The Book Of Letters 15 Kurai And Alchemist Vs. Healer Debate

Another day, another delivery. There were no special deliveries today except for the usual letters. I was on my way back to the post office on foot when I saw Percy Daryl, a researching alchemist student, sitting outside Suncash Café. He was staring at nothing, with his head rested on the back of his hands and his coffee remained untouched. He looked worried, so I greeted him and asked him what was going on.

"It's my thesis," said Percy, sighing. "I'm doing a comparative study on alchemists and healers, whether they're the same or not. I sent a draft of it yesterday but my lecturer said that 'it's too similar to other articles' and that I should try to actually get results from a firsthand research."

Percy explained to me that there were many branches under the term 'alchemists', such as inkhemists (alchemists that specializes in ink magic) and gastromists (those that specializes in food alchemy). There was a recent debate whether healers were actually a branch from alchemy. Both capable of appraising ingredients with first sight, infusing their magic into their concoctions with a single hair strand and even their utensils are similar. The only difference was the usage of magic.

"Why not ask other healers?" I asked.

"I did, but here is the thing; I need a healer that doesn't just focuses on studying existing medical books and methods, but also, someone who has a wide range of knowledge in rare medicines."

The tone of Percy's voice sounded like he just insulted the entire Gloxinia Town Hospital staff. Though to be honest, I did read up on healer's textbooks before, and other than the usual biology content, it talked about medicinal treatment for each minor and major injuries and illnesses. However, the 'special cases' type, like Esuke and Sheena, was either on a whole different textbook, or too rare to be investigated on.

"Mamoru is still in town, so why not ask him?" I suggested.

"Who?" Percy asked.

"Mamoru Mizus.h.i.+ma, a travelling healer," I said. "He's staying here for a while to help rehabilitating the twin patients, Sheena and Annie. I heard he won a lot of medical awards so he might help you out."

"Nice!" Percy immediately stood up. "Where can I find him?"

"If he's not at the hospital, he could be at Litmus's house right now."

Percy gulped his cold coffee down his throat and thanked me before he left. I went back to the post office, feeling quite happy that today was less eventful. There were no more packages to deliver, the mailroom was organized as ever and the laid-back Postmaster served tea at the receptionist desk.

"Can you get Piper, Kurai?" Postmaster requested.

Piper, though is the mechanic of the post office, also handles the post office's finances. I asked Piper to join us for tea, but she raised her hand as she was calculating numbers. She didn't say anything, but I understood that she wanted privacy and would join us later. I closed her office door, told that to Postmaster and sat down opposite to him.

"It's almost three months since you came here, Kurai," said Postmaster, adding sugar to his cup. "How do you like it here?"

"I love the town, despite the chaotic days I've went through," I replied, remembering all the crazy shenanigans that happened. "I cherish these quiet days whenever it comes."

Postmaster chuckled. "On contrary, I enjoyed listening to all of your adventures. They remind me of my youthful days."

"Still, I prefer to keep these adventures at a minimum-"

"IS KURAI HERE?!"

I jolted, nearly spilled my tea. It was Percy, Mamoru and Litmus at the door. They appeared to be in panic. I placed my finger against my lips, telling them to be quiet.

"My, would you three like some tea?" Postmaster offered. The three took the offer as Postmaster brought in three more tea cups. I asked them what was going on, and Mamoru explained, somehow, after I suggested him to meet Mamoru (?), he found him(self?) at Litmus's home tending the flying ram. At some point of discussion, Litmus had the idea to try out a spell that might helped him.

"What did you do, Litmus?" I asked.

"He switched our bodies!" Percy and Mamoru exclaimed. I put my finger on my lips again, reminding them.

"I'm Mamoru," said Percy.

"I'm Percy," said Mamoru.

I sighed, realizing my one quiet day came to an end. "Why does it have to be today of all days?"

"It feels so weird," said Percy, touching Mamoru's neck. "I'm talking, but this isn't my voice."

"Why don't you switch them back, Litmus?" Postmaster asked.

"The thing is, the couplet spell was 'switch the heart and mind of these two, until Percy finds the answer he never knew', meaning I can't reverse it until Percy finds out the answer he needed." said Litmus. "I thought it was a good rhyme at first but thinking back at it now, maybe I should have given a proper time limit."

"Then the answer should be easy, isn't it?" I said. "All you need to know is whether healers is a branch stems from alchemists or not. Doesn't matter if it's true or not, as long as it's the answer you needed."

"If it was that simple, we wouldn't be here," said Percy.

"I tried saying 'no, they're not a branch' but that didn't work," said Mamoru. "Even though I backed that fact up with evidences, it still lacks."

"Then I don't see where I fit in this problem," I said.

"But Kurai, you're a problem-solver!" said Litmus. "You managed to solve many of Gloxinian Mysteries stories without magic! Also, remember the bicycle incident? And Spimole incident? You just know what to do in difficult situations."

