The Pill's Price

The next morning Allen and Edwin went out to look for a shop to sell the pill.

As the registration was already six days away, one could obviously notice the huge number of people walking to and fro in the streets.

The registration for the competition was actually already declared a month ago, and there were already a lot of alchemists who arrived by this point of time to watch or participate in the contest.

Allen and Edwin stopped by a food stall to buy some street foods.

"Almost everyone around us are alchemists.", Edwin remarked as he chewed on the mini sausages with his back facing the stall.

"Hm?", Allen ate a whole mini sausage in one bite.

"I can smell smoke, herbs and plants all over them... and I-I think I'm g-going to sneeze b-because of it.", Edwin uncontrollably took in a few deep breaths and covered his mouth.

"Achoo!", a baby-like sneeze sounded throughout the area.

"Whose sneeze was that?", a passerby asked to his friend beside him.

"I don't know, but I think it's just a baby.", the other one replied.

"Weird."

Almost everybody in that place also heard it, but most of the people disregarded it and continued with what they were doing.

"A baby?! How about I beat all of you up and make all of you cry like a true baby.", Edwin angrily muttered under his breath.

"What a cute sneeze you have.", somebody said behind Edwin.

"Why you...", Edwin fumed and turned around to see who said that and saw a girl. The girl's long hair was tied by a pin and even has faint rosy cheeks and intricate shape of face, making her look like a true beauty.

However, the most surprising thing was that she was the vendor of the food stall they were eating at.

"Uhh, who said that?", Edwin asked with a blank face.

"I did, I said your sneeze is cute.", the girl replied. She wiped the sweat off her forehead that formed due to the hot temperature of the mini sausages she was cooking.

"Hehe, thanks.", Edwin blushed as he scratched the back of his head.

"Actually, you look cute too.", Edwin replied.

'Wait, what the heck did I just say?!', Edwin almost facepalmed himself in public. Now, his cheeks became even redder because of embarrassment.

"Actually... erm... you look cute too.", the girl also blushed and even almost let go of the stick she was holding.

"Hehehehe... is that so?", Edwin face became even redder after the compliment. The intensity of him scratching the back of his head increased.

"Be careful, you might get yourself bald from all that scratching.", Allen tuned in which made Edwin fall back to reality.

"Oh.", Edwin immediately stopped scratching his head and his face reverted back to normal; nevertheless, as soon as he remembered what just occurred, he internally shouted in all kinds of emotions.

"I guess puberty only hit you today.", Allen finished eating his snack and paid the girll.

"You... I...", Edwin wanted to say something against Allen's comment, but he didn't get to as his face started to blush again every time he recalled what happened.

"Before you kill him with his emotions, do you know any shop that I could sell my pill to?", Allen asked to the girl.

"Oh, so sir's an alchemist? Don't worry, I know a lot of those kinds of shops, including mine!", the girl proudly said.

"Alright, but we'll probably just find another one. We don't want to bother your food business. Come on Edwin, let's go.", Allen turned around, but before he could start walking away, the girl called out:

"Wait! My shop is just the building right behind me. It won't be that bothersome."

Allen stopped walking, "Lead the way then."

The girl nodded and led the two of them to the lobby where there was a long wooden counter. The design of shop was very rustic, yet at the same time relaxing due to the color harmony between the wood, the plants, and the patterns that were used on the lanterns on the wall beams.

There were also different kinds of pills and potions of all shapes and sizes displayed in the shop behind the glass windows.

"So, may I see what pill do you want to sell?", the girl asked.

Allen took out a small box from his satchel and opened it. Inside it was the five-layered Healing Dew Knife pill.

"It's just a Healing Dew Knife pill.", Allen said.

"How much are you willing to sell that to me?", the girl asked while sizing up he pill.

"10,000 mana stones.", Allen replied back.

The price almost made Edwin choke on his own saliva, he already heard from Allen that each mana stone costed 100 gold coins. Selling the pill at the price of 10,000 was equal to a staggering amount of 1,000,000 gold coins!

What are mana stones? Mana stones were special kinds of minerals formed from mana pools or from the places where there were abundant mana in the area.

