As the light of consciousness returned to Anthony’s eyes, the first thing he saw was the concerned look on Pom’s now slightly pink face. The young girl was leaning over his body, pressing the back of her palm against his overheated forehead. When she noticed his eyes drifting open, relief washed over her, and a wide smile spread across her face.
“Thank goodness! My hero is awake.”
The joyful look on Pom’s face slowly shifted to one of stern sincerity as she stared into Anthony’s eyes and continued.
“Now I can thank you properly for saving my life. If you hadn’t grabbed me after those bastards shot me twice in the back, I would have most certainly died.”
She planted a swift kiss on Anthony’s cheek before leaning back to allow him to sit up. The young man raised himself off the ground slowly, holding one hand to his aching head. His entire body felt wrong, as if he had been left to simmer in a cooking pot overnight. Somehow, the revelation from his step father caused the memory bound by his cultivation method to release a burst of power. The problem was that it was dangerously intense, nearly cooking him along with his ruined sword.
Doing his best to ignore the pain, Anthony looked over toward his red haired companion.
“Pom… I’m glad you’re okay. I really thought you were going to die—things would have been bad without that potion. How did you ever get your hands on something like that?”
As Anthony spoke, he glanced around the area, quickly noticing the unconscious bodies of the three men Elara and Pom had gone after. The leader of the group, Bo, was now missing more than just a finger—his entire arm had been sliced off at the shoulder. He would most likely bleed out soon.
Anthony watched as Elara twirled a finger in the air, generating a length of black rope that she used to tie up Bo’s two underlings. When she reached Bo, however, she scratched the back of her head, staring down at the man in hesitation—unsure how to restrain a one-armed prisoner.
After hearing Anthony's question, Pom’s expression darkened with anger, her brow deeply furrowed as she pulled out the empty vial that had once held her most precious asset. She gazed down at it longingly as she answered Anthony.
“This potion has been in my family for over sixty years. My grandfather brought it back from the adventures he undertook in his youth. He always spoke proudly about how it was the most valuable treasure he ever found.”
Anthony tilted his head slightly to the side, considering her story.
“What was the point of saving it for so long? Shouldn’t he have used it or sold it at some point?”
Pom let out a frustrated sigh as she returned the empty vial to its leather pouch before answering.
“Yes, he could have. The problem was that without knowing it's effects we could never sell it for what it was actually worth. All my grandfather ever discovered about it was that it came from the private collection of a long-dead king. It was always his dream to reverse-engineer the potion, to uncover both its recipe and its uses. Having access to a legendary formula would have made our shop famous. When he retired without achieving his dream, he handed the potion down to me.”
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Anthony's eyes drifted open in realization before he looked at Pom with renewed fear.
"So you used it without even knowing if it would help?"
Her gaze drifted up toward the cloudy sky as a glimmer of moisture welled in her eyes.
“The king always carried this potion on his person, even getting buried with it, so grandfather suspected that it had some life saving properties. And now it’s gone… I’ll never get the chance to uncover the secrets of it's creation.”
Elara, having just finished tying Bo’s remaining arm to his underlings legs, stepped toward Pom and Anthony with a sly grin spread across her black lips. She stared down at Pom as if she were looking at a pouch full of gold coins as she spoke.
“Well now, it sounds to me like all you need to do is get your hands on another legendary potion!”
Pom rolled her eyes as she stood up, carefully dusting off the front of her dress before responding in an annoyed tone.
“Don’t mock me, Elara! You know full well it’s impossible to get something like that. Even if I sold the entire shop, I couldn’t afford a single drop of a legendary potion!”
Elara shrugged as she walked over, stepping directly in front of Pom and pressing a finger against the center of the young girl’s chest.
“Wrong! You just need to get it the same way your grandfather did—you need to go on an adventure!”
The annoyance on Pom’s face slowly morphed into a mix of thoughtfulness and doubt. She stared at Elara for a few seconds before shaking her head and looking down.
“I’m no adventurer. I wouldn’t even know how to start something like that. Adventuring is for people who are special.”
Elara pressed a finger to her chin, striking a valiant pose as she responded.
“Why, thank you! I do feel rather special! But don’t sell yourself short, Pom. Without your ability to absorb those arrows, Anthony and I would’ve been in a tough spot. You've got your own superpower now, and you were essential to our victory today.”
Anthony nodded as he spoke in agreement.
“Pom is a talented apothecary as well. Without her, I would’ve never created my cultivation potion.”
Elara’s grin widened at this new piece of information. Grabbing Pom’s hand, she eagerly launched into her pitch.
“That settles it! You’re the perfect adventurer, Pom! So you have no reason to refuse—become a member of The Iron Fangs! Join my team with Anthony! Come with us into the world to find a new legendary potion and fulfill the dream your grandfather passed down to you!”
A nervous expression crossed Pom’s face as she stared at Elara, unsure how to respond to such a passionate request. After a few seconds, her eyes flickered over toward Anthony, lingering on his face before quickly looking away. She took a deep breath, lowering her head and placing a hand gently over her reddened left cheek. Without looking up, she nodded slightly in agreement.
A toothy grin overtook Elara’s face as she clenched one red fist in celebration. Glancing at Anthony with a knowing smirk, she walked over to him, leaned in close, and tapped his nose with a finger as she whispered in his ear.
“Good job, handsome. Your pretty face just landed us our third team member.”
“What?”
Anthony furrowed his brows, looking back and forth between Elara and Pom. Elara sighed at his dense response, waving a hand dismissively before turning back to Pom with a smile.
“Welcome to the team, Pom! You won’t regret this decision. First order of business—we need to go fetch the town guards. These bastards can’t be allowed to remain free any longer.”
Anthony glanced down at the tied-up men, his gaze darkening as it landed on the lifeless body of his stepfather. Barely concealed rage burned in his eyes as he spoke.
“Why did you even bother leaving them alive? They all deserve to die.”
Elara smiled, nodding at his question as she placed a finger on her chin in thought.
“Sure, they deserve to be dead, but I’m a mercenary. If the town wants to pay me to kill them, I’ll be happy to oblige. Plus, things will go much smoother for us once these three confess to their crimes. Killing them all might make the guards suspicious of our story.”
She took a seat on a large rock near the prisoners and motioned toward the town.
“I’ll stand watch over these fools. You two go fetch the guards.”