Chapter 35: Condition

My pose was steady.

Alfred looked up as if tasting the name in his mind.

"X... D.X., haa... interesting."

His monologue looked a little creepy.

Not that I was scared of it.

"Start working on creating all the potions your members can possibly make, and try to make high-quality potions as well."

I began explaining the details.

"We would have to mass-produce the low-quality ones to attract more customers, but the high-quality ones or the premium products should be our main goal.

That is where our name would truly shine."

"And what do you want to make—should I run it as a company or an Alchemist Guild?"

That...

I didn’t think of that.

"What’s your opinion?"

Alfred thought for a moment. "It would be better to make it a guild, so we can recruit more alchemists on the surface for mass production and control the premium segment with our own members.

Also, guilds have more leverage than some random production company."

"Well, I will leave it at that.

And as for the name, call it..."

What should the name be?

A guild run by Alfred Symer, known as the Mad Alchemist.

A suitable name...

Heh.

"Syma.

The Syma Alchemists’ Guild."

Ain’t the name charming?

Haa.

I really do have a talent for everything.

"Oh, I forgot to mention a condition for our deal."

What?

This guy...

I nodded my head for Alfred to speak.

I knew something that he would want, other than what we had discussed, wouldn’t be so simple.

But if I wanted this man to work for me with all his heart, then I had to keep him happy.

At least a little.

Not that he would feel the emotion.

"It’s nothing serious, you just have to..."

What?!

***

In the end, things worked out pretty well.

Still, seeing everything go so smoothly so far, it was getting a little boring.

It felt too easy.

My excitement had dimmed.

Just kidding!

Not that I wanted things to fall apart; it’s just that some sort of challenge would have been fun.

Now that I had secured Alfred, the foundation for D.X. had been laid.

As for recruiting the other villains...

Well, you can’t expect the boss to do everything.

Julien and Arthur can handle the rest.

The main issue had been Alfred, so I had to personally make things work here.

Now...

I could just train for the time being.

There are still two years before I could enter the academy.

And at my current state, I was average.

Getting strong in the meantime wouldn’t hurt.

Sigh.

I closed my eyes and leaned back on the seat of... my car.

Cool armoured car!

Yeah.

We were currently headed back to Tamyr.

Arthur suggested it was better to train there—and safer too.

Though Alfred was on our side, it wouldn’t hurt to keep precautions.

And that condition he mentioned...

It was a tough one to fulfill and risky at that.

Not like I had a choice in the matter.

With some planning, I could easily meet Alfred’s requirement, but for that, I would have to get a lot more closer to the Veltran Royals.

Diana seemed like the only possible choice.

Tsk.

Manipulating people is easy for me, but...

It was a hassle.

I hoped Alfred was worth all the risks I would be taking for him. If not...

That guy was in for some serious trouble.

Munch... munch.

I heard the sound of someone eating beside me.

As I opened my eyes, the sight that greeted me was Julien eating chocolates.

Huh.

Since when did chocolates get this crunchy?

"Pass one to me."

I ordered.

Not that I liked sweets, but...

As a good boss, I should give company to my employee.

Julien made a guarded expression.

This bastard!

I snatched the sweets from his hand, and while doing so—

Smack!

I slapped the back of his head.

"Ouch! Boss, that’s unfair!"

Julien whined.

Not that I cared.

Did I do something wrong?

No.

It’s called educating your juniors.

And the doctors always advise against eating such things.

I just protected him.

Munch... munch.

This...

It was awesome!

Arthur just observed our exchange.

I passed a chocolate to him.

"..."

Didn’t he want to eat?

Strange.

Then why the hell was he looking at my face?

Seeing my outstretched hand, Arthur shook his head and mumbled something, but took the chocolate in the end. "Kids!"

What was that?

His voice was too low to hear.

Haa... old man.

He might have felt shy to take it from me.

Ain’t I charming?

People just misunderstand me. I might be the most selfless guy in the world... two worlds.

***

The journey was peaceful, if one ignored Julien’s antics.

The gates of Tamyr welcomed us with open arms.

Given the arms existed.

This time, no guards stopped us.

Our entry was smooth... Arthur really was a big deal here.

"Drop me in the market."

I said to the driver.

If I remember correctly, he was a gold-ranker. Quite a talented one at that.

Arthur just raised his brow in a questioning gesture.

"Nothing much. I just want to enjoy a little before my hell begins."

My training.

There won’t be any stops once it begins.

’Burn to learn,’

that was what Arthur had said to me when I mentioned training for the next two years.

Arthur chuckled at that.

"Sure."

"And you would be coming with me."

I grabbed Julien’s arm as the car stopped at a corner of the street.

Giving a brief nod to Arthur, I dragged Julien through the market.

"Let’s see... do you have any place in your mind that we can visit?"

"A place?

Yes! There’s that—"

"Let’s go there."

I pointed at a stall selling cutlets. The aroma there was tempting.

Julien grunted in disappointment as he followed me.

Did he have some better place in mind?

Well...

Who cares!

Hehe.

"Two plates."

The shopkeeper roasted freshly cut meat, adding spices on top.

It looked like boar meat.

So what are they called...

Boar cutlets?!