Chapter 166 - Izumi and Sig Curtis

Tatsuya stretched his body after walking out of the train, "I am starting to get tired of trains!"

Miyuki understood his problem with the trains. She wanted to yawn, but looking at people around, she couldn't.

"When we reach the rush valley, I plan to build something that would allow us to travel at our leisure."

Miyuki was a bit surprised by the idea, "But, vehicles from our time won't fit in this environment. Have you ever seen any ancient ones?"

"Never saw one, no one kept cars two-century-old. Maybe a few collectors. But, I think I can improve the one they have here by a few generations and make one." Tatsuya said while dodging the crown on the station.

Miyuki had a strange smile on her face. It made Tatsuya tilt his head and ask, "what?"

Miyuki shook her head, still smiling, "Nothing."

Tatsuya let it be, "Ok."

After getting down the stairs and walking on the road free of too much crowd. Miyuki turned around and started walking backward, "ask again..."

Tatsuya glanced away before gazing back at her, "what is it?"

Miyuki curled her lips in a smile, "you just want to work again!"

Tatsuya patted her head, "No, that not it."

Miyuki let out a chuckle, "That's alright, you can work if you want to."

She abruptly stopped and sniffed the air; her eyes wandered around the city.

"Do you sense something?" Tatsuya frowned after seeing her actions.

Miyuki looked towards the outskirts of the Dublith, "there is something there..." her eyes peeked towards Tatsuya, "something twisted...like your emotions was...like the thing under this country."

Tatsuya put his hand around her waist, "let it be...don't think about it."

Miyuki glanced outside worriedly before shaking her head hand, "Do you remember where Izumi Curtis's house is?"

They had been traveling around for some while now, after visiting a few cities of the east. They moved towards the south, now they were here in Dublith.

"Al said she owned a butcher shop. Let's just hope there is only one butcher shop."

Miyuki looked at the streets filled with shops as far as eyes could see, "let's just hope there is only one butcher shop here."

"Didn't he tell you a name or anything?" Tatsuya glanced at Miyuki in between. His eyes were roaming around the shops, reading the names of the shop.

"Hmm...No." Usually, she heard everything Al had to say. But, she didn't have perfect memory like Tatsuya. You couldn't expect her to remember a single name from all the talks.

Miyuki stopped the woman at the flower shop, "Excuse me, do you know Izumi Curtis?"

"Izumi Curtis? ... Oh... her! She owns a shop Curtis Meat. Go straight, taking a right, at the corner. There would a shop with a red door and MEAT sign on the top of it."

"Ah, Thank you so much!" Miyuki was a bit surprised that they found out this quickly..."Can you give me that Chrysanthemum?"

"Yes...5 Cens."

"Thank you!" Miyuki walked away after taking the Chrysanthemum.

Miyuki walked back in front of Tatsuya, giving him the floor, "Onii-sama, for you!"

Tatsuya took the flower from her, "Thank you..." He put it in system storage before following her, "Was that a statement or a taunt?"

Miyuki curled her lips into a satisfying smile, "I just gave Onii-sama a flower I liked!"

"Is that so..." Tatsuya said, sighing inwardly. She still hadn't forgiven him for the things that happened with Shen Xiu and Long Shuyun.

It was far, in a quiet community, not the place where you would expect a shop and many customers.

They found a red door, like the lady in the flower shop said, with a small house on its side and a small rectangular lawn in front of it.

Inside the Meat Shop, an enormous man was standing behind the counter. He had an angry look on her face, but that seemed to be the natural look on his face.

"Welcome." Or that was what his eyes to be saying, since he, himself, was silent.

An ordinary person might feel awkward, "We would like to see Izumi Curtiz." Tatsuya directly said.

The man in the light brown t-shirt, dark brown hair, and a classic full beard, just stared at them without saying anything.

"We are Ed and Al's neighbors; there was something we need to talk about." Tatsuya seemingly understood why he was silent.

The man nodded and walked inside.

Miyuki pulled on Tatsuya's sleeves, "you understood him?"

