Chapter 22 - Chapter 22: "I'm Sick of Diluting Things!"
Greetings. I am Violia Nico Fortesia.
I am currently in a state of half-desperation, diluting my blood over and over again.
...One spoonful of blood diluted with nine spoonfuls of water makes a 10-fold dilution, correct?
Then, I take one spoonful of that 10-fold diluted blood and mix it with another nine spoonfuls of water. That makes it 100-fold.
Then, I continue diluting it further in the same manner...
By the way, since the 100-fold dilution was no good, I went all out and made a 1,000-fold dilution, but even that was no good. A 10,000-fold dilution was still no good, and a 100,000-fold dilution was also no good!
Therefore! Next is the truly desperate 1,000,000-fold dilution!
"Alright. I caught a goblin."
"Here I go!"
I poured one spoonful of the 1,000,000-fold diluted blood into the mouth of the goblin Chesta had caught!
...And then!
"Ah."
"Oh—"
Lo and behold! The goblin did not die!
I have done it!
"Heh. It really is high."
"It certainly is, isn't it?"
The goblin given the 1,000,000-fold diluted blood was in quite a pleasant state of intoxication. It was my first time seeing a high goblin...
"However, with this, the goal has finally been achieved! Ah, thank goodness... I thought I would have to do that mind-numbing work all over again..."
Goblin hunting and such is still fine. However, dilution work with no end in sight truly weighs on the spirit! I am glad, truly, I am glad this work is over...!
I ate my lunch while observing the high goblin.
"Ah, Chesta. Could you please eat a little further away? Also, wash your hands thoroughly. There is a stream over there. Just to be safe, you see?"
"Yeah. Got it, got it."
If even a single drop of my blood were to accidentally get on Chesta and he were to put it in his mouth, he might die too...
How terrifying!
I observed the high goblin for a while after that, and it seemed the goblin returned to a somewhat normal state after about three hours.
...And then.
"Is it... begging for more?"
"It seems to be addictive."
The goblin, having finished its high, came to me energetically and acted attached. I wonder if it wants the next dose of the drug?
Since I was at it, I gave it another spoonful of the 1,000,000-fold diluted blood to make it high again. It got high once more.
"...If you use this several times in a row, won't it die?"
It might...
Then, when night fell, I gave the goblin blood one more time to make it high, and then decided to kill the goblin and go home.
"For now, I would like to try experimenting on humans somewhere, several times."
"You can do it somewhere, but don't use me as the first subject, okay?"
Ah, so he does have that much rationality. Well, that is fine. There are plenty of experimental subjects.
And so, I returned home—or rather, to the hideout.
"I have returned!"
"Ah, welcome back."
It seemed Doran and Giovan had already returned as well. Therefore, I shall announce the results immediately!
"Diluting it a million times turned it into a drug!"
"...A million times."
"A million times!"
"In other words, your blood is that strong of a poison..."
That is how it turns out... I was a little surprised myself.
"Heh. When it's diluted this much, you can't even tell if it was originally blood."
Giovan looked at the bottle containing the 1,000,000-fold diluted blood and muttered, "It looks like water." Well, it is a 1,000,000-fold dilution, after all.
"Well, with this, we can procure drugs cheaply and in large quantities!"
After all, if I have one spoonful of my blood, it becomes a million doses of the drug! It is practically free!
"Then, let us sell this immediately...!"
However, there was one blind spot.
"By the way, Young Lady. Does this stuff keep?"
"Eh?"
Shelf life.
...I had never even considered it!
"I had never even considered the shelf life!"
"Ah, I thought so."
"I can just put fresh blood on an arrowhead on the spot. Ah, but I often keep blood in a small vial to use. Let's see, the longest I've ever used blood that was left alone was about a month..."
Searching my memory, there was a time I used blood I had collected and mixed with slime fluid to prevent it from clotting, about a month after I had taken it.
Yes. When I want to hunt in large quantities, I don't want to make a wound every single time. I keep blood in a bottle and use that. But I have never had any trouble with that before.
