Limping on my injured foot, I pulled over some nearby tools and began grinding the carefully chosen herbs in a mortar.
Then, I placed the powdered herbs onto a piece of paper and rolled up my sleeves.
Just like lifting a flapping fish from a bucket, I reached into a nearby container and pulled out a piece of kelp.
“Oh, this is just seaweed, so please don’t be surprised.”
I gave Dad a heads-up, thinking about how Annie had reacted before—but he already looked like he was about to faint.
Smiling calmly, I scraped the essence out of the kelp and mixed it with the powdered herbs and pain-relief ingredients extracted from willow bark.
Then, I mixed it all together, pinched off small pieces about the size of my thumbnail, rolled them into pills, and held one out to Dad.
“Like this.”
“It’s definitely… unusual. Most medicines have to be brewed into tea.”
“Right, but since this medicine has stomach-related side effects, it’s better to increase the concentration and include something to prevent those effects—all in one pill.”
“But Ria… combining this many herbs at once could put a lot of strain on a patient…”
Dad trailed off. He was clearly choosing his words carefully, worried he might hurt my feelings.
Watching him, I leaned on one leg and crossed my arms.
Because, honestly, I was about to explode!
Sure, I’d used modern medical knowledge to create the medicine, but now the new problem was convincing people it actually worked.
Of course, even in modern times, mixing medications randomly isn’t a good idea…
But there are exceptions.
For instance, when someone’s prescribed a strong medicine, they’re often also given a stomach-protecting drug to take at the same time.
So why was this simple and obvious logic so hard to explain here?
I took a deep breath and tried to explain calmly.
“Dad… all of it gets mixed in your body anyway. Making someone take each medicine at different times only increases the burden on the patient. And if the ingredients are meant to interact, taking them together actually makes them more effective.”
I gave examples of two herbs—Zita and Kanin—that I’d read about in herbology books.
They’re known to work well together and are usually prescribed as a pair.
“…Hmm.”
Dad exhaled and fell into thought. But even with this groundbreaking medicine in front of him, he still looked unsure!
I was frustrated—okay, very frustrated. But since I’d come this far, I decided to just prove it.
“Dad, watch carefully.”
After a deep breath, I picked up one of the green pills and, without hesitation, popped it into my mouth.
“Ria! What are you doing?!”
Dad gasped and grabbed my cheeks in a panic.
The scene looked like something out of a historical drama, where someone forces poison down a prisoner’s throat…
Except this time, the dad was trying desperately to stop his daughter from taking it.
‘No way. Not a chance.’
“Mm-mm!”
“Ria! Spit it out right now! You don’t even know if it’s safe yet!”
I ignored Dad’s worried gaze, pressed my lips together tightly, and chewed and swallowed the homemade aspirin.
There was a moment where the seaweed flavor almost made me gag—but I forced it down and then gave Dad a cheerful smile.
“Too late, Dad. I already ate it.”
“Ria, why would you do something so dangerous?!”
“Oh, right—here.”
“My foot? What about it?”
“I accidentally hurt my foot earlier, remember? So now we can see if the medicine works.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake…”
Dad was so stunned he looked like he’d lost the ability to speak.
If I told him I’d deliberately injured my foot for this experiment, he might actually faint.
“Well, it’s not like I meant to get hurt, haha…”
I felt a little guilty, but this was the best way I could prove the medicine worked.
Anyway, my foot was clearly swelling now, and if my anti-inflammatory really worked, the results would show soon.
“Dad, with this medicine, people won’t have to suffer through pain anymore. They won’t have to just endure it. I really worked hard on this… Please, give it a chance.”
“….”
Dad slowly looked around at the messy lab.
His gaze moved from one stage of the research process to the next, and I waited like a student hoping for a good grade—waiting for him to respond.
“…But why did you use Batio? That herb is really hard to get. Wouldn’t Aphantium or Zeka have been better?”
“Oh! I thought of that too.”
I quickly ran to another table, grabbed my notes, and showed them to Dad.
“See, Salmatra is acidic—well, anyway, it causes stomach problems. But Aphantium and Zeka both worsen another side effect of Salmatra: anticoagulation. That’s why I went with Batio.”
(*Anticoagulation = when blood doesn’t clot properly)
“Hmm… anticoagulation, huh.”
“Yes!”
Dad nodded like he understood.
I smiled confidently. I knew that in modern times, this ingredient was often used as a blood thinner even more than for pain relief.
“But Adelia.”
Dad leaned on the table and said my name in a serious tone.
I smiled brightly at my future business partner, but his next words sent me crashing straight into panic.
“…How did you even know that Salmatra prevents blood from clotting?”
‘Crap.’
I instantly knew I had messed up. My whole body tensed, and goosebumps ran down my arms.
Looking into Dad’s serious, unsmiling face, my mind went blank.
Thinking back, brewing the herb into tea diluted its effects, so the blood-thinning side effect might not have been discovered yet.
So the odds were, no one knew about it.
A cold sweat ran down my back.
“Salmatra’s stomach issues are known, but this anticoagulation thing—it’s not even mentioned in any herb books. The only person who’s discovered it recently is my teacher, Count Veron. And as of now, only the two of us know about it.”
“…”
Damn this undeveloped medical world…
I was fuming inside. How could they not have figured this out already and get me into this mess?
But this wasn’t the time to get mad. I bit my lip and started thinking fast.
There had to be a way…!
Then suddenly, I remembered that nerdy assistant from Dad’s office—Verdick.
‘Sorry, buddy… I have no choice.’
Putting on the most innocent face I could, I looked up at Dad with sparkling eyes.
“Oh, actually… Verdick told me!”
“Ve…Verdick?”
Dad blinked in surprise at the unexpected name.
That told me everything I needed.
‘So Verdick does know too.’
This was my chance. I quickly jumped on it.
“Yes! While you were away, I asked Verdick if there was anything useful I should know—and he told me about it. He said it was a recent discovery.”
– Total lie, of course.
But with my most innocent expression, it worked like magic.
Dad’s face looked unsure now, and he tilted his head slightly.
‘Now all that’s left is for him to believe me…’
I anxiously watched his reaction.
“Huh… Strange. I didn’t think he was that chatty.”
“Well, we’re the same age! We talk sometimes when we pass by each other!”
“Really?”
Now Dad looked more surprised that Verdick would say something like that than suspicious of me.
Relieved, I turned my head slightly and let out a quiet sigh.
“Ria… I’m sorry. Lately things have just been so overwhelming… I guess I’ve been overly sensitive.”
“Haha, it’s okay. I understand.”
“I guess I just felt like you knew too much all of a sudden. I wondered if something had happened to you while I was away…”
