LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 222
“Guys, this is epic!”
Crash, Marsha stormed into the hut as if she had just sprinted through a hurricane.
“What’s going on? Why the rush?”
Inside the hut, there was a bubble bubble sound as frogs hopped around.
This was the alchemist club, lovingly nicknamed the Wizards’ Quirks.
The 7th Wharf was known for its fish delicacies. Marsha, who had loathed the smell of fish since childhood, began practicing alchemy spells to eliminate the stench. Now, her fellow young alchemists had grown in number to over ten.
“Check this out!”
Marsha held up a business card for them to see.
The alchemists swarmed around her.
“What’s up, what’s up?”
“It’s Lars Gothberg, the hospital director.”
“That guy from the Former Country?”
“The stingy miser who just makes money selling that dangerous medicine!”
Marsha desperately shook her head and pulled out some aspirin from her pocket.
“This… this thing was transformed and enhanced by him in just 5 seconds.”
“What’s this?”
“Ridiculous.”
“It used to be a different medicine, right? How did it become this?”
“They say the medicine sold in our country is fake. When I asked who was selling it, he rushed off to fight!”
As Marsha spoke, the alchemists exchanged serious glances, their expressions shifting.
“That… sounds interesting.”
“If we miss this, it’s a loss.”
“What are we waiting for!”
As if they’d made a secret pact, the alchemists rushed outside the hut, each grabbing a few flasks filled with potions.
*
“Who came by? A request for an audience? Were they nobility?”
“Their clothes were ragged, but the atmosphere they give off is quite strange. They seem to be from the allied forces…”
The guildmaster of the 7th Wharf shrugged off his subordinate’s report as nothing serious.
Although in the grand scheme of things, he was selling goods from a small country the size of a single city, he held a tight grip on the local market.
“Could it be related to that incident? If they find out about us diverting supplies from the allied forces, we’d be in real trouble…”
“Ah, tread carefully.”
The drug trafficking business must never be exposed. Since this country is far removed from the main regions and they distributed the same fake medicines, he thought the chances of getting caught were slim.
The guildmaster had experience. He had dealt with countless bothersome lowlifes. Most issues weren’t cause for alarm.
“Send them away. Our business is booming, and everything is going smoothly. If they showed up without a letter, they can’t be of any significance. The drug trade is our starting point. If we get caught later, we can blame it on the demon race spreading fake medicines. It would be easy to slip away. What do you think?”
“We’re making money safely.”
“That’s pocket change. But that’s not all—I can manage all goods traded under the pretext of a demon invasion. We can charge distribution fees for every single fish. How about that?”
“Even for a small country, just considering the fish exported from the 7th Wharf is significant. Can we really oversee all of that?”
“Simpleton. We’ll just delegate those tasks to other trading guilds. Then, they’ll line up to butter me up. Power will come with it.”
The guildmaster chuckled sinisterly while organizing documents on his desk.
“Item box.”
As he muttered to himself, a dark hole suddenly opened up in the air. His subordinate gasped in awe.
“Every time I see it, it’s incredible. The item box, a magic where you can store anything!”
“Yes. It’s a bound magic. My success as a merchant was thanks to stealing this item box from a famous merchant long ago. It even has the top-tier feature of stopping time inside it.”
The guildmaster waved the documents in his hand, continuing his brag.
“Do you want to be successful like me? Look at the big picture. This is how business grows.”
The guildmaster’s greed filled the office like an inflating balloon.
But unexpectedly, that balloon burst in an instant.
Boom!!
The sturdy office door shattered and a muscular barbarian with blue hair swept in like a tempest.
Swinging her axe and grinning widely, the guildmaster and his subordinate froze in terror, squatting in place.
“Geez, you guys are keeping your guests waiting for too long.”
“W-who are you?!”
“Oh, I’ve got it right here.”
A man in a white robe entered behind her with a wide sunny smile, taking purposeful strides.
“U-ugh!”
The guildmaster scrambled to stuff the documents in his hand into the open item box.
Crack!
As the barbarian swung her axe again, the desk shattered into pieces. The shockwave knocked the guildmaster off balance as the man in white snatched the documents from his hands.
“W-wait! Give that back! Guards!”
“Hm, it’s all written here. A ledger of fake medicine production and trafficking sales. Oh look, you even had an ambitious plan brewing. Well…”
The doctor pulled out a candy from his pocket, popping it into his mouth, then gently tapped the guildmaster’s head with the documents.
“Regardless of anything else, you can’t sell trash in my name.”
“W-what…?”
Only then did the guildmaster recognize who he was. The legendary doctor’s reputation had made its way to this remote corner.
