Celes is an extraordinarily talented alchemist who has spent her entire life as a shut-in, cursed by an extreme fear of people and a complete inability to communicate. Her mother, a legendary alchemist herself, finally loses patience and kicks her out of the house, forcing her to travel to a rural town on a different continent to live on her own. All Celes wants is to rent a small house, make a few potions, and spend her days in quiet, undisturbed sloth.

Unfortunately, her plan fails immediately. The medicines she produces are so powerful that they instantly cure every incurable disease in the town. When she goes out to gather ingredients and runs into monsters, she defeats them with overwhelming force. She is not trying to be a hero; she is terrified, trembling, and simply wants to get the task over with so she can go home. But her perpetual frightened, fight-or-flight stance looks to everyone else like the cold, murderous aura of an ultimate powerhouse. Every small action she takes is misinterpreted as legendary feats of strength and kindness.

Before she knows it, the once-quiet town is booming with new residents, the economy is thriving, and a mountain of requests piles up at her door. The harder she tries to retreat into her house, the more her talents drag her out into the spotlight. The story follows her daily struggle to achieve the “slow life at home” she craves while her own genius and her crippling social anxiety conspire to make her the busiest, most celebrated person in town.

The main characters include Celes, the sweet but perpetually terrified protagonist whose unintentional murderous glare inspires both fear and reverence; Lynad, the earnest town gatekeeper who becomes her first real friend and partner in misunderstandings; Lina, her childhood friend who runs a restaurant and is the only person who fully understands Celes’s true personality; the house spirit, a cute tsukumogami that lives in Celes’s home and tries to support her relaxing lifestyle; Shauru, a young girl and former neighbor whose mother Celes cured, who begins to copy Celes’s mannerisms; and Asuba, an ambitious young mage who challenges Celes to a duel and becomes a rival-turned-ally.

The story unfolds across four main narrative arcs. The first arc covers Celes’s arrival in the rural town, her initial attempts to set up a quiet life, and the first misunderstandings that cause the town to begin changing. The second arc sees requests flooding in and Asuba’s challenge, escalating the comedy and the town’s growth. The third arc deepens Celes’s bonds with the house spirit and her friends, while her relationship with Lynad becomes the subject of good-natured teasing. The fourth arc is the climax, where a giant demon beast threatens the wetlands and Celes, Lynad, and Asuba must team up for a large-scale battle, after which the story reaches a gentle conclusion. Celes never fully achieves her hermit dream, but she gains a warm circle of people she wants to protect, and the town continues to prosper whether she likes it or not.