“You’re going to establish your own group, you say?” Ganyak hir Gawak asked as they walked together down one of the many hallways of the Alchemist Guild of Gimleh. “May I ask what you mean, exactly?”

  “I mean, I am tired of having to pander to whatever cloud-nosed bastards controls the personnel around here whenever there’s a problem. I need my own force that is made up of people skilled and eager to face what is about to hit us. And it needs to be a force that answers only to me.”

  The guild master nodded with understanding. “Those in power are not always easy to dance with.”

  “I think that would be putting it mildly,” Eik snorted.

  “And how do you plan to go about creating this group?”

  Eik pulled out one of his miraculous Legendary Mystery Medicines. “Money,” he said and crushed the valuable pill in his fist with a crack. “and power.”

  “Hoooh, how very impressive,” the old man said, sounding not very impressed. Aohan, on the other hand, was nodding along with enough enthusiasm for the both of them.

  Eik cleared his throat awkwardly. “Well, anyway, I have quite a few people in mind, so I’m confident that I can get something or the other going.”

  “I sincerely hope you do,” Ganyak hir Gawak said tiredly. “We’re in desperate need of determined people these days. Too many people are only concerned about their own skin and fail to see that this crisis must be faced whether we like it or not.”

  “Are you going to help?”

  The guild master nodded. “We are already making preparations to supply potions, medicines, and poisons to all war efforts, as well as any other contribution we can make.” As they walked, they passed many others, all of whom bowed respectfully to Ganyak hir Gawak.

  After taking the medicine offered by Chop, he was nearly walking like a man forty years his junior. Or, actually, supposedly that would still put him somewhere in his mid one hundred and seventies which, by any rational expectation, should mean he was little more than a name on the family tree hanging on the wall in his great great great-grandchild’s house.

  So more accurately, he was walking like a man nearly one hundred and sixty years his junior. Energetic old bastard.

  “Really? That’s good to hear. Thank you!” Eik said.

  “Oh, don’t thank me. The one on the front line will be you, no? As alchemists our role is first and foremost to support and ensure the survival of those who fight. It’s all we can do, I’m afraid. Ah, here we are,” he said and stopped in front of a painted door. The deep green hue was coming off in dry flakes along the simple geometric ornamentation. “She should be here at this time of day, yes?”

  “It’s highly likely, sir,” Jarice agreed and pushed the door open. Ever since the revelation of Chop’s identity, he had been keeping maintaining the greatest distance possible from the old man at all times. After putting his hands on the X-ranker, he seemed convinced that some manner of retaliation was in store for him, although Eik was more or less certain that the old geezer hadn’t even noticed in the first place.

  A handful of alchemists looked up from their work and offered bows when they saw who had arrived. Eik’s eyes were drawn to another person, however, who seemed to have failed not only to greet the guild master but even to realize that someone had entered.

  “Is Meri here?” Ganyak hir Gawak asked softly.

  One of the other alchemists nodded in the oblivious person’s direction. The guild master smiled and shuffled over to stand right behind their back. Able only to see her shoulders and the outline of her nose and lips, Eik could tell that she really hadn’t noticed anything. Her tongue was wrenched tightly into the corner of her mouth as she fiddled with some ingredients in a very small cauldron.

  “Meri,” the guild master said quietly. If he had hoped not to frighten her, it had worked too well. He tried again, a little louder. Finally, he called more sharply. “Meri!”

  With a horrified gasp that came from the bottom of her soul, she threw herself off the stool she had been sitting on. In an attempt to catch her fall, her fingers caught the small cauldron instead and flung the whole thing into the air, the contents going everywhere. A shriek escaped her throat but was abruptly cut short as she landed in a soft, cushiony blob of blue and the cauldron and ingredients sailing through the air were snatched up something moving so quickly that the eye had no chance of registering it.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “What the fuck,” she raged, undulating futilely in the vibrantly colored blob with no way to get back up. “I told you fuckers not to disturb me when I’m concen… trating…” she trailed off when she managed to twist around enough to see who had come to see her. “Guild Master Ganyak hir Gawak… uuh, sir?”

  She looked like a dog after throwing up on her owner’s pillow. Guilty as hell.

  “Hello, Meri,” the guild master said dryly, although Eik thought he saw a hint of a suppressed smile pull at the corners of his lips. “Energetic as always, aren’t we?”

  “I’m sorry,” she said, hanging her head like that same vomiting dog. “I didn’t know it was you.”

  “You shouldn’t talk to any of your colleague like that anyway,” he lectured.

  “But they’re always bothering me! When I’m concentrating I don’t want to b—”

  “Meri, when you concentrate, you concentrate for four hours at a time. They want your help because you’re skilled and, despite what you think, because you’re a great teacher. And teaching is—”

  “Is one of the best ways to improve yourself, yes, I know,” she said, rolling her eyes. “You always say that, grand— I mean, Guild Master.”