With pristine white clothes and hair, an air of extraordinary presence, there were rumors he had blades on his fingers and was a candy-loving child.
Lars Gothberg.
He had indeed saved even the dying emperor of the empire, and was unquestionably the current hospital director of the Former Country, reputed for his miraculous hands.
“T-this is the work of the demon race!!”
The guildmaster shouted defensively. At that, Lars’ expression turned serious.
“What? The demon race?! This is serious! We must respond immediately.”
Wait, did that work? In a moment of doubt, Lars tapped his shoulder.
“Hey, buddy. There’s a crisis in the human realm. Will you cooperate?”
“Huh? Cooperate with what…?”
“We need to lure out the hidden demon race. Be willing to play bait—it’s a real honor.”
As soon as Lars finished speaking, Gishta grabbed the guildmaster by the neck and hurled him out of the window.
Shatter! The window broke and he dangled from the third-floor ledge.
“Yikes! I’m sorry! I was wrong!”
“Wrong?”
“We can make a deal! I’ll give you the item box! It’s something you can’t buy for a fortune!”
Lars cast a sidelong glance at the gaping black hole still open on the guildmaster’s right side.
“Interesting. Let’s see.”
“Ugh…!”
Feeling an imminent threat to his life, the guildmaster had no choice but to comply regarding what he’d done.
He had been caught offending the very person who must never find out about such a crime.
He closed the item box and released mana from his fingertips. Three layers of magic circles emerged from his arm in a bracelet form.
Lars received it and wore it on his arm.
“Item box.”
He muttered a short incantation and swish, a black hole appeared. It was a universal space to store objects.
Lars looked down at the guildmaster and smiled benevolently like a saint.
“The gracious goddess has forgiven your sins.”
“R-really?”
“Of course. Just pay the price.”
Without hesitation, Gishta released her grip. The next moment, the guildmaster felt gravity pulling him, and a massive shock overwhelmed him.
“Ow, my leg!”
Painkillers fell from above him. The fake medicine he had just released.
“Try that. You might get better.”
Lars called out to him from outside the window, turning back to his work.
He drafted a letter with evidence of the guildmaster’s smuggling activities, planning to send it to the guild leader later.
“Will this be sufficient, Lars?”
“Yeah. With this, the upper guild will directly oversee things from now on. You shouldn’t have messed with my medicine.”
As Lars stepped outside, a crowd had gathered. A commotion drew the attention of traders and common folk who had come to watch.
“Wow.”
Spotting Marsha mixed in with them, Lars approached her. The young people swarming around her wore robes or thick glasses, clearly eager to learn.
“Let me guess: Alchemists?”
“Correct! We came to see the hospital director.”
“Perfect timing. I’m going to investigate the medicines released at the wharf. We need to use alchemy to synthesize them into genuine medicines. Who wants to join?”
At Lars’ suggestion, Marsha raised her hand first. The other alchemists exchanged glances.
“Oh, by the way, I’ll teach you the spells. If you perform well, I might recommend you to Gothberg Pharmaceuticals. If you’re interested…”
Before he even finished, every alchemist raised their hand.
*
It took a full two days to complete the investigation. Despite some uncooperative residents, the fishermen connected them with the guards, allowing them to root out all the fake medicines spread throughout the 7th Wharf.
The alchemists were mostly fresh talents in their late teens to early twenties, and meeting them felt like a stroke of luck.
Because everyone had their reasons, only six including Marsha could head right to the actual pharmaceutical factory. The remaining eight were promised jobs whenever they came by, and they signed their business cards as reminders.
If they put these talents to work on new medicine development, mass production of potions might be possible.
Though it took a few extra days, it was a valuable time.
Above all, there was another bounty.
“Item box.”
The guildmaster had possessed quite a handy magic. The bound item box was complete on its own, allowing anyone with it to cast it.
No longer needing to carry numerous bottles of medicine hanging from his white robe made traveling with supplies and equipment much more convenient.
Most importantly…
“The principle of stopping time inside.”
Storing ancient dragon scales eliminated expiration concerns.
When Gishta unknowingly stuck her head inside, there was a comical scene where her body flopped down, causing a ruckus to get her out.
*
After returning to the Former Country, Lars took some days off before resuming work at the hospital while also teaching the alchemists.
Of course, he went sleigh riding too. This wasn’t the inner palace after all; he didn’t want to be tied only to work.
However, one peculiar thing stood out: Neria’s attitude seemed very strange, as if something was frustrating her.
A few months passed, and a letter arrived.
It was news that war had begun with the main forces of the Demon King’s Army.