Meanwhile, the girl's eyes widened and only got to compose herself seconds later.

"May I take a closer look?", the girl requested.

Allen: "Mhm."

After Allen agreed, the girl took out a magnifying glass from under her desk and closely examined the pill. After a while she shook her head and said, "Forgive me, but I'm not buying it at that price."

'To be honest, who would even buy it at that price? Does she even have that large amount of mana stones at all?', Edwin inwardly commented.

"I'm willing to buy it for 100,000 mana stones instead.", the girl continued her sentence.

Edwin almost had a heart attack when he heard that. Not only the buyer herself increased the price, but actually to a more choking amount of 100,000 mana stones, which was as the same as 10,000,000 gold coins!

Now, there were two thoughts circling around Edwin's head: How expensive is this pill really is? And where did that girl get the money from?

"Why did you increase the price?", Allen asked.

"Because it was made by none other than Alchemist Morgan, which is you, am I right sir?", the girl smiled.

"I personally saw what a merged pill looked like! The first pill you used your self-made technique Pill Merging on was put to display in the Alchem Town only for a day, but I was lucky enough to see it when I was travelling there!" The girl recalled back the small pill that looked like it had many layers if one observed it deeply.

"This Healing Dew Knife pill is now akin to a holy artifact of the alchemists! How could I buy it for 10,000 mana stones?! In fact, it probably costs more than 100,000 of them. Although you were the one who suggested that price, I feel like I'm taking advantage of you, Sir Alchemist Morgan.", the girl truthfully said.

A hundred thousand mana stones were more than 95% of her total savings, but she didn't seem to waver with her words.

"I'll take 80,000 mana stones instead. I don't have any use for that large amount of mineral.", Allen said.

"It's a deal then, sir.", the girl said. Slight hesitation could be felt on her tone because of Allen decreasing the price.

Before the girl was able to grab the mana stones, Allen asked, "How are you going to sell my pill to regain your loses?"

"An auction will take place two days from now. I guess I can sell it there... I mean if you allow me to auction it there, Sir Alchemist Morgan.", the girl replied.

A large portion of her treasure would be used to buy the medicinal pill. Of course she would definitely sell it to recoup her loses.

Allen was known for being discreet back at Alchem Town. In spite of the fact that he was a well-known person there, he wasn't always noticed even if he was walking in a populous street.

"Sell it if you want to.", Allen said.

"Thank you, sir. I almost forgot to introduce myself, my name is Alice." She said while taking out four enchanted pouches from a drawer. The contents of the pouch were none other than the 80,000 mana stones.

"This boy beside me is Edwin, he's an ignoramus.", Allen introduced.

Edwin said hello to Alice, but suddenly paused and asked, "What's an ignoramus?" However, he was ignored.

"Well, it's best that we go now. We will see each other at the auction.", Allen bid farewell.

"Really sir?" She was surprised but controlled her reaction. Still, Alice felt anticipation from imagining seeing Allen again.

"Goodbye.", Edwin said.

"Goodbye Sir Alchemist Morgan. Goodbye to you too, Edwin.", the girl sent the two of them off.

Walking back on the streets, Edwin sighed, "We found a shop earlier than expected."

"It's to the library then.", Allen said as he ate another stick of mini sausages.

'More reading? Ugh...', Edwin complained within his mind. 

He doesn't actually dislike reading books, it's just that it seemed that it's not needed to even waste his energy on reading, unlike the time when he was at Eastern Horizon City, where he had to read to obtain the basic information about Monarch Forest.

"Edwin.", Allen called out.

Edwin: "Yeah?"

"You really took a liking on that girl?", Allen looked at Edwin while walking.

"Ermm..."

"You are really naive, kid.", Allen said.

"No I'm not! And I'm just 2 years younger than you are!", Edwin quipped.

"In terms of legal age, you're still a kid.", Allen retorted without a tinge of change on his face.

After a pause he stated, "You might be as strong as an adept already, but your mental age is still young. To be honest, I think Anna's mentally is older than you are."

As if reading Edwin's mind, Allen added, "And no, whatever you experienced in the Monarch Forest isn't enough."