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104. Eugene
We headed over to the guild’s third floor after getting paid.
After selling materials, we had asked the guild if they knew any alchemists that could give us a hand, and apparently, they knew just the guy. The guild’s Barbra branch had contracted a fairly skilled alchemist to work within it, and he happened to be present, so we decided to pay him a visit right away.
We were guided to our destination by an elf. Though she was apparently 50 years old, she looked like she was in her late teens or early twenties. The door she knocked on had a sign on it describing it as “Eugene’s Laboratory,” and it was located in an area that seemed to contain facilities that one would use to produce all sorts of different items and consumables.
「Come in.」
「Please excuse our intrusion.」
Inside the room was a single man with his arms outstretched. He was at the age where his hair had started to grey, but despite that, he wore it with a swept back style and allowed it to grow to such a length that it extended all the way down to his back. His thin but tall body was decorated with a loose robe, and his face a gentle smile. The round glasses atop his nose really worked well the rest of his image and assisted in giving him him an intellectual sort of feel.
His eyes were a bit weird though, the whites were black, and the irises green. It also looked like there was some feeler-like thingy growing out of his receding hairline.
「Good afternoon Dr. Eugene, I’ve brought someone that wanted to see you.」
「Oh? What a cute little lady we have here. Are you an adventurer?」
「Nn. D rank adventurer. Fran.」
「D rank? That’s quite impressive.」
_______________________________________________________________
General Information
Name: Eugene
Age: 62
Race: Half Bugman (Bee tribe)
Job: Alchemy Instructor
State: Normal
Status Level: 55
HP: 209
MP: 596
STR: 101
VIT: 108
AGI: 159
INT: 359
MGC: 220
DEX: 333
Skills
Cast Time Reduction: Lv 3
Wind Magic: Lv 2
Appraisal: Lv 8
Harvest: Lv 7
Woodland Resistance: Lv 3
Life Magic: Lv 5
Short Spear Arts: Lv 5
Short Spear Techniques: Lv 2
Throwing: Lv 7
Knowledge of Poisons: Lv 8
Toxicology: Lv 9
Fire Magic: Lv 3
Water Magic: Lv 5
Medicinal Herbology: Lv 7
Knowledge of Medicinal Herbs: Lv 5
Resistance to Molten Iron: Lv 6
Alchemy: MAX
Transmutation: Lv 5
Poison Invalidation
Paralysis Invalidation
Magic Manipulation
Greater Intelligence Boost
Innate Skills
Presence Detection: Lv 3
Poison Production: Lv 4
Poison Spray: Lv 1
Titles
Item Expert
Master of Poison
Master of Potions
Master Alchemist
Equipment
Magic Stone Cane Spear
Dark God’s Alloy Threaded Robe
Shoes of Walking on Water
Bracelet of Dexterity
Bracelet of Storage
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He was a bugman, the insect equivalent of a beastman. His appearance led me to assume that bugmen were likely characterized by their eyes and antennas. That said, he was technically only a half blood, meaning he didn’t exhibit all the traits that’d normally be associated with bugmen. Still, his outward appearance was unique enough for me to make me really curious as to how full fledged bugmen looked.
But oh well, whatever. His appearance wasn’t important. What mattered was that he actually seemed just as skilled as the guild had said he was. His titles were self evident, and further proof of his abilities was provided by the fact that he’d not only completely maxed out alchemy, but even moved on to leveling up transmutation. Based on what I read in the skill description, transmutation was to alchemy what divine sword arts were to regular sword arts, a flat out improvement. There was also the whole characterization that he had going for him. It practically screamed master alchemist at the top of its lungs.
「Okay, why don’t I introduce myself? My name is Eugene, an alchemist that has contracted the entirety of his services to the Adventurer’s Guild.」
「Not in Alchemist’s Guild?」
「Hahaha, I did used to be a part of it, however, one of my disciples had ended up causing a scandal, so I had to take responsibility for his actions and resign from my position. I was picked up by the Adventurer’s Guild shortly after.」
「It’s not the Doctor’s fault at all though. The apprentice that caused the scandal was one that’d already left his care.」
「That doesn’t change the fact that he committed a crime through the application knowledge he obtained from my teachings.」
「I still think that the Alchemist’s Guild went too far. It really didn’t merit confiscating your membership.」
The elf replied to Eugene’s acceptance of his punishment with an unhappy look on her face.
