After leaving Reiyo's store, the man finally relaxes.

'Fiuuuu... that went better than I expected. I knew that playing naive would lower his guard but not to such a degree.

Now i gotta gain his trust, make myself appear as a "talented" alchemist who wants to start a business to make money. But Reiyo will not let that happen, he always had an eye for potential partners in the business so what will most probably happen is him offering me a good job, clean at first but the more exciting the potions the more he will be willing to let me in the dirty side of the business.

Combine that with a desire for money from my part and boom! We will be best "friends" by the end(and if I reveal a few quirks of my condition, even faster)'

The man smiles, knowing that the first few steps of his plan have been successful.

But that smile soon disappeared as he received a punch to the gut.

"Bleeg... what the-"

"Missed me freak?" Leroy stands above kei as he tries to get up.

"You know I almost did..." Kei finally gets up with a hand above his stomach.

"You did? Awww, you almost make me wanna cry. Look, I even brought some friends to celebrate." Leroy proceeds to point behind him, and soon a group of 7 people gather around Kei.

"Is this for what I said before? Look, I am sorry, okay. Let's just put this behind us. I even saved you from the assbeating your father would have given you."

"Shut.the.fuck.UP. You think you can just say sorry and fix everything? No, no, no, this requires retribution." He says as the other guys around him start closing in on Kei.

'Just my luck...' The man prepares to fight. After all, he had a clear vision of the power of each of Leroy's lackeys. And the result? Not very high(winnable)

"Look, I made a mistake, right? Everyone makes mistakes. If you let me go, I can fix this mistake."

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

'Even still, negotiating can be better'

"And what would you do, oh so "talented" freak?"

'This might be a good chance to get some muscle on the streets'

"Give you a magic elixir." Kei responds with a straight face.

"...!?" Leroy looked shocked as Kei continued.

"I know you probably don't believe me, but think about it. If I lie, then you can just beat me up later, but if I am telling the truth, then you now become capable of casting magic. So, how does that sound?"

"..." Leroy seemed to be in deep thought while one of his goons spoke.

"Heh... as if a freak like you could craft such a thing. How would you even know how to make one."

"Fairy blood, water, fire stone emanating cold fire, blood from a mage. Do you want me to continue?"

Another of the goons reacted.

"Wait... that's actually the recipe for a magic elixir..." (it looked like he knew a bit of alchemy)

"..." Leroy finally seems to finish his thoughts. "How can we trust you?"

"You can't, but do you have anything to lose?"

"...When?"

"Tomorrow morning, I will go to your dad's store to craft a few normal potions. There, I will also craft the elixir. But I need one ingredient from you."

"Which?"

"Blood from a mage. The more talented, the better."

"...if you are tricking me, I will beat you to death."

"Don't worry. This will be the beginning of a fruitful relationship." Kei extends his hand, offering a handshake.

"..." Leroy looked at the hand but dismissed it and turned back. "We leaving"

The rest of the goons look at each other and decide to leave.

'Well, that was unexpected.' The man retreats his hand and continues his way home.

'If I succeed tomorrow, then things will move faster than expected.' The man smiles while still holding his stomach from the punch.

___________

Finally coming back home, after dark, has finally settled, the man finds his mother waiting for him.

"...! Sweetie! You are finally back! It's extremely late. What happened? " The mother begins to check for injuries on her son.

The child tries to act like nothing was wrong. "I am fineeee mom. Look, nothing happened." The child does a little spin showing he was fine while also hiding the probable mark he had in his stomach.

Eventually, the mother seemed satisfied with her check. "Why did you take so long, sweetie?"

"While walking, I ended up encountering Reiyo he said he would teach me alchemy if I wanted and said that tomorrow morning would be the first lesson." The man lies through his teeth.

"Really? Wow, that's so nice of him! Who knows, maybe you have a talent for it. Even if you don't, it is a good learning experience."

"I know, mom. I have a feeling it will be quite the experience."

The mother and son smile.

"I guess it's time to go to bed then, little man. Wouldn't want to arrive at your first lesson late."

"Yeah, you are right. I will be going then. Sleep well, mom." The child gives his mother a kiss in the forehead and proceeds to leave.

"Love you, sweetie!"

"Love you, mom!"

_____________