Chapter 54

“Are you sure you can keep going? We have been doing it for hours now.” Elincia dried the sweat from her forehead and stretched her back with feline grace. An expression of delight drew on her face.

“The kids are distracted somewhere else. We are not going to have another chance like this one any time soon.” I replied, guzzling another stamina potion. At that point, I had started to get a liking of the bittersweet taste. “I could keep going all day long if it's with you.”

Elincia grinned as she reached for the drawer in her nightstand.

“Okay, mister Man, let’s find out if you can go for the twelfth.”

Regardless of the fact it was technically a co-op activity, there was a hint of competitiveness in her voice.

Elincia picked another stem of Fairy King’s Brooch and started grinded the leaves in the mortar. A faint trace of green and golden mana surrounded her hands as she masterfully manipulated the alchemist tools. It was quite the spectacle. I remembered being infatuated by Internet videos of people drawing, sculpting or cooking, but seeing it in person was ten times better.

The brewing process had been slowed due to the amount of attention the kids demanded since our arrival. We had been happy to indulge their demands no matter how outlandish they were. We had missed the kids more than they missed us.

Nokti and Virdian gave me a detailed tour through the potato farm. I was dumbfounded when I realized the twins had named every single potato plant both in the old and new farm plots. They were worried about the plants dying but I assured them it was part of the life cycle of a potato plant. After minutes of secret deliberation, they said it was fine if the plants died as long as the potatoes were okay.

Shu showed me how ‘fast’ she could ‘run’ now. It wasn’t a great improvement but I could perceive she was getting better at it. Shu ran from one side of the farm plot to the other in a record twenty seconds. Me and the snakefolk twins clapped as she crossed the finish line, huffing and gasping for air. Then, just to show off, Ash ran the same distance in seven seconds.

Firana had been trying to have me spar with her but I had refused, saying I had things to care about in the orphanage. The truth was, the black substance the Lich had injected into my body prevented me from freely moving my left arm. Elincia said it was a physical expression of Corruption and there was nothing we could do except wait for it to go.

“Hey, Rob, are you paying attention?” Elincia’s words derailed my train of thought.

“Sure, yeah, absolutely.” I replied. “What were you saying?”

“I said we are done with the potions.” Elincia rolled her eyes.

I didn’t realize I was autopiloting the process. My body was a machine that transformed Minor Mana Scent into High Quality Health Potions. At least three out of four times. Due to my limited mana pool, there were potions that resulted not perfect. Still, 75% was good enough considering the amount of herbs we gathered. It was like printing money.

“High Quality?” I asked.

Elincia just grinned.

I sighed in relief. Wasting high grade ingredients on a medium effect potion was a crime my RPG-loving soul wasn’t yet used to committing. The crime I was ready to commit was selling potions in the black market.

Inadvertently, I reached for Elincia’s hand. It was soft, except for the tips of her fingers. Elincia was an archer after all. I caressed her slender fingers. She didn’t seem to realize until a second later.

I retracted my hand.

“Sorry, the ring.” I mumbled.

“Yeah.” She replied.

It wasn’t the first time we had unconsciously held hands. The attraction from the ring was to blame, always tugging my hand towards Elincia. Luckily, no orphan had gotten to see us. Despite the fact it had happened half a dozen times, it didn’t get less awkward.

What I didn’t expect was Elincia reaching for my hand across the table only a moment later.

“Are you tired?” She asked with a worried voice.

I shook my head.

“Hungry? Thirsty?”

“I’m fine.” I said.

During the last few days, Elincia had been pampering me. I knew the reason. Corruption. For the inhabitants of this world, Corruption was a looming threat. The most common threats were Corrupted Beasts and Spirits. But there also was Corruption of the System. Being unable to use skills and level up was like going blind and breaking both your arms.

“I’m fine, really. Scholar skills aren’t that useful either, I can totally live without them.” I lied.

There wasn’t a day I wouldn’t miss [Identify] and [Awareness]. Maybe I was partially blind after all. At least my mana pool was healing if only at a snail pace.

Elincia gave me a distrustful glance.

“Are you sure?”

“If you ask me one more time, I’ll have you go to sell the potions.” I replied.

Elincia sloached in her chair, dejected.

“If… if you are too tired, I’ll go see Miss Nasiah.” She said with a quivering voice.

For someone who truly enjoyed exploring the Farlands, Elincia’s fear of the shopkeeper must be extreme.

“She’s just an old woman, why…” I pointed out.

