Alchemist Karen No Longer Compromises, Chapter 320

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Chapter Three Hundred and Twenty: Upstart

“—So anyway, now that I’ve made it big, everyone in this place today gets treated by me!”

Karen’s announcement drew a modest cheer from the busy lunchtime crowd inside the shop.

“Karen, that’s the thing you do at a bar… It’s not really something you do at a bakery. Oh—should I be calling you ‘Lady’ now?”

Fiene hurriedly caught herself, and Karen leaned against the counter with a laugh.

“Don’t bother, speak however you like. I’ve been telling everyone the same thing at all the places in the adventurers’ district.”

This was what successful adventurers who’d made it big often did—the classic newly-risen move. And she hadn’t done it only at this bakery. By now, Karen had already stopped in at most of her regular haunts.

“So it’s not just me—it’s everyone together, right?”

“Exactly.”

Everyone was being treated equally; being close to Karen had nothing to do with it.

“I want lots of curry bread! I won’t be able to eat it for a while!”

“Karen-bread, coming right up. I’m frying some now, so I’ll bring you a fresh batch.”

Fiene said it with a perfectly straight face, emphasizing one part of the name as she stood up.

“Wait, are you sure you should be moving around? I can go get it myself—and are you really okay watching the counter?”

“I’m perfectly fine, don’t worry.”

Fiene laughed off Karen’s concern and disappeared behind the counter into the back. She returned shortly carrying a tray piled high with warm, fresh-fried bread—and Linus, who was holding a baby.

“Oh! A baby!”

“Here, hold the little one for me, Karen.”

“…Can I?”

Karen had been able to come to the bakery. But she’d felt as though she shouldn’t come to see their child.

Word had reached her that the baby had been born shortly after the New Year’s Festival. Even so, Karen hadn’t sent any kind of gift or congratulations. As she hesitated, Fiene gave her a gentle smile.

“Of course you can.”

“Maybe this little one will grow up to be as successful as you someday, yeah?”

“If Karen holds the baby, maybe some of that good luck will rub off. Though honestly, becoming someone great would be nice—but if our child simply grows up healthy, that’s all we could ask for. Right, Linus?”

“Naturally!”

Held under Fiene’s steady gaze, Linus nodded several times over. Wanting their child to be held by Karen for good luck, given how far she’d risen—that was surely a perfectly natural feeling for any commoner to have. Grateful to the two of them for providing her with that excuse, Karen gently took the baby from Linus.

Although the baby had only recently been born, the tiny bundle wrapped in a blanket felt much heavier than Karen had expected. And perhaps because the baby was asleep, the little body felt wonderfully warm. The baby’s hair was reddish like Linus’, and the eyes were shut so Karen couldn’t make out their color. Even after being passed into Karen’s arms, the baby didn’t cry, only let out soft little sounds while sleeping.

Karen gazed at that sleeping face and murmured quietly:

“So cute…”

“Hehe, thank you. You’re quite good at holding a baby, Karen. You even knew to support the head.”

“You know everything, Karen, don’t you? Meanwhile, I still forget to support the little one’s head sometimes and get scolded for it… I’m really, truly sorry.”

Linus apologized under Fiene’s unwavering gaze. In the past, it had often been easygoing Fiene who got steamrolled by laid-back Linus—but it seemed things had settled into a new arrangement.

“I guess that’s ‘a mother’s strength’ for you.”

“It really is.”

“What are you two whispering about?”

Fiene herself blinked in innocent bewilderment. Karen and Linus both burst out laughing. Even with the adults talking like that, the baby slept on without stirring.

“What’s the baby’s name?”

“Try and guess. She’s a girl, by the way.”

“Guess?”

“Actually, Ms. Natalia is the one who named her.”

“Natalia named your daughter? Were you two that close?”

Of course, Karen had been friendly with Natalia back in commoner school, and with Fiene as well, so the two of them had certainly had chances to talk. But Fiene had always been a little intimidated by Natalia’s dazzling pedigree, and Natalia wasn’t the type to push her way into things either.

“The thing is, we’ve actually been delivering our bread to Ms. Natalia regularly.”

“Really?!”

“Haha, I went there myself to promote our bread to them. We already purchased recipes from the Alchemists’ Guild, so it worked out.”

Linus said it with a proud grin. Fiene looked up at him with an expression of quiet pride.

“That’s right. It’s thanks to Linus that we got to know Ms. Natalia.”

“I made a delivery today too, but… she looked completely run ragged.”

“That’s probably my fault. Things have been hectic for her.”

Karen’s circumstances had changed dramatically, and Natalia had taken on all the paperwork and arrangements that came with it. She had been working together with Ehlertt, but Natalia had been the one carrying the bulk of the work.

As for Karen herself, she had simply gone about her usual routine while packing her belongings, overwhelmed by Natalia, who had declared with bloodshot eyes, "You just focus on alchemy! This is exactly what I’m here for!”

“When I made the delivery, she was half in tears, going ‘Breeead… something I can eat with one hand…’”

“’Bread,’ huh? Maybe she’d appreciate bite-sized sandwiches next time. Put some vegetables in them too.”

“Now there’s an idea. Vegetable sandwiches, hmm.”

“Fruit might be nice too.”

