Alchemist Karen No Longer Compromises, Chapter 232

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Chapter Two Hundred and Thirty-Two: Celebration Party 3

“The second piece is a hymn dedicated to the goddess.”

At Sieg’s signal, the children began singing as they played their instruments.

They must be familiar with this piece. Both the playing and singing were skillful. Karen knew it was a religious song also sung in temples and familiar to nobles, but perhaps performing while singing like this was part of noble education.

The children’s clear soprano voices spread through the room like bright particles of light. A song of gratitude and praise for the goddess’s blessing. For children who had suffered from being blessed by bloodline, it must be a complicated song. Still, in this world where praising the goddess was normal for everyone, they had to become able to sing this song without discomfort.

By this point, uncontrollable sobbing was leaking from behind the screen and from the waiting room area, and the children noticed while singing and smiled a little. Encouraged by the presence of the guardians watching over them, the children played their harps powerfully and sang out expansively. The moment they finished singing, applause came not only from Karen and Harald but from all around, and the children looked proud with flushed cheeks.

When she had first seen them, every child had been lying powerlessly in bed. At the sight of these children, Karen’s eyes grew moist too, though not as much as the parents’.

After finishing the song, Sieg stood up with his harp.

“Sister Karen… and also, Master Harald.”

Feeling the children’s gazes on him, Sieg added Harald’s name as if as an afterthought.

“Thank you for coming to the party we’re holding today. This party was something we planned and organized without borrowing our mothers’ help. All of us together thought about what we could give to you, Sister Karen… and to Master Harald too, and we decided to give music and song.”

Saying that, Sieg held up his harp.

“This instrument—commoners apparently don’t know it. This is called an Iris. Playing the Iris is part of noble education, but we couldn’t even sit and maintain our posture, so it was something we couldn’t learn for a long time.”

The children nodded vigorously at Sieg’s words.

“But thanks to Sister Karen, I—and thanks to Sister Karen and Master Harald, they were able to learn what nobles should acquire like this. We became able to study too. Though the ones who dream of becoming knight apprentices or learning dance are apparently being told to wait until their bodies recover a little more.”

The children giggled and looked at each other. Even if they couldn’t do it yet, they could laugh because they knew they would eventually be able to.

“Sister Karen, congratulations on your promotion to D-rank and to C-rank as well. Master Harald, congratulations on your promotion to E-rank too.”

Perhaps because the children understood that Sieg didn’t have much attachment to Harald, they chimed in with "Congratulations!" at that point.

Harald smiled shyly with delight.

“Thank you for returning safely from the dungeon. Congratulations to both of you on ascending the steps. Gratitude to the goddess who discovered Sister Karen and Master Harald. And gratitude to Sister Karen and Master Harald, who saved us. Thanks to you, we can become proud warriors protecting the nation, not miserable, pitiful, unlucky children. We’d be happy if you’re pleased with the music we spun with all our hearts.”

Saying that, Sieg bowed respectfully.

Karen clapped her hands and nodded.

“I was moved. It’s a truly wonderful gift.”

“I-I was also moved!”

At Karen’s words, Sieg looked relieved, and at Harald’s words, the children looked relieved.

“Well then, that’s the end of the performance and song, so—”

“Before moving on, may I say one thing?”

“Sister Karen?”

When Karen raised her hand, Sieg widened his eyes but nodded and sat down in his chair.

Karen stood up from her chair and smiled at Sieg and the children.

“Everyone, thank you for this wonderful celebration today. I’m happy just to see my clients recover, but to have you show me this splendid sight of doing things you became able to do and wanted to do because you got better—that’s an unexpected reward. Thank you for this wonderful celebration… but there’s one more thing I’d like to ask.”

“One more thing?”

“Wasn’t our performance and song enough for a celebration?”

“No, no, that’s not it. Actually, I’ve been promoted to B-rank alchemist.”

“What?! Already?!”

The only one not surprised was Sieg, who received information from his family. The children, who had no way of knowing the confidential information, widened their eyes in adorable surprise, and Karen couldn’t help but laugh.

“Yes, so I want one more celebration. I was thinking, as a celebration, I’d like you to grant my wish.”

“…Your wish, Sister Karen?”

Sieg probably didn’t think Karen would make an unreasonable request.

He simply widened his eyes in pure wonder.

The children looked anxious about what might be demanded of them, and Karen scratched her cheek, wondering if she had phrased it poorly.

“To fight for the protection of the nation—that is a noble goal. In this world where no one can live unless someone fights to protect the country, I’m grateful and happy that all of you, born with power, are willing to fight.”

Both Sieg and the children looked puzzled about what Karen was saying.

Surely what she was about to say wasn’t conventional words.

“However, please let me ask that you also fight for your own happiness.”

“Our own… happiness?”

“Now that our Bloodline Blessing is healed, aren’t we already happy? Is it different from that?”

“I caused so much trouble for everyone…”

“Use the power that should be used for the nation for our own happiness?”

The children exchanged confused looks.

Karen smiled wryly at the disparity among the nobles of this country.

The Earthfill Kingdom probably existed thanks to nobles like them here.

While she found those who bore duties worthy of their privileges dazzling and admirable, she also thought of the people who, unless the world turned upside down, could neither shoulder such duties nor receive respect even if they wished to.

