Azaroth remained calm as water and replied, "It is indeed related to that. I wished to know in what part I could find some herbs in the Alpine Gerbil Woods. The previous night, I roamed around the outer parts, and surprisingly, I found no beast or any good herbs there. Do you know why?"
Azaroth didn't find it strange that Brynn Gaynor knew how he had gone to the forest during the night.
'This guy knows someone who possesses Wood Element. It would indeed be easy for that person to sense me in the forest. The forest is like a backyard for someone with Wood Element. And the only way to fool this person would be to possess either Nature's Blessing or Wood Element myself. Well, both of them are outside my reach for now.'
Meanwhile, this was Brynn Gaynor's turn to be surprised. He thought Azaroth would try to hide it or would be uncomfortable about sharing it.
But the way Azaroth spoke, it was as if he had been planning to tell this to him from the start.
After taking a moment to regain his composure, Brynn spoke, "In reality, this is something we noticed a few months earlier. We investigated the situation deeply and finally came to a conclusion. The ones who took the herbs were none other than the beasts."
"These herbs were taken to the Inner Area of the Alpine Gerbil Woods. Other than the herbs, even the beasts from the outer area we regularly used to hunt had disappeared. The beasts who disappeared did leave behind many tracks, and clearly, they had also gone to the Inner Area. It was through this that we understood that the beasts were up to something."
Azaroth calmly listened to those words, and when he found a moment to speak, he asked, "Do you know who is the Beast Lord leading this Beast Raid?"
A grim look appeared on Brynn's face as he spoke, "…From what our scouts mentioned, it's a Three-Eyed White Wolf."
Azaroth's eyes widened slightly as he heard the name of the beast lord.
'A Three-Eyed White Wolf, huh? Moreover, this one also has a rather good Spiritual Intelligence. I will need to tread carefully.'
"I see…" Azaroth uttered these words and remained quiet for a short period.
Brynn Gaynor looked at him for some time and finally asked, "Is that all Sir Edwin wished to ask me?"
"No. Town Lord, tell me, do you not wish to know just what the beasts are doing in the Inner Area of the Alpine Gerbil Woods?"
A bitter look appeared on Brynn Gaynor's face as he replied, "How can I not be curious? But there is no way for me to find out about that. The Inner Area will have a lot of Beasts. It would be impossible to go in there and come out in one piece. No one is willing to go to that place."
Azaroth had a slight smile as he heard Brynn's words, "What if I told you that I am willing to go to the inner part of the forest?"
"What?!" Brynn Gaynor's eyes went wide immediately.
"It's precisely what the town lord has heard. I am indeed willing to go to the Alpine Gerbil Woods's inner area and figure out just what the beasts are planning." Azaroth repeated his words as if he was telling Brynn Gaynor that he was entirely sure of his decision.
A bitter smile appeared on Brynn's face, "Sir Edwin, you are a Noble House's Heir. If you die here, I am afraid a town lord like me won't be able to handle the consequences."
"I am willing to form a contract using my personal seal to promise you that the Rhodes Family won't make things any difficult for you if I die in the Alpine Gerbil Forest." Azaroth was very serious as he spoke those words.
"…And what does Sir Edwin require?" Brynn Gaynor asked with a grim tone. He knew that since Azaroth was talking to him about it, it meant that he needed something from the town lord.
"I need some herbs here in the camp so that I can make some pills to recover my Ardor immediately. Moreover, a map of the Inner Area that you have would also be appreciated." Azaroth didn't shy away from asking what he needed.
"How many pills would you need?" Brynn Gaynor asked Azaroth with a serious look. If it was too many, Brynn would have no choice but to reject this offer from Azaroth.
"I merely need enough herbs to create a total of 100 pills. 20 will be for stamina, 20 will be for Ardor recovery, 20 will be for increasing mental energy, 20 will be for increasing my power for a short amount of time, and the final 20 pills shall be for recovering my blood essence." Azaroth told Brynn Gaynor the quantity and even a brief breakdown of what pills he needed.
Now, Brynn Gaynor needed to think for quite some time. He was calculating whether he could give away so many herbs, and it would be worth it to do so or not. If it all turned out to be useless, would the town be able to afford it?
This long pause from Brynn Gaynor already told Azaroth that he was seriously considering the offer. He internally smiled and thought 'One last push then.'
"Naturally, I will be buying those herbs. However, I will be using some elemental crystals to trade instead of currency." Azaroth gave the final blow to this deal.
"Elemental crystals?! You mean you possess them right now?!" Brynn Gaynor appeared really excited as soon as he heard that Azaroth would trade using Elemental Crystals.
It was quite natural for Brynn Gaynor to be so excited once Azaroth mentioned Elemental Crystals. After all, the array formations are formed by arranging these Elemental Crystals into some particular shape and more.
If they had a substantial amount of Elemental Energy, then the killing formation that Sophie talked about would be twice or thrice more lethal.
Azaroth knew that he had essentially got this deal in a bag.
"Yes. I will give you an Elemental Crystal for each of the basic five elements. Moreover, all of those shall be of 5 Tier Rank. I suppose that should be sufficient to pay back for the herbs, right?"
"Tier 5 Rank Elemental Crystals?!" At this point, Brynn Gaynor practically stood up in shock.
