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Outside the castle, in the city of Mordem, lives were bustling cheerily. Kids played around in the streets, and adults browsed through the stalls and stands stationed all around. There were plentiful of people, lively and rowdy, but not in a bad way. If anything, for the capital of Death Realm, this seemed like the exact opposite — filled with life.

Of course, Axilia had to wear a mask and change into some more commoner-like clothes, as she stood out a lot as a princess. Nothing in her wardrobe fit that criteria though, so I had to just compromise and give her my cloak to wrap around her body with. Naturally, Axilia was beyond happy at this, while Ling Xin pouted teasingly from jealousy.

"So, Ling Xin… are you not going to visit your family?" I asked as we walked through the busy streets. "Axilia too."

"Don\'t worry, I already did," Ling Xin replied. "Before coming here, I asked them where I could find Axilia — and that led me to you, of course."

.

"I don\'t have any family except darling~" Axilia added, clutching my arm tightly and pressing her head against my shoulder.

"Hm… alright then. Whatever you want," I chuckled, then turned to Ling Xin again and lowered my voice. "By the way… do you know of any interesting places we could go to in this city, or just anything useful I could bring back to the Living Realm in general?"

"The Death Realm is similar to the Living Realm in many ways, and most of the facilities in this city can also be found in the Living Realm," Ling Xin said. "But if you\'re looking for something useful that can only be found in this place… fufu."

She smirked suggestively and eyed an extremely luxurious-looking building in the distance that had an urban, modernized air to it compared to the rural village-like buildings all around. It was wide, but not too tall. I followed Ling Xin\'s gaze and spotted the building as well, then raised an eyebrow.

"What is that place?"

"The Mordem Auction House," Ling Xin replied. "The strongest, wealthiest business in the Death Realm, second only to royalty. If you want some Death Realm treasures, they\'ll all be there."

"Do you want to go there, darling~?" Axilia asked innocently. "I have plenty of money."

"Uh… I feel kind of bad about using your money though," I muttered. "Ling Xin, is there any other way of payment, like trading or something?"

"Hm…" Ling Xin placed her fingers on her chin, then asked thoughtfully. "Do you know how to perform alchemy?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Alchemy? As in… making pills, elixirs, and such?"

Ling Xin nodded. "Judging from your reaction, you don\'t know. But you may have a hidden talent for it — I wouldn\'t be surprised, given how many times you\'ve managed to impress me so far~"

"Uh… but even if I have talent, I\'ll need time to hone it, no? I doubt we\'ll have time to do that before the prince strikes and we have to promptly get the hell out of here."

"Actually… alchemy is a rare thing that doesn\'t follow the rule of practice makes perfect," Ling Xin corrected with a gentle smile. "I\'ll show you what I mean — follow me."

I turned to Axilia for confirmation on the matter, to which she stared back at me blankly. It seemed that she didn\'t know anything about this matter either, despite all the reading she does.

"Come on~" Ling Xin grabbed my hand and pulled me into the crowd, Axilia taking my other and following behind.

*****

Soon, we found ourselves standing before a small hut near the very edge of the city, isolated and desolate. It definitely didn\'t seem like the kind of place one would come to with the goal of studying alchemy.

"What is this place?"

"The residency of an old alchemy master, the best in the Death Realm," Ling Xin replied. "Also my godfather."

"…" I stared at her for a while awkwardly, then turned back to the hut and cleared my throat. "Ahem… hello, old master. I am… er…"

"My husband~!" Ling Xin cut in loudly, suddenly hugging my arm.

"H-Huh?!"

"WHAT?!" A voice roared from inside the hut, and a hairy old man stumbled out of the small entrance. He was quite short and chubby, like a dwarf, but the anger in his voice was real. One of his feet was a stump, having been cut off by something earlier in his life, and in his small chubby hands, held what looked like half a small circular ball — an unfinished pill.

"Uh… hi," I said awkwardly.

The old man glanced between Axilia, Ling Xin, and I several times, before narrowing his gaze on me.

"Boy… who do you think you are, to take two women as your wives?! Xin\'Er, break up with him immediately! Such a man cannot be trusted!"

"Fufu~ sorry, but he\'s already… claimed my body and heart," Ling Xin whispered seductively into my ear, infuriating the old man even further.

"BOY, YOU…!"

"W-Wait!" I hurriedly cut in. "Listen, geezer, I didn\'t do anything to her, and she is free to leave whenever she wants. Ling Xin, stop trying to get me killed!"

"Hehe~ don\'t worry, darling~ if he tries killing you, I\'ll kill him first~" Axilia reassured with an innocent smile on her face.

"Okay, okay, enough… no one\'s trying to kill anyone here," I said with a sigh. "Old geezer… I am only here to learn alchemy from you, since your goddaughter here told me I may have talent for it."

"Hmph… you? Ha! Very well, boy… if you can impress me, I\'ll let you leave this place alive. Come in!"

He turned his bulky figure around and strolled on back into the small hut. I gulped and followed, Axilia and Ling Xin as well. But then-

"You two girls! Stay out!"

At this, Axilia smiled creepily and pulled out a scythe out of nowhere.

"Trying to separate me and darling~?"

"Axilia!" I hurriedly stopped her. "No. I can defend myself if he tries anything. Just stay out here with Ling Xin and don\'t make any trouble."

"Mm… okay…" She seemed saddened, but listened to my instructions — thankfully.

"Good luck, husband~" Ling Xin said with a wink and blew a kiss.

I shot her a glare, then disappeared into the hut.

*****

The moment I got inside, the doors shut tight behind me, and I felt something like a gun being pointed to the back of my head.

"Don\'t move, boy… and sit down," the old man growled.

"… So, you\'re going to try to kill me after all? Maybe I should have let Axilia cut you into pieces."

"Relax. As long as you don\'t make a move against me, I won\'t fire the gun. You see, I\'m not very strong. I\'m just an alchemist. If you tried to kill me… I wouldn\'t be able to fight back at all. Now… you have no experience at all in alchemy, I\'m guessing?"

I shook my head as I sat down on the incredibly short stool before me. "None at all."

"Hmph… see those materials on the table? They\'re all you need to concoct a single Low-Grade pill. I want you to hover your hands over them, then listen to their sounds."

… What did I just hear? Did this old geezer just tell me to listen to the sounds of a bunch of weird-looking herbs and plants?

"I know what you\'re thinking right now, even though I can\'t read your mind," the old man growled. "But if you can\'t hear their sounds, then you have no talent for alchemy. Clear away all your thoughts, and listen."

Easy for you to say… but how the hell am I supposed to clear away all my thoughts if I have a gun being pointed at the back of my head?

Taking a deep breath, I decided to just do the best I can, hovering my hands over the tree stump on which the materials were laid around. Due to the darkness in the room, it was difficult to see what exactly was on it, but it seemed like various strange herbs and plants that I had never seen before in the Living Realm, even across all my textbooks.

As I concentrated, however, I began hearing faint whispers. Not anything that even resembled human speech, but they were the calming voice of nature, speaking to me. I closed my eyes, amplifying these sounds, and the old man\'s eyes widened.

"Kid… you…"

But the whispers of nature completely filled my ears, rendering his voice into the background. I was now completely focused onto this task, and at that moment, nothing else mattered.

Slowly, the voices became distorted, but in a harmonious way. They merged together perfectly, like a major third or perfect fifth. The sounds of different plants and herbs became one, growing quieter and quieter until it at last, faded away for good.

I opened my eyes.

Below my hands, a single, pulsating golden pill lay, radiating light and brightening the entire room.

I had succeeded.