She Professed Herself The Pupil Of The Wiseman (LN) - Volume 7 - Chapter 26

Chapter 26

WHEN THEY OPENED the door on the second floor of the alchemist’s mansion, bright light poured into the hallway—along with a unique, disgusting stench.

The group entered the room without fear of being caught, thanks to the concealment.

Shelves lining the walls of the room were stocked with vases full of all colors of something, with books interspersed between. There were monster materials, jewels, cages with small animals. And for some reason, one sheep plushie.

Before the desk in the center of the room was a man. He looked to be around forty years old with messy black hair, a white coat, and silver-rimmed glasses. Truly, a stereotypical researcher.

He was mixing something in a large cauldron with a troubled look on his face. The awful stench seemed to come from the thick, soupy mixture inside. This looked more like witchcraft than alchemy. As they approached, the smell got worse. Mira and Scorpion frowned and circled around to approach the man from behind.

Once they’d enveloped the man in total concealment so that nobody outside could hear, Scorpion lifted a dagger to his throat.

“Be very still.”

The man froze in place and gasped, dropping the rod he’d been holding. He then raised both hands where she could see them and spoke slowly.

“What’s going on here? I’m just doing the work as I was told.” The man’s voice was extremely calm. But that wasn’t because he was calm; he spoke deliberately, obviously controlling his emotions.

Scorpion was immediately suspicious, but she prioritized information gathering and demanded coolly, “How about you tell us more about that ‘work’?”

After a moment, the man carefully turned his head. When he caught sight of Scorpion and Mira, his brow furrowed.

“Who are you? You’re not with those Chimera bastards, are you?”

A flicker of surprise appeared on his face, mirrored in Mira and Scorpion’s. They had thought this man was an important member of Chimera Clausen, but he spoke like he wasn’t part of them at all—and he didn’t sound like a fan, either.

 Scorpion was infuriated at being mistaken for her worst enemy. “Don’t lump us in with those evildoers!” Raw rage found its way into her voice.

“Oh… I beg your pardon.” The man raised his hands higher in a show of surrender.

“What about you? You’re a big-shot Chimera, right? We have evidence.” Scorpion pressed the blade against his neck.

“Big shot? Evidence? What are you talking about?” The man showed no sign of fear, only more confusion.

They were at an impasse.

Mira slid in from the side and broke the silence. “Are you claiming that you’re not an elite member of Chimera Clausen?”

The alchemist turned to her and looked her square in the eye. He said clearly, “I’m not any kind of member, let alone an elite member.”

Of course, they couldn’t trust him so easily. They had no real way to tell how many of his words were fact or fiction.

“Let me ask you one thing. Do you know what that stone is being used for?” Mira pointed at the black mist-covered rock atop the desk. 

“Yeah. I do,” he answered, his expression clouded. The alchemist’s apprentice, Millene, had only been told that it was used to make strong weapons and armor.

“This material is used to make Chimera’s equipment, is it not?” It seemed the man was aware of its spirit-devouring properties. Mira fixed her eyes on him and said deliberately, “You make weapons for them, and yet you claim that you are not one of them?”

The man averted his eyes and grimaced. After a beat, he looked at her once more and sighed.

“…I do,” he finally declared. His words were firm, yet it obviously pained him to say them.

Mira glared into his eyes for a moment before nodding to Scorpion. Scorpion’s rage subsided somewhat, and she pulled the knife back from his neck—though the tip remained conspicuously pointed toward him. He paid it no mind and only thanked her.

“Why do you cooperate with Chimera? It’s not for money, I presume. Are you working for them under duress?” Mira asked. The reproach was gone from her voice, but she remained merciless in her interrogation.

 “Well… Pretty much,” he muttered. He looked down for a while again, then gazed off into the distance. With determination on his face, he turned his eyes to the window. “Now it’s my turn: Who are you people? How’d you get through those guards? Only my apprentice and Chimera should be able to get in here.”

He refused to say another word until his own questions were answered. The mansion’s security was tight; it shouldn’t have been easy for outsiders to enter. And as master of the estate, he knew that better than anyone. Mira and Scorpion’s presence was bewildering to the point that, at this moment, he considered them even more dangerous than Chimera.

“Hrmm, very well. My name is Mira. I am working with an organization that opposes Chimera.”

“I’m Scorpion. A member of said organization.”

The man’s eyes went wide, then determination burned within them.

“You oppose Chimera, eh? That’s no surprise, given the things they do. No surprise at all. And that led you to me?” the man muttered, as if talking to himself. Despite his calm front, he was clearly elated—in a way that implied more than the mere relief of knowing his life was no longer in danger. He glanced at the window and whispered, “How did you get in here? Did they not notice you?”

