And as I expected, as soon as I walked in, I identified the right ingredient not far from me.
"The Call"
Thrusting the grass I had just picked into the assistant's hands, I instructed him to look for the same kind, while I would be busy with my own business.
And while the skeleton was busy with his business, my hands were already tapping the knife on the board, slicing some of the ingredients of the recipe.
Magician: - Mmm... is it my turn to be on duty?
And so you had to wake up?
Feeling for one of the pouches in my bag, I went up to the girl who had just woken up, and threw some of the contents of the bag in her face.
Before she knew it, she fell asleep instantly.
- You're getting in the way.
Turning around, my eyes were already watching a silhouette approaching the campfire with a full armful of grass leaves and branches, among which a skull could be seen looking pleased with itself.
Yeah…
- Throw it on the tablecloth. Sit down next to me.
Sitting down next to the not-so-secretive assistant, I began sorting through the grass, throwing unsuitable ones into the fire.
- It's a good one. Good. Good…And this one has no veins, see?
- It will do. It's a branch, the grass grows on the ground, and the fact that you broke off these leaves, and they don't look like anything, remember. It will go, it will go. But this remaining pile is an ordinary and useless grass!
Glancing at the assistant sitting next to him, who seemed to be at a trial or an interview, there was some excitement in his unchanging face and motionless body.
I got my imagination running wild looking at night.
- In general, you have completed your task.
To be fair, I didn't expect him to do everything perfectly.
- What happened?
Without distracting myself from my work, and without even thinking, I said. Moreover, without waiting for an answer, or rather a sharp turn of the skull towards the forest.
Okay, let's find out what's in there.
Getting up, my legs carried me straight after the skeleton until we were on some kind of hill. And using the gaze of the undead, I spotted something alive.
A family of wild boars were sleeping peacefully in a small depression in the ground.
Well, as far as I remember, we'll spend the next night in the village, so we can sell their meat.
- Walk quietly, aim for the neck.
In general, we almost didn't even get dirty.
Eh, the stronger the enemy, the stronger I become when killing him, yes…
I hope the sleeping creature is not considered "too weak" or something like that.
It shouldn't.
After canceling the skeleton's summons and glancing at my watch, I realized one thing. "My shift is almost over." Shoving the corpses into the magic bag and returning to the campfire, my hands hastily put the equipment and potion ingredients back in their places, and then just as quickly and casually dusted myself off and got rid of the dirt.
Having finished my preparations, I kicked the merchant sleeping by the fire several times until he woke up, and exactly repeating the actions of the driver, entered the cart and collapsed further to sleep.
And I opened my eyes already from the ringing of the ladle on the pot, the driver of course told me that he liked to do this when he had a lot of passengers, but only now I realized how excruciating it was.
After packing up my things for sleep, I briefly went up to the carriage itself, scouting the road, because if it is flat, then I can complete several potions.
And good news for me.
After going down, I sat down in my usual place, and pulled out a couple of items that I could definitely hold.
While the rest of the passengers were getting ready and getting seated, several flasks with notches and drawings indicating the effect, as well as new contents, were sent to my bag.
And before I knew it, we had already driven off a fairly decent distance, while my hands were sorting through the tools, cleaning them and putting them in their places.
Magician: - I couldn't find a moment to ask, but what kind of magic did you use on your hands?
Ouch…
I hoped they would forget.
So, you need to remember something similar, or even come up with something, but what will be easier… Precisely!
- Earth magic, "stone claw"
Trader: - But he usually makes massive stone fists, and they are made from the surrounding stone, and does not cover your hands with something black making them so... sharp.
I did not expect such a tricky question from such a naive person!
- I am an alchemist, I don't like simple methods. Ordinary fists are made of stone, and a mixture of iron dust with coal and plain stone.
Merchant: - so that's why …
Magician: - Thanks for the answer.
I nodded.
Let's assume that this time I managed to come up with something.