The Alchemists

"I have our prisoner here," Caspar said as they began the meeting. "Before Katia became an Alchemist, she was just a regular human. At that time, she had a friend who was very dear to her called Karl. A few years ago they reunited, and he learned about Katia's secret."

"Do you want to exchange him for the antidote?" Marion asked.

"I'm not sure Katia is that nice. She might just throw Karl under the bus... What I want from him is any kind of information about Katia that might be useful," Caspar replied. "Don't torture him too hard, he's really old, you don't want him dead."

Esso smiled a little and nodded, "Leave that to me. I'll make him talk."

"I can lure Katia out using her friend..." Marion said later. She directed her question to Caspar, "Of all of us in this room, who do you think has the same height as that guy?"

Caspar narrowed his eyes and tried to guess why Marion asked such a question. He could not guess what Marion's true purpose was. "Uhm... maybe he is as tall as the twins."

"Hmmm... okay. That can be done." Marion patted Neo on the back, "You come with me to meet our prisoner. I have a plan."

"Don't you want to share your plan with us?" Caspar asked in amazement. "We need to work as a team here."

"Oh... you just do what you want to do. I'll hear the details later when I return," Marion replied nonchalantly.

She pulled Neo, who was still confused, out of the library.

Petra apologized to Caspar on their behalf when the two left just like that.

"Sorry, Lauriel spoiled Marion too much. She can always do whatever she wants when we are making plans like this. Usually she would reward us with an unexpected surprise when the moment is right." Petra smiled faintly, "Don't worry about Marion. She knows what she is doing."

"I don't like guessing... that is all," Caspar said. "Alright... let's continue discussing our plans."

Petra cleared his throat, took out his tablet and connected it to the computer system in the library. The projector immediately broadcasted a three-dimensional design of a castle in the center of the room.

"The Meier family has two homes in England. Their castle with the strongest defense system is the one in Yorkshire. It is the castle from their mother's side, the Linden family. I suspect that Alexei is staying there while waiting for Ned and Portia's party. He knew that sacred events like weddings are neutral zone and no one can come to wreak havoc. Right now, he is just buying time." He pointed at the hologram showing the castle "This is a medieval palace equipped with the most sophisticated defense system. It has its own security forces."

"Hmm..." Caspar said. "Has anyone been to the Alexei's castle in Yorkshire?"

"I have, but a long time ago, on Lady Luna's birthday party. That was when Boss Lauriel met her for the first time... We came as guests..." Esso shrugged. "A lot has happened in 200 years. The castle may have changed completely."

Caspar knew that Luna was a princess from the British royal family who was very beautiful and very brave. Her family were very powerful pure alchemists and they lived peacefully in England, until Lauriel came to Luna's birthday party.

Her parents had hoped that Luna would choose a husband from the many young men who attended her birthday party. At the age of 200, they really wanted to see her get married. She did not seem attracted to the opposite sex and that was enough to make her parents worried. Her sister was married to a German aristocrat and had two children, Alexei and Sophia, while Luna was busy venturing around the world.

Her 200th birthday party was deliberately held on a large scale by inviting all members of the Alchemist clan, focusing primarily on those who were male and single. Lauriel's whole crew was invited and Esso, Neo, Endo and Petra were very eager to come to see the famous Linden's daughter. At that time Marion and Peach were not born yet and had not joined The Wolf Pack.

In order to please his men, Lauriel agreed to sail to England and come to the party. He did not like crowds, but after venturing in primitive areas for a long time, he felt some longing for civilization.

It was at this party that Lauriel met Lady Luna, who later became his girlfriend.

The girl was so fascinated by Lauriel's adventurous life and his closeness with danger. She was so in awe that when the party was over, she ran away from her family's castle and asked to join Lauriel's crew, disguised as a man.

After venturing together for decades, Lauriel never suspected that one of his new men was actually a woman. He was very strict with his regulations not to allow women to board his ship, but Luna was very good at hiding her identity. Her ability to fight like a man allowed her to disguise smoothly and that was how she got closer to Lauriel in his adventures.

It was Caspar who later revealed Luna's secret when they met in China. As a womanizer who had been with hundreds of women all his life, he could recognize a woman's body even if she disguised herself as a male. Lauriel, who was very surprised to find that he had been deceived by Luna, kicked her out of the crew mercilessly.

But of course, love eventually found its way. After Luna left, Lauriel realized that he had fallen in love with the brave tomboyish girl who fought by his side for decades. He decided to stop his sea adventures and went to meet Luna in England. That was when he, with the help of Caspar, made his first crop circle to express his love for Luna.