Linus took notes. Apparently, Linus reported on Natalia’s situation whenever he made deliveries, and Fiene thought up ways to help ease her burden. In a way, Karen was witnessing firsthand how the three of them had grown close—and as she did, she looked down at the baby and tilted her head.

“A name that Natalia would give, hm…”

“The inspiration, she said, was the most successful alchemist she’s ever worked with.”

“…Huh?”

“It’s not the exact same name, of course. But it sounds similar, and it’s a really beautiful name.”

Karen looked up at Fiene and Linus. Both of them were looking back at her, smiling.

“No way…”

Karen stared down at the baby, mouth agape.

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Alchemist Karen No Longer Compromises, Chapter 319

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Chapter Three Hundred and Nineteen: Visiting the Grave

“—You coming here is a rare sight.”

“Lyos.”

In the royal capital of Earthfill, Karen and Julius had a chance encounter with Lyos just as he was leaving the commoners’ communal cemetery on the outskirts of the city, and Karen’s eyes went wide.

Although Karen had become one of the lords of Ehlertt territory, her land was still largely wilderness. Helfried had offered to send people to clear the land and prepare a manor for her. Having left the children in Harald and Ottilie’s care, Karen had returned to the capital together with Julius.

To make all the necessary preparations—and to visit the grave.

At that moment, Julius pulled Karen close. Drawing her nearly all the way into an embrace from behind, he fixed Lyos with a glare. Seeing Julius openly display the hostility he had always concealed behind a smile, Lyos made a deeply uncomfortable expression.

“I would greatly appreciate it if you could refrain from looking at me that way, as I have absolutely never had that sort of relationship with that woman.”

“More importantly, Lyos, why are you at the cemetery at such an odd time?”

In this country, commoners’ grave visits were customarily held at year’s end. Of course, people visited graves on other days as well, but the period closest to what Karen remembered as Obon from her past life fell at year’s end.

“Are you really going to keep talking to me while you’re standing like that…? Well, fine. You know how the knights are dispatched to dungeons across the various territories at year’s end, don’t you? This year was especially busy—I only just finished my duties and made it back.”

Dungeons had collapsed all across the land this year. Not every territory had the knights and adventurers needed to contain those collapses on their own. So the Royal Knights had indeed been run ragged.

“I see. You must be exhausted. Lyos… you came to visit Ms. Frieda’s grave?”

“Yes. And your father’s, while I was at it.”

“What?”

“—You wouldn’t have known, but up until now, my mother had been tending your father’s grave in your place. I’m not saying this because I want your gratitude, so don’t trouble yourself over it.”

With that, Lyos promptly turned and walked away. Karen stood there, blinking, then made her way toward her father’s grave—the one she hadn’t visited in years. She had worried she might not even remember where it was. And yet she found it without much trouble at all, and despite the fact that she had not once visited since her father’s death, the grave was clean.

There were even flowers laid as an offering. A proper bouquet, the kind typically used for grave visits in this world. Everything was perfectly tidy. Preparing flowers and even cleaning the grave made Lyos seem like a remarkably responsible adult.

It was so unexpected that Lyos had done all this that Karen could only stare down at it, mouth slightly open.

She herself hadn’t even brought flowers. Julius had brought some, but still.

“…Karen?”

Julius called to her with a look of concern. Karen started, then stumbled through an explanation.

“Ah, right. Um… I’ve never actually come to visit my father’s grave before.”

“Was it too painful? If so, you could have said—we could have postponed the visit to your father. I could have come alone to—”

“No, that’s not it—it’s just…”

She couldn’t immediately find the words. As she looked up at Julius, searching for them, a loud "Oh!" rang out from behind her.

“You’re visiting a grave? That’s a rare sight, Sis!”

“Lyos said the exact same thing.”

“Yuck!”

It was Thor. He, too, had returned to the capital from Ehlertt together with Karen.

“Wow, Thor, you even brought flowers… and Lyos brought some too… Am I the only one who’s failing as a functioning adult here…”

“I brought some, so couldn’t we say it’s from both of us?”

Julius offered her that kindness, but Karen had never had any such intention, and the fact that she had been out-adulted by Lyos in the basic decency department landed like a real blow.

Thor shrugged and said to her:

“Well, you don’t think Dad’s dead, so of course you wouldn’t bring any.”

“You don’t think he’s dead? Is your father perhaps still alive?”

“No! Um, well…”

“Dad disappeared in a dungeon, and they never found his body or even any of his belongings, so Sis has always believed he might still be alive. I mean, normally everyone would conclude he died.”

“Right, right. By any normal standard, everyone’d tell you he’s dead.”

But Karen had always had a feeling her father was still alive. She was perfectly aware it might just be wishful thinking. It was simply that when the news of her father’s disappearance had reached her, believing that had been how she’d gotten through it.

And she had kept on believing ever since. But to an outside observer, what Karen was doing looked like—well.

“So this is kind of… a delusion, I guess…”

“You believe there’s a chance Dad’s alive, so don’t call it a delusion.”

Thor said that, then deliberately stepped between Karen and Julius, placed the flowers at the gravestone, and spoke:

“I said I’d be transferring my registration to Himmel Barony in Ehlertt, but before that, I’m going to clear the fortieth floor of the royal capital dungeon. Once I’ve done that, I’ll move to Himmel territory for good, so have the adventurers’ guild set up by then.”

