Sitting on his bed, Chrysos looked at his sword as he held it on his lap.
Chrysos went home with a lot of things in his mind. From what he saw, he was strong, he was agile, but he wasn't fast enough and he lacked long ranged attacks.
That was a big weakness.
If he had a long ranged attacking method, he would've been able to attack that beast tamer everytime he gets a small window to attack and he wouldn't be as passive as before.
However, he was still broke.
How can he even get that much cash to learn magic if he has no money?
He almost exhausted his reserves of alchemical ingredients just to get the Blood Elephant for his own sake.
Chrysos looked at his hands. "Maybe I should sell one of my fingers?"
Thinking for a good while, he decided against it.
He slapped himself with both hands. "No, I'm nowhere that desperate yet."
...
Iqualius City.
Rienan finally returned to his mansion.
The exterior of the mansion was made of a special stone. It was smooth and durable and very pleasing to the eyes. The mansion has four floors, 28 bedrooms, a large alchemy house, and their personal vault and armory.
The roofs were made of red and purple wood with gold and steel supporting the frames. Preventing them from falling.
Iqualius City is vastly different from Ironmountain. The city has seven towers with spires decorated with special symbols that belong to the families of Ysnar, Nlengoph, Dayien, Altin, Razin, and Iqualius.
Iqualius City is famous for its alchemical prowess, so noble families have to be above anyone else in terms of alchemy in order to rise.
This city is also the best place for alchemists to grow because of all the prestigious schools that teach everything they need to know in alchemy. Iqualius City also has the largest source of alchemical ingredients, so the trade here is very competitive and harsh. Only strong noble families with great backgrounds can survive.
Despite this beautiful scene, Rienan was extremely anxious.
He didn't even stop to rest or change his clothes when he arrived at his mansion. He planned to directly go to his sister's quarters to deliver the Corruption Reversal Potion.
"Welcome back, master Rienan."
Opening the door, the maids and butlers welcomed him back, but he waved his hand saying it's alright for them to go and walked towards the butler on the right.
"Master Rienan, how was your trip?" Caei, an old butler of the Nelton family, asked Rienan.
"It's fine, is father here?" Rienan asked for Agarius Nelton.
"Master, your father is in his office." Caei lowered his head.
"Tell him to come here immediately, I have something for him." Rienan's tone was urging Caei to move fast.
"Yes master.." Caei bowed before he ran swiftly towards Agarius Nelton's office.
Despite his old age, this old monster isn't to be scoffed at.
Caei Albureigh was nicknamed the Poisonmaster Assassin back in his days for a reason.
…
Meanwhile, in a brightly lit room where a crystal lamp hung on the ceiling.
A wise looking man wearing clothes worthy of his dignified status sat in front of his desk. He wore a white coat with a bright turquoise tie around his neck.
Gold chains wrapped behind his shoulders, and a golden pendant hung on his neck with a pink gemstone. His beard a white as a cloud could be, was of appropriate length and his hair was trimmed at the sides, giving him an authoritative aura.
Agarius Nelton was writing and signing documents in his office. His desk has a stack of paper lying quietly. His quill moved gently while the sunlight shone on his hands. His gemstone like blue eyes scanned the papers as he wrote.
He was calmly doing his work until he heard knocking from the door.
"Come in." Agarius didn't even turn to look to know who it was.
Opening the door, Caei entered. "Viscount Agarius, your son has returned." Caei respectfully bowed.
"So what? Tell him to give the ingredients to our alchemists." Agarius said with a deep tone.
"He.. didn't buy the Crimson Elephant.." Caei lowered his head.
Crack.
"What…?" Agarius snapped the brown quill with a ruby nib in his hand.
"Master Rienan... didn't get the Crimson Elephant." Caei feared Agarius' wrath. Despite being an old monster himself, he would rather not face Agarius in a one on one.
"That imbecile!" Agarius stormed off his office. He rushed towards his daughter's quarters.
