Alchemist’s Apprentice

It was just about noon as I quickly ensured the counter and shelves were clear of any dust, and the potions on display behind the counter were all neatly organized. I made sure the sitting area was just as neat and tidy, and finally straightened my dress and checked that there wasn't any stray threads or fluff visible.

In another minute or two I'd be opening the shop for business, and considering our clientele included nobility everything had to be perfect.

Nearly a month had passed since our unexpected success with Lord Marcus and Lady Philippa, and while nobody else knew the truth of what really transpired word had gotten out that the Lord-Mayor's son was a customer of ours. And more importantly, that he was extremely pleased with Cathryn's work.

And considering Lord Marcus was now known to be courting the daughter of a count, and his disposition was notably improved such that even the Lord-Mayor was pleased with how things had suddenly changed for his son, it didn't take long for rumours and gossip to spread that Cat was somehow instrumental in the sudden and dramatic change in the young lord's fortunes.

Which to be fair is exactly what happened, only in a way that nobody else could ever possibly guess. It was honestly kind of amusing at times, just how far off the mark some of the rumours and speculation were.

What mattered more to Cat and I was our reputation was growing and spreading. We were known to have a number of happy customers among the wealthy and influential nobility, while the quality of our health potions was talked about by tradesmen, merchants, and even mercenaries and adventurers.

Honestly it felt like the two of us had passed a significant turning point, and the future of our little apothecary shop seemed very bright indeed.

So we'd revised our plans yet again, and spent the past several weeks working to build a small stock of standard potions. The healing potion was likely to remain our most popular, but the shelves behind me were home to a small assortment of other standards of our trade.

In addition to healing, we had vials of the strength potion Cat made for the two of us. Though I was pretty sure the blend available to the public was rather weaker than the ones she'd made especially for us. Then there was a potion to help fight insomnia, that would guarantee a full eight hours of restful sleep. And its counterpart, a concoction that would dispell weariness and leave a person alert and wide awake for a full day.

There were vials of the warmth potion, which could prove a popular item as summer had already given way to autumn, and winter wasn't far away. And we had a stamina potion which would double how long people could last at strenuous activities. Cat already sold a dozen vials of that to the local brothel apparently. And finally there were the fertility and contraception potions, the latter of which was also popular with the staff of the brothel. Or so I'd heard.

And that was just the inventory in view and available to the public. Hidden away out of sight in Cathryn's workshop we kept another stock of potions, which were only available upon request, and only to those clients who knew to ask about them.

Those were the more expensive, and more risqué offerings. Potions such as arousal, lactation, sensitivity, and volume were now stock items. My sister even kept a small supply of limited obedience on hand, but those were locked in a strongbox along with a dozen or so vials of permanence.

In general terms the potions available to the common public were the less-expensive ones, and we were producing them in larger batches now. Those were the ones that would make up most of our sales by volume, but their prices ranged from a handful of silver steeds up to a few gold crowns.

The 'restricted' offerings were all generally much more expensive, prices started at double-digits of gold crowns and quickly rose to dozens of platinum sovereigns, with permanence being our single most expensive stock item at a hundred sovereigns per vial.

Even that paled in comparison to the custom orders though. Those tended to start at hundreds of sovereigns, and only went up from there.

We had our little sitting room area for entertaining the sort of clients who'd come and casually spend a few hundred platinum coins, and we kept a stock of the expensive wine on hand for those customers. For everyone else, we opened the shop to the public for a couple hours a day. Generally only two hours, starting at noon.

That had become part of my regular routine nowadays.

First thing in the morning Cat would help me with the milk, then the two of us would eat breakfast together. Following that I'd spend a few hours doing chores for our household, visiting the market, and maintaining our little shop. Then from noon till two I'd open up and handle the straightforward sales. After closing the store I'd join Cat in the workshop and assist my sister, work on batches of the lower-cost potions, or further my education by studying her books.

When we finished work for the day I'd prepare dinner for the two of us, then we'd practice cultivating together for an hour or two. That would usually segue into fooling around a bit, before we'd finally get some sleep.

