🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 35
Alchemist Cain (3)
“It’s written in the ancient tongue. Try reading it.”
Cain glanced between the parchment in his hand and the lord on the dais before slowly opening his mouth.
The parchment was filled with difficult ancient sentences describing an old religion, but Cain read them aloud fluently, without stumbling once.
Rondo, who was holding the annotated version, looked at the lord with a surprised face and nodded.
“That’s enough.”
Ian stopped Cain and lightly stroked his chin.
It had only been a test—asking him to read some difficult ancient text. But Cain had deciphered it far too easily.
So it’s true he’s an expert in the ancient tongue. But then why would he pull such a ridiculous scam?
The more he thought about it, the more curious he became.
“Why did you lie to the merchant of Camiu that you could create a stone golem?”
“I didn’t lie. I truly believed I could make one.”
Cain’s unflinching attitude made Ian narrow his eyes.
“Then why couldn’t you make it? The merchant trusted your words and supported you, only to lose a fortune.”
“Experiments can fail. That doesn’t make them lies. So I never lied, my lord.”
“Sounds like wordplay. Then tell me—what is a golem?”
At Ian’s question, Cain straightened his posture and eagerly explained.
“A golem is a being that is not human, but can work and fight like one. All matter in this world can be transformed into new forms, and my research is to create the catalyst that makes this possible, my lord.”
“So you claim stone can transform into a golem…”
“Think about it, my lord. A golem does not eat, does not sleep, and obeys its master’s commands. They can guard castles, fight beasts and monsters. They would change the very foundation of this world.”
Ian raised his hand to stop the passionate explanation.
“Calm yourself.”
Listening to Cain, Ian recalled the walking robots made by outsiders.
Those machines were born of advanced science. But Cain, before him, clearly had no such theories or technology.
“You’re not even a magician—how could you claim to conduct such astonishing research?”
“Some ancient alchemists succeeded in creating golems. They discovered the ratios of elemental compounds that could transmute matter. I am very close to rediscovering those lost formulas.”
“That’s only your claim.”
“Even so, I dare to say: I am not a fraud. I have never lied. The stone golem will one day be born from my hands.”
Ian gazed at Cain, whose will was so firm that it made him waver.
Could this man be telling the truth? He seems so convinced…
Covering his mouth with his hand, Ian muttered in a voice so low it was almost ventriloquism.
“Blanzor, what do you think? Does he sound real?”
—You’re too soft, letting yourself get swayed by that talk. But his words aren’t entirely wrong. It’s said the ancient alchemists did have the power to alter matter.
“I see.”
So it wasn’t completely absurd.
The real issue was whether Cain himself could actually do it.
“Regardless, you still can’t make a stone golem now, can you? That’s why the merchant sued you for fraud, and you were punished. Correct?”
“…Correct, my lord.”
“You were sentenced to ten years, so you’ve got about six left. I’ll make you an offer. Recently, we found a book in a dungeon. It’s written in very difficult ancient text. If you can step up and decipher it, I’ll reduce your remaining sentence and set you free immediately. Will you do it?”
Cain didn’t hesitate long.
“I’ll do it.”
“Rondo, remove his shackles and take him to Nekamo.”
Cain was tearing at the meat hungrily when he noticed the silence around him. He raised his head.
Nekamo, who introduced himself as the lord’s healer, his daughter Linda, and a young man named Josh were sitting across the table, staring at him blankly.
“Never seen a man eat before?”
“No, just surprised at how well you eat. Don’t mind us, keep going.”
Nekamo had shared a large portion of their own dinner with Cain, since he asked for food before anything else.
“Part” of their food, but in truth it was most of what the three were meant to eat.
Cain chewed noisily, switching between meat in one hand and boiled potato in the other, until he started coughing. Linda quickly handed him water, which he drank down.
“Eat slowly.”
“Thanks. How old are you?”
“Eighteen. And you, uncle?”
Linda smiled as she asked.
“Let’s see… over forty, I’d guess.”
Cain let out a long burp, then chewed the last of his potato while eyeing Nekamo.
“You’re the one who recommended me to the lord?”
“That’s right.”
“You know me then?”
Looking at Cain’s dirty, dust-streaked face, Nekamo nodded.
“It was long ago. A friend of mine once stayed at the royal capital and received help from a scholar to decipher an ancient medical text. That scholar was with the royal library. I happened to be there.”
Cain studied Nekamo’s face carefully.
In his poor scholar days, Cain had secretly taken jobs like deciphering ancient texts to earn money under the library director’s nose.
The “scholar” Nekamo mentioned was none other than him.
“Ah, I remember now. You were the shameless man who begged me to cut the fee in half after I’d worked day and night.”
Nekamo looked flustered.
