Revealing His Identity

"Ah, if only someone in our fief knew how to prepare demon soil."

Louis sat behind his desk, his fingers tapping idly against its surface. His tone sounded like a casual complaint.

But his gaze kept straying toward Silco, who sat at the smaller desk beside him.

Silco had his head down, writing furiously as he tallied the fish haul and smoked fish production. The dark circles under his eyes were even worse than last night.

At Louis's complaint, he abruptly stopped writing and pressed his fingers against his temples, trying to clear his head.

Did I mishear that?

No, I definitely wasn't hearing things.

This was already the fifth time he had heard Louis say it today.

No matter how sleep-deprived he was, surely he couldn't have hallucinated the same thing five times?

Silco's hand paused, and he finally became certain of one thing.

He was deliberately dropping hints!

Making demon soil was a basic skill every alchemist learned.

Naturally, an alchemical genius like him knew how.

The problem was that he had never revealed this identity to anyone-at least not in the Red Tide Fief.

Then... how did Louis know?

His mind raced as he tried to recall whether he had accidentally let something slip.

Or was it simply impossible to hide my aura of alchemical genius?

While he pondered, Louis spoke again in the same helpless tone. "If only we could make our own demon soil."

That was the sixth time!

Louis's endless chanting finally became too much for Silco to bear.

He took a deep breath and feigned nonchalance. "I know a little about it. I learned a bit at the Church School."

The moment the words left his mouth, Silco wanted to slap himself.

Who was I trying to fool? How could the Church School possibly teach people to make demon soil?

Yet Louis seemed to believe his explanation completely. He even looked as though everything had suddenly fallen into place.

With considerable interest, he asked, "Oh? Really? Then could you help me?"

A delicate silence settled over the office.

Did he actually believe that?!

Silco stole a discreet glance at Louis.

No matter how he looked at it, Louis's expression wasn't that of someone who had been fooled.

Instead, his expectant gaze seemed to say, You finally admitted it. Now hurry up and prepare the demon soil.

Silco: "..."

Of course Louis knew that Silco was an alchemy apprentice.

Frostblood redberries had to grow in highly acidic soil.

Only then could they absorb nutrients efficiently, producing plump, bright red berries that were more effective at strengthening battle aura.

If the soil was neutral or alkaline, the nutrients would remain locked away, stunting the plants' growth, yellowing their leaves, and even preventing them from bearing fruit.

The problem was that Louis had only a rough idea of how to prepare acidic soil. He knew nothing about the precise proportions or treatment methods.

But he knew who did: Silco, the fellow hiding his identity as an alchemy apprentice.

Louis had intended to wait for Silco to volunteer, but the circumstances had changed. Cultivating frostblood redberries could not wait.

Too bad. Today, he would have to reveal himself.

Silence stretched between them, punctuated by the crackle of burning wood in the fireplace.

Silco looked down at the ledger on his desk, weighing the pros and cons.

At last, he sighed slowly, as though resigned to his fate. "All right, but I have one condition. Give me one day off every week."

This time, Louis fell silent.

With the Red Tide Fief so short-handed, it did feel like a waste of talent. He hadn't taken a single day off himself all month.

Then again, if Silco kept working at this pace, he might drop dead one day.

Louis sighed. "Fine. Deal."

Silco then wrote out a list of ingredients for preparing demon soil and handed it to Louis.

Most of the materials could be bought at the market in Frost Glaive City.

But one name made Louis's gaze linger.

Demon marrow.

"You certainly aren't shy about asking." Louis chuckled and looked up at Silco.

"I just listed the ingredients for the standard formula." Silco shrugged. "Of course, you could use substitutes, but the results might..."

"Without demon marrow, the demon soil would be far less effective, wouldn't it?" Louis cut straight to the point.

Silco spread his hands without answering.

Louis rubbed his brow. Demon marrow really was rather expensive.

The Red Tide Fief did have some, in the mining area to the northwest.

Extracting it, however, presented a few minor difficulties.

The mining techniques were manageable. Even with the crudest method-having the people chip away at the vein with iron pickaxes-they could dig out enough to make some demon soil.

But that wasn't the real problem.

According to the Intelligence System, several Frost Giants had been roaming near the mining area since the start of spring.

Frost Giants were among the most troublesome monsters in the Northern Frontier!

They usually inhabited places of extreme cold. Enormous and immensely strong, they had skin as hard as solid ice, making ordinary weapons largely ineffective against them.

Worse still, they could control freezing air, creating bitterly cold storms that engulfed the battlefield, slowing their enemies or even freezing them to death.

Louis had not been in any hurry to deal with the matter before.

For one thing, the Red Tide Fief had still been developing, with its efforts focused on farming and production. There had been no time to spare for the mining area.

For another, the mines were far from the residential areas, and the giants had posed no tangible threat to the fief.

Besides, he had known very little about Frost Giants then, making a rash attack extremely risky.

He had therefore only assigned a few knights to observe them covertly and gather more information.

But things were different now.

Over the past month, the Intelligence System had gradually supplied information about the Frost Giants' weaknesses.

The fief's development had also reached a stable stage. It was time to take the initiative and eliminate this hidden danger.

Since we have to mine demon marrow anyway, we might as well clear out the mining area and bring all those resources firmly under the Red Tide Fief's control!

After a moment's thought, Louis immediately set to work.

He first summoned two knights and handed them Silco's list. "Go to Frost Glaive City and buy the alchemical materials on this list. As quickly as possible."

"Yes!" The knights took the list and hurried away.

Next, he summoned Lambert, the captain of the knights. "Lambert, assemble all the knights and prepare for battle."

Lambert paused briefly, but asked no questions. He immediately answered in a firm voice, "As you command, my lord."

"Our target is the Northwest Mountains. We're going to slay the Frost Giants," Louis continued resolutely. "Make sure every knight assembles. No exceptions."

"Yes!" Lambert answered crisply, then rose and strode away.

Before long, the Red Tide Fief's knights had assembled. Warhorses whinnied as the force thundered toward the mining area in the fief's northwest.