Deadly Poison Potion

A few days later, after brewing a second batch of Healing Potions, Aiven returned to the Apothecary's Guild.

This time, the shopkeeper was clearly much more welcoming than before. He came out to greet him.

"Do you have more potions to sell?" Boss Hawke asked with a broad smile.

At the same time, he grumbled to himself, remembering Link's instructions: buy everything this Apothecary Aiven offered, no matter what it was.

"That's right. I have some potions to sell, and there's also a commission I'd like you to help me with." Aiven stated his purpose directly.

"Of course, of course."

Seeing a big deal coming his way, the shopkeeper's smile grew even wider.

Aiven carefully set his backpack on the table, then took out the Healing Potions wrapped in burlap.

This time, he had turned all the Orange Fruit the villagers had into Healing Potions—more than forty bottles in all.

At five silver coins per bottle, that came to over two hundred silver coins!

"So many!"

The apothecary shopkeeper was startled, but remembered Link's instructions and nodded.

These Healing Potions were indeed very effective. He had no reason to refuse them, and he could make a small profit by reselling them later.

After the Healing Potions had changed hands, Aiven gave the shopkeeper a list of materials. It was a commission to gather potion ingredients.

"Let me see... These auxiliary ingredients aren't rare. We have them here."

"Hmm? The venom of four different Monsters... Mr. Aiven, are you planning to brew poison?"

The shopkeeper scanned the list, his gaze settling on the last ingredients. He asked uncertainly.

Although he didn't know exactly what potion Aiven planned to brew, the Monster venom was an obvious clue. That stuff was used to make poison.

"Do you have these ingredients here?" Aiven didn't answer directly.

At this, the shopkeeper glanced around before saying, "I think I'll need to notify Apothecary Link about this."

"Monster venom is strictly controlled in City of Ambition. We have to use special methods to get our hands on it."

The shopkeeper's words made Aiven's eyes light up. He'd been right to come to the Apothecary's Guild. They handled shady deals as well as legitimate business.

When Aiven agreed, the shopkeeper immediately sent an errand boy to fetch Link.

Aiven didn't have to wait long. Link soon hurried in, and his face lit up with a smile when he saw Aiven.

This Aiven is no ordinary man... His teacher's words came back to him. There might well be an apothecary behind Aiven who was no less impressive than his own teacher.

"I didn't expect you to be gathering Monster venom."

"Although it's regulated, we apothecaries naturally have access to it. Otherwise, how would we research antidotes?"

Link smiled. "I should be able to get all of these ingredients. The others are easy enough, but the venom from these Monsters is rare and expensive."

Aiven let out a breath of relief and handed Link some gold coins. "I'll leave this to you. Please buy as much of the poison as you can get your hands on."

"Sure, leave it to me." Link nodded and headed outside.

Is he going to take the money and run? Seeing Link leave, Aiven's heart skipped a beat. But when he looked at the fruit shop before him, he calmed down.

The fruit shop was still there, as were the Healing Potions. Link wasn't likely to run off with the money.

Of course, Aiven had kept something back from Link. He'd only given him the simplified recipe for the Deadly Poison Potion, and had mixed in a lot of other ingredients.

With Orange Fruit as a poisonous ingredient, even if Link knew what the materials were for, he still couldn't make the Deadly Poison Potion without the four kinds of Monster venom.

"Mr. Aiven, you can wait inside."

"Since you're an apothecary too, make yourself at home."

The shopkeeper smiled warmly and led Aiven into the back room.

Aiven froze when he entered. The room was packed with potion-making equipment.

Some of the instruments looked quite advanced and could help apothecaries analyze a potion's ingredients and effects. There were also plenty of potion ingredients.

A quick glance showed Aiven several auxiliary ingredients for making the Deadly Poison Potion, including some very rare Berries.

This is a good place to brew the Deadly Poison Potion... Aiven wondered how he could make use of it.

He didn't have to wait long before Link hurried back.

"Aiven, look what I got!"

"Venom from Bad Frog, Giant Needle Bee, Poison Rose, and Dazed Flower. Four kinds, just as you asked."

Once inside, Link eagerly took out four bottles of purple venom and held them up.

These really were venom from Poison-type Pokémon... Aiven breathed a sigh of relief. None of them had especially potent venom, but they'd do.

Poison Rose and Dazed Flower were both Grass- and Poison-type Pokémon, so their venom was especially compatible with Petilil, a Grass-type Pokémon.

"The four kinds of venom cost ten gold coins altogether."

"That's after a lot of haggling. Believe me, you won't find a better price."

"Besides the four kinds of Monster venom, our shop has all the other ingredients. I'll get them for you now."

"Poisonous grass... poisonous grass... Here we are. Poisonous grass worth one silver coin, discounted to ninety copper coins. And this one, after the discount, is..."

Link kept rattling off prices, but he didn't notice the shopkeeper's face darkening with every ingredient he named.

"All right, these ingredients are worth twenty-two silver coins in total. After the discount, that's nineteen silver coins and eighty copper coins."

After calculating the final price, Link handed Aiven the bag of ingredients and clapped his hands in triumph.

"Sorry for the trouble, Link and Boss Hawke." Aiven accepted the ingredients and coins.

Then he took a gold coin from the bag and handed it to the shopkeeper. "The commission fee, as agreed: one gold coin."

This kid knew the rules... The shopkeeper accepted the gold coin with a broad smile, then glared at Link, who looked ready to say something. "Rules are rules!"

"Boss Hawke, could I brew the potion here?" Aiven quickly interrupted as the two glared at each other.

"Of course, no problem at all." The shopkeeper's familiar smile returned. He hesitated, then gritted his teeth. "It's free."

After thanking him, Aiven gave Link a grateful look, then followed the shopkeeper into a private potion-making room.

The potion-making room was in the basement of the shop. Bright oil lamps lit the dark room, and aside from the equipment, there was nothing else inside.

Aiven nodded in satisfaction. The surroundings were secondary, really. Privacy was what mattered most to an apothecary, and the shopkeeper had provided it perfectly.

"First, I need to handle the venom... I have to be careful."

In the quiet potion-making room, Aiven carefully processed the ingredients. Brewing the Deadly Poison Potion was risky; even the potion itself was highly toxic.

After a long bout of brewing, he finally finished.

Purple liquid shimmered in the test tubes. There were three bottles in all.

These potions would be enough for Petilil to learn the Deadly Poison Technique... Aiven breathed a sigh of relief, sorted out the remaining ingredients, and put them in a bag for further processing.

Although the main ingredients had been refined into Deadly Poison Potions, the residue left behind was still toxic enough to poison someone.

He also needed to dispose of the residue so the recipe for the Deadly Poison Potion wouldn't be exposed. It wasn't impossible to work backward from the residue and figure out the formula.

After tidying up the room, he wrapped the three bottles of Deadly Poison Potion in several layers of clothing and carefully put them in his backpack.