“If you clear the fortieth floor, you’ll be almost within reach of S-rank.”

“My promotion to A-rank is still under review, though.”

“It’s only a matter of time, isn’t it? Your sister is very proud.”

“Not as proud as a brother whose sister became a landed noble, I’d think.”

“What a close pair of siblings.”

Julius muttered sulkily, having been elbowed out of the conversation by the two of them as they heaped praise on each other. Karen pressed close to Julius’s side and murmured:

“The fortieth floor… that would be the Fairy Realm.”

That territory was already too deep for Karen to gather information from adventurers she might run into in the adventurers’ district. The only knowledge she had of the fortieth floor came from the founding myths of the Kingdom of Earthfill.

The fortieth floor—the Fairy Realm. The floor said to be home to a pegasus.

“…If Dad’s still alive, the only possibility is that he somehow wandered into the Fairy Realm on the fortieth floor. If I clear the fortieth floor and still don’t find him, then you need to give up too, Sis.”

“Huh!? Are you rushing to clear it because you’re looking for Dad—!?”

“Any adventurer aims to clear the dungeon as fast as they can, don’t they? Besides, I think Dad is probably dead.”

Even so, perhaps it wasn’t entirely unrelated. Karen stared up at Thor, stunned.

“Don’t tell me… you became an adventurer for my sake? So that I could finally give up on Dad—”

Had she unknowingly led her younger brother down a dangerous path?

Thor answered her question instantly:

“No, I’ve pretty much always planned on being an adventurer since I was a kid, and I do it because dungeon-conquering is genuinely fun.”

“Because it’s fun…”

Karen couldn’t help repeating it back to him.

“Yeah, seriously—it’s great, just going around killing monsters left and right.”

“Oh. Right, yeah. Now that you mention it. Most of the guys who grew up in the adventurers’ district are pretty much like that.”

Karen felt a wave of relief as she remembered the obvious fact she’d carelessly forgotten.

“It is precisely because Karen grew up in a place like this that she has the depth of heart to have accepted someone like me. I offer my deepest gratitude to the adventurers’ district, to the father who raised her, to her brother Thor, and to everything else that shaped her. Karen and I are engaged, and we will marry in the future. Please continue to watch over us kindly, Father.”

“Dad, doesn’t this guy kind of piss you off?”

When Julius offered his prayer of gratitude to the gravestone, Thor turned to the same gravestone seeking agreement.

Karen still did not believe her father lay resting there, but it was so funny that before she knew it, she was laughing until tears ran down her face.

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Alchemist Karen No Longer Compromises, Chapter 318

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Chapter Three Hundred and Eighteen: Market Date After a Year 2

“Oh, this flavor might be my favorite… snow rabbit, I think. Here, say ahh.”

Julius blinked when Karen held out the skewered meat to him as a matter of course, but he took a bite without protest.

“ Ah, I want that too. That sandwich!”

“In that case, should we release our hands for a moment?”

“I’m not letting go.”

Karen gripped Julius’s hand tightly and firmly wove her fingers through his. No matter how sweaty her hands got this year, she had no intention of letting go. Karen’s resolve was absolute.

“If my hands are occupied with the grilled meat, then you can hold the sandwich, right, Julius?”

“That’s true—one of my hands is free.”

Julius used his free hand to purchase the sandwich. The woman at the stall noticed their joined hands and laughed a warm "my, my" as she handed it over. Julius put away his wallet, took the sandwich, and brought it to Karen’s lips first.

“Here, Karen.”

“Mm.”

Karen bit into it happily, and the flavor of salted fish and rich cheese spread across her tongue. Whether the bread had just been baked or the whole sandwich had been toasted, it was faintly warm, the cheese soft and melted.

“Mmm, it’s good.”

“It is.”

Julius ate from her half-finished piece and savored it with quiet appreciation.

The stalls had plenty of other tempting dishes lined up. Karen walked on with Julius, privately thinking about which one to split with him next.

Snow had piled up in great drifts here and there, and the people passing by looked thoroughly cold. But whether it was because her magical power had increased or because she was holding Julius’s hand, Karen didn’t feel the cold at all.

There was something else strange as well. Last year, she had heard people everywhere talking about seduction and schemes. Her hearing had only gotten sharper since then—and yet, this time, those kinds of voices were nowhere to be heard.

“…Could it be that people just haven’t recognized you, Julius?”

“Hm?”

Julius, who had food in his mouth and was too well-mannered to speak around it, tilted his head as he chewed. The gesture was endearing in spite of him being a grown man, and there was a small crumb at the corner of his mouth from eating with one hand—none of the charismatic aura of an ideal husband that the Karen of before had felt so keenly. Karen laughed softly, wiped the corner of his mouth with her finger, and silently concluded, ah, that’s why.

Once they had eaten their fill, they browsed the trinket stalls, watched a puppet show being performed in the square, and danced to the music of a traveling musician. During that part, Julius had held firmly onto Karen’s hand, making quite sure she didn’t wander off to dance with other men.

The happy time slipped by before they knew it. Karen and Julius eventually found their way to a gathering spot for couples—a plaza at the edge of the market. Unlike the lively, brightly lit market, it was a quiet and dim space with a few benches arranged as a resting area.

