Atra sat in her chair looking at the evidence she had seen, vampires hadn’t been seen for a long time but that didn’t mean they were extinct, dragons were said to be extinct but around thirty years ago, it was revealed that they simply migrated around the earth and lived on an island.

Very few dragons left the island and stayed on the other continents.

But vampires, unlike dragons, could live forever as long as they could feast on blood, if they let a victim live, they would either get sick with Blood Clot, a fatal disease or the victim themselves would become a vampire.

A problem with this was that since vampires operated in secret and didn’t come out during daylight hours, they could easily kill and simply disappear without a trace of evidence, thus when they were discovered long ago, they brought everyone out into the sun and about 30% of the population died, after that, new ways to kill and identify vampires were made, from mirrors to stakes and holy crosses.

She was currently writing in her journal/book, humming while she thought, quotes from most of her self-taught life lessons were at the start of almost every chapter.

[{Alchemy and Transmutation: Why Alchemists aren’t Gods}]

[Chapter 1: Alchemy is the art of refining and experimenting as well as combining. It ranges from potion-making, simple water boiling to disassembling and reassembling the very structure of an element to convert it into something else. In my studies I have discovered that on a micro-level, small particles exist that make up everything, each one has a positive and negative charge while some have no charge at all.

I believe that these atoms as I have decided to call them, are a key to transmutation due to a single fact that the more positive particles there are, the more different the element is.]

Her journal was a simple recording of her discoveries and nothing else, although many alchemists and even some collectors would try their hardest to get their hands on this, for some reason she felt like her journal was inferior to another alchemist’s journal. Still, her mind couldn’t discover who.

Looking back to the beginning of it 10 years ago, when she was only 12, it seemed like a distant memory for her to even be able to reach this level of talent.

A gust of wind from an open window next to her, blew the pages and made her grumble as she got up and closed the window, immediately flicking her wrist right as the blade came to the neck of a cloaked and masked figure.

A Wind Ranger, an extremely rare class of ranger that could sail and control the wind, he was an elite messenger used only for very secret messages.

He had brunette hair, a black face mask that had two re-breather filters on each side, two wires coming out the top and bottom of the air filters, and an eye-cover with several glass scopes on his left eye with a single glass on his right.

His name was Regis Mandrek, he was one of the few Wind Rangers left, his existence was secrecy, but they did have proof of another Wind Ranger, his name was Kol Mistral and he lived in a sector of high rise and isolated mountains in Galtenfall, though it was obvious he wished to be alone.

“I have a message for you, not official but still very important,” He handed her an envelope and she opened it, the ranger gone out the window in a simple breeze.

[Dear Atra, we have noticed that your studies and skills have helped our council tremendously despite the king’s aged state, though while we do have a male position open, there has never been a male alchemist while you were active… Until now.

Despite the circumstances, we believe exceptional talents appear in the most common of places, thus in this year’s challenge, we’d like to have you as a judge for the competition… If that is okay with you.

We understand that you may hold some resentment against a certain alchemist, but this is to ensure a better future for our nation and those under our rule, with that being said, it is optional for you to come and see what our latest batch of alchemists have got, kind regards -Council Member Reik.]

Atra sighed and looked out her window to see the huge clock tower displaying the time.

[{1:54}]

“Y’know, I bet Ark’s going to do something stupid…”

She couldn’t be more right as the alchemist himself was reading the notice about the alchemy position on a public announcement board, his mind processing the actual date they were on.

“Oh right, the competition is coming up…. Neato…” He was passed by another alchemist who was bragging to a guardian class about his skill.

“Pfft, I can make any potion I want! And that means I can make anything!”

Suddenly the alchemist was punched in the face by Ark who then proceeded barraged him in his stomach.

“Impossible! The mana stabilization of a potion is very tedious and requires delicate work or else you risk creating a whole new mixture or worse, destroying the potion! If you can create any potion then that means you can bypass the mana restriction which is naturally placed on the potion’s potential, but if you bypass that then the potion will have no container for it and will then break and blow up due to how severe the mana output is! Additionally, a powerful potion always has a drawback unless you’re using ancient magic, but in that sense, the drawback is that you can only make the potion every year or so! But from your stats, you have no ancient magic and your potion making skill is at a Novice rank with a level of 8!” Ark finished by uppercutting the alchemist and causing him to fall to the ground unconscious.

“Alchemy is a profession, don’t lie about it or you’ll never make a good profession out of it,” Then he left the area as everyone watched him with what essentially amounted to a mix of horrified looks, mostly due to a random man coming out of nowhere and beating the crap out of a kid who was overestimating himself.

“Hey! What’s your alchemy level then?!” A Scout yelled at him, a few wanting answers as well, if this alchemist could judge another, then he too should be judged.

Showing stats was quite simple, one just had to mentally grab a stat or skill and pull it from the menu, or as Ark called it, copy and paste.

[{Skill House: Alchemy:

Ingredient Gathering: Expert Lvl 68

Potion Making: Expert Lvl 99

Liquid Identification: Expert Lvl 99

Ingredient Identification: Expert Lvl 22

Poison Resistance: Novice Lvl 4}]

A skill house was the place the more specific skills were placed, for example, Sword Burst would be in the Skill House: Sword Combat, elemental magic like water bolt would be in the Skill House: Elemental magic.

And as such, most of Ark’s skills were in the Alchemy skill house, and despite his glory-seeking attitude, he rarely showed his skills to others, though he felt that their curiosity was justified.

Walking away from the seemingly baffled crowd before his stats closed, he lightly smiled, he gained a whole new idea for a potion when the Scout asked him, a whole new idea that would probably make his sister want to strangle him.

“Excuse me, young man,” An elderly male with a grey but well-trimmed beard and a mechanical/robotic right hand asked, tapping Ark lightly on the shoulder.

“Hm?” Ark turned to face the man who was about equal size to him in a long crimson and dark blue robe, he had gentle purple eyes and a smile that seemed to light up everyone’s day, suddenly realizing that the man before him was elderly, he bowed and gave a greeting.

“Greetings and good day, elder!”

The man laughed, putting his right hand up to his mouth.

“No young man, good day to you!” He laughed, “Anyway, formalities aside, do you know the legendary weapon Aztrelm?” His kind old face seemed to be slightly excited.

Ark straightened up and thought, getting into a thinking pose.

“You mean the sword that was wielded by the very first hero, the sword that grows more powerful the more darkness it slays? Yeah, I’ve heard of it a few times,” He shrugged, “They constructed a monument of the hero holding it, its in the plaza where the joint of all the districts is,”

The man smiled and bowed to the alchemist.

“Thank you... Err...”

“Ark, Ark Andrason,”

The old man smiled and gave the alchemist a flyer for a group of anonymous people dealing with problems.

