"Oh, I need to gather more ingredients so that I can make more of the portion. Afterwards, I will test them to see their efficiency. However, I need a control …" as Reeve said this, he was thinking of something.
"A control? What is that?"
"Eh? Right, totally forgot!" Reeve face-palmed himself. He continued, "Never mind. Anyway, I need to make various samples, and then test them against various environments."
Jaen couldn't help but re-evaluate the … person in front of him. At first, he just thought the … person didn't know anything at all. In fact, he was sure this person didn't know alchemy. However, the way he talked, and the way he did things, it was as if he was a grandmaster alchemist.
Seeing Jaen keep staring at him, Reeve coughed a little. Jaen snapped out of his dazed expression. It seems as if that dry, awkward cough was enough to derail his train of thought.
"Hmm. Okay then. Do what you must", said Jaen, leaving the small room.
So, just like that, Reeve left the small shop and returned to the Wolfe mansion. It was now in the afternoon, and the sun shone in the sky brightly. When he was walking in the streets, people still stopped and stared, but most people were getting used to his appearance.
"Why are you back all of a sudden? Are you done?" asked Rizaneth when Reeve got home.
"Eh … Do you know where I can gather more of the Valerian flowers?" asked Reeve.
Remembering the smell that she had last time, Rizaneth shuddered. And he was asking her to help get the flowers of that plant?
"Ugh! No thank you!" she declared fiercely.
"What do you mean 'No thank you'?"
"Exactly that. I am not helping you to collect the flowers. I'd rather die than get that stench on me again!"
Reeve was at a loss for words. He simply wanted to ask her to be his guide. He didn't want to let her participate in the collection.
"B-but you…"
"No! I'm not getting involved in that!"
Seeing her reject his offer like that, Reeve didn't know what to do anymore. Wait a minute … he could ask …
"My apologies, but I cannot leave the mansion at this time. I would have helped you, unfortunately, I have a lot of tasks to take care of. Perhaps some other time?" Gaur rejected him politely.
"So, who can I ask then?"
"Have you tried talking to Lady Riza?"
"Of course, she refused."
"Is that so? I offer you my sincerest apologies then…"
That did not make him feel any better. In fact, it made him feel worse. As he was thinking of what to do next, Rizaneth came to the room he was.
"By the way, there's something we need to talk about. Can we take a walk through the garden?" she asked.
More like asking, she took his arm and dragged him away towards the said garden. Inside the garden, there was a bouquet of beautiful flowers which ranged from roses to daffodils. Some of the flowers, he couldn't even identify them. Of course, there were no Valerian plants here. Besides him failing to find them, who would place such foul-smelling flowers in their garden?
"So, what did you want to talk about?" asked Reeve, when he was in the garden.
"It's a beautiful garden, isn't it?"
"Yeah, I've never seen so many beautiful … Hey! Don't try to change the topic!" Reeve suddenly yelled. Realizing that what he had done was unnecessary, he hurriedly covered his mouth.
"Was there a need to shout?"
"I couldn't help it. Now, start talking. I'm quite busy, you see."
"Ever since we returned to Sky city, I have come to realize that some things aren't in place… Well, there's some things that don't make sense. Remember Soren? The kid we escaped with from the bandits?"
"What about him?"
"His family technically rule Sky City. Well, you could say they are the governors of the entire city."
"I heard from Gaur. So, what doesn't make sense about this?"
"Well, umm. He somehow managed to return alive. Yet there has never been an investigation. Or rather, they didn't publicize the matter."
"It's not like they would tell you if they were launching an investigation", retorted Reeve.
"You're right. However, they would at least take some noticeable action, correct?"
"I don't know. I have never been to Sky city. So how am I supposed to know that?"
"Hmpf! Anyways, I asked Gaur to snoop around to see what was going on. He found out that they didn't do anything at all. In fact, it seems like something else is going on entirely. We might have to get out of Sky city right now. I feel like there's a storm brewing."
"Based off what? The fact that the ruling family whose child was kidnapped returned alive and they decided to let it go?"
"Not just that… There's a rumour that there's a Sin in Sky City!"
"A what?" Reeve's red eyes narrowed slightly. Gaur had explained that the Seven Cardinal Sins were very bad news… Well… that was a summary of what he said, from Reeve's perspective. "But then … isn't that just a rumour?"
"You're not getting it… So, four days from now, the Severin family decide to hold a banquet to celebrate Cadeius and Hesreth's betrothal. At the same time that they make this decision, one of the Seven Cardinal Sins is rumoured to have met a servant of the Severin family. Quite a coincidence, isn't it?"
"Well, I'm not a conspiracy theorist. I'm a scientist. Before you declare a hypothesis to be valid, you need to at least perform some tests. You need to have various samples, and so forth."
"Wait, what? Anyway, I can smell a storm coming. By the way, the Cardinal Sin they are rumoured to have met is the one who took your 'wife'!"
"What?" this time, it was Reeve's turn to be surprised. "So, what do we do now? We need to confirm if this is true."
"Oh, now you're suddenly interested?"