Last Fermentation (Part 2)

Outside Romon's potion shop, Eileen walked out, followed shortly by a young man.

The young man was sixteen this year. He had a tall, straight figure and a handsome face. Having successfully advanced and gained combat ability equivalent to a level-one warrior, he naturally carried an added air of decisiveness.

From the moment he appeared, the women of Rika Town had been secretly glancing his way. There were no shortage of married women among them, but even more were girls around his age.

Because of Romon, the already pretty young girls would bloom into radiant smiles whenever they passed by Romon's potion shop each day.

Yet beneath Eileen's faint smile, all those smiles paled in unison.

An angel.

That was the thought that sprang into everyone's mind the instant they saw Miss Eileen.

Eileen possessed a lovely appearance, but what drew even more attention was the temperament born of serving the gods since childhood—the Goddess's holy power extending from without to within, and from within to without. Together with her faint smile, all of it made Eileen seem like the Goddess incarnate in the townsfolk's eyes.

The priestess's robe she wore further set off her elegant temperament to perfection. At this moment, the young girl was chatting and laughing with Romon as they walked out.

"I read about this herb in a book, and I even conducted experiments specifically for it. It really does work that way," Romon replied with a smile as they walked outside.

Just now, the two had exchanged their knowledge of herbs. Because he had read the Thieves' Poisonous Herb Manual, although Romon spent most of the time listening to Eileen's explanations, at critical moments he could always offer a few useful pieces of information. This unheard-of knowledge greatly interested Eileen.

Infected by his smile, Miss Eileen also smiled. "You really are diligent in everything you do. If you keep it up, this potion shop will definitely do better and better."

"Thank you. If it hadn't been for your help, I couldn't have opened this potion shop so smoothly. When all is said and done, this shop exists because of you."

As they spoke, the two stopped. The weather was clear, and the sunlight brilliant.

Yet no one noticed that inside a carriage outside the shop, a middle-aged man's eyes instantly filled with fury upon seeing such a harmonious scene.

"Bastard!" the baron cursed under his breath, turning his face aside so that the tax officer in the carriage could barely see his expression. Still, merely from those two cursed words, the tax officer had already guessed just how terrible the lord's mood was.

He intended to add another log to the fire and make the other man's foul mood last a little longer.

"My lord, forgive me for speaking out of turn, but you really needn't pay attention to those rumors. That child Romon is actually quite decent. Though his background is somewhat poor, his talent is plain for all to see. Besides... those rumors are nothing but wild speculation. How could the second young miss possibly do such a thing?"

The tax officer spoke with feigned sincerity. On the surface, he was praising Romon, but in truth, every word was a blade. Sure enough, upon hearing this, the lord's expression grew even uglier.

Looking beyond the carriage, he snorted coldly. "Of course I understand my own daughter, and I know her personality well. But that Romon..."

Though he did not say the rest, the meaning had already seeped through. The reports that had continuously reached him had come together to form Romon's current image in the lord's mind: a money-grubbing lowborn boy who would stop at nothing to claw his way upward.

What kind of person was his daughter? Even at the very worst, she was born of legitimate nobility!

What was more, his second daughter was so outstanding! A noble girl who had become a level-two priestess while still in her teens—how bright Eileen's future would be! And how much glory would her splendid prospects bring him, her father! Just thinking about it now made the lord unable to suppress his pride.

Yet that pride became so utterly ironic when he saw his daughter standing together with that boy.

To outsiders, Romon's elegant bearing and Eileen's similarly noble temperament made them standing together a pleasing sight to behold.

But in the lord's eyes, it became a disgusting scene of a lowly boy trying to curry favor with a noble girl.

Letting his exceptionally outstanding daughter be with a low-status person like Romon?

The lord had never even considered such a thought. Even now, merely seeing the two chatting and laughing together was already more than he could bear.

"Romon, don't be so formal. We're friends now, aren't we? Between friends, why talk about thanks or no thanks? Unless... you don't consider me your friend." After leaving the Temple, Eileen had increasingly gained a young girl's lively spirit. She curled her lips mischievously, pretending to be upset.