“I’ll bring you breakfast to your bed for a week.” Elincia cut me off as she stood up and quickly started storing the alchemy tools inside their respective boxes.

I sighed. When Elincia closed in on herself it was near impossible to make her talk. I grabbed the twelfth High Quality Health Potion and put it inside the padded wooden rack Elincia had prepared for the occasion. We had brewed a whole batch of high quality potions before selling. For some reason, it was customary to sell them that way. The medium quality ones would have to wait until we brewed enough.

I put the rack of potions into a wooden box and secured the lid. Unless someone opened it, nobody would know it contained such a precious cargo. The fact I had to carry it through Farcrest was starting to make me anxious. It was like that time I had ten grand in cash.

Delaying the delivery would only make the feeling worse.

Elincia climbed into a stool with feline grace and put a box in the upper cabinet. Then, she gave me a worried glance. Were her eyelashes so long before?

“I was thinking about expanding the scope of the kid’s curriculum.” I said, changing the topic. Even without [Awareness] bombarding me with information, my brain tended to explore ideas I wasn’t ready to acknowledge. Like the fact I had only one stack of Denial left.

“I was hoping you could teach them archery, tracking, and survival.” I said, changing the topic.

Being a source of concern for Elincia was the last thing I wanted. We already had enough worries with the entrance exams for the Imperial Academy on the horizon. And, as we weren’t sure about the contents of the exam, it was better to prepare them for different scenarios.

“Aren’t those skills more akin to Sentinels?” Elincia asked, still from the heights of the uneven stool. “Pass me the cutter kit, please.”

“Ilya told me she wanted to be a Hunter.” I replied, grabbing the leather case and giving it to Elincia. Cutters belong in the higher cabinet, out of the children’s reach.

“Did she?” Elincia gave me a curious look.

I had assumed she knew the preferences of each kid.

“Ilya said she wanted to be a Hunter so she could feed the orphanage… but that was before our potion operation.” I said, offering Elincia a hand. She grabbed it and jumped down. The rings seemed to like to be together.

“I’m jealous.” Elincia grunted and walked past me. “I have taken care of Ilya since she was a baby but she never tells me those things. I was eleven when she arrived at the orphanage, she was the size of a bean!”

I understood Ilya. The gnome girl didn’t want to be a burden for Elincia. Considering the amount of work Ilya put in the orphanage, it wouldn’t surprise me if she achieved the [Governess] title one of these days. And there was also the fact that vocational choice was a difficult topic for commoners.

“Let’s have a vocational fair this weekend.” I suddenly said.

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Despite knowing Ilya wanted to be a Hunter and Zaon a Knight, I still was ignorant to what Wolf and Firana wanted. Firana had even asked me if it was okay for her to not pick a sword-related class.

“A vocational fair?” Elincia was beyond confused.

“You know, we show the kids some common classes, their strengths and weaknesses, and the skills they could achieve, so they can make an informed decision in front of the System Altar.” I explained.

The idea was simple but Elincia was dumbfounded.

“I swear I have never met a cockier man in my whole life.” Elincia smiled. “Back in my days we just accepted whatever the System offered us.”

“Maybe the System offered you a nice class that you didn’t even hear about.” I replied in a mocking voice.

“I hate you Robert. I can’t even be mad with you around, and I want to be mad.” Elincia beamed at me. “You better go deliver the potions, I’ll go teach the kids some archery.”

Seeing Elincia’s radiant smile was a reward in itself. I shook my head. I told myself it wasn’t the fact it was Elincia, but the fact I wanted to see all the orphanage denizens happy.

“I’m leaving then.” I said, walking to the study’s door.

Then I remembered the potion box.

Elincia put it inside a satchel and handed it to me while laughing.

Farcrest’s streets were mostly empty, except for the occasional patrol. In the end, the feared Monster Surge never happened. There were a couple instances of rogue monsters reaching the farmlands, but the guardsmen quickly got rid of them. The uncertainty about the Lich’s fate still gnawed at the edges of my consciousness but luckily, I had more pressing matters to be focused on.

Maybe I should pay Captain Kiln another visit to tell her about the undead monsters. I added it to my to-do list. I wondered if I should give her a set of cards now. With a little bit of [Awareness] from the Captain’s part, winning a poker hand should be a breeze.

Despite Farcrest being in a level of low emergency, I tried to avoid the patrols nonetheless.

