[Black Sword] Glen

"Help me grab the spider tooth."

"Here."

"And the ghost candle fruit... hey, not pig tooth, spider tooth, spider's spider!"

Galan stood before a large pot of boiling potion, stirring it with an alchemical spoon and occasionally adding the materials needed for the recipe.

Lia seemed to be seeing the potion-making process for the first time, looking around curiously and volunteering to help Galan out.

Though he would have preferred Lia to do some proper housework, seeing her high spirits, he still lacked the heart to chase her away.

"Don't touch that, that's the strong acid of the venomous yellow spider!"

"Hey! That's Sun-Moon Grass, which took me seven silver coins to get!"

The cellar where Galan brewed potions contained various rare herbs, all painstakingly foraged from various places or bought from drug peddlers over the years.

Yet at this moment, the sealed bottles containing those precious rare herbs were being taken off the wall shelf one by one and fiddled with by Lia.

Watching the fruit of his many years of hard work swaying left and right in her hands, seemingly about to crash to the ground at any second, Galan felt like his little heart was about to explode.

"I really should tie you up and send you back to Rock... leaving you here has got to be the worst decision I've made in all these years..."

Galan's face was covered in black lines, and if the potion-making process hadn't been extremely complicated and his hands unable to stop working, he might really have failed to hold back and sent this mischievous elf back.

Clearly she had been an endearing, good child earlier, but now she was like a heartless mischievous brat, finding every possible way to torture his state of mind.

Gugugu--

The potion in the pot gradually turned from purple to light orange after a burst of churning, and as Galan added another herb, the orange grew deeper and deeper.

Whew-- it's finally finished.

He could finally free up his hands to properly discipline this three-hundred-year-old little girl.

Although this age was an astronomical figure for humans, for the long-lived elf race, she was undoubtedly at most in the stage of adolescence.

"Galan, Galan, is this a healing potion? So amazing!"

"Mn..."

Seeming to sense the dangerous gaze behind her, Lia consciously put those herbs back, stuck out her tongue, ran to Galan's side, and pouted her little face to act spoiled.

This fellow... she's really impossible to deal with...

Galan found that he couldn't bring himself to strike again, and had to sigh inwardly at his own spinelessness.

How could he, a dignified Shadow Warrior, actually fail to handle a three-hundred-year-old little girl?

Fine, fine, as an adult of broad mind, he would spare her this once.

"Don't play with my collection next time, I really will get angry." He lowered his voice and put on the airs of a stern elder.

"Mn-mn!"

Watching Lia maintain her carefree look, he remained skeptical of this guarantee.

Galan fetched pre-prepared potion bottles one by one from the table beside him and poured the potion from the pot into them.

This was the second batch of healing potions he had brewed these days.

The first batch had been made with the Purple Moon Dragon Grass bought last time, turning into four bottles of top-quality healing potions.

This was the healing potion with the best effect Galan could produce under existing techniques; even if someone suffered a fatal wound, as long as they didn't die on the spot, it could pull them back from the brink with a high probability.

Although this potion was absolutely without peer in terms of quality, he felt he would still suffer a bit of a loss if he went and sold it; good things had to be kept by himself as a trump card.

Yet buying daily necessities and clothes for Lia the day before had cost him a lot of money, and to ease his tight wallet, he had to start another pot, replacing the Purple Moon Dragon Grass with the more ordinary Blue Thorn and ghost candle fruit, spending two days brewing another pot of slightly inferior healing potions.

Still, through Galan's improvement, its effect was still much better than the potions made from mass-produced formulas in ordinary shops.

With an extra mouth in the house, the pressure of life was truly skyrocketing...

When he finished filling the last bottle, the potion in the pot had also just reached the bottom.

Fifteen bottles of healing potions in total should fetch a decent price.

His reputation as the apothecary Galan, cultivated over many years, was quite renowned far and near in Rogley.

Although he lacked a storefront, whenever Galan set up a stall in the city, many adventurers would come seeking his name, willing to accept it even if the prices were slightly more expensive than elsewhere.

After all, you get what you pay for, and life-saving gadgets couldn't be taken carelessly. If any urgent problems really arose, it would be too late for regrets.

Especially for veteran adventurers who hunted monsters and raided labyrinths year-round, getting injury was long a routine matter, and they attached even more importance to such essential props.

Today's Rogley was as bustling as ever.

Following his previous habit, Galan came to the fountain square, where small stalls gathered, and found an empty spot to sit down.

This was the gathering place for adventurers and mages, with many people holding gold-digging thoughts and staring at each other before various stalls, hoping to pick up a bargain.

He pulled out a brown suitcase and displayed the sealed potions.

"Oh-ho! It's Galan, long time no see."

Before he could even ponder whether he should hawk his wares a couple of times to build a presence, a familiar voice came from not far away.

The newcomer was a handsome middle-aged male with his right arm wrapped completely in bandages, carrying a conspicuous greatsword on his back.

[Black Sword] Glen, a renowned warrior of the Northern Countries.

It was said that he had once crossed swords dozens of times with Eisen, the strongest human warrior in the Hero Party, without suffering defeat, and had recently bought quite a few medicines from Galan, supposedly to follow the Northern Countries' army in subjugating the remnants of the Demon King's Army that had appeared nearby.

"Yo, you've returned safe and sound this time too, congratulations."

Seeing an old acquaintance, Galan did not hide his joy and waved to signal Glenn.

Usually when he didn't take commissions, he would occasionally find Galan to drink with, speaking straightforwardly and acting very loyal, so the two had a pretty good relationship.

"Thanks to you, the batch of medicine I bought last time had really great effects, many times better than what those profiteers from [Visaste] sell."

"I'll get proud if you praise me like that, but what's your situation now, playing the bandage warrior routine?"

Galan pointed to the thick bandages wrapped around his arm.

"Are you injured?"

"Well, after all, this time's opponent was a general-level Greater Demon; the northern kingdoms lost quite a few excellent mages and warriors in order to subjugate him."

Glenn pulled up his hem, revealing a huge black scar on his left waist that emanated terrifying demonic Qi.

"Me being able to live through it is already thanks to the goddess's protection."

"Looks like it is."

Galan walked to Glenn's side and carefully examined the scar.

The original wound had been very deep, and should have been just a hair's breadth away from the vital organs.