Chapter 71: The Lost Medicinal Herb and the Great Loss

We, who had returned, immediately had the ship’s doctor of the Good Loser examine the medicinal herbs that Sir Karm and the others had gathered. On the way, the people from the seaside country asked me to sell the airships as trade goods, but I politely declined, saying that they were not Sky Island technology.

“Hmm, there are some medicinal herbs that would sell, but they are still a bit weak to be the main feature.”

“Oh, is that so…”

In the end, none of the medicinal herbs brought were a deciding factor, and Sir Karm and the others hung their heads in disappointment. If it’s not something that will satisfy the country’s upper echelons, the trade itself might be canceled.

“This is troubling…”

“Well, trade using airships is attractive, but…”

Because there isn’t something they desire, the atmosphere of the negotiations becomes subtly heavy. Plus, the medicinal herbs I gathered are also all the same as Sir Karm’s and the others’…

Ah, but there was one type of medicinal herb that I hadn’t had them check. But, this isn’t that rare of a medicinal herb. Well, I guess I’ll ask just in case.

And, it was at that moment.

“Sir Karm—!”

Several knights descended from the sky in a panicked state.

“What is it!?”

Sir Karm scolds his subordinates who burst into the important negotiation.

“M-my apologies! B-but, my subordinate!”

“Calm down! What about your subordinate?”

Sir Karm barks at the panicking knight and has him explain what happened.

“Y-yes! While exploring the Forest Island, my subordinate was attacked by a monster and his arm was torn off!”

“W-what did you say!?”

Everyone present stirred at the sudden, shocking report. Looking over, one knight, accompanied by his comrades, was on his knees, groaning.

“Show me the wound.”

The ship’s doctor immediately looks at the knight’s arm.

“The monster that tore off his arm fled, and we, who didn’t have any decent medicine, could only tie up the wound to stop the bleeding…”

“This is bad. If we don’t treat him quickly, he’ll die from blood loss.”

“C-can his arm be fixed!?”

The ship’s doctor shakes his head at the words of the knight worried about his comrade.

“Impossible. The only potion that can regrow an arm is the stuff of legends, Elixirs. If we could at least recover the arm, we might have been able to reattach it with a top-grade potion, but in any case, with the medicinal herbs here…”

“N-no way…”

“At the very least, let’s disinfect the wound and stop the bleeding with recovery magic. That way, at least his life will be saved.”

“Kuh, please.”

At the ship’s doctor’s words, Sir Karm asks with a vexed look.

“Got it, I’ll do everything I can…”

“Um…”

Well, rather than that, I think using recovery magic that restores lost body parts would fix it in one shot. Feeling sorry for interrupting the strangely serious atmosphere, I call out to the ship’s doctor.

“What is it? This is a situation where every second counts!?”

“Sorry, the missing part… no, rather than that, how about using this medicinal herb?”

At that time, an idea flashed in my mind. Instead of healing it with recovery magic, if I completely heal the injury with a potion made from medicinal herbs, wouldn’t it become a good centerpiece for trade?

I take the un-appraised medicinal herb out of my magic bag and show it to the ship’s doctor.

“Mu? What is this? I’ve never seen this plant before, is this also a medicinal herb?”

Huh? The ship’s doctor doesn’t know?

“This is Tekan Grass, often used to make High Potions.”

“…Te-Tekan Grass!? Could that be the Tekan Grass that was lost in the Great Loss of Medicinal Herbs!?”

Eh? Tekan Grass is a lost medicinal herb? And what is the Great Loss of Medicinal Herbs!?

“Um, what is the Great Loss of Medicinal Herbs?”

“You don’t know about the Great Loss!?”

I don’t know.

“The Great Loss of Medicinal Herbs is an incident from several hundred years ago when a suddenly occurring plague caused many plants to wither. Among the plants that withered in that incident, rare medicinal herbs were also included, and from that, it was given the name Great Loss.”

Heeh, so an incident like that happened.

“It is said that because of that, many past medicines could no longer be compounded, and many human lives and medicine recipes were lost.”

Wow, it was a surprisingly serious incident.

“Did Liliera know?”

“Yes, vaguely. When I was an adventurer in Hekiji Town, a senior who specialized in medicinal herbs taught me. I was told that medicinal herbs whose numbers drastically decreased due to the Great Loss sell at high prices, so if I found any, I should definitely bring them back.”

