Chapter 10 - Is It Because Of Him?

Chapter 10 – Is It Because Of Him?

Kaligo?

Why? Why is he in the capital? No, more than that, the direction he’s walking in now was her shop. Ashia, who was staring at him blankly, came to her senses.

Robe! Robe!

A few days ago, she came back to the store and remembered a robe that she had thrown randomly.

Inside the store, through the small hallway, he found the space where Ashia lives. She thought that a robe is probably hung habitually on the back of a chair.

Ashia ran in quickly and found the robe. She grabbed the roughly laid robe on the table, quickly wrapped it around her, and covered her face with its hood.

Jingle.

Just in time, the door opened.

My heart sank at the sound of the bell, which usually always sounded nice.

[“Ashia! It’s him!” ]

“Shhh! I know. Keep quiet.”

Ashia looked in the mirror on the wall and checked again to see if the hood was properly covered.

When I was done, I walked through the hallway to the store. Having already entered the store, he was looking around without saying much.

Only one person came into the store, but this large space seemed to have been filled up. As he felt embarrassed, he went into the big store and grumbled.

“Welcome.”

Kaligo turned in the direction of Ashia’s voice. The awkward silence continued as she walked calmly into the store.

“Miss Ashia Bliss.”

Kaligo’s polite low voice called Ashia’s name. He took off his black gloves, crumpled it in one hand, and took a slow step to look at the items displayed in the store.

“It’s wider than I thought……”

Ashia, who was looking at Kaligo, sat in the middle of the store and opened her mouth.

“What brings you here?”

Kaligo’s head turned towards Ashia.

What he saw was Ashia who fixed her posture while she donned a thick robe and had a heavy hood draped all over her.

“…… I was on my way back to the palace for work. While we’re at it, I was thinking about hearing about the progress of the potion.”

Before she knew it, the two had faced each other with little space between them.

“It won’t go beyond the date specified in the contract. If you get the ingredients, you can go straight to the production of the potion.”

“You said you’d go get the ingredients yourself.”

“Yes, I’ve settled most of the requests I’ve been behind on, so I think I can leave soon.”

He looked down, feeling agonized for a moment, and then nodded his head and said.

“First of all, I know.”

What does he know? Ashia tilted her head.

“Goodbye, then.”

Kaligo turned away. Walked out of the store as nonchalantly as he did when he came in.

“Sigh…”

Through the transparent window, she could see him from behind as the Grand Duke climbed into the carriage. The carriage didn’t start immediately after he got in, but stayed there.

“What the…”

[Such a cheap guy.」

Luke, who was itching to talk, voiced out a single phrase.

“He’s so bland…”

[“But he looks more handsome under the bright lights. And his aura…」

[Is just like the sexy type that Ashia would like…… Argggghhhh]

“Shut up.”

Luke, being clenched in Ashia’s hand, screamed. She then looked at the carriage outside the store for a long time, while holding the necklace.

‘What the hell is wrong with him?’

Just in time, another customer came to the store. Since then, she forgot his presence as she dealt with numerous guests.

Suddenly, when she came back up and turned her head towards the window, the carriage had already left.

At midnight, Ashia locked up the shop, turned off the lights, and walked into the hallway, greeting Luke.

“Good work, Luke.”

“Don’t mention it! Good night. Ms. Ashia!”

“Yes, till tomorrow then.”

She gathered and tied her fluffy platinum hair altogether and crept up onto the fluffy bed. She then pulled the quilt under her waist up to her chin, thankful that she was able to go through everything today without a hitch.

Another night deepened as the stars settled in the cloudless night sky in Karmian.

The next day, just after lunch, Kaligo came back to the store. Entering the store, he walked to the one side of the sofa.

“I thought I’d ask for a few more potions. There’s a lot of backlog at the moment.”

There was a clink in Ashia’s ear, who was turning back curtly.

It is so familiar and welcome. And it is the sound that Ashia liked.

As she turned toward him again, she saw the coin purse that was placed on the table.

“It’s an advance payment.”

Ashia, who was standing far away and crossing her arms, took a quick step and landed on the sofa opposite him.

“What is your request? Sir?”

She then picked up the coin purse on the table and untied the string. When she saw that there was quite a lot of gold in the coin purse, a smile spread over Ashia’s mouth, which was exposed under the hood.

“I don’t mind you asking me. Feel free to say anything. What kind of help do you need?”

One of Kaligo’s eyebrows crept up in response to her noticeably docile response.

“…… I need a potion for the Knights of Etus.”

“Oh, I guess you have plans to go to war?”

“No, it’s not exactly decided. Due to the nature of the estate, there are knights who often return addicted to the poison of the beast while patrolling the northern forest area.”

Ashia tilted her head at his words.

“I’ve heard that almost all of the poisonous beasts are gone.”

“There are quite a few left in the forests north of the Etus Bohr estate.”

The Emperor of Karhan entrusted the northern part of the country, which was full of dangerous creatures, to the Grand Duchy of Etusl. With an order to give the greatest lands in exchange for the beasts to not invade the Karhan Empire.