“If you’re not happy yourself, you can’t wish for others’ happiness. I want you to become happy, and to the extent you become happy, to become able to wish for the happiness of someone in completely different circumstances from your own.”

Thanks to Harald, they would probably understand better than others that some people suffered from having too much magical power while others suffered from having too little. But telling them "since you suffered too, understand others’ suffering" wasn’t appropriate for a celebration.

So that these children would become happy and become people who could wish for others’ happiness too.

“As a celebration for my promotion to B-rank alchemist, please remember this occasionally.”

Though looking puzzled at Karen’s words, the children nodded.

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Alchemist Karen No Longer Compromises, Chapter 231

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Chapter Two Hundred and Thirty-One: Celebration Party 2

“Sister Karen, welcome.”

“Welcome!”

Sieg and the children greeted them.

The venue was the Ehlertt estate, and Sieg was the host, but Karen had heard that the children had also helped with the preparations. That’s why it was held during the daytime, and though it was called a party, the atmosphere was more like a tea gathering.

Karen said with a smile:

“Thank you all very much for the warm welcome.”

“Mister Harald, welcome too!”

“You can just call me Harald…!”

Seeing Harald’s startled expression at being addressed with “mister” by one of the children, the children exchanged glances.

One of the clever children considerately suggested, "How about Master Harald?”

“Master Alchemist Harald! Do you not like that either?”

“Well, if it’s that…”

Even though they were children, they were still nobles. Seeing Harald looking uncomfortable, Karen reflected on herself. When it came to visiting the Ehlertt estate, she had completely lost her nervousness. She had been nervous during the family meeting, but that was something else entirely.

“Sister Karen, this way.”

“Master Harald, this way too!”

Escorted by Sieg, Karen’s eyes widened in surprise. It was easier to link arms with him than when they had danced together at the recovery celebration before.

“Master Sieg, you’ve gotten bigger.”

“You think so?”

Sieg smiled shyly with delight, while the surrounding children looked up at him with shining eyes full of admiration. From the children’s perspective, Sieg was truly a pioneer. He was older than them, had suffered from the Bloodline Blessing before them, and might have died before them, but he had been saved. And they purely respected Karen, who had saved him, and her apprentice Harald.

The children’s parents were associates of the Ehlertt family, and they had probably been instructed by their parents, but their eyes conveyed their sincerity.

“I had light refreshments prepared, so Sister Karen and Master Harald, please sit here and relax while drinking and eating.”

Saying that, Sieg guided Karen and Harald to a round table prepared in a bright reception room with plenty of natural light.

On the table were sandwiches and various sweets arranged.

From Karen’s perspective, with her particular tastes about food, there were some mysterious dishes, but the sugared almonds and pudding were desserts that even Karen could eat deliciously without complaint.

There were no tables for the other children, and a stage had been set up in front of Karen’s table. Small chairs for the children were lined up on the stage.

While drinking the tea that Sara came over to pour into her cup, Karen called out to Harald, who sat motionless in his chair as he had been told.

“It looks like they’re going to show us something. I’m looking forward to it. Why don’t you have some tea too, Harald?”

“…My throat feels closed up. I don’t think I can drink anything.”

Harald said, pale with nervousness.

Karen tilted her head while munching on sandwiches.

“Harald, you aren’t the only one who’s nervous, you know?”

“It doesn’t look that way at all, though?”

After eating a sandwich full of salty prosciutto and lettuce-like vegetables, she next reached for the sweet sugared almonds.

Harald gave a dubious look to Karen, who had begun enjoying an infinite loop of salty and sweet.

“I don’t mean me—I mean the children.”

“What?”

“Kids that young are probably hosting guests for the first time. And yet they went to all the trouble of preparing things to entertain us, you know? The tea, the food, the sweets—I’m sure they put a lot of thought into choosing them.”

Karen had experience with tea parties with Alise and Waltride. She could tell that the menu laid out was slightly odd for a tea party. The children must have planned the menu too. There were no adults present.

They might be waiting somewhere in this mansion, but aside from servants, there were no adults visible to Karen and Harald. This was purely an event by Sieg and the children younger than him.

“Even if they’re nobles, when they’re small children, they don’t know left from right at first and feel anxious, right? Probably. If Harald, who’s older, doesn’t stay calm and fully enjoy the children’s welcome, what will happen?”

“Older…”

Harald muttered in a daze.

Perhaps because he had been caught up in the thought of being invited by nobles as a commoner, his face showed he hadn’t realized that young children had worked hard to plan this celebration.

“Oh, it looks like it’s starting.”

Harald gasped and straightened his back. Karen put down the sandwich she was holding.

The children who had once left the room returned carrying harps small enough to hold in their arms.

Including Sieg, there were sixteen in total.

The sight of the children lined up on stage holding their harps was adorable, and Karen lamented—what a shame the children’s parents weren’t seeing this—but only for a moment.

She heard the faint sound of sniffling from behind the screen where servants hid to serve, and realizing the children’s guardians were surprisingly nearby, Karen almost laughed.

Fortunately, Harald didn’t seem to notice.

If he had known that adult nobles were hiding there, even if told they were only there to watch the children, Harald’s nervousness wouldn’t have eased.

