Mandrake.
A rare, humanoid magical herb, shaped like ginseng, said to restore memory.
It looked like the most effective option in the book Seamus pointed me to.
The rest of the entries were too horrifying to get into, so let’s skip those.
If he calls me shameless for it, I’ll just play it off as a joke.
I kept sneaking glances at Chief Theodore’s expression, trying to read it.
What exactly was that face supposed to mean? It didn’t look like silent judgment, at least.
Not baffled, either — more like he’s actually taking it seriously…?
A moment later, the Chief broke into a bright, boyish smile.
“Sure. If it’ll help you, Miss Rowell.”
“Wait— really?”
“It’s hardly anything, compared to the trouble you’ve just spared us.”
A moment later, the Chief returned from the herb storage cabinet with a small box.
“Would this be enough to help your efficiency, Miss Rowell?”
“Ah… yes!”
Inside the box sat a mandrake, its roots splayed wide like a dancer mid-leap.
…It’s not going to scream when I bite into it, is it?
I paused for a second on that gruesome mental image, before Chief Theodore spoke, gently.
“Miss Rowell. Everyone knows the Black Spoon Division is rewarding work, but just as hard as it is rewarding.”
“Chief…”
“So please don’t hesitate to speak up whenever you need help. There’s no need to feel like a burden.”
…Hearing that actually made my chest ache, just a little.
Had anyone, in my entire working life, ever comforted me this genuinely?
Even if it was just the standard, socially expected kindness.
“Thank you so much…”
“Not at all. Do come visit again sometime — you can check in on whichever new hire ends up assigned here next.”
“I will!”
“Take care getting back too, Mr. Finley.”
“…Yes.”
We were both cutting it close on lunch hour, so the two of us hurried back toward the office.
Good, materials secured.
According to The Bewildering Compendium of Magical Herbs…
This wouldn’t restore an entire lifetime’s worth of memory.
Think of it like an exam — you can only pull up detail on one subject at a time.
Since all I wanted was to comb carefully back through what I remembered of the original story, that was more than enough.
I’ll try it once I’m back at the dormitory tonight!
And now — should I go enjoy the show, while the team next door got taken apart?
Chief Theodore’s report proved effective almost immediately.
The Mage Knights’ Division’s Artifact Crafting Team got summoned straight to the audit office, apparently.
[L— let go of me!]
[This is unjust! I haven’t done anything wrong…!]
[Why’s it just me getting singled out when everyone does it?!]
Embezzlement, honestly, was the kind of misconduct nobles tended to quietly overlook among their own.
The way a company that size might not even blink at five million won going missing.
But the timing here was just bad for them.
Everyone was already on edge these days, thanks to the whole business with Allison, the former team leader.
Get caught on anything right now, and you’re going down the hard way, purely on bad luck.
So sweet, really.
To survive among people getting picked apart like this, you needed to prove you were tied up in something genuinely important.
Which meant the artifact commissioned for me got finished remarkably fast.
But…
“Rowell.”
“Yes sir.”
I ended up having a little sit-down with the male lead in the break room — the one with that folding bed from a brand I won’t name, though you already know which one.
The male lead scrubbed a hand down his face and let out a long sigh.
“Haah… did you tip off Chief Wordsworth about the crafting team’s misconduct?”
“…!”
I nearly passed out on the spot. How did the male lead find out?
My alibi was airtight that day, wasn’t it?
Both Chief Theodore and Seamus had said they wouldn’t breathe a word?
Actually, the reporting itself wasn’t really the biggest issue here.
The real problem was that I’d skipped straight past my direct superior — him — and gone right to the head of the neighboring department.
I’d done it out of genuine urgency, wanting to nip the whole thing in the bud fast, but…
It’s been a while since I’ve been the new hire — I forgot how that would look, from a senior’s side.
“I’m sorry, senior.”
I bowed my head, ready to smack it straight into the floor if that’s what it took.
“I— actually, there was something I wanted to ask the Chief for. Just one mandrake…”
“A memory booster? Why do you need that?”