“Mine’s Rustafelt, Rustafelt Umbridge,”

Immediately after saying his name, the elderly man left, and Ark looked at the flyer in his hands, the one which the elderly man had given him as thanks.

It was an advertisement for a group dealing with problems ranging from trauma to simple addiction, it was a support group.

“A therapy session…? Nah…” He scrunched up the flyer and stuffed it into his pocket, walking away…

…

Armi was taking a serious number of notes from the book when she wasn’t serving customers and giving specific details about potions, she was trying hard to study magic from the book.

It fascinated her to no end, why did they have the ability to manipulate the elements or increase their strength, and why did nobody seem to research into it other than great scholars?

In her brother’s theory, he said that without magic, humanity would be more technologically advanced and while she did think that as well, he had a different idea than just simple stuff like better farming and transport.

Giant pieces of machinery that could sail through the air, unique medications that could cure almost every disease, the world he was describing sounded like a utopia, a golden age…

Though sadly and very regretfully, for them, that age had already come and gone.

The ancient race of Steampunks with the ancient Dwarves had created what could be considered the greatest inventions of creature kind, giant factories and dwellings that forged metal and made mysterious varieties of automaton.

Though she couldn’t understand why there was a record of a robotic clone that could take the appearance of any person, including the genitals, was it for infiltration of the highest level? Last she checked it had no combat capability and yet it was built for flexibility…

Her mind soon returned to a man who approached the counter, hidden under a cloak.

“Hand over everything,” She saw a mist emitting from his hand, the sound of crackling in the air made her concerned, the man himself didn’t appear to be dangerous but it was clear he used ice and wind magic mixed into a hybrid magic, perhaps that was his trait? He was better at mixing magics?

“Sir I-“

“Hand over all the gold or else,” She noticed all the guests in the shop turned to her with various magics, all wore cloaks and had attacks charged in some form or another.

‘Shit! I was too engrossed in the book and didn’t notice them!’ Her mind panicked, though she kept a col head.

“Hand over all the gold bitch!” Another in a cloak spoke up, “And the potions as well! I know you’ve got some sort of barrier up to prevent someone from leaving without paying!”

“Eh, sure…” Armi went to grab the gold and disable the barrier, but a man quickly went behind the counter to watch her, a lightning type spell aimed straight at her head should she try anything shady.

“Don’t try anything,” She nodded as he stood back and watched her, she would have to act fast or else she’d get fried to a crisp.

Though before anything else could happen, Ark walked through the door, not simply opening it, but actually walking through the wood, like a ghost.

“Hey Armi I-“

“Take him as a hostage,” One of the cloaked men ordered, another nodding while wind magic swirled around his arm, pointing it at the alchemist who didn’t flinch at the slightest.

“Oh nice, a robbery, you know that you can just say no right? They can’t take anything without consent,” He commented, walking towards the air magic-user.

“Stay back or else,” The cloaked figure with the wind magic swirling around his arm warned.

Ark looked him in the eyes and took a serious face, his features appearing chiselled for a second.

“I refuse,”

The next thing he saw was the alchemist running towards him, drinking a potion before he slammed his fist into the cloaked figure’s stomach.

Many small shots of small ice pellets were fired at him while Ark bent back on his knees and kneeled, the pellets sailing above him and hitting the front.

“I was originally going to prank you with my new potion idea but that can wait!” He said to his sister, resuming a standing pose, ignoring the many small holes pelleted in the front of the store, the small holes letting in equally small amounts of light.

“Well, that’s gonna cost a few ounces of magic,” The alchemist commented, looking at the various holes, turning his back to the cloaked figures.

The figure behind Armi moved his aim to Ark, about to shoot a lightning bolt until an elbow hit him in his face and he was thrown onto the floor, being frozen to the spot with both his hands covered.

Turning to face his friend and shoot a spell, the nearest cloaked figure to the male alchemist was beaten by a swift blow to the stomach, a smile on his attacker’s face as he fell to the floor.

With that, the group of cloaked figures was reduced to two. Each one picking a target as fire and what appeared to be small pellets of metal floated in their hands.

“Telekinesis and fire magic huh? Kinda Overpowered don’t ya think?” Ark commented, grabbing a hankie from his satchel, it was blue, and he observed it for a second before giggling.

The two figures watched as he opened it up and approached them, slowly wrapping it over his green eye, leaving his red eye visible.

“Now, let's banish you to the abyss,” They heard him chanting a mix of indecipherable words, slowly getting louder as they saw his red eye seemingly twitch with his unknown chanting.

He slowly went from normal chanting to all-out screaming as he held his hand out, one of the cloaked figures screaming at him in slight fear.

“Stop that or I’ll fire!” He yelled, the small pellets of metal hovering with small twitches, the guy could be some sort of warlock in disguise, hell, he walked through a wall!

His companion turned his head to look and felt the world fall on him.

“SHIT! DUCK!” The cloaked figure screamed, his telekinesis using companion confused until a long, heavy block of ice slammed against his head and he was knocked unconscious, or as one would say, knocked out cold…

Armi huffed as she narrowly avoided a stream of fire by rolling back.

“Take that b-mph!” He was silenced and stopped his flow of magic when a blue handkerchief covered his mouth from behind and he was gagged, being dragged by Ark who whispered in his ears.

“Nice back you have there, be a shame if it broke,” No sooner had the cloaked figure realized this before he was lifted and slammed onto Ark’s knee.

And with that, the entire group was stopped, all of them unable to fight back, the two who had been punched in the gut were laying on the floor groaning while the one who had his back broken was screaming in pain.

“Oh, shut up, vertebrae grow back with no problems,” He huffed leaning over to Armi.

“They don’t, he’ll most likely be crippled for life, but don’t tell him that,” She heard him whisper from the side of his mouth.

A few minutes later, each was tied up and the guards were dragging them out of the store, the two alchemists watching and following with some interest until they disappeared over in the direction of the jail.

“Well… That was eventful,” The male alchemist hummed, checking his satchel to make sure nothing was stolen, “And I can’t get into trouble for breaking his back either,”

“You’ve broken more backs then I’ve ever heard anyone do,” Armi muttered, “And that’s not a good thing, remember how you broke my crush’s back?”

Ark rose a brow and smiled.

“He was a rich snobby kid, I don’t like those types,”

“I mean Rikon, not Felzu,” She replied, “He was hardworking and honest,”

“Not my fault he messed with my alchemy, I specifically told him not to,” Her brother reasoned, remembering many years ago how he had come over to their house and he had warned the other teen not to mess with his stuff.

