It was the third day since Raith became overwhelmed with nomination requests. During that time, he tirelessly continued working, but it was worth it, and there was only one request remaining.
There was exactly one elixir left too, so it was really cutting it close. After he delivered the elixir to the client and completed the request, it would all be over – or, it should have been.
“A noble, huh?”
“Yes…”
Early this morning at the Adventurer’s Guild, Amelia reported that one of the nomination requests that Raith had turned down had apparently been from someone from one of the great noble houses.
And apparently, that noble wanted to meet with Raith directly.
Raith hadn’t turned down the nomination request just because it was from that noble, and if the main aim of the meeting was just to complain, he wished he could ask them not to, but unfortunately, the authority of a noble seemed somewhat troublesome.
It would be a pain if Raith tactlessly ignored it and let the situation turn complicated, so he was thinking of agreeing to the meeting.
“Here’s the letter that was left here… Um, good luck.”
Raith, receiving Amelia’s sympathy, responded with a bitter smile. Even an outsider could probably infer how exhausted he was. Raith let out a deep sigh and left the Adventurer’s Guild.
Due to the recent bag theft incident, he had become quite cautious when walking outside, which caused even more exhaustion to accumulate.
Convincing himself that this was the final turning point, Raith began moving his legs.
And so–
“…They’re huge.”
In an area filled with rows of houses of wealthy people, from Raith’s point of view, all he could say about the line of buildings was that they were all pointlessly huge. The noble who had requested to speak with Raith personally lived in a mansion that, even among those buildings, was especially large and gorgeously decorated.
He sighed. “…Here goes.”
Raith readied himself and rang the doorbell. Then, a maid-like person arrived from the mansion shortly after.
“What is your business here?”
“The master of the house requested a conversation with me…”
The maid took the letter from Raith’s hand, glanced over it, and gave him a light nod.
“Please follow me.”
She proceeded through the mansion without hesitation while Raith quietly followed after her. The inside of the mansion was just as luxurious as its exterior, and if it had a distinctive detail, it was perhaps the fact that it was decorated with various things such as paintings and pottery.
Raith looked around at the mansion’s interior with curiosity as the maid that was leading the way came to a stop.
“Master, there is a guest.”
“Let him through.”
The maid was given permission to open the door, prompting Raith to enter.
While feeling somewhat nervous, Raith entered the room.
Inside was a blond, blue-eyed young man as well as several servants standing alongside the wall. To make a guess, the blond man who was sitting and smiling was probably the master of the house.
Internally, Raith was surprised by his appearance, which was younger than expected.
“Ahh, so you are the rumored alchemist? I apologize for summoning you so abruptly. Please take a seat over there.”
Just as the man had informed him, Raith sat in the chair that was provided.
“Now, first, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Willus Ledium, a noble of this country. It’s a pleasure.”
“I’m Raith. I’m working as an adventurer. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
Having finished their introductions, Raith looked at Willus once more. Raith, who had imagined nobles as a prideful group of people, felt that the pressure from the aura radiating around him wasn’t quite as intense as he was expecting, which made him somewhat relieved.
“Hmm, how young.”
“Huh?”
“Oh, the rumors spoke of a remarkably skilled alchemist, you see… Goodness, what a surprise.”
“I see.”
He couldn’t have been called here just for a conversation like that.
Nothing could be gained from flattery, and if it was just for small talk, Raith would honestly want to be granted permission to leave.
Perhaps having read these feelings from Raith’s complex expression, Willus smiled.
“It looks like there’s no need for a preamble. In that case, I’ll get to the point: Do you have no intention to sell me an elixir?” Willus smiled while hitting him with a question that was exactly as Raith had guessed. Willus’s objective, the elixir, was not an uncommon one. In that case, Raith’s reply was obvious.
“I’m sorry, but I must decline,” Raith said, giving him a clear refusal.
Willus’s smile did not waver upon hearing this. Since the request he’d sent out had been refused once before, he surely had known that asking again in person would produce similar results.
Then, why had he wanted to take the trouble to meet him?
Raith waited for a response, and Willus gave one of the servants some sort of signal. Then, the servant arrived at Raith’s side and handed him a bag filled with something.
“Woah, that’s heavy!”
The moment he took it, a weight greater than he had expected made contact with his palm. When he peeked into the bag, it was filled with a large number of golden coins inside.
“Are these… gold coins?”
“Indeed, they are. There are about 300 inside.”
“Wha…?!”
The reward Raith had received for other elixir-related requests was about 150 coins. This time, it was double that. It was a large sum to start with, but doubling that should have been considerably expensive even for a noble.
“Would you sell it now?” Willus asked, as if testing Raith.
Normally, you could probably get your hands on most things by piling on that much money. In actuality, Willus had acquired everything he’d wanted this way.
Holding the bag of gold coins, Raith stood up and placed it in front of Willus.
“No matter how much you increase the payment, I won’t sell.”
“I see. May I ask why?”
“Because I made up my mind not to sell elixirs unless it’s for an illness or a serious injury. I can’t meet everyone’s demand.”
Willus looked at Raith with a blank gaze and a vacant smile, his cheeks twitching a bit. Then, he cleared his throat with a cough.
“I understand your intention. I will give up on the elixir for now.”
“Thank you for understanding.”
Raith let out a sigh of relief that the conversation didn’t turn into something complicated.
“However, there is something that interests me personally. Do you mind me asking?”
“That’s fine,” Raith easily agreed, thinking it would be no problem if it was only a question.
“Did you teach yourself alchemy?”
“No, I had a teacher.”
“Oh? Could I ask who?”
“I don’t think there’s any benefit to knowing, but… She’s an alchemist named Lurimes.”
Hearing that name, Willus’s mouth gaped open and he was overcome with a feeling of surprise.
“You don’t mean that Lurimes…? The ‘Corrupt Hero’…?” Willus muttered with a look of disbelief plastered on his face, and hearing this, Raith was confident that the one called by a title as incredibly dishonorable as the Corrupt Hero could only be his teacher.
“Yeah, that’s definitely the one. That’s my piece of s**t teacher without a doubt.”
“I see, if you’re her apprentice, then your ability is certainly understandable. From what I’ve heard of Lurimes, it seems you’ve struggled quite a bit, and yet…”
Receiving a look of sympathy, Raith felt a kind of wonder that even the kingdom knew about his teacher’s worthlessness. It no longer seemed that he would feel even a moment of respect for his own teacher in his entire life.
“Oh yes, could I ask one more question?”
“Go ahead.”
“What if I said I would give your life-saving efforts my full support?”
“I decline,” Raith instantly replied without even considering it. “If I started doing something like that, there’d be no end to it, and I have decided to save only those that are within my reach. As irritating as it is, this way of thinking is the same as my piece of s**t teacher’s.”
“…I see, you’ve let me hear something interesting. Thank you for today.”
“Don’t mention it.”
It seemed that with this, business had been concluded. Raith stood up from his chair and quickly bowed.
“I hope we can build good relations from now on, Raith-kun.”
“I look forward to it.”
Having unexpectedly formed a connection to a noble, Raith hoped that this would somehow be of use to him in the future as he left the mansion.