Chapter 7
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: The Alchemist's Elixir
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The old man, Rashid, frowned as he watched the boy burying his face in the bowl like a dog. He chided him in a low voice, telling him not to eat that way, but the boy paid him no mind.
He let out a long sigh and spoke.
“It began when I was twenty. It was a scorching summer.”
#
Beneath the scorching sun, a twenty-year-old Rashid was climbing a ladder. The ladder leaned against a dizzyingly high castle wall, where soldiers with long spears shouted down at him. Soon, their spears came thrusting down, accompanied by a torrent of curses.
Gripping the ladder with his left hand, Rashid twisted his body slightly and snatched a spear with his right, yanking it hard. The soldier, unable to let go in time, was pulled from the wall. As the shocked enemy hesitated, he scrambled up the rest of the ladder and leaped onto the rampart.
"Stop him! Stop him!" the defenders shouted, charging forward.
But their attacks were deflected by his plate armor, and Rashid slaughtered them with his sword and hammer.
“Damn it.”
After his rampage, no enemies remained on the wall.
“Fucking hot.”
He gasped for breath, his hands on his knees. Was there anything more dreadful than being clad in steel plates under the midsummer sun? He was even wearing a gambeson underneath.
He removed his helmet and raised the waterskin from his hip. Though the water was lukewarm, it quenched his thirst and restored some of his strength. He vigorously shook his sweaty, matted hair and surveyed his surroundings.
The entire city unfolded before him.
It was a great city named Karmaya. Once the stronghold of a great noble, its citizens had driven him out, purchased a title from the king, and begun to govern themselves.
They had since amassed great wealth through trade, but an enemy had appeared to covet that wealth—the very lord Rashid served.
“Is it over?”
*CRASH!* The city gate was breached.
Just after the walls were taken, the gate finally gave way, unable to withstand the assault. A thunderous roar erupted from the besieging army. The defenders, who had been holding their ground behind the gate, turned and began to flee.
The saying, “Once the gate is breached, accept no surrender,” was not for nothing. With the walls already lost to the enemy, resistance was futile.
One side screamed while the other roared, becoming the hunted and the hunters. Rashid watched impassively as fires erupted across the city.
“Rashid.”
An older knight clapped him on the back. Rashid gave him a silent nod. The knight offered a few words of praise for a job well done before continuing.
“An order from the lord. You’re to capture an old man.”
“Who might that be?”
The old knight shrugged at Rashid’s question.
“An alchemist, apparently. The lord must have heard some strange rumor. I’d guess he’s already fled… but His Lordship is insistent we bring him in, so we have no choice.”
“Understood.”
He immediately descended the wall and headed for the alchemist's mansion. It was a magnificent estate. As if it were the consulate of some great nation, it stood three stories tall, built entirely of stone.
When Rashid and his men arrived, the great mansion greeted them with its main gate wide open. The guards one would expect at such an estate were gone, leaving only discarded spears as evidence of their presence. The other servants were nowhere to be seen either.
“Looks like we’re too late.”
“We still have to check.”
Rashid and his men split up to search the mansion.
There were a great many rooms, but most were used for storage. The living quarters were few, and they were cluttered with all sorts of materials. There was nothing of value. Any gold, silver, or other precious metals one might associate with an alchemist had already been looted.
“Hm?”
He stopped in a spacious workshop. It was clear someone had been working here just moments ago. A fire was still burning in the furnace.
A cauldron sat atop it, an unidentifiable black liquid bubbling within. The smell was, needless to say, foul. The moment he leaned in for a closer look, bile rose in his throat, and he quickly recoiled.
‘What in the world was he making?’
Cursing under his breath, he examined a metal pipe connected to the cauldron. The pipe passed through several contraptions, its diameter shrinking until, over a table, it was no thicker than his little finger and pointed downward.
*Drip. Drip.* Very slowly, drops of liquid formed at the end of the pipe and fell.
A vivid purple liquid was collecting in a glass vial below. The vial was small enough to be concealed in his palm. When Rashid found it, it was filled nearly to the brim. Thinking he ought to stopper it, he casually picked up the nearby cork.
It was then that an angry voice roared from behind him.
“Don’t touch that!”
Startled, he spun around to see a young man standing in the workshop doorway, glaring at him. He wore a white toga with gold-embroidered patterns, marking him as someone of importance.
Rashid placed a hand on his sword hilt and took a step forward.
“Hey…”
“Get back, you savage!”
As he started to speak, the young man thrust his right hand toward him. It might have looked like a simple gesture to stay back, but Rashid noticed mana gathering before the man’s palm.
He twisted his body reflexively.
At almost the same instant, the wall behind him crumbled like sand.
“Son of a bitch!”
As Rashid hastily drew his sword, the young man aimed his hand again. Deciding a charge would be too slow, Rashid reached for the table with his free hand, grabbed an object, and threw it. It was a jade-colored stone, and it exploded upon impact with the wave of mana the young man had unleashed.
The force of the explosion overturned everything in the workshop.
Rashid was thrown through the hole where the wall had been. He struggled to lift his head and saw the young man moving through the dust. Instead of finishing him off, the man was desperately grabbing for the glass vial rolling on the table, trying to scoop up the spilled liquid.
He did not miss the opportunity. While his opponent was distracted, he charged forward and struck. The blade sank deep into the young man’s back, piercing his heart.