“He was just curious, nothing wrong with that,”

“Yeah, well I warned him not to touch anything, guess what he did? He touched the prototype potion I was making, and thus I had to break his back to teach him a lesson,” He pulled a victorious pose.

“You could’ve made up some description for it, instead you put him in a healing ward for several weeks,” He heard a huff from his sister, “Honestly if I ever did marry a man, you’d annihilate his existence,”

“I would not, I merely have a very high bar for those who wish to continue genetics with my sister,”

“Yet you continue to flirt with Atra?” Armi raised a brow.

“Because you have a good friendship with her, and because she loves me back,”

The sharp inhale from his sister combined with an uncertain tear filled with mixed emotion that came out of his eye begged to differ though.

“Anyway, enough chat, I’m going to go inside and happily make new potions, good day sister,” She watched him re-enter the store, and couldn’t force down a sigh, almost every day with her brother granted some strange oddities through the day. Though the man himself was odd as well.

He was immature but also mature when it counted, he could strategize against an enemy he only met, he had no affinity for elemental magic… An affinity which seemed to all go to her.

Ark was part of a rare handful of the population that couldn’t use elemental magic, he could use magic in potions and such, but he couldn’t throw fire or summon glaciers, instead, that ability was theorized to be all given to her affinity. Even then his magic was quite weak.

She remembered how hard his childhood was, despite her strength with her elemental magic and her trait, she was shy and reclused, but her brother seemed to be the opposite. He was arrogant and brash, while the other kids were learning how to control their affinities and figure out which element they excelled in, he studied chemistry and what he called chemical fusion.

He was smart in science and yet he didn’t reveal it to the world which wouldn’t make sense to other people, in their eyes he was an alchemist who would lie and brag about the smallest things, an immature brat who didn’t even bat an eye to other people.

But in her eyes, he was a wise-cracking man who enjoyed life as it passed and annihilated anyone who would change that, a man who protected those who couldn’t protect themselves and made jokes in the faces of his enemies.

He was almost fearless, he was determined and most of all, he didn’t let anyone tell him otherwise.

When someone pushed him, he would push them back and onto the floor before knocking them out, he was the weakest child at school, yet he was the most determined, and that determination brushed onto her, giving her the courage to make friends and eventually become the woman who she was today.

“Ark…” She said to herself, looking at the shop, “Sometimes I wonder if you’re truly human and not some idiotic guardian angel in disguise...”

The sound of an explosion and a string of curse words dashed that thought as he came out, covered in glittery fluids, yelling obscenities at the direction of the room where he made potions, finally turning to her after finishing his swears.

“Did you burnout my cauldron?” Burnout was a term used by alchemists that meant break or sabotage, a reference to the ancient story involving the god of alchemy and the god of trickery where his cauldron had a large hole burned into its side, destroying any chance of making potions.

“No? I don’t go into that room unless I’m checking for new and possibly illegal potions, besides, I know how deep your passion for alchemy goes, why would I want to destroy that?”

Her brother took a thinking pose, putting his left index finger and his left thumb on both cheeks, the skin between both of them was in his mouth as he thought.

“Maybe it’s those cloaked people? They did seem determined to get our money and such,” Armi suggested.

Ark made an even deeper face of thought; a loud humming came from his mouth until he removed his hand and said what was on his mind.

“Well shit, we’ve got to get a new cauldron and the prison will have to get a shovel, whoever went into that room, if they’re part of that cloaked group, is going to die very soon,”

His sister nodded, that room required magic resistance for reasons they both knew and judging from how that group’s attire and strategy seemed, they didn’t appear to have magic resistance.

“Let’s see, carry the six and add the five before diving the ten….” Ark did some maths and came to the cost of a new cauldron.

“10 gold… A massive hit to our budget considering our tax and daily spending…” Armi cut in, “We’re going to have to save up, aren’t we? If we can save up without making any potions…”

They both thought for a minute on how to make more money… There wasn’t much available around this time since most of the jobs would be on hold for the royal alchemy tourn… Wait…

Ark’s brain turned the gears and so did Armi’s as they both pointed to each other and yelled their suggestions.

“You compete in the tournament and we can buy a better cauldron!” Armi shouted in victory.

“You ask Atra for money!” Ark yelled, silence following as his sister registered his words.

“Excuse me?” She asked in a slightly offended tone, bordering on the edge of murderous, “Did you say ask Atra for money?”

“Yes, plain and simple,” Her brother admitted, an uncaring face plastered onto him, “However, judging from how your tone I now see it was a horrible suggestion and I wish to rephrase it,”

She was about to lecture him but whatever god was watching over Ark must’ve had other ideas because he turned his head and called out.

“Oh, hi Atra!”

Armi immediately turned to her head and while she expected nobody to be there and for her brother to run off, her expectations were wrong, indeed the royal alchemist stood there, approaching them with a concerned face.

“Heh, I knew she couldn’t resist me,” Ark ran in her direction and opened his arms, “Atra my dear, are you finally giving me custo-“

He was punched in the gut and shoved to the side by said alchemist who walked to his sister casually while he rolled back and forth, groaning in pain and clutching his stomach.

“You were attacked by a group of cloaked figures, correct?” Armi nodded, she could tell her friend was on duty and was serious about this, though the following sentence surprised her.

“You’re not the only alchemy shop that was attacked by cloaked figures, though you were one of the luckier ones, not all of them could fend off their attackers,” Atra explained, “Some of them were even burned down in the robberies, and all of the robberies were alchemy shops or similar to alchemy in some way,”

“So, whoever did this specifically targeted alchemists,” Armi finished, “Great, just what we need at this time of year, with the alchemy tournament and everything,”

“I for one say that we beat their asses,” Ark crawled to the two girls, the royal alchemist taking her friend’s arm.

“We should discuss this inside, away from prying ears and eyes,” Armi agreeing, the two females entering the shop, the male alchemist steadily walking into the shop before he was thrown out.

“This doesn’t concern you,” Atra slammed the door shut and left him on the floor.

“I’ll get the kids one day Karen!” He yelled, crawling away with random words of determination.

In the nearby blacksmith, however, a young girl in a brown cloak watched with interest as Ark crawled.

“So, the gold maker has a soft spot for two alchemists huh? I bet I can make good use of that, and those recipes…” She licked her lips and walked in Ark’s direction.

….

“Spite?” Armi rose a brow, “I’ve never heard of that cult before…”

“I don’t expect you to, they’re quite secretive and recluse, with their worship to Divak and everything,” Atra sighed.

The two alchemists had locked the door to the shop and now they sat behind the counter, a bit of ice still on the floor from when the cloaked man was frozen to the floor.

“Divak, the god of darkness and treachery… I don’t understand why you would assume that they have a part in this though...” The regular alchemist looked at the royal alchemist who replied with an answer that made enough sense.