I looked at Postmaster, who seemed amused with the situation. I couldn't be honest with them that I used magic. I could use magic to switch Percy and Mamoru back easily, but that would still require me to use magic in front of them.

"It doesn't hurt to help a friend, Kurai," Postmaster sipped his tea. I didn't want to go against him since he's my supervisor. I resigned myself reluctantly, and agreed to help Percy and Mamoru.

"Maybe you just need to experience a healer's magic, Percy," I guessed. "You did say you needed firsthand results."

"I would love to see the results," said Postmaster. "Kurai, makes some s.p.a.ce for them to experiment. Litmus, could you cast a spell on the walls so it won't get damaged?"

Postmaster is easily entertained by the smallest things, or maybe because he was bored, that's why. I did what I was told and cleared the racks out of the lounge. Litmus lined the walls and ceiling with protection and soundproof spells and Postmaster locked the door so n.o.body else could enter.

"I think the first thing Percy should do is using Mamoru's appraisal skill," I said, knocking on Mamoru (Percy)'s medicine box. "If you and Mamoru appraised the ingredients differently, then it shows that alchemists and healers are different."

Since I have both alchemist's and healer's appraisal skills, I am able to distinguish the usage of the ingredients in two different ways; one for medical use, and other for potion effect use. Percy took off the medical box off his back and set it on the desk. Mamoru then unlocked his box, which contained many compartments, each labelled differently.

"I know there are some ingredients we use that are also used by alchemists," said Mamoru, taking out some of the compartments. "What do you see, Percy?"

Whenever an alchemist or a healer uses their appraisal skill, their pupils would change to a different colour. Percy looked at the compartments, with his (Mamoru's) eyes turned from brown to blue, and pointed what each ingredient can do.

"This is easy," said Percy. "Xyntha herb, used for burn wounds, Azca leaves to relieve stomach ache, and crushed Icthan seeds for skin repair."

I turned to Mamoru. "What about you, Mamoru? What can you see with Percy's eyes?"

Mamoru looked stumped. His eyes had changed from blue to magenta. "Honestly, same thing as Percy said."

I got confused. I pretended to adjust my gla.s.ses to get a quick look of the ingredients with my appraisal skill. Respectively, Xyntha herb is an ingredient for ice potion, Azca leaves for quick plant growth and Icthan seeds for disguise potion.

"Hold on," Mamoru blinked twice. "Yeah, I can see their uses differently. I don't know why I didn't get it the first time."

"But doesn't that mean alchemists can determine their medical uses?" Litmus asked.

"I think so," I said, still confused by Mamoru's first answer. "We need to run more tests. Mamoru and Percy, what is the easiest concoction that you can make?"

"Crystal potion," said Percy.

"Cough medicine," said Mamoru.

"Then, you two try to make them, but by using each other's hair as the last ingredient," I said, feeling a little confused at my words. "I hope you understand what I'm trying to say."

"Yeah, we understand," Mamoru nodded his head. "Like, I'll try making the cough medicine, but using this alchemist's hair."

Mamoru gave Percy (or should I say, himself) his belt full of test tubes and bagged ingredients. Percy pulled out an empty test tube from the belt and demonstrated to us how he made crystal potion, asking me to close the lid after he used the ingredients.

"Just a drop of this, and this, and pinch of that, and small speck of this dust," said Percy, without explaining what kind of ingredients he was using. "Now, a healer's hair. Hopefully this works."

Right before Percy dropped Mamoru's hair into the mixture, Postmaster, Mamoru, Litmus and I hid behind the receptionist desk. As soon as the hair fell in, the tube suddenly exploded. Percy was taken aback and accidentally dropped the tube, shattering the tube against the floor. We stared at the puddle of liquid and the broken test tube, and there was no crystal forming.

"I guess that didn't work," said Percy. He took out his neutralizing reagent powder and spread it all over the spilled liquid. I brought the broom and dust pan from the kitchen and helped Percy to sweep the dust and broken gla.s.s.

When it was Mamoru's turn, he took out some leafy ingredients, crushed them in his small mortar with his pestle, added some seeds and boiled it in water at the kitchen stove. Once again, we kept our distance as Mamoru put alchemist's hair into the water, but nothing happened.

Mamoru didn't look pleased. He poured the water into the gla.s.s, filtering all of the leaves and seeds using a tea bag and asked if any of us wanted to try out.

"I'll try," Postmaster volunteered. He took the gla.s.s, blew the drink before he slowly sipped the medicine.

"I hope it's not poison," said Litmus.

"No, but I feel my throat feels clear," said Postmaster, taking another sip. "Quite bitter too."

"So does that mean the medicine worked?" Mamoru disbelieved what just happened. "No, it shouldn't have worked! Percy, try to appraise it."

