A Dragon's Curiosity

“How curious. This should not be possible.”

Appraising the elf like an especially interesting specimen, his hands twitched to step closer and put her under a closer investigation.

Carmen, on the other hand, took down her hands and eyed the girl with an incredulous expression. She had been in this room before, with the same situation on her hands. The Alchemist rarely left room for negotiation or words at all, the weapon the Golden Heels relied on her position.

The old man tested people, relied on results rather than appearances. Maybe not the same potion he presented this time or the requirement to ingest something, but his interest in the elf already revealed he was interested in her proposal. He did not dismiss her or threw her out of his rooms.

But more importantly, she knew how effective the mixtures prepared by the Alchemist were. His methods left no leeway to consider others; the demands always came from the upper limit, with no concern given for the life of death of others. Carmen had to dispose of more than one body after sending someone to this place in her name; she had no doubts the information, which she was aware of, laid way above the strength of an elf, who could not possibly reach these heights with her apparent youth. After the girl snatched and gulped down the potion, the older woman had panicked and already assumed Nisha would undoubtedly die in a short while.

“How could you do that? Do you know how worried I was? I thought you were a smart girl, instead, you snatch and drink some unknown thing this old codger threw together! What do you think could have happened to you?”

Rushing up to the young girl, Carmen gave her a quick glance over before touching various body parts, making sure there were no changes.

“Alchemist, what did you make there? Does she need a healer? Do something; don’t just stand there!”

Still frantic, the Golden Heel fussed and flitted about, complaining to the old man.

“Fascinating. Relax, girlie, the kid will be fine. I don’t know why or how, but she seems to have survived.”

His casual evaluation of her possible demise chilled Nisha’s back slightly, not to the point where cold sweat appeared, as he disregarded her life and death completely.

As his air already implied, matters regarding death did not phase him one bit.

“Does that mean you intended to kill me off, Alchemist? I did come here in good faith, to negotiate a deal. What are you planning?”

Showing off her healthy physique by stepping closer to the man and circulating her aura and mana to the fullest, Nisha gave air to her dismay. Aside from her confidence at surviving whatever had been inside the vial, that did not mean she liked being tested in this way. In the case her judgment had been wrong, the Alchemist had a good chance to dispose of her right here and now.

“Of course not. I am a firm believer in the capacity of people to handle themselves. You asked for information that I have. The qualification to attain this info is fairly high. If you overestimate yourself and succumb to a poison of the fifth rank, it only meant you had not been qualified to know. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“So it was a poison after all! Old fellow, you did something outrageous again!”

Carmen failed to hold herself back and started shaking the Alchemist by the scruff of his dirty robe. Her fuming expression and clenched fists made it abundantly clear what exactly she thought about his behavior.

“Wait, no, calm down. I explained, didn’t I?”

His distorted voice from the shaking made it barely through to the two woman and would have continued for a while if it was not for Nisha, who stepped in and pulled her away from the old man.

“You made me drink poison, and insist it was not attempted murder? That does not explain anything at all.”

Of course, the dragon did not hold a grudge against the man. Since she dared to drink the concoction, the elf had to bear the consequences anyway. Blaming him now did not make sense.

“I will give you one chance to give your reasons. Otherwise, I will ban all of your products from my stores.”

Instead of the enraged manner from before, the Golden Heel now exhibited the ice cold rage of a scorned woman. Even Nisha had to step away from the older female while she glared at the Alchemist.

“It’s not what you think. Let me start with the poison, it’s a mixture of [Monk’s Skyweed] and [Fiery Bladeshroom] harvested recently. As both are fifth tier potion materials, the resulting potion has a top class cleansing qualities as well as a strong toxicity. Not quite intuitive, but it will become clear once you know who it is made for. Follow me.”

Retrieving another vial, the geezer hastily escaped Golden Heels, who stalked him like a shadow and tried to burn a hole in his robe with the fire in her gaze.

As he rambled on about the properties of the potion, the trio soon arrived at a special room. In addition to the reinforced door material, three locks, one above the other, secured the room. That, in itself, did not mean much in the lair of a secretive alchemist; the decisive factor to set apart this area from the others they passed was the concealed array hidden on the other side, presumably a magical trap if anyone tried to pry open the gate by force.

Indeed, the Alchemist began unlocking the devices only after he fumbled an amulet out from his robes and absorbed the magical trap into the item.

“To sum it up, the inquiry for a steady food supply does correlate to this potion; I have no idea about any deals though. You need to promise me to not share whatever you learn now since the knowledge has the potential to cause widespread chaos if leaked. Can you promise that?”

Compared to his usual uncollected and mussy behavior so far, the old Alchemist now had the image of an old snake hovering behind him. His eyes demanded honesty from the elf, and, no matter how many evaluations she passed or tests she succeeded in, he would not open the door if the girl did not promise to keep the revelations classified.

