Hilda wasn’t sure she heard it right. Had that healer said she had been poisoning her own grandnephew? Lucas wasn’t so surprised, however; actually, he quite expected that result, but it still felt weird to hear.
“His body has been slowly deteriorating itself due to a substance that apparently someone has given him not too long ago,” the healer explained, while she carried on examining Elliot’s body.
Hilda turned to him, her eyes wide open. “Is she talking about the potions?” a trace of disbelief could be heard in her voice.
“I believe so,” Lucas replied. He didn’t want to tell her that she was part of the reason her grandnephew hadn’t woken up. He didn’t care if she was an NPC; she seemed pretty real to him. Fortunately, he didn’t need to tell her, as the healer intervened.
“What potions?” she turned to her.
“Th-the potions healer Kairos told me he needed for his recovery.”
When she heard the name Kairos, her expression changed to a frown, and she looked around.
“What exactly is that you do?” the healer asked her.
“I’m an alchemist, why?”
Hearing that response the woman sighed.
“I understand now. Kairos is on the payroll of George Hastings. He was expelled from the healer’s association a few years ago. He is not a serious healer; I wouldn’t follow any of his advice.”
“George Hastings?” Hilda asked, confused.
“The owner of Alchemy Emporium,” it was Lucas turn to speak. Hilda’s eyes were filled with realization; she knew now that she had been fooled.
“But… why?”
“Your potions, they needed them. They probably were the ones who poisoned Elliot in the first place,” Lucas explained and sighed.
He didn’t understand what the system wanted with this plot; he had a feeling this was yet another quest, but this time he wasn’t sure if there was only one possible outcome or even a reward at the end. He could have just ignored the old lady’s problems and gone his way. Or he could get involved and make all the choices that could lead him down different paths with different endings.
He wondered again what NPCs were. They seemed just like regular people, but it was like they were always involved in some sort of story… no, that wasn’t true. The healer, or Alva, didn’t seem to be involved in any specific story. He just couldn’t figure it out, and the trip to the library hadn’t helped in this regard either.
Driving these thoughts away, he pondered what his next steps should be. He was sure there wasn’t a single solution to that problem, so he could think of his own way to solve it. But he knew beforehand that it would be a hard task.
First, as much as he wanted to, he couldn’t kill George the regular way. If people knew he was the one who killed him, it would be impossible to live in the city. His father might have checked out of his duties as mayor, but something like the death of a son was sure to bring him back, even if he wasn’t fond of him.
Second, Lucas had realized how powerful money still was in Ponos. It wasn’t the most important thing, because a powerful being could still walk confidently in the presence of a rich one, but it was still a big deal; with money, George Hastings could buy others to keep him safe and buy whatever else he wanted too.
Lucas’ mind was racing with innumerable possibilities, but one thing was certain: he needed to get Hilda out of this, and the best way to do this was if she had another place to stay, and lay low for a while until George was out of the picture. He turned to Hilda and said that he would be back in an hour, and he left her with the healer, talking about what her next steps should be to bring her grandnephew back to life.
Lucas walked briskly and finally arrived in front of a large house, he had seen before during one of his walks. He thought it was a good spot to potentially open some business one day. It was well located close to the city center, and most importantly, it was far enough from the Alchemy Emporium, with the city center right in-between them.
Upon entering, he found the space to be large and suitable for Hilda to both sell her potions and live with her grandnephew. After doing a quick tour, confirming it was the perfect place, Lucas checked the price tag again. That was the only part he didn’t like very much—it was almost half his money: five hundred thousand coins.
It was a lot, but he probably could recover a part of it once he started selling his own potions or doing a few quests. Besides, he couldn’t leave Hilda to her own luck and wanted her to have her own thing where she didn’t need to rely on anyone.
Deep down, he also knew that a big part of the reason he was doing this was because he wasn’t able to help his mom financially before the comet came. She and his father had spent a lot of money on medical bills because of him, and their financial situation was never good, so he had planned on helping after he finished college and started working as a doctor. But that dream was cut short. Now he had the opportunity to help someone he cared about again, and he would do the best he could.
Upon his return to Hilda’s house, the healer left, promising not to tell anyone what she had witnessed, and afterward, Lucas told Hilda about his intentions. At first, she was very opposed to his plan, with pride being the main reason for her refusal.
However, after considering her situation for a while, she came to the conclusion she had to place Elliot first, ahead of her pride. But she only truly agreed when Lucas accepted her proposal that when she started her own business, he would keep half of the earnings.
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Hilda was still having a hard time believing the Alchemy Emporium would be so evil, but she was also furious for all they made her go through.
All those years blaming herself and it was all their fault in the end. They knew she was a threat to their newly opened store; her potions were better, after all. Instead of taking her out of the market indefinitely by killing her, they chose the most profitable option, which was having her work for them.
She slowly realized all the steps of their nefarious plan but was still helpless to do anything about it, so she just let Lucas take the lead, as he seemed to know what he was doing.
Lucas helped Hilda pack her things, mostly alchemy materials and equipment, and also a few clothes. He thought about setting the house on fire before he left to fake an accident, but if he did that, the fire could spread to the nearby houses and affect innocent people. So instead, they left a note written by Hilda. “Elliot died; I went to bury him and will not come back. Thank you for your help during this difficult time.”
