Arriving in front of the Duke's mansion. A brown-haired man wearing a luxurious black suit with a dark red dress shirt worn under the suit. The man looked sophisticated as not even dust can be seen on his clothing. A sweet smile is always plastered on his face as a few ladies can't help but turned their heads toward him.
Unknowingly to others, the suit he is wearing is actually an artifact. Lawrence bought it earlier this morning since he can afford it. The shop he bought it from is famous for selling fake artifacts to customers for a high price. Luckily for him, this suit is actually one of the artifacts that he remembered in the novel and it was sold to him for only 25 gold coins.
It was used by the second prince of the Sekai Kingdom during a normal party gathering together with his friends. The assassination was executed by one of the supporters of the crown princess to kill the prince only for the poison to not work. The suit can nullify the effects of anything once every three days. Meaning if he is poisoned, he will be immune to poison for a day but if he was put into a charming spell, the suit wouldn't be able to nullify it since it is currently nullifying any poison that comes into contact with the wearer. Still, it's worth it in Lawrence's opinion.
The gate swings open as someone familiar can be seen waiting at him. It's the knight who brought him here in the first place. Lennon smiled politely before greeting Lawrence.
"Welcome, Mr. Evan Everlock. Please follow me" Lennon said as Lawrence followed him inside the mansion. They went into the second floor before arriving in the dining room once again. Lawrence can only guess that his father holds the meeting during mealtime as it's already afternoon.
Swinging the heavy door open, Lawrence found his father sitting on the side of the long table, and in front of him is the crown princess. The crown princess has long black hair that reaches her waist, she's wearing a uniform of royalty as it's a black coat covered with golden insignia while donning a long black pants. She has the same height as Lawrence as she has a manly demeanor despite her beautiful face. A rapier is fixed on her belt as she appears to be combat-ready all the time. Her eyes gleamed with determination and doubt once seeing Lawrence.
"Ah! I'll introduce you to this gentleman" Duke Leonard stands up with a big smile as Lawrence bowed politely.
"His name is Evan Everlock, a genius alchemist that has found the cure for red rot and maleosis." The Duke added as the crown princess slammed the table in anger before glaring at the Duke. The young man beside here gasp briefly before smiling politely as Lawrence noticed a peculiarity from this man. A large scar can be seen on the man's forehead. Lawrence's cold eyes descended over the young man who immediately looked at him with a smirk.
"Do you have any idea of the current crisis in my kingdom? This isn't the time for jesting around. " the crown princess angrily stated at which the Duke gazed at her seriously.
"Jest? It's not a jest nor a joke. This is a serious matter and if you're willing to immediately refute anything you don't know. Then you are the one jesting around" The duke replied
"Indeed, Lady-
"Address me by my proper standing. I'm not a woman who's you're trying to court" the crown princess frowned
"Forgive me for my mistake. Crown princess Arita Sekai. The duke isn't lying or taking the issue as if it's nothing. I indeed have the cure for the illness, especially for red rot." Lawrence grabbed the nearby chair before sitting with a sweet smile still plastered on his face.
"Can you describe it for me?" The young man with the scar asked politely but Lawrence only smiled at him before ignoring his question. The crown princess's eyebrow twitched before grasping the handle of the rapier.
"Do you have the cure in you right now?" the crown princess asked coldly.
"Of course, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't finished" Lawrence lied, he didn't have it yet. Samantha hasn't finished creating the cure and is still in the practicing stage however the prototype cure she made is nearly usable but it would still take a few days before Samantha can perfectly create the cure itself.
"I see. Can you give us the information and the procedure for the cures themselves? So we can inspect it and make sure that it's safe for the public to use?" the crowned princess asked with a polite smile. Lawrence nearly scoffed at her but he was able to maintain his composure. He isn't that stupid to give every information about the cure to someone else. No matter what the reason is.
"This isn't a charity. This is business. Please don't use those excuses since it wouldn't work"
"Yes, princess. This alchemist is already kind enough to go directly to you. Just imagine the amount of prestige you can get if every citizen in this Kingdom knows that you helped the creator of the cure by spreading the medicine and helping solve the crisis" The Duke added
"But what if it's a false claim. We can't make sure that your 'cure' would even work. Just imagine the amount of anger and doubt the princess will get if someone swindled the kingdom with the promise of the cure. " the young man beside the crown princess replied
"That's why i am willing to make a contract. I'm sure that the princess is having a hard time controlling her mana right?" Lawrence stared at the crown princess with a smile. The crowned princess's expression contorted in irritation before warping back to helplessness.
"You're right. It seems that I got the illness during my campaign in the central continent. I don't know what caused it as I only realized it upon arriving in my kingdom" the crown princess sighed
"If I can cure the princess. I would like for the Sekai Kingdom to leave us alone. We are only doing this for the good of all people and I can't have the nobles and the royalty taking control of my business. My cure isn't used for other people's greed but for removing the other people's suffering from the illnesses. I hope the princess can make the right decision." Lawrence replied. The crown princess gazed at Lawrence coldly while the young man beside her seems to be amused by what was happening.
"You're only doing this since you're afraid. Afraid of the kingdom and what they will do once your cure reaches the hands of those who are infected with the sickness. Right?" the young man responded with confidence.
