I Think My Fiancé Has Regressed

Chapter 49: Second semester begins (4)

“This way, this way, Lady Ariana….”

We entered the back door of the tea ceremony room, guided by Miss Sophia, and immediately found ourselves in the hidden alchemy club room.

With all sorts of drugs, herbs, and hundreds of other ingredients lined up in various display cases, it was clear that the tea leaves used in the tea ceremony were treated differently.

It seemed to be true that the alchemy club had spent almost their entire membership fee, and that they were actually conducting research.

“Oh, you can’t touch that.”

I was about to pry open the covered cloth to see what was inside, when Miss Sophia hastily stopped me.

“The drugs in there are deliberately covered with a damp cloth to control the temperature and humidity, because if you touch them, you’ll ruin the carefully aged state they’re in, and we’ll have to buy new ones and let them age again for a month.”

“….I see.”

“Oh, and the black cloth-covered cabinet should never be opened because it’s supposed to be out of direct sunlight, and you shouldn’t mess with the reagents that are boiling right now, and if you open the drug fridge and it gets too hot once it’s open….”

She was hastily blurting out this and that, stopping me in my tracks, as if she was afraid I’d touch something else and something would go wrong.

If she was managing a facility of this magnitude by herself, she would definitely be neglecting the tea ceremony activities.

“From what you said earlier, it seems that the Alchemy Club was doing something right.”

“Yes, that’s right, this is my precious personal laboratory that I’ve been cultivating for three years!”

“It certainly looks organized and detailed to me, a layman, although I’d be happier if it wasn’t built with two clubs’ worth of activity fees.”

“Well, I can’t comment on that….”

She knows she’s wrong, so there’s still room for extenuating circumstances.

Regardless of whether or not I think alchemy is a bunch of hooey, it’s pretty inspiring to see someone so sincere about something they believe in.

I know from first-hand experience the rigors of creating a discipline that no one else is studying.

“First of all, I apologize for saying that the Alchemy Club isn’t doing a good job, because I didn’t know what I was talking about.”

“That, that comment is….”

“But it’s also true that it hasn’t done anything noteworthy in three years, right? I think there’s still plenty of reason to shut it down.”

“That’s true…….”

“Or is there something in your work so far that would prove to me that you have a track record?”

Miss Sophia looked thoughtful for a moment as she listened to me, and then she carefully opened her mouth to mention the results of her research over the past three years.

“Oh, I do have a prototype that’s still incomplete, but it works in its own way.”

“That’s great, would you like to show it to me?”

“Ha, but really, it’s too subtle an achievement to show you yet. I think I’ll have it finished in about a month, and then I’ll show you the real thing….”

“I’m sorry to hear that, but as of today, the Alchemy Club is no longer active….”

“Wait, wait, wait, I’ll show you, I’ll show you right now!”

Freaked out by my announcement of the club’s closure, Miss Sophia hurriedly opened the door to the medicine cabinet and took something out.

She pulled out two vials of a strange blue liquid in clear bottles, and began to proudly announce that they were her work.

“It’s still unfinished, so I’m ashamed to show it to you, but this is what I’ve been working on for three years.”

“Is it a drug, and what does it do?”

“I think you’ll be surprised to hear.”

Clearly proud of what she had created, Ms. Sophia suddenly began to explain the object in her hands.

“First of all, there are three key ingredients in this drug: arginine, which increases the size of blood vessels in the body to increase blood flow; tyrosine, which synthesizes neurotransmitter amino acids in the body; and caffeine, which temporarily puts the body into a state of alertness.”

“These are all ingredients I’ve heard of before.”

“Well, there are a lot of other ingredients, but at the end of the day, it’s really just about getting those three ingredients into the body efficiently.

Arginine, tyrosine, and caffeine. I’m sure you, Ariana, being the knowledgeable person that you are, know what I’m talking about.”

Arginine, tyrosine, and caffeine, these are the names of drugs that I used to take in my previous life.

Drugs that increase blood flow to the body to rev up the metabolism, increase the amount of neurotransmitters to transmit stronger impulses, and act on the nervous system to induce a temporary state of alertness.

