"I admit you're good-looking, but when did I ever say I liked you that much?Don't make things up."
"If my money dries up and my beauty fades, I might be discarded, so I'll have to take care of both from now on."
Good grief. I let out a snort of disbelief.
Of course, I was the one who benefited from both, so instead of denying it, I decided to change the subject.
"Seems like you're not in too much pain even though the blessing is gone."
Seeing as he still had the energy to spout nonsense.
"Mm, the pace of the black stains rampaging around has definitely slowed down compared to before."
I scanned the stains swirling around him.
They were more active than when the blessing was in place, but far calmer than when he hadn't even had the divine fluid applied.
Back then, Lute had seemed like he was practically being crushed by those stains.
And yet, aside from occasionally trembling hands, he had never shown any signs of it.
Seriously, he's a real tough one.
"Ah, it's not too bad. But, having already tasted the sweetness of being pain-free... there's no going back now."
Lute gently rubbed the spot on his neck where the divine fluid had been applied and gave a charming smile.
"Now I really can't live without you, Saintess."
"..."
I mean, I've built up a pretty strong mental fortitude during my time as a detective, enough that I'm not easily swayed by temptations.
Never thought I'd almost fall for a beauty trap in my second life...
"…Enough with the nonsense. Just give me the necklace. If you're in pain, your first thought should be to get the blessing."
I deliberately averted my gaze from Lute, who was smiling knowingly.
It wasn't just Lute—there was Eirik, and Seth too. This world was just full of good-looking people.
And they were all around me.
For a smooth second life, I needed an unshakable mind that wouldn't be swayed by beauty. Isn't there a skill for that?
[The AI system is checking…]
[No major issues detected in the user's mental fortitude. Mental strength updates will proceed if a problem arises. Please take note.]
I let out a sigh of relief at the AI's confirmation.
At least I could worry a little less about falling for beauty traps.
"Ah, I'd love to give it to you, but we have a problem. People are heading this way right now."
People? Who?
At Lute's words, I turned my head in confusion.
Not long after, noise began erupting from outside the door. The voices were familiar.
"Wait, the Saintess is with a guest right now—!"
"Saintess! Please, just a moment of your time! It's urgent!"
Cutting through Victoria's attempts to stop them came the unmistakable voice of Jenric.
"I've finally made a potion that's good enough to sell!"
And he brought that news with an incredible announcement.
"Right now—no, just a moment."
I sprang to my feet to rush to the door, but stopped.
It was definitely good news, but Lute's blessing came first.
"Ah, I'm fine."
Noticing my hesitation, Lute waved his hand.
"I actually wanted to take a look at the potion too. The pain is bearable, so don't worry about me—go meet them first."
He did have the right to check the potion as my business partner.
But still, his condition bothered me more.
"Even so, casting the blessing won't take long, so if I could just—"
"No. I want to see the potion first."
If he was going to be that firm about it, I didn't really have a choice.
"If you say so, then let's check the potion first. Sorry."
I opened the door.
The three members of the potion development team were crying, blocked by Victoria.
Or rather—only Jenric was crying.
"Come in."
After patting Victoria on the shoulder for her trouble, I brought the three of them inside.
They entered confidently but froze the moment they saw Lute reclining calmly on the sofa.
Rana's face turned ghostly pale the instant she recognized him.
"I—I—I'm so sorry! I didn't know the guest was the Duke! I truly apologize for the disturbance!"
Bowing deeply to both me and Lute, Rana then shot a glare at Jenric and Wolfgang.
The two of them quickly clasped their hands together and bowed their heads.
"We're sorry!"
"Truly sorry!"
Well, looks like the hierarchy is firmly established now.
"This is perfect timing. Let me introduce you. This is Duke Lute Sheary, who will be distributing the potions you created to the market."
"Gasp! T-The Duke?!"
Rana looked like she was about to faint.
Ah, I never explained this to them. I guess Eirik didn't mention it either.
Scratching my head, I turned to Wolfgang, who at least looked the most composed.
"Wolfgang, can you explain the new potion?"
