The Final Preparations (Part 2)

Outside Romon's Potion Shop, Eileen walked out, followed shortly by a teenage boy.

He was sixteen this year, with a straight, sturdy build and a handsome face. Having successfully advanced and gained combat abilities equivalent to a First-Level Warrior, he naturally carried himself with greater resolve.

From the moment he appeared, the women of Rika Town had been secretly glancing his way. There were married women among them, but even more were girls around his age.

Because of Romon, the already pretty young girls smiled all the more brightly whenever they passed Romon's Potion Shop each day.

Yet beneath Eileen's faint smile, all those smiles dimmed at once.

An Angel.

That was the thought that instantly came to everyone who saw Miss Eileen.

Eileen had a beautiful face, but what drew even more attention was the air about her. Having served the gods since childhood, the goddess's Holy Power seemed to flow from outside to within, then from within to without. Combined with her faint smile, it all made Eileen seem like the goddess's Avatar in the eyes of the townspeople.

The priest's robe she wore perfectly highlighted her elegant bearing. At that moment, the girl was leaving the shop while chatting and laughing with Romon.

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

The two had just exchanged their knowledge of herbs. Because Romon had read the Thieves' Poisonous Herb Manual, although he spent most of the time listening to Eileen's explanations, he could always offer useful information at crucial moments. Those unheard-of details greatly interested Eileen.

Infected by his smile, Miss Eileen smiled as well. "You really are diligent. If you keep this 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 the potion shop so smoothly. In the end, this shop only exists because of you."

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

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

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

He intended to add more fuel to the fire and make that foul mood last a little longer.

"My lord, forgive me for saying something I should not, but there is no need to pay attention to those rumors. Romon is actually quite a fine young man. Though his birth is somewhat lowly, his talent is obvious to all. 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 kindness. On the surface, he was praising Romon, but every word was like a blade. Sure enough, the lord's expression darkened further upon hearing this.

Looking out of the carriage, he snorted coldly. "Of course I understand my daughter. I know her temperament as well. But that Romon..."

Though he did not finish the sentence, its meaning was already clear. All the information he had received had gradually formed Romon's image in the lord's mind: a greedy lowborn boy who would stop at nothing to claw his way upward.

Who was his daughter? Even at the very least, she had been born into a legitimate noble family!

Not to mention how outstanding his second daughter was! A noble girl who had become a Second-Level Priest while still in her teens—Eileen's future was bound to be dazzling! And what immense honor would her bright future bring him, her father? Just thinking about it made the lord feel proud.

But that pride became deeply ironic the moment he saw his daughter standing beside that boy.

To outsiders, the elegant Romon standing beside the equally noble and graceful Eileen was a pleasing sight.

But in the lord's eyes, it had become a disgusting scene of a lowborn boy trying to ingratiate himself with a noble girl.

Letting his outstanding daughter be with someone as lowly as Romon?

The lord had never even considered such a possibility. Even now, merely seeing the two chatting and laughing together was already unbearable to him.

"Romon, don't be so formal. We're friends now, aren't we? Why should friends talk about thanking each other? Unless... you don't consider me your friend." Having left the Temple, Eileen seemed increasingly lively and girlish. She curled her lips mischievously, pretending to be upset.

Romon naturally knew she was not truly angry. He hurriedly smiled. "Of course I consider you a friend. Otherwise, how could I possibly chat with you every day?"

"Oh, really? So you've finally shown your true colors. Tell me, have you been getting tired of it for a long time?" Using the playful phrase she had learned from Romon, Eileen put on an accusing pose.

"What do you think?" Romon said.

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

However, the lord observing them from inside the carriage could not feel that atmosphere in the slightest. 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. At that moment, a burst of startled cries suddenly rose outside.

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

It was March, the season when spring warmed the land and flowers bloomed. It was also the season when adventurers began their work. Although adventurers often formed teams to enter the forest even during winter,

after spring arrived, the number of adventurers in town steadily increased. Whatever their goals might be, more of them encountered danger along the way, and the number of Devil Beasts brought back from hunts also rose. Naturally, the number of injured adventurers increased as well.

It was now a little after ten in the morning. At seven, a large group of adventurers had entered the Magic Beast Forest. But judging from the steady stream of wounded people coming out, the Devil Beasts they had encountered this time were clearly difficult opponents. Everyone emerging had suffered injuries to some extent.

At that moment, a group of people suddenly ran 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 rushed up to Romon. Several other wounded adventurers stood beside him.

"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 displayed the miraculous effects of the Needle-and-Thread Suturing Technique last time, when trouble struck, the adventurers barely had to think before bringing the injured 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 strolling through the streets also gathered at the entrance of Romon's Potion Shop, peering inside curiously.

Only after the wound had been stitched and the applied potion quickly took effect did the crowd erupt in cheers. The adventurers all relaxed, while the townspeople returned to their original work 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 potion, most adventurers became returning customers.

As for the residents of Rika Town, they treated this daily spectacle as entertainment amid their dull lives.

"Romon's new potion is really useful. Its effects really do seem improved," several townspeople said as they passed by the carriage, unaware that the lord was inside.

"Yeah, I heard its effectiveness is fifteen percent better than the old potion, and the price isn't high either. No wonder it's so popular," another person said.

"Exactly! I just wonder when he'll release something for headaches. Mine have been hurting constantly lately," the others chimed in.

The two people inside the carriage remained silent.

Although 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 both the townspeople and adventurers had rapidly expanded. He was no longer a cockroach that could be casually crushed—yet Romon's minor surgical innovation and the fifteen percent improvement in his new potion's effectiveness were still far from enough to change whom the lord believed Eileen should belong with.

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

"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 begun considering how to drive Romon away as soon as possible. Hearing the tax officer prattle on, he angrily waved his hand. "Make the carriage leave faster. I don't want to see him again!"

"Yes." Realizing 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 arrived.