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Although it was just an ordinary sword, its handle looked very worn out.

It did look old, but it had been kept well-maintained; although there were scratches here and there, the middle of the blade was well maintained and the edges were sharp.

And it was a carcass.

"Maria…"

It wasn’t a name Callius was familiar with.

The name Maria was indeed very common, but he couldn’t remember one from Carpe…

Anyway.

The woman was only vaguely memorable because she was a poor pilgrim.

"I can just pass it on to the Church, I guess."

Callius put Maria\'s sword into the subspace and looked around.

The smell of medicinal drugs, a queer musty scent, stung his nose.

Nobody could be seen walking around, but the place was still strangely noisy.

The place was called Golden Station[1], where alchemists gathered.

It was a place with strict security, and civilians were explicitly prohibited from entering.

"Who are you?"

"A pilgrim."

Callius\' current official position in the Order was that of a pilgrim.

"Pilgrims aren’t allowed to enter without special dispensation."

Naturally, he was rejected.

Why wouldn’t he be?

The pilgrims didn’t have any power.

So Callius pulled something out of his pocket.

“Not even with this?”

"That\'s… um."

The guard\'s eyes widened.

The snow symbolizes the North.

And the wolf, signifies Jervain.

An emblem that combined the snow and the wolf.

There was a sword pattern embroidered on it, indicating the aristocratic rank.

Three swords. Such a token represented a count.

Besides –

‘The sword pattern is engraved on a sapphire.\'

Meaning this was a token of the Count of Jervain, who ranked among the four great noble houses.

"Ah! Excuse me."

The soldier standing on the guard had heard that Count Jervain was a middle-aged man, so he was a bit doubtful, because the count in front of him looked quite young.

However, the evidence did not lie, so he didn’t dare ask any questions.

"I’ve got a question."

"Please ask."

“Is there somebody called Beatrice who lives here?”

Beatrice.

“Umm… well. The alchemists don’t come out often, so I don’t know them well. I can show you the list? All the alchemists living here would be in it.”

"Bring it, then."

"Yes, I understand!"

The name Beatrice was nowhere to be found on the list the guard brought out in a rush.

‘There’s a Maria here, too.\'

But they wouldn\'t be the same person.

Maria was a common name, after all.

"My apologies."

"You’ve got nothing to apologize for. May I take a look inside?"

"Yes, of course. Let me guide you."

"No need, I can walk alone."

"But there may be some danger. Sometimes one house or another blows up due to some alchemy experiment failure, so…"

There was no need to trouble the soldier.

There was no reason to hide his movements, either.

‘It\'s a pity that Beatrice isn\'t there, but it can\'t be helped.\'

Beatrice wasn\'t even a character set by Callius in the first place.

So he didn\'t know all her details.

Because the setting was so vast, there had been different people in charge of fine-tuning different characters. The game wasn\'t so small that a single writer could plan all the settings.

‘Should I go find Sullivian?\'

That was the most straightforward option[2].

Although her day of death was at hand, Sullivian was still the best alchemist.

The reason Callius had excluded her in the first place was because her life was really at its end, and he didn\'t want to owe a debt to someone who was going to die soon.

‘She isn’t somebody I can just meet because I want to, either.\'

She was a cardinal, and descended from the royal bloodline.

She wasn’t somebody you could meet casually.

‘I can\'t just go back without Beatrice.\'

He really needed to find an alchemist.

Even disregarding the troll’s blood in his possession, he needed help on turning the thunder wolf dragon’s materials into an artifact.

Otherwise, he’d be left with no choice but to do what he could.

"Then please, guide me."

"Yes, please come with me, this way."

After a while –

"I\'m sorry. All alchemists are like that…"

"No, no. I know how they can be, so don\'t worry about it."

There was a string of failures.

This was already the third time nobody had even opened the door when he’d knocked, and he’d gotten a shouted remonstration instead not to interfere with the experiment.

He’d known that alchemists could be eccentric, but this was beyond the pale.

He’d had to rein in his impulse of breaking down the door and stab the bastard on the other side in the heart.

