Iris' mother looked at her daughter lovingly as she patted her head.

Stella wasn't sure how amazing these high-rank apothecarists are, but she knows that advanced-level potions were very valuable.

​​

It means that learning how to make three of them was definitely something to be proud of. Not only that, but she also learned them without someone teaching her…

It was something that Stella really admired as she somehow knows how complicated this profession was.

"Wow.... you really don't have a master, ma'am? How did you do it? You even have a shop…" Stella asked curiously.

"You can just call me Sally…" Iris' mother said as she smiled at the young girl before she continued.

"I got interested in learning them after I summoned my Arcana. Without my appraisal magic, the difficulty would've increased by ten times…"

Sally said as she caressed her circlet, her Arcana that assisted her to succeed in her profession.

"I see… That makes sense. You're indeed amazing, Ma'am Sally… Just like what your daughter said…"

Stella replied as she returned to the topic.

"I wonder if all of my potions have the same arcane magic… They all have purple color when I checked them… But is it possible that they have different effects?"

"Oh? It's possible… After all, the Clairvoyance Potion that we have here has a purple color as well. Although not as deep as the one you have…"

"I-I see… I guess I have to get all of them appraised to make sure… How much would it cost me?"

"Mhmm… We charge 50 copper coins to any items being appraised by my Arcana."

"I understand… I'll bring all my potions here. There are only five of them so I'll be back quickly." Stella said but as she was about to leave. She remembered something…

"Ah! I noticed that there were scary Hunters who just left before I arrived… They seem to be in a bad mood… Is there anything wrong?"

The mother and daughter looked at each other before they smiled at her… Iris then explained what happened.

"Mhmm… So you saw them… Don't worry, they just couldn't find the potion they're looking for. We told them that it's only available in the big cities…"

"I-I see… Nevermind then… I was just worried if they're troubling you."

"Haha… It's not like that… They just couldn't make it… The vigor potion no longer works on them because they're always using it… Hmph! I told them to only use it once a week… They're probably using it every night… Now they're having trouble--"

Iris wanted to explain more but her mother glared at her so she quickly closed her mouth.

"Eh? A-alright… I'll be leaving for now…"

Stella didn't know what she's talking about but since everything looks alright, she decided to forget about it.

After a while, she returned to the apothecary bringing the five other arcane potions to be appraised.

Apparently, all of them were Levitate potions. However, they have varying durations due to the differences in the concentration of the potion's main ingredient.

Anyway, she didn't ask what ingredient it was since it wasn't something she'll be making.

In the end, she has three potions with 10 minutes duration, another two with 15 minutes, and one potion that has full 30 minutes duration!

Of course, the selling price of each vial would increase with the longer duration. From 6 gold coins to 12 and 25 gold coins respectively.

Although she asked for the price they could be sold for, she doesn't have any plans to sell them since she has a lot of money at this time. It was better to use them in an emergency so she decided to carry one in her every hunt.

As she left the apothecary, she planned to start her sword practice after returning the vials to her room…

However, she was suddenly greeted by someone…

"Stella! It's been a while…"

"Oh… Miss Enri… Are you here to buy potions?"

"Yes… I'm planning to go with the Knights in the forest. They seemed to have found the traces of the Beast Tamer Organization." Enri explained as she looked at the box that Stella was holding.

"Eh? Really? Is it going to be dangerous?"

"I'm not sure… But I can always escape if there's a problem."

Enri announced proudly. She's an arcanist and an instructor at the royal academy, so her strength must be something that could not be ignored. Her addition to the knight's unit might increase their chance to succeed.

"I see… Be careful."

Stella was curious about the beast tamers that were supposedly based at Erliente Dukedom. After all, they wouldn't come here at the far south of the Chodora Kingdom without a purpose.

"Mhmm… I will… By the way, the association was also advising the Hunters to avoid the western part of the forest where most Hayan trees are growing…"

"Is that where the Beast Tamers are?"

"That's right… Their traces were sighted there… I know you're not a member of the Association so you may not have heard of it…" Enri chuckled after saying it.

"Mhmm… Thank you for telling me… Anyway, I haven't been there before."

"That's good… Alright, I won't be taking more of your time. That must be heavy." Enri said as she looked at the box filled with arcane potions.

"Hehe… See you later." Stella replied as she left the place. Enri seems to have gotten closer with the Chaos Knights. Anyway, they were all concerned about the safety of this village so it should be normal.

It was a good thing that everyone is working together with a common goal.

'Master… What do you think about the Beast Tamers?' Stella suddenly asked while walking to her home.

'I'm not sure… But they might've come here to tame the Guardian of the Forest, aside from targeting the kingdom's arcanist…'

'Eh? Is that possible?'

'Maybe… The dukedom wouldn't send tamers as assassins if they were only targeting the young arcanists … Aside from that, there are no other interesting beasts around the forest for them to tame.' Reiji explained after giving it a thought. Anyway, he wasn't confident with his guess as well but it should be close to the truth.

'I see… That makes sense.'

Since these people were trespassers from a different country, Stella silently wishes them to fail in their mission and get caught by the Chaos Knights.

***

Later in the afternoon, Reiji taught Stella another sword technique that may be useful in fighting against small beasts like the two-horned rabbits.

After all, he saw how she struggled to fight against the elusive rabbit before and missed a lot of chances in killing them.

Huu~

Stella exhaled slowly as she concentrated on her target.

She was now standing in front of a haybale used for practicing the sword technique. She bought it from the guards who managed to order a bunch of them through the Chaos Knight's connection.

In truth, there were a lot of improvements ever since the knights started living here with their squires. Having a proper source for training materials and weapons was just a few of them.

Stella is using the Wakigamae, or the Hip Stance, of one sword school - ittouryuu. The form was also known as the Metal Stance and Stella wasn't fond of this. She would rather use Chudan or Jodan when using a single sword.

However, Reiji wanted Stella to familiarize herself with each stance so she can easily adapt to various situations.

After all, unlike his previous world where he only has to worry about human opponents, she had to fight against beasts of varying sizes… She had to learn many techniques so she wouldn't be lost if she suddenly fought against uncommon beasts.

Wakigamae is also a variation of Gedan no Kamae or Earth Stance.

Gedan is the opposite of Jodan where the kensen, or tip of the shinai, was lowered to the level of the knee of your human opponent.

Wakigamae, on the other hand, was similarly lowered, but the two hands holding the tsuka were in a different position. The right hand must be placed around your hip while the left hand at your navel.*

Then, the shinai must be positioned diagonally downward so the opponent couldn't easily see the entire shinai. Of course, this is a migi or right side wakigamae. It can be changed to hidari or left side wakigamae depending on the practitioner.

"Haaa!"

Stella used suri-ashi to get close to the haybale followed by a swift sword slash… The young girl didn't stop as she sliced the haybale two more times in different angles…

Thud! Thud!

'I did it!'

Pieces of haybale fell to the ground as she celebrated a little. She then heaved a sigh of relief and proudly asked her master about his opinion.

"You're doing well… Take a couple more haybales." Reiji replied after being asked. In truth, he wasn't watching her since he was thinking of his plans for her.

Anyway, when she first tried cutting the haybale, it wasn't as clean as this…

'Yes! I'll work harder… Proper posture and angle of strikes are really important…'

'That's right… But don't forget to train in the hanging woods to improve your reflexes. Don't skip it just because you can avoid them perfectly.'

'Yes, Master!' Stella answered as she assembled one more haybale for her practice.