Alter-Drug

Chapter 9 - A Charming Young Lady

Nobody raised any objections to Carl getting a reward.

They all knew that the drugs that he concocted were priceless.

Enabling one to have an increase in strength and reach the next stage was immensely valuable, even if the effects were only temporary.

Some of them could already see the value in such a drug. If they were to be in a dangerous situation while fighting an enemy and weren’t strong enough to power through, all they needed to do was to down a bottle of this stuff. Their strength would increase suddenly and rapidly, which would help them to kill their enemies easily.

When it came to battles between two formidable parties, one second was enough to decide the winner and the loser, or even life and death. Besides, the only side effect of taking this drug was an overwhelming wave of drowsiness and exhaustion. Compared to a life saved, it was a consequence they were not worried about whatsoever.

Who wouldn’t want to have a drug like that on hand? In any case, the knights had gone from being just friendly with Carl to idolizing him.

“Carl, what is this drug called?” asked Melissa with a faint smile. She had never seen a drug like this before.

Carl randomly gave it a name. “This is the Berserk Potion!”

Everyone nodded in agreement. The name matched the effect it seemed to have, so it was an appropriate name for this drug.

“That’s a good name,” said Melissa. Actually, she had a lot of questions on her mind. One of them was “How did a teenager born and bred in a small rural town know how to create such a formidable drug?” However, she decided never to bring this topic up. As long as Carl was willing to work for her, she was not going to pry into any of his secrets.

She hesitated for a while, then asked, “Carl, I need three bottles of Berserk Potion. Can you get me three bottles by tomorrow?”

“As long as I have enough ingredients, that will not be a problem,” replied Carl very confidently.

“Great!” Melissa’s pretty eyes shone brightly. “List down all the things you need and I’ll get someone to buy them for you.”

Since it was an order from the countess, everything Carl wanted was provided in a record time. In just two hours, Carl’s lab had gone through a complete overhaul. Everything he had previously used was now fully restocked, and he had three times the amount as well.

Carl did not disappoint Melissa either. He spent the entire night making three bottles of the Berserk Potion from scratch. During this process, he made a few improvements here and there, and made sure he removed all impurities from the ingredients before throwing them into the cauldron with everything else.

Because of that, the three new bottles of Berserk Potion he made were a darker shade of red and no longer milky. Moreover, the liquid seemed to gleam brightly under light. This batch was clearly a lot purer and higher in quality.

Melissa was very pleased with this batch as well and complimented Carl before making another announcement, “I will be holding a grand banquet in the manor tonight; I’ve invited the most affluent merchants and aristocrats over. Milton, Ralph, both of you will be in charge of security. Make sure that nobody tries to crash the party.”

“Yes, Your Ladyship!” All the knights bowed in acknowledgment of her instructions.

Melissa gave them a pleased nod, then turned to Carl. There was a gleam in her eye as she said, “Carl, you can join the banquet too. Come and make a few friends.”

The boy did not expect to be included. However, he did not reject her invitation and said, “Thank you for thinking so highly of me, Your Ladyship.”

“See you tonight then,” said Melissa before walking out of the lab again with all the knights following behind her.

The lab was empty again except for himself. After he was done tidying up the lab, the first thing he did was to dissect the rabbit and the rat that had gone berserk the day before.

The two animals had remained unconscious for the entire night, and did not look like they were suffering from any aftereffects.

However, he wanted to know exactly what this Berserk Potion was useful for. This same potion could both increase a knight’s strength and turn an ordinary animal into a magical beast for a short period of time.

Since it affected both a knight’s strength and an animal’s blood, did it mean that both the superpowers of men and the magical nature of beasts stemmed from the same thing?

Unfortunately for Carl, the dissection did not get him any answers.

However, he was not discouraged by that. That was how scientific research went, anyway. A researcher had to be able to persevere throughout long periods of fruitless labor and go through countless failures to finally achieve success.

Carl rubbed his palms together and was about to start on a new experiment when someone opened the door to the lab from outside. A maid walked in.

He turned to look and saw a sweet-looking young lady walk in slowly.

She was dressed in a black and white maid’s uniform and her light brown hair went past her waist. Her puffy skirt reached slightly past her knees and her slim calves were covered with white socks.

A breeze blew the hem of her skirt up slightly to reveal a pair of beautiful long legs.

This way of dressing was conservative but still a little sexy, which suited Carl’s tastes perfectly. His heart started to beat a little faster.

It was a pity that she kept her head down as she walked, so he could not see her face.

After she came close enough, she said in a quiet and gentle voice, “Mr. Carl, the banquet is about to start and Her Ladyship has instructed me to take you to the bathing area so that you can take a bath and change into evening wear.”

“Oh… uh… All right.” Carl took a look at himself. He had done some experimenting and two dissections, so there was definitely some blood and other substances on his attire. He clearly was in no state to attend a banquet, so he was thankful that Melissa had thought of even that.