“Anyway, in any world, the royal family…”

It was revealed that the imperial family was wary of Etus. It was also a measure to keep Etus, who has the right to succeed to the throne, in check and to raise soldiers to prevent them from dreaming of rebelling.

And, as the Emperor intended, the Knights of Etus would spend most of their time dealing with the Northern Monsters.

“Simple wounds can be treated by a doctor, but a wound that contains the poison from a poisonous beast cannot be removed easily and can only be slowed down. Eventually, the person will die from the poison.

“The Etus family’s defenses and the magic of their defenses aren’t that fragile, are they?”

“No matter how trained and well-equipped you are, mistakes are made as long as you are human.”

Ashia nodded at his words. Kaligo took a small bottle out and placed it on the table.

“It’s the poison of the northern horse, Teledrixia.”

“… You got this?”

It was a poison that penetrated the skin even if the person was bitten or if the poison had brushed against the skin. It was only possible to take the poison out of a beast that was still alive, which Kaligo had managed to do.

“I’ve been told that the antidote needs the poison’s ingredients.

“Yes, that’s right, by the way.

“I was giving up because there were no potion makers coming forward to make the antidote. That’s how dangerous it is to deal with the poison.”

“Yeah, it’s a real pain in the neck if the poison splashes or spills. Like you said, as long as you’re human, you can make mistakes.”

Teledrixia, a Northern-only creature. There was no developed antidote to the poison the beast possessed.

It was a monster that did not come from other lands other than the North. Considering the point of view of doctors or wizards, there was no reason to make the antidote with the risks.

“But if I make an antidote for it, you won’t have knights that are severely wounded or who lose their lives? Is that what you mean?”

“………. Yes.”

Ashia tilted her head, fiddling with the tip of her chin. Her gaze went back and forth between the vial of poison and the bag of gold on the table. She opened her mouth after a brief silence.

“You are going to have to pay three times as much in advance as I am put at risk.”

“…… Would that do?”

“No, I need more.”

“Please go on.”

“When the potion is complete and proven effective, give me 20 times the advance payment. If you’ll comply with all of my terms, I’ll draw up a contract and start working on your potion right away.”

Her position facing him was rather uncomfortable. She felt overwhelmed even if she was in a robe and covered by a hood because she was worried that the hood would fall off and expose her face. However, considering that he’s a customer who has a lot of gold and had entrusted her with a request, it was rather inconvenient on her part.

Kaligo buried his back deep in the sofa and nodded his head slightly.

“Alright. Let’s do that.”

He willingly accepted the deal without a hitch.

“You must have a lot of gold.”

“For the safety of my people, I tend to spare no expense.”

“… Okay. Let’s draw up a contract right now.”

Ashia stretched her arms out into the air. As her thin fingers danced in the air, blue light fluttered like powder, and paper jumped out of the air and landed on the table.

“Everything you just said and the terms and conditions I have are on it. Take a look and just write your name below……”

“Is it here?”

He took Ashia’s pen without even reading the contract. Asha tilted her head as she looked at him signing straight away without any hesitation.

“I shouldn’t have been such a sloppy person.”

When both signatures were written, Ashia rolled up the contract and pushed it aside.

“Then I’ll send you the medicine as soon as I can.”

“Of course. I beg of you. Please do so.”

“Oh… Yes.”

Kaligo rose from his seat and picked up his coat. Ashia stared at his carriage until he opened the store door and left.

‘As expected…’

Her eyes faded as she looked at the disappearing wagon.

It’s weird. It’s weird.

“What do you mean, Ms. Ashia?”

The main characters never came to Karmian, the capital, except to stop by the palace.

– I was on my way back after stopping by the palace for work. While we’re at it, I’d like to hear about the progress of the potion.

The moment I made a potion deal with him, I think the potion shop was added to his route.

But thinking about it, I thought that the amount of gold he gave is hard to decline.

Her commitments to not engage with the main characters have undoubtedly collapsed in front of the huge amount of gold. And if today’s request continues, Ashia will probably not be able to refuse. And the foreboding is not deflected.

After that day, Kaligo continued to visit three or four more times.

Whenever he came, he asked her to make a potion for some reason. From Ashia’s point of view, it was a good opportunity to earn a lot of gold for the easy requests, so there was no reason for her to refuse.

Whenever that happened, she had some friction with her belief that she would not be involved, but as always, due to the considerable amount of gold, she bent her belief just like a piece of paper.

In the meantime, the preparations to go looking for ingredients was nearing its end.

Early in the morning, as soon as the sun rose, Aisha stopped by Verna’s parlor where she had requested supplies for her journey.

“Sister.”

Ashia entered the parlor shop and called out to Verna.

“What? You didn’t sleep well? I think you’ve got some charcoal under your eyes.”

“Huh? Is that it?”

With what Verna had said, she looked into the mirror hanging on the wall of the parlor. Ashia, who was looking at her face, said with a light sigh.

“You must have been tired because you didn’t get enough sleep.”

“Is it because of him?”

Verna grinned and brought up a story about a man who visited the potion store every single day. Surprised by him, Ashia turned around and looked at Verna dubiously.

“What?”