Chapter 60 – Expedition without hopes or dreams (2)
Translator: WH Editor: Sasha
2.
The Hunters cheered.
“Ohh, what’s this. So all four spots are filled?”
“But who exactly is that woman?”
“That’s what I want to say. The elder, Medicine King, as you know….”
The Sword Saint also had a puzzled look on his face.
“Isn’t that the girl I saw last time?”
“Hikkkk…”
The Alchemist tried to hide herself behind me.
Back when the Sword Saint mistook me as a ma.s.s-murderer, she had tried to stop the number 1 ranker alongside the Crusader. The pressure the Sword Saint had emitted that time was so chaotic that it looked like she was recalling the memory of that incident as soon as she was able to see him from up close.
Perhaps the Sword Saint also was also thinking the same, so he cleared his throat.
“Hmmm. You don’t have to be so scared. The misunderstanding between me and the Death King has been resolved.”
“Is-, is that so…?”
“Yes, that’s right. Well……But just because of that….”
The Sword Saint looked at me with an awkward face.
“Death King. Where we’re headed now is a very dangerous place. Didn’t the Constellation also say so himself? If you die in the Apocalypse, you also die in reality. Is it okay to take that lady to such a dangerous place?”
“Yes.”
I nodded confidently.
“She’s the best alchemist I know.”
At the same time, she was probably the greatest Alchemist in existence.
-Ughhh……
Did the Sword Emperor also disagree?
Even though they used the same ingredients, she produced 15 times the quant.i.ty than the store he had originally introduced me too, in other words, it was the store of the Medicine King or whatever that was standing over there.
-That guy makes pretty good elixirs, but…… It’s not the best. Now. Since we have that lady…….
‘Yes.’
However, the Sword Saint eyes had a subtle feel in them.
“The best alchemist you know……”
I pulled up the character window to get a handle on the Sword Saint’s psychological state.
「Ummmmm. It’s a remarkable young man’s recommendation so there must be something special, but there’s a bigger ocean in the world……. I see, Sword Emperor. It’s been a long time since you said the right thing. Even a king carp who’s been living in the open water all this while, when it goes to a river, it will find out that it isn’t the smallest carp. Alright, I think we should take this opportunity to build a relations.h.i.+p with those two young people and the Medicine King.」
[T/N: bigger ocean in the world: it means that there are always people that are better or more skilled.]
Wow.
I’ve built some connections all this while, and perhaps it was because Sword Saint had made a promise with himself, so he didn’t say anything out loud, and I knew his words held good intentions behind them, but……really, he still had an old-fas.h.i.+oned mindset.
And he said, Sword Emperor, so it was probably the other Sword Emperor by the side of the Sword Saint, meaning that he also looked down on the Alchemist just like he did last time.
Not surprising as there was another figure here that laid down his old-fas.h.i.+oned mindset brazenly, and spoke without any good intentions.
“Huh?! What do you mean the best you know?!”
It was the Medicine King.
“This is why they’re greenhorns! Huhu, oh, my, my. It’s laughable that you think you’ve crossed a mountain when you have really just crossed a stone. Geez, I hate it because I have to feel like this youngling as my rival. Ugh.”
Hoooooh.
“Medicine King, please be understanding. Death King is an outstanding man. It’s just that his life experience is a bit……”
“That experience! That experience is what I’m talking about! Experience is the most important thing! But you don’t even know that and pretend you know the entire world. I’m the one who’s ashamed of it all. He’s acting the same as when I earned about a billion dollars in Silicon Valley when I was in my 20s. The same rotten, corrupted mind! But you’re the only one who doesn’t know.”
“Calm down a little……”
“Huhu, my, my, my. I’ve been calming myself down all this while. It’s a sin to say and do whatever they want, even if they’re just greenhorns, Marcus, I’m holding myself back for your sake. And what? What did he say just before? He was saying he wants to bring along this low-key girl who turned up from nowhere. It’s just like a young billionaire carrying a trophy around at the Silicon Valley.”
