Chapter 211
Chapter 211
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 211
Chapter Title: Newspaper Villain
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“Hassan, I don’t know what to do.”
On the way back after meeting the alchemist.
Luna’s voice was still uncertain. She was probably agonizing over it just as she said, unsure of how to proceed.
For Luna, who had only just become an adult, this incident might have been far too overwhelming. It was like a towering mountain she had to climb.
If she overcame it, she’d achieve significant growth.
But if she stumbled and fell, it would hurt—a lot.
Imagining how devastated she’d be with even a scrape on her pale white knee, Luna spoke in a voice tinged with a slight sigh.
“I thought I could just work hard on my own. I never imagined I’d have to worry about stuff like this.”
“Yeah. Seems like making a ton of money doesn’t just bring good things.”
Rather than offering various solutions, I decided to simply empathize with Luna’s pain right now.
In a way, this situation had escalated this far because I’d hidden the story from her, so it felt like the worst possible move to lecture her with advice.
Yet, perhaps I had that innate male instinct to fix problems.
More than just sympathizing, I felt a strong urge to suggest, ‘What if we do this, this, and that?’
Take Alchemist Vinas, for example.
Luna hadn’t noticed, but I was about ninety percent sure that Vinas was the Potion Master who’d badmouthed her.
“Luna, so what are you planning to do? Enter that woman Vinas as an apprentice?”
“No way. I’d have to live at her place for five years, meals and all. Maybe before opening my workshop, but now? It’s not right.”
“Then you’d have to reveal your recipe. You okay with that? Others might copy it after seeing yours.”
“Hmm... I don’t know. I think I need to mull it over tonight.”
That was as far as I could say.
Telling the confused Luna that Vinas was the journalist who’d screwed her over felt like crossing a line.
It wasn’t confirmed yet, anyway.
So, we grabbed a half-hearted dinner at a nearby inn and returned to the cabin. Exhausted from wandering all day, Luna fell asleep early.
Even though the moon had only just risen, she slept like someone who hadn’t rested in days. She must have been pretty stressed out herself.
“kyungkyung, keep watch over the house.”
Woof! Woof!
Leaving the sleeping Luna behind, I stepped out of the cabin again.
The path I took was backtracking the one I’d just walked with Luna—to Vinas’s lab in the south gate district.
I was going to confront that woman.
The tools for the confrontation could be my tongue... or my club. Since I didn’t know what might happen, I made sure to gear up with my gauntlets, breastplate, greaves, and such.
In this world, honestly, nothing beat a club as a means of conversation.
Most problems could be solved by swinging one, too.
Step, step.
Walking alone the path I’d shared with Luna felt a bit strange. But my heart was already filled with rage, so there was no hesitation in my steps.
Trying to ruin Luna’s life with baseless slander. We’d almost ended up with resentment between us because of it.
No way I could forgive that.
And so, on this night with two moons in the sky, I returned to Vinas’s lab.
I’d worried she might not be there.
But from the lived-in mess inside earlier, I figured Alchemist Vinas used this place as both lab and home.
I was half-convinced I’d find her.
Sure enough, lights were on inside, white smoke billowing steadily from the chimney.
Sounds of clinking and clattering came from within.
Knock, knock.
After a deep breath to steady my swirling emotions, I knocked. After a while, a woman’s voice came from inside.
“Who is it? Business is closed for the day.”
“It’s me. Samaritan, from earlier.”
“Samaritan...? Oh.”
Click.
The door opened, revealing Vinas, sweat dripping down her face.
Her short navy-blue hair was matted with sweat—she’d clearly been distilling ingredients over a hot flame just now.
“Did you forget something? What’s up?”
Rustle.
Vinas tugged at her collar. A lone burly, dark-skinned man showing up at a woman’s home alone probably made her uneasy.
Normally, I’d play up how harmless I was, maybe act a bit foolish to put people at ease.
But since I wasn’t here for anything nice, I figured keeping her on edge was better.
Let her feel the tension that the man before her might snap and attack at any moment.
“What’s the matter?”
As I stayed silent, Vinas asked again, a hint of impatience in her voice. I replied calmly, in an even tone.
“I came to talk. About Luna becoming your apprentice.”
“Oh? Did Luna send you? Does she want to?”
Vinas slightly relaxed her tense expression at my improvised excuse to get inside.
“Can I come in, then?”
“Sure. I was just brewing potions, so it might be humid and hot.”
“Don’t mind that.”
The door fully opened, and Vinas turned her back to me, leading me into the lab.
With the Thieves’ Guild gone, Sodomora’s security was improving bit by bit, but was it really okay for her to let a strange man into a woman’s home?
Of course, this was an alchemist’s lair.
A dungeon packed with explosives and who-knows-what traps. She probably felt confident she could protect herself here.
I followed her to the sofa, eyeing the hot pink and fluorescent liquids bubbling in lamps around the room.
No idea what they were, but they looked like they’d hurt like hell if splashed on skin.
