Novice Alchemist 2-28 part 1

Merry Christmas ~(‘o’~

 

Chapter 2-28 : Final Push Ⅰ (part 1)

 

After asking Iris-san and Kate-san to take care of the Ice Fang Bats operation and asking Lorea-chan to take care of the store, I left the village and headed for South Strugg.

My goal today was to have a meeting with Leonora-san and purchase some materials from her.

As usual, I kept running while using body strengthening and reached South Strugg in less than half a day.

「Hello, Leonora-san!」(Sarasa)

「Sarasa, it’s been a while. Welcome! Thanks to you, I made a lot of money recently.」(Leonora)

Leonora-san welcomed me with a big smile on her face.

「Ah, so that merchant really came here? That’s great!」(Sarasa)

「He did. I bought his Ice Fang Bats’ fangs as cheaply as possible. Every time he brought tons of fangs here, I lowered the purchase price little by little, fufufu~」(Leonora)

「Hohoo~ So you made a lot of profit, eh?」(Sarasa)

Leonora-san grinned as I asked that.

「Yeah, like… A looott… I bought the fangs so cheaply but he kept coming to sell them. Looks like he’s really in a tough situation.」(Leonora)

「I wonder. My concern was that he might sell his fangs to the other alchemist…」(Sarasa)

「Ah, you mean the guy who once tried to fool you? Don’t worry, he no longer has a store.」(Leonora)

「Eh!? What happened?」(Sarasa)

「He went bankrupt. It was probably because he didn’t get enough materials from Collectors after they found out that he had been fooling them, but actually, he went bankrupt probably because of me too.」(Leonora)

Saying that, Leonora-san grinned again.

「I, I see…」(Sarasa)

I don’t know what exactly she did, but she definitely made that deceitful alchemist go bankrupt on purpose.

Well, a bad alchemist’s bankruptcy is a good thing for the entire alchemy industry, so I don’t feel bad for him at all.

「So you don’t need Ice Fang Bats’ fangs anymore?」(Sarasa)

「Ah, did you bring some today? I’m sorry but as you know, I have tons of them.」(Leonora)

「Don’t worry, I brought other materials too. I also want to buy some materials from you.」(Sarasa)

Actually, I asked the veteran Collectors who work for me to stop hunting Ice Fang Bats for the time being. I asked them to hunt for other materials instead. Of course, I paid them for that.

Therefore, I have a lot of materials now.

I took the materials out from my bag, lined up at the counter and began the trade with Leonora-san.

She has prepared the materials that I might need in advance, so the trade went smoothly.

「You really know what I need! Thank you!」(Sarasa)

Leonora-san smiled when I thanked her.

「Fufu. You’re welcome. People rarely order artifacts in your village, right? That’s why I thought that you might need materials for completing the Encyclopedia of Alchemy, and judging from your rank, I thought the materials you need were probably the ones to make artifacts in volume 4 and 5. Other than that, I’ve also prepared materials for you to make potions for the villagers.」(Leonora)

「Un! Leonora-san, you’re awesome! I know I can rely on a veteran alchemist like you!」(Sarasa)

I’m grateful to Leonora-san. Thanks to her now I can make progress on my Encyclopedia of Alchemy.

「Ahaha! You’re complimenting me too much! I’ve been an alchemist way longer than you after all. I’m not a master class alchemist like your master, but I’m quite confident in my skills!」(Leonora)

「It makes me feel relieved knowing that there’s a reliable senior in the nearby town.」(Sarasa)

「Fufu. You can rely on me anytime, but I think you should talk to your master first when you have a problem.」(Leonora)

「Well, she will help me if I ask, but the thing is, I have been relying on her too much. Moreover, I declined her offer to work at her store, so I decided to not rely on her unless I have to.」(Sarasa)

「Hm? Wait a minute… Did you say you declined your master’s offer to work at her store!?」(Leonora)

「Y-Yes… Did I never tell you?」(Sarasa)

「So you chose to open your own store in that remote village instead of working at the famous Ophelia-sama’s store!?」(Leonora)

「I did… Ahaha…」(Sarasa)

Leonora-san pushed her palm against her forehead and sighed.

「Hahh… If I were you, I would have said OK no matter what. If you work for a master-class alchemist, you will be guaranteed a stable financial situation, you know?」(Leonora)

「I know, but I wouldn’t be able to gain more experience if I worked for her. Ah, I’m not talking about experience as an alchemist, I’m talking about… Umm… life experience…?」(Sarasa)

「So in other words, you want to be independent?」(Leonora)

「Yup!」(Sarasa)

「Hee… You’re quite mature for a young girl. I wonder if the disciples of master class alchemists are mostly like you.」(Leonora)

Leonora-san stared at me in awe for some reason.

「Anyway, Sarasa, why don’t you stay here today? Actually, I did some investigation about the merchant who is targeting you. I want to talk with you about that.」(Leonora)

「Really? Then there’s no reason to decline.」(Sarasa)

「It’s decided then! By the way, you haven’t had lunch yet, have you?」(Leonora)

「I haven’t. I was planning to have lunch before going to your store, but I got to this town too early.」(Sarasa)

Because I left the village in the morning, I arrived at South Strugg before noon. It was too early for lunch so I decided to go to this store first.

「Alright. We can eat outside, but… Wait a sec.」(Leonora)

Leonora-san thought for a moment and opened the door behind the counter.

「Do we have lunch for three peopleー?」(Leonora)

「ーーWe haveー」(?)

After a short pause, someone in the back replied to Leonora-san.

Leonora-san then turned around and smiled at me.

「Wanna eat here? In terms of cooking, she may not be as good as Ophelia-sama’s employee you once told me about, Maria, was it? But my employee’s food is quite delicious, you know?」(Leonora)

「Haha. Alright then!」(Sarasa)

 

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