Management of a Novice Alchemist

Sarasa, a newly graduated state alchemist, has been gifted a shop of her very own by her master. The catch is...it’s an abandoned building on the frontier! She sets out on the journey there, dreaming of the elegant life that awaits her as a shop owner, but she’s quickly disappointed to learn just how much of a fixer-upper the place really is. Still, even if she’s not thrilled with the rustic location, she’s got a shop to run or she won’t be able to make a living! Surrounded by cute part-timers and kindly villagers, Sarasa is determined to stand on her own as an alchemist. This laid-back story of a magical work life is now open for business!

Freshly recovered from the hellflame grizzly attack, Sarasa, along with new team members Iris and Kate, gets to work reopening her shop just in time for summer. She develops a cooling hat as a product to sell to the villagers...but it’s a bit too pricey for the town’s barter economy! Just as she’s about to crack the economic code and generate her most popular product yet, another alchemist shows up, one who gets in the way of her buying one of the hat’s main ingredients, frostbite bat fangs. She who controls the ice controls the summer! The battle for commerce in South Strag is on!

While Sarasa continues working hard to master the fourth volume of the Complete Alchemy Works, she and her small gang of adventurers are called upon by the mayor’s daughter to investigate the cause of the hellflame grizzly attack that came from deep within the Gelba Rohha Foothills Forest. Soon after, Iris’s father appears, and he comes with shocking news. It looks like Iris is going to be forced into a political marriage unless she can find another way to help her debt-mired father. Quick to act, Sarasa and the gang head to the great forest to make some fast cash off materials from the fearsome monsters they found during their investigation... Between boots and gloves, they’ve got the equipment for the job! And ice stones and ice arrows will be the perfect weapons for attacking their fiery foes! Let the debt repayment operation commence!

Monster researcher Nordrad Evans arrives at Sarasa’s shop with a letter of introduction that is less than glowing. Asked to assist in his scientific investigation of the salamander’s den, she comes up with the idea of using a remote-controlled homunculus. Iris and Kate go along in person, but...Nord’s obsessive behavior causes another salamander to attack?! In the collapsed cave, all they can rely on is Sarasa’s homunculus to provide direction. Will the three make it back alive?!

Now that Iris and Kate have been rescued from the cave collapse in the mountains, winter has come to Yok Village, and with it, the slow season for Sarasa’s shop. As she and her friends struggle to make ends meet, a customer comes to visit—and he’s royalty! Unable to turn down his request, the gang heads out into the winter mountains on a mission, but the party is attacked by a swarm of monsters and soon finds itself entwined in the schemes of the local lord, Baronet Kahku. With all the new trouble that’s brewing, will Sarasa and her friends make it to spring in one piece?!

With winter and its lack of customers behind her, Sarasa finds the spring tax season just around the corner! Marrying Iris has earned her status as a noble, so it’s going to be smooth sailing for the business from here on...or it was supposed to be. When Sarasa visits the capital for the first time in a while, she’s ordered to take care of a bandit problem as part of her duties as a noble. On top of that, with an introduction from her own master Ophelia, Sarasa is reunited with Misty, her junior from the academy, who begs her, “Hire me, Senpai!” Though Misty is still a novice, Sarasa, with her new duties as a noble, would genuinely benefit from having her around... So, with a new companion on board, Sarasa’s shop management moves on to the next stage!