The old alchemist

Gabriella stopped by a weird-looking store. The whole building was made of bricks instead of wood and basic mortar. Twisting trees and veins grew by the door side and extended all the way to the small window at the side. A strange smell emanated from the gaps causing Fen to start sneezing.

"What is this place?" Hades asked closing his nose, the smell wasn't bad. It was just a bit too strong.

Gabriella smiled as she approached the door, "An alchemist, we need some salt and flint. Scent eraser and monster attractor. Also some antidotes in case we got poisoned, I don't want to waste gold on healing that."

Ritual healing magic consumed gold as a material component. The more skilled you are at a spell, the less gold you will need to perform it. Gabriella was an expert in healing wounds, not the purification of toxins.

"Monster attractor? Let's get in then." Hades only understood the word monster so he stuck to that.

Gabriella slowly pushed the door open, it creaked as if was never oiled in years. Looking inside, dark inside, the shop was filled with dried plants, seeds, and bottles of strange glowing liquid, and oils.

"Want some salt, is someone inside?" Gabriella shouted as she reached the dusty counter. She looked around, hearing the tip-tap steps coming from the back.

An old woman slowly walked from behind the curtain leaning on her brown wooden walking stick. "Who's there?" She looked toward the door.

"Here, on the counter. I said I need some salt." Gabriella shouted at the old lady, something was clearly off.

The old woman lifted her hand to her ear, listening carefully as she almost heard something "HAH? What did you say?"

Gabriella sighed as she approached the old lady, screaming beside her "Salt! Salt!"

The old woman started laughing, "Sorry girl, I can barely hear you." She poked her ear, "I'm blind and almost going deaf, I can smell though. There are samples of everything in the shop on the counter, bring me those, and I can get what you need."

The old lady turned toward the counter and started walking, slowly as she felt the ground with her walking stick. "Another thing, which girl goes around dragging two dogs behind her?" the old lady pointed her stick toward Hades and Fen.

"I smell blood on them, fresh human blood. I'm not serving some bandit? Guess that won't be right with your clean smell. A noble, have your dogs attacked a servant?" The old lady glared with her white eyes at Gabriella, "I won't sell to such people."

Gabriella glared at her, "Two dogs? There is only a single cub here, how could you tell."

"Don't try to mislead my nose. There are definitely two dogs, albeit one of them smells strange." The old lady approached Hades and Fen. She extended her hand and Hades took a few steps back making her only grasp air.

"The one with the strange smell took the other dog and moved away, come back here!" She pointed her stick at them.

"WAN!" Fen leaped from Hades's shoulder and approached her slowly. She immediately lifted him in her shaking arms, "Oh my, it's really a small cub. How soft could its fur be?" She quickly put Fen back on the ground and approached Hades.

This time, Gabriella asked him to not move. This old lady was a bit annoying but according to her father, she was the best alchemist in town.

After touching Hades's shoulders she was taken aback, he felt human. "Ara, was I mistaken? How rude of me, it seems that my nose is failing me as well."

Hades glared down at her, what was she talking about? Looking at her, she didn't seem to be worth any Favor. But something in his head was screaming, this thing was dangerous.

"Gabriella, can I kill this one?" He asked, in the past two weak they have taught him to not kill immediately. That seemed to be working.

The old lady took a few steps back, her head shaking, "Sorry, if I angered you. Will you really kill an old lady like me? And, did you just say Gabriella?"

Gabriella stood between them, "No you can't," She stared at him and then turned toward the old lady.

"Come here, leave him alone for a moment. He will hurt you if you messed with him…" She helped her walk behind the desk.

The old lady turned her head and stared at them, "He said Gabriella, are there is only one Gabriella that I know of."

"Gabriella Gamorian, that's me. Just give me what I need quickly!" Gabriella grabbed the herbs and salt she needed and presented them to the old lady. She then headed toward the shelves and picked a few bottles filled with monster attractor and repellent.

After the old lady inspected everything, she gathered all that Gabriella wanted and put it in a leather bag.

When Hades and Gabriella left, the old lady stared at the door. Her white eyes were wide open. Click! Click! Her fingertips knocked on the desk, "Hmmmm." She crocked her lips, scratching her head thinking.

"What an interesting smell…" she grabbed a chizzled smoking pipe, and filled it from a small bag she was hiding under the desk.

She flicked her finger and a small spark ignited the pipe. She took a deep breath and exhaled it into a cloud of smoke, "What should I do about this?"

…

After that, Hades and Gabriella passed by the general store. She got some ropes, traps, flints to ignite a flame, and some other necessities.

Even Hades started wondering, "Why do we need all of this?" He asked with a puzzled face as Gabriella used him as a pack mule.

"We might spend the whole day hunting, we could stay until tomorrow. You can never know when hunting monsters." She stated with a serious face, she then scratched her cheek, "I also never went on such a trip so I might have gotten a bit excited and bought some extra things."

Hades sighed, he was told by Cael that Gabriella was a bit loose-handed with money. The shiny things which people conveniently exchange for valuable food. "As long as we kill monsters."

The two of them slowly walked through the busy street, eventually reaching the gate.

As soon as they approached, two guards lifted their spears and pointed at them. "You two, I identify…"

[Attraction] [Repulsion]CRACK! "AWOOO!" CRUNCH! Hades used his ability to pull one of the guards to him and then punched him in the face. Fen leaped ahead and bite one of the spears in half.

Gabriella screamed. "Stop!" Hades and Fen stopped, they stared at her with confused faces. "But they pointed weapons at us," Hades said with a half-sad face. "A-WAN!" Even Fen puffed his eyes, sad about not having his snack.

The soldier who was punched was knocked out cold, while the other stared at his spear in disbelief.

Gabriella took her family insignia and showed it to them, "I'm Gabriella Gamorian, don't stand in our way."

A third soldier approached them, "Sorry for the trouble Lady Gabriella, those two might not recognize you since you wore this armor. If you're going out, do you want a battalion to guard you?" He asked pointing to a flock of five knights ready for departure.

She stared at the two soldiers, "No need, as you can see, those are more than enough." She pointed at Hades and Fen.