Perfumer the Distilled

[Code Name] Perfumer

[Gender] Female

[Combat Experience] 5 Years

[Place of Birth] Minos

[Date of Birth] Jan 30

[Race] Vulpo

[Height] 160cm

[Infection Status]

Confirmed Infected by medical examination.

[Physical Strength] Normal

[Mobility] Standard

[Physical Resilience] Normal

[Tactical Acumen] Standard

[Combat Skills] Standard

[Originium Arts Assimilation] Excellent

The Doctor and the Medical Department have approved 'Perfumer' Lena's request for temporary assignment to the Minos region, where she will direct the newly established Athenius office in establishing a local system for Oripathy treatment. Operator Podenco will supervise the Convalescent Garden while Lena is away.

Imaging tests show the indistinct outlines of internal organs, obscured by abnormal shadows. Originium granules detected in the circulatory system. The subject is confirmed to be infected with Oripathy.

[Cell-Originium Assimilation] 3%

Minor infection. Crystal formations have not been observed on the surface of the body.

[Blood Originium-Crystal Density] 0.2u/L

Operator possesses significant medical knowledge and cooperates with treatment. Her condition is under control.

Certain herbal remedies have been demonstrated to be effective in containing the progression of Oripathy. While the medical benefit of fragrances in Oripathy treatment has not been established, it can certainly have a relaxing effect, or allow the subject to temporarily set aside deeply-rooted biases. As an Infected from Minos, she has a more personal understanding of the interaction between psychology and Oripathy than you and I.

—Warfarin

A caladium plant on one of the Convalescent Garden's shelves was the first to notice that something was off with Lena. Highly sensitive to changes in moisture, the plant had heretofore received the most tender care possible in the greenhouse, but now the edges of the leaves had begun to grow yellow, only returning to their previous color when Podenco discovered the issue and recalibrated the humidifier. Numerous minor incidents like this continued to occur throughout the week—pruning shears not being returned to their proper place, pesticide cans being filled with water, plant names spelled wrong on fragrance tags... When Podenco witnessed the normally steady and dependable Lena mix up pepper and cardamom, resulting in a sneezing fit, she was convinced of one thing: her performance evaluation had begun.

Lena had always been meticulous about the Convalescent Garden, after all. She hardly ever made errors, and would certainly not break the rules that she herself had set. She had built the garden from a few seeds and design books that she brought from her homeland, carefully picking the right flowers to grow, and developing it into a space for fragrance therapy. It was a labor of love, her pride, and one of the most popular hangouts for Rhodes Island operators.

It thus came as a shock when Podenco anxiously completed her seventeenth 'evaluation item', and learned that Lena was leaving to become the supervisor of the Athenius office. Perhaps this trip home had special meaning to Lena, or perhaps she received a letter from an old acquaintance inviting her to reveal some hidden past... Podenco realized that Lena was testing whether she was ready to take over management of the Convalescent Garden, which implied that Lena was likely not coming back. The empathetic Perro sniffled as she expressed her worries to an HR operator while preparing a parting gift for Lena.

Why am I going back to Minos? Heh, tell Podenco not to overthink it. I knew Rhodes Island was going to establish a new office in Athenius, and it just made perfect sense that I should be involved. I was a little concerned about what would happen to the garden, but she has been particularly passionate about her work lately. It would have been a much harder decision if not for her. Huh? A performance evaluation? Oh dear, I didn't even realize I've been causing so much trouble for her... I suppose the prospect of returning home has made me nervous.

—Lena's explanation when submitting her disembarkment application

Many came to see the scion of the famous Athopoulou family when the Rhodes Island office was first established. From her botanical fragrance, to her gentle words, to the meticulous craftsmanship of her dress... everything about her was the very image of a well-bred young lady. She took young patients into the hills to pick herbs on sunny days, teaching them about the leaves and roots of medicinal plants, and the process that turned them into medicine to relieve pain. She told children who feared that their illness would prevent them from becoming heroes that they themselves would be the first person they saved, and it would be their first step on the path to becoming a hero.

