The Alchemist's First Crisis

At first, Elisha seemed burdened by the idea, but when Seong-il strongly emphasized that failing to perfectly stock up on all the truly essential tools from the beginning would only lead to even greater costs later, she finally agreed. Then she began shopping for the instruments she'd always wanted like a woman possessed.

"Ugh... are we still not done?"

"Just wait. I'm comparing stuff right now!"

Elisha dragged Seong-il all over the tool district for their shopping spree. This was exactly what he'd wanted, and yet...

'No way. They're basically the same items, so why has she been agonizing over this for a whole hour...'

"Hmm?"

"Uh... why?"

"You were thinking this is annoying, weren't you?"

"What? No, I was actually thinking it was really interesting?"

"Hmmm..."

Elisha narrowed her eyes into a piercing glare as she stared at him. Seong-il felt cold sweat trickling down his back and muttered inwardly.

'Her senses are on another level...'

Doing his best to keep a straight face, he continued following her around. Only after serving as her shopping attendant for over three full days was he finally liberated from the ordeal.

Once the workshop preparations were complete, the studio began to grow smoothly without any major issues. And then...

"What?! Say that again. What the hell did that bitch do?"

"Th-the... young lady of the Portis family has... completed full repayment of her debts..."

"What kind of bullshit is that, you bastard!!"

The man hurled an ashtray at his subordinate while screaming at the top of his lungs.

"I'm sorry, Master Edward! But it's true!"

"Ten thousand gold is no joke! Are you saying it's a joke?! How the hell did she pay it all back in a single day? What kind of ridiculous nonsense is that?!"

"I couldn't believe it either, but it's real. We confirmed the full payment was deposited into our firm's account through the Kingdom Central Bank."

At his employee's words, Edward flew into a rage, snatching up anything within reach and hurling it across the room.

"Goddammit! How much effort did I put into swallowing that territory?! ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠And now it's all gone up in smoke in one blow?!"

"What the hell were the surveillance guys even doing?!"

The subordinate kept his head bowed in silence amid Edward's fury before finally speaking up with great difficulty.

"From what I hear... a successor from an Eastern trading company has sponsored her."

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean? What kind of ability does she have that a trading company would sponsor her?!"

"I-I'm not sure about the reason either..."

Edward strode over to the subordinate, grabbed him by the collar, and snarled.

"Isn't it your job to find out if you don't know?"

The subordinate gulped, his face turning deathly pale at Edward's menacing tone. He couldn't utter a single word.

"You have three days. Investigate the situation and submit a report. If you haven't uncovered the full story by then, you'll die by my hand. Understood?"

"Y-yes, Master Edward!!"

The subordinate trembled violently as he turned and fled the room.

"Goddammit... I was going to swallow the Portis territory, build a harbor there, and create a vital logistics hub. Some worthless variable had to pop up."

Not long after, reports about Seong-il and Elisha's joint workshop began reaching his desk.

"So... this Eastern exchange student named Seong-il blew a ridiculous amount of money to pay off Elisha's debts?"

"Y-yes..."

"He paid ten thousand gold for a penniless fallen noble freshman and even set up a jointly owned workshop business?"

"Yes..."

"Do you actually think this makes any sense?"

"..."

"Sure, sponsoring someone is possible. But why her of all people? If she were a third- or fourth-year student with excellent grades, I could understand. But she's just a fresh-faced rookie who barely got accepted."

"That's right..."

"And her grades are supposedly mediocre, right? So what made him dump that massive sum of money into her? What the hell is that guy thinking?"

"I-I'm not sure either..."

At his subordinate's response, Edward closed his eyes, leaned back in his chair, let out a long sigh, and tried to calm himself. Then he asked,

"That debt repayment. Is there any way to nullify it?"

"It's... a legitimate transaction, so... not really..."

"Hmm..."

Edward stroked his ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠beard as he pondered. Finally, he spoke to his subordinate.

"Contact the... leader of the Adenheim Thieves Guild."

