaches hadn't been mixed in, none of this would have happened.

"Here are the extraction tools."

I received the full kit for extracting Silver Peach essence from Ramiza-san.

"Peel the skin, wrap the fruit in this cloth, squeeze out the juice, and filter it into this flask."

"What happens if you use something else?"

"It goes bad instantly. And just so you know, this kit is worth more than a gold nugget."

"Noted…"

I carefully placed it in a bag.

I left Ramiza-san to her compounding and stepped out of the shed.

"Um, Master."

"What is it, Azu?"

"About this location…"

Azu pointed to one of the spots where Silver Peaches could be obtained.

It was the nearest collection point by distance.

They could be found deep on the eighteenth floor of the Green Labyrinth.

Incidentally, most adventurers didn't bother going after Silver Peaches.

The risk simply didn't match the reward.

Deep on the eighteenth floor of the Green Labyrinth, a Green Turtle guarded the Silver Peaches like a sentry.

This Green Turtle was not only powerful but, true to its nature as a turtle-type monster, incredibly hard and tough.

The only materials you could get from it were a large shell and a magic stone, and the shell was far too heavy to carry back.

And after defeating it, the Silver Peaches you obtained would either be eaten or rot without an alchemist's cooperation.

Better to just ignore it and push deeper into the labyrinth, that was the advice I'd heard from experienced adventurers.

I'd even asked Finn to go pick some for me, and she'd told me off for being an idiot.

"So what about this location?"

"Taking you along, Master, would be a bit… dangerous, I mean, risky."

Azu was clearly struggling to say it.

I understood what she meant. I had no intention of being a burden.

"Got it. The three of you go."

At that, Azu looked visibly relieved.

We had far more trust between us than before, but that kind of thing was still hard for her to say.

Ignoring her input only to end up dead or injured would be the height of stupidity, so I made a point of accepting Azu's advice.

"Realistically, can the three of you handle this labyrinth? Think you can clear it?"

"It seems slightly harder than the Wind Labyrinth, but I think we should be fine up to the eighteenth floor. Travel time should be short too since we can use portals. It's really just a question of how fast we can dive and get back."

"For what it's worth, a Green Turtle is nothing more than a big target for me."

"It's not exactly a particularly difficult labyrinth, after all."

Didn't sound like there would be a problem. I told them not to let their guard down and sent the three of them off right away.

Supplies and food were already prepared in their room so they could depart immediately.

"Well then, Yohane-sama. We'll be off."

"Yeah. Be careful out there."

Azu and the others set off.

Ten days left until the deadline.