World’s Cutest Alchemist

[Raccoon: I LOVE WOMEN!]

→ [Real and based!]

→ [No way!? Me too!]

→ [Raccoon likes women, I like women, in conclusion: We’re the same!]

↳ [The difference is Raccoon is a cute girl, and you’re not.]

→ [So that story is true? Wait, is this the reason why our potion sales have been so little!?]

↳ [Addicted to Sweet Potions: AHHHH, SHE’S SPENDING ALL HER TIME WITH HER GIRLFRIEND INSTEAD OF SELLING ME POTIONS!!]

↳ [Aviation Crow: Selling YOU potions? You mean, selling ME potions!]

↳ [Addicted to Sweet Potions: Screw you! They’re mine!]

→ [Omg, the nails are so cute!!]

↳ [Right? If I’m not wrong, one has a raccoon painted the other has a mouse painted. They both have smol hands so I can’t tell who’s who!]

↳ [They were painted recently! I’m a nail dresser and I can tell that the paint is still settling.]

↳ [Oh yeah? Well, I’m a painter and I can tell that it isn’t dry!]

↳ […You just repeated what they said but differently.]

→ [WHY COULDN’T IT BE ME!!!!]

→ [This gremlin got a girlfriend before me!?]

→ [This just motivated me to get on the grind. There’s just no way this chaos gremlin got a partner before I did.]

→ [Wait, if this part is true, does that mean the bouncy potion part is true? They last for 5 minutes?]

→ [I couldn’t care less about who you’re dating! Just sell us the god damn bouncy bouncy potions already!!! I need to know what happens to that bouncy ball!]

↳ [+1!]

→ [Are you still recuperating from the fifth floor clear? Or do you have something bigger planned?]

↳ [Come to think of it, she really has been quiet lately. All she does is sell 50 mana potions daily. It really makes me wonder if this is the calm before the storm.]

↳ [I think you’re reading too much into it. It’s Christmas season, she’s probably just spending time with her partner and not even thinking of much.]

→ [Confirmed: Raccoon and her partner are both smol!]

I smiled, looking at my newly painted nails. Most of them were black with the exceptions being my ring fingers and thumbs. Those were white and painted to look like a mouse’s face.

It was something I’ve been wanting to do for a while, but never did. So, I figured that this would be the perfect opportunity.

This was my first time ever having painted nails and, wow, I should’ve had it done sooner. They don’t feel any different, the only thing different is now I look cuter!

It was also my first time painting nails! I didn’t paint my own—Luna did—But, I did paint hers! She had inverted colors from mine, so, a majority of hers were white while her ring finger and thumbs were black painted to look like a raccoon’s face.

My photo album had at least twenty new pictures each of our nails. Though, admittedly, a lot of those were of us holding hands just because I wanted to hold hands.

“The party leader replied, by the way.” Luna said, I took my attention off of my nails and turned to her, “She’s saying she can compensate, but, she mainly wants to apologize and asks me to tell you that she’s sorry.”

“Compensation? Really?” I tilted my head, “Is it because she thinks we were intentionally hiding it?”

“Maybe,” She shrugged, “She probably feels bad. Though, technically not her responsibility, she still could have told the party to quiet down when speaking about a party member’s personal affairs.”

“I see, I see,” I nodded, “She sounds like a good person.”

“Or, she’s just scared the Little Bomber is going to blow her up?” Luna joked.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“Pfft! Hehe!” I giggled.

“She’s fine with meeting today, as are a few others. Surprisingly, the water mage is coming even though she had nothing to do with it.”

“Haah,” I exaggerated a yawn, “Must be one of my bajillion fans~”

“Pfft, sure.” Luna chuckled.

“When’s the meeting?” I asked.

“How about 14:00?”

“Works for me,” I shrugged, “That’s enough time to brew a batch.”

“I don’t think you can.” She said.

“Huh?” I tilted my head, “Why not?”

“You’ve got to let your nails dry.”

“Oh.”

“Should take about two hours?” She guessed, “I haven’t had my nails painted since high school.”

“Since high school? Why not?” I asked, “You look really good with painted nails.”

“Thank you,” She smiled, “It’s because I awakened. And, it’s really easy to mess up the paint if you don’t use special nail paint.”

“Ah, that makes sense.” I nodded, “There’s probably a lot of materials out there that’ll scuff up my nails…”

“Maybe,” She shrugged, “Anyways! Since you can’t brew potions…How about we watch a movie together?” She asked with sparkling eyes.

“Pfft, alright,” I nodded. “I want to watch a cartoon.”

“Yes!” She cheered, “I know a good one I think you’d like!”

…

About an hour into the movie, I received a message I was excited to see.

“Mouse, can we pause for a bit?” I asked.

“Hm? Sure.” Luna nodded, pausing the movie, “Do you need to use the bathroom?”

“Nuh-uh,” I shook my head, “Our drug guy just messaged! The goods are coming in!”

“Oh! The bottles?” Then, Luna laughed, “Why’d you say it like you’re a drug dealer!?”

“Hehe!” I giggled.

As soon as I called Adam, he picked up. Like last time, he had turned on his camera so that I could see him.

However, unlike last time, he didn’t look extremely sleep deprived. If anything, he looked full of energy and seemed excited. That was good. I could tell he was doing a lot better than last time.

