The black sea ink was there in front of her, contained within a flask, squirming as if it were in excruciating pain.
"You may back out now if you wish, but I don't think Lady Evelyn would be happy with that decision..." Daishi said, staring directly into Silvie's silver-like eyes.
The servant felt a revulsion twist in her stomach; the thought of merely swallowing it was enough to disgust her. However, it was a step she must take if she wished to become a Scripter.
Preparing herself inwardly, Silvie declared, "Sir Daishi, I'm prepared to do it."
The man was impressed. "Excellent. Let's remind ourselves of our goals for the day." He set aside the flask containing the black substance for an easier conversation.
"Silvie, today our work involves two tasks. First, I'll show and teach you how to dilute pure black sea ink. After that, we'll administer it to you in small doses. That much is clear, right?" The servant nodded in understanding.
The store owner added, "The exact measurement of each dose will be one and a half ounces, and we'll do it every week, as it would take roughly six months for an ordinary human body to acclimate."
Silvie had something to say to that remark. "Sir Daishi, that process seems unbearably long..."
The man already had a response prepared at the back of his mind. "It is long indeed, but the slower we take it, the safer it will be for you."
"Besides, Silvie, I believe that's enough time for you to prove yourself. Remember, even if we are allowing you to strengthen your resistance, you still have to prove your loyalty to us."
"Until then, your elixir isn't guaranteed."
The servant didn't argue. She bowed ever slightly. "I will work hard for it, Sir Daishi, for the... Malefactors." She tried to sound convincing, yet she was having trouble with her sincerity.
The store owner noticed but discerned it was her being nervous.
"As for the second task, I've given some thought to how we should proceed. It may be best if I teach you how to manufacture it myself."
There was a darker implication to Sir Daishi's voice, one that Silvie instinctively recoiled from.
"The Maryland drug. I'll teach you how to make it..." He let the words hang, thinking of the Malefactors' lucrative enterprise, and perhaps he intended to involve the servant in it's distribution.
Silvie took a deep breath. She didn't want to learn the recipe for the drug that poisoned the populace, but she had no choice.
She stood from her chair; it was better to get the day over with. There was no acceptance within her heart, only the thought of what needed to be done.
All she knew was that doing this would bring her closer to attaining the power of a Scripter...
Seeing that the servant was now a willing participant, Daishi gestured for Silvie to come closer. "Silvie, it's time for us to cook," he commanded.
They were about to begin diluting the Black Sea Ink.
But before anything else, Daishi seemed to recall something. He retrieved an item from the closet: a lab coat, which made him appear almost too professional. Silvie nearly forgot that, on the surface, he was merely a baker.
Then, quite suddenly, she too found herself wearing a lab coat, on top of her maid's dress! She looked absurd, to say the least, but it was all for the sake of immersion.
Sir Daishi assembled four items: a flask of pure Black Sea Ink, two test tubes, two burners, and the diluting agent, a pure white liquid in a vial that caught Silvie's unrelenting interest.
"What is that?" she asked, feeling uneasy upon seeing it.
"This?" He held up the clear vial containing the white liquid. "Our good friend within the nobility of Umbridge is our provider, and he calls these... Silver Tears."
It was the secret diluting agent...
Silvie did not understand why, but a sharp pain suddenly struck her chest. She could not explain why she was having such a reaction to the vial.
"What's wrong, Silvie?" Daishi noticed her pained expression.
She quickly denied that anything was wrong, excusing it as mere nervousness about trying the diluted Black Sea Ink. Daishi, understanding the feeling, accepted her answer and dismissed the matter.
However, her behavior was beginning to seem suspicious to him, though he didn't deem it important.
The store owner even questioned himself whether he was being too lenient.
"We'll need two ounces each of Black Sea ink and Silver tears in separate tubes." Sir Daishi wanted Silvie to handle it herself.
She complied gladly, despite still being affected mentally by seeing the Silver Tears.
"Good. Now we need to heat them separately on the burner," he said before elaborating, "We heat the Black Sea ink to weaken its potency, and we do the same with the Silver Tears, but heating strengthens them. You'll notice when the tears begin to glow white."
Daishi guided Silvie through the procedure as she placed the two tubes, each containing the substances, onto separate burners and turned them on.
Under Sir Daishi's guidance, Silvie carefully clamped the glass tubes, each containing two ounces of liquid, and held them at a slight angle above the strong burner's flame.
She slowly moved the tubes to ensure even heating, preventing any sudden temperature shocks.
The Black Sea ink bubbled steadily within three minutes, but the silver tears took a little longer to begin bubbling, their pure white glow intensifying as they neared boiling without risking the fragile glass cracking.
After turning off both burners, Sir Daishi let the tubes settle before reaching for what was unmistakably a simple shot glass, the vessel they would use to mix the two substances in small quantities, and from which Silvie would be made to... drink...
Silvie's mouth hung open. Of all the terrifying, bizarre things she had endured today, the fact that her initiation into building resistance against the Black Sea Ink involved a drunkard's shot glass nearly broke her composure.
"Sir Daishi... is this the only way to do it?" the servant asked, though something deep within her reacted negatively at the mere sight of the miniature glass.
Chapter End...