So this is the Alchemist Tower . ’
Lakis’ narrowed eyes studied the towering building .
Reputed as the most famous location in the East, the tower was quite enormous .
—Hng, as expected, these eastern bastards are small-minded . And I had some expectations because people kept going on about the alchemist tower . These eastern guys are completely dumb, aren’t they? [1]
Lakis inwardly agreed with what the bug said .
A solid wall stood surrounding the vast land where the tower was located . There was no one else guarding the area .
Lakis checked around for a moment before moving to where the dense trees covered the walls halfway . Then he lightly kicked off the ground and jumped over the wall . Even inside, there were lush trees growing densely all around .
While thinking that this was the perfect environment for thieves to enter, Lakis approached the tower .
It was early in the evening, so the surroundings were still bright . However, not many people visited the Alchemist Tower in the first place, so the area was quiet . In addition, no one thought an intruder would walk in so blatantly in broad daylight so there was no one to block Lakis’ path .
Soon enough, Lakis arrived right in front of the Alchemist Tower . There were 3 doors at the entrance of the Alchemist Tower .
Lakis’ blue eyes keenly observed the building in front of him .
‘I’m sensing a strange energy . ’
Lakis reached out and touched the wall, instead of the doors .
Crackle!
Sure enough, that very moment, a burning sensation dug into his skin .
—Eh, this is-?!
The bug yelled in his head and at the same time, a chilling light flashed through Lakis’ eyes .
It felt similar to the invisible barrier that was placed around the test subjects to stop them from escaping when he was still in the ‘grave’ .
If his deductions were correct, then the real passage into the tower was hidden in the wall, not another obvious door .
Swoosh!
After a while, the sound of an upper window opening could be heard, as if they’d noticed that an unauthorized person had touched the tower .
“What the, there’s no one there?”
But since Lakis had already hidden himself, his intrusion was not discovered . After a little more time passed, a part of the wall where Lakis touched split open .
“Ugh, what a pain . I guess it malfunctions sometimes because this device is old . ”
The person who came out looked around with annoyance, then they went back inside, closing the door behind them .
The person grumbled to himself, not even able to imagine that an intruder had entered inside with him during that short moment .
—Whew, these guys are quite something . Even the inside is so free, seriously . Our family’s Lakis is definitely the best! [2]
‘What are you even talking about . Since when did my name become our family’s? Stuff it with your nonsense . ’
Lakis brazenly pranced around the Alchemist Tower with confidence . Most of the alchemists were locked up in their labs and working so not a single person discovered Lakis .
“Ah, this is serious annoying . Why is nothing going my way lately?”
And then, he heard someone opening the door at the right corner of the hallway .
Lakis’ goal today was just to take a rough look inside the Alchemist Tower then leave . So instead of removing the stumbling block like he did in other parts of the east, Lakis went into the empty room next to him .
“Those old fogeys, all they do is sit comfortably in their seat and point fingers at other people . ”
“Are you being called to the meeting today too?”
“Why, you want to go in my stead?”
“Oh gosh, if I spend a minute there, I’ll just shrivel up . ”
After a while, Damon Salvatore appeared in the hallway where Lakis disappeared . He was once again being summoned by the Central Council for a meeting so he was on his way out of the Alchemist Tower .
“I heard some new alchemy supplies came in earlier, are you going to check them yourself like before?”
“I don’t have time now, later . ”
“Alright, then I’ll put it where we originally keep it . ”
“Do as you like . Stop bothering me and go do your job . ”
After a while, the footsteps passing outside the room separated into two . The sound grew farther and farther in the opposite direction .
Click .
Soon, Lakis left the room and followed one of the two footsteps .
The alchemist who was talking to Damon did not notice that someone was following him at a specific distance . So Lakis was able to easily enter the room where the alchemy supplies were kept .
Sometime later, the lights were turned off leaving the room dark and in the darkness, a pair of deep blue eyes akin to raptors shone with intensity .
‘Ha, would you look at this . ’
In there, Lakis found something that was very familiar to him .
The next day .
Another nauseating crime scene was found, similar to the one from last time . Genos was called there just like before and was currently looking around .
“I expected this but with this, the scale of this incident will be too big . ”
His face hardened .
The traces left on the scene were similar to the last one . Genos’ face crumpled as he thought to himself that he definitely couldn’t eat meat for a while .
He bent down and picked up something that had fallen on the floor . It was a small flower ornament that seemed to belong to a child, yet it was drenched in blood .
Genos squeezed it in his hand .
While he was like that, Kalian spoke from behind him .
“I already talked to Russell, so you can take your time and look around . ”
“What? You called me here and you’re going somewhere?”
“I have an appointment . ”[3]
Genos stared at Kalian as if asking ‘how can that be?’ but Kalian left without even looking back . However, Genos was comforted when he briefly saw the stiff expression on Kalian’s face showing that Kalian didn’t exactly want this appointment .
