"It’s alright," Doris said, holding her hand out. "Usually when I scratch myself, it takes a few days to heal, but this one disappeared that night."
Anfey looked at Doris’s hand, and it was smooth, without any sign of injuries.
"Do you have an idea?" Miorich asked.
The middle age man nodded and retrieved a bottle of light blue potion from his dimensional ring. He handed the potion to Miorich and said, "This may hurt a little, but it won’t last. Keep her with the unicorn. It should be beneficial for her. If this not enough, I need more materials so I can make a few more bottles."
Miorich held the bottle in his hand and smiled at the man. "I would say thank you, but I think we are past that stage now."
"Say it anyway," the man said. "I like the sound of that phrase."
"What am I supposed to do with you?" Miorich asked with a smile.
Doris frowned and looked at the two men. She clearly did not realize Miorich was talking about her. Hagan, on the other hand, knew exactly what the potion was. He pushed to the front and asked, "Are you an alchemist, sir?"
"No."
"Then how did you…"
"I am an arch alchemist, mind you. And first and foremost I am a mage."
Hagan stared at the man in shock. He had never met anyone like this man. He was asking for the man’s occupation, not his title. The man was either very pretentious or liked riddles.
"Are you an alchemist?" the man asked.
"Y-Yes," Hagan said. He wanted to fool the man, but he was only an alchemist with no title.
"I won’t waste my time here, then. I will give you the recipe for the potion and you can make it."
"Th-Thank you," Hagan said sincerely. He bowed to the man gratefully. Unlike other occupations, alchemists’ strength lay in knowing as many recipes as possible. For Hagan, the man wasn’t just giving him a recipe. He was helping him grow as an alchemist.
The man smiled and found a magic scroll. He tapped the scroll and the magic on the scroll disappeared. Strange runes appeared around and on the scroll, then he handed the scroll to Miorich.
Hagan stared in shock. It was not easy to make magic scrolls, and it was even harder to wipe away the runes on magic scrolls. The man was able to do it so easily and so fast, it was almost impossible. Like the way Suzanna look at Miorich, Hagan looked at the man with reverence and admiration.
"We are done here, then? I have to go to Violet City," the man said and stretched.
"Why?" Miorich asked.
"The marquis there invited me. I don’t have anything anyway, so I agreed."
"The marquis?" Miorich asked, frowning. "Why is he asking for you?"
"I don't know," the man said, shrugging. "Oh yes, he mentioned that he’s being threatened by something. He didn’t happen to cross you, did he?"
Miorich snorted. "He's trying to pit you against me," he said coldly.
"He's asking the wrong person, then," the man said with a smile. "I would never do something so stupid." The man clasped Miorich’s shoulder and smiled. "How about this. I go, and I act as a spy for you. I will live with him and tell you all about that guy."
Anfey looked at the man and suppressed his urge to laugh. When he first met the man, he was very suspicious of him. He felt unease when the man offered to buy the unicorn, but judging from the way he talked, he was clearly someone who did not care much about mundane conflicts. The man had offered to teach Hagan the potion recipe and picked Miorich’s side in the fight against the marquis, and was obviously a good person.
"You aren’t afraid that the marquis is going to kill you?"
"He’s not good enough," the man said. "Even if he finds out I’m a spy for you, he won’t do anything." The man smiled and turned his gaze to Hagan. "Keep it up, kid," he said. "You're good. Us alchemists are respected. Forget about Marquis Djoser. You see this famous general here? Even he has to respect me."
Miorich rolled his eyes but did not say anything in objection.
"Y-yes," Hagan said, nodding. "I will heed your advice."
Anfey heard voices behind him, and knew that it was Suzanna and Niya. Niya had quite the temper, and it was hard for anyone to calm her down.
"Did you know why I endured you for so long?" Miorich asked.
"Why?"
"Because I like a good show."
"A good show? Where?" the man asked, glancing around.
"You’ll see in a bit," Miorich said, grinning.
As soon as he finished his sentence, Suzanna appeared. Her hand reached for her sword when she saw the man, because even though he appeared very common, she still saw him as a threat.
Niya appeared after a few seconds, and her eyes met the middle-aged man’s. The man’s face suddenly became very red, and tried to shield his face with his right hand. He waved his left hand, and a powerful magic surge ripped through the air. Thick smoke appeared and obscured his and Miorich’s figures. People around could not see Miorich, but they could hear him laughing uncontrollably.
The smoke dispersed and the man was gone. Miorich stopped laughing, but his expression was strange. His hands were clenched, as if he was trying to control his emotions.
"Was that, was that him?" Niya asked, her voice shaking. Like the man, her face was flushed as well.
"Yes," Miorich said. His voice was hoarse, and he turned to walk away.
Anfey did not know what happened in the smoke, but he knew that the man must have played a prank on Miorich before he disappeared. Miorich did not want to embarrass himself in front of the youngsters, and that was why he left so quickly.
"What should we do, then?" Suzanna asked quietly. She was trying to comfort Niya earlier, and did not know what had happened outside.
"It’s solved," Christian said with a smile.
"It’s solved?" Suzanna asked, shocked. Anfey had been so worried only minutes earlier, but now it was already solved?
Anfey nodded. "See?" He gestured towards Shally, who was already deep asleep. She did not wake up to the commotion earlier, but she was clearly more calm now. Suzanna let out a sigh of relief.
Hagan suddenly jumped up and called, "Wait! The recipe! The recipe! Miorich! Wait up!" He screamed loudly, earning glares from all the knights in the room, and chased after Miorich.
Hagan’s cries did not wake up Shally either. She only murmured in her sleep and snuggled against her sister.
"What happened?" Suzanna asked. "How did they cure her?"
"The unicorn did," Anfey said with a smile.
Everyone glanced at the unicorn. Everyone had heard that unicorns had purifying abilities. Surely nothing bad would come from being with the unicorn.
"Come here," Niya said. She crouched down and waved at the unicorn. "Come here, dear." She did not care what Anfey called the unicorn, she had always called the unicorn "dear."
The unicorn only glanced at her, but did not go to her. It walked around Anfey and stayed farther away from her.
The unicorn was only a magic beast and was not very intelligent. It would only remember a recent event. From the unicorn’s point of view, it was on Anfey’s side, and Anfey had just been defeated. It did not want to get close to Niya.
"Come here," Niya called again. She narrowed her eyes angrily, "Get over here now."
The unicorn snorted but did not move.
"Fine," Niya said. She stood up and stomped on the ground. "Fine. You are teaming up with him to take advantage of me now, huh?"
Everyone frowned and looked at Niya and Anfey. If Anfey tried to take advantage of Niya, why was Suzanna so calm?
"Did you know that man?" Anfey asked. He sensed Niya’s mood, and wanted to change the topic.
"N-No!" Niya said.
"Really? He ran away as soon as he saw you," Blavi said.
"I know what I said," Niya said. "I don’t know him. Why are you teaming up to bully me?" Niya asked angrily. She waved her hand and disappeared into her room again.