It was a peaceful morning as usual. However, there was something unusual happening today.
"Yo!"
Leo greeted me. He was accompanied by a man and woman. They came to pick us up as my mother had accepted the offer to be Leo's teacher in swordsmanship. The two looked at me with a disgusted look. It seems like they disliked me. That was of course because I was an alchemist.
"You finally came, Leo. I've gotten tired of waiting."
I said.
"You!! How dare you use impolite words to a royal family!!!"
The man shouted at me and pulled his sword.
"Calm down old man. Politic isn't my thing after all."
I said. My mother came out of the house with the maids. Anastasia was wearing red hoods to protect herself from the sun.
"Ara? You're early, Leo-kun."
My mother said jokingly. The man gasped seeing my mother and glared at her.
"Concerto-sama, who is this uncivilized child? He dares to talk to royalty with impolite manner."
The man said. The woman stayed silent and glared at me.
"He's my son."
"He's my best friend."
Mother and Leo said at the same time. The man froze and looked at my face and then mother's. He was dumbfounded hearing her words. He looked pale as if he had swallowed something bitter.
"Are we going to depart or not?"
I asked. The man glared at me for not reading the atmosphere.
"No need to be impatient, Ren."
My mother said kindly. She boarded the carriage and helped me to get inside. The maids followed us and lastly, Leo also jumped in.
"What do you think?"
Leo asked. His face told me that he was boasting his luxurious carriage.
"The ornaments are beautiful. I was wondering who the craftsman is."
I spoke about my honest opinion.
"Well, obviously the best one!!"
Leo said boasting. I smiled hearing it. He was still a brat after all.
"Ah, for now, I'll give these to you."
I handed 2 vials of potion to Leo. The woman snatched them before Leo took them.
"What kind of poison you're trying to give Prince Leonardo?"
She said. Her killing intent was very thick.
"Just a low-grade potion. It heals wounds pretty fast."
I replied.
"I often drank that, nya. It's an amazing medicine, nya. Although the taste is....."
Natalia explained. However, her last sentences were almost inaudible. Well, she couldn't be blamed for that. As a Beastkin, she had sharper sense and they said that bitter medicine was the most effective one.
"I'll give each of you two vials each for free. You can appraise them when we reach the town."
I said while pouting. I took four vials of potions to the woman. I looked away and snorted after the woman took my potion. I secretly used my appraisal on the man and woman.
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Lisha Level 77 Magician Level 62 Knight Level 6
Titles: Royal Guard, Tsundere Mage
Race: Human
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Noden Level 83 Gladiator Level 82 Knight level 28
Titles: Royal Guard, Monarch of Arena, Merciless
Race: Human
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Compared to mother and the maids except for Natalia, those two are nothing. I stared at the sky through the window.
"By the way, Leo, despite being royalty, isn't your escort is too little in numbers?"
I asked.
"Don't worry, Noden and Lisha are the best guards among the guards."
He replied proudly. Well, if anything happened, Rosemaria, mother, and Anastasia would do something about it.
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The journey to the capital took a week by carriage. Noden and Lisha helped by the maids built a campsite for us.
"Ana-san, can you come with me for a bit?"
I called.
"Hmm? What is it, bozu? You need to go to the toilet?"
She asked teasingly.
"No, I want to check on the forest for a bit."
I said. Anastasia sighed and agreed to accompany me. Anastasia had Night vision ability as I had my appraisal ability to detect my surroundings. I picked up the valuable grasses and put them inside my bag. At a single glance, I was just picking grass randomly. I also picked some mushrooms, tree barks, mosses, and stalks.
"It seems like we got some guest, bozu."
Anastasia said. I stopped my gathering and appraised my surroundings. My eyes stopped on a single object in the darkness that was looking at me.
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2-Headed Black Serpent Level 30
Title: Cannibal, Silent Killer, Night Predator.
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"A black serpent might be a bit difficult to fight while protecting you, bozu."
"Be careful of the second head, Ana-san."
I said. Anastasia stopped when I said that.
"Se-Second head you said?!!"
She said panicky. I sighed. I reached for my pocket and took 3 yellow vials and 3 purple vials and handed it to Anastasia.
"The yellow one is paralysis potion as the other one is the antidote. I don't know if they are effective but at least they can help you ease the poison."