However, as he watched the children’s faces stiff with tension and anxiety, the strength drained from Harald’s shoulders.

“The first piece is the Song of the Fairies Celebrating Spring.”

The Song of the Fairies Celebrating Spring. It was a folk tune commonly sung by commoners.

At the Holy Tree Festival, celebrating spring around the end of April, charitable musicians played and sang this song at street corners here and there, and commoners danced to it.

She had even seen it sung at the orphanage, so Harald probably knew it too. Rather than thinking it was popular among nobles, it was more natural to think the children had practiced it to perform for Karen and Harald.

Karen closed her eyes and listened to the high, clear sounds the children produced.

It was usually the kind of tune one imagined a cheerful old man singing while dancing, but played on delicate harps, it evoked an image of fairies dancing. Karen didn’t know the performance level of small harps, but even by her past life’s standards, it sounded like quite a skillful performance for young children.

Until now, these were all children who hadn’t had much time to even get out of bed. They probably had hardly any time in their lives to practice the harp, yet how much practice must they have accumulated while Karen was in the dungeon during the investigation?

When the performance ended, Karen applauded. The culture of applause existed in this world too. Harald, who had been dazed, saw Karen applauding and hurriedly followed suit. With earnest, vigorous applause, he praised the children’s hard work.

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Alchemist Karen No Longer Compromises, Chapter 230

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Chapter Two Hundred and Thirty: Celebration Party

“Lady Karen, a letter has arrived from Master Sieg of the Ehlertt family.”

“Thank you, Harald.”

Since it was from Sieg, it probably wasn’t urgent. However, since Karen had finished dealing with all the letters that had been piling up recently, she immediately opened the letter and smiled.

“He’s throwing a celebration party for my D-rank and C-rank promotions, my triumphant return from the dungeon investigation, and my ascension of the rank all rolled into one.”

“How wonderful.”

Harald smiled politely. When Karen thought about it, her social circle was quite flashy, but for better or worse, Harald had no interest in it. There was even a sense that he thought it had nothing to do with him.

Karen chuckled at Harald.

“You’re invited too, Harald.”

“What?”

Seeing Harald’s eyes widen in surprise, looking as if he didn’t understand what was being said to him, Karen grinned and showed him the invitation.

“They want to celebrate your promotion to E-rank alchemist too. It’s an invitation from the children troubled by Bloodline Blessings who are preparing the party together with Master Sieg.”

After Karen had left for the dungeon investigation, Harald had apparently been requested by nobles to serve the herbal tea he’d learned to make to the children. The herbal tea potion Harald had learned to make was only one type of chamomile tea. However, Karen had heard that even that single type had been a great comfort to the children.

Harald stared down at the invitation with a dreamy look in his eyes, completely dazed. Karen patted his shoulder.

“Since we’ve been invited, we need to buy clothes suitable for a party.”

“Yes…”

Karen called for a carriage, pushed the dazed Harald into it, and took him to the tailor’s before he could collect himself.

Alice’s Tailor Shop.

This was a tailor for so-called high-ranking craftsmen, one who could also make clothes for high-ranking alchemists. Karen’s alchemist clothes were also tailored here. The dress she wore at the recent meeting between the two families had also been made here.

Since places frequented by high-ranking craftsmen often required formal wear, they could have formal clothes made with hidden pockets, made from materials with magical resistance for ease of work, and suitable for light tasks as well.

“Good afternoon, Ms. Alice.”

“Lady Karen, welcome. What brings you here today?”

“This is my apprentice, Harald. I’d like formal wear and alchemist clothes for him. I’ll be taking him to the places I go, so please make them of the same level of formality as what you made for me.”

“What is your budget?”

“About the same as mine for each. I think he’s stopped growing, but there’s a possibility he might grow a bit more, so please make them slightly large so they’ll last longer.”

“Lady Karen? I don’t have that much money on hand—”

At Harald’s stiffening face, Karen laughed.

“This is a celebration gift from me, your master, for my apprentice who ascended the steps and got promoted.”

She had been thinking of having alchemist clothes tailored for him as a celebration for his promotion to E-rank alchemist. Harald had grown noticeably taller compared to before she left for the dungeon investigation, but lately his height had not changed much. His growth seemed to have stopped once he became about a fist taller than Karen, so the timing seemed just right. While she was at it, she decided to have formal wear made for him as well.

Harald’s eyes went perfectly round, and his mouth moved wordlessly, but no sound came out. He was a smart and flawless child, but sometimes he froze up at unexpected moments.

Chuckling at Harald, who was frozen now, Karen entrusted him to Alice’s measuring hands.

“Lady Karen, um, thank you very much.”

“You can thank me after the clothes are finished, you know?”

In the carriage on the way back, Karen said with a laugh.

“But I’m so happy… my feelings of gratitude are overflowing and won’t stop.”

Harald clutched to his chest the pouch for holding alchemical tools that he had received earlier. It was the one Harald had chosen from among four types.

“I’ve never had personal belongings bought for me in my entire life… and moreover, a celebration gift… it’s just like, family shopping—”

Breaking off mid-sentence, Harald gasped and covered his mouth with his hand.

