The Alchemist

-A few days later

After making it back to Krantz I performed my usual duties as the prince until one day, I heard a knock at my door early in the morning.

Knock! Knock!

"Prince Regil, the king wants to see you." Layla informed me.

"Thank you for telling me. I'll be on my way"

Rising from my bed, I got dressed and proceeded to make my way to the throne room. I walked past corridors and stairs until I reached a door, a door that was embroidered with golden lion. I opened the door with my crest and found my father sitting upon the throne. I walked on the white carpet that led to the throne and kneeled before my father.

"I was informed that you wanted to see me. May I ask why?"

"I wanted to relieve you of your duties."

After hearing this I was quite shocked. Never once in my life was I ever told not to do my duties.

"Why? Has something happened?"

"No, nothing has happened. With your marriage you will replace me as the king. As such, I want you to spend the rest of time you have before your marriage to do what you want. I will take care of the kingdom until then and I have already informed Alvor that he won't need to guard you in the meantime."

"Understood. Is that all?"

"You may now go. This is the least I could do."

As I stood up and made my way to the door my father said another thing.

"Sorry I didn't listen to you then."

The doors then closed behind me.

I went back to my room and sat on my bed and started contemplating. I was never offered this chance before and there were many things I wanted to do. I wanted to go to the highest mountain peaks and observe the scenery that would appear before me past the windy skies or cross regions which I have never been to before. I started to come with all these ideas before I felt a hollowness in my chest. These were things I wanted to do with Sven but, he isn't...alive anymore. As I sat there, disheartened, a new idea presented itself. Getting up from the bed, I walked towards my wardrobe deciding what to wear. I was going to enter Aerindal territory so I didn't want to wear armor as it may be something too threatening. As I sifted through my clothes, I came across the outfit I would wear when I snuck out of the castle with Sven. It was nothing too grand nor ordinary. A neatly dyed blue cloth of Krantz craftsmanship. I decided to wear this and I took the sword that I would use with it. The sword was nothing special and was something I had Ben make for me to use outside of being a prince. I brought a pouch of money and left towards the stables. Instead of my white horse I opted for the brown one and left. As I reached the gate that separated the nobles from the commoners one the guards spoke to me.

"Out on another errand for the prince?"

"Yeah, he said he wanted a few things."

"Stay safe."

"Thank you. I will"

To the guards that know me without the helmet, they know me as the prince's errand boy. Anytime I left the castle without any armor I left under that guise.

I past the bustling streets of Rivengrand and out the gate and headed towards Aerindal territory. I would be riding alone this time and the journey should go much quicker. Riding through the monotonous green trees which later turned to a myriad of colors I arrived at the village in Aerindal that I went through during my departure to Tanathil. I got off my horse and made way for the alchemy store that I sought. Walking past the series of houses and shops I made it to the front of the alchemy store. I attempted to open the door but it didn't open. I tried again but to no avail did it open. It was then that somebody chose to speak to me.

"The shop is closed." she croaked.

A bit stunned, I turned to the person who had chosen to speak to me. She was an old person with visible wrinkles on her face and seemed to be an elderly person of the village.

"Is that so? Can I ask why?"

"Shopkeeper isn't here today. You're better off leaving."

"Thanks for telling me. I'll be on my way then."

It was clear in her tone that I wasn't welcomed. She also looked at me with a bit of a glare. Either she was lying or telling the truth. It was a shame that I couldn't buy the potions here and so I left. I walked with my horse until I left the village. Instead of going back to Krantz I decided to leave for Tanathil. There were many shops there but, I couldn't remember if there was an alchemy store there. The guards might not let me in but it was worth a try. I could always think of something else.

I rode deeper into Aerindal territory and was on guard considering I was attacked last time. I took a few breaks and rode on till I felt the presence of a few people. I got off my horse, hand on hilt and started to walk closer to the presence I felt. It was than that a commotion could be heard along the rode."

"Do you really want to refuse!" spat someone.

"Yes." someone else's voice said in a calm manner.

"I guess we'll just to take it by force!"

After hearing those last lines I ran to intervene. I saw a carriage on the rode surrounded by a group of men wearing swords and light armor. There were about five people around the carriage.

I guess in every kingdom bandits are a problem I thought.

Before one of the bandits could swing their sword, I got their attention.

"Excuse me!" I shouted.