Karen and Julius sat down on a bench, naturally drawing close together.

“Brother Helfried and Sister-in-law Alise apparently walked through the New Year’s Festival market just like this before they were married.”

“Really!? That’s unexpected!”

Julius, seeming to see right through Karen’s unspoken thought—especially Helfried—added:

“From what I’ve heard, Sister-in-law Alise was the one who requested it.”

“Well, if she asked him, even Lord Helfried would go on a date.”

“Oh? Are you not going to call him ‘Brother’?”

“Oh, I forgot.”

Karen laughed for a while at the strange fate that had made Helfried her brother-in-law, then looked up at the sky. The dark winter sky of Ehlertt, viewed away from the lights of the market, was alive with brilliant stars.

It looked very much like the starry sky she had once looked up at from inside the dungeon. Perhaps it was actually the same sky.

“I was afraid for a very long time.”

Karen’s eyes went wide. Not because she was surprised by Julius’s fear—she felt as though she had known about it for a long time already. What surprised her was that Julius had spoken those words here, in a place as open as this.

“I think I spent many years performing the version of myself that was expected of me. Even after my father died, even after I grew stronger than him, even after I gained the power to clear the twentieth floor of the dungeon—some part of me still feared that if I failed to meet someone’s expectations, I would be thrown back into that Forest’s Edge dungeon. Even though no one could ever force that upon me anymore. At least, not anyone from Ehlertt.”

Karen made a quiet sweep of the area. Whether anyone was listening, she couldn’t tell.

Did the fact that Julius was speaking so openly mean that no one was eavesdropping?

—Or perhaps Julius no longer feared being exposed, nor anything else.

“The sight of you moving forward, when I had been unable to move for so long—it was so dazzling, and so beautiful… I found myself wanting to follow you, and before I knew it, I wanted to be closer to you than anyone else. Wanting to stay by your side was what finally let me move—and once I could move, I began to wish I could stay by your side forever.”

“That’s why I want to make the Philosopher’s Stone.”

Karen looked straight up at Julius as she spoke.

“Because I want to keep moving forward. Because you love me the way I am. Because you want to be with me as I am. Because I want to fulfill that wish of yours too. And—”

She paused for a moment, then held Julius’s gaze and said:

“Because I want to be with you, Julius.”

Her longing for alchemy and her feelings for Julius—two desires that had seemed to work against each other, that should have been obstacles to one another. Like two flames of different colors, they mingled and burned together in Karen’s eyes.

Looking down at her, Julius let a smile slip out that he could no longer suppress.

“—I love you, Karen. I love you with all my heart.”

Before Julius had even finished speaking, Karen wrapped her arms around his neck. Karen’s gaze seemed fixed on some distant place while remaining focused entirely on Julius at the same time.

A joyful smile spreading across his face, Julius closed his eyes to receive Karen’s kiss.

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Alchemist Karen No Longer Compromises, Chapter 317

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Chapter Three Hundred and Seventeen: Market Date After a Year

“…So, did your secret conversation bear any fruit, Karen?”

“Somewhere between bearing fruit and not.”

Julius had slipped into the carriage without making a sound, and Karen answered him without missing a beat.

Karen had asked Julius not to follow her. She had wanted to have a conversation that might not have happened if Julius were present. In truth, even with just Karen alone, drawing the information out might have been difficult. However, she had told him she wouldn’t mind if he followed as long as he erased his presence completely and remained undetectable even to her.

Karen channeled magical power into the carriage’s counter-surveillance magical tool and spoke:

“Were you listening the whole time, Julius?”

“Yes. Your new little promoter has a technique similar to yours.”

“Similar to mine?”

Karen blinked, having expected the conversation to turn to the people without magical power—and Julius nodded with a thoughtful expression.

“The technique of erasing one’s presence by suppressing one’s magical power… whether it’s because having so little magical power makes it easier to hold back or simply to exhaust entirely, even I would have had difficulty detecting her presence without paying close attention.”

“Wow. Sounds like Teresa could become a good adventurer.”

It seemed that part of why Karen hadn’t sensed Teresa’s approach was that Teresa herself was skilled at concealing her presence. Adventurers had all kinds of work available to them. Fighting monsters and clearing dungeons was the mainstream—the goal most adventurers aimed for—but anything dungeon-related fell under an adventurer’s work.

If she had the skill to hide from monsters without being detected, she could certainly make a living as an adventurer.

The moment Karen felt a wave of relief wash over her, her stomach let out a low rumble.

“Feeling relieved made me hungry, somehow. Since we’re out anyway, want to grab something to eat at the New Year’s Festival market before we head back? Your treat, Julius.”

Teresa had emptied Karen’s purse completely. Karen pressed close to Julius as she said it, and Julius gave a quiet laugh.

“I’d be delighted to provide for you, Karen.”

“Ehehe, a market date after a whole year.”

When the carriage let them out at a good spot in the market, Karen immediately reached over and laced her fingers through Julius’s in a lover’s hold. Julius’s golden eyes went wide for just a moment in surprise, then he gave a small cough.

“I hope this isn’t presumptuous to ask, but—are you rather experienced with this sort of thing?”

