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Morning. We were preparing to leave the Duke’s territory. To be precise, it was more the coachman who was preparing. While the coachman was busy, Duke and Riche were having a conversation at the entrance of the mansion.

Next to the Duke stood a different butler than the one I had seen yesterday, who was sobbing while holding Riche’s hand. That must be the butler who is one of Riche’s only allies.

“Are you okay?”

“…Yeah. I’m feeling a bit better now.”

It was a huge matter to have occurred overnight. One of the pillars of the Empire, the head of a Count’s family, had been replaced, and someone’s father had died.

“What about your sister?”

“I think Carol needs more time.”

“I see… I wanted to at least say goodbye before leaving.”

Riche looking pretty normal after having a good night’s sleep was surprising. Truly, sleep is remarkable.

“Take care of yourself. And when you have time, come by the mansion occasionally.”

“Okay. I’ll stop by if I’m nearby.”

After that brief farewell, the Duke came over to say goodbye to us too. Even though I did kill Gerald, it was clear he was planning to do the same to me. The Duke was not foolish enough to blur the line between public and private matters.

“I would like to ask you about our conversation yesterday…”

What did we talk about yesterday…? Was it about how pretty the flowers were?

…Who knows. Better to just nod along.

“Uh… um… yes.”

So, we boarded the cart and left Winchester County.

*

No matter how nice the cart was, the ride wasn’t pleasant. After a week of living in a cart, I’d have thought I’d be used to it, but it was the opposite. Apparently, I’m just not cut out for cart life.

“I should just raise some kids and use teleportation next time.”

I stretched to loosen my stiff body.

“Where are we headed now?”

“Adventurer’s Guild.”

“We just arrived, and now you’re off again…?”

“We just goofed off the whole way here.”

If I had just returned from work, I would head straight to lodging to sleep. Since we had been playing in the cart for a week, we had to get back to work immediately.

“If you want to rest, I could go alone.”

“…No, I’ll go too. I feel like I’d get abandoned.”

“Suit yourself.”

We quickened our pace.

When we finally arrived at the Adventurer’s Guild, the scene before us felt so familiar, it was almost like déjà vu.

“Here we go again…”

At this point, isn’t this what they’re really good at? Gathering and murmuring whenever something happens. It’s like they’re a bunch of extra characters in a dramatic scene.

At least, there was a slight difference today; instead of murmuring about a person, they were gathered in front of the request board murmuring.

Did someone smear dung on the request board or something?

“Adela.”

“Oh, you came at just the right time.”

“Really?”

Adela was looking for me? That’s never happened before!

“Have you missed me after not seeing me for a week?”

When I said that, Adela’s expression immediately soured. What? Not that?

Adela, still with a sour expression, pointed her finger. It was directed at the adventurers crowding in front of the request board.

“Do you see all those adventurers gathering over there?”

“Oh. I was just about to ask what’s going on. Did someone post a request for an S-Rank Monster hunt or something?”

“Not quite, but somewhat similar.”

If it’s something similar to the S-Rank Monster hunt, then it can’t just be any request; it must require an S-Rank Adventurer to be specified, right?

“Right now, there’s a request posted by an Alchemist.”

“An S-Rank Alchemist?”

“Yes. And Luke, you need to meet with the Alchemist as well, right?”

Is there an event happening? Actually, the Alchemist is someone I don’t know much about. Since they never appeared in the main story, I thought they would show up in a side story.

The only detail I know is that they love to travel and roam across the continent. So, I honestly thought meeting them would be hard; guess I’m lucky.

“I’ll go check out what it is.”

“Sure.”

I headed toward the request board to see what interesting thing had been posted. When I told the adventurers milling about to get lost, they initially looked like they were going to get angry, but once they saw my face, they just backed off.

Among countless requests, I started searching for the Alchemist’s one. It was plastered right in the center of the board, boldly on top of another request.

──────────────────

Request!

I’m looking for an assistant to help me!

Need someone incredibly strong!

Difficulty Unknown!

Reward: Transformation Potion!

I’ll come to pick you up at the Adventurer’s Guild a week later at noon, so those interested can just wait!

From Alchemist.

──────────────────

It looked like something hastily scribbled down on a piece of paper. In the bottom right corner, there was even a small drawing of a rabbit.

“What kind of request is this…?”

“Was that the type of character you saw in the novel, Luke?”

“I don’t know. The Alchemist wasn’t featured.”

One thing was certain: their personality seemed a lot more vibrant compared to the other S-Rank Adventurers I’ve seen so far. The ability to deduce a person’s character just from writing is quite impressive!

“Seeing this, I understand why the adventurers were just standing around.”

“They weren’t just standing by; they couldn’t help but stand by.”

The details of the request were vague, and it was entirely unclear what level of skill was required. Plus, since the Alchemist was the one making the request and had written that the difficulty is unknown, heading in half-baked would be like signing up for suicide.

