"I just... was curious why your body structures are different from ordinary people's. I didn't mean any harm."
"At most, I just wanted to study it a little. Really, I had no other intentions."
Sucrose was on the verge of tears. She truly meant no harm. Already suffering from social anxiety, Sucrose was never good with words, and now she had no idea how to explain herself. She also finally understood why she smelled like barbecue seasoning—Diona had specifically sprinkled it on her.
"As an alchemist, exploring the unknown is very important."
"But I was worried about disturbing you, so I could only follow you secretly."
Su Bai and Diona exchanged glances. Both could sense that the peeping really carried no malicious intent. But that didn't prove Sucrose's story was true.
"Miss Sucrose, do you have any other evidence to support what you're saying?"
"I do! I keep observation journals!"
Sucrose frantically pulled a notebook from her pocket and handed it to Su Bai. The slightly warm notebook made Su Bai's face redden—of course an alchemist would keep their notes close to their body.
Eula curiously leaned in, wanting to see what made an alchemist's notes so special. When Su Bai flipped open to a certain page, he was dumbfounded.
March X – March XX: White-furred fox doubtfully entered an estrus period. During this time, he had close relations with multiple females. Recently found a pink-eared tailless female from somewhere. This female currently shows no aggression—perhaps I could ask why she has no tail.
Eula scanned a few lines before immediately blushing and turning away, silently complaining about how Sucrose could write such things down. Sister Miko was such a gentle person—how could she be aggressive? And mentioning estrus periods was just too embarrassing!
???
Su Bai's mind was filled with question marks. What did she mean by "estrus period"? As an adeptus, he wasn't some mindless animal—how could he have an estrus period? This girl had read too many books!
"Um... Mr. Fox, did I write something wrong again?"
Sucrose keenly noticed the complex expression on Su Bai's face. Realizing this might be a golden opportunity to expand her knowledge, she ignored the bloody meat and beloved bones in her hands, dropping the meat carelessly on the ground. She pulled out another notebook and pen from her pocket, ready to record at any moment.
"Well, Miss Sucrose, while your notes aren't entirely wrong, from an ethical and anatomical standpoint, I am human, not an animal. I don't have estrus periods, and I certainly don't have reproductive isolation from humans."
"Huh? Really?"
The vein on Su Bai's forehead was about to burst. He really wanted to educate little Miss Sucrose right now. Sucrose, still taking notes, was shocked by this revelation. Had her initial hypothesis been completely wrong?
"Sucrose, you don't have to believe me—just look at Diona behind you. If reproductive isolation really existed, Diona wouldn't be in this world."
Sucrose stared at Diona for a moment, then nodded in agreement. She really had gotten it wrong this time. Her rigor still couldn't compare to Master Albedo's.
"Yes, Mr. Fox, what you said makes perfect sense. Thank you for your guidance."
"Hey, hey, hey! Don't ignore me!"
Seeing Sucrose bow gratefully to Su Bai like an obedient student, Diona felt quite displeased. She was a victim too—why was she only being used as argumentation material?
"You peeping pervert! Even if you didn't mean any harm, spying on people is still wrong!"
"I-I'm sorry... I really didn't mean to... I was just curious..."
Snapped out of her learning mode, Sucrose stammered nervously. Before the much shorter Diona, Sucrose bowed repeatedly in apology, her head lining up perfectly with Diona's chest each time.
Diona, who had been burning with anger moments ago, now didn't know what to do facing such sincere apologies. Forgive her? Then all that effort catching the pervert at dawn and dusk would go to waste. Not forgive? Sucrose had already apologized sincerely, and she'd only wanted to observe out of curiosity—not exactly breaking any laws.
Noticing Diona's hesitation, Su Bai came up with a solution.
"Well, since Sucrose is an alchemist, why not have her make some weird-tasting alchemical potions for Diona? I think Diona might need those."
"Diona, you don't have to go catch frogs for a while. Just use Sucrose's weird potions as substitutes. Stormterror's been acting up lately anyway."
Diona's eyes lit up. Right! This green-haired pervert was an alchemist! As an alchemist, she must know how to make potions with strange flavors.
"Fine. Since the fox says so, I'll give this pervert a chance."
"But let me be clear—the potions have to be extra, extra weird! The kind that makes people shiver just thinking about drinking them!"
"Th-that's all?"
Sucrose, who specialized in bio-alchemy, had expected Diona to request potions with bizarre effects. She never imagined Diona only wanted weird-tasting ones.
Mentally awarding Diona a 'good person' card, Sucrose decided to make two whole barrels of potions for her. This led to the Cat's Tail tavern being packed every day for quite some time—after all, who could resist wine that tasted good and made your tongue glow?
The sudden popularity of the Cat's Tail's new wine variety left Diluc puzzled for ages. In all his years in the wine business, he'd never seen wine that made tongues glow.
"Oh, speaking of potions reminded me—Miss Sucrose, can you make a potion that regrows teeth? For humans."
To prevent Bennett's terrible luck from striking again and making the regrown teeth animal fangs, Su Bai specifically added that clarification.
Finding the requested potion so simple, Sucrose nodded in agreement. She had done something wrong and needed to make amends. Besides, this kind of potion was extremely basic—it wouldn't take much effort at all.
In no time, Sucrose produced two large barrels of weird-tasting potions and the tooth-regrowing concoction. What interested Su Bai wasn't her dazzling alchemical techniques but her attitude toward alchemy itself.
He could tell Sucrose maintained both passion and reverence for alchemy. Passion drove her to explore the unknown—with that, she would surely achieve great things in the field.
Reverence, meanwhile, would minimize the dangers of failed experiments. For alchemists, death meant everything was lost. Aside from descendants sighing about genius taken too soon when reading their notes, an alchemist who died without significant achievements would barely cause a ripple.