The market looked strange with most of the stores closed and without people flooding the main street. I felt transported to a completely different town. A ghost town to be precise. I squeezed my satchel with the rack of potions and entered the dark alleys that surrounded the market, hoping Nasiah had her store open.

After an hour of walking across the maze of alleys, and getting lost more than once, I found Nasiah’s store. It was open.

The bell chimed as I crossed the doorway, catching the old woman’s attention. She examined me from head to toe before realizing who I was. Then, her eyes lit up.

“Mister Scholar, welcome back.” Nasiah greeted me. Her neutral voice betrayed her eyes. “Where is your elven princess?” She added with a drop of contempt.

I still ignored the source of Nasiah’s dislike for Elincia, but it was starting to annoy me. From all the inhabitants of Farcrest, Elincia was one of the kindest and most caring ones. How could he deserve such contempt after devoting her youth to keeping the orphanage safe?

“Elincia is taking care of her loyal subjects, she’s doing all right.” I replied, closing the door behind me and walking past the shelves. Camping equipment, small weapons, clothing, tools, jewelry, raw materials. Nasiah’s store had a little of everything.

It was a charming place if you overlooked the owner.

“So, are you here to buy something or to borrow money?” Nasiah asked.

I didn't need to hear the shopkeeper's sarcasm dripping down her throat to notice the jab thrown at Elincia.

“We had a deal for potions.” I replied.

“Considering how much time has passed, I thought you had forgotten about our deal.” Nasiah mockingly said from behind the counter.

Did she have to be so unpleasant?

“We were studying better alternatives to distribute our product.” I replied.

“Please, don’t call low quality potions ‘a product’. It’s disrespectful towards actual Alchemists.” Nasiah gave me a sarcastic smirk. “Anyway, the situation has changed since the last time we spoke. Guardsmen and mercenaries bought Farcrest’s whole stock of alchemy products, it will be risky to sell these illegal potions with such a reduced flux.”

“What’s your offer then?” I asked.

“Seventy percent for the low grade potions, fifty percent for the medium grade, and twenty percent for the high grade.” Nasiah said.

We were going to lose an ample margin with these new rates.

“You need to give me something better than that.” I said.

Nasiah raised an eyebrow.

“Enlighten me, then, who in Farcrest is going to buy potions from a non-registered Alchemist if not me?” She asked with a mocking tone.

That was a hell of a good question.

“Master Abei Luzian.” I said with a straight face.

Nasiah laughed, this time without a trace of mockery in her tone.

“Please tell me, why the Court’s Scholar is going to fund a misbehaved Scholar at risk of angering the Marquis itself? Why could he need potions in the first place?” Nasiah wiped a rogue tear from her eye.

I gave her a mischievous smile. Even without [Awareness] assisting me, I could lie perfectly well.

“Master Abei doesn’t need potions but he will purchase anything I sell him.” I replied, shrugging my shoulders. “I’m a [Silver Scholar] with twice as many expertises as Abei. I could write a treatise on farting and Master Abei would happily fund me. Of course, I’d like to avoid siphoning Marquis’ money in front of his face, so I’d rather sell the potions to you, but I really need a better deal.”

Nasiah must’ve been using some haggling skill, because she didn’t ask me for my character sheet. She just nodded in silence. My bluff wasn’t really a bluff. I was sure Abei would open his wallet as soon as I started talking about calculus and biology.

“A [Silver Scholar]? How old are you?” Nasiah muttered as she examined my face.

“Despite my baby face, I’m in my thirties.” I shrugged my shoulders.

Abei was also a [Silver Scholar] but he was in his sixties or seventies.

“If you shave fifteen percent of the commission I’ll be more than happy to sell the potions through your store.” I said, not giving the woman a moment to think.

Nasiah squinted her eyes in suspicion. Fifteen percent wasn’t a drastic sum considering low and mid grade potions weren’t all that expensive. Considering Nasiah’s words, she thought Elincia couldn’t brew medium quality potions at best. There was no way Nasiah knew we only brew high quality potions.

“So… fifty-five percent for low grade, thirty-five for medium grade, and five percent commission for high grade potions?” The woman asked as she did the mental math.

“Basically.”

Nasiah closed her eyes and used her hands as an improvised abacus, or maybe she was using a skill to project her profits. Without [Identify] and [Awareness] was hard to tell.

“You can have your fifteen percent shave as long as it is store credit.” Nasiah finally said. Her counter-offer didn’t sound half bad. The store had most of what we needed at the orphanage other than food and fuel for the stove. Clothing, tools, construction materials, all were there.

