Iwasn’t naïve to think that the nobles would give up their money-making scheme just like that. Judging by the scowls on some of their faces or hardened eyes, they were going to try something. So, for instant gratification, I asked the mayor to go to each store, one by one, and post a notice of the ban on unreasonable taxation. If one could call it that.
This was only the beginning with the nobles and despite being mortals, they still emitted a little bloodlust. At least on their faces. Even more so when I smiled innocently at anyone that looked at me. The older farts especially hated that some younger man derailed their fountain of profits. They clearly planned to gobble up as much of the town’s money as possible before it finally went under. The nobles could easily move to Wingston, but the common people, who simply couldn’t afford that kind of luxury, would be fucked over.
God, I couldn’t wait for them to try something. I’d use it to turn a profit for myself, hopefully without giving any more ideas to these people. Seriously, I knew very little of the kingdom, aside from what I read.
Maybe it was time I started learning. How the hell would I get myself onto the top five shop owner list if I didn’t at least put in that much effort? Milia was an obvious goldmine of information, but sometimes it made me wonder if I was actually dating someone important. Like a secret heroine or Wanda’s daughter.
Dryads were semi-divine beings, though Milia never discussed that part of her, and she disliked Iris’s brownnosing, which seemed to remind the woman of her bloodline. The thought of the elf brought me an idea. I should establish business connections with the elves. But after raising my shop’s rank a bit, mostly not to get laughed at.
“Mayor Rue, I didn’t want to say anything in front of the nobles, but that court magician letter may be my fault,” I admitted as we walked back to his office. Milia, Chenzu, the pets, Iris, and the apprentices were with us. The rest of the hero’s party scattered to spread the news and, in Ronica’s case, go get food while doing so. There would be no stopping that one.
“Court magicians, eh,” Chenzu said. “A pain in the ass, the lot of them. They’re more uppity-smuppity than most nobles. Except some of the ladies. They’re… mostly cruel and could crush your neck with a thought.”
Milia raised an eyebrow.
Chenzu laughed. “Don’t get me wrong, there’s a reason why they push to protect themselves. The heart of a bandit lies in plenty with too much money for their own good, if you know what I mean.”
I could tell he wanted to pull out his lute to play a song, which would be enjoyable if not for the current mood. Which was a mix of happy and uncertain. The happy for price decreases. The uncertainty due to a court magician demanding to know the name of the magician who led his student astray. Buff McGoo spilled the beans, that snitch.
“Give the court magician the name of Raider,” I said, deciding to keep the secret identity.
“Are you sure?” Mayor Rue asked. “As a former soldier, I can claim ignorance of ever hearing of a magician, and they’d have to take my word for it.”
“It’s no longer that simple,” Milia said, gaining the mayor’s gaze. “A friend of mine let me in on some things. The rate of magicians being born has increased, but not even sect recruiters can find all of them.”
“She’s right,” Iris said. “That court magician will only grow more curious, especially at the insistence of his student. It sounds like he’s a headmaster or an instructor.”
I frowned. “Oh God.”
Even Harmony began to sweat, realizing what this meant. No, it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, only highly annoying and inconvenient. The mayor also didn’t like what the letter implied. The only thing I could do was suggest more bullshit.
“Raider’s a rogue magician that stayed for a night and is on his way to whatever kingdom you can think of,” I said. “Maybe he’s looking for secret magical herbs or something for purchase. Just make sure it sounds convincing. We do not need recruiters coming here to be annoying. Be sure to emphasize low natural mana in the area. But don’t mention the forest.”
“That’s an excellent proposition,” Mayor Rue said.
“I agree,” Chenzu said. “It’s not easy to get rid of the capital bastards that want you, unless you’re ready to establish an academy of your own.”
“I think I’ll be fine, even if they show,” I said, waving off his comment. “I’ve got a shop to run and apprentices to teach. The only thing that will irritate them is coming all the way out here and returning emptyhanded.”