“The increased demand is closely tied to this fellow. I also prepared the potion to do some experiments; however, I cannot yet say if it is an effective treatment. Take a look.”

Contained within the secure room, a large glass screen separated a slumped figure from several tables overloaded with ingredients, open publications, and spilled mixtures. As soon as the trio entered the premises, the wilted human perked up and started throwing himself against the isolation pane.

His features had faded away, black veins spreading through his face and an unhealthy green growth came out of his skin, resulting in bulbous swellings.

Then the ungodly screeching, screaming his agony to the world, even through the thick paneling; the unknown man resembled a monster more than a human.

“This sailor has come to the city with the recent expedition returning from the outside world. We caught him raising havoc in a tavern at the harbor, and, after failing to beat some reason into him, the Alchemist caught wind of his condition. He ended up here, afterward.”

Carmen gave the explanation, to Nisha’s surprise. The girl had expected to hear everything from the old man.

“Golden Heel is correct. Every time the expeditions are returning, I put out a notice to look for certain incidents. What you see here is the result of a disease.”

Preparing a ball from his robe, appearing almost magically out of thin air, the Alchemist threw the item inside the glass, where an inscription opened the glass wall for a brief moment. Without Nisha’s [Spirit Eyes], the inconspicuous detail would have escaped the most experienced aura practitioner.

Bursting after landing on the ground, the ball released blue gas, which seeped into the raging madman. Within moments, the thrashing died down and he fell unconscious.

The trio advanced inside the separation after the old man activated another inscription to open a door inside.

“Bear with me for a while longer, the reason for my demands will become clear soon enough. This mixture is called [Blazing Stormscour], and as I have stated earlier, is a poison as well as a purging agent.

I am still not sure why you are fine, girl. Below the fifth rank, it can burn through almost every organic material. Curiously enough, a first rank glass vial is completely sufficient to store it.”

Opening the unconscious man’s mouth, the Alchemist poured the potion down his throat, staring at his features.

Nothing happened at first. Then, the knocked out test subject spasmed and convulsed, blood pouring out his mouth, ears, eyes, and nose. Strangely enough, the black veins and bulbous growths were also reduced in size in a steady fashion.

“This looks promising.”

Nodding, the Alchemist lost himself in contemplation, which also happened to jinx the whole ordeal.

The sanguine fluids were absorbed by the swellings, which grew even bigger than before. By now, the seizure also ended and the man returned to stillness.

“Damn it, this potion is also out.”

Motioning to have the two women move outside, the old man sealed up the glass cage again.

“As you see, this sailor is suffering from a dangerous disease. I have referenced old tomes of knowledge and other contacts in the alchemist business, as well as the [Adventurer’s Guild] archives.

I’ve tried to mix a medication in order to cure him. As all antidotes have failed so far, coupled with the symptoms, I am firmly believing that he is suffering from the [Blackroot Plague]. From the descriptions and the observations I made during his stay here, the plague is highly contagious and contaminates a diverse number of species. Neither elves, humans, dwarves, nor even beastmen are safe from it. Neither are warriors or magicians, not to mention regular citizens beneath the fifth rank safe from it. Which is also why I had you, Miss Nisha, ingest the potion before. Unless you have that strength, coming here risks infecting you. You desired this knowledge, and I offered you a chance. Whether you overestimate yourself, going for it and subsequently die or not, has no relation to me.

I am constantly pondering why you are able to defy the [Blazing Stormscour] poison, which drove back the plague, but since you can survive the potion, you can enter this room.

My best guess so far is you have an inherited physique. That would explain it, maybe.”

Nisha only smiled and did not deny his assumption. His curiosity furthered her goals and she was not going to admit to her inherited dragon physique there and then. A girl had to have some secrets, after all.

“And why is this information so classified? I don’t see how this has an influence on my negotiations with the guild.”

The dragon had to admit, the raving madman did chill her somewhat. To think a regular human could turn into a monster through a disease was a terrifying prospect. The Alchemist scanned her over with his eyes again and moved away from her mystery.

“What is important here is the ghastly spread the [Blackroot Plague] boasts. If a single carrier is caught within a city, at least one hundred more have already succumbed to it. The sickness will develop inside their body for a while before propagating and then explode again with more and more carriers.

It burns the host’s mana to grow first, which means, in the worst case, magicians will notice a drop in their cultivation. Priests, which rely on mana as well, will fall to the plague and be unable to offer treatment when the plague takes root. Worse, you cannot detect infected beings before the growths break through the skin and invade the veins, which means it’s pointless to try and contain it. All food in the city might carry spores of the sickness, which have spoiled it already.

Ultimately, there will be an epidemic in [Thurgau] in the near future and we, the [Thieves Guild], need a new source of food to weather the storm.

Do you understand now?”

Smiling grimly, the Alchemist handed Nisha an open book, which contained a description of the plague to confirm his information.

Unable to do anything else, the dragon only nodded.