On the day Ana and I had promised to meet, she arrived at our house around the time the church bell rang six in the afternoon and the surroundings were dyed in a dim orange color. Our house has a shared space on the second floor, with areas for water facilities such as toilets and baths, a living room with a sofa and a spacious six-person dining table, as well as Marcus’s room and another room that serves as a closet. On the third floor, there are three rooms for girls, including one that is currently unused. My room is quite spacious, as it is for the master of the house and I have quite a lot of belongings.
I invited Ana up the stairs to the dining table on the second floor.
“Oh my, this is amazing!”
As she arrived at the dining room, Ana blinked her eyes behind her round glasses.
On the table were various cheese dishes that Mina had painstakingly made.
There were two types of appetizers. One was a slice of “fluffy bread” toast with “cream cheese” mixed with chives and garlic on top, and the other was a slice of toast with “cream cheese” topped with smoked salmon and dill.
Another appetizer was “round cheese” slices topped with diced tomatoes and basil, seasoned with salt and olive oil.
The salad was a mix of plenty of spring vegetables with black olives and “crumbly cheese” on top, dressed with vinegar and oil.
The main dish was a large round bread dough with tomato sauce, topped generously with sliced “round cheese” and basil, then baked until it was hot and melted.
Finally, for dessert, there was cheesecake made by mixing cream cheese, sugar, eggs, cream, flour, and lemon juice, then baking it.
“Is everything here cheese dishes? I thought it would be troublesome to get coagulant, but did you spend so much money on me?”
She seemed a little worried, as if thinking that we had specially slaughtered a calf or goat for her.
“It’s okay. There’s coagulant that can be extracted from plants, so we used that to make it firm,” I reassured her as I guided her to the center chair. I sat opposite Ana, while Mina and Marcus sat on the remaining seats with the serving dishes and silverware.
“Mina made everything with you in mind! Please don’t hesitate and eat as much as you want!” I said, encouraging her.
As Ana took her seat, she wiped away happy tears that spilled from her wrinkled smile with a handkerchief. “There’s also a sequence for the appetizers, but let’s eat the hot ones while they’re still hot!” she said, already taking a slice of cheese toast that had been cut and placing it on a serving dish with a knife and fork.
Then she took a bite of the hot toast. “Oh, it’s so hot and melty! Ha! It’s hot…,” she exclaimed, smiling happily as she ate the hot toast. “This is my first time eating this, but who knew that bread, tomato sauce, and cheese would go so well together!”
After Ana started eating, the three of us proceeded to serve ourselves and began eating.
The appetizer with “cream cheese” and smoked salmon with dill was delicious, with the fresh dill complementing the fatty flavor of the smoked salmon.
The tomato-topped “round cheese” appetizer was irresistible with the sweet milk flavor that oozed out of the cheese, and the fresh tomato acidity that blended perfectly.
The cheese on the salad was also refreshing and delicious, and everything was good. The three of us who were in our growing years ended up finishing the cheesecake, but it seemed to be too much for Ana’s stomach. We decided to give her the cut pieces to take home.
After the meal, Mina went downstairs to do the dishes, while Marcus went back and forth carrying the plates. Only Ana and I were left at the table, drinking tea after the meal. Leaf ate his meal and slept contentedly at my feet.
“Daisy-chan, thank you so much today. You’re such a kind and good girl,” Ana said, squinting her eyes and smiling.
“Mina worked really hard for it,” I replied modestly, nodding my head and praising Mina.
“No, Daisy is a good girl too. If she can become a person who can use alchemy with a kind heart, I wonder if I could give her something I can no longer use,” Ana said, and then began to talk about the past.
Anna was born in a country to the west of my country, became an alchemist and married a male blacksmith who she was close with. They originally lived in peace, but after a while, a coup occurred, and the country became ruled by a king who advocated militarism.
“I used to be an alchemist who made metals for weapons and armor, and bombs for mining. That’s why I married a blacksmith, but we caught the attention of the government,” she explained.
The swords and armor that the couple made for adventurers and knights to protect the country were demanded to be mass-produced for soldiers attacking other countries. And the bombs Anna made for mining were used as weapons to kill many people in other countries.
“It was tough… that’s why we decided to leave the country with our friends,” she said. But her husband stayed and said, “We need to dispose of what we made before we go.” That’s how Anna couldn’t see her husband again.
“I don’t have any children, so Daisy, could you take the books and alchemy pot I have? My back hurts so much that I can’t work with metal anymore,” she asked me, tilting her head with a slightly lonely but kind expression. I couldn’t help but confess my past that had been burning in the depths of my heart to Anna.
“…I once made a truth serum at the request of His Majesty. Two people who tried to harm His Majesty’s family were executed because of the medicine I made. At that time, I couldn’t accept the fact that people died because of the medicine I made, so I selfishly told His Majesty that I didn’t want to make anything that could potentially harm people again. A coward like me has no right to inherit Anna’s skills,” I muttered, looking down.
“Daisy, it’s okay for alchemists to be a little cowardly. If not, they might accidentally go in the wrong direction. But Daisy,” Anna said, touching my wrinkled cheeks with her hands, lifting up my tearful face. “The truth serum you made was used to protect His Majesty or someone important to him, right? And it was used to maintain this good country governed by a wise and kind king, wasn’t it? If so, Daisy has saved many people in this country,” she said. Hearing that, I felt a little relieved.
If I hadn’t made the truth serum at that time, and the criminals had attacked the prince again and he had died, there might have been a bad ending where the country became what the bad people imagined… like Anna’s homeland.
“Daisy, don’t be too afraid of power. Power and tools can be used for good or bad. If Daisy believes that she can use the tools she made for good with her own heart, then it’s not wrong to entrust those tools to someone else, right? Alchemists should be cautious enough to worry and think about it every time,” she said.
Finally, I felt the burning feeling in the depths of my heart disappear and I felt refreshed. “Anna, I want to inherit your alchemy skills. So… please be my teacher!” I said to her with a smile.