“You know my trait, right?” Atra tapped a mug and turned it into pure gold, “Transmutation and reformation of regular elements into more valuable and stronger ones, a power that many would kill for and use to gain whatever their goals are. Spite has been after it for a while, even going as far as to try and find someone with a trait to swap traits…”

Armi nodded, Transmutation worked as a very, very dangerous power, especially with the additional ability to swiftly disassemble then reform the area around the user, essentially allowing whoever had the trait to create a powerful city out of only dirt if they so desired… Such a power would be horrifying in the hands of darkness.

“I believe they’re trying to dissuade and prevent alchemists from going to the tournament so that they have a better chance of becoming the royal alchemist, and when they do, they’ll get close to me and then attempt to either capture me or steal my trait,” Atra looked at her hands, “So, for me, for my entire country and continent, for all things good, I beg you to get Ark to into the competition. He may be stupid, but I know he’s trustworthy… And I know that if he knew it was rigged, he wouldn’t participate... So, I beg you! Please make him get a potion worthy of becoming a royal alchemist!” Armi watched her friend, one of the highest-ranking people in the kingdom, bow to her. And she smiled gently.

Putting a hand on her head, she felt how willing her friend was to protect everyone in the city and beyond, it reminded her of Ark’s determination… Perhaps having some nephews or nieces wouldn’t be bad at all.

She kneeled to Atra’s bowed face, still resting her hand on the royal alchemist’s head.

“Don’t worry, he’ll win, not because he believes in stopping a cult he doesn’t even know about or because he wants to protect everyone, but because our cauldron had been burned out and he can’t make any sellable potions without it…”

Armi met her friend’s gaze as she looked up and faced her, a smile on both faces.

“Thanks, it means a lot,”

“Don’t worry about it, just go and help solve the vampire case,”

Atra stood up and nodded, asking one final question as she got to the door and turned her head.

“Are you sure you’re not some guardian angel in disguise?”

Armi shrugged with a smile.

“How would I know?”

Her friend nodded, slightly confused before she left the store.

Now Armi stood behind the counter, alone and most likely alone for the next few hours.

“Well then… Back to researching the book,” She sighed and pulled out the thick book, resuming her research.

…

“And boom, an original character created,” Ark finished sketching a man wearing a brown tunic and pants under a satchel with blue and yellow eyes, “A blacksmith who is secretly a god in disguise, fucking genius idea,”

The alchemist was sitting on the docks, drawing and thinking to himself as ships came in, people selling fish and fishing rods as well as various other things from other countries. Exotic goods, unique trinkets, tales from overseas, many things were here.

He got up and looked at the pen and paper he got from a stall as a sample set, it was simple yet effective.

Ark stretched his arms and his legs, pushing until he felt and heard a satisfying crack or pop in the appendages before walking back to the direction of his shop, though he noticed a small copper coin was on the floor and bent over to pick it up.

A small dart with a substance on it flew over his head and he got up and looked around in slight confusion, shrugging when he found nothing.

Yet, twenty meters away from him, the young girl watched with interest, her blow dart had failed but she would try again, perhaps her target possessed a trait of luck or some high sense, this would be fun indeed. She just needed to get him in a good spot.

She found her spot around 13 seconds later and sure enough, he was open, and she shot a dart at his torso, putting it in and then blowing with perfect accuracy and speed.

Suddenly, defying all logic, he sneezed and stepped back, the dart flying through the gap between his inner elbow and chest as he held his hand to his mouth, falling to the sidewalk.

“Oh? Seems he’s very lucky, that trait of his must be extremely useful if he avoided my darts twice and has the attention of the royal alchemist,” She licked her lips again, drawing a dagger from her side.

She was wearing shorts and a tunic, her cloak’s hood covering her head while her boots had small spikes on their soles.

Ark was casually walking when, yet another dart was fired at him, yet a bird, a simple bird suddenly flew in the way and took the dart straight to the neck before it hit a window and passed out due to the fluid on the dart.

“A-are you serious? What kind of trait does he have?!” She yelled, firing three darts in rapid succession.

Each failed to hit the alchemist in bizarre ways.

Dart 1 did a turn and simply fell short, dart 2 whizzed past his neck, hit the stone cobble street, ricocheted onto a sign and hit a pickpocket who was sneakily robbing an elderly man.

Dart 3 hit Ark…. In his satchel’s sling.

The small wooden toothpick looking projectile was lodged in the leather sling that held the bag and its contents, it shielded his back where the dart would’ve hit, but now it was lodged, and her target was walking without a care in the world.

“S-son of Tindus!” She almost screeched, “I’ll have to confront him then! But one final check before I do!”

She fired her final dart and pitifully it failed when the wind blew it to the left and it bounced off a stone wall, falling to the floor like a sad toothpick.

The girl, however, was gone immediately, stalking Ark who spun around and seemed to sing to himself about a sound of music.

He went into an alleyway and frowned.

“Wait, this isn’t the shortcut,” he realized, turning around to see a girl in a hood standing there, holding two daggers that seemed to drip with an unknown substance, though his face was neutral compared to hers.

“Really? Getting mugged in an alleyway? In a fantasy world?” She heard him inhale through his teeth, “Man God is getting cliché,”

“You only wish the gods were that lucky with you,” The woman hissed as she dashed towards him, “Now become my prey!”

A bright pink potion was sent in her direction and she sliced it up, not expecting it to explode in a cloud of glittery dust.

“Glitter Bomb, like a smoke bomb but glittery, it also amplifies light and is highly combustible, I wouldn’t recommend using fire around it,” Ark explained, getting out of the alleyway and behind her, “Inspiration for it was when my mixtures would fail and explode in a sparkly and sticky fluid, though I don’t have much stickiness in this version, pure chance I was carrying one as well…”

He observed his attacker, she had a hood on, a pair of very tight shorts and a tunic that was vastly covered by her cloak’s hood.

“Huh, either Thief or Scout class, wearing a revealing set of clothes and looks like a teenager…” The alchemist sighed in anger, “God, we’ve had this talk before,”

He watched as she rushed out of the glitter, sparking and bright while she ran towards him, both blades ready at a moment’s notice.

Though Ark had a different plan to deter her.

He took a step forwards, put power into his leg as he crouched with arms outstretched…. And blasted off in the opposite direction.

“Run from your problems!” He screamed, sprinting away from his attacker who pulled out throwing knives and scaled the side of the alleyway.

She jumped and dashed from rooftop to rooftop, following her target with ease as he ran, though she had no idea where he was running to.

From what she knew, he was running away from the alchemy shop he was thrown out of, and the castle was east, he was running south-west, just what was his plan?

