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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 25
Chapter Title: The Tap-Dancing Alchemist
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I studied Tristan's face carefully. This was a real crisis.
Should I brush it off as a joke? Or should I brazenly insist it was a rare disease? As my thoughts tangled into a complicated mess, Tristan spoke first.
"...Tap dancing."
"Yes."
"......Is that possible?"
Good grief. Even the great Tristan looked bewildered this time.
Yulia glanced at me, her expression asking what we should do. She should have come up with a more believable lie.
Tristan might be slow to read the room, but he wasn't an idiot!
"...Haha. Yulia, if you say it like that, you'll give His Highness the wrong idea. It's not a real illness. Yulia has just been... completely absorbed in tap dancing lately."
I cut in, offering a plausible excuse. With an expression that suggested I didn't know the first thing about lying, I added more.
"She's been stamping her feet, practicing her tap dancing at all hours of the day. It's caused quite a stir. Honestly, when she gets hooked on something, she can't control herself."
This seemed more plausible, and Tristan slowly nodded. But he still looked suspicious.
"Is this why she recently took a long leave of absence?"
"You could say that."
A perfect excuse for her leave. Yulia, who had suddenly become a tap-dancing maniac, looked a bit wronged, but she was the one who brought it up. There was nothing to be done.
"You know the saying, 'don't put all your eggs in one basket'? For the longest time, Yulia's only interest was alchemy, so our family was quite worried."
"Your sibling bond is remarkable."
"Not at all. We're just relieved that Yulia has found a healthy hobby. It's a bit excessive at the moment, and we're having a hard time calming her down, but still."
"Is that so."
Tristan patted Yulia's shoulder again in encouragement.
"Hobbies are important, but it's best to do everything in moderation."
He advised, looking directly at Yulia. This was something I couldn't answer for her. Yulia seemed to know that, as she replied in a hesitant voice.
"I suppose so. Tap dancing is tiring..."
She didn't seem to have a clue what she was saying.
Then, as if feeling she had to do something, she glanced around nervously and clutched the hem of her skirt.
"L-Like this."
Tap, tap-tap, tatatatat...
Yulia moved her feet in a clumsy, rapid rhythm. The quiet hallway filled with the sound of her shoes striking the floor.
Tap-tap-tap, tatatak, tatatatat...
Tatatatak, tap...
"......"
"......"
The sound of tap dancing had never been so sorrowful.
"Ahem! In any case, this is unfortunate. I was originally going to ask Lady Yulia to experiment with a new reagent."
"...A new reagent?"
"Yes. There have been quite a few incidents recently, haven't there? You remember that the keeper of the Frostwood Forest died, correct? I received a report that a rare, ancient tome was discovered while his remains were being collected."
Oh, no. Yulia's eyes were flashing with excitement.
It seemed even a dead body couldn't stand in the way of Yulia's intellectual curiosity.
"It was a book containing a description of a certain potion and its recipe. It was written in code, so it took some time to decipher. We'll likely have to brew it to know its exact effects, but the recipe calls for 'holy water'."
"In that case, it's highly likely to be a lost relic used during the Holy War!"
Yulia exclaimed, her voice filled with excitement.
"Potions with holy water usually relate to divine power or mana. The keeper of the Frostwood Forest would have been a descendant of Saint Elisa, though I'm not sure why she wouldn't have shared such a recipe with the world."
She was speaking so fast it was hard to understand her. I nudged her in the side to give her a hint.
*'Have you forgotten? You're in no condition to practice alchemy right now!'*
If they didn't know the exact effects, it meant the recipe wasn't precise. In other words, they were looking for an alchemist to research the potion's formulation.
Of course, being a commission from the imperial family, the pay would be generous, and success would be a great boon to Yulia's career, but...
That was only possible if Yulia's body were in a normal state.
"You seem very enthusiastic. I know you're on leave, but would you be interested in taking on this project while maintaining the utmost secrecy? It's a sensitive matter, so it's difficult to make a public request to the Bureau of Reagents."
"I'll do it! I want to—!"
"I'm sorry, but could we have some time to think about it?"
