《The Chronicle of a Witch》Chapter 39 The Alchemist Guild and a Night in the Dungeon
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When I returned to the dorm, I was stopped by the people from the Alchemist Guild. Well, just looking at the emblem on their robe, even I could guess it easily.
Well, I already expected it to happen sooner or later, so I prepared my answer as soon as they asked me. I said that it was Fey who created the potions and I was just, well, a porter. Even when I replied like that, the people from the Alchemist Guild still dragged me to their guild.
I wondered whether I should escape or not, but I was kind of curious about the Alchemist Guild so I followed them. I didn’t get to enter the guild when I came here after all.
So, the Alchemist Guild. Unlike the Adventure Guild that looked like a huge tavern with counters on one side of the wall, a huge quest board on the other side of the wall, Erna’s shop and a stair, the Alchemist Guild was more, well, it was neater.
There were counters just like in Adventure Guild, there were chairs in the middle of the room, and the people were sitting on those chairs while waiting for their turn to be called to the counter. How should I put it, well, it was similar to a bank, wasn’t it?
As for me, I was pulled to a room behind the counters and asked to sit in that room while they called their manager. Seriously, as I was only a porter, their treatment was kind of weird. It made me wonder what they wanted me to do.
While thinking about several different scenarios, two people entering the room and sat in front of me. One of them seemed to be in a bad mood and she tapped the table impatiently. It seemed coming to see me was a chore for her, huh?
As for the other person, it was a young man that always smiled ever since he entered the room. Somehow, I didn’t like people who kept their smile like him. It gave me a bad feeling after all. It felt like he had some machinations behind that smile of him… well, it was just me being prejudice though.
“I’m sorry for our treatment, miss…” The young man stretched out his hand.
“Faye.” I replied while looking at his every action curiously. I didn't shake his hand, by the way. I watched him suspiciously. He didn't stop smiling even when I refused to shake his hand. He silently pulled his hand back and leaned back in a relaxed manner.
“Miss Faye. Right. Let’s not waste our precious time and go to the main point. We want to conduct business with you.” He smiled while saying that.
“Conduct business?” I tilted my head in confusion. I was not someone who did a lot of business, however, I had a feeling it was not a good manner to make a business proposal to a porter.
“Yes, conduct business. Rather than selling the potions at the Adventure Guild, you can sell your potions to us. We will buy the potions twice the price at the Adventure Guild.” He said. As expected, he was asking for something that was inappropriate. At least in my mind, it was inappropriate.
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That offer was… well, not as interesting as I thought. Even if he gave me twice the money I got from the Adventure Guild, would that help the Adventurers going to my Dungeon more? I didn’t think that would help them. Rather, they would come less and less because of that.
“…even though your offer is interesting, but I think you talk to the wrong person? I’m just a porter. If you want to conduct business, shouldn’t you talk with the creator of the potions, Fey?” I tried to refuse their offer softly. Yes, it was time for me to use Fey’s reputation.
“Unfortunately, we can’t contact her at all.” The young man shook his head weakly. By the way, he didn’t introduce himself, did he? Did he forget about it? Or did he intentionally not say it? Also, he said that they couldn't contact her at all? I didn't remember refusing any contacts though. Did they send me letters? Or did they come to the academy? Anyway, I didn't receive any messages at all.
“Er, I can give your message to her though?” I tried to smooth their, er, I meant, our relationship a bit. Naturally, I would only say that, but I wouldn’t want to accept this deal at all.
“Isn’t it better for you to sell the potions to us? You get the money as much as what Fey gets.” The woman said impatiently. So, she meant that I sold the potions at them directly without confirming with Fey and the Adventure Guild, huh?
“I’m sorry, but you know Fey’s reputation, right? If she knows about it, well, I don’t want to imagine what she’s going to do with me. Besides, she could just change the porter easily once that happens, right? I didn’t think that this kind of deal benefits me at all, so I have to politely refuse this deal.” I said with a smile.
“We can’t have a deal, can we?” The smiling man said. Before I could reply, the woman stood up and walked out of the room. It seemed she was really in a hurry, huh?
As for the man, he stood up calmly, tidying his clothes, and walked to the door. “I will give you all the time in the world to think about it.” He said as he closed the door.
Click.
It seemed the door was locked. Wait, I was locked in this small room? What did the Alchemist Guild think, locking an innocent porter like me? Was this how they monopolized the market for the potions? Well, previously, there was no enmity between us, but it seemed, I had to destroy this Alchemist Guild, huh? And by destroying, I didn’t mean physically, but I wanted to damage its business so bad that it would be destroyed financially.
Mm, let’s do that.
As for this room, I asked Slimerin to open a temporary teleportation gate. When no one was watching, I went into the Dungeon from that temporary teleportation gate. Oh, by the way, I didn’t forget to leave a message from Fey. It said, ‘I don’t want to conduct business with you and if you dare touch my porters again, I will destroy you with all my might’.
