The Alchemists

It was early morning in Singapore and Aleksis was still unconscious. Therefore, Caspar decided to take Aleksis home.

Meanwhile, it was 10 pm when Alaric arrived in Germany. Pavel waited for him at the airport and the car he prepared earlier took them to a large house in the eastern part of Berlin. The house was located in an area which had typical Soviet-style buildings.

"Sir, you need to rest, our men will see you tomorrow morning," Pavel said, trying to persuade Alaric to go to sleep.

He poured a glass of water and placed sleeping pills on a small plate next to his glass. He was already informed on what was happening and he was worried because he had never seen Alaric behave like this before. Pavel realized that the girl was very important to his boss.

"Pavel ... how long have you been with me?" Alaric asked suddenly.

Pavel was rather surprised at Alaric's question. "It has been more than a quarter of a century, Sir. We met in the Czech Republic about 25 years ago, and I have accompanied you ever since."

Alaric smiled faintly, which made his expression difficult to understand because his eyes seemed to be looking very far away. "25 years, and never once did you ask why I am not aging."

Pavel didn't answer.

Alaric took his sleeping pills and swallowed them with a sip of water. "Do you know why?"

"I don't know," Pavel finally answered quietly. "But I suppose that is the reason why you have always kept a distance from all of us. You don't want to get too close and attached to us, because we will eventually leave you alone. We will age and die."

Pavel had always talked frankly to Alaric, and he was not hesitant when he had something to say, so Alaric understood that this time, too, Pavel was telling the truth.

"You're right. I thank you for being loyal and for following me unconditionally." Alaric finished his water and then closed his eyes, as if thinking about something very deep. "Tomorrow's mission will be the last for Rhionen Assassins. For the past week, I have made decisions that are based on personal reasons, and that is not a good thing. I no longer deserve to be your leader. I have not been able to stay professional since I met Aleksis, and now everything I do is for her sake ..."

Pavel did not dispute the statement. On the one hand he really hoped that Alaric could return to his usual self, but on the other hand, for the first time in 25 years, he was finally seeing Alaric truly happy. Why couldn't Alaric have everything?

"I will rest. Tomorrow morning I want you to take Kurt Van Der Ven and bring him here. Don't be rude to him as I just want to obtain some information. Don't underestimate his security, because after all, Kurt has a relationship with the Schneider family. I want you to send all our men, eight in total, to pick him up. I don't want to risk failure this time. We have limited time."

He then got up and went into his room to sleep. Pavel nodded in understanding and immediately contacted his people.

That night Alaric had a restless sleep with many nightmares.

***

In Singapore, finally after carefully studying Aleksis' condition and weighing all the options, Caspar finally decided that the best place to care for his daughter to recover was in their beautiful resting house in Grindelwald, Switzerland. The mansion was surrounded by mountains and the air was very fresh. He announced his decision after they had rushed to breakfast next to Aleksis' room.

"I've never seen a case where someone with severe brain stem injury is able to recover ..." Nicolae said suddenly, making everyone turn to him, "I ... I don't mean to be pessimistic, but if it's okay, and you don't think I'm presumptuous ... Can I come to Grindelwald to observe the progress of her recovery?"

Caspar, who had paid little attention to Nicolae since last night, now started to focus his attention on the young man. He had heard from Lauriel that he had a son, and now Caspar could see how similar Nicolae was to Lauriel. He immediately made an assessment in his head about this young man.

"You are ... Nicolae, aren't you?" Caspar asked.

Nicolae hurriedly reached out his hand to greet Caspar and introduced himself, "I'm sorry that we meet under such circumstances, I haven't had a chance to introduce myself properly. My name is Nicolae ... I'm Aleksis' friend from the university. Actually, I happen to be a doctor too, and that is why I wish to study Aleksis' healing processes ..."

Lauriel coughed, adding, "This is Nicolae Medici, he is my son that I talked to you about. He is very worried about Aleksis and has saved her several times ..."

