Chapter 217: Medicinal Herbs: A Compendium

Lin Jie was livid.

He had been sleeping soundly and had a pretty lady teaching him spells in his dream. Yet, this sweet dream of his was disrupted by a loud bang, instantly waking him up. Upon heading downstairs, he had found the door to his store missing.

Besides having his door gone, a possible murder had also occured on the premises, with the murderer disappearing without a trace and only the victim left behind.

How could anyone possibly accept such a thing happening to them?

Putting aside the vile wrongdoings of the assailant first, Lin Jie would very much rather get justice deserved for the door that had been with him for three years.

Prima was slightly stunned and subconsciously glanced at the ‘cat’ which was still sulking beside the doorway… Referring to it as a cat was for simplicity's sake.

As for the assailant… wasn’t she eaten up by it?

If the cause was viewed literally, the person responsible for smashing the door was Prima.

Because the inertia she had when running, coupled with the swing of the dagger, had made her crash into the door, not only smashing it off its hinges but also leaving behind a big dent.

However, the root cause was still the result of the assailant’s assault, hence the true culprit was without a doubt the dark elf stalker.

Still, the young man before her continued to question the identity of the ‘culprit.’

With more thought, one could tell that this wasn’t a case of asking the obvious but a question with an underlying implication.

Prima’s mind quickly went to work as she recalled everything that occurred before she lost consciousness. And in an instant, she figured out what was going on!

The dark elf was hired to kill Prima; in other words, she technically wasn’t the root cause either and merely an ‘instrument’ being manipulated by someone else. Therefore, the true ‘culprit’ would be the client who hired her.

In this case, the aforementioned client would be Jerome and his fellow clanmates who wished to betray Walpurgis!

Furthermore, the young man had also mentioned the Church of the Dome which directly coincided with her sister’s predicament.

In this sense, even if he wasn’t Walpurgis, he would at least be an emissary or an envoy of sorts… The divination had ultimately led Prima here. Unless… this was Walpurgis’ intention?

Walpurgis, who controlled the Night, hadn't abandoned her anointed after all!

During the previous dialogue, Jerome had immediately warned the dark elf stalker to run after hearing about the bookstore. Could the young man before her eyes be some reputed powerhouse that even Jerome was fearful of?

With the help of someone this strong, Sis will be fine!

Prima’s heart started to pound loudly, and a strange blush reappeared on her pale face from excitement.

“Thank you so much for saving me…” she said cautiously.

Lin Jie instantly interrupted her by raising Prima’s hand that held the empty vial of the antidote. With a deadpan expression, he said, “It wasn’t me who saved you, you did it yourself. All I did was help you clean and bandage your wound.”

He reached out to pat the young lady’s head, wiping away the sigil he had drawn on her forehead with fresh blood and leaving no trace behind.

Spells and such… cannot be revealed. 

“…”

The warm palm on her head, the empty vial in her hand, and Lin Jie’s serious expression; all of it made her nose itch.

She was fully aware of what had happened just now, and she was certain that Lin Jie definitely knew that she was aware of this.

He had obviously saved her yet insisted on saying that she saved herself. This was a recognition of her hard work and perseverance, recognition for the elixirs she made!

Besides Prima’s older sister, no one else had ever acknowledged her…

A truly kind and benevolent emissary! 

Drunk on the recognition she had received, Prima suddenly became aware of the skin contact between her and this unfamiliar young man.

Blushing so hard, she desperately waved her hands and squeaked in a high-pitched voice, “Non-nonsense! I-If you weren’t here, I would’ve de-definitely perished by now. He-Hence I still have to thank you! Thank you so much!”

This pitiful girl had prolonged inexposure to human contact, choosing to be a recluse and only concerning herself with research of elixirs. It could even be said that she was ‘isolated from the world.’

Besides Margaret, she barely even got within 50 meters of other people, especially men.

Now, being petted like a cat made her anxiously attempt to shrink back, like a mimosa leaf closing up from just a touch.

“Slow down, why don’t you first tell me what happened…”

Lin Jie withdrew his hand seeing how disorganized and incoherent Prima was and continued with resignation, “Nevermind, let me ask the questions and you to answer them. Try to be as simple and straightforward as possible.”

Prima nodded.

Originally, Lin Jie wanted to assume his usual ‘Commander Ikari’s iconic pose.’ But, after realizing his hand was still covered in blood, he assumed another pose by casually placing his elbow on his knee.

“What’s your name? And your identity?” he asked after some thought.

“Prima, Prima Sandra,” Prima replied earnestly in sequence. “I am the second daughter of the second son of the current head of Sandra Clan. My older sister, Margaret, is the Head of Medicine at the Truth Union.”

Lin Jie gave some thought before promptly replying, “I’m Lin Jie, the owner of this bookstore.”

Ah, she's from the Sandra Clan… yet another one from a noble family appears. At least it isn't the heiress this time but a poor thing that's been cast aside and seemingly even being targeted. 

Of course, the reason Lin Jie knew about this clan wasn't because he was well-informed, but rather, it was because 'Sandra Pharmaceutical' was very well known despite the clan’s attempt at keeping a low profile. Lin Jie had even heard some gossip regarding them before.

It was an extremely profitable enterprise that had collaborated with the Ash Chamber Commerce for a long time, mainly providing high quality and expensive medicine to many different drugstores, hospitals, and even nobles.

With this, the reason why Prima had an antidote on her could now be easily explained.

She was born into this clan and was even a pharmacist herself.

Oh, she specifically mentioned her sister. It's likely that she has something to do with this incident.

Thus, he proceeded to ask, “Your sister Margaret; she's probably the reason why you were targeted.”

Prima bit her lip and nodded. “She went missing after being attacked. This is definitely the work of Jerome and his group. They wish to remove all obstacles in their way for their own benefit.

"I don't know what has happened to her now, but the situation must be dire! I am not sure of the conflict within the clan, but… but I must save my sister!”

Lin Jie thought to himself, I also don't know anything about the internal conflict within your clan... You people from the upper class really are of a different level... ambushes, assassinations, and whatnot.

But... that's not the point here. Most importantly, my door was destroyed!

“So the mastermind behind your recent assassination was Jerome and his associates, am I correct?” Lin Jie flashed a kind smile as he continued, “Which means, they were the ones who destroyed my door.”

Sensing the change in demeanor of the young man before her, Prima gulped nervously and proceeded to nod her head excessively.

“Alright, I have a working partnership with the Truth Union. Let’s start the investigation from there.”

Lin Jie stood up and rubbed away the dried blood on his hands. “You can go ahead and lie down first and wait for my assistant to wake up. Oh… looks like you can’t really go back either. I guess you can share a room with her.

"For now..." Lin Jie looked around, then proceeded to retrieve a book from the shelf.

“Oh, since there isn’t any entertainment in the store, you can read this book if you get bored.”

After giving it some thought, Boss Lin presumed her to be a studious girl who would prefer books with more technical content. And having put her identity into consideration, he finally chose a book by the title of Medicinal Herbs: A Compendium.

Hopefully, a book this thick can help Prima pass her time, Lin Jie thought.