“It is more complicated with them than you think, my friend,” Chenzu said. “Trust me, I would know. A recruiting court magician came to our village once and took my cousin away. Apparently he was a genius, or so they claimed. My cousin succumbed to the consistent promise of gold, wealth, and fame. They even paid his parents two large sacks of gold and five spirit coins up front. Knowing the village would give them looks of shame, the parents set up new living arrangements and left with the recruiters.” The beastkin shook his head. “Never heard from them again.”
“That’s the typical story of greed,” Iris said.
Lucas nodded. “Even my old master taught me such lessons.”
I only briefly looked at him, just a little surprised he decided to refer Nia as his old master. I’d have to make sure he learned the value of having more than one teacher. I may be teaching him magic with potion making as a bonus, but as the wielder of such an amazing forging hammer, he couldn’t afford to fall off course too much.
Later that afternoon, I found myself with Milia in the lab, staring at a shiny silver cauldron. I didn’t know how to explain the sensation it channeled to me, except that it hummed with an unfamiliar mana.
With Chenzu, the spirit beasts, and the apprentices currently working on the growing farm, I decided I’d finally get around to making something with the skeleton king’s bone dust. Honestly, I didn’t expect for the new super vessel to intimidate me so much.
“Let’s scan this baby,” I said softly as I inspected the craftsmanship. Aside from the shiny silver, there were numerous designs all over it that almost reminded me of the tree of life or the Garden of Eden. Two people holding their arms out toward a massive tree that expanded all over the cauldron. Clearly the blacksmith wanted to make an impression, revealing skills that blew my mind, honestly. If she weren’t obviously human, I’d think she had dwarf blood running through her. Not that humans couldn’t design amazing things… but this? Who the hell was her mystery friend? What were they expecting from me, juicing the cauldron up in this manner? Well, that didn’t matter. I needed to order more things from her!
Shoot, I wondered if Lucas fell in love with his master as a dwarf, watching such items being born. With it, I could finally put even the pulsing mana stone Iris gave me to use.
[Nature’s Heart Magic Cauldron. Item rank: S. Item quality: Superior. Owner: Nate Sullivan. A cauldron capable of handling and reshaping even the most stubborn ingredients. This is also perfect for pill creation. Effects may rise beyond expectations for the items used in here. Warning. For the best and perhaps special results, it is recommended to utilize this cauldron within a magic lab.]
Damn, this thing even knew my last name. The only person I’d ever told was Milia, in bedside talk. Her full name was quite long.
“This thing knows my full name,” I said. “Maybe it knows yours too, Milia Ofrey Emerald Starbreather, second daughter of—”
I stopped at Milia’s glare, her blush tomato red. Words from bedside talk could turn into dangerous weapons to use later.
She pouted. “Nathan Tokken Sullivan!”
Uh oh, if she adapted that trait in which she used my full name when angry at me, I was doomed.
I grinned at my annoyed fiancée before turning back to the cauldron.
“Let’s see what robbing a king will yield for us,” I said. The skeleton king didn’t respawn, so we couldn’t grind him repeatedly for resources. Even so, I wouldn’t let that discourage me. I had promising apprentices and bigger ambitions.
What I was most excited for, other than my own things, were the gadgets Mandi would create and the effect granted by Lucas’s special hammer. He virtually never came to work without it. Maybe Mandi could create some kind of magic hammer sheath or casing for him.
“I’ve been thinking about something,” I said to Milia as I poured some of the skeleton king’s bone dust into the cauldron. Suddenly, a soft ringing sounded through the air, followed by the metal container lighting up as if it was rigged with LED lights. The dryad excitedly looked inside the cauldron.
“What’s on your mind?” she asked.
“Should I… consider training the hero or any of his party?” I asked her, though my voice still held a wave of uncertainty. She looked at me with curious eyes. “I try not to make a big deal, my life isn’t some crazy adventure, but whenever I watch them cast magic, it feels off. Weren’t they supposed to be hotshots at an academy?” I paused. “Wait… Harmony’s potential.” My eyes widened. “What if I make my own hero?”
