Alchemy Equipment

Alchemy Equipment

Opening a completely unknown door could lead to many situations. There might be someone lying in ambush behind it, or traps waiting for rash intruders.

This time, however, nothing unexpected happened. After Kaya and Koura opened the door, they quickly swept their eyes over the room and confirmed there were no obvious threats. They signaled for Pei Renli and Eve behind them to follow, and the four slipped inside single file.

The first thing they saw was an even larger, thicker set of double doors. They were tightly shut, but there was no keyhole, so they probably did not use an ordinary locking mechanism.

Looking to either side, they found a broad corridor. Blue-glowing "torches" hung on the walls, providing dim illumination.

A long row of wooden doors lined the right side of the corridor. Unlike ordinary doors, they were packed closely together, each with a long narrow opening above and below the door panel.

The upper openings seemed intended for observing the inside, while the lower ones were for passing food through.

That design was clearly abnormal. Everyone immediately realized that the cramped spaces behind those doors were likely used to imprison victims abducted here.

Besides that, long tables ran along the base of the wall opposite the doors, filling the entire corridor. Many glass and brass instruments sat atop them—beakers, test tubes, narrow-necked bottles, and even things resembling alcohol lamps. They looked like equipment for conducting experiments.

After quickly inspecting the surroundings and confirming there was no danger, Eve, who had been walking last, gently closed the door. At the front, Kaya turned and gave the others a look, signaling them to split up and continue searching.

Kaya and Koura went to check whether anyone remained in those cramped rooms, while Pei Renli and Eve examined the experimental equipment on the other side.

This world had no discipline called "chemistry." Whoever used this equipment was most likely an alchemist, and most mages studied a little alchemy as well, which was why that part of the search had been left to them.

Though it was called experimental equipment, there were quite a few other unrecognizable objects mixed in. For example, there was an unknown brass contraption that looked somewhat like a sphere, with scorch marks beneath it.

Keeping his distance, Pei Renli carefully examined the apparatus. Most of it had been brutally smashed, and the fractured edges were fresh, with no dust covering them. Some small bottles still held traces of brightly colored liquids, and there were no obvious signs of drying either. It had clearly been done recently.

Unlike Pei Renli, who scrutinized everything so closely, Eve seemed rather... resistant to these alchemical supplies?

In short, she did not seem to want to get too close. Still, that was understandable. Caution was absolutely necessary.

The first lesson taught at adventurer school was that it was best not to touch anything unfamiliar directly, especially things related to magic.

Leaving Eve aside for the moment, while Pei Renli examined the tabletops, he noticed a foul stench in the air, entirely different from the sewer smell. It was like something had rotted, mixed with another pungent odor so harsh it stung his eyes.

Pinching his nose, he lowered his gaze to look at the floor. Under the dim blue light, he could see an oily liquid splashed across the ground. Where it had gathered in shallow depressions, it looked like a pale red paste.

This was fire oil, an extremely flammable liquid that burned for a long time. It was generally used in defending cities during warfare, and private production, possession, and transport were strictly forbidden. Only the military kept stocks of it.

Judging from the amount of fire oil and the trail of splashes, it seemed that someone had carried a barrel of it while walking along, scattering it as evenly as possible throughout the space.

All the signs seemed to point toward someone preparing to destroy the evidence...

As that thought turned over in his mind, Pei Renli's gaze was still lowered from checking the floor. When he looked up, he happened to spot something resembling a book wedged in the gap beneath a table.

He drew his shortsword and used its tip to nudge the object a few times, prying it out of the gap.

It was not a book. More precisely, it was a manual, only a few pages thick.

It also looked as though it had been used for a long time. Its pages had yellowed noticeably, and a large orange stain of some unknown substance marred the cover.

After testing it and confirming there was no danger, Pei Renli picked it up and opened it.

Most of the first page, like the cover, had been stained beyond recognition. He could not make out what was written, but the latter half was still barely legible.

"...Alchemy solvent is suitable for nearly all magical potions. The finished product is a beautiful sapphire blue, slightly viscous in texture, and can extract the active components of herbs."

Could this be an alchemy notebook?

Pei Renli was immediately interested. He quickly turned to the next page. This time, the writing was unstained, and he could clearly see the title on the second page: "Healing Potion."

Below it was a neat list of materials and required equipment. Further down were even detailed instructions on how to make it.

This was a magical potion formula.

Formulas were essential for making potions. Otherwise, if an alchemist had to start from scratch and feel their way through it, they might not develop more than a few effective potions in their entire lifetime.

He kept flipping through the pages and found more formulas. They were not for healing potions, but invisibility potions, Shield Spell potions, resistance-enhancing potions, and the like.

