Apparently, while Lucia had been held up by Kirukilu, Sage had returned and stopped her, ordering her to wait downstairs.
Below the tower. I rejoin Lucia, who had been waiting with a sulky expression in front of Kirukilu, who'd been forced to sit in seiza.
Outside, a large number of Mages were collecting the accumulated ash. I quickly grabbed Citry's arm as she started to drift toward them in a daze.
It looked like parts of the magic circle that had been destroyed were still there. No good. Those puppy-dog eyes won't work on me—no means no.
As we walked, I asked Lucia to fill me in on the situation. She gave me the new information with an expression that seemed to say I should already know this.
"To think you'd cause such a huge commotion—the Imperial Capital isn't your personal toy box, you know!? I've been getting interrogated by everyone—"
"W-well, everything worked out in the end, so... isn't that fine?"
"Oh, honestly!"
Even now, I couldn't stop the cold sweat. Apparently, the source of that black World Tree was the staff I'd received from the "Sword Saint." Even without being activated, it had absorbed the surrounding mana and turned into that... thing.
In other words, Professor Sage's words had been correct.
...But that's not my fault, is it? The one to blame is the "Sword Saint." I always thought he was genuinely apologetic about Luke causing trouble, but to take revenge like this— he may look decent, but he's clearly no ordinary man. Good grief.
Citry, who should have been just as much in the dark as I was, clapped her hands together and nodded knowingly.
"I see... so Professor Sage backed down. Even for the Academy, they'd want to avoid a conflict with the Sword Saint's faction..."
"So it's like fighting poison with poison."
"...Honestly! Why do you two act like this is none of your business?"
It all felt too surreal. Or rather, looking back, things had taken quite a strange turn.
I'd been planning to keep my head down in the Imperial Capital for a while, but then the sword I received from Elisa turned out to be a demon sword? And when I gave that away and received a staff in return, it turned into a dangerous creature? On top of that, somehow I now have a dangerous Magic Potion in my hands.
"Come to think of it, was there a reason that tree kept attacking this tower so persistently?"
"...No. That tree was drawn to powerful mana, so I investigated after reducing it to charcoal, thinking something must be there. But I couldn't find anything specific—there were traces of something having been removed, but a Mage's laboratory holds many secrets. If they're hiding it from even their own people, it must be something truly important."
"...I see. Well, strange things do happen, Klye-san."
"Huh!? ...Big brother!?"
Citry said it with a full-faced smile. You sure look like you want to say something, don't you. Lucia wasn't smiling either, but she also seemed like she had something to say.
I had nothing I could say. The only thing I gained today was learning that Lucia was popular.
At that moment, the Resonance Stone began to vibrate again. Stop coming at such terrible timings.
Did Franz know that this whole mess was my fault? Well, not exactly my fault—the main culprit was the "Sword Saint"— But everything had been resolved safely. There wouldn't be any more curse incidents. Even I wouldn't step on a landmine that's clearly visible! What the heck is this Domination Potion!
I let out a small sigh and activated the Resonance Stone. Franz immediately started shouting the moment he connected.
『"Thousand Transformations"... I've heard the story.』
"Yeah. I know—it's about that, right? Don't worry, the big fuss about curses and all that ends here."
『!? Hey, wait—』
"I'm busy, so I'm hanging up. Bye."
I looked down at the Resonance Stone. After waiting for a while, it didn't vibrate again. Seems like he gave up.
Franz, I'm sorry. I'm a bit tired right now... It's fine. I'll make sure to prevent any more incidents.
"Citry, you're in an awfully good mood..."
"Of course! It's my turn next!"
Citry was clearly in a great mood—anyone could see that. She was practically dancing and spinning around. Sorry, but your turn isn't coming.
She's my best friend and I owe her money, so I don't want to upset her, but beggars can't be choosers. I'd just have to tell her I accidentally threw it away.
§ "You're coming with me to apologize next time!"
"Ugh, fine. Lucia seems to have been through a lot of trouble too, so I need to step up as a big brother. As a big brother!"
"...Indeed."
After all, it was basically saved by the big-brother card. But right now, I needed to focus on Citry.
If I didn't handle the next matter properly, a prostration wouldn't be enough. Intending to do something but forgetting—that's the worst pattern in my book.
I entered the Clan Master's office. Hunters weren't allowed in, but both Lucia and Citry followed me in without batting an eye.
Citry didn't say a word, but her entire body was pleading with me to hand over the potion already. The reason Lucia had followed along despite looking skeptical was probably because she sensed something about Citry's behavior.
Today, Citry was going to cling to me until she got the potion. Normally, I would have caved in and handed it over, thinking "It's Citry, so it'll be fine."
But I hadn't forgotten how she'd been clinging to me while whining.
"Wait here for a moment."
I left Citry and the others waiting in the Clan Master's office, operated the mechanism, and headed to my room. Better dispose of this quickly before I forget.
