Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Nine: Sudden Turnaround
“Harald, please forgive my rudeness up until today. From now on, won’t you open up to me and talk about alchemy through the night?”
“Um…”
“Eh, what? What what what what what what? How did the situation turn out like this!?”
When Yuluyana woke at lunchtime and offered his apology, Harald, in his apron, looked lost, and Tim’s face showed sheer astonishment.
Harald gulped and nodded.
“A-All right.”
“Harald, you don’t have to forgive him so easily, you know? Master said some pretty terrible things, right?”
“Don’t say such cold things, Ms. Kareeen.”
When Karen advised Harald while arranging plates on the table, Yuluyana let out a pitiful voice.
“Master, I think you should apologize to Harald more properly!”
“Then, Harald, if there’s something you want, you should tell me. I’m prepared to show respect to someone who can make potions that I cannot make. I’ll give you something worthy enough for you to forgive me.”
“No, I’m used to such treatment, so there’s no question of forgiving or not forgiving. Please don’t worry about it. Just having Lord Yuluyana, an S-rank alchemist, say such things to me when I’ve only learned to make one potion is an honor.”
Harald seemed genuinely honored and had a face full of pride. Karen’s brows slanted into a troubled, almost sorrowful look.
“Ehhh, don’t say things like that.”
“Lady Karen, this really isn’t something for you to worry about.”
“Wait—you can make potions now?”
Having understood from the flow of conversation, Tim’s eyes went wide. Harald’s expression became tense. After taking a deep breath—clearly bracing himself for whatever Tim might say—Harald nodded.
“Yeah… I found out I could make them yesterday, apparently. I made one this morning too.”
“You’re amazing!”
Tim’s eyes sparkled without pretense. Though Harald smiled bashfully, he tried to maintain a stern expression and muttered in embarrassment, "It’s not like my magical power rank went up or anything.”
Yuluyana sat down in his chair and sighed while assuming a posture to naturally enjoy lunch.
“Sigh, I used to look down on humans, you know. But seeing humans who haven’t lived even a fraction of my lifespan making one discovery after another, I decided to change my way of thinking. That was when I was around three hundred years old… I might have been making the same mistake as back then.”
“You realized you shouldn’t treat people carelessly just because they have little magical power?”
“Yes. Even those with minuscule magical power still have the potential for discoveries.”
It wasn’t really about potential or not, but for Yuluyana, this was progress. Deciding to think of it that way, Karen stuck a little flag she had made into her omelet sandwich.
“Welcome, Karen! I successfully secured your promotion to D-rank in the meeting!”
When Karen visited the Alchemists’ Guild, Natalia greeted her energetically.
“Amazing! In just one day!?”
“You said you wanted to be promoted to D-rank quickly. I delivered a grand speech at yesterday’s after-work meeting!”
Natalia took Karen’s arm, led her to the counter, and presented a silver tray with a new brooch and booklet in front of Karen.
“With this, you are officially a D-rank alchemist.”
“Thank you, Natalia.”
“Congratulations, Karen.”
Looking closely, Natalia’s complexion was somewhat poor. Karen thanked her and picked up the silver brooch while feeling somewhat apologetic. Probably because she had ascended a step, Karen could now make medium healing potions. Therefore, even if Natalia hadn’t forced things through, Karen could already become C-rank, skipping D-rank entirely.
“By the way, what brings you here today?”
“Well, you see…”
The beautiful silver brooch bore the pattern of a serpent devouring itself. As Karen traced the Ouroboros mark while hesitating about how to bring up her topic, a shadow loomed up from behind Natalia.
“You are Karen, disciple of Lord Yuluyana, correct?”
“You are… the vice guildmaster?”
“Yes. I’m Gabriel, vice guildmaster of the Alchemists’ Guild.”
Gabriel, an A-rank alchemist and vice guildmaster. A combat-type alchemist who had fought for many years as both adventurer and alchemist. After retiring from adventuring in his forties, he was promoted straight to A-rank as an alchemist—an unusual leap, granted in part because the adventurer party he belonged to had been A-rank. Later, he was recommended as vice guildmaster.