Luna accepted his love and they were known among the alchemists as the amazing adventurer couple. Unfortunately, Luna died while she was visiting her sister's family home in Germany, when the allied troops bombed their city. Lauriel's sadness didn't subside after decades, and so he decided to withdraw himself from the world.

Caspar did not want to force Lauriel to come to Linden family castle in Yorkshire to meet Alexei and Katia, because he knew that the wound in Lauriel's heart was not completely healed. Going there would remind him of Luna, because that was the castle where they had first met. He preferred to take down Alexei himself and take him to Germany.

"Petra and I can go there to conduct surveillance and gather their security information," Esso said calmly. He also agreed that it was best for Lauriel not to go there. "I can finish this in three days. Then, we can break through their security system and disable it. I will leave after Karl Furstenberg's interrogation and obtain the information you need."

"Peach and I can track down all the Meier family's scientists and force them to tell us what kind of poison they used on Aleksis. If we can obtain that information on time, Boss Lauriel can make an antidote." Endo said in agreement.

"They are all good plans," Caspar said. "Now let's talk about the technicalities."

They then discussed in more detail the resources they needed and specific reconnaissance techniques for the four wolves from the Wolf Pack to carry out their missions. All of them had 3 days to do whatever they needed to do, and after they would return to Germany to assess whether they succeed or failed.

Finland entered the library and invited them for lunch, stopping their discussion. The five men obeyed and immediately headed to the dining room to fill their stomachs. There was no longer a need to discuss their rescue mission because everyone already knew what they had to do. Jadeith and several other staff joined because they had to coordinate after lunch.

"Hey... you guys are eating without me...!"

When their food was almost finished, a beautiful and sexy girl, walking like a supermodel, strolled gracefully with a flamboyant old man. Everyone looked up in surprise.

"Heyyy!! How did you get out?" Jadeith exclaimed in surprise. He turned to the two other bodyguards beside him, "Isn't he detained in a locked room? Who is responsible for keeping the keys?"

"Who is that?" Finland asked in amazement.

"Karl Furstenberg," Caspar said wryly. "Katia's friend."

"Oh... why is he here?"

"My men arrested him to obtain information on Katia," Caspar answered. He turned to Jadeith, "How did he get out?"

"I... I'm sorry, Sir. I don't know..." Jadeith seemed embarrassed. He immediately approached Karl Furstenberg and was about to take his hand, when a small hand brushed it off.

"Hey... mind your manners, we're guests here."

He turned his head and saw the sexy model glaring at him. Her hand was raised in a threatening pose.

"Who are you?" asked Jadeith. He did not want to hit a woman, but the look given by the girl in front of him was really upsetting. Her face was adorned with a mocking grin.

"I'm a guest here..." The girl giggled, "Ah... it's so nice to be able to fool people again. I really miss this kind of work..."

The members of the Wolf Pack simultaneously sighed in relief and started laughing. Caspar finally realized what just happened. He now understood why Marion asked which of them had the same height as Karl Furstenberg. Apparently, her plan was to disguise Neo as Karl to deceive Katia.

Marion was a very talented artist. Within hours she was able to transform Neo into Karl Furstenberg, the famous designer, while she dressed herself as one of the many models who was around Karl every day.

"Very good..." Caspar said, smiling, "You can even fool Jadeith."

Marion tilted her smile and looked at Jadeith from head to toe, "Maybe it's time for you to look for a new security chief. This Jadeith guy is apparently quite unreliable."

"What did you say?!" Jadeith raised his hand to hit Marion, but at the last moment he realized that he shouldn't hit a woman and murmured angrily while lowering his arm.

"Forgive my nephew, Marion, he is young and still needs to work on his temper." Caspar waved his hand and looked at Jadeith seriously, "You can't joke around, can you? Marion wasn't being serious."

Marion shrugged and giggled. She took a seat at the dining table and began to enjoy her lunch. Neo, who was disguised as Karl Furstenberg, sat on the chair next to her and started eating his lunch.

They planned to take over Karl's life for a week before contacting Katia to trap her to come over. The original Karl would be held in Germany until they could capture Katia.

They would mobilize three different missions, in hopes that at least one would give them an antidote for Aleksis. If they succeed in capturing Alexei or Katia, they hoped that Lauriel could force them to exchange antidotes.

After lunch, all members of the Wolf Pack took leave and immediately began their respective missions.