"You mean Black Eye?"

"Yeah. That guy who goes by Black Eye or Red Eye or whatever."

"Understood..."

"Tell him to take care of that Eastern bastard for me."

"What?!"

The subordinate was shocked by Edward's brutal order. Edward continued,

"You heard me. Since it's come to this, we abandon conventional methods. Kill the sponsor, sabotage the workshop's operations with every possible interference until it collapses. Then we'll kidnap that bitch, have some fun with her, and make her cough up the territory."

"W-will that even work?"

"Normally it would be difficult. But if we present her as a gift to our superiors, it should be possible."

"Still... that seems too reckless..."

"Shut up and prepare the assassins. I'll handle the aftermath myself."

"...Understood."

While attending the academy and running the workshop with Elisha, Seong-il continued his steady practice of Saekgong through regular encounters with Elisha, Pirina, and Sister Sophia. When the second month arrived...

Seong-il woke at dawn and felt a refreshing sensation ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in his lower dantian, as if it had grown significantly more solid.

"It's here!!!"

He immediately pulled out his smartphone and checked the Game Master.

"I've finally reached the 3rd Star..."

After several months of arduous (well, sort of) training, Seong-il had achieved the 3rd Star. Overcome with emotion at the results of his grueling (again, sort of) training, his eyes grew misty.

'Now I can start training in martial arts again! But when did my points pile up like this? It's practically an explosion!'

He dismissed the smartphone and sat blankly on the bed, still lost in a wave of emotion. Elisha, who had woken up beside him, spoke.

"Mm...? What... what's going on? It's still dawn..."

"Heh... there's something like that..."

At his vague reply, Elisha—who was lying naked beside him—rubbed her sleepy eyes and answered.

"You're talking to yourself again..."

With those words, she pulled him down onto the bed, buried her face in his chest, and tried to go back to sleep. Seong-il gently woke her and asked,

"Hold on. Since you're already awake, don't go back to sleep yet. I have one question."

"Haa... what is it this time?"

"The wound recovery potion and stamina recovery potion you mentioned before—how far along are you with those?"

"Those...? I already made them."

"What?! Why didn't you tell me?!"

At Elisha's shameless response, Seong-il's face turned bright red as he pestered her.

"Wh-where did you put them?!"

"Haa... They're on the central shelf in the living room. The red one is for recovery, and the green one is for stamina."

"Nice!!"

Shouting in excitement, Seong-il dashed into the living room. Watching him, Elisha let out a sigh and lay back down to sleep again.

"O-ohhh... So this is a potion!"

Deeply moved at the sight of the potions, Seong-il tried to open one by twisting the cap with his hand.

"What the... Did she seal it with wax? Why won't it open..."

Irritated by the tightly sealed bottle, he went to the tool room, grabbed a hammer, and gently tapped the wax seal until it cracked. Then he used Induction on the bottle.

"Ooooooh!!"

Seong-il gasped in admiration at the potion's authentic-sounding description. At that moment, something was caught by the Induction he'd used to verify the potion.

'Huh...? What is that? It feels like there's a presence...'

A presence detected by Seong-il's Induction. Hammer in hand, he moved as quietly as possible toward the direction the ability was warning him about.

Rustle. Rustle.

'What is it...?'

A presence coming from somewhere. Sensing that something was off, Seong-il gathered his internal energy to the extreme and focused every ounce of his attention through Induction.

'This feeling... is killing intent?'

Although he hadn't felt it often, Seong-il could tell this was clearly killing intent. Especially since during the simple explanations of martial concepts he'd received from Saekma and the young sect leader, they had deliberately generated killing intent and projected it at him. Because of that, he knew this sensation all too well.

'At this hour... with this kind of killing intent... an assassin? But why me...?'

As he thought about it, one possibility rose in Seong-il's mind.

'Could it be... that Edward bastard? Is he going this far because he's targeting Elisha?'

He'd considered many things in that short time, but Seong-il concluded there was no other reason for someone radiating killing intent to visit him at dawn. Maintaining extreme tension, he hid near where the presence was coming from, hammer at the ready.