Not only that, but arginine and tyrosine have additional benefits for men.

As my mind raced, one possibility flashed through my mind.

It couldn’t be that Miss Sophia was making it in her third-year alchemy club….

“Could it be an energizer….?”

TLN: energizer = blue pill.

“It’s a magic amplifier!”

“…….”

……Well, I guess so.

Now that I think about it, there’s no way a young lady who hasn’t even gotten married yet would be making such a thing with alchemy.

Who in the world could have imagined so ridiculous?

“A magic amplifier?”

“Yes, I’ll show you the effect now!”

Saying that, Miss Sophia first spread out her hands, creating a small ball of flame on her palms.

“A fireball.”

“This is the most ordinary fireball I can create in my normal state.”

Immediately removing the flame from her palm, Miss Sophia opened one of the two bottles of liquid and gulped it straight into her mouth.

The way she drank it so confidently, it probably wasn’t poisonous.

After downing the bottle in one gulp, Miss Sophia emptied it and once again extended her hands, creating flames in her palms.

It was bigger than the fireball she had just created.

“What do you think, Ariana?”

I couldn’t help but feel that this was a little too subtle to be the work of the alchemy club.

“Just adjust the output of the magic you use, and you can change the size of the magic, right?”

“Isn’t that……?”

“You can change the size of the magic, even if it’s the same magic, if you think about how much magic you’re going to expend to activate it.

For example, if Miss Sophia deliberately used a weak magic at first to trick me, and then released a full-sized magic afterward, as if the drug was having an effect….”

“Well, you’re the only one who can do that!”

“What?”

“You can control the size of the magic you use on your own? Unless you’re talking about using completely different magic to produce similar effects, you’re the only one who can change the power of the same magic!”

…This, was it just me?

I mean, I’ve only seen a handful of other people use it, but I thought everyone knew how to do it and didn’t bother using it because they didn’t need to.

And my fiancé, Alex, was able to use it so casually that I just assumed that everyone else would be able to use it too.

‘Are you sure this is working? It seems like no matter how many times I do it, it just creates the same size flame….’

‘I’ve shown you how many times already, Kael! How can you call yourself the heir to House Anastasia if you can’t even do something this easy!’

‘Ah, I’ll see to it that you can do it!’

Even the younger Kael was able to control his power to a certain extent, albeit faintly, through my bloody efforts.

…Now that I think about it, that was quite a sorry thing to do to Kael, and I’ll have to apologize to him later.

“I’ll give the rest of the prototype to Lady Ariana so she can experience the power for herself!”

With that, Miss Sophia quickly thrust another vial into my hand, watching me closely, waiting for the words to come out of my mouth.

As for closing the club right now, I’d have to think about it a bit more.

“For now, I’ll keep an eye on the Alchemy Club for a while longer.”

“Thank you….”

“But that doesn’t mean I won’t discipline you, because just because there are tangible results doesn’t make the wrongs you’ve been doing go away.”

“Well, that’s true.”

“So I’m going to use the authority of the student council to punish you.”

While what Sophia did was wrong, there’s no denying what she got out of it.

Her uncompromising attitude toward her work is what got her into this situation, even though she could have gotten an increase in her club’s budget if she’d just presented it sooner.

“Miss Sophia, you have until the end of this semester to produce a working version of this potion, no matter what.”

“……?”

“If you fail to complete it, I will have the Alchemy Club disbanded, and all the ingredients you bought with your activity fees will be disposed of by the Academy.”

“Now, wait a minute, Lady Ariana, that’s the punishment?”

“I’m sorry, but there are no reversals.”

I’m the kind of person who makes and breaks ties when I need to be firm but this magic amplifier was definitely a drug with potential for development, and more importantly, the kind of thing I might need in the future.

With Sierra, the original protagonist, no longer on the stage, we need to keep all possibilities open.

Miss Sophia seemed unsure of how to respond to my cold demeanor, but then she spoke up with determination.

“I will do my best to repay your mercy!”

I can only hope that she succeeds in improving the potion, and that it will be of some use to me.