There was no point in getting angry at an alchemist, and even more importantly, starting from the moment he’d taken up the title of count, his actions now represented the North.

"How about that woman called Maria?"

Callius remembered a Maria on the list. Although that didn\'t mean anything.

It was just stuck in his mind for some reason.

"Oh, then let me guide you there."

After they’d walked for a while –

They reached a remote place that was probably the most out-of-the-way section of the area.

A shabby, plain shack greeted them.

A house that looked like it was about to collapse.

Knock, knock.

It was still quiet, without any response.

Even after waiting a while, it was still the same.

"She doesn\'t seem to be inside. What should we do?"

"Well."

What to do, indeed?

Callius was contemplating.

"The flowers are already blooming. It\'s amazing. Even though it’s still winter…"

At the guard\'s words, Callius looked at the yard outside the shack, and saw that flowers were really blooming there.

"What a strange-looking flower."

"That\'s true. The white and the purple are finely intertwined."

There were many other flowers and herbs, too.

They looked homegrown, but they’d definitely been raised by an alchemist, so they were a little different from normal.

They exuded spirituality.

They looked abnormal.

And –

"Amazing."

Most of the herbs were growing on top of bones.

Like beast skulls and such.

"This…"

After brushing aside some dirt, Callius could see a sword under it.

Although the quality was low and it wasn’t in good shape, it was indubitably a sword with a human soul.

This flower grew on a carcass!

The flowers planted on the sword bloomed far more vividly than any others that were growing on beast bones.

It was strange. And it was rare to find an alchemist who cultivated such things.

‘A geek who’s got no money.\'

Callius\' lips curved up at the corners.

Growing medicinal herbs meant the alchemist was highly likely to be a potioneer.

"It’s not a normal beast, either."

Judging from the shape of the bones and the magic it exuded, these were the bones of a demonic beast.

Even though studying demonic magic was taboo, the alchemist was gutsy enough to disregard that.

Callius already liked her quite a bit.

“What would you like to do? Shall we go somewhere else…”

"No, we’ll wait here."

For such an alchemist, waiting was worth it.

"Then would you like some of this? It\'s my lunch, but…"

The guard too some bread out of his pocket.

It looked hard.

It was now lunchtime, apparently.

Callius was now holding up the guard’s lunch break, it seemed.

"What\'s your name?"

"I’m Peter, sir."

Callius pretended to put his hand in his pocket and pulled out ten gold coins from subspace.

"Peter, bring me a meal. A stew that goes well with the bread would be nice."

"Ah! I see. If it\'s stew we’re talking about, there’s this meat stew called spezzatino di manzo[3], that tastes really delicious dipped with this bread!"

"I\'m looking forward to it."

"Please wait a few minutes, I\'ll be back soon. Oh, but…"

Ten gold coins were too much for just one meal. Peter tried to return the rest, saying one gold coin was enough.

"I eat a lot, so I hope there’s enough food. Keep the rest."

"Understood!"

Peter, the guard, had a bit more improved opinion of the Count of the North starting from today.

Meanwhile.

"Stay still! If I let you out right now, I\'ll end up losing you… aah! Stop biting, you bastard!"

Swish, swish.

After speaking up loudly by mistake, Bruns furtively glanced around to check if there was anyone nearby.

After confirming that nobody was there to hear him, he exhaled as if in relief.

"Aaah! Stop biting me, you bastard! Why do you keep biting me when you’re always licking Boss’[4] boots? Really! I’m serious. I’m gonna give you a hiding if you keep doing this.”

Vivi struggled really hard in Bruns\' hands, full of hate and anger.

– Crooon!

Craaaaaaackle!

"Ngggggggggggh!!"

It’d started at the level of static shock, but after a few months Vivi could already emit a pretty strong current.

"Ouch!"

With Bruns distracted by the lightning and bite combo attack, Bibi took the chance to run away.

"Come back! If I lose you, Boss might really throw me away!"

But Vivi didn’t care a whit for Bruns’ entreaties.

Sniff, sniff.

It had found the scent it sought.

