24 Suspicious Alchemist (1)

Owen Liddell might be one to know and sympathize with what it was like to stay locked in one's room for a long time. And yet the longer that Tobias kept explaining about the circumstances surrounding the Alchemist… it gave him a sense of foreboding.

There was a mental checklist in his mind that was already getting ticked off per sentence that was delivered from Tobias' description of this Mossblossom person.

If a "person" was even the appropriate name to give to them.

A sudden chill crept up in Owen's mind that somehow seemed more urgent than anything that could have happened in the Oaken Ashwood. Goblins were common monsters, prolific and mated like rabbits in heat sure, but there were creatures that were far more sinister than them.

More intelligent and cunning.

They disguised themselves and tried to pretend that they were nothing but simple people living in their society—but that was further and further from the truth.

Came out every blue moon

Wore thick garments and cloak when leaving the shack

Preferred to stay indoors

Owen Liddell finally cut Tobias off and asked the final question. Those three criteria could have fit him or some other person if they were prone to stay at home or had a skin condition, but there was something else that confirmed human versus someone masquerading as a human.

"Has the Alchemist asked for anything like blood?" Owen inquired as smoothly as possible.

"Perhaps, animal's blood or something—"

"I think so. But not that often." Tobias shrugged and continued eating his lunch. "There were a couple of times that she asked for pig blood in a vial. I mean maybe she's just experimenting or whatever it was. Who knows?"

"The thought of using pig blood—no, blood in general doesn't give you any wrong signals?" Owen Liddell tried to stare at Tobias and hoped it could reach him.

"Hey, you're the one who's supposed to be the son of an Alchemist. How am I supposed to know if using blood is natural? I mean Alchemists use almost everything for experimentation right?"

Owen pushed himself to his feet and stood up. "I'm going out to ask around the village for more sightings of our Alchemist besides your testimony." He had already learned that jumping to a quick conclusion was bound for madness. Instead, he gave Tobias an assignment. "Think of an excuse to get us in the laboratory."

"What?" Tobias blinked.

"I can't just believe your words and then storm the Alchemist there—I need further confirmation." He stepped outside and left them in the inn.

Owen rubbed his face and scowled slightly as the heat of the sun shone down on him… but it wasn't like he started to burst into flames or anything like it.

He needed to stop this train of thoughts of his.

But what if he was correct?

Owen Liddell already encountered mistrust before.

Occasions where people didn't listen to him at all even when he demanded for their attention. This made him reluctant and even extremely cautious from saying anything anymore—the damage has been done already.

But what if his senses were right, this time?

What were the chances that the Alchemist was more than what they seemed to be? He hated being wrong. He hated being wrong almost more than he hated forcing himself to talk with people—but he did it.

Owen approached one of the people passing by and managed to speak up with a friendly smile.

"Excuse me?"

"Huh, what do you want?" It was a man with a straw hat and a fishing line. He looked like he was itching to go fishing and had been disturbed by Owen's presence yet again. "Are you lost or anything? You're not from around here."

Owen cleared his throat and ignored the man's statement to focus on the task on hand.

"Good afternoon, sir. If you could spare some of your time, but have you or anyone else you've known have met Alchemist Mossblossom?"

"You mean the one that lives in the shack near the edge of the village?" The older man fixed his hat and looked thoughtful. "Haven't seen them in a long time, but the healing potion I bought saved me that one time I snagged my foot on the line when I decided to go drunk fishing."

While the man's story gave him an unsettled feeling, Owen still pursued the answer that he was looking for. "That means you've seen them before? What does she look like—"

"Aren't you a little too young to be pursuing ladies older than you?"

Owen balked at the suggestion and shook his head.

"No—I mean, I haven't seen her myself, but I want to be an apprentice. So it's only fair that I want to recognize her if we meet in the village since it's small… and homey."

"... you cityfolks calling this place homey, eh?" The Fisherman laughed and patted Owen's shoulder. "It's great that people are appreciating this sleepy village, goodluck with your quest. I don't remember the Alchemist's face that much, they just rushed back inside their shack and threw a healing potion when they saw me."

"Is that so?"

Owen Liddell rubbed his forehead.

All the assassination skills were right in his hands and he couldn't even use it to get answers from people here. Perhaps he should have gotten more Interrogation-related Skills, but even his grandfather was just a master of killing targets and not getting answers from them.

"...I could try to sneak into the shack to catch her in the act, but for all I know that shack has dimensional magic in it and it's actually a dungeon. It's too risky to go there by myself. Wait, I needed to send a letter."

Owen Liddell started asking around for an 'Egbert' and soon managed to catch up to a man who was already in his cart. The guy was standing at the entrance of the village and was saying goodbye to what was probably his loved one.

Egbert lifted the cart's reins and was about to embark, until he noticed Owen. "Giddyup—oh, hello there, boy. Do you have any packages you'd like to send? I can take them now if you'd like."

He shouldn't stare.

Owen wasn't a little kid or anything.

But it really just caught his eye as if there was some mesmerizing spell that caught him in its radius. The man had a shiny bald spot on his head and Owen wondered if that was why he was called Egbert. That wasn't his actual real name, right? It was an Egg + Albert or something?

"Boy? You got anything for me?"

He finally snapped out of it. Owen nodded and turned to his pouch and fished out a quill. "Yeah, let me just get some parchment okay?"

"But I'm leaving already, I can't wait for the letter." Egbert patted his two horses and tossed him a sigh. His cart was already loaded with many things. There were large logs of timber, baskets filled with fruits and also boxes of other items set to go. "I can probably deliver that at my next trip—"

"It's important!" Owen said. "Just give me a minute to write this down." He placed the paper on his knee and started scribbling a short message. He cursed himself for never attempting to become a Mage or at least learning the [ Message ] Spell which would have been way easier than dealing with…

When he looked up, Egbert was already moving forward with his cart.

Did his horses or this guy have [ Silent Hooves ] or [ Quiet Travel ] as a Skill? "Are you serious?" Owen Liddell said to himself before he started chasing after the cart. "Hey, wait up!"

Laughter sounded within the road as Egbert made the horses trot faster across the ground.

The guy was seriously a little cracked in the head—because who does that?!