“I-I’m sorry! How presumptuous! Um, I don’t want you to misunderstand, but this absolutely does not mean I have romantic feelings for you, Lady Karen. Please understand this point deeply first.”

Harald rattled this off to Karen, who was looking puzzled.

“I also have absolutely no intention of competing with Mister Thor.”

“So you mean you felt like my child?”

At Karen’s observation, Harald froze solid.

“M-My apologies for that slip of the tongue!”

Harald bowed his head vigorously on the opposite seat of the carriage.

Being compared to a mother by a boy only about four years younger than her felt strange, and Karen blinked. Setting aside when his appearance had been small, his physical growth was already catching up to his age. However, since the image of Harald from when he couldn’t grow still remained in her memory, Karen smiled softly.

“I’ve got myself quite a big son.”

“Please kill me…!”

“What a dangerous way to be embarrassed.”

Karen had bought everything for Tim as well—uniforms and necessities for living and working at the shop.

However, those were ultimately things necessary for work. Since Natalia and Sara would scold her for being too indulgent if she gave gifts, Karen always justified it as something needed for work.

Those were surely different from the kinds of gifts parents who visited shops bought for their children.

“An apprentice is like a younger sibling or a child, after all. So being like a son isn’t so bad, right?”

“It absolutely is not okay…!”

A rather sharp retort came back from Harald, who was usually a yes-man no matter what Karen did.

Karen burst out laughing.

“Alchemist clothes made at that shop can be worn even when you become B-rank, so take good care of them, my son.”

“I’m your apprentice.”

After immediately correcting her without missing a beat, Harald cleared his throat and said:

“…I’ll show you I’ll become a splendid alchemist worthy of these clothes.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

“Yes!”

Harald nodded with a determined expression.

It would be difficult to have a Child of the Dark Night create the non-magical material potions Karen wanted. But Harald could recreate Karen’s potions. She couldn’t help but deeply and heavily place her expectations on his’s future.

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Alchemist Karen No Longer Compromises, Chapter 229

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Chapter Two Hundred and Twenty-Nine: Child in the Darkness

Karen was led into a dim room that resembled an interrogation chamber. The attendant pulled out a chair for Karen to sit, then placed an incense clock on the desk.

“The visiting time is one quarter. When the guard brings the prisoner, he will light this incense clock, so please use the time until it burns out as your guide.”

Thirty minutes was apparently the time allotted to Karen.

Karen nodded at the attendant’s words.

“The guard will bring the prisoner shortly, so please wait a moment—please do not let your heart be swayed by the prisoner’s words under any circumstances. Even though you are a B-rank alchemist, please be especially careful of the miasma of the child of the dark night.”

This facility was the Agency for Special Menial Workers. It was a massive, fortified building near the west gate of the royal capital of Earthfill.

True to its "special" designation, it was an agency for employing people with shady circumstances as laborers. The special laborers were confined within this building and could leave if they were hired. Anyone who hired them was required to impose a life-binding magical contract on the special laborers.

This was a place where people who borrowed money and couldn’t repay it, or who committed crimes, ended up. Naturally, there was no way the work one hired people here to do would be respectable. They were made to do jobs that even F-rank laborers refused to do.

There was no place in this world that wasted resources simply by locking criminals away, so if they were kept alive instead of executed, their lives were put to practical use.

Debtors could leave once they worked off the amount of debt that was covered for them, and those who committed minor crimes could also be released once they were deemed to have sufficiently atoned. It was said that some could also get out with money, connections, or pardons.

—In this facility, there was someone Karen wanted to meet.

That’s why she had asked Natalia and was here using her authority as a B-rank alchemist. The person in question wasn’t yet allowed to appear even as a special laborer, but was confined as a prisoner in a dark underground cell.

“Thank you for waiting.”

After a while, a guard entered the room with someone bound by rope, and Karen widened her eyes in surprise.

The one brought before Karen was a fluffy, white-haired girl with both hands bound in rope.

“Huh…? This child is?”

“Don’t let your guard down just because she has the form of a child. Number 265, stand against the wall and answer this person’s questions without lies or deception. Answer only what you are asked, and do not speak of unnecessary things. Understood?”

A red crest carved into the back of the hand of the girl called Number 265 glowed faintly. With this, through a life-binding contract, the girl could no longer lie to Karen.

“She is an alchemist trained by the organization calling themselves the ‘Children of the Dark Night.’ Adventurers captured her when they raided one of the group’s hideouts. The adventurers on site confirmed she was indeed synthesizing poison before apprehending her.”

“So there’s no doubt she’s an alchemist of the Dark Night.”

The girl watched the conversation between the guard and Karen with wide, sparkling eyes. When Karen gave a slight smile, the girl also smiled brightly.

Karen was taken aback by that friendliness, and the girl moved her mouth silently. She seemed to want to say something, but couldn’t.

Then Karen remembered the guard had ordered her not to say anything unnecessary, so she likely could not speak unless Karen asked a question.

Karen cleared her throat and collected herself.

“Um, I’m Karen, an alchemist. I came here because I have something I want to ask you. I want you to teach me how to make potions from non-magical materials, since you made poison potions from non-magical materials as an alchemist in the organization called Children of the Dark Night.”

“You want to make poison too? Then I’ll be your teacher!”

