"Are you doubting me?"
Finally, Olorine broke the silence.
The old mage, Tobin, continued to stare at Olorine's young and moving face.
Olorine did not flinch in the slightest, gazing back at Tobin with complete transparency.
"Olorine, how many years has it been since we met?"
Tobin withdrew his gaze and changed the subject.
"Over a hundred years, I cannot remember exactly."
"One hundred and thirty-four years."
"When I first met you, I was still an arrogant mage who did not know the heights of the heavens."
"Now, after one hundred and thirty-four years, too much has changed."
A glimmer of reminiscence appeared in Tobin's aged eyes.
He was now a fifth-rank mage, and while his lifespan could not compare to that of an angel, it was far longer than that of a normal human.
However, for Tobin, living too long did not seem like a good thing.
He had seen off his parents, his wife, and his children.
Now, even his only granddaughter was so old she could barely walk.
As for his granddaughter's children, to be honest, they were so far removed that Tobin did not care much about them anymore.
In his heart, his friends from his youth were more important.
Being with them allowed him to recall things from the past, making him feel as if he had not aged.
Therefore, he did not want a friend who had walked beside him for over a hundred years to betray him.
But as he said, over the course of a hundred years, too much had changed.
His current self was a completely different person from the spirited young mage who had walked out of the academy a hundred years ago.
Olorine's appearance had not changed, but what about her heart?
"Like you, I have always remained loyal to the Prince."
"If you still doubt me because of this, then I have nothing more to say."
Olorine turned around, resting her hands on the edge of the high tower's window.
They were both under the faction of Prince William VI, bearing the mark of the Prince's influence.
Therandil, the Lord of Gray City, was the same.
"So you called me alone to this deserted tower just for this."
"I thought you were looking for some of the passion from your youth."
Tobin shook his head.
"As you said, I cannot even control my bladder anymore, I am just a wretched old man."
"Hmph, how disappointing. If there is nothing else, I will leave."
A trace of daze appeared in Tobin's aged eyes, and he nodded.
"Perhaps I am being paranoid, or maybe something went wrong somewhere in the middle."
Olorine did not answer again, but instead jumped directly from the high tower.
Tobin continued to stare at the Gray Mist Bell before him.
"Goddess of Light above, please guide your poor believer."
Tobin murmured to himself.
...
Feiwan and Fete finally arrived at the Alchemist Association.
The Alchemist Association was a guild built as a four-story building, situated in a corner of Gray City's inner city, remote but quiet.
Alchemists were a neurotic bunch. Was a quiet environment and a peaceful heart the medicine these neurotics sought?
On one side of the Alchemist Association was a small lake, and beside the lake was a small forest and garden.
In this inner city where land was as expensive as gold, the Alchemist Association still had the money to buy a large plot of land to turn into a small park.
The Alchemist Association was truly wealthy.
Fete, however, was very poor.
After all, the water of life incident had left him bankrupt, and even now, his financial standing was still far from recovered.
Fete adjusted the badge on his chest that identified him as an alchemist of the Alchemist Association and walked inside.
Courtesy and exchange between alchemists were essential every time they gathered.
Although the floor area of the Alchemist Association in Gray City was not small, very few alchemists were actually members recognized by the association.
Inside the Alchemist Association, most were alchemist apprentices and alchemical craftsmen.
There was a long table in the Gray City Alchemist Association where only alchemists were entitled to have their own seats.
Countless alchemical craftsmen called that table the Golden Long Table.
But since the founding of the Gray City Alchemist Association, the Golden Long Table had never been even half-filled.
The Golden Long Table had a total of thirty-six seats.
This meant that there were actually not even eighteen alchemists in the entire vicinity of Gray City.
At the Alchemist Association, Fete finally felt he had the right to puff out his chest and be proud of his status as an alchemist.
It had been too stifling.
Since becoming an alchemist, he had lived too miserably.
It was not even as good as when he was an alchemical craftsman.
"I want to rest."
Feiwan's voice rang out, and Fete's chest, which had just puffed out, slumped back down.
In front of Lady Zeno and Lady Feiwan, it was not called being stifled.
It was called respect for a higher level.
It was loyalty to Lady Zeno and Lady Feiwan.
"I will prepare a room for you immediately, Lady Feiwan."
Fete quickly had the people of the Alchemist Association arrange two adjacent rooms.
"Mr. Fete, your room has been arranged. My name is Alwin. If you need anything, you can call for me at any time."
Alwin respectfully handed over two keys.
He was so respectful only because he hoped the alchemist before him would remember his name.
"Yes. Is President Sylves here?"
Sylves was the president of the Gray City Alchemist Association.
He was the organizer of this Alchemy Ceremony, and only an alchemist at the peak of his craft could gather such a number of alchemists to follow him.
"The President is in Gray Castle discussing important matters. He will be back before tonight's banquet."
The Lord's Gray Castle.
Discussing important matters?
Although he did not understand, Fete's intuition as an alchemist gave him a sense of...
An oppressive feeling, and the entirety of Gray City was like this.
An alchemist's spiritual sensitivity was very high, let alone Fete, who had been unlucky ever since he became an alchemist.
Perhaps he had evolved a special sensing mechanism for things related to calamity?
However, Fete was not too nervous.
Lady Feiwan was here!
With Lady Feiwan present, what was there to worry about!
He only needed to cheer from the sidelines behind Lady Feiwan.
"I also plan to recruit some apprentices this time."
Fete had not forgotten his goal.
He wanted to recruit some cheap labor to assist with his grunt work.
"Really!"
Alwin spoke up in surprise.
"Yes, about four spots. They must be talented enough, and it is best if they are from a commoner background."
"I will compile a list for you immediately, Mr. Fete."
Alwin felt that he might have a chance to take a shot.
To become the student of an alchemist.
Was this not what apprentices like them, who joined the Alchemist Association to do grunt work, were pursuing?
To one day be favored by an alchemist, taken in as a student, and taught alchemy.
Even if it just meant moving to another place to do grunt work without learning anything real, the transition in status from an alchemist apprentice to a student of an alchemist would give them many more opportunities.
Rate on N.U.
