"Come back here!"
Owen Liddell was not someone who had a lot of stamina—that had already been proven before where it had only been adrenaline that saved him from the goblins, but whether this Egbert guy just wanted to mess with him—the young man still reached the cart in time.
As a Level 13 Assassin—his skills weren't just using the shadows for his advantage or pin-point precision attacks, but quick bursts of speed when necessary.
The Oaken Ashwood stretched far beyond than even the Wolfcrest Village and allowed him to take advantage of it. He immediately went up to the trees, chasing after the horse-driven cart—and finally swung into the cart and landed among the boxes.
He stuck his landing without falling over what he deemed to be a mixture of rotten plants and manure, otherwise known as fertilizer, and then he glared at Egbert. "My letter."
The older man glanced over his shoulders and blinked. "Oh, you're here. That's six coppers please."
Owen grunted and dug into his pouch once again for some coins—took out a silver and flicked it into the hand of the Cart Driver. "Make sure it gets to the Kraelonia Academy as soon as you arrive there—tell them it came from an Owen Liddell and needs to be delivered immediately to either High Mage Ylena Pierce or Headmaster Nicholas Pierce."
"Okay?" Egbert said. "Some Pierce family should be the one getting this letter, got it."
Owen was genuinely worried if the guy was actually going to do it—but decided to trust the man. He gave them a small nod, thanked the cart driver before he was promptly kicked out of the cart and once again returned to Wolfcrest on foot.
As far as he was concerned, relaying the events of the Goblin incident was over and it was time for him to discover who this Alchemist was. If they turned out more dangerous than he expected, then help would hopefully be on the way.
Owen Liddell had asked for immediate backup.
Now he continued to ask around the villagers about what they knew about this Alchemist Mossblossom. He learned her backstory was actually legitimate and everyone knew her… but asking about her appearance and seeing her in the flesh?
That one proved to be a fruitless endeavor.
All of them have varying responses to what this Alchemist looked like and there was no rhyme or reason to any of them.
There was the old woman who stayed in her own hut and never left it that said, "Ah? Alchemist Mossblossom. I remember her when she was younger. She was really tall and pretty. Blonde hair and blue eyes, the sweetest lassie you'd ever see."
Others contradicted that statement vigorously.
"The Alchemist has gained a lot of weight and could really use some makeup if she could make them. Alchemists do that right? Her hair is really dark, frizzy and shaggy." A village girl told him after she tried to give him advances.
Owen Liddell found a kid that was about five years older than Nire who was playing on the grass. He trusted kids to have better visions and found a strange and rather imaginative answer?
"Most people assume the Alchemist is a woman, but I think they haven't really looked at him properly. Sure, his voice is kinda squeaky—but there was that one time he growled at me? That was deep and husky."
Who was right, and who was wrong?
Owen Liddell thought long and hard about it… before he frowned and considered the circumstances around the village. Compared to Gloria City filled with various individuals, guilds and associations of varying Classes—this was a small village.
It was the perfect place to run and hide.
—Which wasn't exactly what Owen Liddell was doing. But any other 'sentient' monsters who could decide to escape the sight of people who could kill it could do it here. He didn't want to say it aloud, but he was afraid that the Alchemist living here was a Vampire in disguise.
Even the people's inability to make a coherent answer to what exactly this Alchemist's appearance was telling.
There were Vampires who had natural skills that included controlling and manipulating people's minds and memories. That was the reason nobody knew—and damn it, Owen asked Tobias to attempt getting inside of the laboratory.
Owen Liddell was once again on his feet and moving towards the Alchemist's shack.
"I practically asked Toby to serve himself on a dining platter for a Vampire's blood feast, damn it—I hope you don't succeed at convincing her."
Or she didn't decide to have him for a meal. It would spell out doom once Tobias actually stepped inside.
Owen Liddell ran.
This was one moment where he wished he was wrong.
.
.
.
There was a plan, but not everything worked out in the end.
Contrary to Owen Liddell's expectations, Tobias Summers was doing his best to convince the Alchemist Mossblossom to let them inside of her laboratory. Even when Toby used to want to be taken under the Alchemist's wing as an apprentice, this was the first time that he started actually talking to the woman.
Tobias could already imagine the clang of coins that would fall on their table once they actually formulated and turned the yellow sleepy flowers into something useful. Whether it was a tonic for insomnia or an actual sleeping gas to put enemies to sleep? He didn't care that much as long as it actually worked.
So hearing the Alchemist's answer did not make him turn away.
"No."
"Please Alchemist, think about the chance to do something—"
"Not a chance, young man," she replied with a click of her tongue, and then slammed the peephole at her door.
What were the chances that Alchemist Mossblossom would let two young men enter her shack and let them see her—her laboratory? Absolutely zero percent, that's what. It was insane, utterly ridiculous to even consider the thought!
And there was a good reason for it.