Jujutsushi Wa Yuusha Ni Narenai

「Dammiiit… 『Swordsman』 vocation isn't just for show, eh…」

I lost. Got beat up so thoroughly. Did he by chance have some sort of grudge against me? I don't remember ever doing something cruel to Ueda though.

My shadow could use the flying-sword style with 『Blackhair Bind』. I could easily win against a goma, but could I afford to block or dodge against someone with 『Swordsman』 vocation? I mean, it felt as if the other party had seen through my moves.

「Rather, it feels like there's an insurmountable wall between me and the vanguard job like a swordsman.」

If I had to fight Ueda for real, I would definitely avoid a frontal clash. Instead, I would use poison, trap, or Rems to beat him up.

That is how a shaman is supposed to fight after all. I wasn't born to wield the sword.

「I guess I really have no talent for swords, I guess I have to keep sword training to a minimum.」

Well then, seeing that martial arts training barely had any effect on me, now let's see what the real me would do at the entrance workshop after some training with everyone.

「What are you doing, Himeno-san? Your hand has stopped moving!」

「Sorry about that, but you have to find a way to prevent your hand from feeling itchy yourself.」

「Bu-But…」

「Okay, here you go, this ointment should do the job.」

As the only one who had learnt 『Simple Alchemy Formation』 among the batch of new employees, Himeno-san was left with the simple job of smelting the ore; the light ore mined by Rems in the desert area.

Having said that, sorting with alchemy was a simple job since she only had to separate the sand and other sediments from the ore. Direct manipulation of the component was impossible with elemental alchemy. Ergo, if the difference between the components could be seen with the naked eye, it was possible to transform and separate them.

In addition, removing impurities in this way, before the material was used by the 『Sage』  Takanashi for advanced alchemy, would make a better quality finished product. That said, Himeno-san's job was really important.

Next was Shimokawa-kun who was struggling with his bootleg potion project.

「Shimokawa-ku~n, how's the situation on your side~?」

「Geh, Momokawa…」

What’s with that blatant displeasure? I just asked about your progress. Did you happen to slack off?

「My side is fine, don't worry about it.」

「Is that so~? Is it just my imagination that the mixture seems to be the same as yesterday?」

「Eh?」

Shimokawa-kun, if you want to lie, you should stick through until the end.

Well, not that it would deceive me since I had already memorized the combination ratio and the prototype of the raw materials.

「Shouldn't you try different combinations this time?」

「B-But still, figuring out the exact measurements of the ingredients is really taxing you see. Ain't something you can do for hours.」

「Surely, alchemy is mentally taxing.」

「Right!」

「That's why, since you can't employ it in succession, you should use the down time between experiments. I mean, you've already done a few experiments so far.」

The clue to recreating a bootleg potion lies in magical power and medicinal plants.

Firstly, potion was a magical restorative medicine. If those effects happened because of magic, then it was only natural to think that it contained magical power.

In addition, according to the 『Sage』 Takanashi's test, the magical power contained within the bootleg potion was far less than the one in the real potion.

On the other hand, the bootleg potion would be completed as long as it contained magical power.

Though the treasure chest was currently transformed into an all-purpose storage, you needed magical power to open and close the box. If someone asks whether magical power can be imbued into the bootleg potion, the answer is NO.

To begin with, the treasure chest had some sort of mechanism that absorbed magical powers to allow it to function properly. Bootleg potion on the other hand was a substance that had lost its magical power.

To imbue something with magical power, the first requirement was to have an enchantment skill like Souma Sakura's 『Holy Enchant』. And to imbue magical power into specific material, we had to use the enchantment magic specific to that.

Not to mention that we had to study the combination of the medicinal plants at the same time as looking for a way to imbue magical power into bootleg potion.

Another result of the comparison between potions was that the bootleg potion not only lacked magical power but some of its main ingredients were also missing. This was something that we found out thanks to Shimokawa's 『Water Alchemy Formation』.

