Chapter 26 Favor

On their way back to the mansion, Lucas was ordered to take command of the horse. He had to stay awake to make sure they didn't divert from their path. It only takes a few hours to reach their destination, so Lucas didn't mind it that much, after all, he had a lot to think about specifically the contract that he signed. He could feel that the contract was letting him leave the cave without any problems. 'So, is it the nest that had to be destroyed in order to 'clear' the mine? What are the conditions?'

'There are definitely still monsters living in that cave, like the Borrowers that live underground.'

'Is it then focused on sight? No that doesn't make any sense.'

'Did the baron know about what kind of monsters lived in the cave? No, Venion didn't know, or was he pretending?'

'There's too much we simply don't know yet.'

There was also the offer of Venion, which he stated was always available.

Fifty years were a lot for someone like Lucas who was barely even an adult. Not that his age had any negative influence over his mind or body. His body was forced to grow with the potions and his mind had lost most of its naivety, making place for a cynical and cunning mindset. If he wanted to continue in the life that Lucas wants, he would have to do something extraordinary. To reach that goal, he would have to scheme and plot to reassure his future was safe.

After a few hours they reached the mansion, going their separate ways Lucas met Liam again. Seeing that he was safe, Liam was smiling. They talked about what Lucas had been through and Liam talked about the situation in the kingdom. Apparently, there was some unrest around the higher ups and they seem to be preparing for war, and the mansion of the baron was conscripted to fight with the Holy Kingdom. The mansion of the baron was located near the border of the Holy Kingdom. Above the Holy Kingdom was the Northern Kingdom Frigus, it was a country that allowed all religions except the one of the Order of Light, pissing of the Holy Kingdom.

They were against what they stood for and wanted to break the grasp that the Holy Kingdom had over the continent. Talking about the future war wasn't the most pleasant, so they changed the topic. "Lucas, I don't know what you're planning to do, but I think you should follow Venion. As far as I know, you'll go a lot further with him than with us. It might sound mean, but I really think that staying with the baron will get you killed. I don't want to see that happen in my lifetime. If you follow Venion, you'll at least get freedom after a while."

"I know.", Lucas didn't say anything after that, he was debating in his mind on how to proceed now. He had multiple things he needed to do in order for his plan to work out. 'If all conditions can be met, we'll still have some problems with Venion in the end, our plan needs to be further fleshed out.'

'I know, but for that we need more time and a lot more information.'

Lucas was tasked with clearing out the mine, so now that he was done, he gained a resting period. Next time he might have to go with Robert since he had been receiving combat training and a bunch of other training as well, like etiquette. Lucas on the other hand poured all his time into the tome and combat training. Coming up with new spells with limited runes to work with wasn't easy.

After some time he was called by Venion, it was time to repay his favor. Entering his office, he found a cabinet filled with bottles containing who knows what. Some seemed to have organs, while others didn't even look like human parts. "Ah, you're here, good. I wanted to test some things."

Lucas was sat down on a chair in front of his desk. 'So no iron table to cuff us? How generous.'

'Shut up, we'll suffer for a moment, but this is all temporary, he promised it wouldn't kill or cripple us remember? So we just have to endure...again.'

"There are a multitude of things I want to check, but things need to be fair, you need to take 5 different potions from this rack, you can choose which ones. Drinking 5 will repay the information I gave you a while back."

The rack contained a bunch of tiny tubes locked with a piece of cork, filled with strange yet colorful liquids. The darker looking ones really didn't look as appetizing as the white or colorless one, but neither Venion nor Lucas could tell what it would do or taste like. "What are you waiting for? Drink one."

He didn't need to gather his courage, but rather suppress his disgust. Taking a safer option, Lucas chose the water-looking one, opening the top, it didn't smell like anything. 'Deep breaths, deep breaths.'

Lucas drank the tiny amount of liquid the tube could store in a single gulp. He waited cautiously, but nothing seemed to happen, "What was it meant to do?"

"Oh god, your breath smells, face the other way if you want to talk! That potion was made with a few roots and the bladder of a cow, an recipe states that with the correct ratio, you could create a perfume that would make a lot of people fall into illusions. But it seems I didn't have enough of that root, hmm. Oh well, that was a mere pet project, so it doesn't really matter."

"Wiat, for how long will my breath stink like this?"

"Hmm, I don't know, how would I, the recipe never mentioned anything about the duration."

"WHAT!"

"Calm down will you, if you raise your voice like that again I'll remove one of your legs."

'Bastard, we didn't die or get crippled, but it seems we can never trust a mage on his words.'

'If a potion created this effect, there's a potion that does the opposite as well, so don't worry about it.'

The next two potions didn't have any significant effect, Lucas grew some scales on his arms, but those were easily removed. His breath still stunk, so he had to face the wall while talking to Venion. The fourth potion he took was the white one, drinking it down didn't reveal any special effects. But when Lucas started to talk again Venion immediately noticed it.

"Your breath doesn't smell anymore, hmm, I created a few of these. Tell me Lucas, would you be interested in drinking a few of the first potion you took? We have the anthethesis now, so your breath can be easily reversed if you wanted to. Then you won't have to drink another experimental potion again. What do you say?"

'We should take this deal, I don't want to drink another one of those horrible drinks.'

'But what if he made some mistake in the other samples and they won't work, we just got rid of our breath, why should we take this risk?'

'Because it's better to take this one than to grow scales on your eyelids, just trust me.'

"Yes, I wouldn't mind taking a few more of those."

"Ah perfect, I'll line them up now, I just need to...", Venion was preparing another batch of the first potion and placed the white-looking ones, their antidote in front of Lucas. Lucas had the time to look around for a moment. He saw a pouch on the side filled with herbs he had never seen before. On the wall hung a belt filled with potions, 'Are those potions meant to be used in a fight? Are they healing potions?'

"Alright Lucas, here we go, I made a few more, go ahead and drink them.", he said with a smile. After a few more attempts, Venion saw that his proportions were way off. "Damnit, so either that legend is just that, a fairy tale, or there's an ingredient I'm missing. Hmm, we still have a few antidotes left as well. Hold on a second."

Venion placed a pot on the desk, covered in leather, so the insides remained hidden. At first, Lucas was curious about what was inside it, but the moment Venion opened it and the stench reached his nose, he lost all interest; The smell was horrible, like a body that was starting to rot. "Since it can remove bad smells, perhaps we can use it as a cleaning product as well."

Pouring the white liquid in the pot made the smell slowly go away, "Oh perfect, it can stop the smell of a rotten body, these will come in handy. Thank you Lucas for working with me, consider your favor more than paid. In fact, I'll give you something in return, what would you like?"

"Can I get a few of those white potions? I started to like their taste."

"Hmm, are they addictive?"

"No, no, I just like them.", with some squabbling, Lucas eventually got his hand on a few of those white potions. He wasn't really addicted to them or liked their taste, but it was another tool he could use in the future.