Percy insisted he was telling the truth when he saw that it was an actual cough medicine, but Mamoru wouldn't believe it. Even I couldn't believe too, but I took a quick appraisal glance at the gla.s.s just to see if Percy was telling the truth, and he was right. Although, there was something off about these tests, and I had to figure out what was going on.

"I think this means that healer is a branch of alchemy," said Percy.

"One more test!" Mamoru exclaimed. "Healers are the only ones who can defibrillate people. If I can conduct electricity with these bare hands, then I can accept that statement."

Mamoru wanted to stick to what he believed in. The four of us backed away from Mamoru as he rubbed his hands together. He asked Percy to appraise in case he could actually conduct electricity.

"I've never conduct electricity with my hands before," Percy admitted.

"Oh no," I exhaled. To our surprise, Mamoru started to produce sparks, but instantly I knew something bad was about to happen. Percy's body was inexperienced in defibrillation, causing the electricity ran all over him instead.

"Oh no!" Percy exclaimed. He tried to grab Mamoru but got stunned instead. While Litmus and Percy were panicking over the situation, and Postmaster standing around waiting for something to happen, I put on rubber gloves from the rack and took Litmus's iron rod from his belt. I asked Mamoru to redirect the electricity onto the rod. Mamoru held onto the rod, and with a bit of my magic, I sent the static down my spine and to the ground. He then let go of the rod after sending all of the electricity out of his system.

Postmaster clapped his hands. "Brilliant! Good job, Kurai."

"Thanks, Postmaster," I said as I removed the rubber gloves to cover up the rod. "Are you okay, Mamoru?"

"I'm fine," said Mamoru. "I just... don't understand at all. I've healed and debated numerous alchemists before but this is the first time I've seen an alchemist, fitting all three criteria of being a healer."

"Hah! So healers are alchemists," said Percy. "Alright, time to change back."

We stood around for a minute, waiting for something to happen. Even Mamoru and Percy didn't look joyful at all, which meant that they haven't switched back.

"Kurai, what should we do?" Percy asked. "I thought that was the answer."

"Maybe, it isn't," I said, as I pretended to adjust my gla.s.ses in order to use my appraisal skill again. I should have done this earlier. I scanned both Percy and Mamoru, realizing the true answer.

"Litmus, you didn't switch their magic talents, right?" I asked.

"No, because it's more complex to switch their magic due to incompatibility," Litmus answered. "That's why I tried switching their hearts and mind. So since Mamoru is using Percy's body right now, he should be able to use alchemist's magic."

"I think he didn't," I said. "Mamoru has a healer's mindset, which is why the magic works."

"What do you mean?" Percy asked.

I told them to wait as I took Benjamin's backup mirror from the mailroom and gave it to Mamoru. "If I'm right, then the actual answer isn't what Percy was looking for his thesis, but rather, what he never knew before about himself. Mamoru, as a healer you can appraised people to determine their health and type of magic, please scan Percy's face."

Mamoru looked at the mirror, turning his eyes into magenta. I stepped out of his line of sight so he won't appraised me and waited for Mamoru to respond. Mamoru was stunned to see what he had appraised.

"This is a rare case!" said Mamoru excitingly. "Percy! Try to appraise me!"

Again, I stepped out of Percy's line of sight, and he too was surprised to see. Then, Mamoru and Percy jolted and fell back. They touched their faces and looked at each other again, happy to be back to their original bodies.

"What happened, Kurai?" Litmus asked.

"In the rarest of cases, a hybrid magic user is born," I said. "I figured that maybe, Percy has healer's blood all along, which is why Mamoru was able to pa.s.s all three tests."

"Do you know what I saw?" said Percy. "I'm fifty percent healer! I'm sure I got that from my dad but I didn't think it was possible for someone to carry two different magic types!"

"I'm surprised you figured that out, Kurai," Postmaster chuckled.

"Well, I just think that sometimes the unlikeliest of things, can turn out to be the solution," I shrugged.

❤︎

「In the end, it was written off as two separate magic types. But on a positive note, Percy decided to add on about being a hybrid magic user. He hung around with Litmus and Mamoru for a while because of their interest in his magic compatibility. Just by looking at those three together, they look like a trio of researchers that are one step closer to the secrets of the universe.

Piper finally stepped out of the office after being mentally drained from accounting. Mamoru and Percy told her all about what happened earlier, and she was surprised that she didn't hear any commotions outside the door. We told her that we soundproof the walls so that she could concentrate.

Today's event got me thinking about myself as well. My family had been carrying all six types of magic for generations now, and it made me wonder if we had a purpose to carry this magic in the past, or we were simply the rarest of all hybrids. I know it's too late already to be asking that question, but I would like to find out the answer someday, even if it doesn't matter anymore.

Anyway, have fun at the party!

Love,

Kurai」