Milia gaped at me. “I agree that Ramon isn’t exactly qualified for his position. He’s stronger than many, but it wasn’t he that defeated Andros. It was you. Ramon helped with the Black Cross but didn’t have the courage to lend you a hand. And let’s be honest, if we had brought your apprentices along, they would’ve jumped in without hesitation. Especially Harmony. But Harmony is no replacement for Ramon. She must find her own path, just as you found yours. If it ends up with her saving the people, then she’ll just come back to thank you.”
“And if I want to follow in your footsteps?”
Milia and I spun to see the blue-haired teenager standing there with Cheetara on her shoulder. The kitten meowed her greeting.
“I don’t think I’ve done anything worthy enough to dedicate your life to,” I said. “Like Milia said, find your own path. In fact, you’re doing a good job at it now.”
“No. I want to follow you,” Harmony said, and I could already see the stubbornness setting in. “Potion making, running the shop. Being your apprentice is one of the most… bizarre, crazy experiences I’ve ever been through and you’re even making me fight a dungeon boss alone. But you and Milia… you’re like extended family. No matter how long it takes, I will catch up to you.”
She walked off, leaving me there stunned. “Seriously, what did I do to earn this kind of respect?”
“Taught them magic, potion making, hard work, trusted them to run your shop, saved them and the town twice already, and even singlehandedly defeated the Black Knight.” Milia smiled. “I’m with Harmony on this one. I will catch up and you will not leave me behind.” She kissed me. I still felt unconvinced. “Perhaps maybe a few years from now, you will look back and understand.”
“No, I get it, but I just don’t know if I truly earned this respect just yet,” I said, adding herbs from the A-ranked dungeon into the mixture. The cauldron let out the ring again, remaining lit, almost as if it approved of my actions.
“What’s simple to you is not so to everyone else,” Milia said. “Confiscating a D-ranked spell book from another magician, especially one as powerful as Andros. Casting your primary spell, which is strong enough to destroy S-ranked monsters in one strike. Creating a potion as difficult as the mana core restoration to help someone you barely knew. Should I continue?” She looked at me with reverence and concern in those golden eyes.
“Still… I need to do something… grand,” I said.
“Is it going to be a questionable idea?” Milia asked, raising an eyebrow.
“You’ll see,” I told her. “You haven’t revealed that secret project of yours that you’ve got hidden upstairs.”
“That’s because it’s unfinished and is more difficult to construct than I originally thought,” Milia said. “I failed quite a bit. But when I’m finished, you’ll be impressed enough to make blueberry pie for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.”
“If you think blueberry pies are good, just wait until you try a cinnamon bun,” I told her.
“Cinnamon bun?” Milia asked, tilting her head. Judging by the stars in the dryad’s eyes and forcing herself not to drool, she was imagining what they could possibly be. “Are you making any today?”
“I’d have to find some cinnamon,” I told her. “They don’t sell any here.”
Milia sighed. “It’s probably because we’re an F-ranked town. But if we can get traveling merchants to visit monthly, perhaps they’ll come across some cinnamon to sell to us.”
“It’s possible,” I said, but as I examined the area, another thought came to mind, and I voiced it. “I could use a boost for the shop, a kickstart to make me competitive. Too bad we don’t have any connections like that.”
“I’d suggest my family, but they’re only coming toward the end of winter,” Milia said.
Taking a gamble, mostly because of a weird gut feeling, I added a monster sample from the A-ranked dungeon. Thank fuck storage rings perfectly preserved things. The cauldron rang twice. I started to add water, but suddenly the lid slammed shut and I heard the sound of boiling moments later.
We watched for a few minutes in silence.
“What could it possibly make from those ingredients?” I asked, mostly to myself. “I didn’t measure properly or add my mana. Shouldn’t I make it into a sap?”