She put extra power into her legs and overtook him, taking a turn to land twenty meters in front of him, armed with blades.

Ark, however, stopped and looked at her, his brain turning gears as his next plan came into effect.

“Surrender prey, or else you’ll only make your suffering greater,” The girl hissed.

She looked up at him and noticed his gaze was shadowing his eyes, the wind slowly picking up and blowing dust as well as leaves and his shirt, making him look like some sort of protagonist or a hero of legend, why was the wind even blowing to begin with?

He stood unmoving until he looked up and revealed his two differently coloured eyes, she could see the reflection in them, as if he was accepting something.

“Well then, MAIN CHARACTER ABILITIES ACTIVATE OR SOMETHING!!” He screamed, taking a step forwards and throwing his arm out at her.

Nothing happened and the wind instantly dropped, making him look like an idiot.

“Really? You got the wind and everything, you made the perfect situation for me to look epic, but you can’t make me shoot some sort of laser from my hands?”

She was wondering who exactly he was talking to, sure, the gods did listen but that was only at their shrines. Maybe he was crazy.

“Fine! I’ll take this into my own hands then!”

He pulled two fingers up to his mouth and she instantly backed away, though it was in vain.

A high-pitched sound came from his mouth and the two fingers of his left hand, it hurt a human’s ears but for the girl, she screamed in agony and fell to the floor, rolling in pain as she cried out.

“STOP!” She screamed, rolling and writhing on the floor, trying to shake the sound out of her head.

Suddenly the sound stopped, and she was on her knees, her hood was down from rolling on the floor, revealing two cat ears being held by her, the alchemist watched this scene with amusement.

“A beast type demi-human has much greater physical ability than a regular human, but sometimes a higher sense of sound can be used against you, wouldn’t you agree?” He asked, undeterred by the fact she was trying to either kill or harm him.

The demi-human looked at him with hate in her eyes.

“What gave it away? My superior ability? The crushing aura?” She mocked, weakly grabbing a blade from her boot, hidden by her cloak.

“You called me prey, combined with the hood you wore, it isn’t that hard to figure out that you were a demi-human of the beast type, also I cheated and used my trait to confirm it,” He explained, “So yeah, I‘ve beaten you,”

“You haven’t beaten shit!” She yelled, swiping her arm up at him, his left arm raised to block but a surprise knife with her left lightly sliced him on the left, and she smirked.

[Status: Anesthetic]

“That has some drowsy effects, now go to sleep,” She hissed, looking at the slightly surprised and angered face of Ark as he fell to the floor, seemingly paralysed.

She loomed over him and went to grab his satchel until she felt something pierce her leg, looking down, she saw one of the darts she used to try and hit him with.

“W-where...?” She looked to the back sling of his satchel and saw the dart in it was gone, the hidden yet drowsy face of Ark smirking.

“A… Cost for... A… Zzzzz” He passed out and fell asleep while the demi-human fell back and felt herself getting sleepy.

[Status: Anesthetic]

“S-shit!” She cursed as she lost her bearings and fell back, swiftly falling asleep as well.

The two laid there, unmoving for several minutes until Ark snorted awake and stretched himself, commenting while he got himself up.

“Good thing I felt that prick while running,” He thanked, looking at the light cut on his left arm, “Pure chance I got only a light dose from the knife as well. Though I’ll need to wash the wound, this world doesn’t have medications,”

He grabbed the demi-human’s body and carried her bridal style back to the shop, humming to himself while others gave him weird looks, some even asked if he had kidnapped her. And you couldn’t blame them either, Ark was holding what appeared to be a cat type demi-human teenager, questions were bound to be asked.

Though he explained to them that they were adventurers and she had been hit with an attack that sent her into a drowsy state, so he was going back to see if there was a potion that helped with it.

Spending 15 minutes walking back to the shop, he thought about what to do until he reached the shop’s front, then he walked in, dumped the body on the counter and gave his sister a look while other guests watched in mild shock.

Armi, on the other hand, was horrified as her brother dumped the body of what she presumed was a dead demi-human on their counter, not only was the bacteria dangerous but he probably did something illegal to get this body.

“Hey sis, get me some of that potion which wakes you up after a night of hard partying and lots of fu-“

“Okay, got it,” She reached under the counter and gave the potion to him, albeit slowly.

She would usually question why he had a dead body, but in his defence, he had done this before, bringing in unconscious bodies and waking them up before selling something to them, she was just hoping he was doing the same to whoever this was.

Instead, he stripped the body of her of her weapons, tied her to a chair and then dragged her to the backrooms of where they stored the potions.

She was later given the potion and awoke with a sputter, a little confusion and then a scream as she saw him sitting in front of her drinking tea out of a mug, its aroma hitting her sensitive nostrils, he had spent a few minutes gathering some items in case she didn’t answer his questions.

“Where I come from, cat girls are very wanted,” He said, staring into her eyes, “So tell me, why is a thirteen to fourteen something beast type demi-human trying to kidnap me?”

“I’ll never answer to your kind,” She hissed, “You are inferior to our species in every way!”

“Fine, don’t answer me, I’ll just sit here, eating this,” She saw him bring out a metal fork, “Last chance kid,”

She gnashed her teeth.

“I’ll die before I say anything to you!”

“Suit yourself,” He shrugged, putting the fork in his mouth and biting down on it, chewing on it.

Then she began to cringe and feel uncomfortable as she watched the alchemist chew the utensil.

As he chewed the fork, he brought out a porcelain plate and another metal fork, slowly grinding them against each other with screeching sounds as he chewed.

She cringed and writhed even more, trying to wiggle her way out until she found the ropes were fastened very tight, too tight to even move her arms.

She was pushed to her limits when he stopped everything and pulled out a fish, a gleaming grilled fish that had been cooked to perfection, it was very delectable and yet she couldn’t reach it, he had it on a plate right in front of her.

“You… You are not human!” She screamed at him in fury, “You are a demon, a coward! A wench!”

Ark did respond, dropping the fish and getting close to her, a little too close for comfort.

She could feel his breath on her, his aura was one of calmness… Wait, what was he doing with his left hand?

“Answer me or else,” His gaze was set in pure malice, “Things will get very unfortunate,”

“Even if you rape me, even if you drug me, I’ll never tell!” She screamed at him in determination, unwilling to backdown.

“I see,” He raised his left hand, “Then you won’t mind me doing this,”

Her pupils dilated as he put his hand on her head, in-between her ears and then scratched and rubbed, the result was as he expected.

“N-nya~” She purred.

Ark smirked, despite being a beast type with superior strength and speed, she was just like a cat, loving pats and attention… This would be fun indeed…

Armi, on the other hand, was inwardly screaming as she heard what sounded like moans in the storage, loud, pleasurable moans as a customer seemed to be offed by it.