“With Lyos? We never even held hands, let alone went out together. Oh, I mean, there were times when I helped him up when he collapsed or supported him when he fell over as a little kid—“

“What about further back than that, Karen?”

“Uh-oh…”

Before she’d even registered it, Julius was looking down at her with a bright, luminous smile—the still, serene smile of an angel deliberating over what verdict to deliver.

The topic of her past life, which had never been brought up between them, had been raised so easily, and Karen hesitated for a moment before conceding.

From the very beginning, this had been the heart of the secret. Her memories of a previous life, of another world, had never been the real issue. There was nothing about it that violated this world’s religious beliefs.

—The issue was that, depending on Julius’s particular standards of purity, everything might come to an end right here.

“Well, yes… yes. But—!”

“But what?”

“When we went on a date last year, my hands were so sweaty!”

“…Hm? Sweaty hands?”

“I was so nervous—my mouth went dry, my heart was pounding, I could barely breathe. Like a girl going on a date for the very first time in her life. And actually, for me, who was standing there right then—it was a first date.”

She hadn’t been like that on the first date with the last person she had dated in her previous life. There had been excitement and enjoyment, but also the familiarity of knowing, "This is what dating is like.”

And yet, it had been as though all of that experience had been wiped clean—

“In other words, the you of before and the you of now are different people?”

“Exactly!”

“—Come to think of it, your hand may indeed have been a little damp when we held hands last year. Ah—”

Karen went red and kicked Julius in the shin. Julius accepted it without flinching, but it was like kicking solid steel. Karen let out a groan.

“Ow—!”

“My mistake. I should have dodged after all.”

“No—even if it hurts, when I want to kick, I want to kick, so don’t dodge!”

Julius looked at her teary-eyed face and burst out laughing.

“Come to think of it, you’re right. The you who was nervous on our date last year was absolutely adorable!”

“Don’t say that so loudly—!”

They were squarely in the middle of the market, and the people around them were very obviously pricking up their ears.

“I am saying you were adorable, so what is wrong with that? And what did you think of me last year?”

“…I thought you were so impossibly handsome that there was no way someone like me could ever match up.”

“Hm?”

Julius’s brow furrowed ever so slightly. It hadn’t been the answer he was hoping for.

“But I didn’t want to give up… I felt like you were looking at me—at me, more than anything else. Like maybe I had a chance after all. Like maybe I didn’t have to give up.”

Julius, who had prepared those earrings—those gemstones in the color of his eyes. More than Ehlertt, more than her abilities, more than her usefulness or convenience—she had felt as though he might be seeing Karen herself. As if he already was…

“So… I fell for you.”

Julius’s eyes went wide, and he started to say something. But before he could, Karen’s face went scarlet, and she shouted, "Julius, I want to eat that skewered meat from that stall over there!"—and yanked him by the hand.

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Alchemist Karen No Longer Compromises, Chapter 316

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Chapter Three Hundred and Sixteen: Dream of the Magicless 3

“—The people I have been in contact with are, in all likelihood, not the ones you are describing, Lady Karen—they are not the ones attempting to create the Philosopher’s Stone.”

“Eeh!?”

Karen couldn’t help but cry out.

“B-But! This medal with magical power in the negative range—surely that was made by the Children of Dark Night!?”

“It may well have been. They seem reluctant to say anything plainly, but it appears they do conduct some degree of trade with them. Even so, the people I have been in contact with are not the Children of Dark Night.”

“They’re not?”

Karen blinked.

“They are the people of a hidden village—those without magical power who have drawn together and live quiet, modest lives. They are simple, ordinary people. The idea of attempting something as grand as creating the Philosopher’s Stone would never enter their minds.”

“Perhaps they just haven’t told you, Director—”

“Lady Karen, there are actually far more people without magical power in this world than most realize. Ordinary people merely choose to look away. They have their own beliefs, form various settlements, and even come into conflict with one another.”

August sat upright and answered Karen firmly as she tried to press the issue.

Karen suddenly realized something.

“…You mean, just like those of us who have magical power?”

“Yes. What I know of is only the hidden village. And they are, if anything, at odds with the Children of Dark Night. Because the Children of Dark Night treat children as tools…”

August said it with an expression like he was biting into something bitter.

“Come to think of it, you mentioned before that you were trying to stop the Children of Dark Night from abducting children.”

“I know nothing about the Children of the Dark Night, nor about the Philosopher’s Stone you mentioned, Lady Karen.”

“I see…”

“They use this medal as a mark to seek me out in times of need, or to take in the children without magical power that I have sheltered—those with nowhere else to go—and find them a place to belong. Whether that is truly a happy thing for the children, I cannot say, as I have no right to visit their hidden village myself. But the reality is that there are no other options.”

People without magical power formed several distinct groups, each with their own independent aims. When put plainly like that, it was obvious enough. August had simply established contact with one group of magicless people for the sake of children with no place to go—he had no connection to the Children of Dark Night.

Karen felt the strength drain out of her as the lead toward the Philosopher’s Stone she had thought she was grasping slipped away. If she had been able to meet with someone high up in the Children of Dark Night, there was something she had wanted to ask.

What was the wish they hoped to fulfill with the Philosopher’s Stone?

“If you have no connection to the Children of Dark Night, you could have been upfront about things.”

