Chapter 3: Goals
Also, Abium had already thought of his few main goals.
'First, I need to find a noble ally and become the Lord of Alastall Woodlands before the beginning of the Chaos Era. But who should I choose as my ally?' He wanted a trustworthy noble, but not some greedy fox who would change factions for gains.
'I think that Baron Auguinare should be the right choice. But will I make it in time to save him?' He thought of the rumors he heard from a family and sighed.
'He would be betrayed by one of his disciples and became dead even before the arrival of the Chaos Era. No, the next six months should be more like the calm before the storm.'
'My second goal is to save Prince Huggin. First, I need to go to Bare Keep town and find out how he will lose one of his hands there. If possible, I want to interfere in that incident. Then, I will also find a way to save him from the banquet incident.' In truth, Prince Huggin was a powerful young man and a pure soul who would even save his enemy from his death.
Alas, he met his end because of that naivety.
'My third goal is to save Helena's younger sister from the auction house. But to achieve that, I need to do the above two things. As for the money, I should explore the pocket dimension during my free time.'
'My fourth goal is to find out more about the mysterious organization that would create chaos everywhere and stops them from ruining this kingdom.'
'And, my final goal is to explore some secret places and get my hands on the unique artifacts.' It was his main goal, though.
He shook his head and hastened his footsteps towards the kitchen.
At the same time, he also thought of creating a pseudo potion called 'Wisdom Tear.' To concoct that potion, he needed multiple ingredients. They were Magic Stone, Spirit Berries, Rose Petals, Flux Seeds, and Sprinkles of Blue Herb. At the beginning of the Chaos Era, this 'Wisdom Tear' potion hadn't been developed yet. The mages gave importance to mortals and warriors only after the arrival of Demons.
'Although it is not a real alchemic potion, that potion will do the work and increase the mana amount in my body considerably.'
'First, I need to get a low-level magic stone from Alfred. Low-level magic stones are somewhat impure, but one stone will be enough to increase my body mana to some level.' He muttered inwardly.
'Uncle Alfred always has some magic stones with him for household uses. Even I bought those stones from him regularly when I was a child.' Abium recalled those blurry images.
No, those memories soon became clear as water!
'What the-? Are this young body's current memories? Hmm? Why do I still remember what this young 'me' do during the last few days? It's as if I have two similar younger memories... Wait... There is one more question. What happened to my young body's soul if I transmigrated into the past?' He was stunned inside.
'Did I kill my younger version's soul and take over his body? Or, did my past life memories return to the past and form into a new Abium?' Questions whirled in his mind.
At that moment, he noticed that he had already reached the Kitchen building and cast those complicated thoughts away from his head.
Then, he looked up at the dark sky, stared at those farthest stars, and soon zeroed his gaze on a slightly larger one on the west.
It was called Morning star!
Commoners had no magical watch, so they always used stars to tell the right time during the night. Abium was also the same.
'It's already 4.00 A.M.'
While muttering, he entered the kitchen building, strolled on the corridor, and soon arrived in front of a large hall filled with tens of servants.
At that moment, they were doing all kinds of work like cooking, peeling potatoes, cutting vegetables, baking, etc.
Abium's eyes wandered inside.
After a few seconds of search, he saw a middle-aged man in the corner of the kitchen hall and smiled.
Currently, Alfred looked as if there was no color on his face.
He had short gray hair, a square face, upturned brown eyes, and a high nose bridge. He wore a neat regular butler uniform and walked to and fro in the kitchen hall while glaring at those clumsy servants.
Meanwhile, those servants flinched in response and began to avoid his eyes.
Alfred's opinion was the right one; no one else could always hold a valid point of view if it weren't consistent with his own.
He prowled the kitchen like a caricature of himself, his brown eyes looked sharper, and his mouth was thinner, tighter.
Alfred only ever smiled when he tasted his food, for everyone else, he muttered under his breath,
"garbage, bland, too salty..."
As he was prowling, he suddenly halted his footsteps and gazed towards the entrance. The next instant, his eyes squinted all of a sudden.
It was as if he had seen something unbelievable!
'From when did this brat start walking up this early?'
Even some servants showed surprised expressions and gave him a curious look.
Upon sensing their gazes, Abium smiled wryly and waved his hand.
"Brat, what are you doing here this early morning?" Hiding his surprise, Alfred asked while continuing his work.
Meanwhile, Abium stepped into the kitchen hall, walked past the stoves, utensils, and servants, arrived in front of him, and then asked while showing a little nervous face.
"Can I get one magic stone, uncle? I will even do some extra washing works when I come back from the capital."
"Now? It's 4 in the morning. What are you even doing at this hour instead of sleeping?"
Alfred turned his head, glared at him, and then sighed.
'T-This lad. Did he dream about becoming some mage and in the half-sleeping state?' He couldn't help but take a deep look at Abium.
Meanwhile, Abium heard a few disappointing comments from those servants and got amused inside.
'Man, why do I feel a little embarrassed right now.' Abium glanced at the gossiping lady servants and then shifted to Alfred.
His eyes then stubbornly fixed on Alfred's face.
Meanwhile, the butler felt a headache.
'Well, this kid won't do proper work if I didn't give him any magic stone now. What a stubborn child.'
But still, his heart ached whenever this kid wasted the magic stones.
"Why are you always wasting magic stones? If you had saved all the money you spent on these stones, you could have brought many new dresses. Tsk. Anyway, I will give you one stone, but you have to do extra work for two weeks when you return. Got it?"
Alfred said sternly while taking out a magic stone from his leather pouch and tossing it towards Abium.
On the other hand, Abium skillfully caught the magic stone, hid it in his pocket, and then responded with some excitement in his tone.
"Thank you, uncle! I want to go back to my room!"
Alfred sighed in disappointment while picking a pan from the nearby shelf and placing the few chopped onions.
Then, let out another heavy sigh and continued.
"This is the last one. No more stones for the next two months, got it?"
Abium nodded and hurriedly walked away from the kitchen before Alfred could change his mind.
Although he served this house similarly like a slave from 5, he viewed Alfred as his Teacher.
Alfred was the one who took care of him whenever he was sick or injured.
'I also need to find a way and save this old man. If possible, I should give him a warrior technique in the future.'
But Abium wouldn't give those techniques to him now.
'If he said a word to other servants and it reached Viscount's ears, then I will be doomed. It's not worth taking a risk.'
Although he respected Alfred, he didn't trust him thoroughly to give away his secrets.
'First, I need to increase mana power in my body.' He nodded inwardly and moved out of the kitchen building.
During the twenty years of constant struggles and experiences, he learned many things like creating potions, sword skills, etc.
His current goal was to improve his mana using one of the methods.
'This potion too has some demerits like one-time use, but that's not a problem anyway.' Abium thought to himself and returned to his room.