15 Continuing West

The traitorous alchemist told Pieter's knights where in the forest he had hidden his health and mana potions. There were 342 mana potions as well as 214 health potions buried in a small hole just north of the village by a few hundred meters. Pieter Von Verafgelegen gave the Sun Knights one hundred of each, but had kept the rest for the village as they might be without an alchemist for quite a while. Mia was understanding with this, and thanked him for the potions that he had given to her. Aside from the potions, Pieter signed all of Johan Alchemis's other property over to Ethan. Ethan asked if he could refuse, but was once again told that he could not. Ethan now owned the alchemy workshop (which Ethan was told was worth about ten large silver coins) and all of its contents, including several small monster cores (which combined could make up to 25 standard mana potions, and were therefore worth almost 25 large silver coins), as well as a house in the village with lavish furniture and clothes inside (which Ethan was told was worth 36 large silver coins), and cash consisting of ten gold coins (each one of which was apparently worth ten large silver coins, and was the largest unit of currency in the Vorbei Kingdom), five large silver coins, two standard silver coins, and five bronze coins (each one of which was apparently worth one tenth of a standard silver coin and was the smallest unit of currency in the Vorbei Kingdom). In total, the monetary value of all of the property of Johan's that Ethan was equal to 176.25 large silver coins, or the equivalent of 1,762.5 days of labor for a common laborer.

[That's a lot. I thought that this was supposed to be an impoverished village, and yet there is someone living here who had that much money to throw around? I even doubt Pieter has that much money. I guess that in this world, alchemists must make a lot of money, like doctors or lawyers on earth.] Ethan had thought.

In addition Ethan had received 276 lizard-person cores that Mia had told him about (worth a combined 8,280 large silver coins), making Ethan a considerably wealthy man with a net worth of 8,456.25 large silver coins (the equivalent of 84,562.5 days of common labor). Ethan figured that if a full day of common labor in this world was the Earth equivalent of eight hours of work at eight United States Dollars per hour, he would have the equivalent of 5,412,000 USD. He would therefore be a multi-millionaire. Of course, the only things that he could carry with him on the journey to the capital were the cash, some of the clothes that used to belong to Johan, some gunpowder, and the monsters' cores, and it wasn't like Ethan could find a buyer for the house or the shop immediately. Ethan had asked Pieter if the old lord could manage the alchemy workshop and the house for him and that if he found a tenant or buyer for either one, that he would keep the money safe for Ethan in case he ever returned to Verafgelegen (which Ethan did not think he was likely to ever do as he had had enough of the Ancient Forest for now). The old lord had agreed to do so much to Ethan's gratitude.

Now it was the next morning in front of Pieter's manor house.

"You have done great service for this village, young Ethan. I hereby award you the title 'Friend of Verafgelegen' as well as this 'Steel Sword of Friendship'. With this sword, you will be welcomed in this village any time you wish." Said Pieter while handing Ethan a sword with the crest of Verafgelegen right at the center of the guard.

"Thank you. I will wield it with gratitude." Said Ethan who had been taught the correct response for receiving such a sword at this ceremony by Mia beforehand.

The villagers all applauded, and the ceremony was concluded. After that Pieter, Mia, and Ethan went inside for a meal. They were having some form of beer to drink as well as sausages and eggs to eat.

"I'd like for a bright young man like you to stay in Verafgelegen." Said Pieter who had grown to like Ethan ever since the gunpowder that he developed had actually worked. "You must have had formal alchemy training to be able to make such a substance. I know that you said that you want me to sell that alchemy workshop, but If you want, you could stay here and be our village alchemist. I could even arrange to have you mary my daughter, Sofia. I'm sure that we could work something out with the knights that you were traveling with." Said Pieter while pointing at his pretty young daughter who was also sitting at the table. She was about 19 years old, had a short, lean build and had red hair, and looked more than a little embarrassed to have her father throw around the possibility of her marriage so carelessly especially when the last person who had proposed to her had been so upset that he was turned down that he had collaborated with monsters and betrayed the village.

"That's out of the question, I'm afraid. I understand that you need an alchemist here, and I'll do my best to get His Majesty to send one over when I get back to the capital, but for reasons that I can not disclose here, Ethan must go to the capital with us." Mia said.

"Yes, I suppose that such a talented, and brilliant young man with such a high Mana capacity would have better things to do than to live in a remote village like this one." Pieter said.

Ethan, who was more than a little uncomfortable at this point said "Well, anyway, we're resuming our journey today, correct?"

"Yes. I'd like to make it back to the capital as quickly as possible. We've already stayed here longer than the short stop for lunch and to resupply that I had planned, not that it could have been avoided given the situation. Anyway, with the addition of Johan Alchemis, who will be going to the capital to get judged by His Majesty for his crimes, I guess that we will have one more person along for the journey." Said Mia.

Sofia and Ethan were both relieved at the change in topic in the conversation. Soon breakfast ended and the Sun Knights, plus Ethan and Johan prepared to continue their journey west. Ethan put the monsters' cores, the money, some clothes that had previously belonged to Johan Alchemis, and the one gunpowder device that was not used in the battle, with the delayed spark spell now deactivated and with a protective barrier around it to prevent it from accidentally going off, in a large cloth bag that he had found in the alchemy workshop which he would cary on his back on the journey westward. The monsters' cores were surprisingly light, being almost weightless. When Ethan had asked Hans and Friedrich why they were so light, they had said that it was because they were made of pure mana and mana doesn't have any weight. Ethan was already wearing an expensive set of clothing the most similar to a medieval version jeans, a t-shirt, and a hoodie that he could find in this world, which seemed to be greyish horse-riding pants and a dark colored silk shirt with a hooded earthy-green wool cloak for the cold nights, and had his 'Steel Sword of Friendship' in a scabbard on a belt at his left side. Not long after breakfast, about an hour after sunrise, the group left the walls of Verafgelegen and continued west. They were in a single file line with Ethan, once again, near the middle of the group and with Hans in front of him, but instead of Friedrich being immediately behind him, it was Johan Alchemis who was behind him with his wrists bound behind his back. Friedrich was behind Johan. Ethan felt a little bit of sympathy for Johan, having been in the situation of being restrained and made to march by the Sun Knights himself before, so he knew how it felt, but when he tried to strike up a conversation with Johan, Johan just gave him a dirty look. It seemed that he was angry with Ethan because Ethan was treated as the hero of the siege, and because Ethan was now the owner of the property that had used to belong to him. It seemed to Ethan that Johan didn't really want to be friends with him. On the bright side, none of the Sun Knights were giving Ethan dirty looks anymore. It seemed that they had a newfound respect for him after his gunpowder had worked so well in the battle. On the other hand, all of the Sun Knights, including Hans and Friedrich, were giving Johan dirty looks, as well as calling him such things as 'traitor', and 'enemy of humanity'. Ethan felt kind of bad seeing this, but there was nothing that he could do to comfort Johan as he just gave him a scowl everytime that Ethan tried to talk to him. [I guess that it would be bad to tell him that I was just casually offered Sofia's hand in marriage this morning at breakfast.] thought Ethan.