"Afraid? I would be lying if I wasn't afraid. This is why I tried to solve this problem by being civil about it. I get the princess's support and protection while I solve one of the kingdom's biggest problems which are the illnesses that have crippled a part of the royal family's mage and knight army." Lawrence said while maintaining eye contact with the crown princess in hopes to show his confidence and honesty. The crown princess only crossed her arms while looking quite reluctant.
"Forgive me Duke but I can't bring myself to trust your alchemist. I hope you understand and I hope we can still continue working together" the crown princess abruptly said before standing up as the young man's expression contorted with a prideful and sly smile. Lawrence only sighed, it seems that it wouldn't be easy to convince a hard-headed woman.
"Arrest that alchemist. He's a suspicious individual" the crown princess added before two assassins dropped from the ceiling with their dagger coated with a mysterious liquid.
"What are you doing?! He's an innocent man who only wanted for the good of people" the duke yelled before the strong gush of wind pushed back the two assassins away before crashing to the ground.
"Two alchemists who said they can cure the red rot and maleosis appearing in the same week? That's simply impossible, it means that this 'genius alchemist' is lying to us and to you Duke. Besides, this young man beside me is the one who is ordered by the headquarters of the alchemist guild to solve the problem we have in this Kingdom. I hope you can understand my decision since I would rather believe the words of someone sent by the alchemist guild than someone who claimed to have a cure for the illnesses. I appreciate your help Duke Leonard but you have helped us enough. We will handle this." the crown princess replied politely with a slight frown on her face.
"Tsk…I guess this my plan didn't work. We'll meet again, dear lady." Lawrence replied with a mix of disappointment and irritation in his voice as he vanished in front of everyone. The Duke falls to his chair with his hand on his face before sighing deeply.
"Look for him! Bring him to me at once!" the crowned princess commanded as the two assassins stands up weakly before nodding. A barely audible sound of a whistle flowed all over the kingdom as only those with a tattoo of the hidden force of the assassin twitched upon hearing it before dropping everything they are doing currently.
Appearing inside his room, Lawrence drops to the side of the bed before sighing. His plan failed as he didn't think that someone already promised the crown princess the cure of red rot and maleosis. In the novel, Leos the mad alchemist shouldn't be in this kingdom and certainly not helping the crown princess make the cure. The plot is starting to derail faster than he thought as Lawrence began to ponder what to do next.
"What if I use the first prince? He is the next in line to be the king. Despite being a bastard born from a prostitute, he's still part of the royalty. The question is how can I reach him…" Lawrence said to himself. A knock on the door was heard as Lawrence opened the door to find Luke standing in front of his room.
"It seems that you have a big problem boss" Luke said upon noticing Lawrence's expression
"Indeed…i failed in negotiating with the princess." Lawrence replied before entering his room followed by Luke who sat at a nearby chair.
"Well, what can I do boss?"
"Head to the slums and find where Keiren is. Ask him where I can find the first prince and where he usually stays at."
"Sure, that shouldn't take too long." Luke shrugged before heading outside the room with a sly expression on his face. Lawrence can't understand what Luke is currently thinking or what his thoughts are but he is quite reliable and a better fighter compared to the elite forces. Now that he can't leave the mansions since he's wanted again. Lawrence can only train with his new spear art as the summoned clone appeared in front of him.
"Wha?! Oh..How long was I gone?" the clone asked while scratching his head.
"Don't worry. It has only been one day. Now, I want you to train this spear art properly and make sure that you won't be as useless as I thought" Lawrence chucked the spear art of Lucarious to the clone who immediately received it.
"I see…aren't you afraid that I will attack you once again after becoming stronger?" the clone wondered as Lawrence stared at him coldly before shrugging.
"Without my aura, you wouldn't exist. So it won't be beneficial for you to kill me"
"I guess so…anyway. Isn't this room too small for us to train?" the clone asked while looking around. Lawrence also agreed with his sentiment. Absorbing the clone back into his body, he looked around the mansion for Samantha only to find out that she was in the library of the mansion with a pile of books in front of her.
"Oh..welcome to my library Lawrence..I'm still experimenting with the proper measurement for the cure but we have made substantial progress. Don't worry" Samantha said with a sleepy and tired tone. A yawn escaped from her lips.
"Good work. I'm confident in your skills so don't pressure yourself too much" Lawrence replied as Samantha nodded weakly.
"Anyway, is there somewhere we can train without the prying eyes of others?" Lawrence asked as Samantha pondered for a while.
"Hmm…i have a room in the basement near the laboratory where I create potions. It's designed with the idea of training someone. Though I never use it. You can use it if you want, just don't attack the walls with too much force. The vibration might disturb the process of creating potions."
"Thank you, Samantha. Tell others where I am if they need me." Lawrence said to Samantha before heading downstairs where the large basement resides. Inside, there are three rooms that lead to somewhere. One of them is the laboratory while the other one is aptly named training room. Entering the training room, it almost blinded him as the room is covered with white marble tiles from the walls to the ceiling. It was akin to an insane asylum room but it didn't bother Lawrence. He tried stomping the floor as hard as he can but it didn't even crack. Lawrence summoned the clone once again who widened his eyes upon seeing the room he was in.
"Where are we?"
"In the training room. Now stop asking and start training" Lawrence walked to one of the corners of the room before reading the spear art he got at the martial library. The clone can only sigh before sitting in a cross-legged position and reading the entirety of the Celestial domination spear art. For now, Lawrence decided that it's better to prepare for the upcoming tournament.