Mark and Mr Cedar had sent word to someone that would “fit perfectly” but until then we were stuck making medicine. Today I decided to come in my brown cloak, I surely wasn’t going to be doing anything as SSH. It was also just nice to be able to speak in public… not that I would get the chance to escape from the apothecary.
We decided to do one medicine at a time, and each do a part of the process. We knew we wouldn’t have time if we started after the vials arrived, so we began and just hoped that they arrived before everything went off.
Mark was on grinding, May on stirring, Me on heating and Mr Cedar on material prep and finishing touches. Mr Cedar was initially on stirring, but he had an issue that May didn’t. whereas May’s arms could stir for an entire day without relenting Mr Cedar couldn’t. this left us wide eyed as we watched May go on, and on, and on, and on.
Another thing that wouldn’t relent was the list of things we needed to make. We couldn’t exactly fail the order as that would put us in a bad position with the guild… but that list was long.
Just one more, just one more to go, just one more day. We went along making medicine after medicine. On the bright side we were getting plenty of experience. We had even gotten into a good rhythm and were picking up speed. On the other hand, the vials arrived.
There were two horse carriages full of vials. That did not give us hope, even less so when we realised there were no spares. We had to use each and every one while praying none broke.
Mark got his work handed to him with filling the vials. We had a backlog and between him having to process more ingredients it wasn’t getting any slower. But finally, the day after the Vials arrived, the “perfect fit” finally arrived.
The man was tall with a long and smooth moustache. He was dressed in a black suit and held a briefcase in his left hand. He seemed a little out of place, but that didn’t really matter.
“Mark, is this the guy?”
“Yup, May I introduce you?”
“No, I am quite familiar with him.”
At this rate I wasn’t just collecting old men, but all of my dad’s old servants.
“You were Martin correct? You were in charge of the wine cellar.”
“It was more of a dungeon there was that little wine, but yes indeed you are correct.”
Bonus points for being a yapper.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
I gave a little sigh before returning to mark.
“Well, we might as well set him to work. But based off of our prior progress I think we are going to need more than one man.”
Mark didn’t answer and just sat there smiling. I turned back to Martin to find another smile. I sighed again and readied my ears.
“I happened to be informed as such beforehand, so I made some preparations. Dear Mathew, the wonderful lad arranged some housing, so they are currently unloading over there. I shall have them meet you at the apothecary to receive their new duties when you are ready.”
I was reminded once again how horrifying my father’s choice in aids was. Mr Cedar seemed as old as stone, even his hair looked like stone, but he was young. Mark refused to call Mr Cedar Mr, and Martin too seemed averse to the idea.
A third sigh escaped me. just one more sigh and I felt that I was going to melt into the floor.
No matter, I decided to leave the old men to catch up and headed over to the apothecary. It was better to get work done than be somewhere I didn’t want to be. Maybe if we succeed in this we could expand to other regions. We could make all sorts of medicine and profit.
Over at the apothecary I found Mr Cedar and May hard at work. One gave a happy grunt as they freed up a spot for me while the other shed a tear. I found it amusing imagining that Mr Cedar was the one shedding the tear, it was kind of fitting for him.
I got to work on boiling the crud out of the mixtures. We had already run out of the seemingly simple ones and now we were left with the ones that took upwards of five ingredients. The complex one’s weren’t always better either which brought up the question.
“Why are we doing this?”
“This was your idea.”
He was right, it was.
We continued on without him just fine, but Mark was taking an eternity. He was meant to be tricking an old man into helping us out. Never mind the fact he was also an old man, and there wasn’t much trickery to be done. We still expected him to come back over today.
When Mark finally did show up, he brought Martin and five well built men in suits. It was actually 4 as one was Mary… they weren’t servants, they were the manor guard that Mark used to spend all day beating up. They had left when Mark retired, the masochists, but… now they were back?
Without my mask I couldn’t hide the confusion and Martin smiled.
“We happened to think it best that we be able to help out fully, not just in the apothecary.”
“Then I suppose you are secretly someone strong as well?”
“Oh, heavens no. I would never hide something like that, it’s just that your grandfather wasn’t around to tell you about me. I don’t particularly flaunt my strength about the place.”
“Good sir, please answer the question.”
Martin turned to Mark ignoring me and opened his mouth.
“Oh, she’s an astute one, I like her.”
I was now thoroughly confused. I hadn’t put much effort into the tone so he might have taken my sarcasm as real. If he was also being sarcastic then… my brain hurt. Theres a 50/50 chance whether he is a knight or not. For the answer I sought I looked to Mark’s gaggle.
The five were all behind Martin rather than mark. They also were brought over by Martin. Taking the baron and Mark as an example then the idiots only followed after those that could beat them up.
Mr cedar also chimed in clearing things up a little.
“Did you transfer over to the Cliffsin guild alright? There have been quite a few issues with high-ranking mercenaries and guild changes as of late.”
Welp that confirmed it.