"...I was wondering. If you accidentally bleed and get the floor dirty, what do you do? That floor would be a cursed floor for at least a month, wouldn't it?"
"How rude. I wipe it up at the very least."
"...Even if you wipe it, about one-millionth of a spoonful would likely remain."
Ah, that is also true...?
...For this 1,000,000-fold dilution, I performed a 10-fold dilution about six times. But when I have dirtied the floor or something, I have only ever wiped it twice with a rag at most!
"In other words, if I had let someone lick the floor of my room, would they have all dropped dead...?"
Well, that mansion is gone now, though!
"If it 'keeps for a while if it's the raw liquid' but 'loses its effect if it's diluted,' my heart would be at ease."
"If it were to remain forever, and you were crushed into a pulp on the ground somewhere, that land would be a cursed land for all eternity."
If I were to be crushed into a pulp, I wouldn't mind turning the whole area into a cursed land, but more than that, the thought of creatures continuing to die there for all eternity because of blood I accidentally spilled is quite frightening! For example, if I were to keep pouring my blood into the sea and all sea life were wiped out, that would be quite no laughing matter!
"...Well, we'll just have to experiment with that too."
"Eeeh... are we still experimenting?"
"We are. What are you saying, Young Lady? Whether it keeps or not changes the meaning of everything significantly."
Well, that is true. If a high-class drug that was carefully, carefully stored away lost its effect after being aged for a year, that would be... quite a problem, wouldn't it?
...And so, the experiments continued for a while longer.
I prepared the raw liquid, a 10,000-fold dilution, a 100,000-fold dilution, a 1,000,000-fold dilution, and a 10,000,000-fold dilution, and observed the goblins' reactions every day.
"The goblins in this forest are likely to be wiped out."
Since I decided on goblins as the experimental animals, if I found a goblin in the forest, I would immediately capture it and experiment on it. At this rate, goblins will likely disappear from this forest.
...And so, it is the 10th day of the experiment. I am already getting bored.
But there were results.
"Oh? This goblin isn't getting very high. Ah, but this one is."
The high was weak, but even so, they either got high or didn't get high at all.
...Hmm, in other words... it has reached the limit of whether it works or not?
For now, I ended the experiment on the 15th day.
The reason was that by then, the 1,000,000-fold diluted poison had stopped working on any of the goblins. It seems it has completely ceased to be a poison.
...However, one interesting thing was discovered.
"I see. In short, it can be used as a drug for seven to ten days 'after it's diluted'?"
"Yes! That is it! It seems that the more my blood is diluted, the easier it is for the effect to disappear!"
Interestingly.
If I give a 1,000,000-fold dilution that has been left for ten days to a goblin, the high is inconsistent. ...But, if I take raw liquid that has been left for ten days after collection and dilute it to 1,000,000-fold for the first time on the tenth day... lo and behold! The goblin still gets properly high!
"If there's a time limit, it'll be hard to distribute, but conversely, it means it's easy to manage."
"True. It's not bad if you consider that it's hard to resell."
If it's a drug that must be used within seven days of purchase, then naturally, one cannot stockpile it.
In that case, those who try to resell it will find it difficult to deal in this drug.
And above all, if something were to happen and the 1,000,000-fold diluted blood were to leak everywhere, the poison would disappear after 15 days! In other words, as long as I dilute my blood first, no barren lands will be born! It is a complete success!
"And also, a present for the Young Lady from me and Doran."
And furthermore! When Giovan said that, Doran set down about three humans who had been rolled up in straw mats before me!
"It's a present without much charm, but you need them, right? Do with them as you like."
"They attacked Giovan when he left the shop, so I captured them alive."
"Thank you! As expected, you are very thoughtful! I shall do as I please with them!"
The thugs who had been rolled up and tossed aside seemed terrified of what was about to happen... but there is nothing to be afraid of!
"Now then, let us hear your impressions immediately."
Now, once the human experimentation is finished, it will finally be time to make a fortune with drugs!