It kept the two of us fairly busy, and we really didn't stop to take any time off. Fortunately the work wasn't unpleasant, and Cathryn was the best boss I could imagine working for.

It was just about noon and I was satisfied with the state of our little store-front, so I moved to unbar the door and open up shop for the day. And that's when I found a customer waiting outside.

"Oh hello," I greeted him. "I hope I haven't kept you waiting long?"

He just nodded his head slightly and followed me back inside. As soon as I took my place behind the counter he stood across from me and stated, "I'm here to purchase your healing potions."

At that point I couldn't help taking a moment to properly look at him, since I was positive I'd never seen him before.

My first impression was a tall slim man in good health, with wiry muscle hidden under his tailored clothing. I'd guess his age to be mid-thirties, his dark hair was worn in a short neat style and his face was clean-shaved. His blue-grey eyes were sharp and he'd know I was looking him over, assessing what I saw.

The clothing was definitely custom made, the material looked rugged without actually coming across as travel-wear. I had a feeling it was probably surprisingly comfortable despite being the sort of thing he probably wore while on horseback. It was all in neutral colours, no sign of livery or insignia, no heraldic icons in sight. On the other hand the sword at his left hip and dagger at his right appeared to be both well-made and also well-used.

If I had to guess, this guy was probably a veteran mercenary or maybe even an adventurer. He'd either been very successful at his trade, or maybe he came from money. Even if he started off wealthy though something told me he was good at his job. I was positive he wasn't some noble out playing swordsman for fun.

All that went through my mind in the span of a second or two, before I responded "Of course. Our healing potions are among the best in the realm. They're priced at two crowns per vial, but I can assure you one vial from us is worth a half dozen flasks from anywhere else."

"We can offer you a discount," I added. "Ten crowns for six vials, if your line of work requires you to keep a few of them on hand?"

The man looked past me at the display of healing potions on the shelf behind me, then replied in that same level tone "I'll take them all. Everything you have in stock right now."

For the next couple seconds I had no idea how to respond. There were a few dozen on the shelf, that usually lasted us a couple weeks. We occasionally sold a half-dozen, and once someone bought a dozen.

"Is that going to be a problem?" he asked a few seconds later.

"No sir," I replied as I finally snapped out of it.

I turned and carefully counted out how many there were, then looked back at him again. "We have thirty-nine in stock right now. And you want them all?"

"Correct," he responded calmly.

He slipped a coin purse from his belt then started counting out platinum coins, and stopped at a dozen. Then he counted out six gold crowns. Finally he looked up at me again and stated, "You said ten crowns for a half dozen, correct? Plus two crowns apiece? So sixty-six crowns in total. I'll need them to be securely packaged, to keep them safe on my travels."

"Yes sir," I nodded. "I'll be right back."

I hurried into the workshop where my sister was busy working on something, and quickly grabbed one of the small wood boxes Lucas used to pack the empty vials. It was already stuffed with some loose straw which was perfect.

Then as I turned to head back out front I mentioned, "We need more healing potion immediately sis!"

I didn't wait for her reply as I hurried back behind the counter. I carefully packed all thirty-nine vials into the small box, and finally secured the top with twine. I handed it over, then before I had a chance to say anything the man simply turned and left without another word.

The whole experience was kind of strange, and while it was nice to get the sale I started to question if maybe I shouldn't have sold him our entire stock. It's not like sixty-six crowns would make or break us this week, but having to tell other potential customers we were sold out of our most popular product would be annoying. On the other hand, something about the guy told me he might not have taken well to me trying to argue with him about that.

I gathered up the coins and as I was putting them away in our new strongbox under the counter my sister emerged from her workshop.

"What was that you said about the healing potions?" she asked. Her expression shifted to a frown, "What happened to them, where'd they all go?"

"Sold out," I admitted. "A fancy-looking mercenary guy just bought the whole inventory."

Cathryn asked, "What kind of deal did you give him?"

"Just the normal discount, six vials for ten gold? He didn't even try to haggle, he just paid the standard fee."