“Death King is not that kind of youngling……”
“What do you mean he’s not? You brat! Look me in the eye and tell me! Are you sure he’s not?!”
Impressive……
What was impressive was that there exists a man who could make THE Sword Saint fl.u.s.tered. It looked like it was a food chain of the oldie’s version where an oldie was being dragged around by an even greater oldie.
It was hard to shut up my brain which was thinking about the mysteries of this newly discovered ecosystem
Maybe that was why I was not the one who talked back to that oldie of all oldies.
“I-, I don’t mind you calling me a kid, but……”
The Alchemist grabbed my collar tightly and gritted her teeth.
“Dea-, Death King-nim is absolutely not a greenhorn! He’s an incredible man! Ro-, what do you mean a rotten mind.…”
“Huhu, see, Marcus. Doesn’t it look like she’s defending her own man? This is what it’s like to be young. Eyyyh. When I was young, I thought that was what youth was all about……”
“Wh-, what do you mean defending my own man.…”
The Alchemist puffed up her mouth. She had heard such absurd things that it seemed like her brain couldn’t process it.
Crusader took a step forward and defended the Alchemist.
“Stop. ‘Alchemist’ is undoubtedly an excellent pharmacist. Although I learned of her existence because of the introduction from Death King, my Civil Militia has also received countless excellent medicine from the Alchemist.”
The Medicine King snorted.
“Only the Civil Militia standard would be able to accept that.”
“……What did you say?”
“You should say the right thing. Have you ever stopped by my pharmacy with your financial conditions? You think the ceiling is high because you don’t know the sky. And you don’t even know that it’s a box lid, not a room ceiling. Even your ridiculous look is just like that of a young rival, tch tch……”
The Crusader bit her lips hard.
Although it was listed as one of the top five guilds, the Civil Militia was always suffering from financial difficulties. She was brutally p.r.i.c.ked in her sore spot.
The Medicine King shook his hands like he was chasing away a junkie.
“Eyyy, what’s the point of talking? Let’s just stop. You’d just be tired of listening to me ramble.”
Well.
That was right.
‘Mr. Sword Emperor.’
-Uhuh.
‘Is listening to this nonsense good enough?’
-More than enough. Why are you suffocating yourself?
I glanced around the library.
‘I’m not suffocating myself.’
As I’ve said many times, this scene was being broadcasted live to the hunters in Babylon Square.
In other words, this timing was optimal for both [Debut] and [Retirement].
I said to the Medicine King.
“Would you like to duke it out?”
If what the Sword Saint had was an awkward look, then the Medicine King was literally on our throats.
“Huhhh! Look now. Marcus. Because he couldn’t reason it out, he really immediately pointed his ‘knife’ at me, that, that rotten expression! It reminds me of when I became the boxing world champion in my 40s.”
“No, not with me.”
I took medicinal herbs out of my bag.
“I’ll provide the medicinal herbs. You two can make one elixir with it. Then, we’ll compare the performance with the elixirs you’ve both made, then wouldn’t we be sure?”
“Eeeeek…….!”
The Alchemist jumped.
“Dea-, Death King-nim! That old man…… I’m very upset that he insulted Death King-nim, but…St-,still he’s a person called the Medicine King though? He’s a big name that all the Hunters know about…. In comparison, it’s only been a week since I received my t.i.tle, -kyaaaat,”
The Alchemist shuddered.
I held her shoulders.
“Alchemist-ss.h.i.+.”
“Huh, ye- Yes!?”
With her gla.s.ses in between, I made direct eye contact with her and said.
“I believe in you.”
“…… Dea-, Death King-nim.”
“So you need to believe in yourself, too.”
“…….”
The Alchemist took in a deep breath. Beyond the gla.s.ses, I could see that her shaking pupils had regained light.
With clenched fists, she nodded vigorously.
“Yes, Death King-nim! I’ll do my best! No,”
She immediately shook her head, and the Alchemist corrected her words.
“I’ll win!”
