Chapter 49
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 49
Chapter Title: 9. My Potions Sell Too Well
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“Hey, have you tried that stuff?”
“Of course. I hear there are even kids taking custom orders and selling it professionally these days.”
“...Wow, they’ve got some guts.”
These days, a rumor was circulating among the adventurers.
‘I heard the potions from the Academy general store are amazing.’
‘They’re cheaper than others but perform way better.’
‘Brokers are even popping up, smuggling them out through students.’
The rumor was about the owner of the Academy general store.
About the potions made by Edin.
Originally, only a few adventurers had been sneaking them out through connections, but word spread, and eventually, most adventurers caught wind of it.
“Dude, it really is different.”
“The potions I used before feel like total garbage now.”
“Right? They just seem overpriced for no reason.”
“Hahaha! Once you get used to the good stuff, there’s no going back.”
Soon, conversations openly turned to where people got them and what the reviews were like.
Naturally, the Adventurer Academy cracked down.
To stop students from smuggling, they required proof of intended use for purchases.
Suspicious students faced heavy penalties right away.
Those who crossed the line were expelled without warning.
It wasn’t just students—even adventurers caught using the smuggled potions faced reports and potential disciplinary action.
“If Mr. Edin isn’t selling them externally himself, those potions are essentially Academy property. Smuggling them is embezzlement.”
Even Board Chair Mureos stepped up with a firm statement.
If Edin were profiting from external sales himself, that’d be one thing—but students buying cheap and reselling outside for profit was a serious issue.
“Damn, this is ridiculous.”
“If it’s such good stuff, shouldn’t active adventurers be using it, not students?”
“Why’s the Academy hogging it?!”
Once the crackdown ramped up, adventurers started protesting.
Why should great items be exclusive to the Academy?
They had a point.
After all, active adventurers staked their lives on the line far more than students did.
“External sales... Honestly, I couldn’t keep up with demand. And it’d end up like now—scalpers slapping on premiums and jacking up prices sky-high.”
Edin sounded troubled as he addressed it.
First off, he made them alone, so supply was critically limited.
Even diluting high-rank potions only multiplied output by about five times.
For thousands of adventurers... or tens of thousands hearing rumors from outside?
No way he could handle that.
Back in the day, Edin might’ve thought, Eh, no way it’d sell that much.
But now he understood the value of his skills and potions.
So he reached this conclusion.
...Of course, compared to a few close ones who truly grasped his essence,
he was still underestimating his own abilities.
Anyway, even full-time potion-making all day wouldn’t suffice for external sales.
That led to the second problem.
With limited quantities, scalpers slapping on premiums were inevitable.
Edin didn’t care much either way, honestly.
Money was nice, but he wasn’t out to rake in a fortune.
Just selling at fair prices would be fine.
But others wouldn’t see it that way.
Resellers profiting like now could lead to big losses or fights for someone.
If only we could solve mass production or scalping somehow... Ugh, headache. That’s why I tried not to think about it.
As he pondered,
“Mr. Edin, someone’s here to see you.”
Rinen, Chair Mureos’s chief secretary, had come with news again today.
“Huh? Who?”
His head was already killing him, and now a visitor?
Her coming personally meant they’d requested a direct meeting with the Academy.
The Blaze Family? An Adventurer Guild elder?
Maybe here to chew him out over the potion supply issue?
Lots of possibilities, but the truth was something else entirely.
“An elder from the Alchemist Guild... has arrived.”
“...What?”
#
The Alchemist Guild.
Exactly what it sounded like—a gathering of alchemists.
With roughly 100,000 members across the continent.
Not as massive as the Adventurer or Mage Guilds, but still a major organization by any measure.
Actually, considering alchemists’ nature,
holding 100,000 members was arguably more impressive than the Adventurer Guild commanding hundreds of thousands.
Alchemists were inherently reclusive.
Obsessed with their personal recipes and secret techniques, they were research maniacs.
They hated sharing unless it was with a handpicked disciple.
Because of that, few ever joined groups to begin with.
Most just sold their handmade potions to merchants or specific organizations.
But the founding master and elders thought differently.
Alchemists’ power is too weak.
Due to their isolation, their influence didn’t match their potential—power and presence were minimal.
You’ve heard of great archmages or legendary swordmasters, but ‘great grand alchemists’ or ‘legendary potion masters’? Not so much.
“Alchemists have talents deserving praise and influence to match.”
Under that banner, elder alchemists—worthy of ‘great grand alchemist’ titles—formed the Guild.
That will endured, and over nearly 50 years,
much like adventurers’ status rose post-Academy founding,
alchemists’ prestige grew too.
These days, it felt a bit over-the-top, like they were too full of themselves... probably backlash from past disdain.
Anyway.
Like the Mage Guild, they scouted talents relentlessly.
Despite being newer, their rapid growth came because,
unlike top talents flocking to Adventurer or Mage Guilds,
alchemists got the best treatment here.
Vast knowledge from genius alchemists.
Access to specialized equipment.
Cheap materials via Guild perks.
Any notable alchemist joined for the benefits alone.
No other place matched the massive database or perks.
Especially since most were research nuts—the trove of techniques and formulas deemed ‘safe to share’ was a utopia unique to the Guild.
But now,
a crisis hit them.
Caused by... one single potion.
No, not just any potion.
The one recently buzzing among adventurers, made by ‘Edin’ from the Adventurer Academy.
“Unbelievable. Even diluted, it’s obvious. This purity... it’s absurd.”
“The Academy made potions at this level?”
“Did they snag some ultra-precise machine somewhere?”
“No, we supply all the ones circulating.”
“Ahem...”
The Alchemist Guild elders were in an uproar.
Laypeople wouldn’t notice, but these pinnacle experts saw it instantly.
The potion by this Edin had impossibly pure clarity, impossible to replicate.
Diluted as they were, the base was textbook-perfect—flawless purity and ratios.
A ‘theoretically ideal potion’ straight out of a manual.
“Ah, the Academy. Didn’t someone take their test before?”
“Yes. We memory-wiped them, but we’re restoring it now.”
They’d once sent senior alchemist Lucen Gerion to the general store owner test.
A ploy to block a talent from joining the Adventurer Guild and lure him here.
“...Now it makes sense why they wiped his memory.”
“Hiding something, huh? Hiding a monster like this!”
Murmurs filled the conference room.
Then.
BAM!
The elder at the head table slammed it down.
“......”
“......”
The elders fell silent.
The head elder... the Guild Master, scanned them slowly before speaking quietly.
“If he made this by hand... that young man’s skill surpasses our wildest imagination.”
He was right.
Even ultra-precise machines costing a fortune barely achieved this after countless tries.
But he did it barehanded?
What’s the difference from a god wielding miracles?
“In that case... we honestly can’t bring him to our Guild.”
No appeal for him there.
The elders quietly agreed as the Master spoke softly.
No special processes, materials, or mentors needed.
For an alchemy god incarnate, why join the Guild?
He’d be wherever he wanted—Guild, Adventurer Guild, Academy.
Even if he needed some formula, it wouldn’t be lure enough.
So their best option was...
“Building a friendly relationship. That’s our top priority.”
Just get on his good side.