Chapter Two Hundred and Forty-Five: Visiting the Knight Order 2
“Welcome to the knights’ quarters, Miss Karen. I am Gottfried Forland. I serve as captain of the Ehlertt Order of Knights.”
His family name didn’t seem to be Ehlertt, but he clearly carried strong Ehlertt blood. Since he resembled Winfried this much, he must be a relative on the paternal side.
When Gottfried approached Karen with a swaying gait, he bent his body. Apparently, he was bowing his head.
“I sincerely thank you for saving Master Sieg. He is my first cousin twice removed.”
“…I am honored by your kind words.”
Karen had come intending to give him a piece of her mind, but somehow her momentum was dampened. Within Ehlertt territory, there were factions that saw Sieg as an obstacle.
First cousin twice removed meant the grandson of a cousin. In other words, he had been Winfried’s cousin. With such close family ties, he would have had an even higher possibility of gaining power if Sieg weren’t around.
But even with Gottfried’s near-expressionless face, he seemed to be genuinely grateful to Karen. Perhaps she had just misunderstood due to his stiff manner of speaking, and he might not be as bad a person as she had thought.
“I heard from the messenger that you, the renowned B-rank alchemist, brought potions for the knight order. How much do we owe you?”
“I don’t need payment. They’re gifts. After all, I will be engaged to Mr. Julius. I couldn’t possibly accept payment for bringing gifts to the knight order that he belongs to.”
As she spoke, Karen held out the last potion to Gottfried. Seeing it, Gottfried made his stern face even more severe.
“This is a large healing potion. Please accept it.”
“…Even a potion of this value is a gift? Are you using this as payment to demand something from our knight order?”
Gottfried looked up at Karen with a wary gaze.
“During activities with the knight order, Mr. Julius might sustain serious injuries. So I want everyone to always carry a large healing potion.”
It was neither a bribe nor favoritism—just a rather earnest request from Karen. She would never allow a situation where someone couldn’t be healed because potions had run out.
Gottfried’s expression changed to one of exasperation.
“If another man suffers life-threatening injuries, I will use it on him, you know?”
“If you use it, tell me, and I’ll replenish it! I’m bringing them as gifts in case Mr. Julius gets seriously injured!”
“Replenish, you say. So the abilities of a B-rank alchemist are genuine.”
For an alchemist to be promoted from C-rank to B-rank, they normally had to become able to make large healing potions. But Karen so far had only been able to make up to medium healing potions. By creating a panacea, she had irregularly fulfilled the promotion conditions.
But when she made them with the orichalcum pot and the World Tree ladle, she was able to make large healing potions quite easily. She did her best to pour all her magical power into it. Even so, since it was her first time making potions in the orichalcum pot, she couldn’t shake the feeling that it was just a trial run.
It seemed likely that quite a number of alchemists from wealthy families raised their rank solely through equipment performance. Karen keenly felt the inequality of society. Still, only the promotion exam to E-rank was conducted fairly under the Alchemists’ Guild’s supervision, so they should at least possess a minimum potion-making ability.
—Setting aside the matter of alchemists’ actual capabilities, that is.
After inspecting the potion, Gottfried spoke as if making a firm decision:
“I’m grateful to receive the large healing potion, but I cannot accept this without payment. However, I don’t have the funds to pay now. I’ll hold onto it, and if I use it on someone other than Master Julius, I’ll pay at that time.”
“Well, that’s fine too.”
Though Karen was saying she’d give it to him, so he should just accept it, Gottfried spoke conscientiously. She had even considered the possibility of unlimited demands. Yet this was an unexpected reaction. Just as Karen was changing her view of Gottfried, he said:
“—Do you truly intend to marry Master Julius?”
His tone suggested he couldn’t believe Karen would marry Julius. His tone, expression, and gaze all carried some hidden meaning.
“Once it’s announced at Ehlertt’s New Year’s Festival, there’s no taking it back. Even if you’re Ehlertt’s benefactor, you won’t be permitted to sully Ehlertt’s pride. If you’re going to reconsider, now is the time, Alchemist Karen.”
If she had been told she wasn’t worthy of Julius, Karen probably wouldn’t have cared. She might have been spurred on instead, to eventually gain recognition. But Gottfried had clearly treated marriage to Julius as something bad for Karen.
As she thought, this man had some issue with Julius. This man, who closely resembled the father Julius feared becoming like—Gottfried had something. Karen, whose wariness had swelled all at once, deepened her smile.
No comments:
Post a Comment