「Doctor. Leaving Alchemist’s Guild for Adventurer’s Guild. Didn’t cause bad blood?」
Fran’s doubt was a sensible one. Most people probably wouldn’t exactly be what you’d call happy if someone they kicked out immediately managed to find their way into another organisation.
「It definitely did. The Alchemist’s Guild’s last Guild Master harassed me every single day until he retired.」
「I think the current Guild Master took up his position about five years ago. He’s not nearly as extreme as the last one.」
「That isn’t to say that there isn’t any sort of residual resentment anymore though. Many alchemists still feel hostility towards adventurers.」
Apparently, Eugene’s recruitment had even damaged the relationship between the two guilds.
「Adventurers dislike you?」
If the two guilds started antagonizing each other, then it’d mean that adventurers would have a hard time getting a lot of the items they needed to go out and do their jobs, which, in turn, would likely led to adventurers disliking Eugene as well.
「I don’t think so. If anything, I think most of the adventurers are glad that the Doctor joined our ranks.」
「Why?」
「The doctor’s been teaching alchemy to some of the guild’s other members, and as a result, we’ve gained the ability to produce our own proprietary goods. In other words, we managed to eliminate the Alchemist’s Guild’s monopoly, and thus, their ability to control the market. Many items are actually even cheaper than they used to be, so it’s actually much easier for adventurers to get their hands on them.」
「Though that’s likely why so many alchemists are feeling bitter about the matter.」
So that’s how it is. I admit that I do pity Eugene a bit, but I can’t say his situation isn’t one that’s to our benefit. I was a bit worried that information about us would end up getting leaked if we took our questions to the Alchemist’s Guild. Moreover, the items we’d obtained had come from pirates, so there was also always the possibility that they’d ask us to return them. Having someone that’s a part of the Adventurer’s Guild do everything for us instead reduced both those risks by a lot. It looked like the guild really trusted the doctor, so things were looking up. All knowledge of the items in our possession would probably stay a secret.
We were asked to sit shortly after our guide had left the room and returned to her regular duties.
「How would you feel about a cup of tea before we get down to business?」
「Nn. Thanks.」
The cup Fran was given was filled with a darkened liquid that bore a slight resemblance to Oolong Tea.
「Nn.」
Fran immediately picked up the cup and give it a small sip. It looked like she wanted to keep drinking, but she was black cat beastman and thus, her tongue was rather sensitive to heat. [1]
「Oh? You’re not going to react at all?」
Eugene looked at Fran with a bit of an inquisitive expression. Wait, why? Was the tea supposed to be poisoned or something? Nah, no way. Appraisal said it was just a regular cup of Oobow tea. Fran’s status was perfectly normal too, so…
「Ah, right, I should probably explain. I really like the flavour of that tea, but it seems that most that’ve tried it found it too bitter, and some would even spit it back out immediately. Lately, I’ve started to find people’s reactions to its taste to be something of interest. It seems however, like you don’t dislike the taste.」
「Nn. Tasty.」
「I’m glad to hear it! Not many people can find themselves able to appreciate its flavour.」
Oh, I get it. It’s kind of like Senburi tea. People who like it love it, but the people who don’t can’t stand it at all.
「Bitter but tasty.」
「Yeah, exactly! I’m glad you feel the same way. Would you like to take some tea leaves with you?」
「Please.」
Eugene happily handed Fran a bag of tea leaves. He really did seem happy that he managed to find someone else who liked the tea’s flavour.
「Now then, why don’t we get down to business?」
「Want you to look at some items.」
「Oh?」
「But don’t want you to tell anyone else. If possible.」
「That’s fine. Lots of people have requested the same before, and I’m proud to say that I’ve managed to keep everything confidential.」
『The doctor isn’t lying. It looks like you can trust him.』
「Nn. Examine these.」
We already knew enough about the the Highest Grade Life Potions, the Panaceas, and the High Grade Mana Potions, so we didn’t bother having him tell us about them. We intended to have him look through the rest, so we started with the less harmful looking ones at the forefront.
「Is that a High Grade Potion of Repair? That’s quite the item you’ve got there.」
「Want to know its value.」
「Hmmm… If you were to purchase that at a store, it’d normally run you about twenty thousand Golde.」
Well, that’s more than I was expecting.
