@Travis-Butler said in The Apothecary Diaries Vol. 15 Discussion!:

But if you argue that her emotions are changing over time, the logical corollary is that the most recent description of her emotions is the most accurate. Because they are changing.
That is why I put heavy emphasis on LN 13. Because it's not only the most thorough examination of her relationship with Jinshi, it's also the most recent, and therefore the most current take on how she feels about him.

It's a thorough examination of her relationship, but not through her eyes, that's the catch. We have not seen her emotions clearly in LN 13. It is not from her point of view. Maomao says things, and often can feel a different way. She even contradicts herself in her own thoughts sometimes. Based on how she was raised, of course she would say and convince herself to handle the situation explicitly as "a courtesan getting ready to serve an important customer." It protects her emotionally to treat it that way. She has always tried to only view things logically. I still don't see any of this as evidence one way or the other. Whereas, I would argue the earlier examples still weigh just as much if not more because we are seeing it explicitly from Maomao's point of view.

@Travis-Butler said in The Apothecary Diaries Vol. 15 Discussion!:

But people are claiming this is romantic love, and that's more than just caring. To me, romantic love means you do romantic things because they bring you pleasure and make you happy. And I'm still not seeing where Maomao feels that way about getting together with Jinshi.

But why is it not possible that doing romantic things for Jinshi does make her happy? Or even simpler, having Jinshi in her life makes her happy? Maybe not pleasure in a physical sense, can't speak for that, but I think she feels happy doing acts of service for the people she loves. Not because she feels obligated to. This is also my subjective opinion.

@Travis-Butler said in The Apothecary Diaries Vol. 15 Discussion!:

I think Maomao feels like she's in a web of duty and obligations. She feels it's expected of her by just about everyone around her. She feels like she can't say 'no', whatever Ah-Duo says. She may even be willing to do it because she knows Jinshi wants it very badly and she does care about him. But she'd be doing it for him - not because it's something she wants for herself. And if she's doing it for him, that makes it a duty, not a pleasure.

But this first part is still your subjective understanding is it not? We don't have inner monologue saying, she has to do this because everybody expects it of her. Or she can't let Jinshi down. Of her feeling outside pressures to do this. She has so many cards she can pull on if she really wanted to get out of this romantic relationship part, to even just find a different way that wouldn't chain her to Jinshi, but still allow her to fulfill her platonic "duty" to him. She has pull with people like Gyokuyou and more importantly Lakan. She didn't even give Ah Duo the chance to explain what she was offering. Don't you think if she only felt this way out of obligation she would at least hear out Ah Duo's proposal? Even if she would turn it down all the same.

@Travis-Butler said in The Apothecary Diaries Vol. 15 Discussion!:

Maybe that's why I'm arguing about it so strongly. Because I feel like, if all of the external pressures and entanglements were stripped away, this is not something she wants for herself.

And I think I'm arguing so strongly because I feel like while initially for a LN 1 Maomao, this would never be something she wanted for herself, she has grown a lot, and opened up emotionally to Jinshi and other. She considers these relationships as worth making sacrifices for, not forced my outside factors. The relationships make her happy.

Honestly, I'm also just totally surprised after the Sound Sleep chapter in LN 12 how people think she has no romantic attachment to Jinshi at all. That's when Maomao is tired and much less guarded, and as honest as she has been so far, or since in my opinion. I can not think of any other interpretation of that scene besides romantic.

@LightningLeaf It probably goes with the idea that leviathans don't specifically need to surface periodically for air.

Oh boy, those powerful criminal groups enter the sewers, where the potion now resides. A dangerous group of thralls to have. I expect he'll tell them to relax and have fun.

So Ansem is next to have a cursed item.

Severely under utilizing her power again. She could make a seed to power the teleporters without needing to use anyone's magic for as far as they want.

well that was an interesting fight. Pirates are no more and our hero obtain the socks she was owed since part 1, but with them being the socks of an older lady and not the youthful maiden will the goddess accept them, find out next time on Knock Yourself Out! The Goddess Beat the Final Boss in the Tutorial, So Now I'm Free to Do Whatever.

So who will the detractors for every bride be?

Sera = Gustav
Melfina = Luquille
Efil = ???
Ange = ???
Shutora = Maybe her brother, Azgard
Colette = Maybe her father, Philip

And who is the 7th or is that the "main event" for everybody?

Now I want the viewpoint of KTK or Akari on the Cursed Man battle because there's no way Yuto was as irrelevant as he makes it seem.

I think the tiger man wouldn't have stayed around if they hadn't had the NPC favor boost from the titles.

So a single throwaway bit where there's multiple Leaf Eagles has brought into focus a concept that is successfully glossed over in MMOs but is an existentially terrifying concept in a "real world": inconsistency of world state between players.

The Keeper stops you as you pass by to tell you there is a Leaf Eagle (singular) threatening the harvest. You defeat the Leaf Eagle (singular) and come back to the Keeper, who knows of your exploits and thanks you for solving their Leaf Eagle problem forever.

...and then someone else passes by and the Keeper tells them there is a Leaf Eagle threatening the harvest.

So Rose is in love with Female!Felix, that'll be fun. :-)

And we now officially have a war in progress.

And we've apparently figured out that Beatrix is an inheritor like Sieglinde and not an original master, which puts Mercedes at an advantage. Mercedes had already cloned two of Beatrix's monsters. Time to acquire the rest.

@heimdal7
They (Sarasa and Iris) don't seem to be boinking yet. Heavy emphasis upon the "yet."
The final size of the polycule is still up in the air, but signs are that Kate and Lorea-chan will be part of it for sure, and Misty as well if she gets her way.

Air pollution...

Look, in a high class establishment this is a legit complaint.
And from what we've been given worldbuilding-wise Alchemist's shops are high class establishments.

There's also that contrary to "common knowledge" they really were concerned about personal hygiene in the past, they took measures to not be stinky.
While the public baths of the Roman era fell by the wayside following the collapse of the Empire, there was a continued concern.
And a surprising number of those baths survived a long time post Rome.
Some to the present day.

Keep the letter, Sarasa.
It may prove useful when practicing Regime Change on the Hudson Company.
Even if Misty doesn't want to be in charge, it's legit to have a preference concerning who does succeed to the headship, and it helps to have evidence of nefarious intent when sticking an oar in.

@Makine lol the author has more or less said "I know what I said but it turns out I cannot write Academy arcs so I'm not going to bother" I'm paraphrasing but not by much.

I won't blink at the over the top nonsense in this story but will take issue with the proton spinning in a collider. The smallest circular collider has circumference of 500 feet, the largest currently has 27km. Then there are linear colliders. Didn't the esteemed author mean to say something closer to "like a frog in a blender" perhaps?

@Makine It's military-grade.

Finally having read everything this is easily my favorite of the batch. It's quality through and through.

I totally understand Martha's reaction to seeing a yard full of meter-long versions of these: (youtube vid of tailless) - https://youtu.be/VQ1m3jfcLYU?si=qMwQ2e6IPCjmJTg9