“Lord Herbert, I have brought the medicine to stop the petrification. Please take it immediately.”

The bunny-eared man opened his eyes wide and turned to look at Cloud.

Cloud looked surprised as he alternately glanced at Zeke and me.

“Cloud… Can you taste-test it?”

“Understood.”

Without hesitation, Cloud stood right in front of me and received the freshly made medicine.

It has a mossy taste, but please bear with it and drink it.

“Could it be that this girl made the medicine to stop petrification?”

The black-haired person standing next to the bunny-eared man furrowed his brow.

“As far as I know, if a medicine like that exists outside of fairy tales, it can only be created by this girl.”

“That’s absurd…”

“Would you like to taste-test it in my place? Either way is fine.”

Upon hearing this from Cloud, the black-haired man fell silent, saying, “If Cloud says that much…”

…Maybe he just didn’t want to taste-test it.

After receiving the medicine, Cloud examined its color and sniffed it before putting the bottle to his lips.

Then, after observing for about a minute, he handed it to the bunny-eared man.

“Here you go.”

Without showing any hesitation, the bunny-eared man downed the medicine in one go.

Wow. He really goes for it.

“The effect… won’t be apparent immediately. If the petrification hasn’t subsided after a day, it means the medicine worked. However, unfortunately, that leg…”

“It can’t be helped. I’ll arrange for a prosthetic.”

“A prosthetic?”

Why are we making it a prosthetic?

When I reflexively asked, Cloud looked down at the floor.

“Unfortunately, the petrified leg won’t move…”

“But we can fix it, right?”

“If that were possible… Could it actually be done?”

Cloud grabbed my shoulder and shook me vigorously.

Stop it. My brain is getting shaken up!

“Hey, Cloud. If you don’t stop soon, Mei is going to get dizzy.”

By the time Zeke finally stopped him, my head was spinning.

You could have stopped him earlier!

“I’m sorry. I just got too excited. …Can you really make a medicine to cure petrification?”

“I can. Um, it seems I need a golden egg, a Pegasus’s tail hair, and a basilisk’s heart.”

“When you say a golden egg, you’re referring to the egg you just gave me, right? The Pegasus tail is…”

I nodded at Cloud, indicating that it was okay.

“Persio gave it to me earlier.”

“It was named?!”

Zeke reacted the same way.

Is it really that rare to have a named creature?

“Um, I named it.”

“What?!”

Seeing Cloud’s eyes widen, I thought it was not the time for this.

I’ll explain in detail later!

“More importantly, let’s make the medicine! Do you have a basilisk’s heart?”

“The basilisk is a monster that even we, of Mithril rank, find difficult to defeat. I think it might be possible with one more party…”

Why would the bunny-eared man, the lord of this town, confront such a strong monster?

He’s an important figure; he should stay back and let others handle it.

“Should we request help from the Adventurer’s Guild?”

“With Mithril rank, it seems like it would take time before they accept the request.”

“It can’t be helped. There aren’t any Mithril adventurers who would be dedicated to this town like Zeke.”

As I quietly listened to the conversation between the bunny-eared man and his black-haired subordinate, Ermine casually made a significant remark.

“But if you don’t take the medicine within a day of petrification, it won’t cure.”

“Huh? Is that so?”

“Yeah, because it’s stone.”

I don’t quite get what “because it’s stone” means, but that doesn’t leave us with time to slowly gather another party!

“What should we do, Ermine?”

“Also, the basilisk’s heart has to be fresh, or it won’t work.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah. So, I think Mei should go with us to take it down.”

“Huh? If I go, I’ll just be a hindrance!”

Because the only thing I can do is alchemy, right?

I might be able to produce weapons through alchemy, but fighting is impossible.

“Why not? You can use attack items to fight!”

“Attack items?”

Are those really a thing?

“I’ve made them before~.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Like the Spiky Nya.”

“That one?!”

I remembered how, as Ermine said, I had made something with a strange name out of curiosity.

There were no descriptions at all, and judging by the name, I thought it was a cat toy, but what I ended up making was a spiky mystery object.

I wanted to protest where the “nya” at the end came from. I expected something more cat-like.

“If you throw that, it can deal damage, and the Slowling can delay the enemy’s actions.”

Is that so?

I see. Those oddly named items are used for fighting.

Come on, Ermine!

You should have told me that sooner!