I was eager to start creating the Magic Scroll right away, but before I could do that, I needed to gather the necessary ink materials.
As the sun had already set, I knew that the town shops would most likely be closed by now.
Although I was almost ready to give up, a sudden realization dawned on me. I remembered that I could find all the required items, such as anhydrous ethanol, moonflower, and Genka Leaf powder, in the prison’s infirmary.
Since I didn’t need a lot anyway, they might be willing to share if I asked.
Praying for a kind on-duty physician, I made my way to the infirmary.
The on-duty physician who greeted me was Mr. Rod Mephisto.
Mr. Mephisto was an eccentric with a pleasant demeanor, a mad scientist type who would distribute money to prisoners to recruit them as test subjects for his strange drug experiments.
It seemed that as long as one had a sound mind, they wouldn’t apply for such dangerous experiments that involved prisoners, but prisoners were constantly volunteering because they saw it as an easy way to make money.
While a few prisoners had ended up near death, warden Blackberry turned a blind eye.
It appeared that Mr. Mephisto served as the prison physician to ensure a steady supply of test subjects for his experiments.
Despite his reputation as a dangerous physician, he maintained a gentle and kind-hearted facade on the surface.
“You must be the new guard, right? Welcome! I’m brewing some tea right now. How about joining me? Or would you prefer getting high with the newly developed gas?”
“No thanks.”
“Is that so? It’s quite popular among our group, as it can make you feel really good. It’s called nitrous oxide, but I’ve given it the name ‘laughing gas.’ Pretty catchy name, don’t you think?”
Not knowing how to react, I decided to navigate through this situation with a vague smile.
“Sir Physician, actually, I was wondering if I could get some anhydrous ethanol, moonflower, and Genka Leaf from you.”
“Oh! I heard you got injured while assisting the police with an arrest yesterday. Mr. Rover told me.”
Since I had received a shallow cut on my arm during the fight with Crunch, I had visited Mr. Rover, the on-duty physician, last night for treatment.
“Did you start running a fever today?”
“Well…”
It seemed that Mr. Mephisto had misunderstood the situation and thought I needed the the ingredients for treatment.
“It’s okay, I’ll give you the medicine right away. However, what do you need anhydrous ethanol for? If you drink something like that instead of alcohol, it could lead to serious consequences. If you do plan on drinking it though, I would like to observe your condition…”
The physician’s eyes gleamed suspiciously, but I had no intention of drinking something like that.
“No, that’s not it. It’s for… it’s for making air fresheners!”
“Air fresheners?”
“Yes, exactly. You mix anhydrous ethanol with the oils extracted from herbs and such to make them. I wanted to temporarily forget the smell of the prison…”
I vaguely recalled reading about making such fragrances in a book before.
“I see… Well, I suppose that’s fine.”
Mr. Mephisto poured a small amount of anhydrous ethanol into an empty bottle I had brought, which used to contain Giselle.
I only needed about 10 melano, so this was more than enough.
Thanking him, I quickly escaped from the infirmary before being subjected to any strange gas.
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