A bouncy reply came from the girl, and Karen was startled. The voice that came from the girl who looked to be about ten years old sounded like that of a withered old woman.

Seeing Karen’s reaction, the girl made a sad face and grasped her throat with both hands bound in rope.

“This voice is weird, isn’t it? But that’s why I can make potions, you know?”

“…That’s why you can make them? What do you mean?”

“If you eat poison leaves every single day, you become like this. The poison I was in charge of had jagged edges, so I called it Jaggy. To understand Jaggy, I did all sorts of things. And while I was eating Jaggy, my voice became like this. But you know, once that happened, I became able to make potions with Jaggy. They say if you drink my potion, your throat gets burned and you can’t speak anymore. Amazing, right?”

The sadness vanished, and the girl immediately spoke with a somewhat proud air. Surely the people in the organization had praised the girl for being able to make poison.

“…Can you make other potions? For example, healing potions using medicinal herbs?”

“Those are potions that need lots of magical power, right? People who can make those kinds of potions can’t become able to make potions with Jaggy. In other words, it means I have talent.”

The girl puffed out her thin chest.

Karen held her head. To understand non-magical material poison with one’s body, one had to be a person with so little magical power that they couldn’t withstand the poison. Like Harald, for instance. People with abundant magical power would neutralize the poison even if they ate it, so they couldn’t understand the poison.

“Children without talent are made to do dangerous work. They have to do the job of making bad people drink the poison we made. It’s dangerous work, so there are many children who don’t come back. But it can’t be helped. They’re children without talent.”

The children without talent that the girl mentioned were probably children with so much magical power that they could withstand the non-magical material poison. In the organization called Children of the Dark Night, unlike in normal society, children with less magical power might be treated as more talented.

“But I have talent, so someday my teachers will come to save me.”

Karen looked at the guard holding the rope binding the girl while feeling dizzy.

“—What is this child’s magical power?”

“F-rank.”

Normally, that was not enough magical power to become an alchemist. But she had become able to make only poisons through alchemy—probably in exchange for that throat.

The goddess acknowledged the effort. The goddess probably hadn’t abandoned this girl’s life-risking effort even as her body was ravaged by poison. Whether that effort was good or evil didn’t matter to the goddess. And this method was something Karen could never replicate. Something she couldn’t make anyone do.

“So basically, because you worked hard, the goddess acknowledged you, and you were able to ascend the steps, right?”

Karen tried to end the conversation by agreeing with the girl while wearing a bitter smile.

But the girl widened her eyes in puzzlement.

“Huh? No. If you ascend the steps, you lose your talent.”

Losing talent. In other words, she was saying that about the increase in magical power. Just how young had she been when she started receiving education in the organization—she said things completely opposite to common sense in the world.

“But the fact that you became able to make potions means you ascended the steps, right?”

“You have to descend the steps, you know?”

The girl said it matter-of-factly, as if stating obvious common knowledge.

A chill ran down Karen’s spine, and a vision of Horst descending the steps flashed through her mind.

“If the goddess acknowledges you, you can descend the steps. If you descend the steps, your wish will be granted.”

“If you descend the steps? Not if you ascend it?”

“You don’t know anything, do you, miss?”

The girl said with an exasperated look.

“If you ascend the steps, you become a monster. When you die, nothing remains except a magic core—you become a magic beast.”

Karen’s eyes widened.

Karen herself had once referred to a way of dying that left no body after death as being like a magic beast.

“So for people to die while remaining people, they have to descend the steps.”

“—Could it be that the goddess is at the bottom of the stairs?”

“Of course!”

The girl nodded vigorously.

“Beyond the Thorn Forest, the goddess is waiting for us to come. We teach that to lots of people and help them so they don’t become magical beasts. People who’ve already become magical beasts, we exterminate. That’s the job of us Children of the Dark Night!”

Just as the girl finished telling her this, the incense clock burned out completely.

Immediately, the girl was forcibly silenced and led away.

“The criminals calling themselves Children of the Dark Night speak such nonsense and disturb people’s hearts. Please keep your spirits strong, even though you are a B-rank alchemist.”

“Yes… Thank you for your concern.”

The attendant returned to the visiting room and rubbed the shoulders of Karen, who sat slumped over the desk.

If Karen couldn’t train alchemists who could make potions from non-magical materials on her own, she had been thinking of hiring alchemists from the organization called Children of the Dark Night as special laborers to create an environment where someone other than herself could make potions.

But Karen decided to give up on that method. The girl’s perception was too far removed from common sense in this world and seemed beyond what Karen could handle.

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Alchemist Karen No Longer Compromises, Chapter 228

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Chapter Two Hundred and Twenty-Eight: Meeting the Family 4

“Karen, would you like to take a walk with me?”

“I’d be delighted.”

“Hmm?”

Even after dinner, Karen still sounded tense, and Julius tilted his head slightly at her reply before narrowing his eyes in a gentle smile.

“Tonight’s sky-blue dress suits you very well. You said I would think you beautiful no matter what… and while that may certainly be true to some extent, I think sky blue is the color that suits you best of all. I truly feel you’re beautiful, Karen.”

“I-I see. I had a feeling that might be the case.”

