18 Vlad Street, East Borough, Tingen City.
"Rosen Folk Herbal Shop!"
"Good, this is the place."
Wilt pushed open the door to the herbal shop and walked in. Inside, he saw a fat apothecary and an owl.
When Darkwill saw someone enter, he looked up and glanced at him. Then an insufferable grin spread across his face. "Oh, young man, you don't look to be in very good shape."
"As Emperor Roselle said, health is the foundation of the revolution. You need to know your limits and not indulge yourself too much while you're young."
"Otherwise, when the time comes, not even the most skilled Apothecary will be able to save you."
Wilt: "..."
Even though I prepared myself for this, the guy really does have a talent for being a Provoker. It's a shame he didn't take the Hunter Pathway.
But since you provoked me first, surely it's only fair that I extort a few potions from you!
With that thought, Wilt adjusted his monocle and gave Darkwill a mild smile, expressing his deep agreement. "You do have a point."
"As a skilled Apothecary, you can treat every illness in the world, yet you can't solve your own problems and have been forced to wander all the way to Tingen City. That really is a tragedy."
"Am I right, Mr. Darkwill, Sequence 8 Beast Tamer?"
The expression on Darkwill's face suddenly froze. Panic flashed in his eyes, but he quickly denied it.
"Y-you've got the wrong person?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Heh, trying to deny it?" Wilt chuckled.
"That's all right. I know some Nighthawks. I wonder what would happen if I reported this place to the Church of Evernight."
"The School of Life hasn't been explicitly classified as a cult, but it doesn't seem to be particularly welcome either."
"As a Sequence 8, once you go in, you might have trouble ever getting out."
Darkwill's expression turned completely grim. "Who exactly are you, and what are you doing here?"
Wilt was very pleased to see Darkwill like this. He began using his Swindler abilities to make his words more convincing. "Don't get angry, and don't worry."
"Actually, I know your teacher, Roy King. I only came here to buy a few potions."
"You know my teacher?" Darkwill could hardly believe it.
"That's right." Wilt nodded.
"I'm from the Rorsted Archipelago. I don't just know your teacher; I also know your teacher's teacher, Ricciardo, a demigod of the Monster Pathway."
Hearing Ricciardo's name, Darkwill began to believe him, but he was also puzzled. "In that case, why did you say those things just now?"
"When I came in, your tone made me want to punch you, so I thought I'd scare you a little."
Darkwill: "..."
While Darkwill was silent, Wilt continued, "So, can you get me a few potions now? I need to restore the Spirituality I've used up."
Darkwill activated his Spirit Vision and saw that Wilt's Spirituality really was depleted. He took two vials of purple potion from a drawer. "Two pounds altogether!"
After drinking them, Wilt felt a cool sensation in his mind, and his physical strength and Spirituality began to recover rapidly. He couldn't help praising him. "They really work. You certainly live up to your name as a specialist Apothecary."
Darkwill asked curiously, "How did your Spirituality get so depleted?"
"I had a bit of bad luck today and ran into a Sequence 6 Beyonder creature. To kill it, I had no choice but to use a Grade 1 Sealed Artifact. That's how I ended up like this." With that, Wilt asked another question.
"Do you have any more of these potions? Give me a few more."
Hearing that Wilt had killed a Sequence 6 Beyonder creature, Darkwill silently took out another four potions and put them on the table. "This is all I have left."
"Six pounds in total. For my teacher's sake, I'll charge you five."
Wilt put the potions in his pocket, but he had no intention of paying.
I bought the potions to restore my Spirituality. Now that it's restored, why would I still need to pay? What a joke!
So Wilt said directly, "That's a reasonable price, but I don't have any money right now. Put it on my account, and I'll pay you later."
Darkwill's eyes widened in disbelief. He hadn't expected Wilt to try to get them for free. He was just about to curse him out when he saw Wilt's sharp gaze.
"What's wrong? Is there a problem?"
Darkwill immediately backed down. "No problem at all!"
"Aren't you short of money? I was just going to ask if you needed me to lend you some."
Seeing Wilt fall silent, Darkwill suddenly had a bad feeling. Then he saw Wilt nod and say, "I suppose I could. Since you're so thoughtful, lend me a hundred pounds."
Crack!
Darkwill felt his heart breaking. He wanted nothing more than to slap his earlier self to death.
A few seconds later, Darkwill looked like he was about to cry. Trembling, he said, "S-senior!"
"Everything I own put together wouldn't even come to a hundred-odd pounds. Could you perhaps..."
"All right." Wilt was very understanding.
"Then lend me ten pounds."
Seeing that Darkwill was still hesitating, Wilt said in a low voice, "What's this? You've already called me senior, but you're not even willing to lend me ten pounds?"
"As I recall, the market price for a Sequence 8 Beyonder Characteristic is between seven hundred and a thousand pounds."
Darkwill hurriedly pulled out ten pounds in banknotes and offered them with both hands. "Senior, here's your money!"
Bang! The door to the folk herbal shop closed again as Wilt left, happily carrying four potions and ten pounds in banknotes.
Inside the shop, Darkwill's heart was bleeding.
"My potions..."
"My gold pounds..."
"Wait!" Darkwill suddenly realized something.
"I forgot to ask his name. If I had, I might have been able to get my teacher to ask him for the money."
Another thought then occurred to Darkwill. Was he lying to me just now? What if my teacher doesn't know him at all?
But he quickly cast that terrible suspicion far away. Impossible. Absolutely impossible!
He has a demigod Sealed Artifact and can even kill a Sequence 6 Beyonder creature. How could he possibly lie to a mere Sequence 8 like me?
That's right, that must be it.
Darkwill kept convincing himself, and in the end he made a decision. "Looks like it's time to leave Tingen City..."
Meanwhile, while Wilt was going through all this, Lanevus arrived at a nobleman's home.
He waited from morning until evening. Only after the sun had set did the butler lead him to a room, where he met Earl Corodo, a representative figure of Tingen City's Conservative Party.
Lanevus stepped forward and bowed. "Greetings, Your Lordship. It's the greatest honor to meet you here."
Earl Corodo gave Lanevus an indifferent glance and replied unhurriedly, "I'm sorry to have kept you waiting so long, but I was tied up with mundane affairs and couldn't help it."
"Not at all. I should be thanking you for giving me the opportunity to meet you, Your Lordship."
Earl Corodo was very pleased with Lanevus's attitude. "In that case, let's keep this brief and get straight to the point..."
"Go on. What did you come to see me about?"
"If it's about an investment, forget it. I'm not interested in the iron mine you have!"