Watching as Isaac chatted with Dutch and Viscount Glaint, Adryan let out a small sigh before starting to head towards them.
"I'll go talk to them Mr. Grievius, enjoy your meal"
"Mmhmm"
The redhead said to Grievius as he walked towards the curious little group, and Grievius just continued eating quietly while looking around.
That's how he saw a beautiful blonde woman who was holding the arm of a flat-looking man while he was talking to another with a goofy smile.
"....."
Grievius observed this and just shifted his gaze from another place to the side while shaking his head, failing to see how the blonde woman gave him a quick glance while having a sweet smile on her face.
....
"But if it's not my friend welcome Adryan"
Smiling at Isaac's warm greeting, the redhead shook the man's hand and greeted Viktor and Charles as well as their wives before turning his attention to Dutch and Viscount Glaint.
"It's an honor to meet you, Viscount Glaint," Adryan said with a smile and a slight bow as he extended his hand to the future apothecary.
Seeing this man's outstretched hand, a Glaint gave a proud smile as he shook hands with the redhead.
"A pleasure to meet you too, Mr. Adryan" was all Glaint said but the redhead didn't give it any importance and the fact that Glaint greeted him was already too much so he didn't press for more.
After that Adryan turned to look at Dutch and repeated the same process as with Glaint making a small bow while extending his hand.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Willson and I've heard a lot about you"
When the redhead said that, Isaac, Viktor, Charles and even Viscount Glaint himself couldn't help but tense up at what the redhead did.
Everyone knew what they were saying about Dutch and yet Adryan decided that when he first met him the first thing he said was that he had heard a lot about him?
Was he crazy?
Dutch looked at the outstretched hand of the man that one could tell had just insulted him with a quivering eyebrow and squeezed it with some force.
But Adryan didn't show any reaction like he couldn't even feel him pulling.
"A pleasure to meet you Mr. Adryan" he said somewhat tense but still had not let go of the man's hand when suddenly he felt how the man in front of him squeezed his hand very hard causing him to moan in pain.
"The pleasure is mine" was all Adryan said when he finally let go of Dutch's hand.
"You know I'm also interested in mysticism and I'd love to chat a bit about it with you" Adryan spoke again to Dutch who was rubbing his hand as discreetly as he could.
When he heard the redhead's words he couldn't help but frown as he raised an eyebrow in suspicion at this man.
"Really?"
"Yes, Mr. Dutch, I am extremely interested. I can even tell you about some of my experiences with the occult."
This did arouse Dutch's curiosity as well as that of Viscount Glaint who was frozen watching the tense interaction between these two.
"Really?" This time the one who asked this was Glaint who had a twinkle in his eyes knowing that he could hear stories from another's mouth.
Sensing that Adryan had the situation being controlled, Isaac and the rest walked away, leaving these three alone.
Seeing his friend's reaction, Dutch could only sigh as he rubbed his forehead thinking about whether to accept or how to get this madman out of his house.
Seeing Glaint's reaction and how Dutch was frowning, Adryan nodded again.
"Yep I can even tell you about some parties where this is discussed"
At this Galint gave a big smile as he grabbed Dutch's shoulder before whispering something in his ear.
Due to the distance and sharp Sequence 8 senses, Adryan could clearly hear what they were saying and barely managed to keep a smile from forming on his face.
Glaint didn't take long to move away from Dutch who let out a soft sigh before nodding at Glaint, turning his gaze to Adryan who spoke.
"It seems perfect to me the guests have all arrived so I can allow myself to go to my study for a few minutes so follow me."
Saying this, Dutch turned around and began to walk out of the great hall, being followed by Viscount Glaint and Adryan who had a slight twinkle in his eyes.
All this was observed by a woman with black hair and green eyes who was drinking some wine.
.....
Closing the door to his study, Dutch went to sit on a sofa in the center, and Glaint and Adryan followed suit.
With Dutch and Glaint sitting together while watching Adryan who was alone.
"Then tell me what you would like to discuss about mysticism Mr. Adryan?"
Was what Dutch said as he looked at Adryan with interest while Glaint looked at him excitedly.
"Actually I'm more interested in making a deal with you Viscount Glaint and Mr. Dutch" was what Adryan said as he put his right foot on his knee.
At the redhead's words, Dutch looked suspiciously at Adryan again while Glaint was almost jumping with excitement.
"What kind..."
"Tell us Mr. Adryan!"
Dutch was interrupted by Glaint who could barely contain his excitement, this caused him to shoot a dirty look at his childhood friend.
"Would you be interested in becoming a Beyonder?" was all that Adryan said and the studio fell silent while Dutch looked at him in surprise and Glaint just jumped with excitement.
"Please tell me, Mr. Adryan, that you have the formula for Apothecary" was what Glaint said as he sat on the same sofa as the redhead, causing him to let out a smile.