“Still, I was introduced to the hidden village through Lord Horst, so there is a shadow over it… And besides, to most people, the Children of the Dark Night and the people of the hidden villages are all the same simply because they are magicless.”

Karen, too, had assumed that the Children of Dark Night were simply where people without magical power ended up after being cast out by society. But that was not the case; the world those people inhabited was far broader than she had imagined.

“Lady Karen, are you not going to take me into custody?”

“Of course not! I only came to talk. Well—I’m not sure what would happen if the people of Ehlertt found out, which is why I came alone… but someone like you is needed. Without someone like you, there would be children who truly have nowhere to turn.”

Karen held out her hand, and August took it and rose to his feet. He gave Karen a priest’s bow.

“I am deeply grateful for your generosity, Lady Karen.”

“In my case, it’s less generosity than simply putting my goals first.”

“Regardless of the reason, there are very few who will accept others as you do. The goddess’s teachings hold that a person’s worth is not determined by the degree of their magical power—and yet the reality is that even the temples harbor the contradiction of requiring at least C-rank magical power to become a priest at all.”

August said it with a weary smile. No doubt this was one of the contradictions August himself had struggled with after pursuing the priesthood with his sincere ideals.

“From the bottom of my heart, I pray that your efforts succeed, Lady Karen, and that the day comes when children no longer need to live in hiding to survive.”

“Well, I certainly want it to succeed so I can put all those kids to work and make a fortune skimming off the top!”

Karen blurted it out in an embarrassed attempt at deflection—and in that moment, a faint sound came from the doorway. Both Karen and August turned to look.

“I wasn’t paid yet, so…”

It was Teresa.

Karen had gotten fairly good at concealing her own presence lately, but sensing others was still entirely beyond her. Karen drew a sharp breath—and August had gone even paler than she had.

“Teresa, how much did you hear?”

“—The Children of Dark Night are trying to make the Philosopher’s Stone? The Philosopher’s Stone is the magic stone that can grant any wish, right?”

“They will stop at nothing to achieve their goals. They are people you must never go near, Teresa.”

August tried to hold her back in a firm tone—as if he was certain that Teresa, having overheard their conversation, was about to go straight to the Children of Dark Night.

Certainly, for those dissatisfied with society and dreaming of overturning it, there might be no destination other than the Children of the Dark Night—yet as Karen thought that, something about her own reasoning caught her attention.

Overturn. An upside-down tree—

Teresa poked Karen and snapped her out of her thoughts before she could sink into them.

“Hey. You were willing to let Teacher off the hook—even though he might have ties to criminals—because you wanted information about the Philosopher’s Stone, right?”

“Hm? Well—I suppose so.”

Karen nodded, caught off guard by the unexpected question. Teresa let out a long breath.

“So you really are someone who’ll do anything for alchemy. You’re not pitying me at all—you genuinely want to know the truth of things. And you’ll do whatever it takes to get there.”

Teresa said it with something almost like amusement, a lilt in her voice, then looked up at Karen and smiled. It was the first childlike smile Karen had ever seen from Teresa.

“Whatever it takes… That’s awesome! You’re cool—and totally nuts!”

Teresa looked up into Karen’s eyes with a dreamy expression and said:

“…Fine. I’ll be your lab rat, Karen.”

“Don’t make it sound so awful! Just become an adventurer and accept my support!”

“Kyahahahaha!”

It was the laugh of a little troublemaker getting scolded for a prank—and beneath it, there was still an innocent, childlike charm lingering in her smile.

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Alchemist Karen No Longer Compromises, Chapter 315

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Chapter Three Hundred and Fifteen: Dream of the Magicless 2

Karen and August moved to the temple adjoining the orphanage.

“Lady Karen—or should I address you Lady Himmel?”

“I’m still not used to either form, so either is fine.”

“Then, Lady Karen it is. What is the matter so confidential that you wished for the room to be cleared? Is it about the children?”

August spoke with such evident anxiety that his genuine concern for the children’s futures came through clearly, and Karen was quick to set his mind at ease.

“It isn’t about the children. Though it may be connected, in some way…”

Karen came into the sanctuary, looked around the room, and said:

“You don’t display a goddess statue in this temple.”

August looked caught off guard by the question, but answered:

“No… as no one knows what the goddess looks like. If we displayed a statue modeled after the human form, it would make it harder for members of other races to come and worship.”

“You’re considerate not only toward children without magical power, but toward other races as well. The temple in the royal capital has a goddess statue in the form of a human woman.”

“I wouldn’t say that’s wrong, either. Most races depict their goddess in the form of a woman of their own kind—statues, portraits, objects of devotion. But on my own insistence as temple director, we display a stone tablet bearing the goddess’s tree.”

With that, August looked up at the tablet. Karen looked up at it as well. Carved into the stone slab was a stylized image of a tree. Above, countless branches spread outward; below, countless roots extended downward. The design was simple enough that, flipped upside down, one might not immediately notice the difference.

“Is this the World Tree?”

“The elves believe so. But there are sects that argue otherwise. Since it would be inconvenient for humans if the World Tree managed by the elves were considered the goddess’s tree, the prevailing view in human nations is that they are separate things.”

“Which do you believe, Director?”

“I also believe it is different from the World Tree. I think this tree is simply an ancient people’s imagined diagram of the stairway one must ascend to reach the goddess.”

