The Blue Pharmacy is the home of the god Miach's Familia.
In the anime he'd watched in his past life, Levi remembered this god was friends with Hestia and appeared from time to time. His sole Familia member had also provided significant help to the Hestia Familia in the story.
Because of this, he initially had a rather favorable impression of the Blue Pharmacy.
But that preconceived notion, stored in his mind, was quickly shattered when Naaza Erisuis—the sole member and captain of the Miach Familia, and now the clerk at the Blue Pharmacy—brought several bottles of watered-down Mind Potions before him.
Levi didn't know if Naaza had done something similar to Bell in the original story—after all, he had only seen the anime and now only remembered the general plot.
But whether she had or not, the Blue Pharmacy, or rather the Miach Familia, was now marked with a big 'X' in his book.
After confirming the potions' condition by touch, Levi couldn't even be bothered to speak and immediately turned to leave.
The clerk, Naaza, didn't even seem to understand what had happened, only asking subconsciously, "Aren't you going to buy these potions?"
Levi's policy was to simply ignore people he couldn't stand.
Orario had more than just one pharmacy. For the same price, why should he get ripped off with defective products?
Unfortunately, just as he was about to walk out the door of the Blue Pharmacy, he came face to face with the true head of the Miach Familia returning from an outing—the god Miach himself.
The seemingly gentle-looking male god had clearly heard Naaza's earlier question.
However, a single glance toward the counter was all it took for him to understand what had happened.
"Young man." Miach stepped in front of Levi to block his path, an apologetic expression on his face. "Please allow me to apologize to you on Naaza's behalf. I am truly sorry."
A god was apologizing to him. What could Levi say?
He could only say it was fine and that he didn't mind.
As a former Level 2 adventurer, Naaza finally understood the situation at this point.
He had caught her red-handed watering down the potions.
However, whether it was due to emotional detachment or because she didn't think she'd done anything wrong, the expression on the Chienthrope girl's face barely changed at all.
She just said calmly, "I'll go get you a new batch."
"...Fine."
While Naaza was getting the items, Levi bowed to Miach. "Lord Miach, it's a pleasure to meet you. I am Levi Bright, the recently joined captain of the Hestia Familia. Lady Hestia has mentioned you before."
This wasn't a lie.
Just as Levi reported his experiences in the Dungeon to Hestia every day, the goddess with the blue ribbons would also share her day's events at the dinner table.
During one such conversation, she had mentioned Miach.
In fact, besides the first impression provided by his past life's memory, the tragic history of the Miach Familia and their debt situation, which Hestia had mentioned over dinner, had also played a part in his decision to come to the Blue Pharmacy.
However, how did that saying go?
Get fooled once by a swindler, shame on them. Get fooled twice, shame on you.
In any case, Levi had already made up his mind never to buy items from the Blue Pharmacy again.
As a god, Miach could naturally sense the young man's attitude, but there was nothing he could say. After all, the one at fault wasn't Levi, but a child of his own Familia.
He could only clasp his hands together and change the subject with a surprised look. "So you're the boy who publicly confessed to Hestia? You're quite famous in our divine circles now, you know."
"Uh, that's the kind of fame I'd rather not have spread around, if possible," Levi said with an awkward smile.
"If you could go back to the day you met Hestia, would you give up on confessing?" Miach asked curiously.
Levi answered without hesitation. "No way."
"It seems Hestia has also met her own 'unknown'," Miach remarked with a soft sigh.
"She, my goddess, is also my 'unknown'."
Just then, Naaza returned to the counter, holding several new potions.
Seeing this, Levi walked over, took the potions, and swirled them under the light.
[Low-Grade Mind Potion: Upon use, continuously restores 20% of maximum MP over one minute. Cooldown: 10 minutes.]
After confirming there was no problem with this batch of potions, he nodded and took out 50,000 Valis from his pocket.
A single Low-Grade Mind Potion cost 5,000 Valis, and Levi had asked for ten.
He was about to complete the transaction.
But Miach stepped forward at the right moment and pushed the coins on the table back toward Levi.
"This batch of potions is free, as an apology for Naaza's mistake."
Hearing this, Levi raised an eyebrow. On the other side of the counter, he saw the two dog ears on Naaza's normally expressionless head shoot up.
Even her left hand, which wasn't covered by her long sleeve, instinctively clenched into a fist.
"In that case, I'd be remiss not to accept."
With that, he picked up the potions, gave another bow to Miach who was standing to the side, and then turned and slowly walked out of the shop.
Only after the figure of the young man with short, pale golden hair had completely disappeared down the street did the previously silent Naaza bite her lower lip and say, "Lord Miach, I'm sorry."
Miach sighed helplessly at her words. "If you know you were wrong, then don't do it again."
The Miach Familia had once been a mid-tier power in Orario, but an accident during a Dungeon expedition had resulted in Naaza's entire right arm being severed.
To prevent her from becoming a cripple, Miach used all of the Familia's assets and even incurred a massive debt to have Airmid Teasanare, the 'Saint of the Cure' of the Dian Cecht Familia, attach a metal prosthetic arm to the girl's shoulder.
But because of this, the Miach Familia collapsed overnight, with many members leaving in despair.
Only Naaza, the one at the center of it all, remained, working hard every day making potions to pay off their debt.
In fact, the reason she watered down the potions was to alleviate the Familia's dire financial situation.
Of course, no matter how you look at it, what's wrong is wrong.
In the girl's eyes, watered-down potions merely had a slightly reduced effect.
But for adventurers who put their lives on the line, that slight difference could be enough to ensure they never walked out of the Dungeon again.
If the adventurer belonged to a weak familia, their death would just be chalked up to bad luck.
But if they belonged to a powerful familia, or one with a meticulous captain or god, then the Miach Familia might just be completely wiped out.
"...So that's basically what happened, Hestia. If you see Lord Miach later, please give him these 50,000 Valis for me."
_____
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