"Several times? Was Aleksis threatened with other dangers before?" Caspar asked, worried.

"Uhm ... it was just a misunderstanding; it was nothing too serious," Nicolae said quickly.

"You were shot in the shoulder. If you hadn't missed the bullet, you would be dead now," Lauriel said, staring at Nicolae, "That is not a light misunderstanding."

Caspar looked at them alternately with a tense face. "Why didn't anyone tell me about this? What do you take me for?"

Terry, who realized that Caspar was slowly becoming angry, rushed in to calm the atmosphere, "Uncle, please don't be angry. It's all behind us now and it's not important. We should now focus on making sure that Aleksis gets the best possible treatment so she can recover."

Caspar's gaze now turned to Terry, "You are hiding something from me. It's time for you to tell me everything you know before I know for myself what had happened."

Nicolae and Terry looked at each other. They knew they had no choice but to tell Caspar everything they knew.

Before any of them could open their mouth, Jadeith entered the room. His face looked calm as usual, but the look in his eyes suggested that something bad had happened.

"What news do you have?" Caspar asked impatiently.

"Hmm ... the girl's name is Rosemary Lin, she is a student on the same campus as our Young Miss. Her father is the head of the local mafia group and two nights ago someone violently slaughtered the whole group. The next day, Rosemary came to campus and threatened Miss Aleksis. She blamed her for what had happened to her family."

"Do you know who slaughtered the mafia group?" Caspar asked curiously. He did not expect a mafia group to be involved.

"Rhionen Assassins," Jadeith answered curtly. Caspar's face looked very surprised.

"How do you know? And why did they target that mafia group? Don't they usually only kill individuals based on the contracts they receive? They are not the type of gangsters who would kill other gangster groups."

"They intentionally left their mark, Sir, with the aim that no one would take revenge or investigate this case."

Caspar frowned in confusion, "So the mafia group offended someone and Rhionen Assassins was ordered to slaughter them. But what does it have to do with Aleksis?"

"Sorry, but I couldn't obtain more information than that. Rosemary Lin was found dead at the police custody earlier this morning. She had a lot of wounds on her body."

"That is convenient," Caspar hissed. He looked again at Terry and Nicolae. "Didn't you want to tell me something important?"

Both nodded.

"They are indeed related, Uncle ..." Nicolae answered. "There is a connection between the massacre of the mafia group and what had happened to Aleksis."

"Is that true?"

"Yes. For some reason, Rosemary asked her father to kidnap Aleksis, so her father arranged for the local mafia to perform the job. Because they intended to kidnap Aleksis, Rhionen Assasins punished the whole gang. After learning that the whole group and her father were killed, Rosemary became very angry and threatened Aleksis on campus with a gun." Nicolae said explaining. "Rosemary blamed Aleksis for the massacre of her family."

"I still don't understand why Rhionen Assassins had to intervene and what their relationship with Aleksis is ..." Caspar squinted his eyes, looking at the two young men very seriously, "I don't like bits and pieces of information."

Because Nicolae and Terry didn't open their mouths, finally Lauriel spoke up.

"Caspar ... do you still remember Prince Siegfried?"

"Of course." Caspar nodded. "Aleksis insisted on bringing her dog to Singapore. What's with that dog?"

Nicolae could not help but cover his mouth in surprise. Oh my God ... So the dog was truly named Prince Siegfried . He thought that Aleksis was just kidding.

"Uhmm ... Big Prince Siegfried, Uncle, not the little one ..." Terry said quietly.

"Oh ..." Only then Caspar realized what had happened. His face then turned sad. He looked at his daughter who was lying still on the bed and shook his head. "Oh ... Aleksis. It's only been two weeks since you went out of my supervision. Why did you hang out with such dangerous people?"

He took a deep breath and ordered Jadeith to call a doctor.

"Call the doctor here. Before we leave I want the hospital to issue a death certificate for Aleksis."

***