After crossing the threshold, Kael and Enri found themselves in a simple reception room that appeared to be used for receiving guests. In the center of the room were two wooden benches facing each other, and along one wall stood a bookshelf filled with what looked like well-worn volumes.
"Welcome," a voice greeted from the far end of the room. Kael turned towards the source of the sound and saw a young man walking towards them.
The young man wore work clothes that looked worn and stained with plant fluids, and his long, unkempt golden hair partially obscured his face. From his height and voice, Kael estimated that he was still very young, perhaps only just entering adolescence.
The boy's name was Nfirea Barreare, and he was the grandson of Lizzie, the owner of this potion workshop.
For some reason, when Kael saw Nfirea for the first time, an internet cliché suddenly popped into his mind: if your eyes aren't in use, just donate them to those in need. As a human race without special perceptual abilities like the 'Perspective' possessed by some other races, Kael was genuinely curious, could Nfirea really see the face of the person standing right in front of him with such obstructive hair?
The answer turned out to be no. However, the boy then raised his head, and his flowing golden hair miraculously parted into a fairly wide gap in the middle, as if controlled by an invisible force. His gaze immediately fell on Kael, a stranger.
Armor and weapons as beautiful as those... they must belong to an adventurer with considerable ability, Nfirea assessed Kael in his mind. Then, his eyes shifted slightly and landed on the figure beside Kael.
In an instant, Nfirea's initially flat expression changed. His eyes widened in surprise, and then his face showed irrepressible joy. "Enri!?" he exclaimed in disbelief.
"Nfirea," Enri Emmot replied with a bright smile, waving at Nfirea, feeling happy about this unexpected reunion.
Nfirea's parents had passed away suddenly when he was very young. He grew up under the care of his strict but loving grandmother and inherited the family tradition as a talented apothecary. To purchase various rare and high-quality raw herbal ingredients, the Barreare family often traveled to the area around Carne Village. That was where the two had first met, so they could be considered childhood friends... or could they? Kael wasn't entirely sure. Because when he was with Enri earlier, the woman had mentioned that Nfirea didn't even dare to look her directly in the eyes, so Enri herself wasn't sure how Nfirea viewed their relationship. But, it wouldn't be wrong to call them good friends.
"Enri, why are you here?" Nfirea asked, quickly approaching Enri, his tone full of enthusiasm and a hint of confusion.
Enri, who didn't realize that Nfirea's attention was entirely focused on her, only thought that the boy was happy to meet an old friend he hadn't seen for a long time. "Ah... I came here with this gentleman to make a deal with Grandma Lizzie," Enri replied a little nervously, pointing towards Kael standing beside her.
Only then did Nfirea look back at Kael, who was standing not far from Enri. I didn't pay much attention to him earlier, but apart from his luxurious equipment, this young man is also very handsome... to the point where other men feel a bit inferior, Nfirea thought, looking at Kael with a searching gaze. He and Enri came here together. What is their relationship really? Nfirea felt a slight unpleasant anxiety in his heart and stared at Kael for a few seconds with an unreadable expression.
Huh? Although the boy's eyes were mostly covered by strands of golden hair, Kael's perception was extremely sharp. He clearly noticed the wariness and a hint of hidden hostility in Nfirea's eyes through the gaps in his hair. Knowing about Nfirea's hidden feelings for Enri from the woman's story, it wasn't difficult for Kael to guess the reason – this boy saw him as a potential rival in love. In response, Kael simply gave Nfirea a polite and friendly smile, trying to dispel the misunderstanding.
Nfirea immediately reacted with a slight blush and nodded at Kael while apologizing in a regretful tone, "Forgive me, my attention was a little distracted earlier." Then, he looked back at Enri with curiosity. "I don't know this gentleman's name. What kind of deal do you want to make with my grandmother?"
"Grandma is in a bad mood and is concentrating on researching the production of a complicated new potion. Disturbing her right now will only make her angry. If you don't mind, perhaps you could talk to me first?" Nfirea added an explanation after his question, trying to avoid any misunderstanding from Kael about his reasons for not immediately calling his grandmother.
Kael nodded in understanding. Then, with a casual movement, he reached inside the front of his armor as if for a pouch and took out a bottle of low-tier healing potion that emitted a soft red glow from his Yggdrasil item box. He handed it to Nfirea with a mysterious smile. "It's about this potion."
"This!?" Nfirea exclaimed in surprise. As the red potion appeared before him, Nfirea's eyes flashed with three different emotions in succession: doubt, apprehension, and irrepressible excitement. His tone and breathing became slightly hurried due to the surging curiosity. "Sir! May I take a closer look at this bottle of potion?"