“No need to overly worry,” Milia said, smiling. “This magic cauldron… it’s certainly one of the best I’ve seen. Potion makers and alchemists would kill for it.”
Moments later, the lid floated off the cauldron and the prompt I received proved the dryad’s words.
[New Grand-tiered potion listing added, Potion of Storms. Be sure to keep this potion sealed, for it is extremely dangerous. Insert your mana through the bottle to complete it. When you open the potion, which must be in a large bottle, aim and hold. You will unleash a powerful storm upon your foes. You may reduce the effect by adding very little mana, setting the bottle on the ground, and allowing the storm to form. The more mana you add, the more powerful it becomes.]
I told Milia about the creation.
She stared at me, agape. “How… how do you know that?” she asked. “You were just test running the skeleton king’s bone dust, right? Attempting to see if the cauldron would react to it.”
“And react it did,” I said chuckling. “Let’s just say whenever I make these potions, I gain a little insight on what I’m creating. Sometimes. Utility potions like the lighting are on the more mundane alchemist side of things.”
Milia nodded. “The lamps you created from the lighting potions are very impressive. They still haven’t winked out yet. Are you going to add them to the menu?”
“Sure will, after I teach the brats how to create them,” I replied while making sure the lid of my new potion was sealed tightly. I did not want this thing to fuck me over.
What made me so excited was getting my first Grand-tiered potion. Of course I had no idea there were potions beyond the special variant. How crazy could things get? Would I be able to find something safely to sell?
Milia and I stared at the new potion.
“You may just be a genius, love,” Milia said.
“Or lucky,” I told her while trying to forget my numerous potion failures and burned ingredients. Failure created a path to improvement, but that didn’t mean it stung less.
[Warning: be very careful when adding Flavor to your potion of storms. You may create a storm with… odd effects.]
I took the warning to heart. The system might be a dick, but it was also helpful.
With one of the biggest curiosities done for the day, I decided to go outside and check on the farm. Milia joined me. The improvement was there, but one could tell it’d benefit from an upgrade or two. I grew overly excited over one hundred spirit coins, but honestly, they were likely chump change in the system’s eyes. Did I mention the system was a dick?
I spotted Chenzu and the teenagers by the chicken coop, the spirit beasts and the elicrone gathered around them. The darker elicrone noticed me first, leaping onto my arm. For some reason, it felt as if it was saying something… weird, though I could only hear bird noises in a tone I wouldn’t allow around my children. The other elicrone made almost what sounded like a scolding noise. The darker elicrone snuggled into me before finally hopping off my arm. It didn’t quite weigh as much as a turkey, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to imitate hawk trainers.
“Things are looking good,” I said. “Is there anything I can get to make things easier, aside from the obvious?”
Chenzu chuckled. “We’re fine while the farm’s still small, but later, I’d invest into converting this into some kind of magical or mana-based farm, if possible. Even your amazing garden would enjoy it.”
I nodded, taking that as a second confirmation of how important it was to purchase the system’s upgrades.
One of the items I knew could sell for a ton was the mana core restoration potion; however, I didn’t want to betray Milia’s trust if it turned out to be a family secret which she had entrusted to me. If it wasn’t, then the stuff would likely be sold somewhere.
I glanced at the cows. “So, about the excess milk. It’s a hot summer day, we’ve got spare ice crystals, and Milia’s got a sweet tooth. Let me introduce you to some ice cream.”
Everyone gave me the ‘what the fuck is this guy going on about?’ look.
“Ice cream?” Milia asked, eyes already deciphering the deeper meaning to my words.
I smiled at my adorable fiancée. “You’ll love it. Just don’t tell Ronica and the others. They’ll never leave.”
They were just approaching, so I made sure they heard that while playfully grinning. The twerp simply shrugged, wry smile on her face.
“I sense someone’s about to make a tasty treat,” she said. The eyes of both Kelvin and Iris gleamed.
