Failure Alchemist – Chapter 42

Translator: Flowingcloud  Editor: Arocks141

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Request from the King

 

If you are reading from a pirate or aggregator site, please read from the translator’s site: yado-inn (dot) com I have to put the link like this or else the bots will remove it, sorry 🙁

After His Royal Highness, Prince William’s condition had stabilized, Father and I were summoned to a separate room by His Majesty the King. There were only three of us in the room.

It was a small room with only a table and a few chairs for a small number of people.

“What I am about to tell you must not leave the room.”

The first thing that His Majesty said was to keep our mouths shut, which made the atmosphere tense.

What are we talking about that needs only me and Father?

“Daisy, is it possible to make a truth serum?” His Majesty the King asked me.

“…Truth serum?” I was puzzled by the unfamiliar word.

Father explained in an easy-to-understand way, “He is talking about a drug which makes the one who takes it want to speak the truth when they’re asked a question.”

His Majesty the King said that he had an idea of who had poisoned His Royal Highness the prince this time, but every time, there was no definite evidence, and it always ended up with the skink lizard’s shedding of its tail. It seems that they have not been able to catch the real culprit behind the entire thing. ¹

It was a slow-acting poison this time, so we made it in time, but if a strong, immediate-acting poison was used, we might not be able to make it in time.
Thus, in order to keep His Highness the Prince safe, the king wanted to arrest the people aiming for the prince’s life using the truth serum.

…The name of the product isn’t ‘truth serum’, but there certainly was such an article.

“I feel like there was something similar in the alchemy book you gave me, but I probably do not have the ingredients,” I answered to the best of my ability in the current situation.

“Okay,” the King replied, “It certainly is not something you can immediately give me an answer to. Go back home and check before you give me a reply.”

“Putting that aside, I believe I must thank you for today’s matter. Give it a look.”

From his breast pocket, His Majesty held out a small pouch made of a beautiful light purple cloth in front of me.

“Excuse me,” Father said on behalf of me. Then, he respectfully picked up the pouch placed in front of me and placed the contents of the pouch on my palm so I could see.

…All that was in there was a single platinum coin.

Father held his breath.
I just curiously stared at the coin which I had never seen before.

“Your Majesty, I believe this is a bit much for a potion fee…”

A bead of cold sweat ran down Father’s forehead.

His Majesty shook his head in response to Father’s words.

“That is not a payment based on the price of today’s potion. Think of it as a thank-you payment from the king of the entire nation for saving my child’s life.”

It would be rude to refuse after the king said so much.

“We will accept it gratefully,” Father thanked His Majesty, then he put the platinum coin away in the cloth pouch and tucked it into his breast pocket.

Then, Father said to me, “It’s indeed dangerous for Daisy to carry this much money. Father will hold onto this until we can store it away somewhere safe.

As usual, I had no idea what the money was worth, but I knew it was a lot of money. Thus, I obediently nodded.

Also, there was one more thing that concerned me. Even though His Highness the Prince had survived, the culprit had not yet been found. His Highness is not really safe yet.

“Your Majesty, thank you very much for your kindness. This might not be the case, but even though His Highness the Prince is safe, here is something just in case. I have brought another bottle of the ‘Potent Detoxification Potion’ today, so please take it… and I hope you won’t need it…”

Then, I presented the ‘Potent Detoxification Potion’ to His Majesty.

His Majesty cast down his eyes and thanked me, “Thank you for your concern.”

Afterward, Father and I left the room and took a carriage from the royal castle back to our home.

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After returning home, I was flipping through ‘Alchemy Textbook’ to look for the ‘truth serum’ that His Majesty the King had requested.

“…A drug that makes you want to talk, huh?”

I had a feeling there was something like that somewhere, but when I looked for it, I could not find it.

“In the first place, I’m pretty sure that’s not even the name of it,” I groaned and plopped down on top of the book.

As I laid there, I mumbled to myself.

“Makes you want to talk, makes you want to talk, makes you want to talk, makes you want to talk (shaberitaku-naru… makes you want to talk (shaberitaku-naaru)… ah!”

I remembered the name!
It’s ‘Want to Talk Knurl’ (Shaberitaku-naaru)! ²

I quickly searched for the page. It was not long before I found the page I was looking for.
‘Talking Mushroom’ and ‘Donna Grass Root’. If I have these two ingredients, water, and a magic gem, I can make one!
I took a note of them and hurried out of the room to look for Father.

I searched the mansion and found him sitting on the sofa in the living room.
I approached him with quick steps and informed him immediately.

“Father, I found it! It’s a potion called ‘Want to Talk Knurl’! It can be made with ‘Talking Mushrooms’ and ‘Donna Grass Roots’!”

As I reported to Father in excitement, Father patted his knee and told me, “Come here.” I did as he told and sat down on his lap.

“Daisy, listen carefully. What do you think will happen if someone uses that potion and tells His Highness that they poisoned the prince?”

Father asked slowly as he placed me on his lap and held me in his arms.

“… They’d probably get caught, right?” I answered. Then I thought, ‘Ah.’

I realized that it was not a drug that ends with someone being happy.

“Father, this medicine may make His Highness the Prince safe. However, anyone who tries to harm Your Highness will be caught and punished, right?” I asked as I stared at Father’s eyes.

“That’s probably what will happen. They will most likely be… sentenced to death or, at best, permanent imprisonment.”

I deeply nodded my head.

“If you know what’s going to happen, can you make it, Daisy? …If you can’t, you can say you can’t make it. Father will find a way to tell his Majesty.”

There are people who may have death conferred upon them from His Majesty due to the drug I made… This was very shocking to me.

But then, I remembered the innocent smile on His Highness’s face when I offered him the sweet bread. There is someone somewhere who wants to harm His Highness, who was the same age as me—who was innocent. …I don’t want that to happen.

It was a pity that he had to go through such painful experiences again and again just because he was born the child of His Majesty the King. And now, he might die even though he was not innocent.

“Father. I am going to make the potion… to protect His Highness’s smile. Even if it means that someone else will be accused of a crime,” I replied, then shut my mouth shut.

“I see,” Father hugged me closely and buried his face in my body. ³

If you are reading from a pirate or aggregator site, please read from the translator’s site: yado-inn (dot) com I have to put the link like this or else the bots will remove it, sorry 🙁

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Translator Note: I know I’ve already said so in my footnotes, but for those who don’t read them, these ingredient/potion names so sound stupid because they are. They are puns in Japanese, and they are purely nonsensical, thus the names are so weird. Sorry, I tried my best to make it sound normal, but I don’t think it helps. I can’t turn iron into gold.

1. Flowingcloud: I usually put a substitute expression but I was feeling lazy so I just used the direct translation. A skink lizard’s shedding of its tail means putting the blame on others and getting away themselves.
   Arocks141: To be exact, it’s more like “losing an arm to keep one’s life”, or paying a smaller price to avoid a more detrimental consequence.
2. Flowingcloud: I have seen bad puns, but this is the most low-effort shit pun I’ve ever seen. The name is so bad that the name sounds like sh*t even in the translation. If any readers have any good questions, I’m always up to change the sh*tty name of the potion.
   Arocks141: I refuse to be a part of this.
3. Flowingcloud: I double-checked the light novel and they used the exact same phrasing too. This is kinda creepy lmao.
   Arocks141: Agreed.