There were traces of him having been handsome in his youth, but now he was an uncle with an unkempt beard. With a bear-like physique, he looked nothing like an alchemist. His stern expression gave off tremendous intimidation.
“Karen, to get you promoted to D-rank, our Natalia made quite a number of enemies.”
“Mr. Gab!? You don’t need to tell Karen such things—”
“No, I should tell her, Natalia. You get too heated when it comes to this girl. Now that she’s beginning to stand out, people have revised their judgment of you, saying your zeal wasn’t misplaced. But yesterday, you nearly ruined that reevaluation.”
“Um, what do you mean?”
To Karen’s questioning, Natalia looked like she wanted to stop him. But she couldn’t stop Gabriel’s words and could only wring her hands.
“Karen, do you know why you were able to remain an F-rank alchemist for seven years? Normally, someone judged talentless would have been made to quit long before.”
“Eh? Um, I heard that continued membership was possible as long as I kept making potions.”
“That’s what the rules say, but the performance of the guild staff member in charge of you—meaning Natalia—would continue to decline because of you. To prevent this, it’s normal to cut off any so-called alchemist who can’t even make it to E-rank. It’s better for the person’s future too, rather than clinging to a field they have no talent for.”
“Natalia, were the guild’s results bad because of me…?”
“I’m excellent, so I made up for it with other work. So you don’t need to worry about it, Karen.”
Though Natalia said this, Gabriel seemed to have a different opinion and shook his head.
“Yesterday, Natalia swore at the meeting that she would stake everything to make you a D-rank alchemist.”
“Stake everything…?”
“Natalia prophesied that you would rise to C-rank in no time. She declared that if this prophecy proved wrong, she wouldn’t regret losing all her positions. On top of that, she provoked us by saying that if we failed to recognize your talent and didn’t approve your promotion to D-rank, the capital’s Alchemists’ Guild would become a laughingstock as a gathering of blind fools. Many were clearly offended, but you were promoted to D-rank in deference to Natalia’s oath.”
“Oh, really…”
Natalia held her head in her hands. It seemed she had intended to hide from Karen that she had forced things through, if Gabriel hadn’t said anything.
“If you don’t fulfill Natalia’s prophecy, Natalia will literally lose everything. I’ll protect her, but my influence as an outsider is weak despite my position as vice guildmaster. The bigwigs who climbed to the guild’s upper ranks through proper procedures are displeased with Natalia for skipping steps. So, Karen—don’t disappoint Natalia.”
She wanted to be promoted to D-rank as quickly as possible. To fulfill Karen’s wish, Natalia had truly fought for her.
Not just this time, but probably all along, she had been fighting for Karen in places Karen didn’t know about. Even Karen being able to remain an F-rank alchemist was thanks to Natalia.
“Thank you, Natalia. …I’m sorry for always, always causing you trouble. I’m sorry I couldn’t listen to all the words you said, thinking of me.”
“Don’t apologize. I give advice, but the final decision-making power about your future always belongs to you yourself, so there’s no need for you to obediently listen to my every word. That’s natural, isn’t it?”
Saying this, Natalia chuckled softly.
“Besides, Karen. Your outburst at the Gubert Trading Company was cool… even though you completely ignored my advice.”
Karen gave a sheepish grin.
“…Sorry.”
“I don’t want an apology; I want words of gratitude. Make me feel like I had a hand in your great achievement, Karen.”
“Of course, when I become an S-rank alchemist, the greatest contributor will be you, Natalia!”
Because Natalia was there, Karen could take that step forward. It was undoubtedly Natalia who blocked Karen’s retreat after she had moved forward on drunken momentum. At Karen’s words, Natalia laughed melodiously.
“How honored I am. Those words alone are more than enough.”
At Natalia’s beaming face, Karen also broke into a smile.
No comments:
Post a Comment