abcnovels
Chapter 24 - The Cheat Pharmacist Commits to Results
Chapter 24 - The Cheat Pharmacist Commits to Results
Chapter 24 - The Cheat Pharmacist Commits to Results
Chapter 24: The Cheat Pharmacist Commits to Results
While I was relaxing in the living room after closing shop, I could hear Noela and Mina’s voices coming from the bathroom.
“Noela-san ... ... my THAT has gotten a little not so good...”
“Before, didn’t have. Mina, squishysquishy.”
“St-, please don’t touch it~”
What are they doing?
“Master.”
With her hair still wet, Noela came leaping out at me.
There’s the pleasant scent of soap.
“Hm? What is it?”
“Mina, got fat.”
“Eh?”
I looked at Mina, who came out after Noela, but I can’t see where she’s gotten fat.
Even if I stare hard at her, I don’t think that’s the case at all.
Mina tilted her head as she wiped her hair with a towel.
“What is it, Reiji-san?”
“Noela, what are you basing that on?”
“Master, here, look.”
Approaching her, Noela completely flipped the hem of Mina’s onepiece dress to the sky.
Naturally, her panties were completely visible.
Grab; Mina pressed down her overturned hem in a panic.
“-Whwhwhwh,why did you flip it, Noela-san -”
“I was thinking, wanted to show Master.”
“Showing him is wrong-”
“Not Mina’s panties. Different. Showing him Mina’s squishysquishy stomach.”
“Don’t show him that either!”
So Noela flipped her skirt to show me her stomach?
“Noela, you said Mina got fat, but I can’t see it at all?”
“Really~?”
With a floaty, giggly look, Mina beamed.
“Master, wrong. Mina, hiding a lot.”
When Noela poked Mina’s stomach, Mina’s shoulders fell in a slump.
“...Yes. It’s a sad story; I am hiding a lot, Reiji-san...”
She’s a ghost, but she got fat.
That said, because Mina can materialize, she can have weight fluctuations?
“Can you get fat as a spirit?”
“That’s right. Frighteningly, I’ve been spending most of my time materialized recently, so I think it’s because of that...”
“Mina can’t leave this place and doesn’t exercise, so it can’t be helped, huh?”
Noela and I often walk in the forest to forage for herbs, so we probably haven’t had any problems with lack of exercise.
“Reiji-san.”
Mina looked at me with a rare, serious look.
“I want to be thin.”
“I see, so you’re going to diet ... good luck!”
When I gave her an energetic thumbs up, Mina tapped her index fingers together, looking like she had something difficult to say.
“Uum, Reiji-san. If it would strike your fancy ... ... you know, there’s medicine? If you could make it, I’d be really happy ~, something like that...?”
Mina glanced upwards as if to check my complexion.
Diet supplements, huh...?
If it’s something to help lose weight more easily rather than become thin, then it looks like my Drug Discovery Skill can make it.
But you know ...
“What is it, Reiji-san?”
“I don’t think there are any shortcuts to dieting, you know? Steady effort. I think that’s what will work.”
“I,I know ... but you know, ‘To lose weight easily,’ that’s the eternal theme amongst all women!”
Mina gave a fervent speech with her fists clenched.
“Right!? Noela-san!”
“Noela, can’t-get-fat type.”
“Noela-san is a traitor-”
Wag, wag.
While wagging her tail, Noela made a smug face in front of Mina.
Ahem; Mina cleared her throat once.
“There are other exceptions like Noela-san, but ... pretty much everyone yearns for it! And so, if you make it, women will buy it like crazy -! And so, to test it out, wouldn’t that be me? I will take the medicine and get thin. Absolutely. I will definitely show you I will lose weight.”
Isn’t she even more worked up than before?
“I get it, I get it, if you’re going to say so much, I’ll make it.”
“Yaa-y! Reiji-san, thank you so much-!”
Exploding with happiness, Mina hugged me.
Noela fidgeted, and then she also hugged me.
“I will wait for it without sleeping!”
“You’re anticipating it too much.”
Smack; I gave Mina’s head a chop.
In the end the person herself has to put in effort or it won’t work, but does she get that?
When I peeled the two off me and went to the medicine room, Mina followed along.
“I shall help.”
“Mina has Mina’s work to do, right? Like leftover housework or something. I’ll leave that to you.”
In exchange, Noela followed me into the medicine room, and when I began to work, she plopped herself on my lap, laid down, and quickly fell asleep.
She grasped her fluffy tail, fresh out of the bath, and the sound of her sleep-breathing began.
“You didn’t have much of an intent to help ...”
With a bitter smile, I moved my hands.
I boiled down herbs that had been dried and stored and extracted an ingredient called kuchikun.
Afterwords, I put in the flavor of flowers and fruits to make it easy to drink, and as usual, with a shake of the bottle the medicine was done.
“Alright, done.”
[Kuchikun Juice: Kuchikan extract promotes metabolism. It becomes easy to burn fat.
You need to continue drinking it, so I made one weeks worth for now to store it.
I tasted a mouthful, and its flavor is good so I’ve made a juice that won’t be difficult to drink.
“All around good reviews.”
“- – Is it done!? It’s done, right?! Ya-ay!”