Previously, Julius had chosen sky-blue fabric for Karen’s dress. The light blue dress prepared for Sieg’s recovery celebration party. It was still carefully stored in her closet. At that time, even when told it suited her, she thought it was a type of flattery or perhaps teasing, but if that wasn’t the case, when had Julius started thinking of Karen that way?

Karen looked up at Julius walking beside her with a strange feeling. Julius escorted Karen to the garden while occasionally smiling bashfully as he received Karen’s passionate gaze. The night garden was lit up. Magical tool lamps decorated with glass flower petal ornaments illuminated the garden fantastically. Julius seemed to know the garden had been beautifully decorated in advance and was trying to guide Karen somewhere, so she silently followed.

They arrived at a gazebo that became hidden from the building by trees as obstacles, surrounded by nothing but flowers in full bloom, overlooking a shining pond with floating luminous flowers. There were even out-of-season flowers. They were probably made to bloom with magic.

Seeing flowers of all four seasons blooming wildly together outside a dungeon felt even more fantastical, and Karen narrowed her eyes at the surreal scene.

“It’s beautiful.”

“I’m glad you think so.”

Julius spoke as if relieved. When she thought it might be Alise’s arrangement, it seemed this garden was prepared by Julius.

Karen walked around the gazebo, trying to engrave everything visible from it into her memory. Seeing Julius following along after her, she laughed.

“Ahaha…!”

After laughing aloud, Karen released the tension from her shoulders.

“Alright.”

She psyched herself up lightly, then turned back to Julius with a smile.

And she knelt before him.

“Karen? What’s wrong?”

“Please become engaged to me, Mr. Julius.”

On one knee, Karen took a small box from the pocket hidden in her dress’s slit and opened it. Julius widened his golden eyes and looked back and forth between Karen and the content of the offered box. Inside the box was a ring that shone with a golden brilliance.

“This ring is a token of my promise of marriage to you, Mr. Julius. We can’t marry yet, but it’s a form of vow that we will definitely marry someday.”

It was no wonder Julius was bewildered. This world didn’t have the custom of exchanging rings for marriage. But for Karen, it was one of the dreams she’d wanted to fulfill someday from her previous life.

“If you’ll get engaged to me, please accept this ring.”

He must have understood that this ring was a special gift from Karen. Julius grasped both the ring box and Karen’s hand, then pulled up Karen, who had been on one knee.

With his golden eyes sparkling, Julius said:

“Of course I’ll accept it, Karen.”

“Then please let me put it on the ring finger of your left hand.”

When Karen held out her hand, Julius honestly surrendered his left hand.

Taking the amber-colored ring shining gold from the small box, Karen gently slipped the ring onto Julius’s left ring finger.

“Wow, it’s perfect! As expected of Mr. Urgo!”

“Karen, this ring—could it possibly be… orichalcum?”

“I splurged.”

Karen puffed out her chest. It had cost far more than the so-called three months’ salary, but the expense had been worth it for a ring that would last a lifetime.

It was an item she’d had custom-made at Urgo’s magical tool shop, spending almost all the money she’d received as compensation from the dungeon investigation, and naturally, it was also a magical tool.

“It’s also a magical tool that stores magical power. If you ever want to avoid magical intoxication, Mr. Julius, please store magical power in this orichalcum ring. Oh, but when I’m by your side, feel free to get drunk without restraint, okay?”

Grinning, Karen took out another small box.

“There’s another matching ring, so please put this one on my left ring finger, Mr. Julius!”

Julius, with a bewildered expression as if bewitched by a fox, put a ring on Karen’s left ring finger in the same way.

During the time the ring was being put on, only Karen was grinning with completely relaxed cheeks.

“Ehehe. Now you are mine, Mr. Julius.”

“Does the ring have that meaning? Is it a commoner custom?”

“Nope. This is my personal charm! Hehehehe.”

While spilling unstoppable laughter, Karen gazed at her own left ring finger with dreamy eyes. Receiving the brilliance of the lamps brightly illuminating the garden, Karen’s ring also sparkled.

Watching Karen bounce around the garden as if trying to gather all its light onto her ring finger, Julius also raised his left hand and narrowed his eyes at the sparkle gathering on his ring.

“…Thor, what are you doing?”

“I’m innocent. But he’s got a face like a girl, so I feel like I did something bad anyway, and I’m accepting the rope to show my sincerity.”

When she visited Helfried’s office, Thor, tied up with a rope for some reason, said something incomprehensible.

From context, the person who "has a face like a girl" was probably Sieg. In the brief time she’d taken her eyes off them, he seemed to have become friendly enough with Sieg to fool around.

“Karen, please persuade Thor. It pains me so much to have a guest in this state.”

Thor seemed to be imprisoned of his own will, tied up with a serious expression. Helfried was holding his head at the sight.

“Thor, don’t trouble Lord Helfried.”

“Okaaay.”

At Karen’s single word, Thor easily loosened the rope.

Toward Helfried, who hung his head dejectedly at Thor being so obedient to his sister, Karen called out with a tense expression.

“More importantly, Lord Helfried! Do you have time now?”

“It’s rare for you to have business with me.”

Helfried raised his face, widened his eyes slightly, and said:

“What is it regarding?”

“Could you please permit the engagement between Mr. Julius and me!?”

