The Alchemists

Terry had been feeling on edge ever since he heard the masked young man mention the Alchemists. He couldn't wait to get off the ship. This was why as soon as the ship docked close to the land, he did not waste time and immediately left it.

He returned to his car and drove back to the Continental Hotel. He almost breached the speed limit and got an automatic speeding ticket.

"You did a great job," Lauriel said as he patted Terry's back. It was because the young man entered the study looking so out of breath. It could easily be guessed that from his car to the elevator, he ran to reach the penthouse as soon as possible.

"They know about the Alchemists!" Terry exclaimed many times. "They are very suspicious. Crazy! What kind of people are they? How can they know so much!?"

"Leave it to us. We will take care of it. Now, take a rest. What mattered right now is that they believed Aleksis is gone, that she is held captive by somebody who wants something from Alaric Rhionen," Lauriel declared. "Now is the time to send our demands to them."

Marion and Endo nodded at the same time.

"So far, out of the 15 assassins Rosalien has mentioned, we have already seen 5. Takeshi and Mischa are people we already encountered before, then there is Rosalien whom we have captured. There is also a Korean assassin and another one wearing a mask." Marion wrote everything on the glass panel. She continued, "Last is Alaric Rhionen himself. He is just as we thought, 45 years old, and we also finally managed to see his face."

"Well, I saw him on the night train 18 years ago. But of course, humans can change a lot if given such a long period. I didn't recognize him at all," Lauriel replied.

Just like Terry, he was also against Aleksis being in a relationship with a much older man. The girl was from the most powerful and influential alchemist family. He believed that she should be with someone of equal status.

"Alright, Marion, you should get ready. We will immediately hand 'Aleksis' over to Alaric." Lauriel announced, looking at Marion.

The woman nodded and immediately left. While she was walking out of the study, her eyes met Jean's. He looked like there was something he wanted to say. In the end, though, he chose not to voice them out.

Marion could only sigh and leave. Jean did not know what to do. He was still in a dilemma and was having trouble deciding how to deal with Billie who asked him to come back to her, and Marion who was now starting to enter his heart.

***

Lost in his thoughts, Alaric stood on the deck, staring at the billions of stars in the Milky Way galaxy in the night sky. He found that the constellations Altair and Vega were still there, shining as bright as when he and Aleksis made love on his catamaran ship. Those two were their favorite constellations.

He hoped the people who captured Aleksis did not treat her badly. If they touched her - even if it was only a strand of her hair, he would make sure to inflict them a punishment far more painful than what the Black River group received two months ago.

"Sir, there's already a demand coming in," Pavel spoke, beating Alaric out of his reverie. He took out the communication device that Takeshi received from his captors and then handed it to Alaric.

There were only a few codes written there, stating that they had to enter Darknet to receive the video messages. Alaric nodded. Pavel immediately took out his laptop and opened the message in Darknet.

"Aleksis ....!!" Alaric could not help but cry out when he saw what was in the video. His wife was locked up in a dark room and she looked like she had been crying.

While he was relieved to see that Aleksis was neither hurt nor mistreated, it was still very hard for him to accept that he had to watch her crying face.

On the screen, various writings detailing demands from Aleksis' captors suddenly appeared. Some of them were not even making sense.

"The ransom money they're asking is too huge! It can buy a country!" Pavel angrily yelled. He hoped that his boss would not agree to their unreasonable demands.

Lauriel wanted Marion, who was disguised as Aleksis, to enter Rhionen Assassins and lead the way for Wolf Pack to arrest them. But he also did not want her to invite suspicion by making demands that could easily be fulfilled.

Alaric saw the amount requested and thought it was indeed ridiculous. It even had to be transferred using an untraceable cryptocurrency of their choosing. It seemed that Aleksis kidnappers had a rough estimate of his liquid wealth.

This people's access to information was very impressive, Alaric realized.

He initially thought the men had something to do with the Alchemists, but his conversation today with Terry made him change his mind.

Their unbelievable access to information was now making him suspect that they were related to Wolf. That man was the best hacker in the world after all. He was also aware of Alaric's true identity. If considered through this angle, it would make sense that the kidnappers were working together with Wolf.

That hacker knew that Alaric was very concerned about Aleksis since the latter had once asked him to look for the girl. Of course, given Wolf's abilities, it would also be quite easy for him to investigate Alaric's wealth so that they could ask for a precise amount for her ransom.

"I can always get back the money. Prepare the ransom that they demanded," Alaric ordered, ignoring Pavel's protest. "Contact Sisqo too and tell him to announce a bounty in Darknet. Whoever can find Wolf for me, I will give the same amount as a reward!"

Money was only a material object. Alaric was willing to lose all his wealth to save Aleksis and hunt down Wolf whom he suspected as the mastermind behind the kidnapping.

Rhionen Assassins were great, but they were too few in number. By announcing a bounty in Darknet, there would be tens of thousands of people to hunt Wolf down. They would help take revenge for Alaric against that damn hacker had dared to kidnap his wife.

Pavel and his friends could only swallow hard. The amount of money they had to prepare was enormous, it could literally buy a country, but Alaric didn't seem to care. It seemed right now, for him, nothing was more important than Aleksis.

"Yes, Master." Pavel decided not to argue anymore. He quickly excused himself to take care of Alaric's request.

Lauriel knew it would take a long time to fulfill all his demands, so he gave them two days.

[After the bitcoin is transferred, Alaric Rhionen must come to the place that we will specify. Only once all of these are met will we release Aleksis. Remember, you only have two days.]

"Also add in the bounty announcement, whoever can find Wolf within two days, I will give them double the original reward," declared the man again. "I want Wolf, dead or alive."

**

Meanwhile, Nicolae who was reading a book beside Aleksis' bed suddenly sneezed over and over again. He was puzzled since he was not feeling cold. The weather was also still quite warm.

"Uff ... this is weird," he mumbled. "I've never been sick, so why do I keep sneezing?"