This was just a little thing to make the Alchemy Emporium not suspect her sudden disappearance. Elliot’s death wasn’t too out of the ordinary to raise any suspicions, and it would make sense for Hilda to stop doing alchemy and maybe move somewhere else after her grandnephew died. It was just what they needed to take her out of the scene. And when she was ready to make her return, George would be out of the picture, so there would be no problem.
The next step was a little tricky. Lucas needed to move with Elliot and the old lady without attracting too much attention. But they figured since their cover story was that Elliot had died, Lucas could simply carry him, like he was a corpse, if people saw them, it would only confirm their story was true. He placed him on a sleeping bag, and Lucas carried him over his shoulder through the streets.
Their progress was a lot slower than when Lucas went on his own, because now he was carrying a body and Hilda was an old lady who couldn’t walk very fast. Still they arrived there after an hour and a half of walking.
Soon after Lucas discovered that buying property in Ponos was way easier than on Earth. He only needed to place all the required coins in the mailbox—his pile of coins getting a little smaller—and afterward, the house would be in his name automatically, the sign that said the house was for sale disappearing immediately. Lucas greatly appreciated the lack of bureaucracy and entered the house.
Hilda was awestruck by the house, saying that it was even better than her old one, and seemed even more thankful toward him, if this was even possible. Lucas still felt a little bad about taking half of her business but the truth was that he did need a constant income if he didn’t want to dry out the necromancer money after all.
Besides, he was already planning on doing something of the sort anyway. This way, Hilda could get a fair pay, and he would get something as well—it was a win-win. But first, he needed to deal with the problem that was George Hastings.
He couldn’t open a new potion store with him around, especially with Hilda being responsible for making the potions. Their high quality would raise suspicion, and it would be hard to make the business go any further. No, he needed a permanent solution for this problem, but first, he needed to find out what he was dealing with.
This was all new territory for Lucas: uncovering a scheme, buying a house, starting a business and now tracking someone. This was the most demanding non-quest he had ever seen. To track down George Hastings wasn’t so difficult; after all, many people knew him. Lucas spotted him, a thirty-year-old man wearing sunglasses in the middle of the day, with two bodyguards by his side.
Human — Lvl 14
Human — Lvl ??
Human — Lvl ??
The lowest leveled was obviously George, but everyone made way for him when they saw him, and if they didn’t, his bodyguards were quick to remove whoever was standing in his way.
Lucas thought that despite being protected by the guards, a skilled archer like Aysha could probably one-shot him from distance with one of her arrows. The problem was that even if she killed him, she would not be able to escape quickly enough to survive. As soon as the arrow struck its target, her position would be compromised, and it would be easy for the bodyguards to kill her, taking advantage of their higher levels.
Even if she managed to get away somehow, George’s father would probably conduct a full investigation, probably leading to Hilda’s mysterious disappearance. No, he needed something subtler.
He kept following him for the rest of the day as George moved from place to place, probably visiting businesses he owned, until he stopped at a bar. In front of the bar, he met someone—a tall man with his hair reaching his shoulders and a cocky smile. Lucas didn’t know him but was able to see his level; it was nineteen.
Is he… real? Lucas thought, seeing the way the man acted. With this question in his mind, he looked around and found what he was looking for—the carriage he had seen that day. That was the man who had the most merit points in the city, and that was close to reaching level twenty.
What is he doing? The man seemed awfully familiar with George and acted like they were old friends. It was also the first time Lucas saw George laugh and look happy; prior to that, he had kept a straight and pale face the entire time. They entered the bar, and Lucas followed, but he couldn’t hear them with all the noise and music.
The only thing of worth that he saw from their interaction was a money transaction, from George to the man, who seemed to thank him a lot. After a few hours, they left, and Lucas decided to continue his surveillance the next day, going back to his hotel.
Lying in his bed, Lucas thought about what his next steps should be. If this was meant to be a non-specified quest by the system, it didn’t seem to be designed for him to win. Both bodyguards never left George’s side, and there was also the constant threat of his father in case anything happened to him.
Lucas thought about the possibility of making George leave the city and setting up a trap for him somewhere, but the problem with that was the same as killing him inside the city; his father would likely conduct an investigation, and it would become impossible for Lucas to appear with a new alchemy store led by Hilda, who formerly worked for him and was also wronged by him.
After all, if Lucas had found out, his dad would likely be able to do the same: a quick trip to the doctor who diagnosed her grandnephew or one of her nosy neighbors, and everything would be out in the open, Lucas and Hilda becoming the clear suspects for his death. No, his death was not an option. Then what? Lucas fell asleep, considering the possibilities.
The next day, he decided to change his strategies. Following George would lead him nowhere; he had already established that he couldn’t kill him, at least not through normal means. So, he decided to follow people who seemed close to him. So far, he had only the healer Kairos, and that was a long shot because Lucas didn’t know how often they met each other. The other person was the man from Earth, who seemed to be in good terms with him.
Deciding to start with the non-NPC guy, Lucas walked around the city until he found what he was looking for, a very obvious carriage making its way through the crowd. That man had no intention to be discreet, so it wasn’t hard to find him. Lucas kept following him throughout the entire morning, and he did nothing of much substance. He did stop at the Training Center once and stayed there for about an hour before he left, however, courtesy of George Hastings, Lucas presumed.
But the thing that really raised his eyebrow was the scene he watched on the steps of the city hall. There he saw George talking very intimately to a familiar face; he even touched the person’s arm while talking and gesturing, occasionally letting out a laugh, while the person he was talking to kept a pleasant smile the entire time. It wasn’t John, the mayor or anybody else he knew but Aysha.