TADT 06

Chapter : 6 The Alchemist of Florin (2)

“S-Save me!”

Had she noticed Rotem appearing from deeper inside the cave?

Or was it simply a desperate scream thrown out toward any possible hope?

The Shai girl, Juno, trembled helplessly in front of the ‘Consumed One’ approaching her while carrying a massive sword.

She had barely survived the first attack, but a deep wound on her thigh had taken away her ability to run.

The human Consumed One slowly spread dark energy around itself while staring directly at Juno with eyes that no longer truly existed.

Its movements were slow, but there was no hesitation in them.

That was why—

“-!”

More than the approaching disaster of death itself, the Shai girl was shocked by the Giant who suddenly appeared and slammed himself into the Consumed One’s side.

There was certainly a size difference between humans and Giants, but the opponent was a Consumed One—a creature whose monstrous strength ignored normal racial differences.

Even so, Rotem successfully knocked the creature down and immediately kicked away the hand holding the greatsword, disarming it.

“……”

But losing its weapon did not mean losing its killing intent.

The Consumed One instantly released dark-black energy while violently struggling.

The incredible strength threw Rotem backward.

But more than the brute force, what truly bothered Rotem was the dark energy slowly spreading outward from the creature.

To Rotem, it was merely sticky, unpleasant energy that blocked his vision.

But for ordinary people, even touching it slightly could make them lose consciousness or become a Consumed One themselves.

Rotem shouted toward the girl, who was still frozen in shock while staring blankly at everything happening before her.

“Run! Hurry outside!”

“B-But—”

Juno tried to stand after hearing Rotem’s voice, but the wound on her thigh was deeper than expected and would not allow her to properly rise.

The physical threat had temporarily stopped, but if this continued, the dark energy would soon swallow her whole.

In the end, there was only one option left.

Destroy the source of the dark energy before it could reach her.

“Hup—!”

Rotem pulled out his axe and immediately leaped toward the Consumed One.

It was an incredibly straightforward charge, so the creature swung both arms to stop him.

But surprisingly, Rotem skillfully avoided the attacks and pushed inside its guard, burying the hand axe deep into the creature’s shoulder.

If the opponent had been a normal human, it would have screamed in pain and lost the will to fight.

But this was a monster that felt neither pain nor fear.

Rotem knew that very well, so he did not stop.

From the half-severed arm to the neck, and from the neck to the face, he continued mercilessly hacking with the axe.

“Huff……”

Only after feeling the limits of his strength did Rotem finally stop and slowly catch his breath.

The crushed face of the Consumed One began bubbling black as though melting away before completely disappearing into the cave itself.

Only then did Rotem finally turn toward Juno.

“Are you alright?”

“Ah? O-Oh……”

The Shai girl flinched in surprise at the sudden voice directed toward her.

But perhaps not all of that fear was aimed at Rotem himself, because Juno did not openly show hostility toward the Giant approaching her with heavy footsteps.

“Pour half of this on the wound and drink the other half. It should heal you enough to walk.”

Rotem pulled out a red recovery potion from his bag and handed it to her.

Only then did Juno seem to remember the pain she was in, her face twisting as she accepted the potion.

“……So this is the colony you found?”

Following Rotem’s advice, Juno poured half the potion onto her thigh and drank the remaining half in one gulp.

Even while doing that, her large eyes remained fixed on the darkness deeper inside the cave.

“Yeah… something like that.”

“……No wonder nobody found it until now.”

“Once night falls, more things like that crawl out. Let’s go to my workshop first and talk there.”

Rotem held out his massive hand.

Juno swallowed the bitter taste of the potion and grabbed it without hesitation.

And the Black Spirit, who had finished the ‘work’ and watched the entire scene unfold—

laughed loudly while looking back and forth between the two shadows leaving the cave and the place where the remains of the Consumed One had just bubbled away.

[Hey, I told you your elixir actually works really well.]

Darkness slowly fell over the once lively village, and lanterns began lighting up the streets one by one.

At this hour, the roads were usually noisy with Shai workers leaving their workshops after finishing work.

But Workshop Number 6 still had bright light pouring out through its windows.

“How’s your thigh?”

Since Rotem had rushed out in the middle of working, the inside of the workshop was still messy except for a few cleared spaces.

And sitting near one of those small clean areas beside the alchemy tools, Juno accepted the sute tea Rotem handed her and naturally took a sip.

The warm sweetness relaxed her tension, but she still carefully looked around the workshop as though trying not to miss a single detail.

“It’s fine. That recovery potion you gave me worked incredibly well. Did you make it yourself?”

“Yes.”

“That’s amazing. It’s already half healed.”

The deep wound caused by the contaminated greatsword had already begun filling with fresh flesh, and scabs were forming over it.

The effect truly was impressive, but Rotem simply waved his hand like it was nothing.

“Well, recovery potions are something everyone living here can make easily.”

“That’s true. Recovery potion recipes are simple, so the quality mostly depends on the ingredients.

But I don’t think anyone would casually make recovery potions this good for practice and then leave them lying around instead of selling them.”

“……”

Just as Juno said, recovery potions and elixirs Rotem had made during practice were scattered carelessly all over the workshop without even proper sorting.