One of the bandits then looked at me with a face that beheld a certain arrogance to it.

"What's a person of Krantz doin here!?"

"I seem to be lost. Do you think you can help me?"

"Oh, I think I could do more than just help you." he said as he pointed his sword towards me.

He swung his dual daggers towards me but, before it could touch me, I flicked my hilt of my sword towards his face, making a scraping sound as it left the scabbard and as it went back in.

"It seems you have a death wish!" he said though a bit muffled since he was cupping his nose that seemed to be in an unordinary state. "Guys, forget the carriage! We're going to kill this guy."

The other four then ran to his aid holding a variety of weapons. One had a longsword while another had a spear and another had a sword and shield. The guy with the spear struck first, jabbing his spear repeatedly towards my face. With a quick and smooth motion I ducked and quickly cut the tip off his spear. I then side stepped towards the right as the guy with a longsword swung down in a vertical motion. As he tried to raise his sword back up and stepped closer and smacked his hands and he dropped his sword with a grimace on his face. The bandit with a sword and shield was running towards my direction, shield raised up. As he got closer I moved to the side and tripped him and hit him on the head with the hilt of my blade as he fell towards the floor. Immediately turning around I cut down an arrow and another one was fired. I grabbed the recently fired arrow by the shaft and threw it back towards the direction it came from. The guy with the broken spear dropped his weapon and ran towards the woods. The bandit with the dual daggers picked up the guy I knocked out and also made a run for it as well as the guy with a longsword. I stood still for a while, and judging that there were no other presences other than the carriage owner, I sheathed my sword.

"Thank you for saving me!" said a voice behind me.

I turned towards the persons direction and found someone with long hair that was white, but tinted green. Her eyes were a dark green as if representing nature itself.

"Oh, no problem."

"Are you hurt?"

"Nope, I'm fine but, isn't that what I should be asking you? You were the one attacked first after all."

"It's fine. I come across these sort of things quite often but there seemed to be no guards on patrol this time."

"Would you like me to guard you towards your destination?"

"You don't have to. Besides, it seems like you have something you want to do. If you want a reward, there isn't much I can offer right now since I don't have money with me."

"You don't need to give me a reward."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I'll be on my way now." she then took the reigns of her carriage and made her way opposite of where I was going.

I walked towards my horse which was grazing on plants and mounted him. I then proceeded to follow behind the carriage. After a while of following the carriage suddenly stopped. The owner got off and started to walk towards me. Expecting a conversation, I got off my horse.

"Do you really want a reward?"

"No, I won't need it."

"Then why are you following me?" she said a little irritated.

"You misunderstand. The place I'm heading to just happens to be in the direction you're going." I lied.

"Oh, is that, so. S-Sorry. You can sit with me on the carriage if you want. Sitting on a horse for too long gets painful."

"I'm used to it already. You don't have to mind me."

"I insist. I was bit rude to you so I want apologize."

"Ok, I accept your offer."

I walked towards the carriage, intending to sit in the back but it was full of plants. Some of which I recognized.

"Those wouldn't happen to be Luzrium right?"

"You know of these plants?"

"Yeah, I had a friend who taught me how to make medicine and other sorts of stuff."

"Really? It would be great to meet this friend of yours."

"Uh, yeah, It would be."

"Shall we get on then?"

"Yeah."

We made our way to the front of the carriage and rode along the rode, my horse, following beside us.

"So what brings a person of Krantz here? I mean you are from Krantz right?"

"Yes. I just came here looking for a type of potion."

"Potion? Interesting. I haven't heard of a person from Krantz having silver hair. The make of your equipment is from Krantz. Are you by chance a mercenary?"

"Uhm, yeah. Something along those lines."

"A mercenary with knowledge of plants and herbs. That is something quite rare."

"I not too knowledgeable about plants and herbs. There were some that I saw in the back of your carriage that I didn't know of."

"That's to be understood since some of the plants are only native to Aerindal."

We continued down the road going and as we traveled we talked about herbs and other remedies. She liked to talk about things relating to plants and as we went down the road the scenery became familiar to me. She said she was heading for a place called Taewe.

"Thank you for protecting me."

"No problem. The bandits left me unscathed anyways."

"No, not about the bandits. Thank you for escorting me."

"It's fine, I was going in the same direction anyways."

"Nope, that was a lie. You could have passed me anytime you wanted but, you didn't. You also came from the opposite direction I was heading."