"Of course," Kael replied with a faint smile, raising his hand slightly to gesture to Nfirea that he could take and examine the potion.
"Thank you very much," Nfirea said in a hopeful tone. After carefully receiving the potion bottle, he shook it a few times in his hand, closely observing the red liquid inside. Then, he looked at Kael earnestly and said in a slightly hushed tone, "Excuse me, but this might not be the right place to talk about something this important. Could you please follow me to another room?"
Kael guessed Nfirea's intention to discuss the potion more privately and didn't mind at all. Then, the three of them followed Nfirea towards a somewhat cluttered room at the back of the shop. On a large wooden table, there were various glass containers, intricate alchemical equipment, and open notebooks. On the wooden shelves near the walls, various potions in colorful bottles and piles of unprocessed mineral ores were neatly arranged.
Several people who were originally in the room turned their heads curiously and looked at the three newcomers with scrutinizing gazes. Among them was an old woman with a face full of deep wrinkles, her hands also looked wrinkled and rough, her shoulder-length hair was completely snow-white, and she wore work clothes that looked even dirtier and more stained than Nfirea's. She was Nfirea's grandmother, Lizzie Barreare, the legendary apothecary Kael was looking for.
"Grandma!" Nfirea exclaimed, slightly surprised to see his grandmother in the room.
"What is it? Don't make such a racket, Nfirea. My ears are still very sharp, you know!" Lizzie replied in a displeased tone, without taking her eyes off the work she was doing. She didn't like being disturbed, especially when she was concentrating.
"Look at this!" Nfirea exclaimed again, holding out the red potion bottle that Kael had given him to his grandmother. After taking the bottle from her grandson's hand and examining it closely, the old woman's entire demeanor changed drastically. A cold and sharp aura suddenly emanated from her, enough to make ordinary people feel frightened. "This potion...!" she murmured in a tone full of astonishment and a hint of shock.
Although Lizzie was famous for her extraordinary skills as an apothecary, in this world, the creation of effective potions often involved the use of magic in the process. Therefore, Lizzie herself was also a fairly powerful magic caster, capable of using magic up to the third tier. Her originally seemingly dim eyes suddenly became extremely sharp, scrutinizing the potion bottle in her hand intensely. After scanning the three people standing before her with a searching gaze, her eyes finally settled on Kael. "Young man," she said in a serious and slightly suspicious tone, "did you bring this thing? Where did you get it?"
"That's not too important," Kael replied with a mysterious smile to the old woman who looked a little excited. He then asked straightforwardly, "Apothecary Lizzie Barreare, if I'm willing to tell you the method for making this perfect bottle of God's Blood, what are you willing to trade for such valuable information?"
"You... you also know about God's Blood?" Lizzie narrowed her eyes slightly, looking at Kael with a doubtful and calculating gaze.
In this world, there were generally three types of healing potions. The first type was ordinary potions made purely from various types of herbs. These potions usually didn't have a fast healing effect and could only help enhance the human body's natural self-healing ability, but the production process was relatively simple and the ingredients were easy to obtain. The second type was potions made from a mixture of magic and herbs. These potions worked faster than the first type, but their effects still took time to fully manifest. The third type was magical potions made by directly infusing magical energy into a special alchemical solution. These potions had almost instantaneous efficacy and their effects were often comparable to low-level healing magic. However, the alchemical solution was a very special and expensive item, made from various rare minerals, and its quality tended to degrade over time. The process of making magical potions also required time and special skills. Even if the alchemical solution was given [Preservation] magic to prevent quality degradation, the effect would still diminish after the potion was completed within a certain period.
The so-called "God's Blood" by Kael was the ideal perfect healing potion that ideally wouldn't spoil or lose its efficacy without needing to apply expensive and complicated [Preservation] magic. That was the ultimate goal that Lizzie had always pursued... no, more precisely, it was the ideal state that all apothecaries in the new world dreamed of! Precisely because she knew how precious perfect God's Blood was, Lizzie didn't immediately respond to Kael's question. She remained silent for a long time, weighing the offer she had just heard. However, the great curiosity and interest in the potion before her finally overcame her caution. She couldn't help but ask, "So, young man, what exactly do you want from me in return?"
Hearing that question, the corners of Kael's mouth lifted higher into a meaningful smile, for he knew that he had gotten what he wanted. "Don't worry, Apothecary Lizzie," Kael replied in a calm yet confident tone, "I only wish to establish a mutually beneficial cooperation."
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