S18, Profitable Businesses (Part 2)
The room that Alchemist Luelle used as a laboratory was as messy as the last time I had been here. There were shelves and tables everywhere piled with all kind of things, like shiny glass vials, dusty jars filled with colorful substances or monster parts and all kinds of strange tools.
“Whoa, what a mess.” Stroud whispered.
The alchemist was rummaging through some drawers and spilling even more stuff around her, “I thought I had left it here…” She mumbled.
I soon noticed some fresh monster parts on one of the tables. Although they weren’t complete I identified them as the necks of some kind of reptid species, probably monsters from the dungeon.
“You two, leave the stalks on a table while I…” Realizing there was no available space anywhere the alchemist swept a table with her arm and threw part of its content on the floor. “Put them here, I will go get the money.”
Alchemist Luelle left upstairs and once again I focused my attention on the monster parts on the table. The reptid necks were different from the ones I had seen in the wild and I was trying to remember if one of the instructors had ever mentioned this species.
“Are you interested in those?” An unknown voice startled me. At the bottom of the room a young man wearing a brown robe had turned to look at us. “Hello, I’m Alhan of Mesdale, Alchemist’s Luelle assistant,” He introduced himself.
“I’m Simon of Sudken, trainee. Pleased to meet you.” I promptly answered, a bit ashamed I hadn’t noticed him earlier.
“Hello! I’m Stroud of Buskdorf, also a trainee.” Stroud said casually.
“Nice to meet you two. Sorry for the mess, I have wanted to put some order here since I started the job, but I simply have no time.” The assistant laughed weakly. He had dark circles under his eyes, most probably from overworking. “It also doesn’t help that my boss always leaves a trail of scattered things behind her,” he mumbled.
“Anyway, those things you where looking at are the necks of shrill reptids.” Alhan said in a more cheerful tone. “They are an uncommon variant of dungeon reptids with a mana organ.”
I had gotten some more information about mana organs since the last time I had been here. The fire glands of the dungeon lizard Alchemist Luelle had shown me before were the same, monster parts the magicians used to create catalysts and magic items.
“Shrill reptids?” I had a vague memory of the monster being mentioned.
“They are pretty rare here, these were bought personally by Alchemist Luelle from the Grey Hound Guild. This species of reptid can only be found in the dungeon and as it’s name implies they can do a very unpleasant noise using the mana organ they have in their necks.”
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“Oh, that sounds like money. Do you know where we can find them?” Stroud asked with an intrigued tone.
“I have no idea, but rare monster like those come here from time to time. If you are interested in them I can offer you a small side job, we are always in need of more hands,” the assistant said, snickering.
“Sorry, I’m not interested. I’m better at killing monsters,” Stroud refused.
“Uh, thank you for the offer, but I don’t think I have the time.” I refused politely. I was interested in the rare monsters, but I had no intention of working in a closed room for hours just to see them. Sooner or later I would come across living ones in the dungeon.
“Oh, that’s a pity.” For split second the assistant looked genuinely sad at our refusal. “Anyway, it’s not like they come in every day. If you ever visit Mesdale you will see way more variety of monsters.”
Mesdale was a city in the northwest of Suidberg and, excluding Agus itself, the closest place with a dungeon entrance
“Alhan, did you finish mixing the bloodstone powder?” Luelle asked as she walked down the stairs with a purse in hand.
“Almost! Just a few more,” Alhan answered her and hurried back to his seat where he started working silently.
“Jeez, how many times have I told you we have no time to be lazying around?” The alchemist shook her head. “Anyway, kids, here is the agreed amount for the herbs.” She said as she unceremoniously took a few coins from the purse and split them between Stroud and me. “If you gather more heelen stalks consider selling some to me. I will match whatever Gardner offers you.”
“I will remember it, Alchemist Luelle.” I nodded politely. Then I took a last yearning glance at the reptid parts as I turned towards the door. It was a pity I couldn’t stay a bit more, but the alchemist would surely lose her patience if we lingered around for too long.
“Are you eyeing the monster parts again? Those are the necks of shrill reptids.” Alchemist Luelle suddenly explained, breaking my expectations. I was sure with our business done she would chase us out of the room immediately. Maybe she was in a good mood after acquiring the herbs.
