Sun kissed my skin, and I wanted to swat away it’s touch. The bed was definitely comfortable, but I felt like my back hurt more than any other night in the trip. I didn’t have time to figure out why as I soon heard a knock at the door.

It was only when I had grabbed the doorhandle that I remembered that ti was the other two’s problem. It was their house after all.

I took my time and got into my now less than stellar looking robe and came out.

At the table I found Mr Cedar talking to an unfamiliar man. Getting closer I saw that Mr cedar wasn’t wearing his mask. Despite my dissatisfaction I couldn’t voice any complaint and just listened to the two.

The man was currently in the midst of talking but I was lacking too much context and just waited for Mr Cedar to start.

“it is good that all the furnishings have arrived and are properly installed but you mentioned a problem with the storage area?”

“Yes, we had trouble with the area that was designated. We tried to contact you so that we could arrange a workaround, but you were unavailable. As stated by you in your instructions we followed along the plan we thought best in your absence.”

“That is good, but you have yet to mention the problem and I would also like to know the solution you came up with.”

“Well, the problem had to do with the size of the original structure and some water damage. The flooring needed replacing and the walls were damaged in multiple places. All the damage was minor but paired with the requirements for a much larger and dryer than usual storeroom we had to completely rebuild it.”

Mr Cedar moved his arms, crossing them as he looked dead into the man’s eyes.

“I suppose that would have cost quite a bit then?”

“Yes, but within budget I can assure you.”

“I didn’t allocate enough money for that kind of leeway.”

“Indeed, you did not. A lot of the furnishings were donated by the pharmacist’s guild.”

I crossed my arms and rested my shoulder on the wall while Mr Cedar raised an eyebrow. With the mention if the Pharmacist’s guild things just got more interesting.

“Why exactly would the pharmacist’s guild be donating such valuable equipment?”

“I will tell them that you have returned and get them to contact you after this.”

“You didn’t answer the question.”

The man gave a light bow to Mr cedar and his hands gripped onto whatever was close enough.

“My apologies esteemed customer. From what we have been told they are looking forward to a new apothecary opening up. Apparently multiple apothecaries have shut down across the region.”

“So, then I assume they expect us to fill their gap?”

“They did not say so explicitly, but I would wager that you might be correct.”

Mr cedar’s hand rose to his brows, but he quickly brought it back down.

“So, there were no other problems… right?”

“Not to the best of my knowledge, no.”

Mr Cedar’s cheeks rose, and I felt like something bad was going to happen.

“Thank you, you may leave now I will come over with my associates soon to check but right now we have a few thigs to organise.”

The man stood up and left saying far more goodbyes than I thought possible in such a short amount of time. When he was finally gone however, Mr Cedar turned to me.

“You heard that right? The shop you wanted is ready.”

That was good news, except for the fact I had forgotten to tell him not to. I had come up with a great plan to rent for free or even buy the plot at a great discount. Mr cedar wouldn’t have paid full price, but it was probably less than I could have gotten it for.

Luckily, I was wearing a mask so he couldn’t see my awkward smile but I responded, nonetheless.

“Indeed… that. Is. great.”

“what’s wrong, you are speaking weird?”

Luckily, I had a big distraction… I looked around only to find that Mark still wasn’t up. Luckily, I… I didn’t have another idea, so I just said what was on my mind.

“I forgot to tell you not to do it. we probably could have gotten a better deal on the location elsewhere.”

“Oh, you didn’t need to worry about that. I have plen… I got a really good deal so it should be fine.”

Well, that didn’t sound suspicious, definitely not. Well at least I didn’t regret it anymore. I lifted off from the wall and came over to Mr Cedar.

“So, what do we have to organise.”

“We have to wake the boulder.”

“We?”

“Yeah, I thought as much.”

Mr Cedar stood up and ventured off to go poke a bear. It took less time than I had imagined, and I knew why as soon as Mark opened his mouth.

“let’s go check out this apothecary, see if they did that storage room properly.”

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

How he could hear so clearly through walls just seemed to be one of the many mysteries that surrounded these old men. The one I wanted answered most was why the hell they were helping me and -teaching- trying to teach me.

Setting out didn’t take long. I would have loved to eat something first, but Mr cedar put on his mask and the next moment we were out the door.

The town didn’t seem to take much notice of us, people continued on with their days as normal. I don’t know what I had expected, we hadn’t been paid much attention before entered the guild either… the guild, that was probably why. the people at the guild actually knew us and Mr Hildegard was there to choreograph it all. We hadn’t been paid much attention

The shop Mr Cedar had acquired was a quaint little one at first glance. In truth the store was on both stories of the building, and it was long, very long. The actual size could only be experienced within, and I marvelled at it for a while. There was row upon row of shelves along set out.

Heading to the back of the shop we found the plethora of bowls tubes and things I didn’t even know the names of. There was also something that confused the buggery out of all of us. Amongst the shelves meant for storing mixtures and finished products was a set of hexagonal holes capped with bronze lids.

Within each cubby was a parchment scroll. the scrolls detailed how to make certain common medicines, and the ingredients required. When Mr cedar went to the man to find out why they were there he just said it was donated by the Pharmacist’s guild.

It was logical, but still such valuable things such as recipes should be well kept secrets.

In the end we were stuck waiting for the representative that just so happened to be in the area. All three of us knew that they were waiting here in case we wanted to do something stupid like sell all their nice shit they gave us, but none of us said it.

I left, I got lunch, I came back, the two old men were still waiting.

