A Genius Pharmacist Whom the Empress Is Obsessed With

Falling Leaves.

The work piled up all at once, didn’t it?

Due to a sudden report, Leta’s already messy heart became even more uncomfortable.

“They sent this report from the palace? When did it arrive?”

“It arrived around midnight.”

Leta’s gaze turned towards her desk. A stack of parchment was placed on the brown desk.

Lying halfway on the chair, Leta sat up and checked the report.

Despite its elaborate and ornate appearance, the contents of the document were surprisingly simple.

-Dispatch a surveillance officer to Melo.-

Below that, it detailed who would be sent as the surveillance officer, when, for how long, and for what reason.

“Has the identity of the person who brought this been confirmed?”

“I heard from the Lord that the identity is certain.”

Upon the messenger’s response, Leta stifled a laugh inwardly.

“They think they know so much about fake subjects.”

The current Lord was a scarecrow planted by Leta. He was a wandering actor who happened to come to Melo and seemed decent enough to be hired by Leta.

“Watch closely. I will now show you how to determine if this is real or fake.”

Leta lifted her index finger and brushed it against the sentence written on the parchment.

After brushing it about ten times, a faint shimmer began to appear on the sentence.

“The Empress is quite a capable magician. That’s why they play around with these tricks in the official documents sent by the Royal Family.”

No matter how wealthy one may be, they couldn’t casually infuse magic into a seal.

Proper magicians were rare, but all the magicians of the Empire were under the management of Empress Redimine.

If a magician were to disobey the Empress, she would effortlessly damage their magic core. It wasn’t an easy task to damage the magic core of another person, but the Empress was a skilled magician.

“Still, wouldn’t she be willing to overlook it at least once? It’s like she’s too cold-hearted after coming back from the dead.”

Leta bit her tongue and the messenger cautiously spoke up.

“Um, Leta. Should I tell the Lord anything in particular?”

“The Lord? Ah, I’ll tell him I’ll visit him later. You should leave now. I want to be alone from now on.”

At Leta’s cold command, the messenger silently left the office.

As soon as the messenger left, Leta lightly struck her desk with her fist.

“But why all of a sudden dispatch a surveillance officer?”

The reason written on the parchment was simply for monitoring.

It wasn’t unusual for the Royal Family to send surveillance officers to the city. If there were any disturbances in key locations, it would be very troublesome for the Royal Family. So, before any dissatisfaction arose, they would offer carrots and cut off any rotten sprouts.

But.

Honestly speaking, Melo was not a place where the Empire needed to pay so much attention.

Although it was called a city, it was more appropriate to see it as a slightly larger rural village. Except for when the village was promoted to a city a few years ago, there had been no communication with the Royal Family.

So, sending a surveillance officer to such an ordinary rural village all of a sudden, Leta couldn’t shake off a sense of unease.

What on earth was the problem? Leta flipped through the calendar, reviewing recent events.

“Come to think of it, I submitted a list of apothecaries a few weeks ago.”

Originally, the submission of the list had to be done every year, but whenever a new pharmacist’s license was issued, the list had to be modified and sent.

“…Are they really sending an inspector from the palace because of this pharmacist named Idun?”

Leta immediately shook her head.

“No way. Sending an inspector from the palace just because of two letters, Idun? That name is so common.”

Of course, Idun was a somewhat peculiar pharmacist, but he was not someone the palace would take an interest in. The empire had many more outstanding pharmacists, and there were also many wealthy people.

Lost in thought with her lips pursed, Leta stood up from her seat.

“Well, since an inspector is coming from the palace, we should prepare here too.”

Thieves get nervous. There was a reason why Leta reacted sensitively to the arrival of an inspector.

“…It would be troublesome if the inspector found out that we had abducted MPs and pharmacists.”

It was about money. If the situation hadn’t gotten so tangled from the beginning, she would not have engaged in human trafficking.

But at that time, Leta had no choice.

If it hadn’t been for the medicine they were handing over, her father would have lost his life a long time ago.

Leta quickly began to gather the ledger books in the storage.

***

“So, Sion, do I look different like this?”

Idun had mud all over his head and was wearing the oldest clothes possible. The cloak that Sion’s mother had worn before was also draped around him.