「It’s a bit on the pricey side, but it’s effect is well worth it. It can allow you to repair your equipment even if you’re out in the middle of adventuring It even has the ability to repair magic weapons, which are typically known to be quite difficult to fix.」
Yeah, it definitely was convenient. Just using a potion to repair a magic sword was definitely way easier than the arduous process of bringing it to a blacksmith, only to find out that they lacked the required materials, and that’d have to gather them yourself.
「Then. This?」
「Oh? That’s another rare one. It’s called a Potion of Rising Skill, and it’s worth approximately three hundred thousand Golde, however, its price can be inflated up to another ten times as a result of the fact that nobles have an extremely high demand for them. 」
Ten times? Wait, so this thing can be worth up to three million Golde? What the hell, that’s ridiculously expensive! Though, I guess I can kind of see why. Nobles probably buy these for their kids so they can boost up their skill levels without having to risk any sort of danger. I’d actually find it weird for this not to be in high demand.
「Next. Have three of these.」
「Wow… one amazing thing after another is it? This one trumps both your previous items by far.」
It’s even more amazing than a portion that can easily net us over three hundred thousand Golde?
「Do you know what Alchemy potions do?」
「Nope.」
「They’re potions used in alchemy, as suggested by their names. You can mix them in whilst producing an alchemic product in order to elevate the resulting quality and effects. The highest grade ones that you have are so rare that not even I’ve seen them in quite the amount of time. Mixing one into a bunch of ingredients that would normally result in a lesser potion would make so you’d get a high grade potion instead.」
「Then. Means expensive?」
「Very. They cost about a million Golde per piece.」
「Really?」
Holy crap! They’re both incredibly expensive and effective. If they can turn lesser potions into high grade ones, then what would happen if you mixed them into highest grade potions? Would you end up creating something that could resurrect the dead?
It looked like we made a total of at least three and half million so far. I really wanted to give myself a high five for choosing that box right about now.
『F-Fran, we should show him the rest of what we got.』
「Nn. How about this?」
The next potion Fran brought out was the one I was most curious about, the Anti-Side Effect Potion.
「How interesting. They should be worth about three hundred thousand Golde a piece, but it’s worth nothing that they’re so rare that I’ve never actually seen one in person before.」
「Want to know detailed effects. Especially when used on inorganics. And magic beasts.」
「It should work on magic beasts without any issues whatsoever. I can’t say I’m sure when it comes to inorganics… but it should work.」
「Really?」
「Yeah. It’s like the Potion of Repair you showed me earlier. They’re both magically enhanced potions, so they should work similarly.」
「Understood. Example. This sword has a powerful special ability. But cannot use for several days after using it. Will using this potion make that time shorter?」
「Hmmm… To be honest, I can’t say for sure whether it’d work like that or not. But it could, theoretically…」
It’s a bit of shame that we can’t actually confirm the potion’s efficacy, but whatever. At least we learned that it could work. We had three, so we could always just use one of them to run a test. Though, said test would result in a net loss of three hundred thousand Golde.
「I have to admit, I’ve been finding this whole thing quite fun. Did you happen to have anything else?」
「This.」
「Hmmm.. It looks like a Potion of Attribute Reversal, and there’s quite the amount of it as well.」
「Nn? Only have one.」
「You don’t normally use more than just a few drops at a time.」
Apparently, the Potion of Attribute Reversal had the ability to do exactly what its name said. It could reverse magical elements, purify poison, and even turn a curse into a blessing. It looked like it’d be fun to play around with.
「You’ve got quite a lot of it. If you used it all at once, you’d probably be able to eliminate a really powerful curse, or maybe even purify a whole pond’s worth of poison. It should be worth about one hundred thousand Golde. It’s an amazing potion, but its price isn’t too high because if its limited applications.」
Oh, so it’s cheap because there isn’t any demand for it. Well, technically it’s not really cheap at all, but like, you know, relatively speaking.;
「Hmmm… Would you like to see its effects? We could use a drop of it to perform a bit of an experiment, if you’d like.」
（Master?）
『I don’t really mind if it’s just a drop or two. I’m pretty curious about the experiment he’s got in mind.』
「Nn. Accepted.」
「Alright. Give me just a second.」
Eugene grabbed a glass bottle that seemed to look something like a beaker. It was probably one of the tools he used for alchemy.
