Chapter 33 | A Little Trade

“Why don’t you make more of that paste and sell it as a high-efficiency, high-cost potion?” Mr. Filip asked as Theo was busy loading up the cart with the ten barrels of potion-water they had just made.

“It doesn’t work like that.” Theo shook his head. “The paste isn’t more effective by itself; it’s more or less the same even when it’s mixed into the water. Its main use is its mass-producibility.”

“Tch. Bizarre,” Mr. Filip curtly commented. He was long done trying to understand Theo’s alchemy. He couldn’t help but wonder who his father was, or if his story was true at all. There was no way he wouldn’t have heard of such an alchemist.

“And—Ughh!” Theo strained with all his body to push the last barrel up. After making sure it was stable, he wiped his forehead. Fortunately, his body didn’t tire easily. “And directly taking the paste by itself would cause poisoning. Even this water isn’t to be taken more than twenty bottles a day.”

Mr. Filip raised a brow and crossed his arms.

“I doubt they would be worried about getting poisoned if they have to drink twenty bottles of this stuff in a day.”

“That—fair enough.”

Theo patted the barrels a couple of times, then he tied a rope around his waist. “Can you take out the chock?” he asked.

Mr. Filip walked up and pulled the chock from the wheel. Theo felt the two-wheeled cart move slightly, then stabilize.

“Alright, I’m leaving.”

“We could always ask for help from the villagers, you know?”

“Nah, no need to bother them. Not to mention, it would already be too late by then,” Theo answered. The knights had already gathered in the town center, and they would be setting out to establish their outpost soon. They were only here to talk to the village elders and guards.

Sure, he could have visited the knights in their outpost, but he wanted his trade with them to be seen by the villagers. Both as a method of gaining authenticity as a civilian and to showcase the fact he was helping the villagers, he had to do it somewhere with a lot of eyes.

The cart was heavy, a crushing weight on his spine as he stepped forward. He was nowhere near strong enough to carry it comfortably, and the only reason his back didn’t give out was his endurance. Fortunately, coupled with his vitality, it provided him a pseudo-boost in strength.

These physical stats were obviously linked to one another. If he were to increase his strength now, it would probably be much more beneficial than if he didn’t have those points in the other stats.

Though, he doubted he would need to do so. Much to his dismay, the system seemed to like throwing physical stats his way. If he wasn’t a man with a dream, a dream of becoming a great mage, he would already be contemplating switching to a physical build right about now. Not to mention, he had plenty of high-rarity skills supplementing his spell-casting.

He walked the length of the road, the image of the crowd at the town center a clear goal. His ankles didn’t hurt, his back didn’t ache. It was just clean, pure straining of his muscles. He wasn’t the fragile mage he was supposed to be, and frankly, he wouldn’t complain.

As he finally managed to reach the outer circle of the crowd, many people noticed his arrival. It was hard not to with a cart carrying ten whole barrels behind him.

Some greeted him, some raised brows. He had become the strange but friendly apprentice of a much stranger and much less friendly alchemist in their eyes. So, they stepped aside to let him pass.

And those who didn’t notice him, Theo had to verbally alert. “Let me pass! Please. Sorry. Oops. Yeah.”

A pathway gradually opened, which Theo utilized to pull the cart and stop in front of who he thought to be the Knight Lieutenant, a tall, bear-like man with three belts wrapped around his waist. A clean-shaven beard, dark circles under his eyes, and an unwavering, piercing gaze, the man looked straight at him, or maybe even past him. Of that, Theo wasn’t sure.

A crushing pressure radiated from him, either deliberately or simply by a rule of his existence. Theo felt his throat clog for a moment, but still raised a smile. He clapped his hands together, both to wake himself up and to ease the tension.

“Greetings, Sir Knight,” Theo started. He really hadn’t pictured himself one day uttering such words, so he barely held himself back from laughing. To hide his smile, he bowed deeply and waited for a moment. Then back up it was. He had to handle this properly. “I would like to make a trade.”

The Knight Lieutenant raised a brow and washed a gaze over him. Theo waited for an expression to appear on his face, maybe contempt, maybe curiosity. But it didn’t. The man was completely unfazed.

“State your terms. Though, don’t waste my time if it isn’t something worthy,” the man said with a gruff, growly voice. So much so that it made Theo want to shove a barrelful of water down his throat.

He nodded with excitement and walked back to the cart with a couple excited steps. He hefted the two handles without much form, gaining a curious glance from most of the knights as he pulled it even closer and turned it around. He tried lifting one of the barrels, but realized it wasn’t as easy as loading them up there. Seeing his inability to do so, the Lieutenant stepped forward, lifted the barrel and placed it down.

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Theo thanked him silently, then pried open the barrel’s lid.

“This here”—he patted the barrel confidently—“is a stamina and health concoction of my own. I brought it to trade with the esteemed knights of the realm.”

“Hmph.” The Lieutenant released a contemptuous snicker for the first time. It wasn’t quite condescending, more of an ‘I have seen it all already’ snicker. Maybe local alchemists offering them potions on missions weren’t that rare.

But if there was one thing Theo felt confident in now, it was his alchemy skills. Well, the Regressor’s alchemy skills, to be precise.

As Theo waited for the Lieutenant to continue, he noticed an awkward silence settle. He fake-coughed and stepped back to take out a ladle from the cart. He dipped it into the barrel, then filled a vial full of the potion. He then held it out toward the knight. The man crossed his arms and kept looking at him without a word.

Theo was briefly confused, but realized the problem. He quickly drank the potion himself and showed that there was no problem with it. He was about to fill another vial before the knight stopped him. He turned to his soldiers and called out.

“Bring over an empty vial.”