Villainess Specs, Poison Magic Training desu wa!

In the game, Koleha was a Poison Magic user.

Fitting for a villainess, perhaps, but was it really appropriate for a noble young lady?

That said, if she trained, she could use magic at least as well as the game's Koleha — no, better than that, without a doubt.

Convinced of that, Koleha tried to use Poison Magic at the training grounds.

"… Umm."

"Ojou-sama, what exactly are we doing for magic training?"

However, she didn't really know what she should do.

Even combining her past-life and current-life memories, she had no clue.

In "Face*Meet", Koleha's Poison Magic was used in secret.

It was poison, after all.

Who would brazenly poison something and then drink it themselves? Well, there were probably episodes where she'd force the servants to drink it and enjoy watching them suffer. But those were things hidden from the heroine's (the player's) point of view.

As for how to use or learn Poison Magic — Koleha, who hadn't studied it in this world yet, had no way of knowing.

(Tch, if only there had been a mini-game where you dodge or reflect the villainess's thrown poison orbs!)

Of course there was no such mini-game like a certain something-Saber.

But Koleha was already fully in the mood to use magic.

Because! If you're in a world with magic, you want to use real magic!

(Besides, switching to exercise now would feel like admitting defeat! I'm not the kind of girl who settles for stew when she wants curry!)

—and then she recalled something.

While there might not have been a scene where Koleha used magic, there was one where the heroine did.

However, the heroine's magic was of the Holy Attribute — a special case. Whether that could serve as a reference for Poison Magic was highly questionable.

Even so, it was worth trying.

"… Holy prayer, respond to my magical power — Holy Light!"

Nothing happened.

Well, of course. In this world, you can't use magic without an attribute aptitude.

"Um, Ojou-sama…"

"Nnnngh—"

Emma's gaze was lukewarm. It was the kind of fond look you'd give a little girl who admired magical girls striking a transformation pose with a toy wand.

"I-I know! Aptitude — without aptitude you can't use it, right!?"

"Yes. And I believe you haven't yet taken the aptitude test, Ojou-sama…"

"Th-that's, um, I know myself best!"

After saying that, she realized it made it even more embarrassing that she'd tried to use Holy magic without Holy aptitude, and her face reddened.

"… By the way, Emma, what attribute do you have? If you don't mind, could you show me?"

"I am Water Attribute. Water, respond to my magical power — Create Water."

Splash. About a cupful of water fell to the ground.

"… Hmm, I see, I see. Thank you. That was helpful."

Koleha stared intently at the puddle on the ground.

(So it's the attribute in question, the chant 'Respond to my magical power,' and the spell name. My, this might be rather simple, might it not?)

Maybe the rest was covered by the power of imagination, or something like that.

For now, if she thought of something, she'd try it. Fortune favors the bold!

"… Fire, respond to my magical power — Create Fire!"

Nothing happened.

"Um, Ojou-sama. Are you Fire Attribute…?"

"… I just wanted to confirm if you truly can't use magic without aptitude! Holy is too special to use as a comparison!"

"I-I see. So that's how it is."

That also served as an excuse for how she knew about aptitudes despite not having taken the test yet. Fortunately, Emma didn't seem to mind.

"… However, in the case of fire magic, you can't use it where there is no fire."

"Is that so?"

"Yes."

How inconvenient. Apparently you couldn't use magic where that element wasn't present?

In the case of water, there was moisture in the air, so it worked.

"… Earth, respond to my magical power — Create Clay!"

"I've repeatedly said that you can't use it without the matching aptitude, Ojou-sama."

"Yes, yes, I understand. I was only trying it."

That didn't work either. It seemed she really couldn't use magic she had no aptitude for.

(… But I can't exactly say, 'Then please prepare poison,' can I?)

It would be a problem if a maid could just readily prepare poison.

In the first place, that was probably how she ended up getting poisoned so easily by a maid in the game — by having servants prepare poison like that.

Also, she had a feeling that having the Poison Attribute was bad optics, so perhaps she shouldn't say it out loud. Now was the time to win over the servants. Scaring them by announcing she could use Poison Magic would be a bad move.

(… But wait, even if you gathered the moisture in the air, it wouldn't be that much water, would it?)

Exactly. If you gathered only the moisture in the air to produce that much water, this place should be drier than a desert by now. But it wasn't.

In that case, perhaps it was being conveniently supplemented by magical power. (Originally, "Face*Meet" wasn't the kind of work that put a lot of effort into setting details.)

But that meant the "element" could serve as a catalyst — something that didn't react itself, but only needed to be present.

(So if there's even a tiny amount of poison — just a trace — that should be enough… Yes, that's it!)

A stroke of genius. Koleha praised herself and asked Emma to procure something.

"Emma. Could you bring me a potato with sprouts on it?"

"Eh? A… potato? I'd have to ask the kitchen to know, but…"

"Please. Could you check?"

"I… understand. Would you mind waiting here?"

"Of course. I could wait forever — well, that's an exaggeration, but an hour is fine."

"It won't take that long. I'll be right back."

Even a small amount of poison is still poison. A potato that has sprouted, or one that has turned green from sunlight, contains a harmful substance called solanine.

Yes, Koleha had set her sights on a ubiquitous natural toxin.

Fortunately, since this was an otome game world, the food culture was as developed as Japan's. She couldn't cheat by introducing potatoes as some revolutionary crop — but that meant potatoes were already a cheap ingredient available anywhere.

"Ojou-sama, will this do?"

Emma returned with a potato. It had clear sprouts, and its skin had a slight green tint. A perfect poison potato.

"Yes! This is it! This is what I was waiting for. Thank you, Emma."

"What are you going to do with that? Y-you're not going to make me—"

"I would never! Po—"

She started to say Poison Magic, but decided the optics were bad and chose to deflect.

"I suddenly want some dokudamisimilar JP phonetic tea, desu wa—"

"Eh, that's so sudden… It would be difficult to prepare it right away."

"Then that's fine. Now that I think about it, I don't want it that much."

"R-right…"

Emma looked exhausted from being dragged around by Koleha's nonsensical remarks.

At any rate, she had the catalyst. Raising the sprouted potato, Koleha whispered the incantation under her breath.

"… Poison, respond to my magical power — Create Poison."

She focused on creating the weakest possible poison… this was just a test, after all.

Immediately afterward, a clear liquid gently appeared above her hand. Then, pulled by gravity, it fell with a splash.

(Oh, success… Wait, ahhh! Poison — poison got on my hand!! — Hmm??)

She sniffed it. A sharp, cool scent that somehow warmed the back of her nose. This was—

"… Alcohol, desu wa!?"

"Eh!? O-Ojou-sama, p-pardon me… b-but you're right. That's the scent of spirits…!?"

Alcohol. You could call it a "beneficial poison for the human body."

Of course, consuming too much would damage the body, so it was undoubtedly a poison. And in her previous world, at least, children like Koleha weren't allowed to consume it by law.

(Could it be that, because I was holding a potato, it's… potato shochu!?)

"Ojou-sama, what in the world… Eh? W-Water Attribute?"

At that question, she hesitated over whether to honestly admit it was the Poison Attribute.

In Koleha's hand, there was a single sprouted potato.

"Um, that's—oh! Potato! It's a Potato Attribute, desu wa!"

"Potato Attribute!?"

"Yes! It's Potato Attribute!"

What she blurted out in the heat of the moment was an absolutely terrible excuse.

Surely the smell of alcohol had made her tipsy and robbed her of her senses.