He followed the young lady out of the lab. As they headed to the bathhouse, he could not help but try to make conversation with the maid. “My name’s Carl and I’m Her Ladyship’s head apothecary. Nice to meet you!”

The young lady continued walking without saying a word, ignoring his friendly greeting and did not even tell him her name.

When the attempt at conversation failed, he wondered if he had been a little too forward. He decided to try and make himself sound more professional and said, “What I mean is, if you ever feel unwell, you can always look for me…”

Immediately after he uttered those words, he felt like giving himself a slap as he stopped himself abruptly.

Saying that was like hoping for her to fall ill!

Carl was too preoccupied with thinking of how to get the maid’s attention without offending her to notice that there was a small bump in front of him. He stepped right into it and stumbled, eventually losing his balance and lurching forward.

The young lady’s small ears twitched slightly and a mysterious glow began to appear beneath her feet. However, soon another thought struck her and made her not do anything in the end.

“Ahh!” As Carl fell forward, he yelped and instinctively reached for something to grab. He ended up getting hold of something soft but springy. He tried to use that to help him to regain his balance, but before he could steady himself, he heard the loud sound of fabric ripping.

He had pushed the young lady onto the ground and had also torn the upper half of her dress, revealing her fair and smooth chest as well as her snatched waist. The few pieces of cloth left on her barely managed to protect her modesty.

And as if that wasn’t enough, he realized that the soft thing he had managed to hold onto turned out to be her breasts, inadvertently arousing him.

Time seemed to have come to a standstill.

Carl’s mind went blank and he only realized how much trouble he was in after a few seconds. He scrambled to his feet frantically and his entire face was bright red. His heart pounded anxiously as he apologized profusely, “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I’m really sorry! I didn’t mean to! I’m… I’m sorry!”

The young lady finally looked at him. Her facial features were delicate and her skin was as fair and smooth as milk. However, her most charming feature was her enchanting pair of green eyes. They were bright, clear and filled with a mysterious aura.

Carl went into a daze just staring at her and nearly swooned on the spot.

On the contrary, she did not have any expression on her face and did not do anything else besides pulling her torn dress back over herself very nonchalantly. Her voice remained calm as she said, “The bathhouse is at the end of this corridor and your clothes are in the cupboard next to the door. Please proceed to the banquet hall by yourself after you are done.”

“I will do just that!” Carl nodded nervously and looked terribly apologetic as he said, “I… I really didn’t mean to do that. If I’ve made you angry, you can go ahead and punish me in any way you want. I’m willing to bear the consequences of my actions.”

He bowed his head in repentance, but did not hear anything for several seconds. He looked up again to find that the young lady had already disappeared.

Where did she go? He looked left and right, but the long corridor was perfectly straight and narrow. And yet, the girl was nowhere to be seen. This both shocked and frustrated him as an emptiness filled his heart.

After hesitating for a while, he finally decided to head for the bathhouse.

He decided that after the banquet was over, he would ask Milton who that maid was, then prepare a gift, and apologize to her formally.

Then again, what did the girls in this universe like?

He took a good bath, then changed into the clothes prepared for him and arrived at the banquet hall.

The sun had already set, so the green and red moons’ combined glow illuminated the night sky.

The areas outside and inside the banquet hall were well lit. Lavishly designed horse carriages arrived one after another, their passengers led from the main gate to the banquet hall by Melissa’s servants.

The manor’s butler stood at the door to welcome the guests. He knew who every guest was and their position in society, and seemed to get along very well with everybody as he chatted and exchanged pleasantries with all the guests.

However, when Carl appeared in front of him, the butler had to pause for a moment to think.

This boy had chestnut-colored hair, was very skinny with long fingers and a pair of brownish black eyes. He was young, but carried himself with a calm and steady air, which left a deep impression on the butler.

The cogs in the butler’s brain moved at high speed as he quickly tried to recall if this boy was from a wealthy merchant’s family or if he was a descendant of an aristocrat.

Just then, he suddenly remembered that Melissa had told him about a special guest. So, just a split second before Carl opened his mouth to speak, the butler smiled at him first and said, “Mr. Carl, as Her Ladyship’s head apothecary, your seat is on the right of Her Ladyship.”

“Thank you!” Carl walked in and was greeted by brilliant lights that seemed to shine like stars in the sky. Chandeliers hung from the ceiling above the spacious hall, giving the place a sense of grandeur and opulence.

The bright lights also clearly illuminated the difference between the guests.

On the left were the wealthy merchants. They were dressed luxuriously but modestly, and most of them were a little plump. They gathered in small groups as they chatted with one another, smiling and laughing quietly from time to time.

On the right were the aristocrats dressed in flamboyant and over-the-top suits and dresses, as if they were fighting for attention. Their chins were raised arrogantly when they spoke to each other.

The difference in the two groups was very obvious.