"..."

"Why did you choose to protect me? You must know that the people of Aerindal aren't quite fond of Krantz. Who knows, I might have disliked you as well."

"You didn't say anything bad towards me and you were just attacked by bandits."

"Yes but, you didn't have any obligation to protect me."

"In the end, it was my decision. I'll leave it at that."

We finally reached the destination and I realized why the scenery was very familiar. We arrived at the village I had been to which happens to be called Taewe. The carriage stopped in front of the alchemy store. She got off and talked to the person awaiting her in front of the door who was the elderly woman I had met. As they talked, I overheard their conversation.

"What are you doing with that guy. He's from Krantz."

"It's ok Sariah. I came across bandits and he protected me."

"That's why you arrived late. Be careful next time."

She opened the door to the shop and I helped her move the supplies inside the store. The store was filled with shelves of varying ingredients and a table which contains the tools to mix the ingredients and concoct potions or create medicines. After finishing setting the supplies in, she stood behind the counter.

"Welcome to my alchemy store! I sell ingredients both common and rare as well as potions!" she said cheerfully, "I heard you were looking for a potion."

"Uhh, yes. I'm looking for an Iazaire potion."

"I have some in stock. How many do you need?"

"I would like two please."

"That will be 500 gold pieces."

I didn't have that much on me. At the very most, I had at least 230 coins. I figured that the potion would be expensive but not to that extent. 500 gold pieces is about a twelfth of the kingdom's treasury. Noticing that I had a troubled face she made an offer.

"I can give you one for free if you want. You did protect me from the bandits."

"No, no it's fine. Those potions must be expensive for a reason and I would feel a bit uneasy if I got it for free."

I stood there thinking about my dilemma. I really wanted the potions but, I didn't want to take her offer. I remembered that the potion was made with ingredients native to Aerindal. It was then that I thought of a different offer.

"Hmm, how about this. I would like to offer a barter. In exchange for the potions I can take you to a place where you can choose from a variety of ingredients you want. Some of them only native to Krantz."

After giving her my offer she thought upon it for a while.

"How much could I take?"

"You can take as many until your heart is content."

"How will I know you're not lying?"

"I can take you there tomorrow. You can give me the potions after you pick the ingredients."

She started to tap on the counter.

"Ok, I accept. When will you take me?"

"Is the 7th sun cycle okay?"

"Yes."

"Ok, I'll make my way to this village around that time."

"Do you have to return to Krantz? I know of a person who owns an inn here."

"As much as I would like to stay, I don't think I will be welcomed by the other villagers."

"The innkeeper will be fine with you. I can tell her to keep it a secret that you're staying there."

"Hmm, how much is it?"

"Depends, we'll have to ask her first."

I thought about it for a while.

"I guess I can try to stay the night."

"Okay, let's go talk to my friend."

"But, what about your shop?"

"It's already nighttime anyways. Today was supposed to be delivery day and the shop would normally be closed but, I made an exception for you."

We then left the shop and she locked the door. The inn wasn't too far from the shop. In fact, it was beside it. The inn itself looked well kept and wasn't too grand. It was quite simple and small. We entered through the door and I found the elderly lady behind the entrance counter. As we entered the elderly women made a smile towards the girl but, when she looked at me her face looked shocked.

"Sariah, would it be ok for him to stay the night?"

"Do you really trust him that much? He might cause a problem for the other people in the inn."

"Please. I'd be very grateful if you let him stay."

The elderly women looked at me again and I just waved my hand and she turned towards the girl.

"Fine. If you are willing to trust him then I will too."

The elderly women looked at me once more and told me the price.

"10 gold for the night. I am the innkeeper Sariah."

"Thank you for letting me stay the night."

"Thank you Sariah. I owe you one." the girl said, "I'll lead him to his room."

We walked up stairs and mine was on the second to last on the far end of the hallway.

"This'll be your room for tonight."

"Thanks for getting me this room."

"Your welcome."

Before I entered my room I asked the girl something.

"I don't think I've asked you for your name yet. Would you tell me?"

"My name is Lyrea. And you are?"

"You may call me Reginald."

"Nice to meet you Reginald. I'll see you tomorrow."

And with those words she left to the room beside mine. I opened the door to my room and found a bed and a drawer next to it. The room wasn't spacious or cramped. With not much left to do, I laid down on the bed, waiting for the next day.