Atelier Tanaka

Book 6: Chapter 3 (10)

Academic City (1st)

I was nervous for Edita Sensei as she stood in front of the massive crowd gathered before her.

I could see her knees trembling and her shoulders shaking. Her nerves showed no signs of stopping. Even so, Sensei gave her best and continued on while trying to keep her cool. After she first stepped into the spotlight, her frantic speech earned a few chuckles and laughter from the unsympathetic audience.

But she continued on nevertheless. The content of her words eventually began to win over the audience and the laughter was replaced by eager anticipation for each of her words. The theory that Sensei had put together in her book was gradually being embraced by the people of Academy City.

Seeing her grow in confidence as she captivated the audience filled me with joy.

As expected of my blonde plump thighed loli Sensei.

My presence on stage turned out to be entirely unnecessary. Sensei smoothly moved from one topic to the next, using a series of prepared panels to help illustrate her point.

Her lecture proceeded on until the time we had been allotted was up. Edita Sensei managed to get through everything she wanted to cover and the only thing left to do now was to have members of the audience try a sample of the potion made using the purple garlic.

Our plan is to ask for volunteers from the audience to sample the potion on stage. If there are no brave volunteers, well have Professor Bus be our volunteer. Just as Senseis lecture was coming to its close, a familiar voice could be heard from the audience.

It wasnt someone eagerly volunteering, but a voice from an isolated corner of the hall.

Why do you keep bringing up that man!? We left the Penny Empire with each other! I chose to be by your side! Your side and no one elses, Allen!

It was Ester-chan.

Both Allen and her must have come to attend the lecture.

Glancing in the direction of the voice, I could see Allen, Drill-chan, and the masochist demon sitting near each other. Ester-chan must have been bored waiting for the meeting to start in a few days and chose to explore the city with nothing better to do. I can understand that thought process since I too felt the same way.

Even so, why does she have to do this now?

E-Ester, please, calm down! We dont have to do this here.

Then, where are we going to have it? Why are you trying to push me to get closer to him!? I dont want that! Id rather die! Theres nothing about that man that I like! That diary filled with those disgusting things wasnt written by me!

As usual, Allen and Ester have let their passions explode in an inconvenient place. But of all places, why did it have to be during Edita Senseis lecture? That damn lolibitch.

Ester!

The ikemen was doing his best to contain the lolibitch, but she was so fired up that she wasnt listening to anything he had to say. Her voice echoed throughout the hall and everyones attention had been taken away from Sensei. As expected of the daughter of a powerful nobleman. This Ester-chan has lived everyday of her life doing as she wishes with no thought of how it may harm others.

The only reason Im even here is because Allen wont stop praising you. Youve managed to gather all of these people here and for what? To praise a potion that tastes so horrendous nobody can even stand to drink it. How could something like that ever be useful on a battlefield? The enemy will kill you while youre recoiling from the taste!

Everyones attention was now entirely focused on Ester-chan.

Instead of providing our soldiers with an inferior potion that is likely to lead to their death, there should be a concentrated effort to improve the quality of potions we currently have and make them widely available, even if they cost more. This proposed potion may be created from a cheap plant that grows everywhere, but see what a nasty, cheap potion like that does for any country when our soldiers refuse to drink them and die as a result. I suppose that doesnt matter to most of you. Anything you can do to cut costs here and there so you can build yourself another mansion while those that give their lives to protect you live in squalor. People like you are the worst!

Even now, shes trying to sound cool.

And she does have a point.

Once a business begins to fail, its the employees that are first affected. The water pressure in the bathroom gets lower, the lights are turned off during breaks, and compensation for cab rides becomes a thing of the past. The daily life of a wage slave becomes even more difficult.

Maybe this would be used by governments as a way of cutting costs and have the unintended consequence of discouraging advancement in healing potions. My potion is effective and cheap, so why would the government care that it tastes so bad that nobody would willingly drink it?

W-We should leave, Ester-chan! Lets go outside for now!

Allen must have felt the eyes of everyone on him as he quickly stood up and grabbed Ester-chan by the arm. He then bowed and started pulling Ester-chan as he went.

Drill-chan and the masochist demon remained behind while pretending to not know the couple.

They were all seated next to each other, but once Ester-chan raised her voice, the masochist demon and Drill-chan quickly moved over a seat and put on an expression like, Who is this crazy girl?

If youre going to hold a presentation in a city like this, you should at least make sure your product is usable! Its probably that mans fault for being too impatient! Of course its his fault! After all, ugly on the outside, ugly on the inside!

I can feel the crowd getting more behind her.

Im sure there are plenty of people that feel the same toward me as Ester-chan based on my looks alone. This is a presentation about an unknown potion by two unknowns to Academy City; its unlikely that everyone would simply believe us. Im sure there are many outsiders like us that give presentations in Academy City on a regular basis. Most of them amount to little.

Edita-san, we should keep going.

I tried to encourage Edita Sensei to continue.

Acknowledging what just happened would only cause more questions. Its best for us to just move past Ester-chans outburst and treat it as a differing opinion. Allen should be able to drag her out before she can make things any worse. Besides, if we let this be what the lecture is remembered for, well be wasting the opportunity given to us by Professor Bus.

But Sensei decided to go for a different tactic.

I dont want to hear that from you.

What was that?

The blonde lolis locked eyes and sparks began to fly.

Edita Sensei was showing unusually aggressive behaviour for someone like her.

Alchemy is incredibly important to her.

It seems you really arent the woman I thought I knew.

How strange, I dont know you either!

I shouldnt allow this to continue.

I found where Professor Bus was sitting and hoped he would step in, but as I thought about it, I realized I couldnt rely on him. Edita Sensei and Ester-chan are representatives just like me. They are not the responsibility of Academy City.

I shouldnt rely on the deputy representative when it concerns matters of our country.

I have to be the one to resolve this.

I took a few steps forward and took Edita Senseis place in the middle of the stage.

Im sure there are many others in the audience that have their own opinions on our potion. The concerns you have are important and matters that need to be addressed. I wish to thank the young lady in the audience for reminding us of the true purpose of healing potions.

O-Oi, what are you.

I had been working as little more than an assistant up until this point, so the audience was caught off guard when I took centre stage.

I disregarded their concerns and continued,

The ingredients and process have already been explained to you. I would now like to make a request for any volunteers willing to taste our potion. The taste may be horrid, but it is in no way poisonous.

Oi, Im not finished with that woman yet.

So, any volunteers? If youre still concerned about poisoning, I can sample it first.

A few hands rose up from the audience.

Alright.

We can still make this work.

Edita Sensei and Ester-chans squabble was put on hold.

I managed to continue the lecture following the path we had originally planned.

***