“Karen!?”

At Karen, who had bowed her head, Julius showed an expression of shock more than Helfried.

“I don’t mind.”

“B-Brother?”

Julius also widened his eyes at Helfried, who had given permission so readily.

“What are you surprised about? As head of the Ehlertt Earldom, I had hoped for your relationship from the beginning. Karen is an excellent alchemist, after all.”

“We were just talking about that ourselves—the future of both families and all that.”

“Though I must admit I couldn’t focus on the discussion at all.”

Helfried and Thor had apparently been talking about something, as Julius and Karen’s respective relatives.

“Whether Karen marries in or Julius marries out, the House of Ehlertt has no objection.”

“Either way’s fine with me. I’ll go with whatever you want, Sis.”

“That’s hard to decide! But whichever path we choose, a wonderful future awaits, that’s for sure!”

While Helfried, Thor, and Karen proceeded with the discussion smoothly, Julius had been dizzy, but eventually said quietly:

“I want to become Karen’s husband.”

“Mr. Julius?”

“…I want to become yours, Karen.”

At Julius, who gripped his ring finger’s ring as he spoke, Karen showed a gentle smile and narrowed her eyes.

“Then someday, please become my husband.”

“Why not take him as your husband tomorrow?”

Helfried said lightly with a straight face. Karen struck a pose decisively.

“My path in alchemy begins here! If I marry Mr. Julius now, my brain would turn completely mush!”

“Yeah. If Sis gets married, she’ll probably be in no state for alchemy for a while.”

“The ‘brain melting’ thing, is it?”

Thor and Helfried both showed sympathetic smiles.

No matter what they said, this was the one line Karen refused to cross, and she stubbornly folded her arms.

From beside her, Julius leaned in to peer at Karen’s face.

“I’d marry you right now if I could, Karen.”

“Ungh…! Sweet temptation…!”

While Karen writhed, Julius added, almost bursting into laughter:

“—I want to reach the place you’re striving for together with you. So I’ll endure for now.”

“I’ll endure too…!”

Seeing Karen speak, half-crying, Julius couldn’t hold back and laughed aloud.

Helfried also burst out laughing, and Thor started laughing while holding his stomach.

Having been thoroughly laughed at, Karen sulked, saying she’d go cry to Sara before bed.

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Alchemist Karen No Longer Compromises, Chapter 227

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Chapter Two Hundred and Twenty-Seven: Meeting the Family 3 (Thor’s POV)

“Master Sieg, would you like to talk with me for a bit?”

“…I don’t mind, Thor. Let’s talk in my room.”

When mealtime ended, there was a break period. Tonight, they would be staying at the estate. And Thor had been told to visit Helfried after finishing his evening preparations. In other words, it was an invitation to speak frankly with each other in a disarmed state. Before that, Thor decided to talk with Sieg.

“Well then, Julius. I’m counting on you to look after Sis.”

“You can trust me with that.”

“Will you two be okay? Thor, make sure not to be rude to Master Sieg, okay?”

Looking displeased that Karen was only cautioning Thor, Sieg hid his sulky feelings behind a smile and said:

“Sister Karen, I’ll be magnanimous no matter what Thor says to me, so it’s fine.”

“Well, if the ever-so-grown-up Master Sieg promises that, then I can relax.”

Karen walked away with Julius, looking relieved. It seemed those two had their own things to sort out, so letting them be alone was what a younger brother should do.

Thor followed Sieg toward his room.

Whether it was trust or lax security at the estate, there were no servants in the room, nor any shadows standing guard. If this was a sign of trust, it wasn’t trust in Thor but trust in his sister Karen.

Thinking about it that way, Thor felt awkward about having provoked Sieg and roughly scratched his head.

“Ah, well…”

As Thor searched for words, Sieg spoke first.

“Sorry.”

“Wait, why are you apologizing, Master Sieg?”

Then, right in front of the startled Thor, a tear slipped from Sieg’s eye.

Thor panicked in alarm.

“Why are you crying!? No wait, it’s my fault, isn’t it!?”

“It’s not your fault. I, on my own…!”

Sieg seemed to be trying to hold back tears, and for that reason was biting his lip hard enough to nearly bite through it.

Instinctively, Thor checked the potions he carried. He should have brought a large healing potion.

“As Sister Karen’s younger brother, I wanted to beat you… I thought such a thing. Even though you’re an honored guest, I took a terrible attitude, I’m sorry.”

“No, no, no, no.”

While preparing to take it out in case of injury, Thor broke into a cold sweat.

“Honestly, I knew you guys were being kind to Sis. But part of me still thought you were nobles looking down on us commoners… so I ended up provoking you.”

Assuming the other side saw them as “mere commoners,” Thor had in turn dismissed them as “just nobles.”

“Part of me wanted to put you in your place because you’re a noble… But the only reason that taunt worked was that you genuinely care about Sis.”

Nobles sometimes tried to take in commoners. If that commoner had useful power, nobles skillfully executed this. And Karen had that useful power and the personality to give it away without limit to those she considered family.

There had undoubtedly been those who saw through that side of Karen and tried to worm their way close to her. But although he knew genuine feelings suited to the bond they were forming were certainly there, he couldn’t help but needle him anyway.