Like he had been doing for the last few days, Genos found a spot for himself to sit on the floor and began looking around . Because the activation of his foresight ability was random, he didn’t know if it was of any use to do this .
However, it was impossible to know how many more victims would appear in the future so he had to try as much as he could .
And then, like it had been doing so far, Genos’ thoughts shifted to the woman who he had seen through his foresight some time ago .
He bit his lips painfully .
Kalian told him to ignore it and Genos was also aware that there wasn’t much he could do .
But he kept thinking about it .
Even though he had already tasted powerlessness countless times, the thought that he might be able to help this time refused to leave his mind .
Maybe Kalian was aware of this because he called him every day and rarely gave him time to do other things .
Genos himself also knew that it was much better to focus on something that concerned numerous lives instead of using his time to pay so much attention to one person .
But still, he couldn’t help it .
“Lord Sheldon? Where are you going?”
“I’m stepping out for a bit, don’t feel good . ”
Eventually, Genos was unable to restrain his impulse and headed out .
“Welcome, customer-nim…”
The place he went to was the coffeehouse . But the person Genos was looking for was nowhere to be found .
Gilbert, the owner of the coffeehouse, greeted Genos with an awkward expression, different from how he was when he faced Snow .
‘Ah, right…today is her day off . ’
He had forgotten that Yuri wasn’t working at the coffeehouse today .
“Goodbye, customer-nim!”
When Genos left after taking a look around the store, Gilbert saw him off in a voice much brighter than before . It was obvious that Gilbert remembered when he was with Damon the other day .
Genos’ fists were clenched tight .
Kalian told him to empty his mind for his own sake but it was not possible for him .
Genos turned around while thinking to himself that he should come back to the coffeehouse tomorrow .
Today was the day of the week Yuri had to go to the Crawford house . More importantly, today was also the day of the welcome party for Yuri and Anne-Marie .
“Since I get to go with you, Ms . Yuri, I really like it . ”
Thanks to Bastian’s consideration, Anne-Marie and Yuri were heading to the Crawford mansion in a carriage together .
Perhaps it felt like they were going on a picnic together because Anne-Marie kept smiling brightly as she looked at Yuri .
In a white dress, a corsage which Yuri gifted her recently, and a lovely smile on her face, Anne-Marie looked as pretty as ever .
Yuri was also wearing the ribbon Anne-Marie gifted her on her head .
“Ah . That reminds me, I met that guy on my way from the grocery store yesterday . ”
Then after a while, Anne-Marie brought up a new topic as if she suddenly remembered it .
Yuri tilted her head and asked .
“That guy?”
“Yes . That handsome blonde man I saw back at the shopping district . ”
Yuri realized Anne-Marie was talking about Lakis . But she hadn’t heard anything about this from Lakis .
Did he not tell her because he thought meeting Anne-Marie was not a big deal?
Anne-Marie looked like she was wondering if she should say something or not, then she pursed her lips and leaned towards Yuri before whispering quietly .
“That guy, he’s the person you’re dating, right?”
Yuri vaguely remembered hearing Lakis and Anne-Marie having a conversation outside her house . So she was able to understand why Anne-Marie would think that after seeing Lakis freely enter her house .
‘Is this why she’s been looking like she wants to tell me something whenever she sees me?’
However, for her to answer Anne-Marie’s question right now…
Honestly, Yuri was still not sure what exactly to call her relationship with Lakis .
Of course, she and Lakis had done all sorts of dangerous things that could happen between a man and a woman and she had also heard words that were similar to a confession, but she didn’t think they had ever said words like dating to each other .
“I’m not really sure . ”
And so, Yuri just spoke honestly .
At that, Anne-Marie looked at Yuri with wide eyes for moment then as if she was enlightened, she gave an expression of understanding .
“I see . I’ve read this in a book before, the time when you’re pushing and pulling is the most fun . ”
Somehow, Anne-Marie seemed to understand that Yuri and Lakis weren’t officially dating yet but in that ‘flirting’ period .
Yuri didn’t bother refuting or acknowledging that statement .
After a while, the carriage stopped in front of the Crawford mansion .
Translator’s Corner:
[1] This is the raw for that last sentence: [완전 동부 놈들 X만하잖아?] Once again, there’s a censor(the X) and I have no clue at all what it’s supposed to represent . I hope dumb is correct QAQ .
Should I change it to: These eastern guys are completely ****, aren’t they?’
[2] It says ‘Our Lakis is definitely the best’ but if I kept it like that, the next sentence would make no sense .
[3] ‘I have an appointment’ is like the default translation but here, it actually means I promised to meet someone/I promised to be somewhere . I can’t think of a better way to put it .
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