Romon naturally knew that she was not truly angry, and he hurriedly smiled. "Of course I consider you a friend. Otherwise, why would I chat with you every day?"

"Oh, so you've finally shown your tail. Tell me, have you long since grown impatient?" Using the playful line she had learned from Romon, Eileen put on the air of someone demanding an explanation.

"What do you think?" Romon said.

Then the two looked at each other and burst out laughing at the same time.

But the lord, observing them from inside the carriage, could not feel that atmosphere at all. He angrily wanted to get out, but after thinking it over, he stopped himself.

"Leave this place. Immediately!" he ordered bitterly.

The carriage slowly began to move. Just then, a burst of cries suddenly rose outside.

"Wait." Not knowing what had happened, the lord ordered the carriage to stop first. Then he lifted the curtain and looked out.

March was the season when spring warmed the land and flowers bloomed. It was also the season when adventurers got to work. Even during winter, adventurers often formed parties and entered the forest.

But after spring arrived, the number of adventurers in town had begun to grow larger and larger. Whatever their purpose in venturing out, the number of Magic Beasts they encountered and hunted also increased. Naturally, the number of wounded adventurers rose in turn.

It was now a little past ten in the morning. At seven, a large group of adventurers had entered the Magic Beast Forest. Yet judging from the steady stream of wounded emerging, the Magic Beasts they had encountered this time were certainly not easy to deal with. Everyone who came out bore injuries of varying severity.

At this moment, a group of people suddenly came running in from outside town, shouting as they ran, "Quick! Faster! We're almost there!"

As they spoke, a burly man carrying an injured person on his back had already run up to Romon. Beside him stood several other adventurers who were likewise wounded.

"Romon, a Magic Bull gored his stomach open. Only you can save him—please, help us!" the adventurer carrying him said anxiously.

Because Romon had demonstrated the marvel of the Needle-and-Thread Suturing Technique last time, when trouble struck this time, the adventurers had almost without thinking brought the man straight to him.

Romon nodded and hurriedly had Nick prepare the tools. Then he disinfected the wound, stitched it up, and saved the man.

At this time, the townspeople who had been either busy or leisurely on the streets also gathered outside Romon's potion shop, peering inside with curiosity.

Only after the wound had been stitched and the applied potion quickly took effect did everyone let out a burst of cheers. The adventurers all relaxed, while the townsfolk returned to their former tasks with satisfied expressions.

This sort of scene played out in Romon's potion shop almost every day. After experiencing the effects of Romon's new potions, most adventurers had become returning customers.

The residents of Rika Town, meanwhile, treated this daily spectacle as entertainment amid their dull lives.

"Romon's new potion really is useful. It looks like the effect has indeed improved," several townspeople said as they passed by the carriage, unaware that the lord was inside.

"Yeah. I heard this new potion is one and a half tenths more effective than the old one, and it isn't expensive either. No wonder it's so popular," another person said.

"Exactly! I just wonder when they'll introduce some potions for headaches. My head's been hurting constantly lately," others chimed in.

Yet the two people in the carriage remained silent.

Though the lord had not witnessed the rescue himself, the passersby's discussion still allowed him to imagine the scene. Without him realizing it, Romon's influence among the townsfolk and adventurers had rapidly expanded. He was no longer a cockroach that could be crushed to death with a casual stomp—but Romon's little surgical innovation and the one-tenth improvement in his new potion's efficacy were fundamentally not enough to change where Eileen ought to belong in the lord's heart.

"Let's go back," the lord ordered flatly.

"Lord Baron, Miss Eileen is outside. Should we..." The tax officer did not understand what the lord was thinking and asked tentatively.

"No!" The lord had already formed the intention of driving Romon away as soon as possible. Hearing the tax officer's prattle now, he angrily waved a hand. "Make the carriage leave this place quickly. I don't want to see him again!"

"Yes." Sensing that the lord had not changed his mind, the accompanying tax officer smiled. The carriage then sped away into the distance, just as quickly as it had come.