...
When Agarius arrived he immediately confronted Rienan the moment he saw him.
"Rienan! What have you done?! Do you want your sister to recover?!" Rienan's fist was covered with a bright flame with its light threatening to explode any second.
Rienan knew that his father would react like this and said, "Don't worry, I have the cure for her condition." Rienan showed him the vial that Chrysos brewed. "Our goal was the Divinium Reversal Potion to begin with, wasn't it? Now I've bought a better version of it and it came with a huge amount of high quality potions as well. From my perspective, it's a better deal."
Agarius controlled his wrath and looked at the vial. He could see that the potion was high quality. "Hmph, if you've been tricked in Ironmountain, you will be severely punished! Do you understand!?"
Rienan nodded. "Yes father.."
...
Rienan went inside the room.
There was a frail woman with long white hair wearing a white gown. Her skin was sickly pale and her cheeks were caving in her face. Just from her arms and shoulders, you could see how weak she was.
When she heard the door open, she opened her eyes to look at Rienan.
"Brother..." The woman moved her hand.
Her eyes were like purple crystals as she looked at Rienan. Her face and physique was pitiable.
"I'm here, I'm here.. You'll be fine.." Rienan knelt down and held her hand. Every time he saw her this way, his heart ached as if it was being crushed.
"I have a cure for you now okay? You won't have to suffer any longer." Rienan's fingers touched her hair.
"It's going to be another failure isn't it?" She saw many cures given to her but none of them worked. And now, she doesn't hold any hope for any of them anymore.
"Don't worry, I feel like this one is different this time. I promise." Rienan assured her.
"You've told me that.. before..." She closed her eyes as tears began to flow down. "Maybe I'm not meant to live.. maybe I'm cursed like what people say."
Rienan couldn't bear seeing her like this any longer. He took the vial and carefully put it on her lips.
"I can't let that happen any longer." Rienan placed his last hope on the potion. He knew that the potion the alchemists under his family wouldn't be of much help anyway. So, he took a leap of faith.
She carefully drank the potion.
Rienan waited next to her. He was going to stay until he saw an effect.
He had hope.
He watched her for a while until she suddenly coughed out blood, staining the bed.
Rienan's heart sank.
"What?! No!" Rienan panicked. She was coughing out more blood than her body only has. Her nose and ears were bleeding intensely and she looked like she was in great pain.
Rienan's shouting was heard by the people outside.
...
This alerted Agarius so he burst through the door forcefully to see his daughter bleeding out.
The moment Agarius saw what was happening, he pushed Rienan away. "What happened!?!" Agarius examined her condition and once he saw how terrible her situation was, he glared at Rienan and shouted, "You.. THIS IS YOUR FAULT!!"
Agarius' fist glowed with bright light. He grabbed Rienan's neck and pulled it towards him.
"Father, wait it's not-" Rienan didn't manage to finish his sentence.
Agarius punched Rienan multiple times until his fist was covered in Rienan's blood. Once he saw his son's bloodied face disfigured from his punches, he stopped.
"Master.." Alsre clenched his fists but he knew he couldn't interfere.
Agarius looked back at his daughter's body.
He checked up on her and when he couldn't feel her pulse, his eyes shrunk to a pin's size.
She died.
...
"AAAAAGGHH!!!" Agarius held her head as he cried in pain.
Rienan slowly stood up with a distraught face.
Agarius directed his fury at Rienan. "Look at what you've done! You killed her!" Agarius couldn't stop shouting.
Rienan fell down.. his legs felt weak and numb. He couldn't believe it. His only sister, who he spent so much effort helping, died in front of him because of him as well.
"Alvira, I'm... sorry.." Rienan cried in pain. He shouldn't have trusted that alchemist. If only he knew that-
"Sorry for what?" Alvira wiped her nose and sniffed. "Why is there so much blood here?" Alvira looked around her bed and saw that the place was messy from the crimson stains. It looked like someone was murdered here.
