‘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.
pαпdα`noνɐ1`сoМ 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. Only
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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