Ch.74Reunion (7)

# “The Alchemist?”

Lorian’s mouth gaped open in surprise at the news she heard right after waking up.

I managed to resist the urge to stick my finger into that open mouth, not because of my superhuman patience or extreme self-control…

But simply because I thought she might bite me and draw blood.

“I mean, I figured we’d need to find them eventually… but that quickly?”

“They reached out to us first.”

Lorian blinked from where she sat, with Isla still sound asleep beside her. She clearly couldn’t believe it.

She brought her thumb to her open mouth and pricked it against her fang. Only after feeling the sting did she realize she wasn’t dreaming.

“But why?”

“They said they’re being hunted. By their clan.”

“…Ah.”

Lorian was a blood kin. One specifically trained as a talent optimized for internal discipline.

She quickly caught on to what I was saying and understood immediately.

“The clan must have pinned everything you’ve done on the Alchemist.”

She sat up on the bed to face me.

A girl brushing back her disheveled hair, squinting as the sunlight felt harsh on her eyes.

Lorian wore her usual pure white sleeveless dress. The only thing standing out was the prosthetic arm replacing one of her limbs.

She looked every bit the young girl as she sat there.

It was morning.

Right after the Alchemist, Ortemilia, had sent me away saying she was tired and that other discussions could wait until after she’d rested.

I found the two women sleeping in each other’s arms in a room that strangely had two beds.

Their closeness made me wonder whether I should sleep between them or in the other bed.

In the end, I lay down alone on a bed and tried to sleep.

I didn’t dream. Perhaps because I’d grown accustomed to acquiring abilities, I no longer received skills through dreams.

Or maybe it was just because combat skills were so basic.

“So I wanted to ask.”

“Hmm?”

“Could you tell me a bit about the Alchemist?”

“Hmm?”

Her face seemed to ask why I was inquiring when I’d already met them.

But precisely because I had met them, I had more questions than I could count.

For instance:

“Given that they were a dragon, they seem to be a necromancer, but why are they so small?”

Or something like that.

Lorian looked a bit surprised by my question.

Though I didn’t think it was because I was being rude.

“You’ve seen the Alchemist’s true form?”

“Uh… both the dragon form and human form?”

“Impressive. The Alchemist has such an eccentric temperament that it couldn’t have been easy to persuade them.”

When I remained silent, unable to mention that I’d used my all-purpose persuasion tool, Lorian smiled brightly.

“You truly are fit to succeed your father. Excellent. I’d like to praise and reward you, but… I’m not in a position to do so.”

Lorian sighed deeply. But she soon smiled, saying it was fine anyway.

“Achievements earned through your own efforts benefit both your self-esteem and confidence. I’m proud of you too.”

Looking at Lorian’s pleased smile, I thought:

She can be this impressed about me persuading that tiny little bitch?

But being praised didn’t feel bad. I left her misunderstanding as it was and said:

“So, do you know anything about them?”

“Ah, I was just about to explain. Let’s see…”

As Isla stirred, bringing her tail to Lorian’s side, Lorian stroked Isla’s tail while speaking:

“There wasn’t any particular curse or acquired factor. They were simply… born small.”

“Is it because they’re a lindworm?”

“I don’t think so. Hmm, how should I put this? Perhaps they lost one thing to gain another?”

It was a vague statement, but I could understand what she meant.

“You mean they were born small in exchange for gaining intelligence?”

“That’s the speculation. As you know, all lindworms are enormous but lack intelligence, while the Alchemist possesses intelligence but is small.”

Isn’t that a disadvantage then?

“How dare you think such blasphemy! The Alchemist is clearly a blessing from Father.”

Oh, I was caught. I wondered how she knew, but instead of explaining, Lorian just gave an annoying smirk.

“Anyway, although the Alchemist has a small body, their magical knowledge was unparalleled even within the clan.”

“Really?”

“Isn’t alchemy itself, which the Alchemist created, something that never existed in this world before? Not only that, but they’ve mastered most human magic as well.”

They didn’t seem that way to me.

When I was beating them up, their only resistance was their breath.

Well, I’m not sure if there was anything else, since I didn’t give them a chance to show it, pressing my attack relentlessly.

But part of what she said was true.

Alchemy. That skill, which in other games would commonly involve making potions and various items, didn’t exist in Grim Darker.

Healing potions were just healing spells recreated in potion form, and other potions were similar.

It was such a common skill that there was no need to divide it into separate schools, and there wasn’t any specialized school for it.

Yet the Alchemist was openly called an alchemist. From what I was hearing now, it seemed they actually practiced alchemy.

I wasn’t sure exactly what that entailed.

I didn’t ask Lorian because she’d probably act superior and say it was common knowledge, and she rested her chin on her hand.

“But it’s strange. For the clan to so easily discard the Alchemist… Did you hear anything else?”

“Anything else like what?”

“For example, anything about Lord Hertol.”

As she continued speaking, her eyes gleamed clearly.

Her red pupils held certainty, and looking into them, I couldn’t help but recall what I’d heard.

Content that even I hesitated to speak aloud.

Just then, Isla woke up and stretched awkwardly.

I figured I wouldn’t need to explain twice, so I opened my mouth.

*

“Carry me.”

“Can’t I get carried too?”

“This is my spot.”

“That’s not fair.”

After my explanation, we had a meal, and afterward headed straight to the tavern.

There were still bloodsucking vampires in the mine and thugs overrunning the city.

