Chapter 135

Chapter 135: Alchemy

Michael started to place the ingredients into the large pot and started the fire with medium heat. He then stirred the ingredients while adding more every rotation. After a while, Michael turned up the heat, unfortunately, the heat that the stove produced wasn’t enough.

Michael already expected this and created a fireball with his left hand while his right hand continued stirring. Shin who was watching at the side was surprised by the sight. This was the second time he has seen Michael use external qi, and the effect was more obvious than before.

Michael unaware of what Shin was thinking used the fireball in his hand to heat up the pot. Unfortunately, the heat emitted by the fireball was greater than what the pot and metal stirring stick could handle. Michael also expected this as this was what happened last time as well.

As the pot and stick were melting due to the heat, Michael with the guidance of the Spirit of the Akashic Records strengthened the ordinary pot and metal stick with his mana. The amount of mana he was using was just enough for him to hold on until he was finished making the potion.

While Michael was fully concentrated on making the potion Shin suddenly heard someone shouting from the outside. Shin didn’t want Michael to lose concentration so he immediately went out to see what was happening.

Larry was still comforting his mother unaware of the commotion going on outside. When Shin opened the door of the restaurant Larry and Shin heard the voice of a very familiar person.

“I know that you took her, let me in, or else I’ll arrest the lot of you!” Just outside being blocked by Shin’s men was Detective Matsuri.

.....

“Dete-” Shin was about to call out to the detective but before he could do so, Larry burst out of the restaurant.

“Detective, what are you doing here?” Larry looked bewildered as he stared at Matsuri.

“Larry where you captured as well?”

“Huh?”

“Don’t worry I’m here now. I know these thugs took your mother away and now they took you as well.”

Matsuri pulled out a syringe, this was an advanced version of the Booster that could increase her overall strength into a rank-four Martial Artist. The drawback was that after the effects wear off the user would be bedridden for a week and would have some minor heart complications. Still, Matsuri was willing to risk that.

As Matsuri was about to inject herself with the Booster someone stopped her. She didn’t even notice the person approach her as he suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Matsuri already knew that this could happen as her opponents were martial artists so she already had another Booster in her left hand ready and was about to inject it, but then she saw who had stopped her.

“Mugami Shin?... Why are you here, are you the one behind all of this?”

“How about you calm yourself first and listen to our explanation? Larry here hasn’t been kidnapped in fact, Michael and I have been helping him.”

When Matsuri heard what Shin said she unconsciously looked at Larry who nodded his head as he approached her.

“Everything, Sir Shin has said is true... But what are you doing here Detective?”

“After I was removed from the Fletcher Case, I had some of my friends from the patrol unit have a look at the brothels owned by Catherine Walker every now and then. A few hours ago each one of them saw a couple of people entering the brothels at almost the exact same time. One of them even saw these men in suits take Mollie Fletcher. It took me some time to track the guys down and now here we are.”

Larry felt a pang in his heart, learning that even after she was warned not to touch anything related to this case, Detective Matsuri continued on without worry about her career. Larry hated himself for getting angry at Matsuri despite knowing she was doing her best.

“Why are you doing this Detective, even though you know you’ll get into trouble?”

Larry who has been on a roller coaster of emotions the entire day could not help himself as he spoke the question he wanted to ask a few days ago. He could not shed any more tears as he already shed them all, but his red eyes looked deeply at Matsuri. Seeing him act like that surprised Matsuri for a bit, she then smiled at the flustered Larry.

“I am a Detective, and I always move in the name of justice. If the rules do not allow me to fulfill this one thing, then what’s the point of everything else? Not to mention didn’t I promise you that everything would be alright. How could I just do nothing after promising you that?”

“... But...”

“There’s no need to worry about me, I still have my own connections. So even if they find out about I can still do something about it. Anyway, that’s not important... So, what’s happening here? How did you even think of involving Michael and the kid from Mugami Clan to help you?”

As Larry was about to respond to Matsuri’s question, Shin signaled him to stop.

“How about we continue this conversation inside?” Shin then pointed at the restaurant. Matsuri shrugged her shoulders as she entered the restaurant followed by Larry and Shin.

...

While Larry was telling his story to Matsuri, Michael was already at the last steps of making the potion. The pot he was using was nearly melted but it held on until this final step. As he continued to do his thing, he and the Spirit of the Akashic Records still haven’t noticed the person hidden in the shadows watching them.

Michael’s experience, skills, and strength weren’t enough for him to notice the person hidden within the shadows, as for the Spirit of the Akashic Records he was in an incomplete state and needed to focus on Michael’s alchemy which was why he wasn’t aware of the intruder as well.

‘Hmm, I guess he really is pretty talented, and maybe that Spirit really is a piece of the Akashic Records. Still, it is rather surprising that the Detective is also related to this case. She really is such a busybody.’

The person hidden in the shadows was none other than Fade. After he was done with his mission he immediately headed to the restaurant Michael and the others were. When he arrived he saw Michael already making a potion. He came to make sure that his mission was truly a success.