Surprisingly, Dr. Lena has received mixed reviews in the office's recent patient surveys. One patient complained that she had banned her from drinking, catching her in under thirty minutes no matter which establishment she went to and preventing her from emulating Bacchus the Drunken Hero. Another lamented that he could not do the work he loved anymore, as he was no longer allowed to swing a hammer with his Originium-covered arm to make weapons in the traditional manner.

Most patients did not believe that the gentle doctor would use forceful measures, until one day a hulking and ferocious patient came rushing out of the consultation room to complain about her at the front desk. The man, a well-known ruffian, claimed that she had insulted his veneration of Heraces, and was trying to record his name in a book so that everyone would know he was a weak Infected. But he quickly lowered his raised fist at the sight of her coming out of the consultation room with her staff in hand, calmly explaining that registration was necessary for the establishment of an emergency medical system, and that the man's actions had demonstrated that he does not truly venerate the heroes, only the muscles that allowed him to bully the weak. She prescribed medicine for the troublemaker, and a bottle of pheromones labeled 'Your Heroic Spirit'.

The concept of 'hero' is a vague one, and everyone's understanding of 'heroic spirit' is different. The idea that Oripathy saps the heroic spirit, an ancient saying of unknown origin, has become a widespread belief in Minos. Even without discrimination from others, those suffering from Oripathy will leave the temples of their own accord, abandon their dreams, and even turn to a life of crime. Fortunately, operators at the office know that all they need to do with patients who have given in to despair is drag them into Lena's consultation room, and their dependable supervisor will use the fragrances of plants to calm her countrymen down.

The HR operator lost his way when he came to the 'Mountain-Rimmed Garden' for the first time. When he asked two Athenians where to find the supervisor of the local office, one said that the 'Flora of Athopoulou' was the only Oripathy doctor he knew, before being interrupted by his companion, who said, 'Do not compare an Infected to a hero, even if Dr. Lena has indeed done a lot for us.'

Flora is one of the heroes worshipped by Minoans, the legendary gardener of the 'Mountain-Rimmed Garden'. It is said that she had a superhuman affinity for plants, being instinctively in tune with the breath of nature, even bringing back dead flowers to life. She is the patron hero of Minoans who worked with plants, herbs, and perfumes, and Operator Perfumer's family was no exception. The Athopoulous were once one of the most famous families of Athenius, one that both gardeners and fashion-seeking merchants depended on. The family has long since fallen from its high perch, and most of its members have left Athenius, but there are many who still remember the former head of the family, Steros Athopoulou, and his daughter who left for distant lands at a young age.

Having learned of this past, the HR operator now sat in Perfumer's consultation room, listening to grateful patients call her the 'Flora of Athopoulou'. Seeing no reaction from Lena, the curious operator asked if she felt uncomfortable with the title. She looked surprised for a moment, then answered in the negative.

Returning to the office months later, the operator found that patients were no longer calling Lena by that lengthy title. A short distance away, a smartly dressed, gray-haired Vulpo with a cold expression on her face was writing up a citizen who had committed an offense. She stopped the operator when she saw the Rhodes Island's logo on his clothes, and their conversation was recorded as follows:

'How much do you know about Lena—or rather, 'Operator Perfumer'? How much do you know about the Athopoulou family?

'You've heard what the patients called her... you asked her how she felt? Hah, did you expect her to tell you the truth?

'Of course she was used to it. For the better part of two decades, she sat at the breakfast table every morning hearing her father sing her praises, calling her the brightest the family had ever seen and the 'Flora of Athopoulou', as if those words would do more to help her grow than the cystymilk on the table.

'Of course she could always let go of her past. Most of the family have left Athenius at my 'behest', but why remind her of those days when she was kept chained by training and rules? ...Even if she might not think of it the same way.

'Anyway, I've dealt with the matter. No one will bring it up ever again.

'Why? Because as a former member of the family, I hated the name Athopoulou as much as she did, that's all.'

