A Fantasy Nerd Transported To Another World - Volume 1 Chapter 37 A Worried Alchemist

Ethan after leaving the casino, Ethan decided to go to a few alchemists’ shops to sell the rest of his monster cores. He assumed that one shop alone wouldn’t have the cash on hand to buy all of the cores. He went back to the inn and picked up his bag of monster cores and then went looking for an alchemy shop to sell some of them to. He saw an affluent looking alchemy shop nearby and went inside. It looked vaguely like an early 20th century drugstore with glass display cases containing potions, raw alchemical materials and other goods, and with a wooden counter with bar stools around it. Behind the counter was a middle aged alchemist in expensive looking clothing who had a look of worry on his face, but when he saw Ethan enter, put on a friendly smile. The alchemist looked somewhat similar to someone Ethan knew, but he couldn’t quite place his finger on it.

“Welcome to my shop. What can I do for you.” Said the alchemist.

“I have some monster cores with me that I would like to sell. I was wondering if you would be willing to buy any, and if so at what price?” Said Ethan.

The alchemist looked pleased with this.

“As it happens, I really do need a lot of monster cores right now because the government just made a big order of thousands of mana potions today and paid in advance. I will buy all of the monster cores that you have and I can offer you one large silver coin for every standard mana unit of potion that can be made from your cores. That’s the best that I can offer you and it doesn’t give me a lot of room for profit. You can look around at other shops, but I doubt that you’ll get a better offer.” Said the alchemist.

[Wow. That’s actually a really good deal. One mana potion usually costs a large silver coin to the final consumer, so I’m basically making that much just by selling the raw materials. He must be getting paid a premium by the government just because the order is so big. And, it sounds like I can sell them all to just this shop, because they were paid in advance to make literally thousands of potions. If I were to guess, I would say that the government of this kingdom is preparing for the upcoming war in part by stockpiling mana potions. That would explain why they are paying such a premium on such a large order. Let’s just see if this man can really afford to buy all of my cores like he says.] thought Ethan.

“I have here with me 237 lizard-person cores, each one of which can make 30 standard mana units of potion, and five slime cores, each one of which can make five standard mana units of potion. That should come out to a total of 7135 standard mana units, and at the price you quoted me, that would be 713 gold coins and five large silver coins, if you can afford to buy that much.”

At the words ‘ lizard-person cores’, the alchemist once again became visibly worried.

“Young man, with that many lizard-person cores, pardon me for asking this, but you wouldn’t happen to have been in Verafgelegen recently, would you?” Asked the alchemist.

[Has word of what happened in Verafgelegen already spread so fast. We just arrived here yesterday, and we were traveling as fast as could have been expected. I wonder how he heard of what happened in Verafgelegen.] thought Ethan.

“Yes sir. I assume that you’ve heard of the siege that happened there. That’s actually where I got these cores. Really good that no human was killed in that siege.” Said Ethan.

“Well, I’ll buy the cores from you at the price I quoted, of course. Furthermore, I sincerely apologize for any trouble that my son has caused you.” Said the alchemist.

“Your son?” Asked Ethan.

“Johan. You’ve no doubt heard that he was the one responsible for the siege.” Said the alchemist.

[So this is Johan’s father. That’s who he looks similar to. His appearance is just like an older version of Johan. No wonder he looked so worried when I was entering. He’s probably really concerned with what is happening with his son, being an indentured servant and all.] thought Ethan.

“Ah. Your Johan’s father then. I wasn’t actually harmed in the siege. In fact I was rewarded for the part that I played in ending it so quickly. I am honestly just sorry for what happened with your son afterward. I’m glad that he wasn’t killed, but its a real shame that he became an indentured servant.” Said Ethan.

“It was the best possible result given my son’s actions. No one died in the siege and that sentence was the most mercy the king could show. Johan did commit the crime of treason against humanity, and the fact that he was not executed shows how compassionate the king is.” Said the Alchemist. “Also, from the sound of what you’re saying, it seems like you are one of the people responsible for the siege ending with no human casualties. I want to sincerely thank you for that. It is because of your actions that the king could pass a more merciful sentence on to my son.”

After that, Ethan and the alchemist, whose name was ‘Alban Alchemis’ talked for a while. After that, Ethan gave Alban the cores, and the Alban gave Ethan the cash. Combined with his gambling winnings, Ethan now had over 1100 gold coins in cash.

[It’s almost time to meet with the mercenaries and get their answer on whether or not they want to be my knights. I should hire a carriage and get over there soon.] thought Ethan.

Ethan then hired a carriage driver to take him to the Mercenaries’ Guild Hall, and the carriage made its way over there quickly.