“Who is this alchemist? And where does he live?” I asked.
“He lives inside the city, but not that close. It would take half an hour with a carriage. He is fascinated by dryads.” She said with a smile. “To be fair, he is very interested in most magical creatures. And he tends to make potions for them. I helped him design some that work for my tree. His name is Josef.”
“If he is a specialist on magical creatures the inquisition might be interested in him, to make their runes work on demons.”
Lucy looked at Minerva. “Did you ever hear his name mentioned?”
“No. Unfortunately I only know about the people who gave me direct orders. And the ones I was forced to report. Who are now being controlled as well.” Minerva answered.
I considered the situation. “The guards certainly saw Lily carrying a woman towards the temple. If the inquisition knows that we captured Minerva they will suspect that we are attempting to heal her. Hopefully they will assume that the failsafe is enough. I fear once they learn of her recovery they will strike. And if they were not interested in Josef before, they certainly will be once we make contact.”
“I would be happy to escort the man here.” Lily volunteered.
“How much opposition do we expect?” Lucy asked. “No offence Lily, but you might be outmatched. Especially if you are forced to protect a civilian.”
“I should probably go anyway.” I said. “My title and reputation are a good shield against a lot of things. They will be far more reluctant to arrest me than our maid. And the temple should be safe enough with Thessia. So I suggest Lucy, Lily and myself go and escort Josef. Minerva stays here, if that is alright?”
Thessia nodded. “Minerva is welcome to stay here. I will grant her protection from the inquisition. Now let me fetch a map and I will show you where Josef’s shop is.”
Minerva was happy to stay. She was still a bit overwhelmed with the situation and Sylphania’s temple was a good place to relax. Lily, Lucy and myself left on foot. We were fast enough to rival any carriage. It took only 20 minutes to arrive at the shop, which was located in the merchants quarter. The building seemed old but solid. The entrance was in a small alley with a sign above the door: “Josef’s Mystical Concoctions”
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We entered and found a chaotic storefront. There were shelves filled with bottles, some even labelled, but the floor held a lot of… stuff. Boxes, tools,... maybe even ingredients. A little bell had announced our arrival and soon we heard a voice.
“One moment, I will be right there!”
We carefully made our way to the counter, without stepping on anything important. After waiting for a few minutes a man emerged from the door in the back. His robe had a few holes and was slightly singed. His round face looked almost elven but he had human ears. Maybe a mixed heritage?
His pristine skin was rather pale and his hair was long and black. His blue eyes widened in surprise as he saw us.
“Oh my! What a blessed day to have such lovely customers! Excuse my attire, I was busy experimenting.” Hew bowed to us. “I am Josef, the owner of this shop. What can I do for you?” He eyed Lucy. “I have a special shampoo for your tail! It will become even softer and smoother!”
That did sound interesting. But it was not a priority right now. I held up my hand to stop his sales pitch.
“Greetings, we are not here to buy but to request your aid. My name is Amaya and with me are Lucy and Lily.” I pointed at them. “Thessia sent us, we were hoping you could come back to the temple with us. We are dealing with a serious problem and require your expertise.”
He looked intrigued but suspicious. “Thessia you say? I do love working with her. But I have never seen any of you. Why send three messengers? And one of you looks like a maid. People with servants usually don’t deliver messages themselves.” He pointed at Lily.
“She is our maid.” Lucy said. “But she is also a knight. We are here to escort you. There is a chance that the inquisition is going to attack.”
Josef frowned. “Really? You are telling me, the high priestess is picking a fight with the Empire? I find that hard to believe. What do you really want? What serious problem are we talking about?”
I had to admit, it did sound rather far fetched. How could we convince him? While I pondered that, Lily stepped forward.
“I understand your suspicion, but my ladies speak the truth. They have no need to mislead you. Lady Amaya Delphinium is an archfey. If she had any nefarious intentions you would be powerless to stop her.”
I sighed. “I don’t think that helps Lily.” I looked at Josef. “Look, we are not asking you to follow us anywhere suspicious. We don’t need a carriage. We can just walk in the open streets. You can even lead the way. The problem is serious. Someone’s body was changed against their will and we are trying to help.”
I did not want to talk about the full details. Josef could be controlled himself. He could alert someone. I thought it would be best to get him to the temple first. We would have to check his body for runes. That would require disrobing. If Thessia, a priestess and healer, did that it would be less awkward.
Josef stood there, thinking. He ignored the archfey comment, most likely he did not believe it. After a while he spoke. “Alright, let me grab some things and then we can go. But I will require one gold in advance. Just to make sure you are not wasting my time. I will return it if Thessia’s need is genuine.”