My sister looked thoughtful for a few moments, then finally sighed. "The next batch will be ready in two days. After you've closed up shop this afternoon you'll get started brewing a double batch. And Val, next time someone wants to buy out our entire inventory of something come talk to me first ok? Let me discuss it with the client. Anyone needing that many healing potions probably has something else going on, maybe we could have helped him some other way."

"Sorry Cat," I apologized. "He didn't look like the kind of guy I wanted to mess with? Maybe he's boss of a mercenary army or something, and wanted a supply on hand for his troops?"

She shrugged, "Maybe. But like I said, if it happens again let me make the decision ok?"

"Ok sis," I replied, and I apologized again as she returned to her workshop.

The store was relatively quiet after that. I made a couple more small sales, and unfortunately had to turn away two people who were looking for healing potions. I let them both know we'd have more ready in a couple days, so hopefully they weren't desperate.

On the other hand my afternoon was very busy. On top of the other work I had planned I also started preparing a double batch of healing potion, which pretty much took up the rest of my day.

That evening as we sat down for another modest meal my sister commented, "I think it's time we expanded our food budget, don't you? I'm not saying we should go crazy, but ten silver steeds a week is awfully frugal considering how much money we're earning nowadays."

"I suppose you're right," I replied. "We could double it? Or say a gold crown per week? We obviously don't need more food, but we'll be able to buy higher quality meats and wines. And we can get some nicer options for breakfast."

Cat agreed, then she smiled. "You know little sister, it's been roughly five months since we started? Five months ago you and I sat at this little table to talk finance. We had less than five hundred silver steeds to our names. And as I recall, our budget was set to run out right about now, had our apothecary business failed."

I couldn't help but smile, "I remember. And honestly sis, if you'd told me back then we'd be doing as well as we really are now, I don't think I'd have believed you."

"Just how well are we doing Valeria? I know you've been keeping an eye on the numbers, on top of all your other chores and duties," Cathryn responded.

"We have approximately eighteen hundred platinum sovereigns worth of stock on hand," I replied in a half-whisper, "Including finished potions, raw ingredients, and batches currently brewing. There's about two hundred and fifty sovereigns tied up in equipment. Our cash-box downstairs in the store has just shy of two hundred gold crowns worth of coin in it. And we have over two thousand sovereigns in our savings."

She had a hard time controlling her smile as she stated, "So just looking at cash, ignoring everything else, the five hundred steeds we started with has grown by how much?"

I did the math in my head, then replied in a soft whisper. "Two thousand sovereigns equals ten thousand crowns. Plus the two hundred crowns downstairs, ten thousand two hundred crowns. Convert that to steeds and it's over a quarter million silver steeds, from the four hundred and seventy-three we had when you got home."

Cat grinned, "I think that's pretty good for five month's work, don't you?"

All I could do at that point was nodd in agreement.

My sister raised her cup and the two of us shared a little toast. Then after a gulp of wine she cautioned, "Don't worry cutie, we're not going to get complacent. And if I remember correctly, my tuition was something like twenty-five hundred sovereigns a year? We're doing really well, but if we had to pay for that education we'd still be far in the red."

"Speaking of education," she added, "I have to say yours is progressing wonderfully. After only five months you're brewing potions on par with what I was doing after a full year."

I smiled, but I knew it wasn't all good news. "Thanks Cat. I'm glad at least that's going well. I know my cultivation isn't anywhere near where you're hoping though."

Cathryn gave me a look, "Valeria you've only been at this for five months. And you don't have as much time to work on cultivation as I did at school. Remember, you're not a full-time student ok? You're my apprentice, you're getting all kinds of hands-on experience. And you're also keeping our household going too. So don't sell yourself short cutie. You're doing great."

"Of course having said that," she added with a smirk, "As soon as we're finished eating why don't you and I retire to the bedroom? Let's do a double-session tonight, we'll see if we can't get you past your current block. Or at least, we'll have a lot of fun trying. Ok?"

"Ok Cat," I replied as I tried to suppress a smile. "And thanks, sis."