We had no idea which ingredient was missing. Not that it would help us any further even if we found out what was missing.

However, if my guess was right, the missing ingredient should be something that increases the potency of the potion; it was something to heal wounds after all. And the only thing I know that had the said effect was medicinal plants.

The current most prominent candidate was the material for Ointment A, namely fakelion, the leaf of fairy walnut, and lastly the white flower from the flower bed.

The other medicinal herbs were wildflower and mandragora. Each of those medicinal herbs was included in water alchemy to create the bootleg potion.

We kept experimenting by combining those ingredients, using trial and error until the ratios of the ingredients were as close as possible to the real potion.

That's why even if the combination with water alchemy was the same as yesterday, it wasn't a meaningless effort.

「Have you tried other combinations? What about the report of the result of your experiment? That's the thing we need right now.」

「… Sorry.」

「Shimokawa-kun, you know that this isn’t the kind of job where just doing it is enough, right? Especially when it comes to research-related jobs like this, it'll be meaningless unless you have a result.」

「Yes, you're right, I'm reflecting on that.」

「Then I’ll be expecting the report of today’s experiment by noon.」

「Eh, noon is just around the corner though…」

「Finish it after lunch. I'll tell Mei-chan to pick it up.」

「N-No way…」

Good grief, our lunch was actually delayed due to a single person's mistake. Did he think that the person in charge of our meal had that kind of leeway? Better let him learn from this mistake.

Well, looking at the overall result, Shimokawa's research did advance.

In the first place, recreating a perfect potion with a bootleg potion was pretty much impossible with our current skill. Alas, I got this feeling that it was possible to achieve the same level as my handmade ointment.

Though the final effect might be inferior to Ointment A, being able to achieve an instant effect was enough for this bootleg potion.

Well do your best, you just need a bit more Shimokawa. Though you look like you're about to die, please do that after you’ve completed your research.

「Momokawa~」

「Ah, Randou-san.」

Randou-san called out to me just when I was thinking about the situation in the next post.

「I've too much free time~」

Said Randou-san as she slumped on top of piles of white pelt.

Though her pose allowed me to see her panties had she worn her school uniform, she was, unfortunately, wearing her jersey in the workshop. Alas, even the jersey wasn't enough to hide her sexy curves.

「Sorry, the new batch of materials will arrive soon…」

「I want it faste~r.」

「All right, my bad for that. I'll contact the merchant to deliver it as fast as possible.」

「Geez, they can actually take their time though.」

Though I had no idea what she really wanted, I had no choice but to offer my apologies since it was my fault that she ended up having too much free time.

Randou-san's job was, naturally, purifying light iron using 『Iron Ore Alchemy Formation』.

The product of her job was fine material that could be used to upgrade our weapon. As against a simple plate created using just iron, the one made with iron imbued with magical power was much more powerful and durable. Thus, we, naturally, needed light iron that was imbued with magical power to create an enchanted weapon.

As such, a part of Randou-san's research room was filled with mined light iron and junk weapons we got from humanoid monsters such as werewolves or govus.

Alas, Randou-san used up her stock of light ore pretty quickly.

Around her were heaps of light iron material that was waiting to be delivered to the manufacturer.

「In terms of job speed, Randou-san is really fast.」

「Ain't this pretty normal?」

If this was the normal speed, then Takanashi wasn't working at all.

「My bad, I'll think about your next job.」

「Ka~y, gimme a call if you need my help.」

I felt a sense of defeat upon listening to her languid voice. She was simply too talented in this line of job.

Rather, shouldn't I just appoint her as the maker of our equipment?

No, let's not forget that she lacked the imagination to do that, she could struggle to no end if I entrusted her that job. There must be a more suitable job for her.

Well, let's stow this matter for later.

「How's the situation on Class Rep's side?」

「Well, it took me three days to understand this ability of mine.」