Heeh, is that so. Maybe because it was an event from several hundred years ago, it seems Liliera didn’t know at first either, so maybe it’s just at the level of being famous among researchers?

“But it was growing normally in the Forest Island?”

“W-what did you say!?”

The ship’s doctor’s eyes go wide in surprise.

“I-I see. The Forest Island is high in the sky, far above the surface, so it wasn’t affected by the plague of the Great Loss!”

I see, now that he mentions it, that might be so. On the Sky Island, Ball Rabbits that I hadn’t seen on the surface were living, and it’s not strange that there would be plants that had survived all this time on the Forest Island.

“Doctor…”

“Hah!? Right, right.”

The ship’s doctor was excited, but he returned to his senses when Sir Karm called out to him.

“Ah, no. Anyway, you said High Potion, but can you make a High Potion with Tekan Grass? It’s true that if so, it would restore stamina and lost blood, making it perfect for treatment, but High Potions have a high compounding difficulty and take time to make, you know?”

Eh? In my previous life, it was a pretty major recipe for High Potions, but does he really not know? And the compounding difficulty for High Potions is high? He says strange things. I think any apprentice apothecary with a little growth could make something like a High Potion right away.

…Ah, I see. Many recipes were lost along with the medicinal herbs in the Great Loss. In that case, it’s not strange that the recipe using Tekan Grass is gone.

The Forest of Magic Beasts and the Inland Sea were created, the Sky Continent disappeared, and furthermore, the Great Loss of plants, huh. Ah, and there was also that stuff about Lost Magic and Lost Items, so a lot of events happened while I was dead.

But, I’m also concerned that the Demon was involved in some of those incidents.

Anyway, for now, I have to explain how to make the High Potion.

“Umm, you see, you can make a High Potion by steaming this medicinal herb and Ea Grass, then mixing the extracted medicinal liquids.”

“You can make it with just that!? What’s needed to compound a High Potion is Miigu Grass, Ahado Grass, and Bagya Grass, right? And isn’t Ea Grass a cheap medicinal herb you can get anywhere!?”

“Yes, you can make it with that recipe too, but the recipe using Tekan Grass and Ea Grass is cheaper and faster.”

Ah, but now it’s treated as a lost medicinal herb, so maybe it’s not cheaper? There’s no time, so it seems it would be better to actually show him by compounding it.

“Then I’ll show you by actually compounding it now, so please check the finished product. Sir Karm, may I have a bundle of that Ea Grass over there?”

I point to the Ea Grass that Sir Karm and the others had brought to see if it could be a trade good.

“Y-yes, I don’t mind. Go ahead.”

After receiving the Ea Grass from Sir Karm, I take out a compounding table and two containers for the extracted medicinal liquids from my magic bag. Then I put the Tekan Grass and Ea Grass into each one.

“Normally you’d compound the respective components after steaming, but since it takes time, I’ll use magic to make it simply this time.”

“M-magic!?”

I hold my hands over the respective medicinal herbs inside the extraction containers and activate the medicinal effect extraction magic.

“Component Separate!”

Then, the medicinal herbs visibly wither, and the medicinal liquid seeps out from the cuts where they were picked, filling the containers.

“W-what is this magic!?”

It’s just medicinal effect extraction magic, but for some reason, the ship’s doctor is surprised.

“It’s just medicinal effect extraction magic.”

“Magic that extracts medicinal effects!? I’ve never seen such magic!?”

Huh? That shouldn’t be the case. I think it’s magic you’d normally learn if you apprenticed to an apothecary.

“This is magic developed to extract the medicinal components of delicate medicinal herbs without destroying them. I think it’s magic that any apothecary with a reasonable amount of skill would normally know?”

“S-such magic existed…? B-but, just where did you learn such magic…?”

Well, maybe the ship’s doctor didn’t learn medicinal effect extraction magic from his master? But could that be? I’d think medicinal effect extraction magic is essential magic for anyone in the medical field?

Me? I learned it from my master in my previous, previous life. I was forced to learn it, being told that if I was going to become a Sage, I should at least be able to make the highest-grade potions.

