Chapter One Hundred and Fourteen: Limited Space
“The second floor has my room, another one where my master carelessly tosses his things around and sleeps, and one more room left over—so feel free to use that one, Harald.”
“No, I must decline.”
Harald refused with a face that seemed somewhat pale.
“The room in the basement will be sufficient.”
“Eh? Well, sure, there are rooms down there, but they don’t get any sunlight, you know…”
“I’ve dreamed of living in a basement room since before I was born.”
“Since before you were born!?”
While shocking Karen, it was decided that Harald would make one of the basement rooms his residence. It was where the food storage, warehouse, and laundry room were located. There were indeed servants’ quarters there, but Karen thought they probably weren’t very comfortable to live in. However, since Harald himself wished it, there was no reason to stop him.
On the back of Harald’s hand, the same geometric pattern of a magical contract that Karen had once been marked with by Helfried was inscribed. Harald had no magical power, so he couldn’t make magical contracts with others, but apparently, there was no problem with Karen placing a magical contract on Harald.
“Then, please allow me to move my belongings into the room.”
“If it gets cold or hot, let me know. I’ll prepare blankets or ice for you. It’s part of the employee benefits!”
“Understood.”
Harald responded politely, then headed down to the basement carrying a small box in his arms.
“Karen, it’s been a while since you came to the Alchemists’ Guild.”
“I’ve been delivering directly to customers a lot lately.”
Until now, making minor healing potions at her own pace and selling them to the Alchemists’ Guild at less than half the wholesale price had been all she could manage. But recently, she had been receiving noble commissions through the Ehlertt family and direct requests from Princess Waltride, so she only came to the Alchemists’ Guild to submit activity reports.
Natalia greeted Karen at the reception desk and said:
“It’s not yet the time when you need to submit reports. What’s the matter?”
“There’s someone I’d like to meet for research purposes, but I don’t know how to meet them, so I thought I might be able to meet them through the Alchemists’ Guild.”
“If it’s for alchemy research, I can help. What’s the person’s name?”
“I don’t know their name—I want to meet someone from the ‘Children of the Dark Night.’”
Natalia’s face changed color as she grabbed Karen’s arm and pushed her into a private room.
“That’s a criminal organization!”
“You know about them too, Natalia.”
“Don’t mention it so casually in public, Karen. The ‘Children of the Dark Night’ is an organization that deals with poison potions made from non-magical materials. I haven’t said this before, but some gossipy people think you might be connected to that organization, too!”
“Because I also handle non-magical materials?”
“Exactly!”
“I can understand why they’d think that. There are so few people who can handle non-magical materials.”
“…Why do you want to meet them?”
Natalia asked in a hushed voice, even in the private room with no one around. Karen said matter-of-factly:
“Naturally, because they supposedly can handle non-magical materials. Isaac didn’t work out, so I need to think of the next step to find someone who can handle non-magical material potions, right?”
“It really is for research purposes.”
Natalia sighed and held her head.
“Since we can’t directly contact a criminal organization, if you were to meet someone, it would have to be someone who’s been arrested and is serving time. If you want to meet someone who can handle poison potions made from non-magical materials, a low-ranking member won’t do. …To arrange a meeting, you’d have to achieve some rather difficult conditions.”
“What kind of conditions?”
“You need to become at least a D-rank… no, preferably a C-rank alchemist. From C-rank up, you’re a senior alchemist. Research by senior alchemists is for the development of humanity, so dangerous experiments are permitted, and no one will complain about who you meet. It would make it easier for me to act, too.”
“C-rank… that’s the rank I can reach once I can make medium healing potions or equivalent potions.”
“Exactly. Unless you reach at least that rank, if strange suspicions are cast on you, you’ll be in danger.”
It seemed that meeting with criminals in this world wasn’t simple either. Karen’s specialty of non-magical material potions apparently added to that difficulty.
“I understand. I just need to become C-rank.”
“You say it so easily.”
Natalia said with an exasperated laugh. By the way, Karen hadn’t told Natalia about the recommendation letter for becoming a D-rank alchemist. Explaining how she got the recommendation letter might touch on Waltride’s secrets. She didn’t talk about client secrets even to Natalia, who was in charge of Karen. She had kept it to herself as part of her confidentiality obligations.
However, the recommendation to D-rank could affect Karen’s future—and it would also impact Natalia. So Karen wanted to consult with Natalia about when she should submit the recommendation letter to the guild. She knew her current achievements were too few. If so, she wanted to confirm how much more achievement was needed, but—
“I’ve already applied for the supporter introduction system at the Adventurers’ Guild, so when we get word that someone’s been found, let’s conduct interviews. We’ll definitely find a good person. Competent, ranked adventurers are smart too. They have better memories than ordinary children, and in the unlikely event of a great collapse stampede, they won’t put you through painful experiences.”
“…Mm. Maybe so.”
“As an E-rank alchemist, you wouldn’t be able to take Harald with you when fleeing.”
If the dungeon collapsed and they had to flee from this city, nearby towns would probably accept Karen as she was now, but they probably wouldn’t accept Harald as he was now. But if Karen became a D-rank alchemist, she could bring family within three degrees of kinship and as many servants as necessary for work.
“If that’s what you want, feel free to hire him. But don’t let it ever come to a situation where you can’t escape a dangerous place because you couldn’t take that kid with you, Karen.”
Seeing Natalia’s face filled only with concern for Karen, she gave her a bittersweet smile and held back the words she was about to say. Because there might come a day when she would have to become a D-rank alchemist at a timing that Natalia wouldn’t recommend.
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