“—!”
A hiss of escaping air, not a scream, left his lips.
But the young man did not collapse. He flailed, reaching an arm back as if to grab Rashid. Stunned that he was still standing with a pierced heart, Rashid shoved him aside and kicked him away.
The young man tumbled onto some oil spilled in the explosion, crashed into the furnace, and was instantly engulfed in flames. Rashid blocked the workshop entrance, waiting for him to burn to death.
It did not take long.
Rashid spat a glob of bloody saliva onto the floor.
“Sir Rashid!”
The sound of urgent footsteps followed as his soldiers arrived. Rashid glanced down at the corpse for a moment before picking up the glass vial, inserting the cork, and slipping it into his pouch.
“Are you alright?”
He replied that he was fine and ordered them to preserve the body and the workshop. The soldiers asked who the dead man was, but Rashid had no answer. Judging by his age, he could only guess it was the alchemist’s son.
Later, after the city had been secured, the old knight returned to the mansion with their lord. While the lord inspected the estate, Rashid stepped outside with the old knight. The older man put a rolled cigarette to his lips and spoke.
“About that body.”
“Yes.”
“Turns out, that was the alchemist the lord was looking for.”
Rashid’s eyes widened.
“That’s impossible. He looked to be about my age.”
“Your age? Not an old man?”
The old knight frowned, but when Rashid nodded grimly, he took a deep drag from his cigarette and exhaled a plume of smoke.
“That must be why the lord was so intrigued.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s what the master of this estate was researching.”
“Immortality,” the old knight continued.
“The one thing every human desires. A rumor was circulating that some madman was researching it. How many people would pay a king’s ransom just to live a long life without aging, like the dwarves or elves? I wondered why His Lordship fell for such a rumor, but now I understand.”
Rashid mumbled, thinking of the alchemist who had burned to death.
“Then he must have had some success.”
“Success?”
“He gained his youth, did he not?”
The old knight let out a hollow laugh.
“Listen here, Rashid. Don’t get any funny ideas.”
When Rashid asked what he meant, the old knight poked him in the chest with his index finger.
“I’m saying don’t get carried away. In all my years, I’ve never seen anyone who pursued immortality remain sane or meet a good end.”
He threw the finished cigarette to the ground and crushed it under his heel.
“Immortality has never been achieved. At best, you can only slow your aging a little. You can’t live forever as a greenhorn. There’s a reason the rumors called him a madman; there was surely some serious flaw in his work.”
Rashid fell silent. The slight tilt of his head suggested he wasn’t satisfied with the answer, but the old knight didn’t notice. Nor did he notice Rashid subtly sliding a hand into his pouch, his fingers fiddling with something inside.
“Don’t worry about killing the alchemist. The lord’s interest will fade soon enough. He’s a wise man; he’ll be satisfied with collecting whatever was left in the mansion. What could be so special about it, anyway?”
The old knight said, patting Rashid’s shoulder.
#
Several months later, Rashid returned to his hometown.
Having been recognized for his valor and handsomely rewarded by his lord, he walked with his shoulders held high. He regaled his wife with tales of his exploits, including the story of the alchemist. He had no intention of confessing that he had stolen the vial.
His only aim was to boast to his wife about cutting down a sorcerer in a single blow. But his wife pressed him about the “trophy” he had stolen.
“Why did you do that?”
His wife sighed immediately.
“You aren’t that kind of man.”
“What kind of man is that?”
Rashid scowled, scratching the back of his neck. To be treated like a common thief in the middle of his triumphant tale? He raised his voice.
“I told you, the man tried to kill me. Would you have me retreat foolishly when my life is on the line? It’s only fair I take this as compensation.”
His wife calmly posed another question.
“Shouldn’t you have the priest look at it?”
“No! Then I’d have to explain everything. What would I say if he asks how I got it? And even if I told the truth, do you think a priest would keep such a secret?”
“Then what will you do with it?”
“What do you mean? I’ll just keep it.”
He took the glass vial from his coat and shook it gently. Because of the spill, it was now only a little more than half full. His wife’s eyes trembled as she watched the purple liquid sloshing inside.
“What are you so afraid of?”
“You know they called my mother a witch, don’t you?”
“She was a bit… eccentric,” Rashid said, choosing his words carefully.
“She had an insatiable thirst for knowledge. If there was something she didn’t understand, she would delve into it until she did, often breaking many rules in the process.”
“Get to the point.”
“My mother taught me an important lesson: ‘Do not covet eternal life.’ Like the dwarves who trespassed upon the heavens, eternal life is something mortals cannot, and should not, seek.”
“More stories of the great gods.”
Rashid shook his head.
“Well, I don’t believe this is an elixir of immortality, either. If it were, that man would have drunk it himself and killed me. Still… given how he acted, I imagine it could be sold for a handsome price.”
He looked at his wife, whose expression remained grim.
“The next time I have a chance to travel, I’ll find out what it does and get rid of it. It’s not as if I plan to drink it myself. Surely you can agree to that?”
Only then did his wife fall silent.
And for a time, the two of them forgot about the vial.
There was no reason to leave their lands, and besides, his wife was soon busy with their first child. In their happy life, there was no room for thoughts of immortality. The promise to get rid of it went unfulfilled.
He would not think of it again until nine years had passed.