After storing all the potions, I suddenly felt thirsty.

I headed to the kitchen to get some water…

“Oh, no. I only have an alchemy measuring cup.”

The cup came as a set with the alchemy cauldron, but I don’t have a regular glass.

Come to think of it, the alchemy book had instructions on how to make a cup.

So until I make one, I guess I don’t have a cup, huh?

Although the kitchen is there and I can get water, I don’t have any cooking utensils, plates, or anything else.

And on top of that, there’s no food either.

“What am I going to do about meals!?”

The garden has fruits and vegetables, but there’s no meat, rice, or bread.

Could it be that I have to make those with alchemy, too!?

“Correct!”

Ermine clapped his paws.

“Really?”

“Yep, yep. But I think most of the ingredients in the recipes from that book are already here in this little garden.”

“Even things like iron ore and glass stones?”

“…Probably?”

Ermine tilted his head slightly, proving once again that he’s a bit of a scatterbrain.

“How do I even collect iron ore?”

“Well, you just take this shovel and give it a good whack.”

Can you really gather iron ore with a shovel…?

I don’t really get it, but I’ll give it a try!

“I’m going to explore the garden now.”

Besides, I need to know exactly where everything is, or I won’t be able to cook anything.

So, we headed back to the garden for another round of exploration.

“Let’s see… This area is for herbs, that one is for mushrooms, here’s the stone area, and over there are the fruits and vegetables.”

The garden seemed to be organized around the central fountain, with alchemy materials planted on the right and food on the left.

“Alright, I need cooking utensils first, so let’s make a pot, a frying pan, and a knife… No, before that, I need a basket to gather the harvested materials.”

After checking the location of most of the materials, I headed back home.

“Making a basket should be the first step. I need three branches.”

How do branches turn into a basket…?

Well, I’ll just have to try and see.

I went out to the garden and broke off some random branches.

“So I just throw these into the alchemy cauldron and stir them, right?”

Alright, here we go!

Stirring, stirring. Stirring, stirring.

The branches rattled inside the cauldron.

“Can this really turn into a basket?”

“It’ll turn into a basket, don’t worry!”

Rattle, rattle.

Clang!

“Huh?”

There was a loud noise, and suddenly, I couldn’t feel the stirring stick anymore.

Then, with a loud pop, something shot out of the cauldron.

“Ouch!!!”

Whatever flew out smacked me right in the face as I was peering inside to check if the basket had formed.

“Oh, I forgot to mention, when alchemy creates something big, it sometimes flies out of the cauldron, so be careful.”

“You should’ve told me that earlier!”

Geez, it’s not popcorn, you know.

Once I calmed down and looked at it, there was indeed a completed basket.

“Alchemy is amazing.”

“Right? Mei, you need to get better at it and become a great alchemist.”

Saying this, Ermine flew over to the newly made basket and touched it.

“Hmm, it’s average. Not bad.”

“Are there differences in quality?”

“Yeah, failed products are inferior and break easily. An average item can be used decently. But with top-tier items, sometimes they have additional effects.”

“Additional effects?”

“Yep. Like for a basket… wouldn’t it be nice if it had a preservation effect?”

That would definitely be convenient.

“So, if I get better, I could make top-tier items too?”

“Of course!”

“Alright, let’s keep making things!”

I got carried away and started making all sorts of things after that.

A knife, a cutting board, a pot, a frying pan. Cups, plates, soup bowls. Forks, knives, spoons, and chopsticks.

…I never thought there’d be a recipe for chopsticks.

“I’m exhausted… Maybe it’s time to make some food. What kinds of recipes do I have?”

To my surprise, I could make food with the alchemy cauldron as well.

“Huh, you can make bread with just two stalks of wheat and some water. There’s vegetable soup and… even corn potage! That sounds good. I want some corn potage, but it says I need milk for it… Do you think there’s a cow around here?”

“The only living creature here is Koko. If you even think about turning her into roast chicken, she’ll probably cook you instead.”

Ermine shuddered just at the thought—he must be terrified of angering Koko.

Of course, I would never be so reckless as to try and turn Koko into fried chicken either.

“So, I can’t have this ham or anything like that?”

“Yeah, you’ll have to buy meat from a store.”

“Is there a store nearby?”

“This is the Witch’s Forest, so I doubt there’s any store nearby.”

“Then how am I supposed to buy meat?”

“Hmm, you could hunt some animals in the forest. You can alchemize a sword, after all.”

“What?! There’s no way I can hunt!”

I’m not living in the Stone Age! That’s impossible!