After Stella finished the food that her uncle prepared for her, she headed to the only apothecary shop in the village.

"Gentle Leaves, huh…" Reiji read the name of the shop.

​​

He remembered that there was a similar shop in Farahn Village called Gentle Pixie.

Stella saw that the door has an "Open" sign so she didn't hesitate to enter the store while carrying the two vials of potion in different colors.

Cling! Cling!

The opening of the door was accompanied by chimes of bells as the apothecarist that was dozing off quickly looked at the customer…

"Good afternoon! How may I help you?"

A lady in her late twenties asked Stella.

Reiji observed the woman curiously, there was a cloth on her head like a bandana that covers her hair. Aside from that, just by seeing her eyebags, it would tell everyone that she had lacks of sleep…

However, as soon as she saw the vials on her hands, the light in her eyes fired up…

"M-May I see those potions you're holding? Are you here to sell them?"

Their customers either buy or sell their items… Although there were occasional appraisal jobs, that only happens if the two-star Hunters teamed up to explore the deepest part of the forest… They would normally find unusual things there and would need their help to appraise them.

Anyway, only a little more than half was explored within this forest…

Apparently, even though they have found a path to the Beacon Tree at the center of the forest, they were still unable to explore many other areas due to the powerful Evil Beasts lurking around them.

It was only because the Beacon Tree was huge that makes it easier to find and avoid getting lost in the path…

"No, I'm not here to sell these… yet. It depends on the usage of these things. Anyway, I wish to know what kind of potions are they…"

"Mhmm… Alright… You're in right place... What you're holding looks very expensive, I only have a rough idea but I will need to take a test to confirm it… Would you mind if I take a drop or two of each liquid?"

"That's fine." Stella gave her consent before handing over the two vials to the lady.

"By the way, about the fee…"

"Hmm… If this is something I can't appraise with several tests, it would be a lot more expensive… However, if my first test identified the potion, I can just collect 10 copper coins each."

"I see…" Stella nodded her head as she observes the woman taking out something in the cabinet. She seems to be preparing a dish and some papers.

While she was doing this, Stella looked around the place… There are several shelves containing potions and various herbs. The place smelled like medicine but it wasn't a foul smell, Stella even find it relaxing…

'I wonder what this scent is…'

"Ah, Miss Apothecarist… I'm seeing an old lady working here before…" Stella said as she casually started a conversation.

"You can just call me Iris, Miss Fenette. That old lady is my mom. She just left the village to trade some other materials at the town… She'll be back in a couple more weeks. If she's here, she'll just use her appraisal magic to identify this potion."

"Oh… So she's an Arcanist?" Stella was no longer surprised that the villagers know her.

"Uhmm… Yeah, she's one of the lucky people to summon a common rank Arcana when the Royal King opened the Arcana Bestowal Ceremony to the public long ago…"

"Really? That's amazing! I only read about that event… I didn't know that she participated back then…"

"Yeah, she was lucky… We can't even get close to a bestowal ceremony this time…"

"Urgh… That's true. Can you tell me about her Arcana?"

"Of course, If you saw her before, you must've noticed the circlet she's always wearing… That's her Arcana…"

"Oh! I thought that it just a common fashion for Apothecarist…"

The two chatted until Iris finished her preparations. They even talked about the potions that were being displayed on the shelves.

Aside from her Master, Stella could only talk with her uncle in the past few days… Now that she had a chance to chat with someone else, it seems that her innate talent in conversation arouse.

Reiji admired her for that… His social interactions in his previous life were mostly related to Kendo… So he would rate himself as a poor conversation starter… However, Stella seemed to be natural in this as she leads the conversation to the subjects she wanted to learn. They even started calling each other in their first names…

Anyway, Reiji learned a lot about the potions displayed here so he kept his silence and listened to them…

"Oh! It took a while but the powder turned green! This is indeed a healing potion!"

Iris exclaims after seeing the result of the test.

A while ago, she prepared two pairs of small dishes on her working table.

On the first pair, she poured an unknown mix of black powder. The powder seems to smell like medicine as per Stella.