A medic found a special notebook in the flowerbeds at the branch office, recording the common and scientific names of plants, as well as short comments written in Minoan—a little dictionary of plants, so to speak. She initially thought it was written by a child who idolized Lena, but it was Lena herself who showed up at the lost-and-found. Lena told the curious operator that she had indeed written those notes herself; however, their purpose was not so much to remember, but to forget.

Lena left Athenius years ago under unspoken pressure from her family, attempting to restart her perfuming career and botany studies elsewhere, but ran into difficulties with communication. The language and naming conventions of the Minoans were shaped by their love of poetry and stories, so without an actual physical object, it was impossible to explain to a Victorian merchant what a 'Reflection of Narcissus' was, and she had a hard time progressing her perfuming work until she memorized the names of plants in the common tongue.

'This was the most basic thing, and what I would tell any Minoan child who wanted to follow in my footsteps. But the truth is, I never spoke the names of plants in Minoan after I left my homeland... I hated them.' The operator's impression of Lena had always been one of polite gentleness. She rarely if ever recalled Lena directly expressing her like or dislike of something. Yet it seems her return to Minos—this 'home' that once rejected her—had caused her to abandon her restraint. 'The scientific naming of plants is structured and objective, reflecting a precise truth, such as their family, genus and species, their discoverer, and their characteristics. Minoan names for plants are vague and ambiguous, full of meticulous poetry. I understand its beauty as well as anyone, but I also understand how it causes people to place expectations upon those names.'

Having grown up shouldering the expectations of her family, it was fortuitous that Lena had a natural affinity for plants and nature. She gladly accepted coursework far beyond what was reasonable for a child, the massive amount of plant names and etymology she was expected to memorize, and her father's pop quizzes, all in the name of her love and passion. At the time, she did not understand the compromise that her harmonious relationship with her family was built upon. Not until she left Athenius and saw flowers from her homeland again did she realize the burden that all the names and stories of plants she memorized had become. She could no longer find it in herself to call them by the names she once knew them by.

On this return to her homeland, and in her communications with patients, Lena once again hears the stories and names of plants that she spent more than a decade memorizing. But she understands that her patients are calling to her in the same way she might instinctively say the name of a familiar plant in Minoan as she gathers herbs in the forests of Athenius alone. The burdens of the past are lifted, and she once again flips through the 'dictionary', communicating with Minoans in the words they are most familiar with. She is now able and willing to extend a helping hand.

Lena wrinkled her nose. The corridor smelled strange. She had returned briefly from the Athenius branch office, and her ride back to Minos was leaving in twenty minutes, but she smelled something burning as she passed near the Convalescent Garden. The smell was acrid and aggressive, not like ordinary fire, more like some kind of Originium Arts. An enemy attack? But there was also a familiar scent, some kind of bright and sunny flower. The names of a dozen flowers flashed across Lena's mind, but none of them seemed to be the answer. Then she heard scattered sounds coming from behind the garden's door, and the smell grew even more chaotic, without rhyme or reason. For the first time, Lena found herself at a loss as to what was happening behind the door. The unfamiliar sound and smell made her uneasy, but this was the Convalescent Garden, the garden she had built with her own two hands. Lena clutched her staff and pulled the door open sharply—

'So... it was your handiwork I smelled, Podenco?'

'Yes! It's a brand-new essence I developed while you were away!'

'Was it part of the plan to have Beanstalk's metal crab run around with various fragrances?'

'Yes! It helped hide the scent of the small cake from you. Peacake had a lot of fun too!'

'Was Flamebringer in on the surprise as well?'

'He made a charred smell as part of the disguise. Said it was repayment for the flower seeds you gave him!'

Lena shook her head, but her ears betrayed her joy at how a group of operators who had only met because of Rhodes Island and the Convalescent Garden went through all this trouble just to fool her sense of smell and give her a surprise. She blew out the candles, and found herself in no particular hurry to go back to her other home. Why not spend a little more time with her friends here in the garden?