Chapter 8
The approaching Haman whispered softly.
“Young Master, that is Head Apothecary Loen.”
“……!!”
Head Apothecary Loen Favre.
In Killian’s mory, she was known as a highest-grade apothecary, of which there were few on the entire continent.
And yet.
‘Is that face really in her 70s? Did she take so kind of rejuvenating elixir?’
The face with long, dark-brown hair and glasses looked to be in her early 40s at most. If not for the dark circles under her eyes, she would have looked even younger.
I could feel the faint afterglow of mana. It was a sign that she, rare for an apothecary, had ford a Mana Heart.
“The Fourth Young Master of Eurasia greets the Head Apothecary.”
“Fourth Young Master……?”
Loen tilted her head for a mont at his different appearance from what she rembered.
“What is your business here?”
She showed an indifferent attitude.
‘I heard she shows no loyalty to anyone except the Family Head and the acting Family Head…… so it was true.’
Originally, the plan was to use Julian's na to find a suitable high-grade apothecary.
But from the mont the Head Apothecary appeared, a new picture was being drawn in my mind.
“I heard there was a problem in the apothecary.”
“A problem?”
Loen's gaze turned to the fidgeting Ned.
Ned raised an eyebrow, as if to say, ‘What is this clueless fool talking about?’
“There was a minor misunderstanding between the Fourth Young Master and Sephiroth. I will visit you later to report, so please do not worry.”
He said in a calm voice as he bowed his head. It was a level of politeness incomparable to when he was dealing with Killian.
“Apothecary Ned. The difference in temperature when you deal with
and the Head Apothecary seems a bit too large.”
Ned glared fiercely at the slick mockery. I could feel the unspoken pressure to shut my mouth.
“That glare could kill a man.”
“Fourth Young Master…….”
As Ned’s trembling face contorted, Loen, who was watching, raised a hand to cut off the conversation.
“Fourth Young Master, tell
directly.”
“Since the Head Apothecary insists, I have no choice.”
“Don't beat around the bush.”
“It seems the apothecaries are lining their own pockets.”
“…….”
Loen’s lip twitched at the words spoken while eting her gaze directly.
“The Fourth Young Master seems not to know the weight of his words.”
“I am well aware.”
“You are well aware, and yet you say such things?”
“Yes. It is because I am well aware that I say such things.”
The surrounding murmurs grew louder.
It was because the incompetent Fourth Young Master was not backing down even a single word against Loen, who was rumored to be strict.
“I know you are busy serving as the Family Head's personal apothecary, but…… the apothecary is the foundation of the family. It is troubling if you are so negligent in its managent.”
“Fourth Young Master!! What insolent words……. Hup!”
Ned, who was shouting, shut his mouth under Loen's cold gaze.
As she nodded her head as if to tell him to continue, Killian continued without batting an eye.
“My brother Julian said that the apothecary, which should be a pillar alongside the knights, has beco an arena for the succession competition.”
That the apothecaries and apothecaries who had sworn loyalty to each young master instead of the family were using double-entry bookkeeping, and in the process, the apothecaries were enriching themselves privately.
“He also said that the smuggling of high-grade dicinal herbs is no longer even recorded in the ledgers.”
“…….”
Loen’s expression, as she listened quietly, beca peculiar.
Killian turned to Haman, who was beside him.
“Head Chamberlain, what are you doing? Not showing the Head Apothecary the evidence my brother Julian gave you.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
Haman opened the silver box, revealing the magic stone of a 6-star monster.
“My brother Julian said this was smuggled out through Sephiroth. He said he tested Apothecary Ned to expose the corruption of the apothecary.”
“Wh-What!?”
Not only Ned, who let out a gasp, but also the spectating apothecaries let out exclamations.
The current statent was tantamount to bringing the clandestine dealings between the young masters and the apothecaries to the surface.
The brow of the Head Apothecary, who had been expressionless all along, furrowed.
She couldn't understand why the ever-arrogant Julian would do such a thing, even exposing his own sha.
Her gaze turned to the smiling Killian.
“Fourth Young Master…… you’re stirring up sothing interesting.”
“It seems I've finally caught the Head Apothecary's attention. Would you spare
so ti?”