"Didn't you?" Tatsuya asked genuinely.

Miyuki lightly held her forehead, "Onii-sama, should I be worried about you?"

"Why would you have to worried about me?"

Miyuki sighed with a little smile on her face, "forget it."

Shortly, a grown woman came into their view. She had a slender yet well-toned figure and tall height. She had fair skin, sharp dark eyes, and upper back-length black hair often worn in box braids tied in a ponytail.

She wore a long white collared button-up blouse that revealed her cleavage. She wore pants reaching her ankles and open-toed sandals that had letters W.C. written on them.

"You must be Tatsuya," her eyes turned to Miyuki, "and you Miyuki?"

She said in a confident, powerful, and yet smooth voice that didn't sound offending.

Miyuki bowed to her, greeting her, before asking curiously, "how did you know?"

"Alfred sent a letter to me, and then there are rumors about your healing powers." She glanced at Tatsuya's right hand with great curiosity.

It was said that he could heal people with just a touch of his hand. Even Alfred phrased it like this. As an Alchemist, she was curious about it.

"So, you heard about us. Well, if you don't mind, there is something I wanted to talk to you about."

Izumi nodded, "please come inside."

Inside their living room,

Miyuki and Tatsuya were sitting on the single sofas in front of Izumi and her Husband, Sig.

After having some small talk, Tatsuya came to the point, "I heard you can do Alchemy without a circle?"

Izumi stopped smiling as she looked at Tatsuya, "Yes. What about it?"

"I just wanted to ask, can that type of thing be taught? Or, the only one who can do that are those who perform Human Transmutation?" Tatsuya asked with a straight face. He didn't want to beat around the bush; slowly knowing them, pulling down their defenses, and then asking would take too much time.

Sig sat up straight with a tensed body; Izumi wasn't all that different in reaction. After all, Human Transmutation was a crime in this Militaristic Country.

Izumi stared at Tatsuya in a bind when Miyuki saved her, "you don't have to say."

"Would you mind if I check your condition? I can't cure you, but I might be able to make the symptoms easier."

"Hmm... don't tell me you came this far, just to treat me?"

"Not really, we were just passing by and thought to meet you. I heard a lot about you from Ed and Al. Moreover, there were some answers about Alchemy that I had hoped you could answer. In return, I could show you my Alkahestry and how it works. It has great medical uses; those will probably help you with your condition."

He hesitated before speaking, "and being completely truthful, I wanted to hear more about Human Transmutation." He wanted to outright come and say that you students attempted Human Transmutation and lost their body. And, he was here to learn more about their condition. But it really wasn't his place to talk about it.

Izumi was a bit uncomfortable talking about this, but she could feel Sig's reassuring and hopeful gaze.

She sighed and talked awkwardly, "Alkahestry from Xing?" She had barely heard about it in passing and nothing more.

"Yes, unlike the Alchemy in this country uses energy from tectonic plates. But, Alkahestry depends on the energy/chi that flows through the earth. It flows metaphorically from the tops of mountains down to the land, nourishing everything it passes with that energy as does blood coursing through the veins. Using this concept, Alkahestrists are capable of a higher level of medical transmutation than Amestrian alchemists."

Izumi seemed deep in thought, "The flow of energy..."

Suddenly, *Bleeech*, she started puking blood.

Sig stood up and rubbed her back. While Tatsuya stood up, "if you wouldn't mind me trying?"

Sig looked at him and nodded.

Tatsuya put his hand on her shoulder, sending his chi inside of her.

He knit his brows and put his hand on her stomach. His hand shined with orange light for a while before he removed it. Although he couldn't restore her organs, he could make the circulation more refined. At the same time recover some of the depleted life energy in her body.

Izumi let out blood again, but this time it was bad blood. Her face was simply filled with surprise as she looked down at her body. Her body felt so much better. She hadn't felt this refreshed in the last decade.

Izumi stood up as Sig cleaned the blood off her face, "So this is Alkahestry."

Tatsuya shook his head, "this is the peak of Alkahestry."