As Mika had expected, the journey back had been fraught with peace. His gut feeling had been that the world would not kill his family this time, but even then, he held on to hope.

‘I’m only helping you because I’ll refine you later so that I can dominate this world freely in the future,’ Mika thought, assuring himself that it was the only reason why he would help his family.

“Young sir,” Nona Flowers called, offering the young boy some tea. “Are you enjoying the book?”

“It’s such a wonderful book,” Mika said, smiling up at Nona innocently.

A Thousand and One Herbs, and Where to Find Them.

It was a book which held knowledge on the most common thousand herbs and where such herbs grew, under what conditions, and how to retrieve them. The most enlightening method was that of the silvergum herbleaf auraroot, which was protected by a Peak Bronze creature known as the Garbazu, an demonic creature which could slowly suck the soul out of whatever it fought, so even if one was stronger than the Garbazu, a prolonged fight with it would end in the cultivators death.

Pray and kill it quickly.

‘You could probably ignore the first step,’ Mika presumed.

Nona continued to smile down at the young sir of the Black Hand family. She had heard he had been born with a murky fortune, and had been crippled when he was but a boy of two. ‘Is that why you decided to learn to read? What a cute young sir you are, reading such mature books.’

Mika’s eyes scanned across the book swiftly, turning the pages ten times as quickly as Nona expected. Once he was done with the book, with the late afternoon sun greeting them and their empty cups of tea, Nona stretched and yawned.

“I should close the library soon since it’s my sister’s birthday, but I don’t want to disappoint the young sir,” Nona said, peeking down at the young boy with a curious eye.

Mika closed the book. “Are you speaking of Alchemist Rio?”

“That’s right,” Nona smiled. “Isn’t my elder sister so amazing? She became an alchemist, but I’m still just a librarian.”

“Alchemist Rio is certainly intelligent and wise, but sister Nona is just as intelligent and wise, and pretty.”

Nona reached down to tickle his nose, but quickly brought her finger back, realising he was still a young sir. “How can you flirt with me like this, young sir.”

Mika smiled wide. “If sister Nona needs to leave to meet with her sister, then I’ll finish with my reading early today.”

“What a lovely young sir you are!” Nona clapped her hands at the magnificence of the young sir.

“I heard that Alchemist Rio helped my mother when I was born,” Mika began, still smiling innocently. “Can I also go and wish her a good birthday?”

Nona hesitated only for a moment before she smiled. “Since you’re such a good young man, I’ll take you to the Alchemy Guild.”

Hearing the word guild almost made Mika twitch. The word was connected to a different type of fantasy world, not those of this kind of fantasy world. ‘Well, there is that place too. No, I should focus on alchemy first, since I’m best at that. Why try hard to help my family when I could just do it the easy way?’

Nona closed up the library before she led the boy forward towards the Alchemy Guild, slowing her pace so Mika wouldn’t be troubled. The guard which had been assigned to Mika wondered what was going on, but he decided against saying anything, instead admiring the presence of Nona, whose beauty rivalled her sister’s.

‘No, I can’t be thinking like that,’ the guard thought. ‘She’s too pretty and smart for the likes of me.’ Hak thought of his elder brother, who had died protecting the young miss and young sir.

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The Alchemy Guild was some ways outside the town walls, atop a nearby hill. It was close enough to the town that it was technically a part of it, though they typically remained by themselves, and defended themselves against the hordings which rampaged every few years.

The earthy smell soon filled Mika’s nose, the boy involuntarily relaxing. It wasn’t quite involuntary, for the boy did not allow anything to spill out unless he allowed it, but he allowed himself this voluntarily involuntary response to the smell. He was unable to control his smile, which he was more than able to control, but allowed it to peek across his lips.

“Good evening everyone!” Nona called, all the while the alchemists were double checking their work for the day.

“Nona, what are you doing here?” Rio asked, noting the new figure who seemed so familiar to her. No, it wasn’t that he was familiar, it was that he was unmistakeably that boy, for who else had black hair and black eyes and was crippled?