I said.
"Thank you, bozu, No, young master."
She said before running toward the serpent. Some hissing voice and female roar entered my ears. I used my appraisal to my surroundings over and over to avoid any monster.
"Phew, that was a close one."
Anastasia returned with a triumphant smile. I saw her hem of the maid uniform a bit torn on here and there. I nodded and walked toward where the serpent corpse was. I took some empty bottles and wore my gloves.
I poured some of the serpent's saliva to the bottle.
"Yo-Young Master, what are you doing?!!"
I didn't listen to Anastasia's panicking voice and filled another bottle with serpent's blood. I took my knife and dug out the eyes of the serpent for the sake of my research.
"Let's return"
I said with a smile. I disposed of the poison smeared gloves and followed Anastasia's lead to the camp. I made a note for myself that I can't go to the forest without any combat ability.
"Just where did you go, Ren?"
My mother asked. Her smiling face was showing off the kindness of a mother but when I looked into her eyes I realized. My mother was extremely angry.
Needless to say, I received a long sermon for being reckless. And it seems like Anastasia also had her portion of punishment.
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A week passed and we finally arrived at the royal capital. The luxurious carriage now was attached by several pouches of grasses and many other materials. We were directly guided to our new home. I was speechless when I saw the mansion with the size twice of my previous house. Besides its size, it looked creepy and full of grasses and vines.
I used my appraisal skill on my surroundings and found that most of the grasses grew at the lawn were medicinal one. I was surprised when I saw something that was not supposed to exist inside the town, mandrake grass.
"Awesome!! The grasses here are medicinal one!"
I said excitedly. My mother looked at me with disbelief.
"There's even some mandrake at the lawn."
I added and everyone froze on the spot. They were probably shocked to know that
"With this many materials, I can probably create an elixir of life if I level up properly."
I muttered.
"Hmm? What's wrong everyone?"
I asked them.
"How do you know those?"
Noden asked me.
"Alchemist has the ability to identify the potion ingredients. Even the grasses that looked similar like this I can clearly differentiate them as clear as a day."
I said.
"More importantly, let's start exploring the house!!"
I said excitedly. I ran ahead. Leo who was also excited by the smell of adventure ran after me.
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The interior of the mansion was still good. The only problem was the moss and filth on the floor and wall. The beds were already in no good condition. The kitchenware also needs to be replaced. The water system and plumbing needed to be cleaned. Mice and cockroaches passed by few times along with centipede and many other insects which gradually drained Leo's SAN points.
The first floor had 10 servant quarters, 3 guestroomsm, 2bathroomsm, living room, main hall, and dining room, also kitchen. We found a door to the basement and the stairs to the second floor.
"Up or down?"
I asked Leo. He was still trembling while gripping his sword.
"Let's head back already. I have a hunch that a ghost will pop out any time."
He said.
"If you're afraid, I don't mind doing this myself."
I said.
I heard a few female screams from the nearby room. I took a copper coin from my pocket. I flicked it upward and caught it.
"Head, upstairs then."
I said. I took the stairs and headed upstairs. The second floor was filled with 3 bedrooms, a study, and a large library, the books, and the shelves were looked intact but they actually would collapse anytime.
"I will ask Rosemaria to save these books later."
I said.
"But, where can I establish my lab?"
I muttered.
"Next, the basement!!"
I said. I headed down and Leo was following me. Just a moment before I jumped into the basement, my collar was grabbed. I looked back and saw Anastasia's angered looks.
"Ana-san, good timing. Please accompany us to the basement."
I said. I pleaded to her. I gave her a puppy eyes and she was shaken. I had a rough guess but her types were known for being weak against shota's puppy eyes.
"Alright, after that, we'll head to where Madam is."
She said.
"It would be dangerous from now on, Leo, you can go back."
I glanced at the dark basement.
"I sensed some dangerous vibes from down there."
I added. Leo glared at me with a bit of teary eyes.
"Leo-sama!!"
Noden caught up with us. I jumped down from Anastasia's grip and dragged her to the basement. Just as I expect, I could see nothing. It was too dark.
"I found the magic lamp, Young Master."
She said. She activated the magic lamp hung on the wall. It was dim but I could see the tunnel more clearly now. We descended to the basement.
