At the End of the Hidden Greenery - Chapter 277
“When I was still in Caranazion, there were people who would draw my blood. They carried it around in vials and used it as emergency medicine. Sometimes they even manufactured it into medicinal products and sent it elsewhere.”
“…”
Callan frowned, but seeing that Jiwoo herself no longer seemed troubled by those memories, he quietly listened.
“If other people could use something from my body like that, then I should be able to do something similar myself. Just like how I can heal people now without having to use my blood.”
“So you want to create medicine using Akarna’s power?”
That was one of the reasons Jiwoo had come to Callan in the first place. After all, he was the village’s pharmacist.
“You want to find a method that doesn’t rely on blood. Ideally, it shouldn’t require exhausting your body in any way, either.”
“Exactly.”
The more possibilities she considered, the more she felt it was best to avoid any method that placed additional burdens on herself.
To Jiwoo’s surprise, Callan readily agreed to help. That was partly because, in his eyes, this wasn’t simply about Jiwoo wanting to help others. It was also about her understanding her own abilities more thoroughly.
Even so, he couldn’t resist making the occasional grumbling remark.
“Hm.”
“What?”
Callan, who had answered nearly all of Jiwoo’s questions without hesitation, suddenly sounded displeased.
“That fellow’s a wizard, isn’t he? Yet he let someone much younger beat him black and blue. How pathetic.”
“…”
Coming from Kallan…?
Jiwoo couldn’t help thinking it was a little unfair, considering Callan himself had been one of the people who had beaten Asilion up.
Still, now that Callan mentioned it, it did seem rather strange.
Asilion had been a guest, and Jiwoo already knew he was more reasonable than the average resident of El Ragneil. If he’d deliberately avoided causing trouble, that was understandable.
But that didn’t explain the Lamun group….
And Quillon had apparently gone around beating up members of other groups as well. Was that really possible?
Well, she can ask him later right?
Since what she wanted was essentially to develop medicine, Jiwoo had sought Callan’s advice.
But even Callan couldn’t offer an immediate answer.
“Compounding medicine is mostly about refining knowledge we already possess. If we’re venturing into completely unfamiliar territory, it would be better to consult the people responsible for research.”
….he said so.
He had also added that this sort of problem was best left to the more experienced members of the village.
Everyone had their own role, after all. Thinking about it, Helka oversaw nearly everything, Solmih managed the village’s internal affairs, and even hunting and security were organized under teams led by the eldest members.
“Wow! You actually came to consult me?”
The person Jiwoo ultimately sought out was Lugarmel. Everyone simply called him Mel.
He oversaw the village’s research, making him the elder whom Enci and Skiass usually consulted whenever they needed advice. Naturally, that also made him one of the busiest people in the village.
He was roughly the same age as Solmih.
“Yes. But if you’re busy, I can always come back later.”
She had only said that because, over his shoulder, she could see a table covered with what looked like ongoing work.
According to Callan, even if someone was busy, she ought to say something closer to Drop everything and come spend time with me. Needless to say, Jiwoo wasn’t remotely accustomed to speaking like that.
The moment Mel saw her, his face lit up like flowers blooming all at once. When Lugarmel smiled, his eyes curved into thin crescents, giving him the unmistakable look of a fox.
As far as Jiwoo could remember, he was always smiling.
“Could anything possibly be more important than you coming to see me? Come in, quickly.”
Just as Callan had predicted, Mel was genuinely delighted that Jiwoo had come looking for him first.
She followed him inside. The interior was even messier than it had appeared from outside.
She knew researchers naturally accumulated all kinds of equipment, but after spending so much time in Enci’s impeccably organized laboratory, the room felt remarkably cluttered.
It was also much darker than Enci’s workspace, which was always filled with sunlight.
Unlike Enci’s home, where bundles of herbs and rows of reagent bottles lined the shelves, this room displayed preserved animal specimens floating in jars of liquid. They were creatures unlike anything Jiwoo had ever seen in her old world.
Rather than disgust, she felt nothing but curiosity.
‘Wow… I’ve never seen anything like these before…’
Thunk!
Before she could take a closer look, Mel hurriedly shoved the specimens aside and drew a curtain over them.
“Hahaha!”
…laughing sheepishly the entire time.
Lugarmel’s method of cleaning his laboratory was remarkably straightforward. He simply swept everything into one pile and covered it up.
That was how Jiwoo found herself sitting at a newly cleared table with a cup of tea in front of her.
After waiting a short while, Mel returned.
He had evidently done what he considered ‘tidying up’, and at least looked much more presentable than when she’d first arrived.
His pearly white hair, tinged with the faintest hint of lavender, had been cut just above his shoulders. It curled slightly, however, making it prone to looking untidy unless carefully maintained.
It almost seemed as though Jiwoo had interrupted him in the middle of something important. Yet throughout her explanation, he never stopped smiling. Now that she thought about it, his constant smile always made him seem approachable.
She had worried she was interrupting urgent work, but after talking with him, she felt reassured.
More than anything, he seemed genuinely delighted that Jiwoo had come to him for advice. His excitement was obvious throughout their conversation.
“I see. So, in the end, you want to understand how your power works in much greater detail and learn how to control it more precisely?”
“When you put it that way, that’s exactly what I’m trying to do.”