“I’ve come to show off our cutest customer, of course,” Nona said, revealing Mika to the alchemists.

The alchemists were sure that Mika wasn’t just a nobody, and quickly realising he was a cripple, they decided to ignore him, but when they realised he had black hair and black eyes, they decided against their previous course of action.

“What a cute young man you are,” Rio said, reaching down to pat his head, before realising he was still a young sir, and quickly withdrawing her hand.

“Good evening, Alchemist Rio,” Mika said, politely, palm over fist as he bowed.

“You know who I am?” Rio asked.

Mika flashed a charming smile. “You are as pretty as sister Nona, so I assumed you were sisters.”

“What an adorable young sir you have become,” Rio said, smiling down at the boy.

“Alchemist Rio has always helped my family, and me, so I wanted to wish you a happy, twentieth, birthday,” Mika said, smiling innocently.

“You think that this sister is only twenty years old?” Rio asked, while Nona stifled her laughter, doing her best not to crack.

“Yes,” Mika said.

“Ara ara,” she said, while Mika tried not to cringe, “what a smooth young sir you are.”

“Young sir, you need to be careful, it’s not good to lie,” Nona said. “Alchemist Rio is-,”

Rio grabbed her sister’s mouth with a hand, all the while brushing Mika’s hair for being so adorable. “Would you like some tea, young sir?”

“I don’t want to bother sister, uh, Alchemist Rio,” Mika said, once again bowing and placing his palm over his fist.

“Nonsense. You’re not a bother, young sir. Why don’t you stay for some tea? It’ll be a breath of fresh air for us alchemists, won’t it?”

The other alchemists smiled, though the stress on their face was evident. They had so many pills to make, though they decided against breaking the heart of such a young man.

“Thank you, Alchemist Rio,” Mika said, before sitting down to one side. His eyes glanced around the area, seeing the alchemists hard at work as they double checked inventory and refined pills. He noted the slips on the wall, many of which were written with the same handwriting, while one alchemist had taken a couple and was pondering over them.

‘This few alchemists for a town with a million people?’ Mika thought. Even if the noble families made up only a few thousand, it still would have been difficult for the alchemists to deal with the amount of work which was required, especially if they were also dealing with the Auction House or the Commerce Chamber.

Mika could feel a figure with greater power than any of the alchemists approach the guild. Stepping through the door was a tall, thin, handsome man. His beard was pencil thick, and his moustache formed a long arrow tip. His skin was tan, as though he spent many of his hours outside in the sun, though Mika could tell he was typically of paler persuasion from the hue of the tan. His robes were fine, white and green, with a golden colour. At his side was a tablet which denoted his rank as an alchemist.

‘An Elder Alchemist?’ Mika thought. He had heard that Elder Yan was an Elder Alchemist, but he hadn’t realised the rumours were true. He could have been well respected, hence the title of Elder, but to be an actual Elder Alchemist while this far in the middle of nowhere…

‘What’s your story, old man?’

“Welcome back, Elder Yan,” the alchemists all said, bowing towards the Elder. Nona, too, bowed, and Mika scrambled off his stool, and bowed the same, as though he were just an innocent little boy who was clueless.

Elder Yan decided to ignore the boy, before realising who the boy was. “Young sir of the Black Hand family, how may we assist you?”

“Good evening, Elder Yan, I came to wish sister, uh, Alchemist Nona’s, I mean, Alchemist Rio a happy birthday.”

‘Birthday?’ Yan looked to Rio. “Ah, right. Alchemist Rio, why don’t you take the day off?”

Alchemist Rio, who was due to leave work in an hour, though was probably going to stay the evening anyway to help out, clasped her fist with her palm. “I thank the Elder for his kindness.”

“Bring the young sir a cup of tea,” Elder Yan said, before he went right to work, checking the various assignments which the alchemists had been tasked with.

‘How much should I reveal?’ Mika thought. He could blow their minds right now, but if he did too much too quickly, then it would be too awkward. ‘I don’t need to rush too much, so I should take it easy…’ Mika then picked his target.