The soldiers who approached this way looked around me.
Then he scrunched up his chin and said,
“What are you? You look suspicious? Are you walking around alleys like this in broad daylight wearing robes?”
...What was he saying now?
I wondered what kind of bullshit this was, but I quickly understood the situation.
'Are they trying to rip me off?'
Compared to other Lord’s knights or soldiers, the Sixth Lord’s soldiers was the worst in many ways.
It was not unusual here that the soldiers who were supposed to keep the security robbed passers-by’s money bags.
One soldier put a mean smile on his lips and waved his hand. The other clacked his spear threateningly from behind.
“If you want to pass quietly, give us money. Or you can just get beaten up and go with us.”
I just laughed out loud because this sudden robbery dumbfounded me.
“...This kid is laughing? Are you kidding me right now?"
The men’s expressions were severely distorted.
I ignored it and looked up.
There was no middle ground in my abilities, so there was no way to properly subdue them other than to kill them.
It’s a legend in itself to slaughter monsters like that in the demonic land, but not be able to subdue two soldiers who were less than level 20.
I was thinking of simply jumping up the building with [Space Leap] to get out.
“Hey.”
I heard another new voice.
Someone from the potion shop I was just heading to was approaching this way.
A short-haired woman with a sword on her waist and a long, oblique cut across her face. In one hand, she held a bottle of potion that she had just purchased.
The soldiers who saw her were startled and retreated.
She looked back at them and me once and said in a cool voice.
“Get out of here, you bastards.”
She said it to the soldiers.
One of them tried to open his mouth with an angry expression, but his colleague hurriedly stopped him.
“Hey, hey, let’s go.”
The two men could only stare at the woman, and then quickly escaped through the side road.
I could hear the murmurs of those walking away.
“Fuck, what an arrogant bitch when she’s only nothing but a slave…”
...Slave?
I looked at the woman who drove the soldiers away with a single word.
But she didn’t even look at me and went straight past me and went on her way.
I think she helped, so it’s absurd that she left without saying a word.
I stared at her back, then immediately stopped paying attention and went my own way. I moved towards the potion shop where she came out.
Kriiing.
I opened the old wooden door with a sign and went inside.
The inside was as old as the outside, but the atmosphere was neat. However, it smelled like a mixture of things.
Potions of various colors were displayed here and there. It reminded me of the scenery I saw in the Alkimas workshop.
As I looked around, an old man walked out of the shelf in the corner. It was the old man I was looking for.
'I’ve come to the right place.'
He glanced at me and walked over to the cashier’s chair and sat down.
“You’re a guest I haven’t seen. What potion did you come to buy?”
I pondered for a moment and answered.
“I’ll look around first.”
“Do what you feel comfortable with.”
The old man leaned back on his chair and picked up a cigarette from the desk.
He took a leaf fly from the drawer, stuffed it, lit it, and smoked it.
I glanced at the old man and turned away.
I looked through the potions on the shelf and fell into deep thought.
The reason I took a look around first was because I needed to be careful about how to open up a conversation with him.
Great Alchemist Gulpiro.
One of the most prestigious great alchemists on the continent in the present day.
And the person who created the elixir, ‘The Holy Blood of Diferi’.
That was the identity of the old man.
Why was he running an old potion shop in such a sparsely populated alley, but knowing what his situation was at the moment, it was roughly expected…
After organizing my thoughts, I turned my gaze back to the old man.
I spoke to him, who was exhaling cigarette smoke with a languid face.
“Master, how long has this store been running?”
He narrowed his eyes.
“That, young guy… It’s been about a year now, why?”
It’s been one year
I asked again.
“What’s the master’s name?”
“My name? Pleon. You can just call me with that.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“I’m asking for your real name, not a pseudonym.”
At that moment, the atmosphere cooled down.
The characteristic languid atmosphere of the old man disappeared, and instead he was filled with a sense of intimidation.
He put down his cigarette and looked at me with a smirk.
“Who are you?”
I answered calmly.
“Seventh Lord.”
“...What?”
The old man’s eyes widened.
I told him, who was speechless.
“I don’t intend to threaten you. I’m just talking to you for a while, alchemist Gulpiro.”
He glanced out the shop window with a hardened expression on his face. I added;
“I came alone.”
“...Are you really the Seventh Lord? The one who had just been enthroned?”
“Yes.”
“How can I believe that?”
“If not, I must be a madman pretending to be a Lord and using his name. Why would I lie when it’s something that could be easily discovered with a little investigation?”
The old man, Gulpiro, frowned and let out a sigh.