“I want to do good work, but there’s so much to memorize… I got a little impatient about it.”
“…”
Thinking about it, that wasn’t even really a lie. If anything, wasn’t that just the truth?
The male lead listened, quietly, to the whole of my rambling apology.
Hmm, what would happen if he actually got angry at me? A creeping dread started to set in.
I’ve heard people with strong mana leak aura when they’re furious enough that it’s hard to even breathe around them.
The male lead had the dark circles of an office worker, sure, but every last one of his abilities had gone straight into raw combat power.
If he got angry enough to leak aura, the air itself might cut skin on contact.
That was when the male lead lowered his hand from his face and looked straight at me.
Thankfully, his red eyes weren’t burning with fury at some idiot junior.
“I’m actually grateful you’re doing everything you can to settle into a place you never wanted to be.”
“Ah, yes sir.”
“And since the report ended up helping the Chief anyway, I wasn’t trying to scold you for it, either.”
“Ah, right. Of course… the order I reported things in…”
“Shouldn’t you have been able to lean on me? I did make you that promise.”
For some reason, the male lead looked genuinely hurt.
“I’m only grateful you’re taking the Black Spoon Division this seriously. But please don’t go as far as using medication for it.”
“Ah, but that’s…”
“Even if you make a mistake, I will never be angry with you over it.”
Ah.
The single most devastating face in this entire world, being wasted playing office mentor like this?
I nearly teared up at the waste of it all.
“…Th-thank you.”
It ended on a good note, but I was still eating that mandrake tonight regardless.
It’s not just for my own sake, either.
I might be shouting for the Black Spoon Division’s destruction, but catching the real culprit early would work out well for the male lead too, in the end.
He’s trying to catch whoever ruined his family, after all.
A late excuse, sure, but let this one slide, just this once.
The male lead must have decided I’d reflected enough, because he held out a small box with the artifact inside.
“Your item’s arrived properly, it seems. Try it on.”
The artifact meant to share sight and sound with whoever was out in the field turned out to be a silver ear cuff.
A deep pink gemstone glimmered along its lower edge.
“Does it have to be an ear cuff?”
“It’ll be easier this way. A monocle-style version is trickier to use than you’d think.”
“Oh… okay.”
The moment I clipped it awkwardly onto my right ear and pressed down on the gemstone—
A round lens bloomed in front of my right eye, showing me a mirrored view of myself.
“Oh! Oh?!”
“You’re connected to my field of view right now.”
“Ah, so that’s why it looks like this.”
“That’s right. Try not to use it too much outside of when you’re checking a core.”
“Yes sir.”
I’d just gotten scolded, so I kept it subtle, but the little artifact earring genuinely fascinated me.
Small as it was, it had to be worth more than a commoner could ever afford to own in a lifetime.
Wonder if I could keep it even after I resign.
Simple enough in design that I could wear it with the official uniform, too.
But when I looked up, the male lead was still watching me, intently.
“Do you like it?”
“Ah, yes sir…”
Right, come to think of it, he was the one who’d commissioned this ear cuff.
Is the pink stone because he matched it to my eye color?
Seems like the male lead really was trying hard to be a good mentor.
Even if I was one of the people he’d dragged into a department I never wanted to join.
I managed an awkward little smile anyway.
“Thank you, senior.”
“…”
The male lead went completely still.
His face froze for a second, like he hadn’t expected me to actually thank him.
Then he turned his head away, hurriedly.
“Well. Let’s get back to work, then.”
“Yes sir.”
Phew, I was relieved our little sit-down had wrapped up faster than expected.
All the prep work’s done, before I even step into the original story’s events.
All that was left… was for me to eat that ballet-leaping root tonight.
After work, Carlyle walked both his juniors back to the dormitory.
Up until that point, his expression had stayed exactly as composed as always.
Serious, courteous — the kind of face that wouldn’t so much as flicker even sitting through a council meeting.
But the instant his juniors were safely inside, his expression flipped completely.
Into one thoroughly, furiously simmering with irritation.