Mr Cedar left, Mr Cedar got lunch, Mr Cedar came back, we were still waiting.

Mark left, Mark got lunch, Mark came back, we were still waiting.

The damn representative finally arrived, and we say the reason for his tardiness. There was a girl following him around and he was turning every which way to try and avoid her.

When the two of them entered the store, we could hear her pleas.

“Can you teach me alchemy?”

“no.”

“Please?”

“no.”

“Are you sure you can’t teach me alchemy?”

“Yes.”

“Hah, you said yes.”

“Go away.”

The man was dressed entirely in white with white robes and what felt like white robes. His hair was a medium brown and his skin was smooth and glossy. Between his eyes was a diamond shaped gem that shimmered under the light of the lamps. The crystal that happened to be blue reminded me of the crystalline blue of the river and my thoughts drifted away.

The man took notice of us and lifted an eyebrow before striking a conversation with Mr Cedar. the man might have seen Mr Cedar before or he could have just assessed that he was the sanest of the group… he might be, none of us counted as sane so It was hard to tell.

“I suppose you are the one in charge of this venture.”

“On paper yes.”

“On paper huh, those are some cheeky words you used there.”

“Indeed, they are, but I am allowed this level of cheek am I not?”

“You are, you are. Sorry for the late arrival, I had an… interruption.”

Mr cedar looked past the man to the girl that had quietened down but didn’t show signs of giving up.

“I don’t suppose interruptions have managed to grow legs these days?”

“Most unfortunately they have.”

“A pity that is.”

“It is a bit useless, but I do suppose I should introduce myself.”

“That would be nice.”

“For you that is. anyway, I am a bronze level alchemist here on the behest of the Pharmacists guild. Why did they send an alchemist to help an apothecary? I have no idea.”

“I am Blabbermouth, a mercenary registered with the local guild here.”

“Ah, that explains it.”

A smile graced the alchemist’s lips, and I wondered why he didn’t have to say his name. there were a lot of things about the white cloaked man that made me want to punch him. I didn’t know why, I just wanted to give his skull a light thrashing.

“Explains what?”

“For someone opening a business that helps to keep one’s life you smell an awful lot like death.”

“We might be a little dead inside, but I am pretty sure that doesn’t have a smell.”

“Enough jests, I know what I am talking about, and blood has stained your hands… quite thoroughly so, but not more than your friend behind you.”

I looked to Mark only to find that Mr Cedar also set his eyes on the big old man. Mark seemed not to care and just took over the conversation for Mr Cedar.

“So, can we get to the point? What does the Pharmacist’s guild that normally keeps their head up their ass in the west doing here?”

“This barony is close enough to the west that it is not unreasonable that we would be here.”

“We are also quite close to the south, but do you see giant armies and death at every corner?”

“Your comment is valid, but I would say this barony is more to the west than south. My evidence happens to be the wonderful fact that I don’t see any snow.”

“That wasn’t the point.”

Mark seemed rather offensive in his remarks to the alchemist. It was to the point where I worried, we would lose all the free stuff, but I didn’t get the opportunity to interrupt them.

“I know, but I simply don’t care.”

“Typical. If you are here, just to parade around town the fact you manage to get the stick so far up your ass it tickles your brain then bugger off.”

“You strike me as a very military man, have you thought about how Joseph would think about your actions here?”

Whoever joseph was the alchemist mentioning his name shut Mark up. There was an issue however as it also shut Mr Cedar up. I was going to open my mouth, but the alchemist spoke again before I could.

“Now that we have the rabble delt with I shall begin.”

“…”

“There are a few recipes provided complimentary of the guild. They are all bronze and thus can be done by about any Pharmacist registered or not that can follow instructions. The ingredients are also common year-round crops so production shouldn’t stop. We have also ensured that all necessary equipment for such recipes was provided.”

Despite the Man’s gesturing no one asked any questions, so he resumed disappointed.

“it would normally take you a month to pass the registration test and receive certification to sell medicine to doctors in the empire. We have waived that and instead you are required to fulfil three large scale orders a month. You will receive payment for these orders, and you may begin operation immediately.”

Seeing that there was still no response the man turned to leave but he stopped. The man then turned his head back to us and said in a tone befitting of Marks earlier comments.

“Also beware, there will be audits, and if you are caught selling subpar products then we will enact punishment.”

The man then turned his head back around and finally buggered off.

If this was what the guild was like, then no wonder so many apothecaries closed down. They were reckless enough to just give all this responsibility to someone random and then leave. The apothecaries probably jumped for joy when the calamity struck and closed down before it even hit them.

Unfortunately, the girl did not follow after the man. When I reluctantly looked around to figure out where she went, I found her in front of me.

“Can I learn alchemy from you.”

“I am not an alchemist, and before you ask neither are they.”

“Then how are you going to run this store?”

“Well not with alchemy, using an alchemist to make medicine would be kind of dumb.”

“But I thought alchemists made potions.”

“They do.”

“But I thought you said…”

Despite looking to be about the same age as me this child was unendingly naïve. Mr Cedar decided to enlighten her and handed over the job of staring weirdly at Mark to me.

“Look kid, potions aren’t the be all and end all of healing. There are fewer potions then people that need healing and even fewer who can afford one. Therefore, we take the more primitive approach of not including magic in all our medicines and mix plants together then slap it on the patients. “

“That seems dumb.”

“…”

“Well, can you teach me that then?”

“I guess that will solve the manpower issue.”