“…….”
After a brief silence, she opened her mouth.
“Follow .”
Receiving the gazes of the crestfallen Ned and the murmuring apothecaries, Killian followed Loen.
***
A place reached after passing through several rooms along a narrow, long corridor.
In front of Loen's room, Killian took the silver box from Haman.
“You wait here.”
“Young Master…… the Head Apothecary is soone who shared a friendship with the previous and the one-before-previous Family Heads.”
He was telling
to be careful with my words, as she was an elder who had supported the family for three generations.
It was the sa worry as with Julian.
“Understood.”
As I answered perfunctorily and opened the Corinthian-style embossed door, the inside of the room ca into view.
The closets were filled with all sorts of dicinal herbs, and on a partitioned table, herbs in the process of being prepared and cooled decoctions were scattered about.
‘Was this a workshop, not a room?’
Julian’s reception room, where I was summoned before, was also excessively large, but the Head Apothecary's workshop seed to be three tis its size.
‘Looking at it now, my room was no different from a stable, was it?’
I swallowed a chuckle and scanned the surroundings.
Magic tools overflowing with all kinds of mana and the carcasses of monsters I had never seen before.
Just by looking at the ingredients she handled, I could tell her skills were anything but ordinary.
“Don't touch anything. It could explode.”
She, who was sitting at a table in the center, gestured with her head.
“Speak. Why did you cause such a scene?”
‘Is this her true self?’
I felt a stiffness, as if she were dealing with an ignorant apothecary.
Killian sat opposite her and placed the box on the table.
“Please investigate the young masters' private use of the apothecary to build their own power. As for my intentions, I believe I've explained them all just now.”
“I know the apothecaries are connected to the young masters. But to make it public like this is another matter. Have you decided to beco Julian's dog? Well, in your position, it’s not a bad choice, but……”
Her gaze, which had been on the Cheonghwageom, moved past the box to Killian's face.
“A disappointing choice. Still, since you carry the Family Head's blood, I thought you'd at least struggle a bit.”
She, who had clicked her tongue and shaken her head, t my eyes.
“If you're planning to join hands with Julian and shake things up, do as you please. I'm not interested.”
Now that our business is done, you can leave.
Loen gestured indifferently.
‘As I thought. Was she given so kind of instruction by the Family Head?’
Otherwise, the family's Head Apothecary couldn't possibly react this way.
Suddenly, I was reminded of one of the many partners I had gone through during my thousands of years of life as a sword.
Soone who had a personality exactly like Loen Favre's.
I knew better than anyone what swayed his heart.
“Head Apothecary, please make
a decoction.”
“What?”
Tap, tap.
Killian tapped the box with his index finger.
“Didn't you say it yourself just a mont ago? That you thought I'd at least struggle a bit.”
“…….”
“Of course, it must be a step towards the path of supremacy, not a futile struggle.”
Suspicion clouded Loen's eyes.
“You, you haven't joined hands with Julian?”
“Does it look that way?”
As the bold reply continued, wrinkles ford around her narrowed eyes.
‘Strange. I rember him as a kid who wasn't this bold.’
She recalled the rumors from the past year.
‘They said he hovered between life and death after taking a secret dicine…… don't tell
he had an awakening.’
The probability was as low as surviving a lightning strike, but if that were the case, it would be understandable for him to show such a change.
Even so, her making the decoction was a separate issue.
“Fourth Young Master. You still haven't outgrown your childishness.”
Leaving aside whether he could digest a decoction made from a Half Lycanthrope's Magic Stone or not.
“A deal must have a suitable price.”
She was a woman who had refused proposals from Demian and Paian, who were called geniuses and had strong maternal families.
There was no way the Fourth Young Master, who had no power, could make a tempting offer.
“Your dream, Head Apothecary, I will make it co true.”
“……What?”
Was it because the words were so unexpected? She asked back without realizing it.
“I will show you the elevation of Eurasia from a family to a kingdom.”
“Hah.”
For the first ti, Loen laughed, a dry chuckle.
Killian sensed the mood was shifting.
“Why do you speak of your ambition as if it were my dream?”
“You're not being honest.”
“…….”
