Upon returning to the Merchant’s Guild, Guild Master Victor and Evelyn, the staff member holding Robo, welcomed us immediately.

Robo wagged his tail as if it might fall off when he saw me.

“Oh, I’m so sorry for forgetting about you…”

As I took him from Evelyn and hugged him, he licked my cheek repeatedly.

“Lady Mei, we’ve been awaiting you. This way, please.”

After a quick greeting, Victor led us to a room in the back.

There, lounging on an opulent sofa, was the rabbit-eared gentleman, looking surprisingly well. In fact, he was holding a glass and drinking something.

That definitely looks like red wine. I recognized the label on the bottle on the table—it had a drawing of a pegasus and a glass, just like the sign outside the wine shop named after Persio across from the Merchant’s Guild.

Seriously? Even though his legs are petrified, he’s way too relaxed!

“You’re here earlier than expected, my brothers.”

Huh?

Brothers?

I knew Zeke was this rabbit-eared guy’s brother, but… Could Alex and Cloud also be his brothers? Could they be quadruplets?

I glanced up and saw Cloud shaking his head. So that means…

“Alex and I are twins,” Cloud explained.

What!? They look nothing alike!

Zeke and the rabbit-eared guy have blond hair and blue eyes, while Alex has black hair and blue eyes…

Oh.

Now that I think about it, their eye colors are indeed the same. If he had rabbit ears, it would have been obvious right away.

While feeling slightly disappointed, I placed the potion I made on the table. I made two, but one should be enough for now.

“This is the medicine to reverse petrification. Just one drop is enough to cure it.”

Seeking agreement, I glanced at Ermine, who nodded enthusiastically.

“I see. Just one drop, huh? So, what would the price for this medicine be?”

Swirling his wine glass, the rabbit-eared gentleman looked at me with his narrow eyes.

A price…? I hadn’t really thought about that.

“Ermine, what do you think would be a fair price?”

“Hmm. I don’t really know much about the human world.”

…I figured. Well, I asked anyway. I guess I should ask the sensible one here, Cloud.

“Cloud, what about you?”

“To be honest, it’s priceless. A medicine to cure petrification has never existed before. Even if Lord Herbert were to sacrifice his entire fortune, it might not be enough…”

“I don’t need his entire fortune!”

I mean, I can make most things with my alchemy pot. Except for food, making things is fun anyway.

Wait, food!

“I want to try the best meat dish in town!”

“Meat… dish?”

Cloud looked at me with a blank expression.

“Yes, a meat dish! I can’t get fresh meat when I’m out in the forest.”

“But if you ask Koko, she can hunt as much as you like.”

Ermine had a point, but…

“But the game Koko brings back is still in monster form! There’s no way I can butcher that!”

It would be great if my alchemy pot could handle butchering too, but that’s impossible.

Also, if I needed one kilogram of meat from a creature like the boar-like monster Boa Fang as an ingredient, and I threw in a whole carcass, it would fail and turn into some burnt, charcoal-like stuff.

If it’s an item like a basket, it just becomes a low-quality version that’s fragile but still holds its shape. However, for cooking, it always ends up completely charred.

If I make something like a potion, it just evaporates with a poof if I fail.

For everything else besides food, even if I throw in a single plant or branch in the right amount, it works fine, unless I really mess up the quantities or fail to mix it properly.

But for some reason, only with food, it absolutely fails if the quantities aren’t precise.

Golden eggs, luckily, are mysterious eggs with the exact same weight, so I don’t have to worry about that. I can make pancakes just fine.

But for something like Boa Fang, where each individual varies in size, I’d need to weigh it exactly and adjust the seasonings to match.

Then, with the correct amounts, I could probably make a few servings from one kilogram of meat.

However, the problem is that if the Boa Fang meat is specified, I’d have to remove the fur, bones, and blood to get the correct weight.

And then, calculate the amount of seasonings…

Just thinking about it makes it seem impossible.

It’s much easier to either sell potions and buy meat for cooking or enjoy a delicious meat dish at a restaurant.

“So, please treat me to a delicious meat dish!”

I declared firmly, catching a glimpse of Zeke and the others holding their heads in their hands out of the corner of my eye.

I wonder what’s up with them?

…But more importantly, meat, meat!