“It would be meaningless to ask how you came to know about me. So, what’s the reason you’re here?”
He asked why I had come to see him.
“If you’re going to ask me to make an elixir, then stop. I can’t make it anymore.”
“No.”
“Or are you planning on recruiting me? It’s useless even if you threatened to kill me, so stop that too.”
“Not that either.”
He had a history of producing new potions that were recognized as elixir.
Of course, it would be nice if I could recruit him, but I didn’t come to this person for that purpose.
Grand Alchemist Gulpiro.
He appeared as a powerful ally in RaSa’s main storyline, providing a big help to the allied faction once during an important time.
He was also a good man, as one could see from the way he helped the boy on the street earlier.
Therefore, even if it was not possible to attract him as an ally, it was good enough to protect him from danger.
Because now he probably…
“You must have come all the way to Calderic, avoiding the eyes of Santea.”
Gulpiro clicked his tongue.
“You already know everything, so what are you asking?”
He was originally a member of the Santea faction.
Magic Tower, the largest and most powerful group of mages in Santea.
As an alchemist who originally belonged to that place, the Magic Tower and the Imperial Family betrayed him for some reason. It was an issue with the elixir.
And he saved his life and escaped from the chase, and in the future, he was not here in Calderic, but in the land of the South Continent.
I was curious and asked.
“Is there any reason to settle in the capital of the Sixth Lord?”
No matter how much I thought about it, Mahea was not a good place to settle down for him, regardless of his personality and other things.
Because it was a city where the Tyrant ruled, and there was even a ‘slave gladiator’ every day.
He shook his head and said.
“I happened to ended up here because of circumstances. I’m thinking of leaving as soon as possible.”
“Then you can come to the capital of my territory.”
I said so naturally.
Gulpiro looked at me with an absurd look.
“Didn’t you say you will not recruit me?”
“It’s not about recruiting, it literally means coming to the land that I rule.”
“So what is that…”
“I want nothing, Gulpiro. I just want to protect you completely from the pursuit of Santea.”
He said with a look that seemed more and more incomprehensible.
“You want nothing, but you’re going to protect me? What do you mean?”
A Lord and no one else would protect him without asking for anything in return.
For him, of course, that would be unbelievable.
But what could I do, it’s all true.
“Know this first, Gulpiro.”
I decided to be honest about my thoughts.
It would not work anyway to attach clumsy reasons to a character like Gulpiro.
“You are one of the best alchemists on the continent. Such a person has turned his back on Santea and came to Calderic, and it’s good for us just to keep you here. There is no reason Calderic should not take care of you.”
“…Even if I have no intention of being your ally?”
“Yeah, because your opinion can change soon. To be honest, you can think of it as me scamming you.”
I am well aware of Gulpiro’s character.
Even in the main story of the game, he helped the players until the end because of a small debt that wasn’t too big.
In a word, he was the type of person who couldn’t live without paying back what he had received.
So it didn’t matter if he didn’t want to be allied with me right now.
Anyway, if I kept him by my side and continued to build trust between us, I could get help someday when I needed it.
“...A scam, huh.”
Gulpiro let out a laugh.
“I don’t know what to do when a Lord of Calderic say such a thing.”
He said so, but he was a person no less than a Lord because of his continental fame.
It’s just that, because of an alchemist’s lack of power, he was forced to live in hiding from Santea’s eyes.
“Can I smoke for a bit?”
Gulpiro pointed to the pipe he had put down.
I nodded, and he put the cigarette to his lips again.
He stared into the air with thoughtful eyes and smoked for a moment, then opened his mouth.
“Does the Overlord know of my existence?”
“No.”
“Then what about the Sixth Lord?”
“He doesn’t know either.”
For some reason, Gulpiro let out a small sigh and continued.
“If I go to the Seventh Lord’s territory, I guess I’ll have to stay at the Lord’s Castle?”
“It can be an option. But you can also stay in any place you wanted.”
In an instant, the Alkimas Workshop came to mind.
It wouldn’t be a bad idea to secretly connect Gulpiro with her.
Scarlett was a talented alchemist, and it would be great if she could learn even a bit of alchemy from Gulpiro.
As if in thought again, Gulpiro only smoked a cigarette for a while without saying a word.
Then, after a few minutes, he nodded slowly.
“Okay. I will go to Enrock just as you said, Seventh Lord. Even if I refuse anyway, you’ll still keep your eyes on me.”
…Well, I was not really planning to.
However, he seemed to have taken that into account in accepting my proposal, so I did not have to deny it.
I was about to say that he made a good decision, but before I could, he added,
“But before that, there is one condition.”