“A-am I coming in at a bad time?” He asked, two swords on his back signalling he was a Duellist.

“N-no… Not at all…” The female alchemist replied, the moan suddenly becoming so loud everyone in the store heard it.

“So… This store of alchemy… It sells unique potions brewed by your brother… Right?” The Duellist asked, Armi nodding.

He seemed to cringe as he said the next sentence.

“So, when he makes potions that are meant to… Service… Does he try them out on himself…?”

She seemed to register the Duellist’s words and a mental image of her brother trying a potion like that entered her mind, and her lunch rose from her stomach.

She ran into the bathroom which was located at the very back of the store and flipped the door open, hurling up her meal, all the while the Duellist was approached by a Ranger who was a regular at the store.

“First time here huh?” The Ranger’s question was confirmed when the sword user nodded, the bow user understanding the sword user’s confusion.

“Well this store is unique because of its potions and its staff who run it, often Ark, who brews the potions, will come out with a new type of potion and such,” The Ranger explained, “So don’t worry, what’s happening in the back is probably a potion of sorts. I often come here to see what new things they have in stock,”

The door leading to the back, behind the counter, was opened and Armi came back in, looking queasy and meek.

“S-so anything I can-“

Another loud moan of pleasure echoed through the store and her patience broke, quickly running to the storage room with anger, she blasted it open with a punch saw Ark… kneeled down and patting the head of the demi-human he had brought in.

“Nya~!” She moaned as he scratched her ears.

Her brother looked up to see his sister standing there with a look of what he presumed was a mix of cluelessness and degradation on her face.

“Oh hey Armi, I managed to discover that this girl who I thought was a teen is actually from the Thieves Guild, supposedly they employed her on a mission to catch me and brew them a potion which allows one to be invisible and go through walls,” He explained, getting up and moving away from the demi-human he was spatting, “I also learned her name is Ismai,”

Ismai suddenly perked up and regained her senses when the hand on her head was taken away.

“W-what? Did I succumb to a human…?” She said to herself as if questioning her own identity, “And I gave him information…. I’m a failure…”

What appeared to be a tough image of a demi-human who lived by stealing instantly broke and shattered, the girl balling up and facing the corner with a dull atmosphere around her, her ears hanging low… Her happy atmosphere from before instantly gone.

Armi could see her hair and tail were black, though her ears were a dark shade of grey which seemed odd…

“Uh… I-ismai is it?” She approached the thief who was huddled in the corner, resulting in said thief shuffling into the corner more.

“L-look, I can tell you can’t go back without some sort of prize or accomplishment so… How about this?” She asked in a hushed tone, kneeling to the thief’s current size.

The thief didn’t budge, didn’t even flinch, soon, the female alchemist was offering her recipes in exchange for leaving, the thief still didn’t move.

Even her brother tried to scratch her head again, but nothing happened, the demi-human just balled up even more.

“Screw this, I’m getting the broom,” Ark groaned, the broom being right next to him as they were still in the potion storage room.

He stood up, took the broom in his left hand, approached Ismai and kept jabbing her with the broom’s bristles.

“Get out of our house and shop, get out of our house and shop, get out of our house and shop,” He repeated, not doing anything as he jabbed her.

The thief didn’t move, and he soon started to lose patience.

“Armi, watch her for me,” Ark ordered, putting the broom away, “I’m grabbing a certain something from the market,”

…

It was impossible, a case like this was nigh impossible to solve, and Atra had good reason to say this.

There were no witnesses other than the boy’s mother who had kept a watch over him at all times, on top of that he was in the sun the whole time which didn’t coincide with how sun immune vampires worked.

Sun immune vampires took time to infect another, usually taking two days before their target became vampiric, while on the other hand, the vampires that infected almost instantly were susceptible to sunlight.

She had a theory the boy was infected in his sleep, but that was quickly shot down when the mother explained or rather, insisted she had a very careful watch over him and that he had never been infected in his sleep.

She sat at her desk and groaned, a case she was put on usually took a few days or at most, a week for her to solve, but now she had met her match, and she needed help…

“Augh! No! I’m not messaging HIM for help!” She groaned.

HIM wasn’t Ark, it was her brother, a sibling of hers who was psychopathic and yet had a higher IQ than hers, his trait was completely different from hers, just like his messed up sense of justice that landed him many years in prison, a thing which caused over three hundred deaths. Both innocent and guilty lives were among those who had died.

As said before, a trait was a talent, a skill, and skill could be a simple passive effect... Or an all-out attack.

Her brother’s trait was an attack-type, a type that truly stood at the brink of godly, like hers.

[{Trait: Situational Nightmare}]

It was a trait that was often used to deal quick deaths depending on the situation, the death happening as quickly as he activated it.

But as psychopathic as he was, he did have some redeeming qualities. He was protective of her, he had some sense of justice, and moreover, he could solve many problems within an instant... Most of the time...

Yet if he came to Unitos, there was no telling on what would happen, he could essentially wipe out an entire city after all, hell, she wondered what it’d be like if he fought the heroes.

The current heroes in Unitos were the Berserker and the Paladin, the Berserker looking as Ark put it, ‘edgy as all fuck’ while the Paladin looked like a mighty warrior.

Other heroes were in different continents, training up to beat the demonic threat which was still destroying homes and families, would Spite have an alliance with the demon lord?

She sipped her tea and kept thinking; how would she even solve this case without help? Ark was an instant and massive no, her brother would most likely take time to get to her even if she employed his help, Armi was as useless as her in this case and to top it all off, she was now out of tea.

“Dammit,” She got up and went back to get more of it from the kitchen.

Entering the main area of the castle, the main court area, she accidentally bumped into the princess of Unitos. Resia, a young blonde girl who was, if Atra’s memory was correct, around 14 years of age and turning 15 in a few months. She was wearing a blue dress.

Her brother Wilford on the other hand, a kid, if she could even call him that, who was 13 seemed to be with her, and Wilford was one of the reasons why nobody wanted to assassinate the king or take advantage of the younger members of the royal family.

“S-sorry Resia,” Atra apologized, bowing to the girl.

“It’s okay,” Resia bowed back, “I was just going to ask if you could accompany me and my brother to the market district,”

“Sorry your highness but I can’t, the public is on edge about the vampire case and about Spite so I need to stay on that, besides, I’m sure you can find a maid or butler to help you two,” The royal alchemist apologized.

She looked up at Wilford, the prince who stood at a hulking 7.5 feet, the prince who had puberty hit him like a catapult, the prince who went from a frail kid who needed bodyguards everywhere to an absolute monster who was the bodyguard for his bodyguards.

