Chapter 157.2: The Seventh Artisan (2)

157 Part 2

“As far as I know, Ledio and Douglas are the best alchemists the land. That was why I asked them.”

“What? The best alchemists of the land? They would have been unable to find a clue. The lab tells me that.”

While his words were rough, it was evident that Baion possessed a deep knowledge, since he was able to know what research had been undergone and its results just by looking around.

“Son.”

“Yes?”

“Are you also stuck with those damn Pages? Why are you researching that nonsensical inner world that would be useless to you until you die?”

“……”

“Rot.”

Baion shook his had in sincere lament.

“What more can I hide in this situation? Your father is not dead because I cannot die in the first place. I pretended to die as an experiment. It had been somewhat successful, but I did not expect I would be awoken this early.”

Baion scratched his head, and the conversation was getting even more uncommon as he looked around Ledio’s age on the surface.

“That doesn’t really explain much…”

“Leave it at that, we will speak later. You, what was your name? Ian Page?”

Baion turned to Ian, and Ian replied naturally with composure.

“Yes, that name is mine.”

“Is he dead? No, that thing would not have died. Where is he?”

“Who are you talking about? Other artisans are all nearby…”

“No, no. I meant Fran.”

Ian now was convinced that the alchemist Baion treated Fran as someone below him for unknown reasons. How could he do that when he seemed not all that strong? Ian decided to keep what he knew for now.

“I’m sorry, but I do not know much about his whereabouts, since he has not appeared for a long while.”

“Damn, I thought he had appeared and removed this damn curse. I would never have passed my knowledge if I knew what would happen!”

The relationship between Baion and Fran began to appear from Baion’s impassioned shout, and Baion seemed to be Fran’s teacher in alchemy.

“Do you mean that Fran learned alchemy from you?”

“Why? Do you think that I’m lying?”

“Of course not. However, I had witnessed the level of Fran Page’s alchemy, and it was impressive.”

“Level? I had taught him a few things because he begged me to, and what are you talking about levels?!”

“If you say that, then…”

Ian carefully chose his words. He asked Baion about that potion that would let him enter the inner world, which Fran Page had given Ian, and which Ledio and Douglas could not understand.

“That? That wasn’t much.”

Baion answered with scratching his nostril, and his voice was full of firm confidence that had substance. He was not showing off.

“Why, do you need one?”

Ian felt excitement at Baion’s question. The alchemist’s sudden appearance was a variant that could overturn the situation in Ian’s favor.

‘Even Fran Page would not have expected this.”

How could he know that Baion had sealed himself in his own book?

‘This is a chance.’

A variant meant opportunity, and Ian would not let go of this chance. He quickly went on speaking.

“I need one.”

“For free?”

“The inner world is the key.”

“The key? What in the world are you talking about?”

“The blessing of immortality, or the curse of the undead.”

Baion flinched in Ian’s quiet murmur, as Ian had mentioned in detail what had tormented Baion for all this time.

“The inner world is the key to solve this stigma.”

“You’re saying that the inner world is the key to solve this curse?”

“To my understanding, yes.”

“Then, I should give you one.”

Baion’s decision and the reply was almost instant, and it seemed not from a yearning for death. He sounded like such a simple affair did not need negotiations.

“Let’s go to the island.”

Now was the time for one of the two masterpieces in the Knocking Island, the one made by the alchemist Baion, to show itself.

***

Ian and Baion went to the Knocking Island through a portal, and Ledio, Douglas, and Evantus also followed them.

“It has been a long while.”

Baion sounded like he would make a good match for the blacksmith Halia, and he briskly walked up to one of the two ‘dragons,’ the statues that stored the masterpieces, which had not been activated yet.

“Here, take this.”

Baion poured mana in the statue, and the dragon’s mouth opened wide. Simultaneously, a thick book dropped down, and it did not look much different from the ‘alchemy book’ Ledio had.

“Everything I know is in there. I won’t move a muscle for herbs and ingredients and use my son to make the potion. My grandson is also a candidate. You say that he’s the smarter one, even though they look the same to me.”

The book would be the masterpiece, and Baion had thrown it at them. However, the book looked exactly like Ledio’s.

“Isn’t this…the book you gave me? The symbol on the front cover…”

“The book I gave you was for beginners.”

Baion was saying that the vast and deep knowledge in Ledio’s book had only been for beginners.

“I’m saying this book is filled with possibilities that would make a third-rate alchemist to the lord of all alchemists in the land.”