“And those truffles too… are you saying all these high-quality ingredients came from that cave?”

“Well, half yes and half no.”

“What does that mean?”

Before answering, Rotem briefly glanced toward the invisible shadow beside him.

To Juno, it probably looked like he was simply taking a breath.

But in truth, it was his way of reassuring the Black Spirit.

“It’s true that the mushrooms grow there in colonies. The problem is that in their natural state, their quality isn’t actually that great.”

Juno’s eyes widened with confusion.

“In their natural state?”

“But if herbs or mushrooms are soaked in the dark energy spread throughout the cave, they instantly absorb it and their quality improves.”

“……What?”

Shock spread across Juno’s face.

The dark energy he mentioned was exactly what made the cave forbidden in the first place.

As someone who had almost died because of an adventurer consumed by that darkness, she could not understand how Rotem could speak so calmly about it.

“No, does that even make sense? You soak ingredients in that energy? Do you even know what kind of effect that could have on people?”

“It’s fine. I tested it by eating them myself.”

“……Hey, what kind of—”

“Look. You’re perfectly fine too, Juno.”

“……?”

Rotem’s thick finger pointed toward her thigh.

Juno’s expression instantly stiffened.

“You… don’t tell me—”

“Yes. That recovery potion was also made using herbs soaked in the cave.”

Juno hurriedly examined her wound, but aside from the fresh flesh regenerating because of the potion, there was nothing unusual at all.

“……You do know that ordinary people go insane the moment they even touch that energy, right?”

If her fears had been true—if herbs soaked in dark energy truly harmed the body—then by now she would either be dead or transformed into something like that Consumed One.

Of course, Rotem’s explanation was not the complete truth.

But neither was it a complete lie.

That was why he could confidently face both Juno and the Black Spirit.

“I don’t know if it’s because of my race, but I seem to have some resistance to that unpleasant energy.”

“No. That can’t be it. I’ve seen Giant adventurers go mad after entering that place.”

“Then maybe I’m just unusual.”

“……A little unusual?”

Countless veteran adventurers had failed to endure the dark energy and ended up consumed by it.

Could someone who stayed perfectly fine while constantly exposed to it—and even mixed herbs and mushrooms inside it—really be explained as merely ‘a little unusual’?”

“……Anyway, to summarize: there’s a truffle colony inside the cave, and soaking herbs or mushrooms in the dark energy improves their quality. That’s what you’re saying?”

“Yes.”

“And for some reason, you’re resistant to the energy.”

“Yes.”

“That’s convenient. A place nobody else can even step into is basically a treasure vault for you. For a slave, you really hit the jackpot.”

Was she mocking him, or genuinely jealous?

Rotem could not tell from Juno’s tone or expression.

Ever since arriving in Florin Village, she had constantly called him a slave and looked down on him.

He had always tried to ignore it, believing it was simply the rude and straightforward personality common among the Shai.

But now, after secretly following him, being saved by him, and even receiving a high-quality recovery potion from him—

she still had not said a single word of thanks.

Seeing that shameless attitude, Rotem was slowly losing the desire to continue being considerate toward the girl in front of him.

“Yeah, I hit the jackpot. Happy now? You know everything now, so stop following me around.”

“What? Since when did I—”

“Then what exactly were you doing inside that forbidden cave?”

“……”

Juno was left speechless by Rotem’s sudden direct tone.

Yet even then, she continued staring up at him, creating an awkward silence where the two simply looked at each other.

“Well, anyway. I’m not going to ask you to keep it secret. Honestly, it doesn’t matter much whether people find out or not. Finished your tea?”

“Ah, y-yeah.”

“I still have a lot to clean up. Can you walk on your own?”

“Uh-huh…”

There was no force behind his words, but Juno still found herself being gently pushed toward the workshop door.

Then suddenly, Rotem searched through a bag on the table and held out another bottle filled with crimson liquid.

“Just in case, take one more. If your wound starts hurting or gets hot, drink it.”

“……Ah, okay.”

“Then take care.”

Rotem sent Juno outside and was about to close the door without hesitation.

But his movement suddenly stopped because of a tiny voice.

“……Um…”

“Yes?”

“……Thank you.”

Her eyes were clear and direct.

There was no embarrassment or humiliation in her expression.

This girl probably just was not used to thanking people at all.

“It’s fine. See you tomorrow.”

Only after both Rotem and Juno exchanged the minimum courtesy did the workshop door finally close.

Rotem let out a short sigh and looked around the still messy workshop once more.

And then, the being that had been beside him the entire time—though he could not openly acknowledge it—floated closer with a grin full of white teeth.

[Looks like your secret got exposed faster than expected. You sure this is okay?]

“It can’t be helped. It’s not like I lied about anything.”

[Hmmm.]

“Even if rumors spread, nobody’s going to risk their life just to get some high-quality mushrooms. The cave won’t be exposed immediately.”

[That may be true, but depending on how that girl talks about this, we might need to prepare for something.]

“I’ll think about that later. Right now, I need to prepare for tomorrow.”

Because of everything that happened with Juno, far more time had passed than expected.

Rotem let out another long sigh before reaching into his bag once again and pulling out a bottle filled with purple liquid.

“Please work for me, ‘Elixir of Stamina.’”