And the biggest issue was…

“What’s a Transformation Potion?”

“Beats me… I don’t have a clue either.”

I’d understandably not know much about it since it didn’t come up except in novels, but if someone from this world as well, like Riche, doesn’t know about it, isn’t that saying something?

Everyone is all about earning money through work, yet there’s no reward listed, and they’ve put some weird Transformation Potion as the prize. It’s no wonder nobody wants to take it!

But the problem is, I have business with the Alchemist.

“Can I get just a recommendation without doing this?”

“No way would they be that stupid, no matter how tough it is…”

It’s obvious they’ll say something like they’ll only write a recommendation if I help them out. There’s always an exchange involved.

“Ugh, this is annoying.”

Reluctantly, I snatched the request form and headed straight to Adela to hand it to her.

“Are you going to do it?”

“Yep.”

“Understood. We’ll keep the request safe, so you can just do your other tasks until a week. You can do other requests as well.”

“No, I plan to rest for the week.”

Who knows how much they’ll make me work after a week, so I better stack up some rest time now to avoid regrets!

*

A week later, at the Adventurer’s Guild.

Since I was supposed to be picked up at midnight, I arrived about five minutes early to wait at the guild. I wondered if the Alchemist would show up first. But there was no sign of them. They seemed like they wanted to arrive right on the dot; I was curious if they would use a teleportation spell.

After those five minutes passed, at exactly midnight—

A small glowing magic circle appeared in the center of the Adventurer’s Guild, and soon, a person emerged from it. Oh wow! How fascinating!

With delicate arms and legs, a petite figure, and a brown bob haircut, a little girl who looked about 150 cm tall dashed over to the reception desk.

As she ran, the oversized robe that didn’t fit her flapped around, and flasks and vials dangling from her waist clinked loudly.

“Adela-onee! Long time no see!”

“We saw each other the last time you came to post a request.”

“Hehe… But I’m still so happy to see you!”

The Alchemist, standing on her tiptoes at the reception desk, raised her hand. The silly tuft sticking out from the top of her head bobbed around, and Adela affectionately patted it. Adela also seemed young, but judging by the fact that she called her “onee,” she must still be a teenager.

But with her manner of speaking and appearance, she strangely resembled Yui. I looked down at Yui beside me. She tilted her head, confused.

“Why are you looking at me?”

“Nothing.”

I turned my gaze back toward the reception desk.

“Oh right! Is there an adventurer who took my request?”

“The adventurer who accepted your request is right behind you.”

Whoosh! The Alchemist turned around and made eye contact with us. Then she rushed over and greeted us.

“Hello! My name is Amy! Thank you for accepting my request!”

“Hey. I’m Arthur.”

“Luke…”

I tried to keep my name hidden, but Adela shot me a glare from afar.

“Actually, I’m Luke.”

“Got it! Nice to meet you, Brother Luke!”

After that, the Alchemist Amy introduced herself to Luna, Riche one by one, then waved to Yui. But then—

“Eh?”

She grabbed Yui’s hands with both of hers and suddenly asked with curiosity.

“Are you a Vampire?”

“Yes? Y-yes…”

“Wow! I heard that all vampires were wiped out! If it’s not too much trouble, can I collect some blood from you!?”

“Eek…!”

Yui looked at me pleadingly as Amy suddenly pulled out a syringe. The saying goes, the enemy of a child is another child, and that couldn’t be more accurate! The look in Amy’s eyes made it seem like she would drain Yui to a mummy if left unchecked.

“More importantly, what do we need to help you with?”

When I changed the subject, Amy seemed to have momentarily forgotten, letting go of Yui’s hands. Yui then darted behind me.

“Ah! That’s right! Before that, please take this!”

Amy handed each of us a blue translucent gemstone.

“What’s this?”

“Teleportation Stone! If you throw it on the ground, you can teleport to pre-designated coordinates!”

Oh… such a thing existed? Why didn’t I know about it until now?

“Then I’ll go ahead, so you all should follow right away!”

With that, Amy said her farewells to Adela, then immediately threw the Teleportation Stone onto the floor. The floor where the stone broke shone with a small magic circle, and soon after, Amy vanished just like when she appeared.

“Looks like we didn’t even get to hear the details of the request.”

Was she just careless, or was she just impatient? In any case, we probably need to go and find out the details, so we exchanged glances for a moment before throwing our Teleportation Stones to the ground as well.

Just like before, the magic circle sparkled, and when we regained our senses, we found ourselves in a different location.

The first thing that caught my eyes was a grand plaza with a fountain. Surrounding us were iron structures of a style we wouldn’t see in the Empire.

“Where are we…?”

“Welcome! To the land of magic engineering, Marquina!”

We had arrived at the dwarven city of Marquina.

 

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