We kept talking to the Duke's family for quite some time. After the Duchess had placed all of her interest in me, they began bombarding me with questions.
"So, you have been living in End Forest this whole time?" asked the Duke.
"Umm, yeah. Something like that…"
"What about your parents? Do they live there too?" asked the Duchess.
"Uhh, no, they don't," I responded.
'Oh no… Is she gonna try to adopt me if I tell her I don't have parents!?'
"So, there is no adult supervising you!?" asked the Duchess again, now more frustrated than before.
"I, uhh. I do! Vespera lives with me. She is technically an adult, so…" I had dumped Vespera into my mess.
The Duke's family all glanced at her, but she didn't mind their gazes at all. Actually, I think Vespera liked being the center of attention.
"Hah! Of course, I take good care of Ichiro. It's only natural that I make sure my master is safe and sound." said Vespera with her prideful tone.
"M-master?" asked the Duke.
I could only place the palm of my hand on my face in embarrassment.
'Now, I'll have to explain that…'
"So… You see, Vespera is actually a Legendary Beast…" I said, making the entire room go silent while my familiar looked proud and mighty.
The Duke then reluctantly asked Vespera if he could Inspect her. She shot me a look and I nodded, giving her my approval to share her information.
After they confirmed that she was indeed a Legendary Beast who forged a contract with me, they asked me for permission to inspect me.
I agreed, but I kept everything hidden except for my name and age. Showing my "Master Alchemist" title would definitely be enough to convince them, but if I showed my titles, "Child of Phelena" would also be visible.
So, to fully convince them that I was the person creating the potions, I opened my void pocket and took out one of each, then placed them on the coffee table for them to inspect and confirm for themselves.
"I see. So you weren't lying when you said you made these… Ichiro, young man… I don't know why you feel the need to hide your information from us, but I trust that you have your reasons." said the Duke before glancing at his daughter.
"What do you think, Triana?"
Lady Triana kept looking at me sharply. I could even feel the power in her eyes rising for a moment, then calming back down.
"I… Feel like we can trust him… But…" she hesitated.
"What's wrong, honey?" asked the Duchess.
"It's almost as if I could feel 2 different lives inside him. It says you are 14 in your information, but your eyes show a much older age…" said Triana with a somewhat sad tone.
"Ah! But I don't think you are a bad person or anything! The spirits all seem to like you too… It's just… I feel like I've seen someone like that before…"
Everyone in the room looked absolutely confused while me and Jackson were trying our best not to panic.
'H-How? This girl, somehow… With that skill, she could basically tell I have memories of my past life… Okay, don't panic, keep a straight face…'
"Well, if Triana says we can trust you, then there is nothing to worry about. Again, I'm sure you have your reasons." said the Duke.
"Mhm," Nodded the Duchess. "And she is right, too. The spirits do seem to love this boy."
After we cleared our misunderstanding, I asked what they meant by the spirits. They told me it was an ability that both Duchess Karina and her daughter Triana had acquired through the title of "Spiritualist."
It allowed them to see the spirits of the elements, which I had no idea what that even meant.
They went more in-depth with their explanation. Basically, all the natural elements in the world had spirits that served them.
These spirits would gather around people who had strong affinities to the magic of a certain element, making it easy for them to know which element they should focus their practice on. Of course, these spirits were invisible to anyone except those who had the title.
She said all of us there visiting had elemental spirits surrounding us at all times, except for Jackson, but she told us that could have just been his ineptitude for magic in general that drove them away.
It made sense to me since I had never seen Jackson casting any magic aside from some basic spells. He always just used his good old spear.
Our meeting went on for a few hours. We talked about the reasons why I had been invited by the king to meet him.
"It's only natural he would invite you. Your potion was the one he used to heal my sister, after all." said the Duke.
"I get that, but… End Town has been going through a lot of changes and problems over the past few years, and we never got a sliver of help from the king or anyone. And as soon as something of value comes out of there, now they suddenly send an entire order of knights to check on us… I don't know, it's just strange to me…" I rambled.
