NOVEL WEB Chapter 19: The Alchemist
The residents of Gallowind once chose an affectionate name for Achmea’s tower. The Shop of Miracles. This unofficial name could be seen on a board near the tower, alongside the tower’s original name, Eldon Sorcerer Tower.
Zephyr merely glanced at the board on his way. He only came here for a potion, and he wouldn’t go back without it.
The tower’s doors were open to all, but there was no place to set foot. Pots and pans of mixtures cluttered the floor, half destroyed and flattened. Colorful magical potions spilled over the large table in the shop. As if a thief flipped the place upside down in search of treasures.
“What caused this?”
“I had a small mishap,” a rather toneless voice answered his question as a hand waved on the other side of the table. “Please wait while I deal with this.”
Zephyr curiously peeked over the table. A violet ponytail bobbed left and right as its owner diligently wiped the spilled mixtures with a small cloth. At her pace, cleaning the place might take a day or two.
“You’re alone?”
“I rarely get customers here.”
Achmea provided the town with a great deal of leisure. The store should be crowded with the praises and worship Achmea Flora received. Forget about customers, nobody came to help her even in an explosive emergency
Zephyr shrugged away his concerns. “I need a potion for high fever.”
“High fever?”
Achmea quickly pulled herself to her feet. She was gorgeous in a modest black dress with white and purple palette. A pair of silver eyes peered from her see-through black blindfold. She didn’t lose to his half dragoness companion in beauty. Rather, her melancholic smile could twist people’s hearts, forcing them to do the impossible to witness her smile.
“Quickly, take me to the patient,” she urged with a delicate frown.
Zephyr narrowed his eyes at the white outlines around her. An illusion was at work to change Achmea’s appearance, hiding her true colors from the real world.
‘Is she a brood spy? Could she be Arlette’s associate?’
Zephyr frowned. A spy from the Brood faction would certainly not have the patience to create potions to fund an entire town. She most likely belonged to Arlette’s faction.
“Kukuku.” Riven chuckled, amused. “Need help?”
‘No.’
“Why have you frozen?” Achmea asked, hearing nothing from the stranger.
Zephyr opened his mouth to spit some lie. It became unnecessary when a familiar face strolled in the store and glared at Achmea.
“You stubborn alchemist, how dare you not call me for help? I will toss you in prison for this offense.”
Achmea’s purple lips curled ever so slightly. “Drake, this man came for a fever cure potion. He isn’t speaking now.”
She pointed at Zephyr accurately as if the blindfold couldn’t block her vision.
“Zephyr, my beloved sister is the most beautiful soul on this planet. I dare say her kindness rivals the holy goddess of light. It does not give you any reason to lose your heart to her unrivaled beauty. Your fiancée will be upset. I don’t want my sister to carry that sin!”
“She is your sister?” Zephyr rubbed the back of his head, wondering if he should reveal Achmea’s illusion to Drake. After some back and forth in his mind, he pushed back the matter until Sherine recovered. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to stare at you. Can we hurry up now? Sherine needs help.”
“Sherine’s fever got worse?” Drake almost shouted. “Fuck. His inn isn’t far from here. We’re going there.”
Drake gathered light green mana in his hand and pushed the clutter with a wind blast. The sorcery wasn’t enough to clean everything but it gave the place a resemblance to an actual store.
Drake rushed inside the store and grabbed the necessary tools to brew a potion on the go.
Zephyr felt like he could trust Drake as those concerns for Sherine couldn’t be faked. And Drake had done nothing to betray his trust. His intuition compelled him to give Drake a chance.
On the off chance he was wrong, Riven would protect him and Sherine. Even if the trap god was upset, he wouldn’t abandon them to die.
With everything set and done, Zephyr led the siblings.
The people cheered for Achmea, every person calling out her name with enthusiasm. Achmea remained expressionless like a block of glacier unaffected by the warmth of others.
Back in the inn room, Achmea touched Sherine’s forehead. “She has a fever… there is something strange.”
She could sense a bundle of extreme heat gathered around Sherine’s belly. She never came across something like this. She wrecked her brain, trying to find anything in three hundred years worth of memories. It was then her gaze fell on the single horn on Sherine’s head.
‘Dragon horn?’
Her father had collected various books on ancient species. One of them contained details about the long perished ancient dragon and dragonoids race. The horn on Sherine’s head resembled one.
‘Is she really a dragon?’
She took off her blindfold and activated her Prime-rank ‘Lunar Reveal’ skill. Her silver eyes glowed and unraveled the truth behind Sherine’s horn. A dense swirl of unknown energy made up the horn.
‘A real dragon.’
Now Achmea just had to remember all the details about a book she read two hundred years ago. She did so within moments and discovered the reason for Sherine’s fever.
“Your fiancèe is in heat.”
Zephyr raised a brow at the unexpected reason. Riven’s earlier claim that only Zephyr could cure Sherine made sense now.
‘I was worried for nothing.’
He breathed a sigh of absolute relief.
“Heat?” Drake sharpened his eyes. “Humans don’t go into heat. What is your fiancée?”
“What?!” Zephyr put on a shocked face. “That can’t be.”
Achmea put on her blindfold and turned to Zephyr. The unfathomable look in her eyes sent chills down his spine. “Does it make a difference? Will your love change because she is a monster?”
She had nothing against the monsters for she grew up with magic beasts and ancient creatures inside the forest.
Zephyr’s smile broadened into a grin. “Not in the slightest.”
He had nothing against monster girls. On the contrary, he adored your typical demi humans.
Achmea crossed her arms under her chest and smiled. Drake glanced back and forth between Zephyr and his sister. He hadn’t seen his sister smile for a man since that unfortunate day. The day her husband Sorcerer Eldon passed away in a struggle against the onslaught of the brood.
‘It’s sad Zephyr is taken by a beauty.’
Drake shook his head, feeling like his day was ruined.
"Zephyr?"
Zephyr jolted from the soft voice in his head. Sherine woke up!