I halted my steps and cautiously questioned the alchemist. “I heard you bought them from the Grey Hounds Guild. Do you know where in the dungeon we can found them?”
“Technically, you can find them in any place with common dungeon reptids, but they appear more frequently in some caves towards the northeast. I can tell you the exact location if you happen to have a map on you.”
“Oh! Can you give me a moment?” I excitedly hurried outside to ask Terence for his map of the caves, he always had it on him.
“Map!” With just a word I practically snatched the map from Terence’s pockets and rushed back in, fearing the alchemist might change her mind at any moment. “Here! Can you signal the place?… Please?” I added after seeing the alchemist’s unamused expression.
She stared at me for an instant before looking at the opened map in my hands. “Yes, this map is quite complete. Shrill reptids appear here regularly.” She pointed at a few caverns in the upper right corner of the sheet. “But you need to be careful. There are also quite a lot of common reptids and other monsters in those caves. It’s better if you go there with a big group.”
“I see, thank you very much for the information.” I said politely bowing down.
“It’s nothing. If you manage to hunt some I will buy them. That remembers me. You may want to know how to take the mana organs without damaging them, come here.” The alchemist approached the table with the monster parts and started tearing through one of the necks with a knife. “Like this, about three fingers on top of the air sack, its a bit hard to cut…”
After a while she took out a piece the size of a baby’s fist. It was smooth and rosy on the outside but had a hole through it that showed some white cartilage.
“The mana organ itself is thicker and harder than the rest so you can easily differentiate it. If you aren’t capable just bring the full neck like the others do. I will pay you… forty… a tiny silver for a pair. They can be stored for a long time.”
That wasn’t a bad price at all. Common dungeon reptids were about as valuable as dungeon lizards and only slightly more dangerous. We had encountered a few in the caves, but tended to avoid them since we were hunting the more profitable varans. If we were able to find a spot with shrill reptids we could make money a lot faster as the scaly monsters tended to gather in groups. With the added the price of the mana organs they would do for a good prey.
“Alright, that sounds good.” I said, still making calculation in my head. “Thank you, Alchemist Luelle. If we happen to hunt some we will bring them to you. Have a goo…”
“Miss Alchemist! That thing. Is that one of the magic ingredients used by magicians?” As I was about to say goodbye to Miss Luelle Stroud suddenly cut me with a question.
“Yes, mages use them to create catalysts, and any magician can make use of one to perform basic magic. These in particular make a loud, disgusting sound. Most small monsters will flee when hearing it, while bigger ones usually get distracted or annoyed by it.” Miss Luelle must have been in a very good mood because she kept answering the question in a detailed manner. “If you want to know more they are called shrillers. Unlike most catalysts you can use them more than once if you are lucky. Although they are not very popular, most people prefer to waste their money on flame balls or water bullets. Let me show you one.”
Once more the Alchemist began rummaging through the drawers until she finally took out a whitish item. “Here it is, this is a shriller.” Compared to the raw organ it seemed like most of the flesh on it had been scrapped out and its exterior had been treated with some dark lacquer to preserve it.
“Experimented adventurers that can control mana sometimes use them instead of monster repellent or monster bait. They can come in handy in certain situations.” Miss Luelle said, handing the shriller to us so we could inspect it. The catalyst was a lot lighter than I expected.
“Well, I hope you are satisfied.” The alchemist said snatching the item from my hands. “Now I need to add the heelen extract to the blood potions before they get spoiled.” She said dismissing us with a wave of her hand.
Stroud and I said goodbye to her and left the house. Once outside I handed the money the money to Terence, as the acting leader it was his role to split it among us. It was quite the heavy purse, thanks to Gardner and Luelle’s fight we had gotten a very big sum. Now I knew why Terence had such a bright smile as he went into the herbalist’s pavilion.
“What took you so long?” Falnid protested. “Did she give you anything?” He added with an expectant expression.
“No, but I got some useful information. I will tell you during lunch.”
Afterwards we parted ways with Stroud group. They wanted to visit the herbalist while we were headed for the dinning hall as it was already noon.
I was really interested in hunting the shrill reptids that only existed in the dungeon, but before that everyone needed to recover from their injuries. After lunch I would do some mana training. I was sure I wasn’t far from being able to strengthen my body with mana.