H… How? How did she even make this scent?

Ok, before we go any further, I'm not saying my room is smelly ok?! I clean, do my laundry and also do proper housework! I'm not a slob!!

It's just you know? Even with that, there's just a special scent that's unique to the room that you can't find elsewhere.

Like the combined smell of the detergent you use, the air freshener you have and even the natural scent of the furniture in your house that make up a unique blend of scents.

I'm familiar with this feeling because I've had to travel often back then and I noticed such things during my travels. So now the real question is how did she even make such a scent in the first place?

Replacing the cap back on the bottle, I narrowed my eyes at the stall owner, using [Screened] to try and figure out who she was.

[Name: Yui

Title: Perfume Lady, The Scenter, Former Academy Enchantress

Race: Inugami

Gender: Female

Current Mood: Intrigued

Stats:

18 Strength

27 Dexterity

15 Endurance

325 Magic

Skills:

Alchemy (Tier 2), Enchanting (Tier 3), Teaching (Tier 2), Martial Skill-(Dagger Proficiency (Tier 1), Unarmed Proficiency (Tier 1))

Magic Skills:

Mana Management (Tier 2), Hydromancy (Tier 1), Pyromancy (Tier 1)]

The heck? She's a former enchantress at the Academy?

Wait, her title did not specify whether it really is the main branch of Aerialla Academy or just a side branch…

But still… To be an instructor in that school must mean that she at least possesses quite good skills… Which I suppose I can see from her stats that she indeed does have the skills to back it up.

The good thing is that seeing her stats actually gave me a clue on what she did so I looked down at the bottle and used [Screen] on it as well.

[Enchanted Perfume Bottle - Bottle enchanted to give off a scent that would remind the one who opens it of a nostalgic memory.]

I knew it.

No wonder she can make that bet with people since no matter what, they will definitely smell something that would hit them with a sense of nostalgia. It would be hard to say that a scent that shouldn't even exist in bottled form was imperfect after that.

I checked the rest of the bottles on display and surprisingly, they were actual normal bottles of perfume and not enchanted like this one.

Huh… But if that's the case, why does she even need to do something like this? Wouldn't it be simpler if she just made these enchanted perfumes than making actual perfumes?

Not noticing my thoughts, the stall owner maintained her smile at me, "So how is it, young lady? Is the perfume to your liking?"

I handed it back to her, "It reminds me of an old home… But I can't say it's perfect because it's a home that I would rather forget about now. What's more, I know that there's no way I would be able to find this scent again anywhere else."

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

The stall owner raised her eyebrow slightly, "Oh? What do you mean by that, little miss?"

"I meant that I would most likely only experience this smell again if I come back and find you."

She realised I know what the special properties her perfume had and I fully expected her to start making some excuses or something.

Instead, she actually smirked at me, "Oh? Are you perhaps an enchanter by any chance, young lady?"

"Oh not at all, I'm just studying alchemy."

Lisa got curious by my words and went to pick up the bottle left on the stall counter before popping it open to sniff at the opening.

At first, she seemed quite confused by the scent before her eyes widened considerably.

"Oh! I see now! How smart! No wonder you can set such a challenge! Ehehe~ You're really skilled!"

The stall owner giggled, "Well, not as skilled as I would like to be. Are you two perhaps graduates from Aerialla Academy?"

Lisa shook her head, "Interestingly, my darling here is still a student in one of the branch schools while I'm her Alchemy teacher~"

"Oh?! A student-teacher romance I see? How interesting! Now I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that you two figured out my little trade secret~"

I'm guessing that since she so readily admitted something like this, it's not exactly considered a scam?

"I'm Yui, by the way," The stall owner introduced herself, though I already knew her name from my [Screened]. "I used to be a teacher at the Nekinumi Kingdom's branch of Aerialla Academy, but then those savages got too daring for my liking so I left that place to settle here instead. I assume the two of you are from Lecharouc Kingdom's branch in Crown Capital City?"

"That's right~ We're here for the school vacation~"

"Ah, of course~ It's nice to meet the both of you. And since I didn't get to present you with the perfect scent, here's your Crea back~"

"Kukuku~ You have my thanks~"

Lisa didn't give her our names which I believe was not an oversight but an intentional decision on her part. Thus, I decided to just ask Yui about her stall instead.

"You should be quite an experienced enchantress if you were employed by the school right? May I ask what made you set up a perfume stall of all things?"

"Oh? So you noticed?" She smirked lazily at me.

I mean… How could you not notice something like that? You have a tier three in enchanting so-- Oh right… Other people wouldn't even know how good she was at enchanting. My bad…

She continued, "To be honest, this is actually for a research of mine you see."

"Research?" Lisa parroted, leaning forward with interest.

Yui nodded, "I believe you know that Inugamis have a better sense of smell than most other races, yes? One of the things I want to find out is how the same scents might affect different people and what effects they might have on different races. Take this enchanted perfume for example, the young lady here smelled of an old home. What about you?"

Lisa thought about it for a moment, "I suppose… Hmm… I would say it smelt of something like a garden if that makes any sense?"

"Oh it does indeed. Though it varies from person to person, I have found that generally, Infrids seem to smell something that is open in nature such as parks, a forest clearing, or even a city centre. In the case of Meslatars, I believe they lean more towards scents that are enclosed in nature like homes, caves and even basements in general. Even though there are so many scents you might encounter in your life, there are just some smells that you seem to remember more fondly as compared to others."

That is certainly interesting but…

"What is the point of this research though?" I asked.

"Ahaha~ Well, sometimes a topic of research doesn't need to carry a really deep meaning or make some great changes in the World, young lady. But I suppose if you need a reason, then it's a way to understand the differences and similarities between races better~"

I gave her a look that told her I had no idea how it would do what she claimed.

She smiled at me, "Consider this. Most of the time you wouldn't really pay attention to what you are smelling unless there's something really different in the air right? You would pay more attention to what you see, hear or even touch more than what you might smell?"

"Unn… I think it depends on where I am and what I'm doing but I suppose so?" I shrugged.

"That's why this sense is the most unbiased of ours when it comes to determining a person's personality. If I were to ask someone about their favourite place, rarely would someone take into consideration the smell of a place when they need to decide something like that. Someone might claim that their favourite place could be the busy streets of the capital, but when they take a whiff of that perfume bottle, they would find that the scent reminded them of a dusty old bookstore they had visited in the past and forgotten. Their answer might then change to that place instead of their initial decision. Isn't that fascinating?"

Hmm… I do admit that this is something that I never thought about before and it certainly was interesting to learn.

And speaking of scents…

"Mistress… I have returned with your cookies," Katsuki announced, appearing by my side with a bag of said cookies.

Ahhh! I knew I smelt something really sweet getting closer and closer! It turned out it was Katsuki coming back with my haul!!

"Waaa! Thank you Katsuki!! Ohhh! There's so many different kinds in here!! This is perfect!! Nom~"

Ahhhh~ This is definitely bliss~

If you were to ask me what my favourite place is right now, I would definitely have said right here because of the cookies I'm munching on right now~

Yui's research definitely has a point but it isn't something that I am interested in. But if you ask me, I wouldn't mind experimenting on the different taste of sweets there are in the World~

Well, less talking, more munching!!