The Silly Alchemist

“h.e.l.lo big sister, could you tell me where this is?” Right now, Ye Lang was very confused of his current location. Where was he? Why wasn’t it on the map?

“Little brother, this is Miweila city, are you lost?” The big sister kindly replied.

“This isn’t Chelsea city? Isn’t Miweila city supposed to be in the northwest? I wanted to go southeast…” Ye Lang looked at the map and found Miweila city. Compared to his objective, it could be said to be in the opposite direction.

“It looks like you’re really lost, there’s a distance of 200 li between here and there. How did you not notice when they’re so far apart?” It looked like the big sister was a nice person and was worried about Ye Lang.

“I didn’t know, I’m trying to avoid some people, I was afraid I would be discovered!” Ye Lang shook his head and obediently revealed some details of his situation.

“Avoiding people? Who are you avoiding?” The big sister asked full of confusion.

“I’m avoiding… I can’t tell you, that would reveal my ident.i.ty!” Ye Lang shook his head and spoke: “I had better turn around first, from here which way is the fastest route to Vermillion Bird Empire?”

Ye Lang’s self-preservation instinct was still present although it was a bit weak!

Looking at Ye Lang looking around on the map, the big sister continued speaking: “Little brother, tell me where in Vermillion Bird empire you want to go, big sister will help you look!”

“…” Ye Lang’s movements suddenly stopped because he discovered a very serious problem. That was… He didn’t know where in the Vermillion Bird Empire he was supposed to go! He didn’t know where to go to regroup.

Everybody talked about going to the Vermillion Bird Empire, but they had never discussed where!

It seemed that his cousin hadn’t said anything either, just to go to the Vermillion Bird Empire. What to do? Should he just randomly pick a place and go there?

Ye Lang was in a daze. He was trying to decide where to go and his final decision... Was to randomly pick a place and worry about the rest later!

In reality, if it was in the past, as long as Ye Lang entered the Vermillion Bird Empire and then showed the jade his cousin had given him, people would have immediately shown up to receive him. But now it was even more simple, as long as he showed himself, immediately, there would be people to protect him and escort him to regroup with the others.

“Anywhere is fine, what’s closest?” Ye Lang asked.

“From here, the closest is Red Dusk city. It’s the closest city of the Vermillion Bird Empire. I’ll draw the path for you, don’t get lost again.” The kindhearted older sister took out a pen and drew a line on Ye Lang’s map.

This pen was used in this world to make temporary notes. After a while, the ink would automatically vanish!

“Oh, got it, thank you sister!” Ye Lang thanked her and started following the line drawn on the map.

“Wait!” the big sister shouted.

“What, is there something else?” Ye Lang turned around and vigilantly asked.

The big sister looked at Ye Lang and with a weird expression and asked: “What are you doing right now, are you going somewhere nearby to clean yourself up or are you rushing out immediately on your journey!”

“I don’t have time, I have to hurry to the Vermillion Bird Empire” Ye Lang said with an att.i.tude like he didn’t have the time.

“If that’s the case, then you should be going this way. How are you reading the map?”  The big sister pointed out that Ye Lang was taking the exact opposite route. She was amazed by Ye Lang’s map reading ability.

“Just like this!” Ye Lang grabbed the map and told the big sister.

If someone saw the map in Ye Lang’s hands they would definitely be amazed. They would most likely ask this question: ‘Little brother, are you used to reading your maps upside down?’

That’s right, the map in Ye Lang’s hands was upside down!

“… You’re holding it upside down, no wonder you would take the exact opposite path!” The big sister somewhat impolitely said.

“Huh, it’s upside down? That can’t be right, this compa.s.s is pointing up, isn’t that North?” Ye Lang doubtfully asked.

“Who told you the compa.s.s points north, it points south! Have you never seen a map before?” The big sister unhappily said.

[TL note: this will be explained]

Ye Lang scratched his head and said: “That… I haven’t seen one before, it’s always been someone else looking at it for me! This is also my first time being so far away from home…”

Just now, he wanted to say that he had seen maps of Earth before. He was used to maps having a compa.s.s pointing north, but right now, this continent just happened to have maps that were the opposite. Their compa.s.ses pointed south.

Moreover, since he was little until now, Ye Lang had always had people by his side to serve him. He had never had the opportunity to come in contact with this world’s maps. And he also rarely went on long trips, when he did go out, he always had people with him.

“You really are a rich young master… Even if you don’t know, did you not notice that the words on the map are all upside down?” The big sister had already guessed that Ye Lang was a rich young master from a n.o.ble family and was pampered like a prince. This time, he was definitely running away from home or going on some kind of independent adventure.

On this continent many rich young masters of n.o.ble families liked to adventure and this was a very common sight. As a result, the big sister wasn’t too concerned about Ye Lang’s ident.i.ty.

“I saw, but I’m used to having north be up and south be down so I read it upside down!” Ye Lang replied.

“…” The big sister already had no words to say. This rich young master, would he really not think about it and just directly read it upside down?

“Now I understand, then I will definitely be able to quickly reach the Vermillion Bird Empire!” Ye Lang corrected the way he was holding the map, gave it a look, and then started running in another direction. Only...

“Come back! You’re still going the wrong way!” The big sister grabbed ahold of Ye Lang who was running by her. Although he was holding the map the right way and had made adjustments, he was still off.

This deviation would only become bigger and bigger as he traveled further and further, and with a deviation like Ye Lang’s, he might even end up in the Aila Empire…

Since Ye Lang’s past, he would definitely do that and it was unclear what his problem was. When he did alchemy, he wouldn’t be lacking anything, yet he would always be off when it came to directions.

“It’s wrong? Oh well, I’ll just go rent a horse carriage and go directly. Before, I wanted to go by myself to maintain secrecy but it’s just too troublesome!” Ye Lang wrinkled his eyebrows and made a very bullheaded decision.

“Wait!” The big sister had grabbed onto Ye Lang and didn’t let go, even if Ye Lang wanted to run, he couldn’t.

“What now? This time I won’t be wrong, I’m very good at spending money!” Ye Lang proudly said.

“…” The big sister fell silent for a while. This rich young master didn’t need to talk for her to know he was good at spending money, a prodigal son type character.

Originally, this big sister didn’t like this kind of rich young master, but towards Ye Lang, she didn’t feel any dislike, on the contrary, she found him likable. Ye Lang gave her an intimate feeling, as if he was her own little brother.

“You don’t need to find anyone else, you said that anywhere is fine as long it’s in the Vermillion Bird Empire right?” The big sister asked.

The big sister smiled as she looked at Ye Lang, she thought of an idea…