The aim of the disguise was just one thing: to appear as a fallen nobleman.

“Hmm, to me, you just look like a regular pharmacist, sir. Your head just looks black, that’s all.”

Sion’s frank words made Idun lose his patience. He didn’t dislike his black hair, but there was nothing as bothersome as this thick black hair when it came to disguises.

“But sir, do you really have to disguise yourself like this?”

“It’s better to be safe, right?”

To be honest, Idun didn’t want to soil himself with dirty mud like this.

But money was the issue.

It wasn’t like he had indulged in luxuries, but the money that had almost depleted buying tools and necessities for renovating Sion’s house, as well as herbs for medicine, disappeared like melting snow.

‘I could go back to Rare and get some money, but…’

It would take more than a week to go to Rare, and the fact that Adrien was asleep was the biggest problem. According to Adrien, it was important sleep for growth.

I don’t know if dragons grow, but I had no choice but to believe Adrien’s words.

‘Above all, I can’t wake up a child who sleeps well just to get some money.’

But I couldn’t live without money either, so Idun decided to take from his emergency fund.

“Sion, can you bring me a medicine box?”

I must have completed the disguise, it was now time to secure the emergency fund.

“You mean that small brown box that you always carry with you?”

“Yeah. I didn’t think I should bring it into the house, so I left the herbs empty. Just bring it with you.”

Idun stood at the doorway, and Sion handed him the medicine box.

Idun started exerting force on his hand holding the medicine box. After a moment, with a snapping sound, the bottom of the box split open, and brilliant golden light spilled out from it.

It was Idun’s emergency fund, a golden button.

“No matter how talented Sion is, I can’t let her give a golden button to a child’s hand.”

But Idun, who had also run away from Mellow, had disguised himself without any changes, worried about being caught by that talkative woman.

It was so common for a fallen noble to remove gems and accessories from their clothes and sell them.

Idun put the golden button in his chest and greeted the other person.

“Then I’ll be going. It might take a few days, so don’t worry too much and take care of things as usual. Please take good care of Sion as well.”

Idun planned to go to the nearest big city.

He couldn’t change the golden button in Mellow or the nearby ordinary rural village. There were very few people who had enough money to buy a golden button, and if he tried to change it in a place with a small floating population, it could attract unwanted attention.

“And these days, there seem to be a lot of people wandering around, so be careful when you take a walk.”

“Yes, don’t worry and come back safely. I’ll be waiting.”

“Mister, come back quickly. Buy something delicious on your way back!”

With the farewell of the hat, Idun set off on his journey.

***

‘… If I knew this would happen, I didn’t have to flip the mud…’

Arriving at the capital city, Stolstadt, Idun gave a bitter smile.

After several days of not eating properly and walking to the capital, he had become a beggar without realizing it. Because he had turned up so much dust, his black hair had also turned a dull gray.

“It seems to have taken longer than I thought, let’s finish our business and go back quickly.”

In front of the city’s main gate, there was an enormous crowd. Even for a capital city, it was an enormous number.

Afraid of getting into an argument with them, or of losing the golden button, Idun hurriedly walked while avoiding contact as much as possible.

As Idun tried to enter the city’s main gate, a guard blocked his way.

“You seem suspicious.”

Idun presented his identity badge, but the guard still didn’t let down his spear.

“No one can enter the city today.”

“Why are you denying entry even though I have an identity badge?”

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“It’s at the lord’s command. It was said that no one should be allowed inside the castle as a distinguished person has come from the palace.”

“The day I need is the day it won’t come.”

Idun silently bit her tongue before speaking.

“When will I be able to go in?”

“Tomorrow, when that person leaves the city, you will be able to go in.”

Idun turned quietly.

As soon as he came out of the main gate, some people sent him strange glances. It meant that if he gave them a little money, they would let him into the castle.

Idun averted their gaze. Not only because he didn’t have any money at the moment, but also because of the words of the guard who said a precious person from the palace had come.

Although it was unlikely that he would meet a precious person who came from the palace in the city, it was still a possibility.

“Just wait one more day.”

Rushing was bound to make things worse.

Idun found an empty spot and moved his steps.