“So, does Luna want to? It’s good for her, you know. Better to build a reputation under someone established than start a workshop from scratch with nothing.”
“Is that so?”
“That’s how I started. Everyone does. And it’s the right way. I don’t take just anyone as an apprentice, though. Luna feels like a little sister, so I’m giving her a special chance. Without me, she might’ve had to shut down her business.”
Vinas chattered on excitedly, unprompted.
Steam fogged her glasses, hiding her eyes, but they were probably wide open.
I asked.
“So, you’re the one who slandered Luna? Corner her, then pretend to throw her a lifeline.”
“...Pardon? What are you—”
“You. Potion Master.”
“What’s that out of nowhere? I have no idea what you’re talking about. Been drinking?”
Her lips trembled faintly beneath the fogged glasses.
She seemed flustered, but was it genuine confusion or panic at being exposed? Hard to tell.
No blessing to detect lies?
Would be nice if there were magic or artifacts for that. Anyway, I said what I’d planned.
“You’re the alchemist who wrote that slanderous article about Luna, Potion Master.”
“Ha, now I get it. You’re here to smear me with baseless accusations?”
“You’re the one who did baseless smearing. And I’ve got my own evidence.”
I tapped my leather jacket with a finger.
“That smelly potion you splashed on me earlier? Isn’t it like Luna’s stamina potion? The ingredients around here match up too.”
“Pardon?”
“Luna’s potions have that distinctive smell. Like weird charcoal. You’re trying to copy it, right? That’s why you badmouthed her.”
“Okay, I did reference Luna’s stamina potion a bit. But what does that have to do with slandering her?”
“Maybe you wanted to eliminate the original and become it yourself. Or maybe it bugged you that an apprentice-less Luna got famous.”
“Funny. Real funny, Mr. Hassan of the Samaria. I thought you were just an adventurer who slays monsters, but you do back-alley detective work too.”
“Am I wrong?”
“And if you’re right? Gonna bash me with that thick club of yours? Heard that ‘Samaritan’s Club’ song’s popular. Gonna give me a taste?”
“Depends on you. Issue a correction, apologize to Luna. Then we can both walk away without hard feelings.”
“Heh, can’t do that. That’s how this industry works. They don’t tolerate new sprouts outside the guild fence. Alchemists are mostly timid shut-ins. Sensitive about their rice bowls.”
“So you admit it?”
“It was only a matter of time before you found out. Investigating my ties to Red Potion Trading Company would’ve blown it open. Luna probably suspects too. She’s sharp. Half-given up on it.”
“...”
Luna already knew? I hadn’t considered that.
Was Luna pretending not to know out of consideration for her relationship with this woman? Then maybe I was overstepping my bounds.
Her business was hers, after all.
As I pondered that, Vinas spoke from behind her fogged glasses.
“If you just accept it and move on, everyone’s happy. Luna gets in the guild without revealing her recipe. I don’t get hounded for new products. And you—”
Vinas suddenly stood.
She approached me slowly and straddled my lap.
“You don’t seem to have much going for you. So let’s make a deal—just for tonight.”
Rustle, rustle.
Her gray robe slipped from her shoulders onto my lap, revealing a flat, childlike body.
“What are you doing?”
“Men love this stuff. Especially adventurers—they earn money for it, risk their lives fighting monsters for it.”
“Nope.”
“You say that, but your body’s honest—”
Rustle, rustle.
Her hand trailed down my stomach to my hips and thighs.
But through her steamed glasses, I clearly saw her eyes widen in panic up close.
“See? Body doesn’t lie.”
“No way... This can’t be? Are you impotent?”
“What the fuck?”
“How else? Lady Vinas offers herself, and you’re all limp? Impotent, right? Or erectile dysfunction?”
Her seductive act vanished. Vinas hurled insults that dug right into my chest.
Total nonsense, of course. I wasn’t impotent. If anything, I struggled with it popping up at bad times.
“Why won’t it stand?”
She asked like she was baffled, but the reason was simple. Her body had zero sexual appeal.
Even Paranoya, the nymph, had a fresh allure with a hint of budding sensuality and soft curves. But Vinas? She was skin and bones, pathetically gaunt—even I felt sorry for her.
Might appeal to someone, but not me.
Plus, I’d vowed to Luna to live without lies or secrets. Cheating here would be a massive disgrace.
“Get off, you hag.”
I shoved Vinas off my lap. She shrieked and tumbled to the floor.
“You... you hit me? Bursting into an alchemist’s lab alone, that cocky? This is my web. My dungeon! I could make a bronze adventurer like you vanish if I wanted!”
“Scary~. But who said I came alone?”
Swoosh.
Still seated on the sofa, I moved my hand.
Bones in jars scattered around—ingredients she’d prepped to copy Luna’s stamina potion—began to rise.
“W-what? What is this!? What!?”
To the panicking Vinas, I said calmly.
“This isn’t your dungeon. It’s my temple.”