「The bottle is only filled with water for now, but I’m going to put a bit of poison inside of it.」
The doctor used a skill and caused a bit of black liquid dripped to drop from his open palm into the beaker.
「Alright, now, you can use this thing right here to verify that the bottle contains poison.」
「Thing?」
「These glasses give you the ability to use appraisal, though its effects are only about the same as that of the skill at level 1.」
Glasses that let you appraise things? That’s pretty neat. I decided to go along with the whole thing and join it with my appraisal as well. Checking the water informed me that it was poisoned, just as the doctor had described it to be.
「Verified.」
「And now, all we have to do is just drip a single drop of the Potion of Attribute Reversal into the bottle.」
「Amazing. Deadly poison water transformed. Water of rejuvenation.」
「Great, ain’t it? The poison’s disappeared altogether. You could probably even use this water to make tea.」
「Nn? Can make tea with it?」
「Yeah, and it even makes it more delicious.」
「Delicious?」
「Oh? I guess you must’ve not been aware that the human tongue has the ability to detect magic. That’s why we enjoy eating magic beasts. The same applies to magically enhanced water. Magically enhanced water can totally change the flavour of a cup of tea or a bowl of soup. Would you like to give it a try?」
「Nn.」
「Alright, hold on for a little bit.」
The doctor took about three minutes to prepare Fran another cup of Oobow tea. It didn’t look any different, but apparently looks weren’t everything.
「Tasty!」
「Right?」
Apparently the taste had changed so much that it’d even surprised Fran.
『Is it really that good?』
（Totally different taste. Way yummier.）
The tea now even had the ability to restore one’s stamina and cure minor status conditions. It looked to me like this was something that’d sell pretty well, but the doctor said that it wasn’t a very profitable business because the potion was far too difficult to make in large quantities.
「Possible to make food taste better by pouring in magical energy?」
Ohhh, that’s a good idea.
「Nah. You’d have to use the type of magic most compatible with your ingredients, else the food would actually end up tasting worse. You could pull it off for a single ingredient like water, but, you can’t just pour magical energy into a completed dish to make it taste better.」
「Too bad.」
「You also don’t want there to be too much magic in the food either.」
「Really?」
「If you eat too much stuff with a lot of magical energy in it, you’re going to end up craving nothing but the taste of magic. All your other tastes will begin to dull.」
Right, makes sense. I do remember there being people that always thought whatever they were eating wasn’t spicy enough. Likewise, there were also people that’d put sugar on literally everything. Magic probably messed up your sense of taste just the same way.
「Why don’t we take demons as an example? They’re born with a lot of magical energy, and hence, they’re fairly sensitive to it. They tend like foods that contain it and since they eat a lot of it throughout their lives, they end up developing a completely different sense of taste than everyone on the more human side of the spectrum. In fact, they don’t even care for any other flavours. All that matters to them is that the food they eat has magic in it. I’ve actually had a demon, an acquaintance of mine, cook for me in the past, and all I can say is that their food tastes like it literally comes from hell.」
Hmm, so that’s how that works. I better be careful not to mess up Fran’s sense of taste. I should probably try to think up a dish that uses a sort of subtle taste as opposed to relying on magical energy.
「Anyways, back on topic. I have to say, I can’t actually use my appraisal skill on the Potion of Attribute Reversal.」
Oh yeah, right, that was a thing. Can’t help but wonder why, now that he’s brought it up and all that.
「It’s because the ingredients are a bit special. One of the chemicals used to create the potion contains appraisal blocking properties. As a result, the final product is also a bit difficult to appraise. Not even I can see anything more than just the item’s name. People with low leveled appraisal skills probably wouldn’t be able to see anything at all, and hence, most people end up labeling bottles like this one just so they don’t get lost. It makes me really wonder where you actually picked it up.」
The last part was nothing more than just a mumble, but regardless, it seemed like he was quite curious as to where we got all these portions.
「Next. This one.」
「A root of arcane soul, and an interesting one at that.」
「Looks empty. Used for what?」
「Don’t mind the invisibility, they’re supposed to be like that. Just think of it as a bottle containing a bunch of magical energy. You can use it to make artificial magic stones.」
「Artificial magic stones?」
「You normally use them when you’re making yourself a familiar. This thing basically ends up becoming the most important part of said familiar’s magic stone. You can use it to adjust the familiar’s skills and properties. I can’t really get anything out of appraising it, so I’d say that it’s most likely potent enough to create a fairly powerful final product.」
「Price?」
「Hmm… Somewhere in the range of fifty thousand to a million.」
That’s a pretty huge price range. Though, I guess it’s fair given how little is known about it. Tts value can probably change depending on who you’re trying to sell it to too. Welp, that one’s going to sit in storage for a while.