Azaroth gave a slight smile in return, and seeing his smile, Brynn Gaynor realized that he had lost his composure there. He immediately sat back down and tried to calm his excited heart.
"…I agree to this deal. I will provide all the resources Sir Edwin needs to form 100 pills."
"Thank you. Also, I would appreciate it if you don't mention my name when you tell others how you got these Tier 5 Rank Elemental Crystals." Azaroth spoke this with a polite voice.
Brynn Gaynor almost immediately nodded his head. He was a Town Lord, and he wasn't some green guy who hadn't seen the world yet.
"I shall mention others that it was Sir Ashton who gifted these Elemental Crystals to help me protect the Kloras Town."
Azaroth was well satisfied with this response.
"Please lead me to the storage. I shall choose the herbs and inform the manager of the quantity. Once he has gathered them all, we can trade them here." Azaroth spoke to Brynn Gaynor.
Brynn Gaynor gave his nod and replied, "That's acceptable."
"Also, Sir Edwin, there is an Alchemy Division here in this camp. Are you sure you don't want to join it? If Sir Edwin wishes it, I can easily arrange it for you to be at a prominent position in the Alchemy Division." Brynn Gaynor asked with a slightly hopeful tone.
"I apologize, town lord, but it would be inconvenient for my status as an Alchemist to be revealed," Azaroth replied with a straight face, rejecting the proposal from Brynn Gaynor.
'Well, the classmates I have now will find it pretty suspicious if they know that I can make pills.'
"Alright, let's meet in the afternoon here."
After those words, Azaroth and Brynn Gaynor both stood up and walked to the door.
Azaroth opened the door and walked out, and he was followed by Brynn Gaynor.
Brynn Gaynor immediately stared at one of the two guards outside his cabin, "You… Take Sir Edwin to the Herbal Garden of our Camp. Tell the manager to let Sir Edwin take away any herb he wants. It's on my order."
"As you command, Town Lord!" The guard spoke out with a resolute tone.
'If this goes well, then I might be able to trap the beasts and slaughter them all with minimal losses! Is it possible that I might leave my name in the history books of Klaros Town?!'
Brynn Gaynor took deep breaths to calm himself 'I need to remain calm, or else I might take some rash decision in this excitement.'
~~
Meanwhile, at around this time, Myles met some of his classmates in the morning, the ones he trusted greatly.
"Did Sophie find out that Edwin has come here?" Myles asked them with a slightly worried expression. He wasn't sure what action Sophie would take. Although she didn't have an impressive opinion of the two of them, it might be possible that she would take the initiative to meet him to know about his secret to his speed of cultivation.
"No one has seen Miss Sophie meet with Sir Edwin yet. Even during the night, Miss Sophie never left her cabin." One of them replied to Myles and relieved him.
"Phew… That's better." Myles breathed out in relief.
"Actually, we did have something to inform you, Sir Myles."
"Really? What is it?"
"We just saw the Town Lord's personal guard leading Edwin to the Herbal Garden." A guy spoke with a serious look.
"Is that so?" Myles began to contemplate deeply as he heard this information.
'Edwin never studied any alchemy in the School, so he can't be an Alchemist. Don't tell me he found a secret formula, and his sudden cultivation speed is related to it?'
"Let's follow Edwin and find out what he is doing," Myles suggested to his friends.
"Let's go then."
After some time, they were outside the Herbal Garden. Nearly 15 guards were patrolling the garden, and they looked quite serious as they did so.
All of them knew that the herbs in this garden were essential for the upcoming Beast Raid.
They wouldn't allow anyone to intrude into this place.
Myles had no intention of barging into this place. He already knew that he won't be allowed to go inside and take a herb from there. This was because all of them had signed a contract that stated that they would need to obey the town lord's words. There were some restrictions to the town lord's power as well.
However, according to the hierarchy right now, Myles could not do something against the town lord's interests.
After nearly half an hour, Azaroth came out of the Herbal Garden. There was a pleased smile on his face.
Why could he not be pleased when he had taken nearly double the amount of what he had been initially expecting.
This was because the Herbal Garden's manager didn't know that the amount he gave to Azaroth was enough for him to make double the original quantity of pills.
Naturally, Azaroth wasn't going to let such an opportunity slip from his fingers.
Moreover, as he left the Herbal Garden, he looked in the west direction and smiled slightly. Instead of saying something, he left for Brynn Gaynor's house.
Myles had noticed how Azaroth had looked in their direction and faintly smiled. He was frightened to see that look on Azaroth's face.
'W-What did that mean?! Did he know I was here?! Impossible! I am hiding my breath and my aura as well. Or was it because of these two that my position was compromised?' Myles had an ugly complexion as he looked at his two friends.
"Alright, looks like there is nothing to be seen here. Let's go now."
"Where?" One of the two guys asked Myles.
Myles replied with a serious expression, "To the place, Edwin should have gone. To the Alchemy Division here."
'That's the only place that comes to my mind. If not there, then what else does Edwin plan to do with those herbs? Don't tell me he has to ingest them directly? If that's the case, then it will be quite tricky. I need to atleast know what herbs he took so that I can draw some reasonable conclusion from there.'
Myles continued to think deeply about this entire situation.
Myles stayed near the Alchemy Division's quarters for the rest of the day, but Azaroth never arrived.