Alter-Drug

Chapter 5 - The Life of an Apothecary

The next morning, a ruckus outside woke Carl up.

He put on some clothes and walked out to see that Milton was brandishing a sword and practicing his moves on a wooden pole in the middle of an empty field.

Milton was not using any of his supernatural powers to do this and was relying on the strength his physical body had.

His loud shouts as he brought the sword down again and again oozed with might and dominance. Each time his sword hit the wooden pole that was as thick as a person’s thigh, a section of it would fly off as though he was chopping vegetables.

“Good morning, Mr. Milton,” Carl greeted the knight and waved at him.

“HA!” Milton swung his sword and sliced the wooden pole cleanly in half straight down the middle. He put his giant sword away and smiled brightly. Not a single drop of perspiration could be seen on his forehead. This entire exercise had taken him no effort at all.

“Hello, Carl! Did I wake you up?” Milton walked over to him. “Want to have breakfast together?”

“Sure!” Carl rubbed his stomach. He had not eaten since the previous afternoon and was really hungry now.

They came to the dining hall where the kitchen helpers served them some bread, smoked meat, cereal, and a bottle of ale.

Honestly, the food was not as delicious as hamburgers and fries in Carl’s opinion, but he was so hungry that anything edible was to his taste right now.

As he cut the smoked meat, he asked, “Mr. Milton, when are we going to enter the castle?”

Milton shook his head and said, “Her Ladyship is very angry now and has decided not to enter the castle for the time being. When we’ll actually go in will depend on her mood.”

“I see,” noted Carl.

If he had been the one who had suffered that sort of humiliation the day before, he would be furious too.

However, this made him even more curious, so he asked, “Mr. Milton, exactly what is the feud between Her Ladyship and Viscount Heath?” The two were engaged with the intent of marriage but they clearly hated each other so much they wanted the other party to die.

Milton hesitated for a moment, then whispered, “Her Ladyship’s family and Viscount Heath’s family have been enemies for centuries. For some reason, the current king decided that the two of them shall marry one another in order to resolve this long-standing feud. I really don’t know what’s going on in His Majesty’s head.”

Carl was too stunned for words.

If a feud could be resolved so easily, it would not have gone on for centuries. Was the king doing the wrong thing with good intentions or was he trying to make matters worse on purpose?

Regardless of which one it was, one thing was certain—neither party wanted this engagement. In fact, they had thought of the same thing. As long as either of them died, the marriage would be called off.

Perhaps that was a sort of camaraderie?

Carl coughed awkwardly, then asked another question that weighed on his mind, “Engagement aside, didn’t you say that Eisen Castle belonged to the Karolins? Why do they allow the viscount to take over and do this to Her Ladyship?”

Milton explained patiently, “Eisen Castle does belong to the Karolins, but there’s a port within the castle that belongs to the royal family and is protected by the military. When the king decreed that the two families would marry, he also specifically placed Viscount Heath in charge of the soldiers guarding that port.”

“Viscount Heath reached Eisen Castle first, so he seized the chance to bribe some of the officials so that he could embarrass the countess in public. What a horrible man! The feud is bad enough and he’s only adding oil to the fire. At this point, either we die, or he does! I’m going to make sure he pays for this!”

Milton did not bother hiding any of his murderous intentions.

Carl blinked a few times, then asked quietly, “So, that terrible injury you suffered from earlier… Was that the work of his men?”

Milton touched his chest instinctively. The wound had healed completely, but he would never forget how it happened. He nodded gravely and said, “I don’t have any proof, but it’s very likely that the assassin was sent by him. On top of attacking me, he even laced the weapon with poison. What a shameless and underhanded fellow!”

After he spat those words out, his tone softened as he said to the boy in a voice full of unconcealed gratitude, “Carl, truly, I’m so grateful for what you’ve done. If not for you, I wouldn’t be here right now.”

“You were lucky, but so was I,” said Carl with a smile. “If not for you and Her Ladyship… I would have been stuck in that little town and I really don’t know what would have happened to me.”

“I heard about that. A despicable miller trying to kill a young boy for money! What an animal!” Milton promised Carl, “Carl, once we’re done with the urgent matters at hand, I’ll go back with you to that little town and take revenge for you.”

“Thank you!”