「Last one.」
The last item we pulled out was the one most likely to cause issues.
「T-That’s… quite the item you’ve got there.」
「Bad to have?」
「Yeah. It’s really dangerous, especially if you’re carrying it around. Make sure you don’t drop it. Okay?」
Eugene’s expression had stayed relatively calm throughout the process, but seeing our last item had caused his face to pale. Apparently the Poison Mixture of the Highest Grade was actually something really hazardous.
「That’s another one I haven’t seen in a long time.」
「Approximate value?」
「Well, you see, that isn’t something you can just put a price on. In fact, selling it might end up getting you in trouble with the law unless you follow a certain set of procedures. That’s just how dangerous it is.」
「That bad?」
「Well… Why don’t I put it this way? You could probably get rid of it by giving it to some sort of military or criminal organisation for about a million Golde. I myself had used it twenty years ago in order to subjugate a dragon classified as a B ranked threat.」
「How effective?」
「A single drop of the stuff is potent enough to kill a hundred grown men, so by that metric, you have enough to wipe out about two thousand people. If you were to use all of it at once, you could probably kill a D ranked magic beast with ease. Even if it didn’t die, it’d probably end up crippled and utterly dysfunctional.」
Wow, that’s uh, pretty bad. I’m not so sure we should actually hold onto it, especially given that Eugene was glaring at it with a rather complicated look on his face.
「I’m not going to force you to agree to this, but, I’d like to take it off your hands. To be completely honest, that poison right there is so deadly that I really don’t want anyone else knowing about it at all. I can pay you up to two hundred thousand Golde.」
「Accepted.」
The bottle sitting in front of us was actually one of many. We’d originally only had a single large bottle of the stuff, but I had Urushi combine his poison magic with my telekinesis in order to divide up the larger bottle’s contents into a bunch of smaller portions. I’d actually even gone and used space/time magic in order to timestop the poison and make the whole process more safe, but, we ultimately ended up rushing it anyway because I could only hold the timestop for a total of five seconds at once. [2]
To be honest, we’d actually only split it up into several smaller bottles because we’d suspected that it’d be confiscated.
「That said, I didn’t actually know that there were any alchemists out there capable of creating this… Where exactly did you happen to get it?」
It’d probably be better for us to tell him than not.
『Fran, show him the box.』
「Nn. This.」
「Isn’t that one of the Alchemist’s Guild’s transport boxes?」
「Found it at pirate’s base. All potions came from inside.」
「That can’t be… I don’t think the Alchemist’s Guild had anyone capable of… Wait…」
He began to start brooding in response the reveal.
「Something wrong?」
「Sorry, it’s just that something seems off.」
「Off?」
「Well, you’re both the person who discovered the box, as well as an adventurer, so I guess there won’t be any harm in telling you. Normally, losing a box like that would cause quite the uproar given the value of the potions and dangerous chemicals within it. Hence, its owner should have contacted the Adventurer’s Guild and issued an order for its immediate retrieval.」
「But no request?」
「Not any that I’ve heard of, at the very least. Keeping silent about the loss of a Poison Mixture of the Highest Grade could even lead to being punished with treason. We also don’t know who these potions were being shipped to, and why. In other words, we’re going to need to get in touch with the Alchemist’s Guild in order to figure out what’s going on.」
That’s fine, but I really don’t want Fran’s name getting out there, especially not for something like this.
「Don’t worry about it. I can swear that I will not disclose your identity.」
Doesn’t look like he’s lying. Well, I guess it can’t be helped then. He’d probably suspect us if we went against him, so let’s just say he owes us and be done with it.
「Okay.」
「Thank you. Make sure you stop by again. I’ll be around most of the time, and I’ll make sure to serve you another cup of tea if you do drop by.」
「Nn.」
Well, I was interested in alchemy anyway, so yeah, why not?
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[1] Japanese people say that cat tongues are especially sensitive to heat, so they can’t eat hot foods. People who can’t eat hot foods are said to have cat’s tongues as well.
[2] Probably a Dio reference.