Rustle... Tap. Tap... Click.

The sound of someone forcibly opening a window near the door. Hearing that, Seong-il was certain.

'This guy... is at minimum an armed robber. Even if he isn't an assassin, he's definitely not here with good intentions.'

With that thought, Seong-il waited beside the window, hammer raised, for the intruder to enter.

Click!

Finally, the intruder fully opened the window and tried to come inside. The moment he stuck his head in and looked around—

"Hello there, you son of a bitch."

CRACK!

Seong-il mercilessly slammed the hammer into the intruder's mouth.

"Guhk!"

The intruder, teeth shattered and blood pouring from his face after being struck by the hammer.

'If I hit him more with this, he'll die. That would be a pain, so maybe switch to fists now...'

Thinking that, Seong-il grabbed the intruder's head and began ruthlessly pounding his face with his fists.

CRACK! CRACK! THUD!! CLANG!! BANG!!

The brutal sounds of impact and the noise of furniture toppling from the force echoed throughout the room. Elisha, who had been sleeping, jumped up in shock, lit a candle, and rushed into the living room.

"Wh-what's going on?"

"Don't come out! There's an intruder!"

Seong-il panicked at Elisha's sudden appearance and tried to stop her when—

STAB!

"Kgh!!"

The blood-covered intruder pulled out a dagger and swung it. Seong-il, distracted by trying to keep her away, was caught off guard. A long gash opened across his abdomen.

"You fucking bastard!!"

Enraged by the wound, Seong-il raised the hammer and brought it down mercilessly. In the end, the intruder couldn't withstand the brutal assault and died.

"Guhk... huff..."

"Are you okay?!"

Elisha rushed over in alarm at the sight of Seong-il bleeding from his stomach.

"Guhk..."

Seong-il clutched his belly in agony. Elisha supported him and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠calmly led him back to the bedroom. She quickly sprayed potion over his blood-soaked abdomen. Immediately, Seong-il felt the bleeding stop and the pain subside.

"Whew... Good thing I gave him emergency treatment in time. It shouldn't be too serious."

"Haa... haa..."

"Count yourself lucky. If I hadn't made a ton of potions this time..."

After saying that, Elisha silently poured a potion into Seong-il's mouth. That was the last thing he remembered from that dawn.

The next morning.

"Guhk!!"

Seong-il woke with a shout from the sharp pain in his stomach. He saw Elisha nursing him, an old man, and what appeared to be a soldier.

"You're awake?"

The old man asked as Seong-il opened his eyes.

"Uh...? Y-yes... Who are you?"

"Me? A doctor, obviously. You're lucky. You took a knife to the gut, but that superior potion was used properly and in time, so you didn't die. You should thank the young lady beside you."

Although he hadn't explained the full situation, Seong-il quickly understood from the old man's words.

'Fuck... I almost died again...'

Thinking how fortunate it was that he'd come to the world of How to Become an Alchemist to make potions, Seong-il spoke to the soldier who was dozing off against the wall.

"Excuse me... who are you?"

"Oh...? Oh! You're awake. Hello. I'm Idel, a peace officer from the Adenheim City Security Bureau."

"Ah... yes..."

"There was a break-in last night. Your lover reported that you'd been stabbed and were fighting for your life, so we came to investigate."

The peace officer explained the circumstances of the incident. Just as Seong-il had suspected, the intruder had clearly entered with malicious intent. He had been carrying several sharp weapons when he broke in. The officer concluded it was likely an armed robbery.

'No way...'

No matter how he thought about it, Seong-il couldn't believe an armed robber would target this house. Although the place was rumored to be a "cursed house" with ominous stories circulating, it was located in a relatively upscale district with good security. It wasn't an easy place for robbers to infiltrate.

'It's definitely Edward pulling strings.'

With that conclusion, Seong-il wrapped up the situation as self-defense, then headed to Pirina's shop to meet her.