But we couldn’t rashly interfere with all that.

Rather, considering we might get the Alchemist’s help with those problems, this was probably the best course of action.

I headed toward the tavern with Isla on my back, her face buried against my nape, sniffing.

“Aren’t you embarrassed?”

“Why?”

Lorian scanned the gazes around us, while Isla comfortably clung to my back, unbothered.

“I’m not embarrassed.”

“Well, if you say so…”

It was a bit much coming from someone who had just asked to be carried, and who had recently walked through a blizzard naked.

I barely swallowed the words “what about you?” as we approached the tavern.

It was that thing again.

Just like yesterday when I’d declined an invitation and was dragged here while trying to go to Isla and Lorian, now too I’d arrived at the tavern without knowing why.

I couldn’t understand the principle behind it, but I could tell this was what they called “alchemy.”

I didn’t just not understand the principle—I wasn’t even sure what function it served.

But I didn’t care. If they harbored ill intentions, I’d just pull out my all-purpose persuasion tool like yesterday.

I ignored the rowdy thugs on the first floor of the tavern, went up to the second floor, kicked away a thug who tried to block my path, and entered the laboratory.

“I thought I heard a commotion—you’re already here?”

Her appearance was different from yesterday.

Yesterday, to put it kindly, she had looked shabby. She’d been practically naked with just some kind of cloak or robe thrown over her.

But now she was different.

Ortemilia, otherwise known as the Alchemist, wore a gown that clung to her tiny body, with the robe she’d shown yesterday over it.

The robe had no lower part to cover her legs, and the gown was closer to a dress with a lived-in feel.

“You’ve rested, so. We have a lot to discuss.”

“Sit down.”

I put down Isla, who was reluctant to get off my back.

Lorian had already positioned herself near Rte, who was busy mixing what looked like reagents.

She placed her hand on her chest and bowed. With her right hand, she gripped her sword hilt to keep it steady.

“It’s an honor to meet such a distinguished elder of the clan. I am—”

“Blood Knight Lorian. I’ve heard you were cursed to become a woman.”

“Ah.”

Was she pleased to be recognized? Lorian smiled slightly.

“It’s an honor.”

“Surely you can say more than just ‘it’s an honor’?”

Lorian laughed with an embarrassed look, while Rte raised her head expressionlessly.

She casually waved her hand and pointed to a chair.

“You sit too. This won’t take long. I don’t like cumbersome things.”

“Understood.”

Lorian barely suppressed her excitement as she brought a chair and sat down, while I remained standing after seating the yawning Isla.

Ortemilia continued mixing reagents, engraving something, forming hand seals, or briefly chanting incantations.

It was quite a while before she spoke.

“How much do you know about yourself?”

That question was directed at me.

“Well, I’m the Mourner… and a homunculus you created.”

“That’s not what I’m asking.”

The Alchemist put down the reagents she’d been mixing and looked at me.

In her bright yellow pupils, I saw my own bewildered expression reflected.

“Recall what you’ve done until now.”

What I’ve done.

I glanced at Lorian, who looked back at me with a puzzled face.

What is this about?

When I turned back to Rte with confusion, she sighed.

“Before you first jumped from the clan’s fortress, didn’t you wound countless blood kin?”

Starting with those words, she recounted my actions.

It was the first time I’d heard my familiar deeds from someone else’s mouth.

“Though abandoned by the clan, didn’t you easily deal with the talented mage, the Cannibal Baron, and the regenerating experimental subject created for him?”

My first mourning target. I unconsciously clutched my cloak.

“And what came after was even more severe. To deal with Lorian who was pursuing you, you drew in another faction, creating a three-way battle. Only you and Lorian survived that process.”

The Star Blade and Lorian. Lorian fidgeted with her prosthetic arm, and I gripped the hilt of the Star Blade.

“Though they were diminished, you survived and even blocked the manifested magic of the Exploration School. From that point on, the clan was already wary of you.”

This time, Isla looked uncomfortable. It had been the first crisis where she thought I would die.

The flow of the story was starting to make the three of us understand where this was heading.

“Then you survived against not temporary field-hired troops but regular troops of the clan, and even hunted down Nerilmeius, a powerful necromancer, despite being left with minimal surveillance.”

The Aul-bear shapeshifters and the necromancer. Both were formidable opponents that a Mourner who hadn’t even reached level 10 shouldn’t have been able to face.

Yet it didn’t feel like she was praising me for doing well.

It felt more like a reprimand.

“And now you’ve even defeated Hertol. After hearing all this, do you truly have nothing that comes to mind?”

Rte was scolding me for pretending not to understand.

A possibility I’d been deliberately ignoring came to mind.

Unlike games where multiple players team up to take down powerful enemies, there were occasionally games like this:

Games where enemies scheme and prepare countermeasures against a single, extremely powerful player.

Games where instead of the player commanding armies against bosses, enemies command armies against the player.

For some reason, such games came to my mind.

“…What are you trying to say?”

“You’ve become something that can no longer be dealt with by just one or two assassins.”

Rte, this small and diminutive dragon, brushed her forehead and said:

“A subjugation force is coming.”

An army being assembled solely to capture and kill me.

“And that subjugation force won’t be as easy as your opponents have been so far.”

Rte sighed again and concluded:

“‘That thing’ which controlled Hertol now desires your death.”

[Play Time: 9,370 hours]

After being possessed for a little over a year,

I had become a monster that armies were trying to kill.