“Master Sieg, I’m the one who should apologize.”

At Thor’s bowed head, Sieg nodded with red eyes.

In the awkward silence that fell, Sieg eventually spoke.

“…Why do you address me like that?”

“Huh?”

“You call Uncle Julius just ‘Julius,’ yet you insist on calling me Master Sieg. Why?”

Thor scratched his cheek at Sieg’s bloodshot-eyed question.

“No matter what I say to Julius, his feelings for Sis won’t change, so it’s fine. Rather, if they’d change over something like this, I’d like him to exit stage immediately.”

“My feelings for Sister Karen won’t change, no matter what you call me, either.”

“Then I’ll call you Sieg.”

When Thor said this, also dropping the polite language, Sieg nodded while looking sulky.

“Well, that’s fine. You are Sister Karen’s younger brother after all.”

“But hey, Sis calls you ‘Master Sieg,’ right? Why just me?”

“I thought it would be too much to get ahead of Uncle Julius.”

“Huh?”

Recalling the interactions between Karen and Julius, Thor tilted his head.

“But if Sis plans to enter this noble house, won’t that way of addressing you stick forever? That’s why I’ve been putting on a polite front.”

“Who knows? It depends on what Sister Karen wants. Whatever path she chooses, I intend to support her.”

Even though the Ehlertt family surely had its own objectives, Sieg spoke calmly.

Seeing Sieg, Thor realized that the boy before him was truly Karen’s ally.

“…You’re a good younger brother.”

Sieg looked up as if startled, stared at Thor, then looked away bashfully.

“You’re a pretty good younger brother too. If Sister Karen had a B-rank adventurer as a younger brother, she could hold her head high. Unlike me, you’re strong, so you can protect her from various dangers.”

“But doesn’t Sis seem like the type who’ll make enemies even a B-rank adventurer can’t handle?”

“Ah…”

Sieg made a complicated face, and Thor gave a wry smile, realizing this brother also understood Karen well.

“That’s why I’m aiming to become an A-rank adventurer. Well, not just for Sis’s sake—I want it myself too. Anyway, while I’m gone, I’m counting on you to look after her, Sieg.”

“I can’t fight, though?”

“There are enemies that can only be dealt with by the authority of the next head of an earl’s house, right? The kind that a B-rank adventurer couldn’t handle if they attacked indirectly.”

Sieg narrowed his intelligent blue eyes and nodded with a serious expression.

“…That’s certainly true.”

“Let’s divide the roles.”

Thor grinned with dilated pupils.

“There are guys like Lyos in this world. I’m keeping quiet because Sis isn’t saying anything, but to protect her from guys like that, one younger brother isn’t enough.”

It was a fact that became clear as soon as he left the dungeon and talked with old acquaintances and friends in the royal capital of Earthfill.

Karen was probably trying to hide it to prevent Thor from retaliating. Remembering how things were in the dungeon, the relationship didn’t seem that bad, so Thor chose to stay silent, but if he got the chance, he intended to repay the favor.

Sieg narrowed his blue eyes and said with a cheerful smile:

“Crush Lyos? Our family hasn’t made a move so far, but if we wanted to, we could even kick him out of the Royal Knights.”

“Nah. Sis doesn’t like relying on people, but for some reason she thinks it’s fine to trouble Lyos as much as she wants. If possible, push him up to a position where she can work him like a mule. It’s annoying, though.”

“…Uncle Julius would probably hate that if he knew.”

Sieg, who was like a younger brother to Karen yet Julius’s nephew, looked conflicted.

Thor declared as purely Karen’s younger brother:

“It’s just right to make him think she might be snatched away from him if he neglects her even a little. That way, Julius will treasure Sis like a jewel, right? Actually, she is in high demand. Her junior disciple, whom she got recently, apparently likes her too.”

“Eh, what, I didn’t know that!? Uncle Julius probably doesn’t know either!?”

“Everyone who was at the alchemy workshop that time has tight lips, huh.”

The fact that the information hadn’t reached the Ehlertt family’s intelligence network likely meant exactly that. Thor, who intended to leave this place eventually, felt relieved at that fact.

“I’m putting Sis first no matter what, but what are you going to do, Sieg?”

“Hmm.”

Sieg’s hesitation lasted only a moment.

“Rather than everything in this world going Uncle Julius’s way, I feel like Uncle Julius would be happier if things went Sister Karen’s way, so I’ll put her first as well.”

“Julius does seem like he has some wishy-washy parts.”

“Despite how he looks, he’s surprisingly delicate.”

Thor raised his fist. Seeing it, Sieg widened his eyes in surprise. Thor, a commoner who usually conformed to noble customs, decided for once to do things his own way—or, tracing it back, Karen’s way.

According to Karen, it was called a high-five. Karen was a palm person, but Thor was a fist person.

Thor took Sieg’s right hand without permission and lifted it, then made him grip it into a fist. Bumping his own fist against it, Thor grinned.

“Looking forward to working with you, Sieg.”

“Y-Yes, looking forward to it, Thor! …Big Brother.”

Thor ruffled the head of Sieg, who had added that in a very small voice. The moment Sieg shouted "Stop it! Thor!" with a red face, the maids came tumbling into the room.

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