An amused smile was on Adryan's face as he looked at Glaint who was still looking forward to his answer.
"I have one part of the formula but the other is missing, do you still want it?" was what the redhead said and he could see that Glaint was deflating a bit but he still had a smile on his face.
It didn't matter that the formula was incomplete, he just had to look for the missing part, at least he could already gather the ingredients.
"How much would it be..."
"Glaint Stop it!!!" Seeing that Glaint was about to accept Dutch, who had been shocked, he managed to react and prevent Glaint from accepting.
This caused some red eyes and other brown ones to fix their attention on the blue-eyed man, making him somewhat uncomfortable due to the intensity of Glaint's gaze, but he had to resist.
"Glaint you can't just accept that from a stranger as how we know he's telling the truth or is he even a beyonder?"
As he said that he shot a sharp look at Adryan who couldn't care less about this.
Glaint's mouth fell open as he thought about Dutch's words before finally looking at the redhead.
"Mr. Adryan if you can prove that you are a beyonder I am willing to buy the formula even though it is incomplete." At the words of Glaint who had a strong look, the redhead gave a light laugh while adjusting a damaged black band on his left arm.
"Sounds like a good deal to me so try not to yell okay?"
At Adryan's words, Dutch and Glaint turned pale but before they could protest they could see how the redhead was wrapped in shadows before disappearing into them,all that was almost instant but they managed to see it.
This made Dutch get up abruptly from his seat causing the sofa to fall backwards on the floor while he recoiled from the shock, from Glaint he kept looking where the redhead was before with his eyes and mouths wide open.
"Ho-how is it p-possible..." Dutch stammered as he backed away from the sofa where Adryan was previously sitting.
When he tried to move back again his back collided with something hard, thanks to the closeness he could sense a heartbeat, freezing in place and white as paper he slowly turned and saw Adryan's smiling face.
The black band was no longer on his left arm but Dutch did not give importance to this detail because he almost let out a loud scream but his mouth was covered by the right hand of the redhead who with an amused smile put his left hand to his mouth to signal for silence.
Glaint who had heard the movement quickly turned around to see the scene of how a tall red-haired man was in the shadow of the room with his hand covering his friend's mouth.
This made Glaint once again stare in shock, not knowing how to react.
"I told you not to yell right Mr. Dutch?" The blue-eyed nodded as he could even with his mouth covered by the redhead.
"Well done," said that, he let go of Dutch who stared at him with frightened eyes.
'I couldn't do anything if he wanted to, he would have killed me without me noticing where the blow came from' Dutch thought as he saw the red-eyed man in a different light as he calmly came out of the shadows.
"Please excuse my ignorance, Mr. Adryan, I promise not to provoke you ever again" Dutch spoke quickly as he bowed before the redhead.
"Don't worry so speaking of the deal?" Adryan brushed off Dutch's apology but one could see how he had a huge smile.
Hearing the part of the deal, Glaint snapped out of his shock and quickly approached Adryan while trying to find his wallet.
"Yes yes sir Adryan please wait while I look for the..."
"Don't worry about the money now, I prefer that you give it to me somewhere other than here"
Before Glaint could continue searching for his wallet, Adryan stopped him as he sat back down on the sofa.
"Then how can I pay you Mr. Adryan?" Glaint asked with a raised eyebrow as he looked at the redhead.
"I'll go to your house to collect the money so I hope you can invite me, leaving that aside, give me a paper and pencil to write the formula for you"
"Invite you to my house?" Glaint's expression trembled hard as he thought about how to refuse to have this madman anywhere near his house but before he could say anything he saw Adryan's smirk and a vein began to throb on his forehead along with a desire to hit this one.
"I'm kidding give me the money now, because it is an incomplete formula I will charge you less, about 150 pounds, so hurry up and give me the paper and pen to write it"
Dutch who watched all this could only feel sorry for his friend who was being bullied by someone strong so the most he could do was get the pen and paper.
While Glaint had another vein pulsing in his neck as he kept searching for his wallet in his pockets.
After a while, Adryan can be seen counting out a decent wad of bills while Glaint was holding a piece of paper with both hands while reading it eagerly.
' Sequence 9: Apothecary'
Incomplete Potion Formula
Main Ingredients:
*Horn of an adult Flying Unicorn.
*3 grams of a Royal Jellyfish's venom crystal.
'One step closer now, I just have to find the other half, but I can start collecting these ingredients while I wait.'Glaint thought with a shaky smile as he already thought about how he could use his new abilities in his life.
Seeing how Glaint was holding a potion formula despite it being incomplete, Dutch couldn't help but feel a little envious but before he could go further into his misery he heard Glaint speak.
"Dutch, in exchange for you helping me get the ingredients from your collection, I will allow you to see the formula"