“And, since the component extraction is finished, I will perform the compounding.”

That said, for something like a High Potion, compounding is just adjusting the amounts and mixing them.

I pour the medicinal liquids into a measuring cup and gently mix them with a crystal stirring rod. Then, the colors of the two medicinal liquids gradually mix, changing to a beautiful green.

“High Potion complete.”

I show the completed High Potion to everyone.

“A High Potion, so easily…”

The ship’s doctor mutters in a daze, his mouth hanging open.

To be surprised by something like this, I wonder what kind of troublesome way the ship’s doctor was making it? Ah, but that’s right. The ship’s doctor makes medicine on a rocking ship, so maybe it’s that much harder for him. Inside a ship far from land, and considering the long journey, he probably has to make it using only medicinal herbs that preserve well, so the difficulty is probably that much higher. So maybe because he’s specialized in the ship’s doctor’s compounding techniques, he’s conversely ignorant of normal ways of making medicine? Well, that’s educational.

“Here, please give it to the knight to drink.”

“Ah, right.”

Sir Karm, who received the High Potion from me, has the knight who lost his arm drink the medicine.

“U-uu…”

Then the knight who drank the medicine starts to groan and writhe in pain.

“O-oi!? Is he okay!?”

The surrounding knights press me, as if asking if it was really okay to make him drink it.

“It’s okay. Please look closely at your comrade.”

“””What? …Wha!? Eeh!?”””””

Not just the knights, but Sir Karm and Barn and the others’ eyes go wide with surprise.

“H-his arm, which should have been lost, is growing back…?”

Yes, yes, the compounding was a success.

“T-this is… what in the world!?”

The ship’s doctor asks me, trembling.

“It’s a High Potion.”

“A H-High Potion!? T-this, a medicine that makes an arm, an arm grow back, is a High Potion!?”

Huh? I don’t think it’s anything strange.

“Look, even with a normal wound, the flesh swells up and heals where you were injured, right? A high-quality High Potion strongly stimulates that natural healing power and regenerates the missing part. Well, in short, it’s growing an arm in the same way that fingernails grow or hair grows.”

“””””The scale of the comparison is too different!?””””””

Huh? Why is everyone so surprised?

“T-to think, there was a raw material for a potion that could regenerate a lost body part…”

“I-I see! It’s not just because it’s a High Potion, but because it’s a High Potion from Tekan Grass that it has this much medicinal effect!”

Eh?

“This… this is a wonderful High Potion! It’s on a completely different level from the High Potions currently sold on the market! This medicine that can heal lost body parts, it’s no exaggeration to call it a new potion that surpasses High Potions!”

No, no, that’s an exaggeration no matter how you look at it, right?

“Then this medicinal herb…?”

“Yes, in this trade, it can literally be called the main feature product!”

“”””Ooh—!!””””

A cry of admiration rises from almost every person present.

“Thank goodness, with this, we have a product for trade…”

“Thank you! Thank you! Thanks to you, my comrade didn’t have to lose his arm!”

“I also express my deep gratitude!”

Sir Karm and the others express their gratitude to me, from the dual joys of having a trade product and their comrade’s wound being completely healed.

“By the way.”

While everyone was rejoicing that a main feature product for trade was found, only the ship’s doctor spoke to me with a serious face.

“What is it?”

“This is an extremely important request, but…”

I wonder what he wants to ask? Could it be that there’s still some problem?

“Won’t you teach me that extraction magic from earlier!?”

Eh!? The magic, not the medicinal herb!?

“That magic is wonderful! With that magic, I can reliably extract more medicinal herbs in a shorter time! If that happens, I won’t waste medicinal herbs from extraction mistakes, and I’ll be able to make much more medicine! Please! I want you to teach me that magic!”

It doesn’t look like he’s joking, so I guess he’s serious? And well, it’s magic for extracting medicinal effects, so it can’t be used for evil, so it’s probably fine.

“Understood. Then I will teach you.”

“Ooh, I am grateful, Master!”

“Why Master!?”

I’ve had this same pattern before!?

“Thanks to you, Master, a revolution will occur in the potion industry!”

There was a potion industry!? In the end, I was swept up into becoming the ship’s doctor’s master, and I ended up teaching him medicinal effect extraction magic until the Good Loser departed.