Realizing that I was speaking to the brother of the queen, I quickly tried to retract my statement.
"Ah, I mean… I didn't mean to sound rude or-" I was suddenly cut off by the Duke, who bowed his head again.
"I'm truly sorry for the treatment you have received!" he said, with his head still looking down.
"Stop bowing your head! It's not like it's your fault or anything!"
The Duke raised his head back up. "Still, as nobility and royalty, I must take on part of the blame. To think that the entire village was not only saved but developed by a single child…"
"No, no. I didn't do it alone! I couldn't have done it without my familiars, Jackson, and all the other villagers and adventurers…" I humbly responded.
"Did you say… familiars? As in plural?" asked the Duchess.
"I… guess, yeah…"
I asked everyone in the room not to get scared and ordered Yoru to step out of my shadow.
"Awww, so cute!" said Triana, whose expression changed from serious to overtaken by joy. "Can I pet him?"
"Yeah, of course."
Triana went on to pet Yoru like he was a little puppy. The maids looked a little worried for her, but Yoru seemed to enjoy the love, and Triana finally felt less tense.
"But, if you have a moonwolf, does it mean that you really come from the eastern continent?" asked Triana while she continued to pet Yoru, who was now lying on his back with his paws up.
"Huh? No, I've always been at End Forest…" I said, pretty confused by her question. But then it hit me. Yoru wasn't supposed to be a beast from this continent.
"You see, moonwolves are known for residing in the Lunar Forest in the Eastern Continent. If you truly found him here… hmmm," Triana stopped herself as she began pondering something.
"Vespera told me something like that a while ago. We ended up just chalking it up as a mystery and called it quits…" I ended up telling Triana and her whole family the story of how I found Yoru, but that didn't answer any questions.
When I first talked to Yoru with telepathy. He told me that his parents were running from a monster called "Salamandra" and that they suddenly found themselves in End Forest.
"Hmmm, if I'm not mistaken, we received reports a few years ago about a monster in the Eastern Kingdom that had apparently surpassed the S rank. The reports said that it could have been the work of a Devil…" said the Duke with a preoccupied expression as he held his chin.
"Do you think it could be the same one that drove Yoru out of the Lunar Forest?" I asked.
"It's not impossible... There are many things happening in the world that we don't know and will never know about. Still, to think that you would be the one to find him as a puppy in such a state… Ha ha ha!" The Duke let out a giggle. "Must have been fate," he said.
After our friendly meeting, we got invited by the Duke to stay for dinner, and honestly, I had been having a great time talking with them, so I didn't feel like it was too much of a bother. Besides, we still had the entirety of the next day to keep touring around with Vespera.
During our dinner, the Duchess asked me what ingredients I used for the potions I made. She seemed a bit reserved when asking.
'She probably thinks it's some kind of secret ingredient or something…' I thought. But actually, they weren't.
I had always told Mr. Olliver what ingredients I used to make the potions. The problem was that even when he tried recreating them himself, he couldn't add the right amount of MP to them. The best he could make were much less potent versions of mine.
So, we decided to stop wasting the ingredients and just let me handle the brewing while he handled the selling.
"Are you interested in alchemy yourself, Lady Karina?" I asked the Duchess.
"Oh my, not me, no… Actually, it's my son Reinar."
Reinar was the young noble who was present when his sister was almost kidnapped. He was 14 years old, like me, and he had been the quietest the entire time we were in their house. But, after Lady Karina mentioned his passion for alchemy, his eyes started sparkling with excitement.
"I see. Well, if you ever visit End Town, I wouldn't mind showing you all I know." I responded with a smile.
"Really!? Can you teach me how to make those miracle potions?" said Reinar.
"Yeah. I actually wanted more alchemists to learn how to make them. That way, the potions could reach even more people!"
Reinar smiled from ear to ear; I didn't know a kid could even smile that brightly.