These formulas were fairly widespread. Anyone willing to look could buy them from a magic shop. They were nothing particularly rare, but spending money was already a major problem for Pei Renli right now...

Of course, formulas alone were not enough. If he wanted to try making them, he would need to prepare a large quantity of materials and the necessary equipment, which would be another considerable expense.

So Pei Renli did not read them too closely. He merely skimmed through the names of each formula.

When he reached the seventh or eighth page, he saw a title that read "Orange Paradise." Strangely, the primary ingredient listed below was also "Orange Paradise."

That name rang a faint bell. Yesterday, he had borrowed a book from the school library called Encyclopedia of Dangerous Plants. Since volume one had been checked out, he could only start with volume two.

He remembered that the first entry in the table of contents was Orange Paradise. But he had been far too sleepy, and after only flipping through the contents, he had gone to bed. He had no idea what Orange Paradise actually was.

At that moment, someone touched Pei Renli's arm. He turned and saw Eve.

She held a thumb-sized glass vial filled with pale orange powder. She pressed it into Pei Renli's hand and whispered into his ear in an extremely low voice:

"This is Orange Paradise, an extremely dangerous plant pollen. It is banned by decree in the vast majority of countries."

Holy shit, so this really was not just a human trafficking case!

Steadying himself, Pei Renli slipped the vial into his pocket and continued flipping through the notes in his hand.

After Orange Paradise, there were no more formulas. It looked like someone's diary.

October 30.

"Some sneaky people have appeared outside my workshop. They do not look like good people. I have no idea how they learned that I can prepare Orange Paradise. I have clearly never told anyone. No matter what they say, I absolutely must not admit it."

November 10

"Today, I arrived at the temporary laboratory they set up for me. The environment was rather poor, and the equipment wasn't exactly complete, but I have to say, the terms they offered were simply impossible to refuse."

From these two entries, it was easy to tell that the capitalists' method of pressuring someone into updates had made this record-keeping alchemist discover that it really did smell sweet.

November 15

"These people not only want me to help prepare Orange Paradise, but they also want me to make the more advanced Orange Elixir. I still don't understand how they discovered that I knew how to make it, but for the sake of the gold coins, all I can say is: no problem."

December 13

"I'm having a little trouble figuring out who these people really are. Are they not merely a gang looking to make money by selling Orange Paradise? They've actually captured a great many people, and it doesn't look like they intend to sell them either. It's truly strange."

January 5

"While at work today, I happened to brush past someone. The intense necromantic magic on him sent a chill down my spine. I never expected these people to have dealings with necromancers. It seems I was right not to pry into why they were capturing people. To avoid being silenced, I may need to make some preparations."

February 22

"People keep getting captured and brought in, while sacks keep getting carried out. I try my best not to show any unnecessary curiosity, but today they asked me to test the effects of Orange Elixir on the people they captured. Perhaps they don't have much faith in me. After all, Orange Elixir isn't so easy to make. But of course, I have no problem with it."

March 30

"Today, they informed me that my work here was complete and told me to destroy all traces and evacuate quickly. As for the test subjects, I could just pile them up anywhere. I heard they would have people responsible for cleaning up afterward. From today onward, I have never seen them, and they have never seen me. Their credibility is clearly quite good—I received the full payment, and I've also gained some understanding of who they are. If they want to kill me to keep my mouth shut, then at worst, we'll all die together."

The record ended there. Everything after that was blank.

This diary had probably slipped into the gap in the desk while its owner was packing up to leave. The original owner likely didn't think it was important, so they hadn't searched for it carefully.

Due to the time constraint, Pei Renli couldn't possibly read every page in detail. He had skimmed through them, but he could still piece together the general sequence of events.

He looked up at Koura and Kaya. They had just finished checking the small rooms that had originally been used to imprison the victims, but both shook their heads, indicating that they hadn't found anyone.

According to the diary, everyone had already evacuated, so it was no surprise that they hadn't found any victims. But the diary had mentioned that someone would be responsible for cleaning up afterward.

And this cleanup...

One look at the fire oil on the ground was enough to understand.

Moreover, since someone was still guarding the entrance, the people handling the cleanup were most likely still here. Otherwise, by the time Pei Renli and the others found this place, all they would have seen would be a sea of flames.

—BANG!

"Stop telling me that useless crap! No means no!"

Just as that thought crossed his mind, the sound of something being smashed onto the floor and what sounded like a man's roar came from behind the double doors they had spotted the moment they entered. With a door between them, the sound was rather muffled.

The group exchanged glances, then crept closer on tiptoe...