“I understand you have been devoted to the family since the ti of the Family Head before the last.”
“……So?”
“And yet, a person like you is turning a blind eye to the atrocities happening in the apothecary. Without taking the side of any of the three young masters.”
“Do you think the succession competition is that easy?”
“In my view, it doesn't seem to be because of the succession competition.”
“What did you say……?”
“Don't you think this is the last chance?”
“……!!”
“An 8-star Family Head and a 7-star Commander of the Knights. If Eurasia fails in this generation, which has produced two superhumans, it will have no future. Isn't that how you've judged it?”
Two superhumans and the knights they had raised. And the three maternal families, each with considerable power.
200 years after Edan Eurasia lost his life. If Eurasia, having endured humiliation, were to restore its status as a kingdom, now would be the most opportune ti.
“A brat who hasn't even ford a Mana Heart yet, with nothing but words……”
‘Looks like I need to show her.’
Ssssss.
Loen's eyes widened at the blue mana that shimred like a heat haze.
‘How did this brat form a Mana Heart……!!’
Her surprise wasn't just because of the mana.
What Killian had said a mont ago was not wrong in the slightest.
Simon Eurasia was the third Family Head Loen had served. She had already witnessed two previous failures.
If Simon also failed, Eurasia would have no future.
The reason she had left the apothecary to be turned into a power base by the three young masters was also to receive as much support as possible for the war to co.
‘To think the day would co when I'd be surprised by the Fourth Young Master.’
He was also a child of the Family Head. Making the decoction was a sufficient reward for having her heart shaken.
Loen composed her expression and opened her mouth.
“It will take a good three months.”
She said it as if doing him a great favor, but.
“…….”
Killian’s expression did not brighten.
‘The monster subjugation is in two months. Three months is too long.’
Considering the stabilization phase after growing the Mana Heart, it was necessary to shorten the ti.
“Could you not shorten it to about fifteen days?”
“If you handle an ingredient of this level rashly, it becos poison, not a decoction.”
“I will assist you.”
“You're overconfident.”
To assist her, one had to be a high-grade apothecary or a mana user capable of neutralizing poison.
She said it in a sharp tone.
“At the level of just having ford a Mana Heart, you'd be lucky not to get poisoned during the manufacturing process……”
Tssssss.
Mana once again rose from Killian's body.
The difference from before was that he had cloaked his entire body in mana.
The blue, glowing mana shimred while maintaining its stability.
‘The total amount of mana isn't large, but… this is at least a 3-star level of control.’
He ford a Mana Heart and reached a 3-star level in just one year?
If that was true, then Killian was a genius surpassing Demian.
‘It wasn't madness, but a great awakening.’
“Is there anything else you need?”
At his confident question, she forced herself to calm her emotions.
“You'll be adequate as an assistant, but…… finishing the entire process in fifteen days is impossible. To get rid of the toxicity in a short period, you need to use a magic tool.”
“A magic tool?”
“An artifact embedded with a fla of 6-star or higher. Unfortunately, even for , it's impossible to obtain such an artifact in a short period. Unless……”
Loen’s gaze turned to the sword at Killian’s waist.
‘If you could draw out the blue fla from the sword you're holding, it would be a different story.’
She deliberately did not say the words.
Fad swords were all difficult to handle. The Cheonghwageom was no exception, and to draw out its true ability, the blue fla, a deep understanding of the Mana Heart was required.
It would be possible for at least a 4-star master, or perhaps a 5-star knight.
“So that's what it was.”
Killian quietly drew the Cheonghwageom.
Shring.
The blue blade appeared with a clear sound.
And upon it.
Fwoosh.
A blue fla flared up.
“……!!”
Loen's eyes, no longer able to hide her emotions, trembled violently.
‘This brat, just what…….’
“I will help.”
“…….”
“Will it be possible in fifteen days?”
Loen, who t Killian's eyes for the third ti that day, felt an unknown emotion.
The Family Head and the acting Family Head. The strong self-assurance she could feel whenever she t those called superhumans.
Her heart fluttered.
“From tomorrow……”
“I will co here starting tomorrow.”
At his firm words.
“……So be it.”
Loen could only nod her head.
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