Agarius and Rienan froze.
The butlers and maids were also frozen stiff. Are they dreaming? Is Alvira alive?!
"Ah.. I thought I.." Agarius held her arm with trembling hands. "H- How do you feel?"
Alvira felt great strength in her body.
Filled with anticipation that she truly recovered, she clenched her fist and threw a punch and her arm was able to support the strength that she exerted.
Before, she could only move it with a lot of difficulty, but now, she could even throw a punch.
It was evident that she had recovered.
"T- This is..." Agarius couldn't help but widen his eyes in shock. He then turned to Rienan. "Where did you get the cure from? Tell me!" Agarius looked at his son who was still at a daze.
Rienan wiped his bloodied face. "His name is Gerald Greenwood, he's a lone alchemist in Ironmountain."
"A lone alchemist?" Agarius was even more shocked after hearing this. "A lone alchemist that managed to make such a high quality potion?" Agarius was finding it hard to believe.
Agarius examined the vial and scanned the tiny potion droplets remaining. And to his surprise, the quality was too amazing and complex for him to even understand!
Seeing how surprised his father was, Rienan thought that he should show his father the other potions that he bought from Chrysos, "I also bought many potions from him. Alsre, get the potions I brought from Ironmountain."
"Yes master.." Alsre nodded and went out the room.
When Alsre returned, he gave Agarius one of the potions.
Agarius examined the potion and drank one. His eyes shone when he felt the effects of the potion was. His opinion on it could be seen through his expression. He turned to Rienan and said, "This Gerald that you speak of.. I need to talk to him."
Alvira's eyes shone.
"Gerald, so that's his name.." Alvira remembered the name.
"It's thanks to him that I recovered. But, brother.." Alvira pointed to Rienan. "Why is your face so bloody?" And your nose is turning to the wrong way.
"..." Rienan awkwardly grabbed a healing potion.
Agarius coughed out two times to cover his embarrassing mistake.
...
Meanwhile on Ironmountain.
Meiros was silently walking around at night. He was planning to steal some food from anyone he could get it from.
Growl....
"Mmm... I'm hungry again." Meiros grabbed his growling stomach.
He walked out the street and ran across a person.
"Ow, I'm sorry.. sir-" Meiros looked up and his pupils sank the moment he saw the person. It was a man that looked like a merchant, but Meiros knew that it was someone more sinister.
As someone who lived in the streets, he recognized that it was a slave trader.
Corrupted ones are usually killed on sight. But those who realized their value decided that they will earn more by enslaving them. After all, a slave that can use Divinious is worth more than a slave who can't
The man looked at Meiros and said, "Kid, what are you doing this late at night? Where are your parents?" The man asked Meiros.
"They're at home.." Meiros lied.
The man smirked. "I'll have to take you with me, it's dangerous at night." The man reached his hand for Meiros' arm.
"No!" Meiros ran away from him with fear.
"Hey kid!" The man stretched his arm out and chased after him.
Meiros ran towards a street to try and outrun the man, however he ran towards a dead end.
Meiros turned around, and saw that the man was trying to calm him down.
"Look, I'm not here to hurt you alright? Listen to me." The man was taking things calmly. He just wanted to talk things out with the kid since there were also hidden threats around Ironmountain. And from the orders he received, do not take anyone lightly, because looks can be deceiving.
Meiros had nowhere to run. He clenched his fists and turned around. He casted mind control.
His fingers created a magic circle that shot a bolt of psychic lightning.
Zoom!
A trail of Divinious assaulted the man's head.
"What the?? Why am I... dizzy..." The man felt like he was going to fall asleep.
"Pweh!" Meiros spat out a bit of blood from the backlash of a failed mind control. He hurriedly stood up and he continued running away again.
"I need to get away!" Meiros ran and ran. He didn't care where he was going to end up.