The Medicine King looked at us as if it was ridiculous.
“Huh.”
The Medicine King shook his head.
“There are always things like this. You have to dip it and try to see if it was ketchup or blood so that they’d know their place. It’s the same as when I was about three years old. Tch tch……”
“You’ve been blabbering for too long. Are you trying to run away?”
“Alright. Youngin. Be prepared to see that girl shed tears. I don’t know how to go easy on young people.”
Medicine King vs. Alchemist.
An extraordinary match had begun.
3.
The Hunters’ reactions were cynical when the match began.
“Of course the old man Medicine King will win.”
“That old man’s drugstore is so expensive, but it still takes almost a month for reservations.”
“Do the two of them really have something going on? No matter how much I look at it, Death King is being too irrational.”
“Death King and Medicine King. They’re both Kings, but there’s still a difference in the years of experience.”
In a literal sense, their reactions were normal.
“Now, those that think Medicine King will win, come here! Those that think Alchemist will win, here!”
On the other hand, there was also the Count, who didn’t miss out on the chance to make money and opened a gambling table.
Out of nowhere, two bookmark maids were holding a collection box.
“Death King, will you be all right? The betting odds right now are 1.08 to 47.”
The Witch came close and whispered to me.
“That’s great. Why do you think about making some pocket money and betting on the Alchemist’s side so that the betting odds wouldn’t drop too much?”
“……Death King, this is all being broadcasted live. You were the one who said it.”
The Witch looked as serious as she could be.
“If that Alchemist you recommended breaks down horribly. If that happens…”
“It’ll all be broadcasted live to Babylon and to the world. No, the viewers on the internet must really be in an uproar right now.”
If it were me in the past, what comment would I have been writing?
Something like I want to become like Medicine King too, would I be posting comments like that?
While I was having such idle thoughts, the Witch touched her forehead.
“That’ll damage your reputation if it happens, Death King. ……Are you sure it’ll be alright?”
“I’m a little sorry for the old man Medicine King.”
No. Honestly, I wasn’t sorry at all.
If you spouted rough words, you should take responsibility for your actions, right?
Isn’t that the true spirit and reason behind ‘respect for seniority’?
The witch stared at me and the Alchemist in turn with an odd expression. I was wondering what she was thinking, so I was thinking of pulling up the psychology state window of the Witch to see. It was then.
“I’m finished, greenhorn!”
Medicine King.
He bellowed while lifting up the elixir he had made.
“Bow your head before my great creation!”
+
[Unique Recovery Potion]
Rarity: Unique
Producer: Medicine King
Description: Although it is a little bitter, drinking it will heal even the deadliest of wounds. Needless to say, as it’s a recovery potion, it has to be taken in a safe location to take into consideration the aftereffects of healing. Anyway, it’s an amazing feat to be able to produce a potion of this quality!
+
Cheers resonated throughout the library.
“It’s a Unique Recovery Potion!”
“Oh my G.o.d. Pulling out a Unique Recovery Potion. He’s indeed the Medicine King. It really is ‘A King Never Dies.’ ”
“Old man Medicine King! Would you like to sell it to me?”
“How dare you cut in line! Medicine King-nim! I’m at the top of the reservation list! I’ll buy it!”
The Medicine King raised his chin and looked at me and the Alchemist in turn. He had a face that was saying “The two of you dare to touch a tiger’s nose, so now you will get to properly and completely know what it means to be humiliated.”
[T/N: Dare to touch a tiger’s nose is like a slang that means to mess with the wrong person.]
It was then.
“Uhh…… I’m done making it, too.…”
The Alchemist showed everyone the elixir she had made.
+
[Soma Strawberry]
Rarity: Quasi(準)-Myth
Producer: Alchemist
Description: Huh, it tastes like strawberries! Why does it taste like strawberries when there are no strawberries in it? And what’s with this effect?! As long as the preservation state is good, it can graft the severed body parts without any aftereffects! What on earth was just made!?
+
Silence covered the library.