“Deal.” I extended my hand.

Nasiah gave me a suspicious look but shook it nonetheless.

“Now, show me the goods.” The woman said, recovering part of her natural sass.

As I placed my satchel over the counter, Nasiah pulled out a magnifying glass that overflowed with magic. The handle was made of brass and the lens had a blue tint to it. I didn’t have to wait long to figure out its purpose.

Nasiah grabbed the rack of potions and pulled out the first vial. A small, round flask filled with a translucent crimson liquid. The woman put the magnifying glass near her eye and inspected the potion. Confusion slowly dripped into her expression. She grabbed a handkerchief and cleaned the magnifying glass before trying again.

“Even low level Alchemists produce a lucky one from time to time.” Nasiah commented as she started to inspect the next potion. Then, she froze. “What? Another?”

Nasiah raced through the potions until she depleted the rack. Every single potion was high grade.

“You played me, you book-muncher!” Nasiah slammed the table with her fist. Shaving off fifteen percent from the low and medium grade potions wasn’t a big change in rates, shaving the same amount from a high grade potion price was.

“You looked down on your supplier, the blame is on you.” I replied with a harsh voice.

Nasiah sighed.

“Well, you did show me your hand, it was me who was too blind to see. I’ll honor my part of the deal. As long as you keep bringing high grade potions, we are going to profit from this.”

Nasiah put the vials in a rack of her own and covered them with a white and red cloth.

“Wait here for a moment.”

Nasiah stood and disappeared through the backroom. A minute later she returned with a book thick as a brick and wide as a chair. She placed it over the counter and the wood creaked under its weight.

“It’s magically locked so only I can use it.” The woman commented as she hovered her hand over the book and let a faint stream of golden mana flow into it.

Suddenly, the book burst open and the pages turned quickly on their own. When I leaned over the counter to check the pages, I noticed they were blank.

“As I said two and a half seconds ago, It’s magically locked.” Nasiah sighed as the pages continued turning as if a small tornado inhabited the book.

“What is it?” I asked.

“It’s a Scry Ledger, a rare enchanted item that lets me know the prices of every transaction that takes place in Farcrest. Quite useful to stay ahead of the competition.” Nasiah grinned, pouring more golden mana into the pages.

The book seemed more magical to me than any skill provided by the System.

“How does such a rare item end up in your hands?” I asked. I had the suspicion that Nasiah might be more than what she pretended to be.

“I’m not some high level Enchanter. Lowell gave it to me for my wedding. I almost left my fiance at the altar when I realized what it was.” Nasiah laughed. “If I haven’t kicked you out of my store it’s because of my friendship with Lowell. He gave me something that I could hardly pay for during my lifetime.”

The Scry Ledger was indeed an overpowered item. How did it find its way into the hands of an orphanage’s owner then? Suddenly the pages stopped moving and Nasiah stared at the blank book.

“There they are. High Quality Health Potions have been sold for two pieces of gold each.” Nasiah said with an increasingly surprised tone.

Two times twelve was twenty-four. Twenty-four pieces of gold just for the first batch of potions. My heart rate raced dangerously high. Were we rich now?

Nasiah retrieved a small chest from under the counter and pressed her hand on the lid to open. The faint flash of mana told me there was a magical mechanism in place. It was mana locked just like the Scry Ledger.

“I can give you four gold as an advance, the rest will come when I manage to sell the potions.” Nasiah said, counting the coins behind the chest.

“Four gold is fine.” I stuttered. With that money I could buy a well needed sack of salt to preserve food for winter, maybe a couple of contraband tarts to secretly enjoy with Elincia, or a couple kilos of wheat. And meat, spices, fruits, fuel for the stove, clothes the right size for every orphan, shoes, an actual dress for Shu. We could fix the ceiling before the rains and renew the chicken coop.

No. I had to ease my mind before making any important purchases.

“There you go, book-muncher.” Nasiah put four gold coins on the table.

I put them inside my pouch. Then, I grabbed the empty box and put it back inside the satchel before walking back to the door. However, I couldn’t yet return to the orphanage. Curiosity had been nibbling on my brain since Nasiah had told me about the Scry Ledger.

“There is another thing I want to ask you.” I said.

Nasiah closed the magic chest and hid it away under the counter.

“After literally scamming me?” The woman raised an eyebrow.

I ignored her and asked anyway.

“If Lowell gave you such a useful item, why do you hate the kid he raised as his own daughter so much?”