The alchemist seemed awfully worried about something. Mira turned and saw that the window’s curtain was drawn. Beyond it, his many guards stood by. He could signal that there were intruders without Mira and Scorpion even knowing, but given the look in his eyes, Mira suspected that he wouldn’t. 

“How we arrived here is a secret. However, I can guarantee that nobody knows of our presence here.” Mira felt an odd sense of understanding. She trusted her intuition and confirmed that nobody had noticed their entry.

Indeed, things were quiet outside. Nobody was searching the inside of the mansion. That meant there was no need to worry about Chimera listening in. Mira and Scorpion knew that they could be certain of that if they used Wasranvel’s power, but instead of trying to convince the man to trust some spirit he’d never heard of, they decided to take advantage of the current situation. 

And just in case, Mira had already ordered Wasranvel to ensure that nobody would hear if he screamed. But the man didn’t need to know that.

***

“My name is Johan. I’m an alchemist being used by Chimera.” The man introduced himself and, with a resigned smile, explained the grim situation he had found himself in.

It had started when his father and master, an alchemist who he’d deeply respected, received a request from Melville Commerce. The request asked him to investigate the properties of new materials Melville had obtained through their trade connections. His father gladly accepted the honor of being entrusted with a material nobody had ever seen before.

His research uncovered the properties of this new material, so he next immersed himself in researching potential applications. At the time, though Johan had assisted his father, he hadn’t known what this material was being used for. All he knew was that it would create powerful weapons.

His father found a great many applications for the material and received great sums of money for his effort. Johan was proud of his father for being able to create so much wealth.

But one day, everything changed. His father had passed away—but not due to any illness. And though his true cause of death remained a mystery, Johan had his own thoughts. “I know it was punishment,” he said.

After his father’s death, Johan dove into the papers he’d left behind in order to carry on his research. They were vital documents, his father’s life’s work, though he’d never deigned to show his son.

It was then that he learned the truth: the new material his father had researched for so long and worked with so often, the black mist ore, was meant to devour spirits and deprive them of their power.

A material that would harm humanity’s greatest ally was unconscionable. Having learned this, Johan begged Melville Commerce to abandon the project entirely and recover as many of the related products in circulation as they could.

But they refused. On that same day, his wife and daughter disappeared.

The next day, Melville Commerce delivered the wedding ring he’d given his wife, along with a message: Continue the work.

He’d known nothing about what the ore could do, but he knew how to create materials with it, since he’d helped his father. To Chimera Clausen and Melville Commerce, he was only a useful tool—even if his cooperation needed to be coerced. Johan received letters from his wife and daughter twice a year, so he knew they were alive, but he didn’t know where they were. 

His wife would always write about their daughter’s growth and tell him not to worry about them. She would also include some words from his daughter, whose previously shoddy penmanship was slowly improving, Johan added with a sad smile.

So, he obeyed—hoping that someday his family would be reunited.

“I have no choice,” Johan added, cursing his own powerlessness.

“I understand. They’ve taken your loved ones hostage.”

Johan had worked with them in hopes that his wife and daughter would be spared. Mira looked next to the desk at the sheep plushie they’d seen on their way in. There was doubt that it belonged to his daughter.

“This is insanity, right? The people outside are not there to protect me. They’re watching me in case I try to run,” Johan said as he glared hatefully out the window. 

He added with a humorless chuckle that he hadn’t left the mansion in years; he had to have his apprentice do all of his shopping and material-gathering.

“We had a feeling something was off about them,” Mira noted.

The security outside was there not to keep others out, but to keep Johan in. Mira recalled the strangeness they’d noticed when they’d first entered the property.

A father who had worked with Chimera Clausen, a son who’d suffered tragedy because of his own righteous heart and been forced to obey their orders purely because he’d followed in his father’s footsteps… It was difficult to imagine the pain he must have felt being torn away from his family for such reasons.

Mira pitied Johan. As she surveyed the room again with her new knowledge, she found many remnants of his loved ones: a shelf that contained kids’ picture books, a woman’s cooking apron, and the wedding ring that had been returned to him.

It seemed that this shelf was there purely to remind him of his family. Mira silently approached and gazed at the objects on it. Compared to his messy work shelves, here, there was no dust; he must have cleaned it every day. That only made it stand out all the more, reminding her of the futility of his struggle.

The sheep plushie looked sad atop the desk.

Mira cradled it in her arms, gazed at its adorable face, and said, “Don’t look so lonely, friend.” Perhaps those words were meant for both the sheep and Johan.

“Huh? What’s the matter?” Scorpion said softly. Mira turned and saw a single tear rolling down Johan’s cheek.

“Oh, nothing. I was just remembering how my little girl used to talk to that thing.” A watery smile found its way onto Johan’s face as he watched Mira holding the plushie. He turned his face aside to hide his tears.

“Damn…” Scorpion murmured.