Mina came running and grasped a bottle in her hands.
That Mina; she sure came in with some amazingly nice timing.
I bet she was watching the entire time outside.
“If I just drink this, I’ll become thin, right?”
I explained this and that, but it doesn’t seem like most of it entered Mina’s ears.
“I understand, I understand, you need stead effort, yes. ... .. With this, Noela-san will stop squishysquishy-ing me.”
Mina swigged today’s portion of juice and made a satisfied humph through her nose.
I can’t see where she’s fat enough to want to lose weight so much.
Poke poke; I touched her stomach.
There’s a squishy feeling.
“Hyaan-!? Wh,why are you touching me-!?”
“Sorry, sorry. Is it really to the point you have to go on a diet? I think it’s fine to be a little squishy, though.”
“It’s no good. That squishiness, it’s already out. If you let it go, it will evolve in blubberiness, after all.”
Is that how it is?
I prefer a little squishiness over skin-and-bones, but that might be different from Mina’s ideals, I suppose.
After that day, Mina drank one bottle of kuchikun juice every day according to my explanation.
This time, rather than medicine, it’s more like a health supplement.
That’s why the effect will differ between people.
Actually, I’ve also been secretly drinking the kuchikun juice.
If it’s just to that degree then I can also give it a bit of a try, and I think it’s better to have more sample subjects.
I passed the week normally, and my body had a little change.
I feel like some of the bit of flab around my stomach is gone.
I don’t have a scale so it’s hard to tell, but I wonder how it is.
“Noela, what do you think?”
I took off my shirt and showed Noela, and she nodded up and down.
“Different. Master, a little thinner.”
“Th,that so? Really?”
“Juice, amazing. Master, worked hard.”
Pat pat; Noela patted my head as a reward.
It’s not like I was trying to lose wait, but I’m happy that there were results.
I’m part of the group that doesn’t believe in anything that says, ‘Just do x/y and you’ll lose weight,’ like this.
But this time, it might be okay to believe it a little.
I wonder how the main one, Mina, is doing.
“Mina. How are the results of the juice-? I had a little bit of an effect.”
“Really-?! Congratulations! If that’s the case, I should most definitely have results as well!”
Mina had a pleased look on her face.
Noela lifted a finger to investigate and poked Mina’s stomach.
“How is it, how is it, Noela-san?”
“......”
“I’ve been passing the days as usual without thinking about it much, so I don’t know how much I’ve lost at all-”
Noela silently shook her head.
“No change.”
“Eh–”
Mina’s face went white.
She went rigid with no expression, as if she’d just been told she only had three months to live.
Noela touched Mina’s stomach.
“Squishysquishy.”
“Nooooooooo! Why, why – Reiji-san lost weight, so why was it just me -”
Mina looked at me tearily.
Oi oi, is it something you have to cry about ...?
“Even though it’s supposed to be a juice that makes you lose weight...”
“Nono, I told you over and over, but that’s not what this juice does. It only helps you lose weight. Ah ... perhaps -”
That Mina; if she was reassured that she’d lose wait, and was snacking between meals -.
Underneath the sink is a shelf where we put the treats that our customers give us as thanks and whatnot.
Opening the small door, half of the 10 boxes of sweets are missing.
“Oi, Mina. You’ve been eating the sweets, right?”
“I,it’s not just me! No,Noela-san also, Noela-san was eating them with me!”
Zoom; Noela ran off.
I wasn’t mad, but it seems like she thought I was.
“Look here; I’m not mad the sweets are gone. ... ... I’m made that you were snacking between meals on a diet.”
Ain’t gonna lose weight like that.
On top of staying inside all the time, she was snacking without a care.
“I,I want to lose weight easily...”
“Mina, you’re underestimating dieting.”
“Uuu...”
That said, I don’t really know much about diets either.
“Do you seriously want to lose weight?”
“Yes, I want to lose weight!”
“Alright. Mina, you can’t go outside so ... do muscle training. And also, snacking between meals is prohibited, na?”
“Waaaaah....”
“You’re serious about this, right-!? Is your passion towards losing wait only worth that much!?”
“I,I’ll work hard-”
And with this and that, another week of drinking juice began, together with a light muscle training menu that didn’t push her too hard.
And of course, there was no snacking.
Noela also helped with the muscle training, and that stoic (so the person herself says) week ended.
Noela investigated by poking Mina in the stomach with her index finger.
“... ... Squishysquishy, gone.”
“ – Alriiiiiiiiight! I did it, I did it, Reiji-san, Noela-san-!”
Grasping Noela and my hands, Mina began to spin in a circle.
The person herself was really happy, but I just replaced the daily exercise bit with muscle training and had her stop snacking.
Which means, as expected, if it’s to that degree, the juice has a definite effect.
“Congrats, Mina.”
“Thank you so much, Reiji-san! It’s thanks to that juice, and you who made it, Reiji-san!”
If she’s that happy about it, then it was correct for me to have made it.
– But two weeks later, disaster struck.
“Mina, squishysquishy.”
“Noooooooooo!? Agaaaaaain!?”
.... Looks like she rebounded.
As I thought, the most important thing is steady, repeated effort.