“Are you sure about that? If you cause trouble here, we will hunt you down.”

“Good luck with that.”

I already knew that this guy would eventually find a reason to hunt me, so there was no reason for me to fear his threats. In any case, I left the house with Glacien and as soon as we were back on the ground, Clarice landed in front of us.

“You could have at least said bye, you know.”

“I knew that you would look for me soon enough, so that wasn’t necessary.”

“If you say so. Here, Grandma told me to give this to you.”

Clarice gave me a book that seemed like a diary and a map. I already could tell what the map was for, but I had no idea what the book was supposed to have inside. When I opened it, I frowned since I found some texts about alchemy and some recipes for all kinds of things. Potions, poison, ointments and so on.

“This is a book that we all in the family have. While we wouldn’t usually share it with the others. You saved my life back then. It is the least that we can do as a thanks. Arslan didn’t look pleased by this, so it is better if you don’t sell or lose this.”

“You saved me before, so we are even. But I am still going to accept this. In exchange for that, you can have this.”

I gave Clarice some stacks of papers that, once applied, she will have the chance to use my mana for a while. They had no use for me, so perhaps it wasn’t a good enough exchange for her, so after thinking for a while more, I gave her some decay arrows to use in case of emergency.

“This might make people think that you are a vampire, but they should realize the truth soon enough.”

“Thanks, I will make good use of it… Sorry, Regulus. I was planning to make up for it the last time, but I only caused you more trouble.”

Clarice bowed her head deeply and stayed like that for a while. It is true that things didn’t work out the way she had planned, but it wasn’t like I didn’t get anything out of this. I got a bit worked up here and there, but things tend to happen around me. Rather than just being Clarice’s fault, I would say that it was just my unluckiness.

“It is fine. I am not bothered by it. Things only happened this way because I did things a bit different from I usually do. Things could have ended much worse, so I see this as an absolute win.”

“Someday, I will be sure to make things right.”

“All right, don’t work too hard.”

We turned around and then left. Clarice watched us disappearing into the night and then she returned to the house.

Usually, after something like this, I would leave the country, but I still had business to attend to here. I had to find the people involved in the incident three years ago. Working with Clarice didn’t pay off in that regard and Arslan wouldn’t help me find anyone involved. He would rather do things behind the curtains to save the elves face.

Since I couldn’t work with the important people here to gather information, I had to do things in a bit of a roundabout way. Perhaps capturing some of the unseen arrows and forcing them to speak could help, but that would give Arslan reason to come for me. I didn’t have time to waste with him.

The other option was to force the humans that were here to speak. I had a feeling that they could be involved in that. This was a tough option since it would make me get involved with the empire. In the worst-case scenario, if I fail to get them, they will make more of them to look for me in this area.

‘I need to plan this carefully… Arslan might be able to find the people involved and deal with them in a way that will satisfy Clarice, but the elves involved won’t suffer the consequences of it. At least not as much…’

Politics has a way of complicating even the simplest of situations. When decisions that could have been direct and pragmatic are weighed down by alliances, rivalries, and public perception, frustration becomes inevitable. It feels like walking a tightrope, where missteps could lead to unintended consequences, further delays, or worse—open conflict.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

But as frustrating as it is, the involvement of politics often shows the significance of the matter at hand. The scale of this situation has grown far beyond the point where a single individual or small group can handle it alone. Coordinating with multiple parties, managing egos, and ensuring mutual benefits are essential, even if it makes progress feel like trudging through quicksand.

On the bright side, such situations offer valuable lessons. Each encounter provides insight into how power dynamics operate, how to negotiate effectively, and how to anticipate and counteract political plays. These are skills that will be invaluable for future challenges. Though it might feel like a tiresome and unnecessary headache now, in the grander scheme, it’s a proving ground, a chance to learn and adapt. It was useless for me, though. I had no intention of getting involved with that kind of thing.

I decided to move away from the area with Glacien and then get some good rest before deciding anything. If with a fresh mind, I can’t come up with a good plan, then I can always try again later, after exploring some labyrinths.

Using my camouflage tent, Glacien and I were able to rest somewhere nearby without being bothered. When I woke up, I wondered if Clarice would keep quiet about this… maybe I was selling her short. I was also thinking that she didn’t fully know how the amulets worked after seeing them in action once.

“Well, it doesn’t matter that much…”

I decided to check the map that she gave me and then I found the location of a bunch of dungeons and labyrinths. If I had the time, I would have liked to conquer them all, but my main goal was something else. Perhaps I still could clear one with fifty floors.

After studying the map a bit, I decided to check the book of alchemy. Making potions could be handy for me, but without a class, they would only be effective to a certain limit. I wouldn’t gain experience while making them either.

Perhaps it was time to get an alchemy related class or two. Considering the types of things I could make here, not getting them would be foolish. The only downside was that the book only mentioned materials that could be obtained in the Aeloria Dominion.

Potion of Regeneration: Gradually restore health over time. Ideal for prolonged battles or recovery after taking damage.

Materials: Slime Core (Dropped by Slimes): Contains regenerative properties.

Moonflower Extract (A rare plant that blooms under moonlight): Boosts restorative effects.

Elixir of Strength: Temporarily increases physical strength and melee damage.

Materials: Minotaur Horn Powder (Crushed horn of a Minotaur): Contains latent brute strength.

Troll Blood (Extracted from trolls): Enhances raw power but is unstable alone.

Dragon Pepper Seeds (A fiery plant): Amplifies potency of strength-boosting ingredients.

Mana Essence: Restores a large amount of mana instantly.

Materials: Mana Crystal Shard (Dropped by Elementals): Pure concentrated mana.

Fairy Dust (Harvested from fairies): Boosts magical properties.

Wisp Essence (Captured from wisps): Provides a steady flow of magic.

“Yeah, Clarice isn’t that smart if she decided that ignoring this much valuable knowledge is a good idea.”

While I was thinking that, I reached the end of the book and then I found a small letter in it. I frowned since Clarice shouldn’t have had time to write this before… when I opened it, I soon confirmed that she wasn’t the one who wrote it. It had been her grandmother.

‘Thank you for keeping my granddaughter safe, Regulus. I wrote this expecting that this should have happened. It was just a feeling, but I imagined that you two would eventually find us. This made me realize that once it happens, you two probably won’t be able to work together again. At least for us while given the circunstances. Putting that aside, I had heard before that Clarice caused you some problems and that bothered her quite a bit. I am sure that one day she will be able to make up for it, but I decided to help her a bit as well. Head to the final parts of the Insectoids labyrinth, beyond its end, you should find some people that might help you. My husband and them are on good terms. Although the rest of our land isn’t.’

I frowned when I read the letter… a lot of important pieces of information are missing. It looked like being like that run in the family, being extremely oblivious.

‘Them and the former leader of the silver bows are on good terms… Who are them?’

Refugees seemed the most obvious explanation, but I didn’t think that the Elves would let people live in their lands like that… the words beyond the end of a labyrinth were weird as well. There is nothing supposed to be at the end of a labyrinth or dungeon.

I checked the map again and then confirmed that it was very further in the northern parts of the land. Pretty close to the border with the territory of the harpies… I wasn’t planning to head there for a while, but I decided to check it since the labyrinth was supposed to have thirty floors and with the materials there, one can make potions that can improve Camouflage effects.

‘Just like enchantments can mimic skills, I guess potions can do that too… I should make some stamina potions since I have a lot of skills that use that. The skills with the bow will be easier to level up thanks to stamina conservation and the effect of the bow that halves the cost of the stamina use of bow skills.’

I closed the alchemy book and then got ready to move to my next destination.