“I see, I see.”

Karen wandered around the tablet, observing the carving from various angles—and found it. Behind the slab.

“Perhaps you wished to confess a private trouble before the goddess, Lady Karen? If you would like a portrait of the goddess, we have one in storage—I could have it brought at once—”

“No, no, nothing like that. Thank you for your kindness.”

When Karen picked up the object hidden behind the tablet and looked at August, his face had gone deathly pale. He looked as though he had aged ten or twenty years in an instant, and Karen, who had been preparing to question him, found herself somewhat taken aback.

“This wooden coin—a medal? You know what this is, don’t you?”

“How did you come to find that…?”

“I ascended the steps recently. After ascending, I became able to sense the location of things with an extremely small amount of magical power—things that don’t just have none, but have magical power in the negative range. Ordinary people can’t even perceive their existence. And yet you already knew this thing was here.”

If he had tried to play ignorant, she would have had no choice but to draw it out of him—but August was already visibly devastated.

“Is what’s carved on it the goddess’s tree?”

“—To them, it is the goddess’s tree. But unlike the one we know, it is upside down.”

“That does feel rather… blasphemous, doesn’t it? My guess is that only the Children of Dark Night would be able to make something like this. Could this be their symbol?”

“So you’ve come to arrest me.”

Before Karen had even pronounced any judgment, August bowed his head as though he had already resigned himself.

“It is true that I had contact with people closely associated with them. I have heard that it was the Children of Dark Night who threw the royal capital dungeon into chaos before, and who have now caused dungeons across the land to collapse. Given this piece of evidence, I cannot blame anyone for suspecting me of ties to the Children of Dark Night. But the orphanage’s children are innocent. So I beg you—”

“Please wait, Director. Why do you think I came here alone?”

Karen stopped him before he could lower his forehead to the floor and stared at him with wide eyes. Harald had been with her on the way here, but right now they were going separately. There was a carriage waiting outside, but if she had come to arrest August, coming unarmed and alone was far too careless.

Karen knelt down before the bewildered August, brought herself to his eye level, and smiled.

“I came here because I want you to introduce me to those people.”

“Introduce? But why—”

“They’re trying to make the Philosopher’s Stone. In a way that probably only they can—I want to be able to make the Philosopher’s Stone too. So I want to meet them. I want to meet them and talk!”

Karen said it with her eyes shining, the way someone might speak of a dream. August stared up at Karen the alchemist, utterly dumbfounded.

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Alchemist Karen No Longer Compromises, Chapter 314

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Chapter Three Hundred and Fourteen: Dream of the Magicless

“Huh? As if I’d go. I don’t want to become some alchemist’s servant.”

“Teresa! Stop being so rude.”

“What? I’m just saying I don’t want to go.”

Karen was at the orphanage in Ehlertt’s territorial capital. She was speaking with one of the children there—a girl named Teresa—about taking her in, if she was willing.

Unlike the children who had been driven out by lords of other territories, Karen had respected their individual wishes. As a result, Teresa—the girl who had played a prank on Karen and Julius when they had once stopped by the orphanage to make a donation—was the only one who had refused Karen’s offer.

All the other children had wanted to go with Karen. Harald, who had come from the royal capital and taken charge of managing the unexpectedly large number of children gathering under Karen, had told them his own story firsthand, and that had made the difference.

But Teresa hadn’t budged an inch. Scolded by the orphanage director, August, and still sprawled on the sofa with an air of complete indifference—that was Teresa.

Karen studied her carefully.

“Even though every other child has said they’ll come with me?”

“So what!”

Teresa glared at Karen and snorted.

“Believing that idiotic story about how someone became an alchemist even though he was born with F-rank magical power or even lower. That’s impossible! Everyone’s been fooled—what a bunch of idiots!”

August grabbed Teresa by the shoulders, turned her to face him, and shook her.

“Teresa! I told you to stop! This lady earned distinction at the hunting festival and became a titled noble! Mind your tongue!”

“…The hunting festival? Even though she’s an alchemist?”

August’s scolding went in one ear and out the other—but for the first time that day, Teresa looked directly up at Karen’s face. It was the manner of a child from the adventurers’ quarter, twisted and guarded, dismissing the weak and only lending an ear to the strong.

“Can you fight?”

“I can’t fight. But I made potions from materials I gathered on-site and contributed to the party that way.”

“What kind of monster did you hunt?”

“A black dragon.”

Teresa’s eyes lit up for just a moment—then her expression curdled.

“You think I’m stupid? That’s a legendary monster, the one the Ehlertt ancestors defeated! Don’t go feeding me pointless lies. I get enough tall tales like that at the tavern.”

The news of the black dragon’s re-subjugation should have already been spreading through Ehlertt as quite a significant rumor—but apparently, Teresa had written it off as nonsense.

Teresa let out a world-weary sigh and rose from the sofa.

“Teresa, where are you going?”

“Back to my room. I told you I’m not going, so we’re done here, aren’t we?”

It did weigh on Karen to leave Teresa behind when every other child had chosen to come with her. But she had no intention of forcing her. It wasn’t as though Karen especially needed Teresa to come.

—Though August was looking at Karen with something close to pleading in his eyes.

