The Scientific Alchemist

"Are you sure about this?" The baker asked as he turned towards Elias sitting within the Carriage.

Turns out, he was also a coachman, though that business was a lot less successful than running his bakery.

Which was saying something.

Anyway, he was the one that Elias had hired to escort him to the main city of Calderholt, to get this land from the noble.

Now, there was no need for that since he could just go directly to the capital and get himself assigned this place by the Alchemist guild, but he was coming here first for two reasons.

One, he needed to actually see what he was working with and two, it was easier to take ownership of this place if the caretaker reaffirms that it was completely useless.

After all, he was certain that the guild would be more than happy to assign the failure of a land to the failure of an alchemist.

"Yeah," Elias nodded, "besides, it’s not like they’ll agree to assign the failed alchemist anything better."

"..." The baker was silent for a short while before speaking up again, "you don’t intend to show them everything your enlightening brought about?"

That was the story Elias was going with, for his sudden improvements in alchemic skills.

Apparently, although rare, an alchemist getting enlightened was nothing new, there had been multiple cases of this happening and everytime, the enlightened individual became a gold rank alchemist or even higher.

That was why, the baker never questioned his sudden improvements.

"No," Elias shook his head, "not yet anyway, though I might have to eventually."

"I see," the old man nodded before silently continuing forward, slightly shaking the leash on his single horse.

***

The journey took an hour, and by the time they reached Calderholt proper, the impression didn’t improve.

If anything, it confirmed Elias’s conclusion.

The "main city" was simply a denser version of the outskirts.

This place presented shops that barely stayed open, guards who looked too tired to care, and infrastructure that had clearly been patched together rather than properly built.

A place surviving, not thriving.

Elias stepped down once the carriage stopped, adjusting his robe as he took it in.

A frown appeared on his face as he looked at the place around him and asked, "this is Calderholt’s capital?"

There were barely any citizens around, most having already passed away or moved to the main capital.

The few that were too poor to relocate, seemed so very skinny right now, definitely from the lack of proper food.

"That’s what they call it," the baker replied, "though its just as bad as, if not worse than, our village."

"...." Elias silently continued looking around.

"You still want this place?" The baker asked again, but instead of an answer, Elias said, "where’s the manor?"

The baker was a bit surprised, "you’re just going straight there?"

"I didn’t come here to sightsee."

"Right."

They moved through the city, the further in they went, the more obvious the divide became. A few better-kept buildings clustered near the center, guarded and clean in comparison, but even those felt hollow, like decoration rather than function.

Eventually, they reached it.

A manor that stood out not because it was grand, but because it clearly didn’t belong here.

It had polished stone, tall gates, clean walls and guards who actually looked awake.

The baker slowed down slightly, "that’s it."

Elias stopped in front of it.

"He really is just sitting on all of this," he muttered.

The gate guard stepped forward.

"State your business."

Elias didn’t hesitate, "I’m here to see the noble in charge of Calderholt."

The guard looked him up and down, "and you are?"

"Elias Verdan, an alchemist," he said causing the guard to look at him from head to toe, before turning to the baker behind him.

"Go inform him," before the guard had the chance to say anything else, "or I’ll assume he’s too busy enjoying a collapsing city to receive visitors."

The baker quietly coughed behind him.

"that’s one way to say it."

The guard hesitated for a moment, then turned and went inside.

***

"I’m here to purchase Calderholt."

It took a couple of minutes, but Elias and the baker found themselves in front of the fat noble that oversaw this place as its caretaker.

And the moment he was asked of his purpose here, that was his reply.

There was complete silence after his words and the fat noble couldn’t help but do a double take.

"You said you wanted to buy the cursed lands?" he asked, making sure that he had heard the words correctly.

"I did," Elias answered without a single change in his expression.

The noble stared at him for a while before he burst out into a fit of laughter, one that got harder by the second.

"You?" he said, between laughs, "buy this entire district?"

"Yes."

The noble wiped a tear from his eye, still laughing,"you don’t even look like you can afford bread."

Instead of an answer, Elias took the pouch from the baker and just dropped it on the noble’s table.

The fat man immediately sat up straight as he heard the clinking of coins as they touched the table..

He moved his chubby hands towards the pouch and his eyes immediately widened when he recognized what was within.

Gold coins.

Actual real gold coins.

Coins he hadn’t seen since the last time the kingdom sent some funds for this place, the past few years.

Funds which he had definitely used in development.

Anyway, the moment he saw the coins in the bag, he picked up one, put it in his mouth and bit down hard.

"I-it’s real," he muttered with a grin before putting both hands together and directing a closed eye smile towards Elias, "w-well, please have a seat, let’s properly get to business, shall we?"

Elias silently looked at the noble for a while before a smile appeared on his face also and he said, "of course."