Quickly getting closer.

"Hello? Little kid."

The smell was from a woman.

But faint.

Also, she had long hair. It wasn’t him.

"A magic beast, are you? Not a normal one, either. Maybe a dragonblooded? I’m in luck today!"

Vivi ignored the woman and began running again.

"Where do you think you’re going –!"

She tried to stop it, but couldn\'t.

Vivi radiated electric currents from all over its body.

"Oh!"

As soon as the woman backed away, startled, Vivi rushed out.

The scent was getting more and more intense.

"Ugh, why a dog…"

Vivi stopped in front of the soldier holding a pack of food.

Then it tilted its head, because the scent was still faint.

"Do you want some of this? I didn\'t buy it with my own money, so a little bit would be fine. I bought a lot. He looks quite generous, so he won\'t mind."

The soldier tore out a piece from the bread and threw it at Vivi. But Vivi growled without even looking at it.

"Why are you doing this? Where does it hurt?"

It wasn’t this guy either.

Vivi ran again.

Towards the scent.

"What’s this? A mutt?"

"It’s not a mutt, it –"

"Stop it! Block it! You can’t get in here!?"

The soldiers panicked and tried to stop Vivi\'s charge.

But it was of no use.

Vivi zigged and zagged at as fast as lightning, making fun of the soldiers and crossing the road.

Strange old smells were all around.

But the scent was mixed in.

His scent.

The deep scent only he had.

"Umm? Vivi? How did you come here?"

– Bark!

Vivi jumped into his chest at once.

"Did you leave Bruns behind and come ahead?"

Vivi was busy licking him all over as if it didn\'t know whatever he meant.

Callius quickly gave up and quirked his lips, and began to pet Vivi.

"Do you know this dog?"

It was Peter.

He was carrying a container packed full of food in one hand.

"Yeah, that\'s right. Did you two meet on the way?"

"Yeah. I threw it some bread, but it didn\'t eat. Now it looks like it was looking for you, Count."

Was it?

Callius had thought Vivi had come with Bruns.

Where was Bruns, then?

He hadn’t arrived even after waiting for such a long time.

Maybe he’d lost Vivi.

"So useless… well, let\'s eat first."

"Me too?"

"You haven\'t eaten either, right?"

“Then… I’ll join you. Thank you.”

That was then.

"Would you like me to join you too?"

A third person intervened.

At first glance, the woman with dark purple hair had an ordinary face, but her demeanour was strangely quiet.

“If you started eating in front of someone else’s house at will, you must’ve prepared food for the owner too, right?”

"You…"

For a moment, Callius had thought it was a different woman.

But no.

"Are you Maria?"

Although the demeanour was different –

She had to be Maria, who’d attacked him along with a group of other pilgrims previously.

Maria, the pilgrim.

But her tone of voice, her behaviour –

And above all else, the eyes themselves were clearly different from before.

As if her personality had completely changed. As if she was an entirely different person.

Callius\' eyes narrowed.

"You, what’s your name?"

At his question, her eyes curved up like a crescent moon.

"Beatrice. Beatrice sol Maria. Can I eat now?"

Dark purple hair poured down like a waterfall along the tilted head.

Callius looked at her for a silent moment, then smiled and nodded his head.

"… Naturally."

Editor\'s Notes:

[1] 금역 (geum-yeog) uses the character 금 (lit. gold), which is also part of 성금술. We’ve been using different terms for this, including enchanter and spirit crafter, but now we’re going to normalize to a single term – alchemist. Otherwise, the name Golden Station doesn’t make sense, since only alchemists are so closely associated with gold.

[2] 직빵 (lit. straight bread) means directly, with an immediate result.

[3] 스페자티노 만조 (spezzatino manzo), is an Italian beef stew, which is the only thing the various recipes of it on the internet seem to agree on.

[4] 나리 (nari), what Bruns calls Callius, will now translate to ‘boss’ instead of ‘master’. This is because the latter is already used for something else, and using a different term here will lessen the overall confusion. We also considered ‘guv’, but that’s too niche.