“That was my friend. I was only there by chance.”
“Did you know? Because of that, I never gave a complete translation. That book was useless, ha ha ha!”
Cain laughed loudly.
“If you ever meet that friend again, tell him that’s what happens when you cheat a poor scholar.”
“He’s already dead, caught up in a fight.”
Nekamo’s face darkened. Cain stopped laughing and drank.
“Unfortunate. My condolences.”
“And mine. To think a brilliant scholar has become a convict, sitting here before me.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll solve the lord’s assignment and walk free.”
Cain raised his cup high, downed it in one gulp, and rose energetically.
“So, where’s the book?”
They went to the table in the sitting room.
Linda handed him the manuscript copy. Cain immediately immersed himself, flipping pages at astonishing speed—so fast it was doubtful he was even reading—then suddenly stopped.
“Who transcribed this?”
“I did. Is there something wrong?”
Cain glanced at Linda, then shook his head.
“Not terribly. But when copying ancient texts, don’t add your own ideas. Not even a single extra stroke to faded letters.”
“I never did that…” Linda trailed off, recalling something.
After many days of copying, she had grown familiar with the script, and perhaps, without realizing it, had “completed” some faded characters.
“It happens. Don’t feel bad. Back at the library, most of my work was copying and categorizing ancient books. One day I realized I too had been unconsciously filling in missing pieces. Mad, really.”
Cain closed the last page and returned the copy to her.
“Still, for a beginner, it’s excellent work. Especially since this script is one of the most difficult forms of the ancient tongue.”
Linda’s face lit up, and Nekamo also smiled in relief.
If Cain could catch her small mistake at once, he truly knew this ancient language well.
“Can you decipher it?” Nekamo asked eagerly.
“Didn’t I say? I’ll be free. This is a language used briefly in the Bratekass region. From the look of it, it’s a record of experiments making a type of medicine.”
“That’s right! We’re searching for a cure!” Nekamo exclaimed, then quickly explained Josh’s story of discovering the dungeon.
Cain listened silently, then looked at Josh’s leg and muttered.
“A lot of the record is damaged. It’ll be hard to reproduce…”
“Please, at least translate what remains. My father and I—we must create this medicine.”
Linda’s eyes shone with determination, leaving a strong impression on Cain.
He gazed at her face for a moment, then scratched his wild hair.
“I need a wash first. It’s driving me mad.”
Josh opened the door to his room, with Cain following behind after washing at the well.
“Come in. You’ll share this room with me for now.”
There was a desk, a chest of drawers, and a single wooden bed.
Cain glanced around, then idly flipped through a book on the desk. It contained drawings of various herbs.
“Your room?”
“Yes. Small, but there’s no spare room at the moment.”
“No, I mean, you’re here to keep an eye on me, aren’t you?”
Cain walked past Josh and flopped down on the bed.
“No need to guard me. I’ve no reason to run, and I’m not about to fly over those walls.”
“Who said I was guarding you? Don’t flatter yourself.”
Josh scowled and gestured.
“Off the bed. That’s my spot.”
“I’ve slept on cold ground for years. Let me have this for one night.”
Cain lay there comfortably. Josh sighed and laid a blanket out on the floor.
“For a so-called scholar, you sure talk rough. And your face is nasty too.”
“Is that a complaint?”
“Maybe you’ve heard my name—Josh of the slums. I’m not some pushover. So stop treating me like I’m beneath you.”
“You’re amusing.”
“What?”
Josh flushed and jumped up from his mat.
“You seem stuck here with nowhere else to go. When I’m free, work under me. You don’t look cut out for medicine.”
“Ridiculous. Who’d work under a conman?”
“What’s fact today can be false tomorrow, and what’s false tomorrow may prove a great truth the day after. I’m walking the path of a great alchemist.”
“What kind of nonsense is that?”
Josh snorted and lay back down. No use arguing further.
“Your lord is nothing like the rumors. He looks healthy, and his eyes… they shone like a king’s.”
Josh found himself answering despite himself.
“You’ve seen a king to say that?”
“The royal library is inside the palace. Do you think I haven’t seen the king?”
Since Cain had worked in the royal library, perhaps he had glimpsed the king.
Josh sat up again, curious. For ordinary folk, even seeing a lord was rare, let alone a king. Anyone who had seen the king was bound to be envied.
“I heard King Arthur is so short he never leaves the palace. Is that true?”
“Nonsense. Arthur is not short. In fact, he’s rather tall.”
“I thought so. Never made sense. But… is it true our lord’s eyes really shine like the king’s?”
“They do. The feeling I had when I first saw Arthur is still vivid. That unique gaze can’t be imitated. Yet strangely, I saw the same light in the lord’s eyes.”