I was shocked when the lamp of the basement was lit. It was a long corridor with prison on both sides. Anastasia also held her breath. We walked through the place and found many bones of various races and ages were lying on the ground.
"This is a slave quarter."
Anastasia said. I nodded as I held my disgust. We opened the door at the end of the corridor and found another corridor. This time, it had cages instead of prison. Inside them, many animal bones and tattered carapace were left inside.
"This time it's animal and magic beasts."
Anastasia muttered. We walked deeper and opened the door beyond the cage room. This time, I was greeted by a surprising spectacle. A long table with chairs on each side, various tools for operation purpose, scientific equipment, and glass containers with remains of organs that were previously preserved. I browsed the room and saw a bone of a human sitting on the study. I saw bloodstained tattered paper under the corpse.
I took a tattered book beside the skeleton. I opened it carefully and read the content. As I began to read the book I found out right away that it was a journal which was also worked as a personal diary and research notes of a certain scientist.
on the first several pages, the scientist was blabbing about how he was deemed as a genius prodigy in his childhood and that he was someone who tends to get curious about things in his surroundings in a form of a diary.
He had a brilliant and wonderful life at the beginning. However they changed when his family was cursed with a sinister curse which will persist in the bloodline because the foolishness of his distant cousin. It was a sinister curse that would affect anyone who had a blood ties with his family.
One by one his family members died because of the curse or killed by those who didn't wish to get affected by it. The number of the death increased much more after the church had declared his family as heretics and begin hunting them down.
Being desperate, he was forced to hide in the hidden room inside his mansion. For several months he hid himself inside with his thin amount of food supplies which had forced him to kill his beloved tamed beasts to survive until the hunts for his family had died down with he himself as survivor.
However, if he were found out to be alive with the curse still persisting inside his body, he would be hunted once again. Thus he took a Slavemancer as a second job and began kidnapping the citizen of the capital and sneaking outside the city to tame some beast and monsters.
He spent his most time researching a way to dispel his curse. He kidnapped many young maidens and little girls from various background, enslaved them with his skill and made them bore his offspring to be used as a research material. If the research failed, he would use the died child to feed his beasts.
Such cruel method with almost no chance of success. It was clearly written in the journal, the proof of his madness and cruelty. He was almost succeeding when the curse finally ate his last lifespan and killed him. I finished the pages and glared at the skeleton.
"At first I thought of a theory of the thing that happened here but to think this was the real fact, I can't help but surprised. This old man is trying to make an elixir through human experiments. His profession isn't alchemist but a Slavemancer and Beastmaster so he used the body of living thing to create one."
I said.
"As a fellow scientist, I can understand your wish but your method, I'll never approve that you're a similarly scientist like me. You're just a mad man."
I said to the skeleton.
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We returned to the surface. Mother and the rest were waiting for us. When I exited, I looked at the entrance to the basement again. I saw some tattered inscription on the door frame.
"As I thought"
I muttered.
"Then, do you have anything to say to your mother, Ren?"
My mother said with an angry tone.
"I don't want to call those people but it seems like we have to give up and do so otherwise we must give up on this house."
I said.
"I also think so with the young master."
Anastasia added.
Everyone else titled their head and looked at us in wonder. I looked at Anastasia. She nodded at me.
"This house is a house of a heretic."
I declared.
Later, on that day, 30 priests were assigned to purify the entire house. The bones of the people were purified and were brought to be given a proper burial. The animal bones were just purified and I gathered them at a single place. I plan to use them later.
I told the Cardinal who visited us the full story of my deduction while showing the log and the on-site traces of the heresy. Mother hired some of the rookie adventurers to help the harvest of the medicinal herbs as well as the house cleaning and remodeling. The church rewarded me who found the traces of heretic with a magic bag. The Cardinal saw me in a better light now or so I thought. Leonardo helped us financially with the replacement of the furniture and the repair.
I decided to remove the cages and prisons. I replaced them with shelves for storing the extracted materials and the identified materials. The lab site was reused but the place was cleaned completely. The bloodstains were cleared and I also installed some air duct so I won't be drowned in the foam of poison inside.
I also asked for some new glassware for the lab. The previously identified materials were kept at a newly built storage room.