As for the second pair, she only put a small cut or piece of brown paper on them…

Iris took the first vial with red liquid and carefully poured a drop of liquid on the dish that has brown paper…

Nothing happened after that but Stella just smiled on it as she poured another drop on the black powder. After waiting for a moment, the powder turned green and Iris indicated that it was the sign of a healing or recovery potion…

"Amazing… What about that brown paper? Why was there no reaction?"

"Ahh… That's fine… It's a special paper that allows us to determine whether the liquid is consumable or not… It would normally burn if the liquid can't be consumed by humans… and if that's the case, we will use a different set of powder for the second test."

Iris explained while she was looking at the bottle that was filled with a healing potion. It seems that she's interested in it.

Stella didn't notice it as she was still surprised about the method that was used.

"Whoa… I only heard about that today… It's a very convenient item. You're really knowledgeable in this, Iris!"

Stella praised the lady who provided her with even more information about her tools.

"Hehe… It's nothing impressive. I heard that there are other complicated but very accurate methods in the city… Ehem… As for this black powder, it would tell us what kind of consumable liquid it is by changing its color. Green means restoration or recovery… Red means strength or power boost, it would normally appear in energy tonic or berserk potion… Blue means Arcane, it has many possible effects… Yellow means…"

Iris seemed to like being praised as she taught Stella about the potion. On the other hand, the young girl was already getting a headache just by remembering these terms…

"Oh… I should continue now…"

Iris remembered that there was still another potion so she continued her tests…

There was no reaction on the brown paper meaning that it is consumable. She then poured another drop on the black powder and waited for a reaction…

"It's blue!" Stella was the one who exclaimed. She just learned from Iris that blue has something to do with Arcane Magic.

"Indeed… It's really blue… It even has a deep color… I wonder what kind of Arcane Magic it has…"

"Eh? You also don't know?"

"That's right… If it's Arcane Magic, it has many possible effects… The one that we have here that has a blue reaction was Sleep Inducement Potion, Clairvoyance Potion, Ghost Sight Potion, and Hysteria Potion… If my mother is here, she'll be able to give you an answer quickly, I'm sorry…"

"Oh no! It's alright, Iris… Thank you very much for helping me. I also learned a lot thanks to you…"

Iris smiled after hearing Stella thanking her…

"Right, I'm just curious… If this Red Potion is a healing potion, why is it not color green?" Stella asked innocently.

"Ahh, you're referring to the powder's reaction? Uhmm… The color of the healing potion depends on the ingredients that were used… For example, the healing potion I'm familiar with was silvery-white as one of its ingredients was bitter worm mucus… On the other hand, this red potion that you have must've some mixture of troll's blood instead…"

"…"

'I wish I didn't ask…' Stella thought but she quickly shakes her head…

'At least it's not troll's mucus…'

She then took out the fee for the appraisal's payment.

"Here, this is 20 copper coins… Thank you so much for your help, Iris…"

"Ahh… Are you really not selling it?"

"Uhmm… I'll think about it. I'll return here if needed."

"Haa~ Alright… Please, visit me anytime you like!"

"I will! Bye now!"

Stella returned home to put the vials back into the box…

However, she met one of the guards serving the village chief waiting outside her house.

"Miss Stella, you're finally here…"

"Mhmm… How may I help you?"

"Ahh… The village chief wanted to tell you something… I brought his letter so you don't have to visit him. He knows that you're busy. Here, take it…"

"Oh, I see… Thank you!"

"You're welcome… I will go now…"

Stella nodded to the guard as he left to return to his post.

'It seems that the chief wasn't expecting a reply… Anyway, the village is small… I can just meet him if I need to say something.'

Stella thought as she brought the letter to her room. The letter wasn't sealed so she thought that it wasn't important…

As soon as she read the first part of the letter, Stella could only smile wryly.

---Stella, it seems that Frank secretly took some items from the mountain bandit's hideout… One of his previous supporters told us about it… If you found it in his room, you don't have to return it. Just make sure that you keep it a secret. After all, we don't know its origin. But if you haven't found any, just ignore this letter…"