…
Meiros had no idea how many turns he took. It didn't matter. He took another turn and bumped into another person.
Meiros fell down and clutched his nose because of the pain that was like hitting a wall face first.
"Oh, what the?" Chrysos felt something bump into him so suddenly.
When he looked down, he saw a kid around the age of fifteen.
The kid was wearing ragged clothes and his face had blood on them. Chrysos knew that this kid was injured.
...
Meiros saw the man he bumped into. It was a tall man wearing metallic armor that had an orange shine. His belt has vials with liquids of different colors, and his cold emotionless looking mask was staring at him. The man's cloak was covering his entire head from his back with his face being the only thing exposed. The man's sword in its sheath was emitting a weak light.
"A- Ah..." Meiros didn't know what to say.
Chrysos examined the kid. He unsheathed his sword just in case something was chasing after the young man, but the kid reacted by covering his face while looking at him with fear because he misunderstood Chrysos' intentions.
"Please don't kill me!" Meiros shielded his face with both of his arms.
"I'm not going to kill you." Chrysos tilted his head in confusion and sheathed his sword. He took a potion from his belt and said, "Here, drink this.. I have spares anyways." Chrysos tossed him a healing potion.
"Eh..?" Meiros saw the bright red liquid inside the vial. He picked it up while he warily observed Chrysos' actions. When he saw that this man had no intentions to hurt him, he asked. "What is this?"
"A healing potion, you need to cure those injuries somehow." Chrysos laughed.
Meiros had his doubts. But since he's desperate, he drank the potion. And suddenly, his wounds started healing themselves at a rapid rate!
"Wow.." Meiros was shocked that the man didn't trick him. "T- Thank you, but I need to go back to my parents." Meiros was about to run away when Chrysos laughed.
"You're lying.." Chrysos said while expecting his reaction.
"Eh..? How did you-?" Meiros was shocked. Did this man know about him?
Chrysos couldn't hold his laugh. "Pfft, I didn't even know that you were lying. But from that reaction, you must be lying then? Aren't you?" Chrysos chuckled. "So, who exactly are you running from?"
Meiros' eyes narrowed. He had to run again from this man. He prepared his hand and casted mind control.
He turned around and used his spell on the man.
...
Chrysos sensed the corrupted magic circle and he was surprised.
Pew!
The corrupted energy shot towards his head like an arrow released from the string of a bow.
"A corrupted psychic?" Chrysos already knew what he was dealing with. He grabbed his Alizuite sword and parried the mind transmission.
Peng!
The corrupted energy bolt was hit by Chrysos' sword and it was redirected towards a stone wall.
Meiros was surprised that it didn't work. Since he couldn't do anything, he just turned around and ran away again.
"Oh no you don't." Chrysos sheathed his sword and ran towards Meiros. In just a few powerful steps, he was in front of him.
"Agh!" Meiros was shocked and afraid after seeing that this man chased him that quickly! He was positive that Chrysos was far away from him when he started running, so how did he catch up??
Meiros couldn't think for long because Chrysos was slowly walking towards him.
...
Meiros felt hopeless. There was no way he could fight against this man.
His legs lost strength and slumped down the stone road.
Meiros cried.. he knew that it was over.
However, he felt a warm hand on his head.
"You're afraid... and from what I can tell, you're not here to hurt anyone, are you?" Chrysos patted Meiros' head. "Now tell me, what happened to you?" Chrysos crouched down around Meiros' height and asked gently.
"I- I... I don't know what to do anymore..." Meiros cried. He sobbed down at Chrysos' feet without caring anymore. He was confused and he didn't know what he should do.
"Shhh, it's alright.. I'm here now." Chrysos finally knew that the kid didn't mean him any harm. But the fact that he encountered so many corrupted Divinious users concerned him. Was fate playing a joke on him?
But regardless, his caring side couldn't hold back and decided to help this kid.