"..."
What's this? Why no answer?
"Wolfgang? …Where are your eyes even focusing?"
When I looked again in confusion, I realized he had passed out with his eyes open, still wearing a calm expression.
What the hell, was meeting Lute that shocking? Wasn't he introduced by Lute in the first place?
I didn't know why, but he clearly wasn't in any condition to explain either, so I turned to Jenric.
Now that I looked, the one who had been sobbing earlier was actually the calmest.
"Jenric, can you explain it for us?"
"Oh, yes! I really wanted to do this!"
Thankfully, Jenric wiped his tears and got to work immediately.
He placed the potion on the table in front of the sofa where Lute and I were sitting. It was the same orange color as the first sample, but noticeably darker than the previous version.
"Remember what I said before? That if you mix Armin flower and Lindal herb properly, you'd get the best effects, not poison?"
"Those two plants?"
Lute, hearing this for the first time, raised an eyebrow.
He clearly already knew that combining those two plants typically results in a highly toxic mixture.
"Yes. That's what I discovered after two years of research."
"Oh, so you finally found the right mixing ratio?"
At my question, Jenric shook his head.
"No, unfortunately, we still haven't figured that out. But! We did find a new ingredient that harmonizes their effects regardless of ratio!"
With a bright smile, he pulled a sprig of flowers from his coat.
"This right here!"
"Huh, that's…?"
A cluster of tiny orange flowers, each about the size of a thumbnail.
They were unmistakably the Hyas flower, a plant that only grows in the Temple of the Sun God.
"You don't mean you used that?"
"Yes! It worked really well!"
To summarize Jenric's explanation:
While researching divine power for the potion development, they discovered that the divine power of the Sun God is highly compatible with other energies due to its strong healing nature.
So, they tried adding a Hyas flower, infused with that divine power.
After running countless insane experiments with Rana and Wolfgang, just as they hoped, the divine power of the Hyas flower neutralized the toxic elements of the two plants.
"Of course, we'll keep working to find the ideal mix ratio. If we can figure that out too, we'll have the perfect potion."
Jenric beamed with a bright, cheerful expression. I think it was the first time I'd seen him look so genuinely happy.
"So the potion contains Hyas flower, Armin flower, and Lindal herb, right? What's the effect like?"
"At least five times more potent than the sample I showed you before. It's good enough for a prototype to be sold."
Five times? That's really impressive.
And if I add my blessing to it?
The effect might be incredible.
I smiled and gave Jenric a pat on the shoulder.
"You all did a great job. Now that you've successfully developed a prototype, you'll be getting bonus pay."
"Saintess, you're the best. I'll serve you for life."
Moved by the perfect financial reward, Jenric burst into fresh tears. Then he turned to the still-zoned-out Wolfgang and slapped his back.
"You heard that, right? We did it! Let's keep working hard and pull all-nighters again!"
Come on, sleep isn't only for the dead, you know.
But seeing that even Rana, who had briefly lost her mind, was now smiling quietly, it was clear they weren't going to listen. I decided to let it go.
The three of them soon left the parlor after apologizing profusely for the interruption.
"I was worried that the two alchemists we recruited from your side and ours had completely different personalities, but now they work together perfectly."
After seeing them off, I turned to Lute with a smile.
"Thank you for helping me find such good alchemists."
"It actually wasn't that difficult. Wolfgang Schmidt, in fact, was already on our radar."
That was news to me, and quite surprising.
"Really?"
"Yes. He's such a genius that other alchemists were too jealous to let him into their circles. That, and he's a bit rigid and inflexible."
"Then why didn't you hire him?"
"The reason we were looking for alchemists in the first place was because of my illness. After things went sour with the Sea God's side, he was our last hope."
He'd apparently tried every potion on the market to no effect, which led him to search for someone like Wolfgang, a non-mainstream alchemist.
"But just before I could hire Wolfgang Schmidt, I happened to come across an old book."
"An old book?"
"Yes. It was an ancient text about the relics of light."
And what Lute said next made my face harden.