  Ignoring her backtalk, the guild master turned to Eik and Chop with a tight grip on Meri’s shoulder as if to prevent her from running off. “Mr. Magnasen, Mr… the Blade, I’m pleased to introduce you to one of the most skilled theorists here at the Alchemist Guild of Gimleh, Meri hir Gawak.”

  “Is she…?”

  “And, yes, she also happens to be my granddaughter.”

  Damn. Eik took a closer look at her. She looked no older than twenty five. If she was the granddaughter of a man older than two hundred, then his nuts must have been like two sun-dried tomatoes by the time she was conceived. Eik didn’t say that out loud, of course.

  “Impressive,” Chop said and wiggled his eyebrows.

  Ganyak hir Gawak cleared his throat awkwardly while Meri stuck out her tongue in disgust. “To be precise, she’s the daughter of my grandson’s granddaughter. But thank you nonetheless…”

  “You’re welcome,” the old X-ranker said with a disappointed shrug.

  “I assume that’s not the only reason why you’re recommending her, right?” Eik asked cautiously.

  “No. While I won’t pretend not to care for my own family, I can promise you that she really is one of the best candidates for your request. She may be a little… feisty, but I’m sure you can manage.”

  “Well, if she’s good, then I have no complaints.”

  “Who are you two weird guys anyway?” Meri asked with a click of her tongue only for her grandfather to clamp a hand over her mouth with wide eyes, nostrils flaring frantically. Aohan and Jarice looked ready to hogtie her and carry her off to a place far away where she couldn’t say anything untoward to the two extreme high-rankers.

  “Meri, you will be working together with Mr. Eik Magnasen and Mr. Chop the Blade to develop a recipe for a grade six Potion of Mighty Strength. Mr. Magnasen will supply all materials for the development so all you have to do is get it done,” the guild master said as Meri’s face lit up like a bulb. “I’m sorry, Mr. Magnasen, but my granddaughter really has nothing but alchemy in her head. She doesn’t care about anything else.”

  Eik smiled. “That just means she’s determined, and I like that. Glad to work with you, Meri.”

  “What’s your lab like?” she asked excitedly, getting up into his face. “Do you have the new polytextural cryoinductor announced on the convention for professional grade alchemy equipment last month?”

  Reeling from her verbal assault, Eik hesitated. “Uuh, I don’t know. Probably not? All of my laboratories should be state of the art but if you need that… polotexan chronicler, then I can get it.”

  “She doesn’t,” Ganyak hir Gawak interrupted, appearing behind his granddaughter like a ghost and dragging her to the corner of the room where he spoke to her in a sharp whisper while they all watched. Twenty seconds later she shuffled back.

  “I’m very sorry for my outburst. I’ll be good so I hope you’re still willing to work with me.”

  Eik laughed. “More than willing. Judging by your strength, I doubt you can handle working directly with S-ranked materials, so if you locate anything that could be useful, call me right away. I’ll come running.”

  “Will do, boss,” she said with a half-hearted salute, eliciting an eye roll from her grandpa.

  “If I could leave finding a couple more people to help to you, I think I’ll take my leave.”

  ***

  “This is seriously the name you want printed on your posters?” the man asked as he studied the rough draft Eik had drawn up as an example. His tiny, waxed mustache wiggled up and down comically as he wrinkled his nose with dissatisfaction.

  “What’s wrong with it?” Eik asked with narrowed eyes.

  The presser reconsidered his words, another glance at the title of the poster sending chills down his spine. “You know what? I think it’s an absolutely magnificent poster! No, as a matter of fact, this might well be the best one I’ve ever seen! Couldn’t have done it better myself! It’s perfect!”

  “Thank you,” Eik said with a graceful nod.

  “And you’d still like two thousand copies?”

  “I’m good for it.”

  A third glance at the poster title. “Oh, I’m aware. I’ll clean up the design a little and make a sample copy that you can see before making the rest.”

  “Great.” Eik took a seat in a rickety chair in the front room of the press shop, Chop in the chair next to him. Ten minutes later the presser came back out, looking rather pleased with himself.

  “Not too bad if I do say so myself,” he noted and slammed the sheet onto the counter. “Take a look.”

  Chop followed Eik over. “I like it,” Eik said, nodding to himself. “But can you make the lettering here a little larger after all? I want it to be visible from across a street.”

  “Sure thing. And you can keep that copy. Free of charge.”

  “Thanks,” Eik said. He couldn’t help but smile as he looked over the copy. Written in large, arching letters, this would surely pull in some people.

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