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Well, even if they didn’t try to touch me, I still tried to destroy them by selling the potions at a low price in Adventure Guild. After all, I still wanted the Adventurers to come to my Dungeon continuously.
Anyway, in my Dungeon.
It was early evening and the children had finished their tasks for today, so they had leisure time. I watched them talking in the dining room. By the way, there was a kitchen there, but there were no cooks, so I asked the children to cook by themselves. The Dungeon would prepare the ingredients for cooking with DP, so they could cook whatever they wanted. Or whatever they could. There was no meat though, as I could only produce Slimes. Well, surprisingly, even though Cat-kins, Dog-kins, and the other carnivore Beast-kins liked meat, they could live by eating vegetables as well. Though they didn't really like it. I should buy meat for them sometimes.
By the way, there were thirty children at the moment, while the dining room was prepared for a hundred. So, there was a lot of room there. They were talking about their lives, it seemed.
“What do you think Master wants to do to us?” A boy, around eight years old asked. I still didn’t remember his name though, so let’s call him as Boy A.
“I don’t know, but do you think Master only wants us to make potions every day?” Ria, the brave Dog-kin girl replied unsurely.
“But she also trains us. Will we fight as Gladiators? I heard that people love watching Beast-kins killing each other.” Boy B said. He had droopy ears and looked timid.
“…” The atmosphere turned solemn.
After an awkward silence, one girl that chose to protect the other spoke. “But, but, I don’t think she will do that.”
She was a Cat-kin girl and she was also the youngest amongst them all. She was seven years old, and because she was only enslaved less than a month ago, she was still naïve, unlike the older children.
“Why do you think like that, Ellie?” Ria asked curiously. She knew that Ellie was still naïve, but perhaps, because of her naivety, she could see things better than the others that saw things through their biased eyes.
“I don’t know, but she seems kind! The way she looks at us is like how my mother looked at me! Also, she prepares everything for us and... look! This room is so big, don’t you think that there will be more of our friends coming here in the future?” Ellie said excitedly.
Noticing about it, the other children became excited as well. They already forgot about the previous topic and instead, they were talking about what to do when their new friends came.
By the way, the children were still coughing and sneezing sometimes, and they were also weak. That was why Slimerin and I planned the children who wanted to get stronger to train minimally while for now, they learned how to read and write. Similarly, the children that making potions learned how to read and to write as well. Their body was still too weak, but I knew with time, they would get healthy soon. Besides, I gave them tonics to make them healthier sooner, so it should be alright.
By the way, I thought that Beast-kins were better than humans. I meant, they were more skilled in almost everything. For example, for fighting, the Beast-kins had better combat sense and instinct than most humans. For making potions, they were better than humans as well. After all, the Dog-kins had a better sense of smell and could differentiate a huge variety of herbs easily if they learned about them. The Cat-kins also had better eyes than humans, so they could see better even without any magnifying glass. Their other senses were better as well. Well, the problem probably they never studied before, so their ability was worse than most humans. But if I taught them well, it was not impossible for them to be better than most humans.
While thinking like that, I heard the children talking about me. It was a boy in the potion-making department.
“Hey, by the way, do you believe what the Slime said yesterday?” He asked abruptly.
“Which words?” The other asked simultaneously.
“About our Master. Slimerin said that she is a kind Master and she wants to save us. I didn’t think it’s true, but hearing little Ellie saying things like that, is it really true? She wants to save us?” He asked.
“…maybe. I mean, why else she would let us do what we wish after finishing our job?” A girl asked back. I didn’t say that though. I was saying that they could have leisure time when they finished their job. It was their time to rest, so it should be normal, right?
While thinking that, the previous boy spoke again. This time, with a hint of a laugh in his voice. “But that Slimerin is funny, isn’t she? She said that our Master is kind and amazing, but on the other hand, she also said that she is kind of an idiot and lazy.”
Hearing that, the children laughed lightly. It seemed they didn’t dare to laugh out loud at me, huh?
More importantly, I looked at Slimerin, who tried to retreat to the other room silently. I smiled at her and she froze on the spot.
“Ahaha, Master, I was trying to ease the atmosphere a little.” She laughed awkwardly and before I could react, she leaped into the other room hastily. I knew I couldn’t catch her, so I didn’t try to chase at all. Instead, I said mentally.
“Slimerin, don’t worry, I won’t punish you harshly. Yep, I won’t punish you. However, I will ask you to do a job for me tonight. Don’t worry, it’s not a difficult job. For you, it is really an easy job. Yes, a very easy job, so come here before I used the power of Master to order the Familiar.” I said to Slimerin.
She meekly returned and took a peek from the door. It seemed she was afraid that I was still angry at her. But I was a mature girl, I meant, a mature woman, so I wouldn’t get angry easily. I smiled gently at Slimerin before telling her what job she would have.
“Your job is…”
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