“Oh? Or are you telling me to leave the orphanage, Director? That’s fine too. I’m a trainee adventurer, after all. It’s not like I need to come back here.”

“Teresa, you’re too young to be an adventurer.”

August said it with sad eyes. Teresa paid him no mind.

“It’s not exactly rare to have someone my age going into dungeons.”

“That’s true. My little brother was already going into dungeons by the time he was ten.”

“See, exactly!”

“But that was only because he had someone looking after him.”

“…You’re saying that to an orphan?”

Teresa looked up at Karen with dark eyes, and Karen answered without flinching:

“I didn’t say a parent. A guardian. My brother wasn’t taken into the dungeon by a parent either. Our parents had already gone missing by the time he was ten.”

“…So?”

“That’s why the local adventurers in the area looked out for him in the dungeon. Do you have adventurers like that—ones who’d look after you?”

“…”

“If not, you should stop going into dungeons.”

“That’s none of your business… could you stay out of things that don’t concern you?”

Teresa glared at her, and Karen glanced at August. He gave a feeble shake of his head—he had tried to stop her many times before, no doubt.

Because if no one stopped her, this girl would die before long. Not in the distant future, but soon.

Karen had no particular obligation to do anything more for her. But—

“I’m done—”

“No, wait just a moment. I’m thinking about something.”

“What is your problem!? I’m not just sitting around doing nothing, you know! I’ll charge you for my time!”

“I’ll give you some pocket money afterward, so stay there.”

“Well, that changes things.”

Teresa’s mood shifted at once, and she perched back down on the sofa with a cheerful little grin. Karen looked down at her with a thoughtful "hmm.”

Even if Karen left here and forgot all about Teresa, and Teresa died afterward—Karen bore no responsibility for it. She would feel sorry, but that would be all. She was accustomed enough to how this world worked that it wouldn’t leave much of a bitter taste.

But Teresa had something unusual about her—an abnormality that didn’t buckle even under Julius’s pressure. People with that kind of quality, it was said, tended to grow into formidable adventurers. But without magical power, Teresa would likely die before ever getting there.

“…What a waste.”

“Of the money? There’s no taking back the pocket money at this point. Director’s my witness—and he’s a priest, so it’s practically a promise made before the goddess herself, you know?”

“What’s a waste is your life, Teresa.”

“Oh, sure, sure. Are you satisfied now? Want me to say ‘thank you so much for your kindness toward someone like me, abandoned even by her own parents’?”

Karen ignored the sarcasm and said:

“Would you let me be your sponsor?”

“…What?”

Suspicion and bewilderment. Teresa was looking at her like she was an idiot.

“Believe it or not, I’m currently the sponsor of the Crimson Thunder—the party that just conquered the thirtieth floor of the territorial capital’s dungeon.”

“…Huh? Excuse me?”

The idiot stare wavered slightly. She probably knew that adventurers had no tolerance for outright lies.

“Though how much I actually contributed to the conquest as a sponsor is honestly debatable.”

Teresa swallowed and said:

“…Saying something like that as a lie would get you killed by adventurers. …You’re serious?”

“Completely serious.”

“What do you want from me?”

Deep suspicion before any hint of joy. Teresa stared at Karen with eyes full of distrust. Talking to a child abandoned even by her own parents about love, ethics, or morality would only backfire.

So Karen decided to say exactly what she meant, without any pretense.

“I have a hypothesis—that the less magical power a person is born with, the stronger they can become if they manage to grow.”

Teresa reacted with a sharp, barely suppressed flinch. Karen, already half-submerged in her own thoughts, pressed on without paying it any mind.

“Technically, you’re supposed to need at least C-rank magical power to become an alchemist—B-rank is considered ideal. But I made potions with D-rank. That was already considered exceptional—prodigious, even—and yet my apprentice made potions with F-rank magical power, and with E-rank joined the Alchemists’ Guild and even advanced the steps. The less base magical power a person has, the less they may need to wield it. That’s my current hypothesis.”

“W-Wait. What are you talking about?”

Karen surfaced from her own thoughts and looked up to find Teresa wearing an expression of sheer fright. To Teresa, Karen’s words were in some sense hope—and if they were wrong, despair.

Karen looked at her without the slightest softening.

“I’m talking about the fundamental truths of this world.”

“—You mean… alchemy?”

“I want to become your sponsor, keep you from dying too easily, and use that time to test whether my hypothesis is right or wrong.”

She wasn’t going to show her only possibilities, offer her only hope, and soothe Teresa’s heart with comfort. Teresa was surely sick of that kind of thing by now.

“As an alchemist, I want to use your life to verify the principles of this world.”

Without asking or expecting Teresa to believe in her—knowing she probably couldn’t believe in anything—Karen simply thrust her own desire forward.

“That’s why I want you to accept my proposal.”

“You’d be my sponsor and… the price would be… being used for your… experiment?”

“It’s an experiment, but all you have to do is use my potions and survive and grow stronger.”

“This is way too convenient…”

Teresa bit her lower lip and looked down for a moment. Then she murmured:

“…Let me think about it.”

There was nothing more Karen could do for Teresa today. Karen gave a small nod.

“Let me know when you’ve made up your mind.”

And for the real purpose of the visit, Karen left Teresa behind and stepped out of the room with August.

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