“Good afternoon, boss!” Adam cheerfully said. His voice held a lot more confidence than it previously did.

“Hi, drug mister!” I returned the greeting, “You’re looking healthy.”

“Haha,” He chuckled, scratching the back of his head, “It’s thanks to you, boss. I was able to quit those two part time jobs and have purely focused on making those bottles for you.”

“That’s good! That’s good!” I nodded, “You’ve been sleeping good too?”

“Yes!” He nodded, “The best I have in years!”

“Great!”

“So, boss, I have a little update regarding the bottles before I send them over.” He said.

“Hm? Let’s hear it.”

“Do you still have the prototype bottles I sent you?” He asked.

“Of course, I’m never getting rid of them.”

“Oh,” I saw a slight blush appear on his cheeks before he cleared his throat and continued, “Those bottles were made with silica sand, soda ash, limestone…Or in other words, the standard glass recipe that we used even before awakeners existed. But, these new bottles are composed of a new, cheaper recipe while maintaining the quality, I used star sand and wraithwood charcoal-” He paused, “Ahem, sorry, these finer details are probably things that don’t matter to you.”

“Eh? Why’d you stop!” I complained, “Even if I’m not a glassmaker like you, I’m still a production class, knowing materials usages for other classes is really interesting!”

“Ah, well, then, uh, I’ll continue!” He said, he looked pretty excited to talk about his work, “So, the new glass is made from star sand, which is gathered from sandy D rank gates and above; It has a low enough melting point so that I can skip adding something like soda ash to lower it. Then, the wraithwood charcoal is made from wraithwood trees, which is found in forest type low-tier gates. They’re both abundant materials, so, their price is low.

I found that these two synergize well together, creating a more durable but cheaper glass. Plus, it looks and feels no different than other glass! If I were to price it, then, I’d say it’s at least 20% cheaper!”

“20%!” I repeated, “That’s great!” I nodded, “But, if it’s just better, than why is the other recipe the standard glass recipe rather than this one?” I asked.

“Because it still needs mana to maintain itself during the creation process.” He said, “Automation becomes lot more difficult when that step is added. Plus, the normal recipe is possible even to unawakened.”

“I see, I see.” I said, “That makes sense. Is it faster to make too?”

“Unfortunately not,” He shook his head, “If I upgrade my skills, I’ll be able to quicken the production process though.”

“Right.”

“Alright! I’m sending over the bottles now!” He said.

A moment later, a trade notification appeared.

[White Crystal Addict has initiated a trade!]

[You receive: 665x [Raccoon Glass Bottle], 665x [Mouse Glass Bottle] 70x [Raccoon and Mouse Glass Bottle].]

[You give: Nothing]

[Y/N]

[Trade Accepted!]

[You will receive the items in 3…2…1…]

Four large boxes appeared on the floor in front of me. I quickly opened one of them quickly and gulped when I saw the inside.

Packed at the top were 20 raccoon and mouse glass bottles and below those were the other versions of the glass bottles.

“I tried my best to divide them equally in all the boxes.” Adam said.

I picked up a bottle and so did Luna. She quietly inspected her bottle.

I did the same, tapping the glass. It really felt no different than the prototypes. The glass was nice, smooth, and crystal clear. There was barely any distortion, so, I could see through it quite easily. The cap of the bottle was a twist off with little ridges on it.

The description wasn’t any different than before:

[Raccoon and Mouse Glass Bottle]

Grade - D+

Creator: White Crystal Addict

A small bottle made for storing liquids for Raccoon. The embossing details a raccoon and a mouse sitting side by side at the campfire.

“Hehehe! These are so good!” I exclaimed, “I love them! Thank you so much!”

“Thank you.” Adam showed a genuine smile.

“Mouse, what do you think?” I asked Luna.

“Mouse?” Adam repeated, confused.

Oh, has he not seen the forums? I wonder if that’s because he doesn’t go online much or because he was focusing on making the bottles?

“These are very nice.” Luna said calmly, though, I could see her smiling, “They’re mana conductive too, so, it won’t cause any problems with that. There’s only one thing I dislike about them.”

When she said that, I saw Adam flinch and tense up. That excitement had changed to nervousness. Even if he didn’t know about our relationship, he could at least tell she was important.

I was curious too, from a combat perspective, what could be the problem? I didn’t see anything at first glance.

“In gates, sometimes we need to drink potions on the spot. When that happens, we don’t have time to stash the empty bottles and often have to just toss them. I don’t want to do that with these bottles; I just want to keep and collect them.”

After those words left her mouth, I saw Adam let out a huge breath of relief and his face relaxed.

“Pfft!” I burst out giggling, “Hehe! Right!? I’d like to put these in a display case!”

“Haha, thank you for your kind words.” Adam said.

“These bottles are wonderful, thank you for making them.” Luna said.

“I agree! I agree! I’m super satisfied with these!”

Adam blushed and slightly bowed his head.

“Oh, right! Drug mister!” I said.

“Yes, boss?” Adam replied.

“I’ve got a contract for you to sign. Officiating the exchange between us.”

“R-Really?” His eyes widened.

“Of course,” I patted my chest, “Who do you think I am?” I smiled smugly, “I can send you a digital contract now.” I said before adding a joke, “Or, if you’d like to come to Florida, I can hand it to you in person~”

“Got it, boss! I’ll book a flight!”

“Wait, what?”