I said, clamping a hand over Yulia's mouth. I had to hold on tight as she struggled, but I had no choice.
"Mmphh! Mmmph!"
"I know it's an important matter, but for now, I want her to focus on her... tap dancing. It's the first hobby she's found in a long time. If her passion for it fades, I'm afraid Yulia might spend her whole life with only alchemy, dying lonely and without a single friend."
"...Is it that serious?"
"Of course. I'm just so happy that Yulia, who knew nothing but alchemy, has finally found a hobby...!"
I wiped at my eyes with my other hand. I rubbed my dry eyes roughly until they turned red.
"The other day, *hic*, she got up on the dining table and started tap dancing in the middle of a meal.... *Sob*, my second brother was so moved that he still dreams about it..."
"I... I see."
"To others, it might just be tap dancing, but to our family, it's a source of great joy. Would it be all right if we discussed it as a family and gave you our answer then?"
Tristan didn't seem to understand even half of what I was saying. But that was understandable.
He seemed to be pondering what I, a Duke's daughter, could possibly gain from telling such a ridiculous lie. And if it wasn't a lie, he was likely wondering what on earth tap dancing was to have ruined such a promising alchemist.
"......I see. I hadn't realized tap dancing was such a serious matter.... But it was only a suggestion, not a demand. If that's the situation, then I suppose it can't be helped."
"Thank you for your understanding, Your Highness."
And so, our conversation ended on a warm note.
"Mmmphhh!"
Yulia's muffled cries were completely ignored.
***
"Isaac. You're going to die laughing."
"No, *hic*, this is, *sob*, ugh, unavoidable, *hic*, you know...?!"
Isaac was practically rolling on the floor. He seemed to be having trouble even forming words.
"Isaac, stop it. Yulia tap... *hic*, dancing is not a laughing matter."
"Pfft!"
"If you ever feel the urge to tap... dance, just let me know, Yulia."
"Ahahaha! Seriously, Edmond, you're the worst of them all!"
Isaac laughed like he'd lost his mind. I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing myself.
"Will you stop laughing? It was the only excuse I could think of at the time."
"Why tap dancing of all things? Not the tango? Pfft."
"I don't know. The tango looks like you have to hold arms..."
"If it was an assassination attempt, it was brilliant, Yulia."
We set the hysterical Isaac aside and continued our strategy meeting.
"Anyway, alchemy is out of the question for Yulia in her current state. If she were to do it, the only way would be to enhance her using those corpses..."
We all remembered Isaac's rampage. The harrowing memory of almost being discovered by Hazel.
"You said that mess happened because he was only partially enhanced."
"Yeah. To strengthen one's self-awareness without those side effects, one must be properly enhanced."
So said Lev, not me.
"And the standard for 'properly' is?"
"A minimum of five adult corpses."
We only have four corpses left. That was a level Isaac himself would have barely reached with all of them.
"Or, parts from a monster's carcass."
"A monster..."
"They're harder to acquire than human corpses, but the mana accumulated in them is useful in many ways."
If I'd known, I would have grabbed a claw last time. What a shame.
"In any case, it's difficult to proceed right now."
"Right."
"I'll do my best to acquire more corpses. For now, accept the offer. If we can't get the corpses, you can just refuse later, saying your illness has made it too difficult."
"Really?!"
At Edmond's approval, Yulia jumped up and down on the spot.
It was a surprising decision. He normally would have cut her off, saying something like, 'I don't have time to entertain your little dalliances with self-fulfillment.'
As if sensing my confusion, Edmond added an explanation.
"He said it was in the possession of the keeper of the Frostwood Forest. Saint Elisa must have had a reason for hiding the recipe for that reagent."
"Didn't she just want to monopolize it?"
"Saint Elisa was someone who returned everything she had to society and became a forest keeper of her own volition. Do you think a person like that would have such material greed?"
Thinking about it that way, it was a bit strange. Then why hide it?
"There must have been a reason it couldn't be revealed. For example..."
Edmond's bright yellow eyes stared directly at me.
"A potion that's beneficial to warlocks."