He could lift 54 tons without trying, his muscles were dense and thick, his entire being was raw power, ever since his 13th birthday he had become possibly the strongest human in Unitos to exist, aside from the heroes.

She remembered how one day; someone had attempted to see how strong he was by firing a tier 3 fireball at the prince… The prince came out unscathed, he even said it tickled.

Wilford’s trait had also apparently changed, though this was common-ish with people.

Traits weren’t always set in stone, from current research, they had a 28% chance to change into something similar or stronger when the body went through puberty.

The prince’s trait went from being able to check whether there was a certain type of magic in the area to being able to allow only certain magic in the area, went from nerdy to powerful, just like him.

[{Trait: Magic Shutdown}]

Allows only certain magics in the area.

“Not really… The butlers and maids don’t know how to respond to us as you do…” Resia sighed, “And it doesn’t feel whole either,”

“Yeah… It’s boring when nobody wants to play with or accompany us,” Her brother agreed, his large form was certainly imposing.

“Well, I’m sorry your highness but I really can’t, with your father’s age affecting him and the recent events, I’m just too busy for anything…” Atra apologized, putting her hand on the princess’s shoulder.

“Do you know anyone who could?” She asked, looking in the royal alchemist’s eyes.

Atra seemed to think, once again Ark was a no and Armi wouldn’t be good either should he be with her at the time, their mother was busy taking care of royal business and the king was in no condition to simply walk around with them like he used to.

“Look… I don’t know anyone who could help walk around with you that won’t be a bad influence on you,” She pinched the bridge of her nose.

“A bad influence? I thought you only knew good people, like Ark,” The princess replied, “Or are you perhaps keeping him away from us because you think I’ll court him?”

Atra felt herself age another twenty years after hearing that, she felt as if she grew white hairs instead of her black hair, why did the princess have to be at this age? Why now?

“No... Ark is just immature and I’m worried, as a caretaker and as a mentor, that you’ll pick up on his behaviour…” She answered, “You know about all of his possible threats to the kingdom in the past…”

“Yes... Mother cleared them in secret through, she believes he’s a summoned hero in disguise,”

The royal alchemist couldn’t help but stifle a laugh, a sight of Ark in some sort of adventuring gear destroying bosses with a single hit was amusing, he was a guy who made jokes and weird potions, not some hero sent from the gods to save them from a catastrophe.

Resia seemed confused, her brother Wilford held a similar opinion to his sister.

“Look, I know you may think otherwise but mother is never wrong! Her trait predicts the future remember,” The princess attempted to convince the alchemist.

It was true, the queen could peer months into the future, the things she saw slowly becoming more and more distorted the farther she looked, but it was an invaluable asset to the kingdom, and due to this, many had tried to do what Spite was currently doing, finding and perfecting methods to steal or duplicate traits.

The king could simply tell if someone was lying or not, this and he could see the truth if they lied to him, a reason why he became the king and rose in political power, also a reason why many of the workers were honest and non-traitorous.

The queen and the king were quite the couple as well, they met way back to when the queen was simply a teenager and the king was a detective, he was 50 while she was 15, she met him one day after he finished a case, the two simply sitting on a beach, acknowledging one another until the queen spoke up.

The king replied and soon the two found themselves encountering each other more, friendship was made and when the queen was 20, it bloomed into love when he saved her from attempted murder in her sleep, then 2 years later, she saved him from an accident that would’ve killed him.

They became lovers after that and with their traits and various other connections and recommendations, they became the new king and queen of Unitos.

It sounded cheesy but it was the truth, but now the king was 75 and his health seemed to deteriorate with each passing day, barely able to even go outside, instead laying in bed, though he did still help out with doing work, taxes, management, he still chipped in when he had the energy to.

His advisors were frantic though, the king had given the country so much, power, money, food, they tried desperately to keep him in good health, but it was all useless, magic only got a person so far before it became ineffective.

The queen was in her 40’s and while she was still in good health, the inevitability of her husband dying had put her in some melancholic mood.

Speaking of which, the queen walked in right as Atra was about to respond to the princess.

“Atra, I must speak with you in private please,” She asked, her voice powerful but gentle.

The royal alchemist nodded and gave the princess one final order.

“Don’t talk to Ark, okay?” Then she went with the queen.

Resia appeared like an angel until the potion-brewer left, then she took a mischievous face.

“Not if I have nothing to do,”

Wilford seemed to have a different approach though, he was more rule-abiding than his sibling.

“I think we should listen to Atra, we’ve only heard about Ark, and besides, what if you do court him? You are near to age,”

His sister turned to him and smiled a smug smile.

“Well, that’s just too bad for her then! C’mon! I wanna meet this man!”

“I thought we were going to the market?” Wilford was concerned but the princess was known to suddenly change her mind.

“That too!” Suddenly Resia wasn’t so bored, she was excited, she had never thought to speak with Ark before, even less meet him. But she was now nearing the age to marry, thus she could go into places and see if she fancied anyone.

She didn’t know what to think of the alchemist in question yet, but she hoped he was dreamy and a gentleman, who could blame her? She was 14 and love was on her mind, like most nobility her age, inside Unitos and out.

“Let's go, bro!” She yelled, running towards the castle exit, her brother following.

…

“Get out of our house and shop, get out of our house and shop, get out of our house and shop,”

Ark repeated the sentence over and over, he had left and come back with what looked like an early version of a spray bottle, spraying Ismai with water.

It was heavier than a spray bottle but to Ark, same was same.

“She’s not going to move like that, so come and help me run the shop,” Armi said, opening the door to the storage. It had been around 15 minutes and she assumed leaving the demi-human would be fine.

“Fine, just lemme reach down and, hoi!”

He lifted the thief, she was still balled up, though he walked over to his sister.

“Hand me a rectangular box,”

“Why...” She was concerned.

“Just do it, I have a plan,” Ark responded, still holding the thief.

When his sister soon came back with what he asked, he just chucked Ismai in and shut the box, small holes were in the top to help her breathe.

“Now we simply set this on a corner and hopefully someone will peek inside and adopt her,” He smirked victoriously, “Either that or I’ll be put on trial for abandoning a child!”

“She’s not a child, and judging from your luck, yes, yes you will get in trouble,” Armi sighed, “Can’t you ju-“ a bell ringing on their counter interrupted her and she huffed, walking up to see who it was.

Her brother was about to pick up the box and well, she came back with a look of pure…. Fear…?

“Why so shoc-“

“Ark, the royal princess Resia and the royal prince Wilford are at our counter asking for you…. You better not have done something…” Her tone was cold and mortifying, though her brother shook his head.

“T-think a-about it! If I truly did create trouble t-then they’d have s-sent guards!”

The female alchemist seemed to think for a second and did another sigh, her brother made her do a lot of these.

