章 21: Concocting the Elixirs

"We're here," said Vera as the two of them stood in front of a wooden door a few minutes later. Placing the bag on the floor, Vera went ahead and opened it, revealing the insides of the room before them to Valyr.

Though, just as he took a look inside, a thought quickly surfaced in Valyr's mind. "Should I… should I leave you be and wait here?"

Although there weren't a lot of amenities in the room, a bed could be seen on one side of the room, with multiple pillows slightly scattered on top of the mattress. Beside it was a simple wooden bookshelf, containing books that seemed to exude the feeling that they had come from a time before he had even been born.

On top of the shelf were a couple picture frames that held photos of Vera, as well as photos of her and another woman that looked like her older sister.

Belatedly realizing what Valyr meant by his question, Vera wryly smiled in response as she swung the door wide open, revealing a set of alchemical instruments surrounding a decently sized cauldron, neatly arranged near the side of the room covered by the door. Heading inside, she grabbed the bag and turned to look at Valyr, urging for him to come in. "Since I'm the only one in the village who knows how to use it, as well as the fact that there's not much purpose in moving it, my alchemical instruments are here inside my sleeping quarters."

"As long as you don't mind the mess on the other side, you're free to come in." Vera wryly chuckled, scratching her head.

After saying those words, she went closer to the cauldron, placing the bag of ingredients beside it before heading to the other side of the room. "Wait here for a bit. I have to grab something."

Lightly nodding in response, Valyr waited by the cauldron as Vera brought out a few boxes underneath her bed. Blowing off the built-up dust on the surface, she then opened them as she searched for a certain item.

In the meantime, Valyr allowed his curiosity to get the better of him, getting a closer look of everything that was in this room. As Vera told him to not mind the other side, he focused his attention towards the alchemical instruments she owned, though he did think that she was more organized than him, considering how her bed looked neat and tidy even though she said it was messy.

Seeing as the instruments seemed to be devoid of any dust on their surface, Valyr quickly got the idea that Vera took good care of her instruments, making sure to clean them at least once a day. 'Then again, from an alchemist's perspective, it makes sense. Even a small speck of dust can dictate the success or failure of a concoction, so it's not surprising that she cleans them often.'

'However, such instruments like these wouldn't normally be found in a village,' he thought. 'Did she buy all of this herself?'

Curious, Valyr decided to ask. "Did you buy all of the instruments you have here, miss Vera?"

"I wish I did," replied Vera as she looked back at Valyr with a wry smile. Returning her attention to the boxes, she continued, "Anyways, I didn't buy them. Instead, they were gifted to me by my mentor after I became a Novice Alchemist."

"What a kind mentor," Valyr said in response, to which Vera nodded in agreement.

"She definitely is."

"Ah, found it." After rummaging through the boxes for quite some time, she placed a light gray orb on the floor before putting the boxes back in their original place. Bringing along the orb with her, she headed to where Valyr was, placing the orb on a pedestal near the cauldron.

"I wonder if she's busy…" Vera murmured, taking in a deep breath as she placed one of her hand on the orb. Soon, a pale blue light emanated from her hand, which was slowly absorbed by the orb not long after.

After a while, a light of similar light to the one emanating from Vera's hand appeared in the middle of the orb. Little by little, it grew in size until it eventually burst, turning into strands of light that looked similar to confetti.

Soon, an oppressive aura emanated from the orb, prompting Valyr's eyes to slightly widen in surprise. However, this aura only lasted for a few seconds before disappearing as a voice resounded from the orb a few seconds later.

"Well, well, well. Look who finally decided to contact me," said a voice on the other side, her tone slightly raspy.

Twiddling her thumbs in slight nervousness, Vera replied in a meek tone. "It's not that I don't want to, Mentor… I thought you were busy…"

"Busy? Me? Hah! As if." The voice let out a light chuckle in response. "In any case, it's rare for my only student to contact me. Knowing you, you wouldn't contact me for no reason."

Hearing those words, Vera inwardly let out a sigh of relief as she returned to her original behavior. "It's like this, Mentor. Someone asked me if I knew how to concoct Reinforcement Elixir, specifically, Basic Physical and Basic Mental Reinforcement Elixir. In response, I told them they would be better off having another alchemist concoct it instead. However, they were adamant that I should be the one concocting it, confident that I had the ability to do so."

"Of course they should be confident! You learned under my tutelage, after all," the voice replied. "Anyways, have they left you on your own to concoct it?"

"No, the person that asked me is actually here." Vera shook her head. Turning around, she looked at Valyr. "Mind speaking for a bit, sir Valyr?"

Scratching his head for a bit, Valyr eventually nodded in response as he opened his mouth. "Hello? Can you hear me?"

"I can hear you loud and clear," said the voice. "Mind telling me who you are, if you don't mind?"

"Would it be alright if you introduce yourself first, ma'am?" asked Valyr back in response. "Although you say you're miss Vera's mentor, I can't help but be a bit suspicious."

"A cautious one, eh? Well, I don't mind." The voice giggled. "I am Mystia Aschel, the alchemy mentor of the young woman in front of you. Now, would that be enough for you to reveal your identity to me? Or would you like me to tell you more?"

"No, that would be enough. Thank you." Valyr shook his head in response. Though, while doing so, he thought to himself, 'I wonder how they're related to each other. They do have the same surname, after all.'

Taking in a deep breath, he then said, "It would be impolite for me to renege on my promise, so let me introduce myself. My name's Valyr Zeihardt, currently a guard in Astarto Village. I'm the one who asked miss Vera to concoct the elixirs."

Hearing Valyr's response, Mystia could not help but focus on a certain part, murmuring, "Zeihardt…? Is he…?"

"Is there a problem?" Naturally, Valyr heard her murmurs thanks to his heightened stats, making him wonder if there was anything peculiar about his name. After all, he had also thought about his surname for a bit on his first day. However, before he could obtain an answer to his question, Mystia quickly changed the topic.

"Ah. There's no problem. No problem at all," said Mystia, which made Valyr raise his eyebrow in response. Though, as Mystia did not want to pursue the topic, he could only leave the matter to the back of his mind, inwardly letting out a sigh.

"Anyways, let's have the elixirs concocted, shall we?"