"Ugh, only forty gold," Aleister said, shoulders slumped. He just counted the amount of coins Phisvaelte handed to him.

"You aren't complaining, are you?" she said. "You only paid me forty gold for all the herbs you bought off me in the first place! You've already made most of it back!"

Aleister handed over her cut of six gold coins. "Sure, it looks good when you put it that way, but you also need to account for the time I spent to clean the herbs and the create potions out of them." He grabbed the wooden crate Myra carried for him. "But you're right. I can't complain too much, especially not when you sold all of them off. And might I add, is quite the impressive feat considering the market for them can't be all that large."

"What are these?" she asked. Her eyes brushed over the multiple rows of potions before picking up a vial.

"Night-light potions."

She looked at Aleister like he had just spoken in an unfamiliar language.

Aleister grinned. "That's the name I'm using for these minor potions of dark-sight." He grabbed a piece of paper and explained what it would do, any side effects, and framed versions of the testimonials. These were duplicates he forged, just in case anyone with malicious ideas wanted to disrupt the selling of his potions. He wrapped a paper with all of this info around each of the vial, including the instructions of how and when to consume them.

Phisvaelte looked at him, impressed. "You went from unfinished potions to dark sight potions in just a week?"

"Yes—and no. The leap isn't as big as you would think because they are only minor dark sight potions after all," Aleister said, shrugging his shoulders. "With them you can only see a short distance in dim light. In complete darkness they're completely useless."

"Even so, it is still quite the impressive leap to those like me—one's with no knowledge of the craft," she said.

"She is right," Myra added, finally deciding to speak up, not letting him dismiss his advancement.

"Well, I appreciate it, I guess," Aleister said.

"There is also one more point I wanted to say."

"Sure, go ahead."

"My," Phisvaelte hesitated for a moment before continuing, "Husband and daughter are returning from their outpost positions in a few days."

"Oh, no problem," Aleister said. Her wedlock did not surprise him. Delayed aging and protracted lifespans were both natural boons that arose from fey ancestry and bloodlines. "I'm not your employer, just a business partner. So you if you ever need some time off, go ahead and take it whenever. Selling these potions will take a while, anyway."

"I appreciate it, and such an occasion would be ceremonious—normally." She hesitated once again. "I know you say you are but a mere fledgling in the craft of alchemy, but I was wondering, if—if you could you please take a look at my son? The two of us collect herbs together whenever we travel out into the wilderness. However, he seemed to catch a fever and fall ill yesterday. At first, I believed it to be a common fever, however, some strange symptoms appeared. I understand if you refuse. I'm sure other, more pressing matters occupy your time."

"Would it surprise you to learn that I actually don't have any urgent matters to attend to?" Aleister asked. "I'll go ahead and take a look since you seem to be concerned by it. Worst-case scenario, it just eats up half an hour of my time, which I will gladly spare."

"Thank you, I can compensate you for your time—"

Aleister waved his hand as he looked away. "If you wanted to spend money, why would you even ask me? You need it more than me, and if there ends up being a problem I can't solve, it can just be used to hire someone that can help."

She stood up and took a deep bow. "I don't know how I could ever repay you for your kindness."

"When you manage to sell all of my potions, that money will not only repay me by tenfold, but also make you quite the sum as well."

"Words cannot describe—"

Aleister rolled his eyes. "I literally just went over this and am not doing the same song and dance again, so I'm going to leave and come back when you have finished work." He didn't bother waiting for a response and just walked away, Myra close behind.

"That was nice of you," she said with an puzzled look.

"Yeah, it's all purposefully done to sow good karma," he said in a deadpan voice.

"Really?" Myra asked, now intrigued.

Aleister let out a chuckle. "No."

Her confusion only grew more apparent as she twisted her hair. "Then, why are you so nice to other people?"

"I feel like I've explained this before, but it's quite simple," he said. "I'm nice and help people because they've done nothing to not deserve it. Unfortunately, all the help I can provide is very minor in the first place, and barely causes me an inconvenience."

"Still, I feel as if you are too trusting of other people. What if they take advantage of you? Or backstab and betray you?"

Aleister let out a sigh. "It's less of an if, and more of a when."

"Then, why do you continue such your behavior?"

"Here, let me ask you this, if someone asked you to help, would you turn them down?"

"Probably not.." she said, her voice drifted.

"Now you know exactly how I feel. It isn't worth ruining the majority of people's experiences just for the one time it does happen. And it just doesn't feel right turning down the ability to help people."

"I understand that last part at least," she said, nodding her head.

"Of course, this still does depend on what they ask of me," Aleister continued. "If someone asked me to kill a red dragon or something, I would tell them to go drown in a river."

Myra let out a light laugh, causing a small smile to appear on her face.

"Anyway," Aleister turned his head forward and quickly changed the subject, "Now we need to find something to kill the time for several hours."

"Don't you usually just run?" she asked.

"Today is my off day, mainly because I didn't feel like running today and I needed to finish up this business."

"Then, wouldn't you just be studying alchemy or creating potions?"

"Yeah, but I'm not exactly at the manor, and I need a break from potion creation to think about some thoughts and new discoveries."

"How do you even manage your time when you have so much to do?"

"The answer is, I don't."

"Huh?" Myra tilted her head sideways.

"Anyway, I have nothing to do, so—what do you normally do?"

"Recently, Master has been training me on how to use and fight with a sword," she said, waving her hands around.

Aleister stopped in his tracks and slapped his forehead with his palm.

With worry, Myra strode to stand right next to him and asked, "Is something wrong?"

"Yes!" he shouted. "I just remembered, I never started nor added weapon practice to my training! You're supposed to remind me of those things, Syn!" Of course, at this current moment, it seemed as if she had disappeared.

"Whatever." He brushed it off, but not even a moment later said, "I also just remembered that I didn't actually have the money to purchase a weapon earlier."

"So, are you going to shop for a weapon?" she asked.

"Maybe."

"Maybe?"

Aleister stood still, deep in thought. He started walking without a word.

"Where are we going?"

"To a place that isn't that far from here."

Myra didn't respond to his obvious non answer. Luckily, it turned out that he remembered correctly.