“Fine, j-just don’t piss either of them off with your antics and make sure you do exactly as they say… Okay?”

He felt her hand grab his wrist and squeeze to the point of nearly breaking it.

“Y-yes sister!” Ark was then pushed out to the counter area and indeed the two royals stood there, one a hulking monster of power while the other was a young teenage girl looking at him with curiosity.

“Are you Ark Andrason?” Her voice was curious as well, it seemed innocent and unknowing.

The alchemist started to have an internal dispute on what to say until he looked at Wilford.

“What an absolute unit,” He said before turning to the princess once again, “And you look like a loli,”

“A… what...?” Resia was confused, “What’s a loli?”

“A unit? Are you referring to me as a singular unit?” Wilford was confused as well.

“N… Never mind… It's just my way of saying how Wilford is strong and how you look young,” Ark dismissed, “But still, what can I do for you two today?”

The princess seemed to make a mixture of a pouty and concerned face.

“Atra told us you were a bad influence, though don’t seem to be that bad of an influence,” She answered, flicking her hair. “Or are you just putting up a façade because we’re royals?”

“The latter,” The alchemist responded, “You guys are royals, so everyone’s obliged to be nice to you guys, it also has something to do with respect and opinions,”

Resia then saw Ark’s true colours shine through, he sat back on the chair they had behind the counter and leaned back on it.

“Are you allowed to do that in public?” She asked, seeing him lean.

The potion-maker nodded.

“Its freedom of our property, as long as we keep to ourselves and as long as it doesn’t endanger others, we’re allowed to do what we want with our sections of land. Of course, more lethal plans for plots of land require permits and such,”

At this he pulled out a licence from his satchel, it was a simple card used all through Unitos, but it held his name, class and occupation on it. A class card.

“I’m an alchemist, and my occupation is selling potions or as its described on here: A Potion Vendor,” Wilford perked a brow upon explanation.

“We don’t have these, is it because we don’t have a job?” He asked, Ark shrugging his shoulders.

“I dunno, your nobility works differently from how we commoners work, most likely if you don’t pursue the crown, you’ll get a card for a different job,” He guessed, taking a drink from a flask which was also in his satchel.

Resia then spoke up.

“Well, Ark Andrason, I, princess Resia of Unitos ask of you to accompany me and my brother Wilford to the markets!”

“Yeah Nah,” Ark replied, making the figure of the princess freeze and seemingly shatter, “I’ve got a store to run and a thief in the back to get rid of,”

“But-“

“No buts missy, I have a job and I need to commit to it,”

“But you don’t even have a cauldron!” Resia attempted to persuade, “Surely you have nothing to do without a cauldron,”

“Ignoring the fact you know about that, it’s still a no,”

“Please!” The princess begged.

Ark rose a brow, from behind the counter.

“Why would you even need me? I’m just an alchemist,”

“Because you’re the most interesting person I currently have right now to save me from boredom!”

“Still a no,”

This time the princess got up and sat on the counter.

“Fine! Maybe this will change your mind!”

She took off the straps of the dress that went over her shoulders and revealed the untouched skin.

“Maybe this changes a few things~?” Her seductive voice was ignored, and she shoved off the counter by the alchemist.

“Get off the counter it’s not a stool,” He said in a monotone voice, “Also I’m not some hormonal adult so don’t even try to seduce me,”

The princess pouted, putting her shoulder straps back on.

“But why? I’m an attractive young girl! Why wouldn’t you like me?!” The conversation was taking a new turn.

Ark sighed and held out three fingers.

“You’re the princess, I’m a lowly alchemist who can’t marry you, that’s one reason why I shouldn’t like you,” He dropped one finger.

“I’m not attracted to teenage girls,” He dropped another finger.

“And finally, I’m already attracted to Atra,” Ark dropped his final finger.

“And what does Atra have that I don’t?!” Resia was now trying to get reasons why the royal alchemist was apparently more appealing than her.

“Let’s see, she’s mature, her personality is great, she’s extremely loyal and she’s honest, she’s generous and kind as well,” As Ark listed off reasons, the princess seemed to be on her hands and knees, utterly defeated.

“So…” She said from her defeated figure, a small bit of hope within her soul, “If I had all those things then you’d be attracted to me…?”

“No,”

Her arms gave out and she plonked onto the floor, the small ray of hope in her gone from existence.

“But my sister would be more than willing to go with you,” The alchemist added.

“What?” Resia’s head perked up, curiosity in her eyes again.

“WHAT?!” Armi screamed from the storage room, grabbing Ark’s collar from behind, “WHY ME?!”

“You’re essentially Atra if she was more motherly and think about it, if the princess learns from you then she’ll grow up to be a fine woman,” Her brother reasoned, “Or you could just stay here with me and deal with the problem in the back,”

The female alchemist was conflicted as her mind tugged back and forth until she made her decision.

“Okay, I’ll go with the royal siblings but on one condition,”

“Name it!” Resia was standing victoriously.

“Get the demi-human in the back out of there,” Armi pointed to the back on the store.

“Done!” The fingers of the princess snapped and what appeared to be a ghostly figure came from her, it looked misty and spectral, but it did indeed do its job, bringing the balled figure of the demi-human back from the storage room.

[{Trait: Wisper}]

This trait allowed Resia to summon ghosts and elemental spirits to do her bidding without question, the stronger the spirit she summoned, the longer the time it took to summon another one.

“Now do your end of the bargain!” The demands of the princess were answered when Ark grabbed his sister, lifted her, went around the counter, put her down, and went back to his previous spot.

His sister turned to him, a look of worry on her face.

“Okay, but Ark, promise me you won’t do anything too irrational,”

“Got it,”

Armi was then pulled by the princess as her and the two royals left the building, making Ark the store’s current and only worker, the sudden quietness was awkward despite nobody else but him being in the building.

“This feels familiar for some reason…” He hummed, waiting for guests to come back in.

It was just then he remembered that the girl who had tried to capture him was still balled up on the floor, so the alchemist looked under the counter for spare writing pads that they used for pricing, he did, of course, find one but he took the girl, made space on a shelf next to some agility-endurance potions and put a notice under her.

[{Beast type Demi-Human: Cat, price: free}

{Balled up one day and hasn’t unballed since then, might be dead}

“Ah yes Ark, you’ve done it once more… Wait I could’ve just lifted her out of here anyway…”

As the alchemist pondered why they needed the princess’s help to move a light demi-human, he heard the sound of the door opening and turned to greet the customer. Immediately the air went cold when he made eye contact with them

There, in the doorway, stood the Berserker hero, his giant blade somehow fitting through the small entrance of the alchemy shop.

And he looked pissed…... And edgy…