My room was designed so I could hole up inside and live comfortably. In addition to my Treasure Weapon collection and bed, it had a refrigerator, toilet, bath, and even a full set of washing facilities.
As I straightened my back and entered my private room, I set the dangerous potion on the desk. That's when my eyes happened to fall on the refrigerator sitting beside the bed.
I opened the fridge and took out a bottle of strawberry milk. The cake near its expiration date had been a gift, but the strawberry milk was something I'd secretly ordered—me being the closet sweet tooth that I am.
I poured it into a glass, properly returned the bottle to the fridge, and then compared it with the potion bearing the strange name on the table.
The colors really were similar, weren't they... the color, and incidentally, the smell too. Was this potion really that dangerous? It was hard to believe.
It apparently had the name "Strawberry Blaze." Was it given that name because it smelled like strawberries? Could the raw ingredients actually include strawberry? The world really does have some strange potions.
On a whim, I brought the flask close to my mouth. That's when one of the rings on my finger grew hot.
The Treasure Weapon ring with danger-detection ability—"Young Rat's Wisdom." It wouldn't react to strawberry milk, so it confirmed that this liquid was indeed dangerous.
If it were an ordinary potion, that'd be one thing, but if Citry's words were true, this was a potion that had destroyed entire countries. I didn't think Citry would misuse it, but leaving it to Citry's dark side would be far too dangerous.
Sorry, but this "Thousand Transformations" will, following in the footsteps of his predecessors, have this Magic Potion buried in darkness.
Without hesitation, I poured the potion down the sink. A liquid that looked like strawberry milk, that moved like strawberry milk, swirled around and flowed down the drain.
Making sure not a single drop of the potion touched my skin, I rinsed the flask with water, washing it completely clean.
Now I could rest easy. Zebuldia had been saved. A full demonstration of my Level 8 abilities.
All that remained was to apologize to Citry. I'd only thrown away a potion, but the relief of having completed a task made me sigh. And then, I stared at the metal flask.
"..."
I alternated between the glass of strawberry milk and the flask sitting on the table.
I casually picked up the glass and carefully poured it into the metal flask I had just emptied.
Looking at it again, the liquid sloshing inside the flask was indistinguishable from what I'd just thrown away. The only difference was that the Treasure Weapon ring wasn't alerting me to any danger. If the containers had been the same, it would have been impossible to tell them apart without the Treasure Weapon.
If you put it next to real strawberry milk and still couldn't tell them apart... what exactly was "Strawberry Blaze"...
I was feeling a mix of admiration and exasperation, at a loss for words, when—as if she'd been waiting—Citry and Lucia came downstairs.
"Klye-san, are you still— ...!?! What are you doing!?"
"Ah, this is, um—"
Citry saw the flask and glass in my hands and hurried over.
When she saw the contents of the flask and the glass that still had traces of strawberry milk, she looked up at me with a stunned expression.
"It's gone down a little... D-did you actually drink it!?"
"No—"
"This is terrible—I need to make an antidote right away! To drink that much undiluted concentrate... At this rate, if things go wrong, Klye-san could be turned into a flesh puppet that only follows orders—"
"Huh!? Citry, what did you just say!?"
Citry had gone pale. Blood had drained from her already fair skin, and tears were welling up in her eyes. Was she in a panic? Her gaze wasn't focusing properly. For the always calm and composed Citry to change color like this—it seemed this was even more dangerous than I'd imagined.
She swiftly snatched the metal flask from my hands, sealed the lid tightly, and shouted to Lucia in a desperate tone: "Listen—I'm going! I absolutely have to make that antidote! Lucia, keep Klye-san at rest!"
"Ah, wait—"
Before Lucia could stop her, Citry bounded up the stairs three at a time. There was no time to say anything. By the time Citry had come and gone, all I'd managed to say was "Ah, this is, um—" and "No."
In the end, only Lucia and I were left. Citry was reliable, but she used to have a surprisingly scatterbrained side. It seemed she'd only been keeping it in check—it hadn't actually gone away.
Lucia was rolling her eyes. As expected, even the Academy's renowned little sister couldn't make sense of this situation without prior information.
"...I told her I didn't drink it."
"Y-yes... Big brother, are you feeling okay?"
Now that she mentioned it, I did feel a little sluggish... Yeah, yeah, that's right. Same as always.
I took the well-chilled strawberry milk from the fridge and poured it into my glass.
After confirming the ring wasn't detecting any danger, I took a sip. The richness of milk mingled with the sweetness and fragrance of strawberry.
Yes, this was it. This was strawberry milk. But to think even a professional like Citry couldn't tell at a glance...
"She went off to make an antidote for strawberry milk."
"...Shouldn't we chase after her?"
Lucia stared at me in silence for a while, then spoke with a gaze at least as cold as her master's.