The two of them chatted happily as they finished their breakfast. A maid approached them and said, “Mr. Carl, Her Ladyship wants to see you.”

Carl was surprised, while Milton waved him on. “Run along now, she probably needs something from you. It’s a good chance to prove yourself, so make sure to do a good job!”

Carl nodded, then followed the maid to the middle of the estate.

They crossed a small garden to reach a small lovely-looking building. Ivy leaves as well as tiny red and purple flowers adorned the entire wall, the spectacle of colors giving it a beautiful look.

He walked into the small building by himself and was shocked by what he saw next.

A huge cauldron was suspended over a fire in the middle of the room and seemed to be boiling something.

A strong fire burned below the cauldron and a dark green liquid bubbled fiercely inside. The strangest part was that despite how disgusting and terrifying the liquid looked, it actually did not smell at all.

As Carl observed the liquid bubbling inside the cauldron, Melissa appeared soundlessly from behind him. “Can you tell what this is?”

“I can’t,” replied Carl honestly as he shook his head. He continued peering at the dark green liquid and said, “Based on my observations, this is probably a poison of sorts. But I’d need to run some experiments before I can tell what it does.”

Melissa looked somewhat surprised to hear this. “You don’t know what this is? Then how were you able to counter it and save Milton’s life?”

“Oh my!” Carl was shocked. “You mean this is…”

“That’s right. This was the very thing that poisoned Milton,” explained Melissa. “It’s known as the Grim Reaper’s Scythe. Most people would definitely die from this poison and, in theory, only a lifesaving drug from an alchemist or a healing spell of a priest would be able to save one from its effects.”

“An apothecary can’t?” Carl was surprised. “I mean, the apothecary who made this poison would probably have the antidote, right?”

“Perhaps he would, perhaps he wouldn’t,” said Melissa in an unbothered voice. “As far as I know, many apothecaries only know how to concoct poisons but never care to make antidotes. There are even some who pride themselves in creating poisons that have no antidotes.”

Carl had no idea how to even respond to this statement. In this world, were apothecaries doctors or murderers? Was “apothecary” actually a euphemism for “poisoners”?

He suddenly felt like he could understand that seemingly awful father of his.

His father only had a fifty percent chance of treating his patient successfully and killed a lot of people over the years, but at least half his patients survived.

Carl sighed inwardly. The life of an apothecary was one of great responsibility, but this profession clearly lacked ethics.

“I got someone to buy this poison last night because I wanted to give Heath a taste of his own medicine. I wanted him to suffer the same way as Milton did,” said Melissa with a slight frown. “But since even someone like yourself had been able to treat Milton, I’m no longer sure if it’s enough to kill Heath. To play it safe, I decided it was best for you to use this poison as a basis to develop something even more powerful.”

“You said you would be able to do this.” Melissa’s blue eyes looked at him a little hopefully.

“And I can.” Carl knew that this was not the time to act modest.

“I’ll be waiting for your good news then.” Melissa smiled prettily at him, then said casually, “By the way, while you’re doing your research and experiments, I’ll need you to stay here. Don’t go out if you don’t have to.”

“Yes, Your Ladyship.” Carl nodded. Secrecy of his mission was of utmost importance.

He looked around and frowned. “I need some tools as well as some ingredients.”

Before he could list what else he needed, Melissa walked to one of the walls and pushed on it. A hidden door slid open to reveal a larger space behind it.

The fire torches illuminated a clean and bright laboratory, but after taking a look around the place, Carl started frowning again.

The lab included a proper cauldron and furnace, and several varieties of herbs, minerals and other items were arranged neatly on the shelves in the corner.

Some fresh fruit, odd branches, vines and leaves were also available for him to make poisons. A giant cage on the other side kept venomous snakes, toads, hares, rats and other live animals.

Everything seemed great, except…

Carl finally blurted out, “Your Ladyship, is this everything an apothecary needs? Is this all?”

“These were left behind by my previous apothecary,” said Melissa in a slightly confused voice. “There’s a cauldron, a furnace, a ladle, a weighing scale, some stirrers… Everything is here. What else would you need?”

Carl looked at the backward facilities and really, really missed his test tubes, vials, pipettes, distillers, beakers, gas cylinders, funnels, evaporating dishes…

He could make do without those things, but at the very least he needed equipment meant for clean and efficient distillation. Those were nowhere to be found in this room.