14 – Recipe(4)

“There lives an alchemist.”

“Are you an alchemist?”

“Yeah, Wiesel has a lot of herbs, so alchemists come often. He has settled down here.”

“Are you living alone?”

“I don’t know what it is because it comes out once every few months. Sometimes when I visit, the house is often empty. It seems like it’s been half a year since I haven’t seen it.”

When I grabbed the villagers and questioned them, they said that there was no traffic in the mansion they had seen in their dreams.

There is only a rumor that an alchemist with a broken face goes in and out once every few months.

I stood in front of the gate of the mansion. It didn’t even have a doorbell, probably because it didn’t welcome people.

The appearance of the mansion was the same as the one from the dream. I wonder why this mansion appeared in my dream.

Apart from dreams, there was no plausible justification for entering the mansion. There could be nothing more suspicious than an unknown person coming to the alchemist’s house. That closed and exclusive alchemist would be happy to welcome me.

I pondered for a while on what justification to use.

Eh, if you say you came here because of a ghoul problem, you’ll probably be able to get over it.

There was no doorbell, so I was going to grab the door and shake it.

I grabbed the doorknob. No matter how much I didn’t take care of it, it rusted and I felt the texture of rust powder on my hands.

When you shake the door, it rushes out.

“uh?”

The gate was not locked.

I pushed the door lightly and put my head halfway in.

“Are you there?”

Stepping stones were densely laid on the floor of the yard, and weeds grew thickly between the pebbles.

The windows of the mansion were all hazy and dusty, and even one place was cracked, so it was dangerous as if it would break at any moment.

It was more like an abandoned house that had been neglected for a long time than a place where people lived.

The overall atmosphere was even spooky, as if a ghost was about to come out.

I approached the front door.

Even the front door was unlocked and left with the gap wide open.

weird. Did the search party go first? Most likely not. The one in charge of this area was the search party I was in, and this house had just passed by.

In case you didn’t know, I pulled out a knife.

I walked slowly to the front door, grabbed the door with my fingertips, and pulled carefully. Then I went straight inside.

The interior of the mansion that came into my field of vision almost matched what I had seen in my dream. Except it’s a little more messy.

The structure is exactly the same. However, there were picture frames and dried flower pots scattered on the floor. Did you hear the thief?

If it was an alchemist’s house, thieves could come and go to steal research records.

if that’s not the case. The hair all over the body stands up.

I put the sword back into my waist dance. I couldn’t deal with a ghoul with a normal sword.

I focused my eyes and ears and headed towards the study I had seen in my dream.

The creaking of the floorboards was as loud as thunder.

After passing the hallway, I stood in front of the door to the study. Then, taking a deep breath, he grabbed the doorknob and pushed it away.

Even the slightest movement of the door opening caused dust to rise.

There was a thick layer of dust on the floor. Judging by the lack of footprints, it seems that no one has been in and out of the place for at least a few years.

Fanning my hands, I approached between the rows of bookshelves.

what are these

Most of the books were in a language I had never heard of. Moreover, these languages were not of one kind. Are there so many languages I don’t know?

I picked up a book and flipped through it. Every page is packed with notes and notes. I picked up another book at random and opened it, and it was the same as the handwriting. Is it that the owner of this house, an alchemist, can speak all of those languages fluently?

I recalled the stacks of paper on the desk I had seen in the final scene of the dream.

As I made my way through the bookshelves, the image I had seen in my dream appeared before my eyes.

Dusty windows. And a long desk.

I closed my eyes at the unbelievable scenery and pressed the area around my eyes like acupressure. And I opened my eyes again. It is the same scenery.

I didn’t see anything wrong. I don’t know if I had an out-of-body experience while sleeping, but this place was definitely imprinted in my head.

And a bundle of parchment on the table.

Covered in dust, but overall in good condition. If you leave it for a long time, the rats will eat it, but luckily it doesn’t seem to be.

Read at noblemtl.com

Judging by the thickness, it seemed to be well over 300 pages.

I picked up a roll of paper and blew the dust off the cover.

[ Research Documentation ]

Zverev Bruncelos.

It was a book containing the alchemist’s research. Zverev is probably the owner of this house.

This is the last thing I saw in my dream.

Why did I see this research paper in my dream? What does this have to do with me?

I flipped through the cover and luckily it was written in a language I could read.

Looking at the table of contents of the record, there were 380 pages containing only 4 potion recipes.

I picked up the pages in a bunch and flipped through them, and after the middle, it was written in a language I couldn’t understand.

this.

All I could read were the recipe for the first two potions. Being able to read is just a matter of communicating the language. It was full of incomprehensible terms such as the processing method of ingredients, the combination of ingredients, and various alchemy symbols.

It was not just a simple combination recipe, but also efficacy and side effect studies, clinical trials, all these working procedures and trial and error were recorded in detail.

While looking over the process of making the recipe for the first potion, I groaned involuntarily.

It was part of testing the human body’s reaction to the unfinished potion.

The appearance of the subject of the human experiment is described in detail in the picture. human body hair. wrinkle. Even the body hair is drawn, which is strangely unpleasant.

Furthermore, the test subject in the picture has its limbs wrapped in chains.

If this restraint is enough, it is likely that the test subject did not participate voluntarily.

“Damn it.”

On the next page, the changes in the body after administering the potion are described in a dry style.

[The fuselage vision has improved. ]

[The reaction rate has increased dramatically. ]

[My vision and hearing have become extremely sensitive. ]

[Fluorescent material aggregates in the iris. You have the ability to see at night. ]

Looking at the efficacy, I couldn’t figure out what kind of potion they were making.

I kept turning the pages.

All of the subject’s hair falls out and the skin becomes tangled as if it had recovered from a burn. New teeth grow and the muscles get thicker.

The ribs gradually grow and deform, protruding through the back.

Contrary to the calm technique of the alchemist, the body condition of the test subject was strangely changing. However, there is no mention of any other side effects.

It looks similar… Are you a ghoul?

I turned the pages of the research log to the front.

I skimmed through the text quickly.

found.

I read a line of sentences describing the experimental conditions in the beginning.

[ … Due to the difficulty in stable supply of test subjects, I replaced the potion initial clinical test subjects with ‘human corpses in the process of being ghouled’, which have a similar reaction to the human body. ]

For a moment I doubted my eyes.

This mad alchemist was testing his potion on a ghoul.

Taking a ghoul from the center of town and using it, this alchemist is insane.

I wanted to read it like a chimney, but I closed the record and put it in my arms. It’s not the time to relax.

We need to find a laboratory.

Ghouls do not like sunlight, so places with windows are excluded. No, if he had an idea, he would have set up a laboratory in a place where there is no chance to look into it.

Then there’s only the basement.

I killed my footsteps and came out of the study.

Then he walked slowly down the hallway. There are no windows at the end of the corridor. At the end of the hallway, you can see a place where shadows have fallen underground.

My heart beats strongly. To the point where I wondered if the sound would echo in the hallway.

I stood in front of the stairs going down to the basement and took a deep breath.

It was dark because no light could reach the bottom of the stairs.

I started down the stairs, pointing at the wall.

The stairs went deep, as if going down two floors.

At the end of the stairs was a corridor that continued. And the ceiling of that hallway was lightly lit with magic stones. The magic stone’s lifespan was almost over, so the brightness was fainter than that of a candle.

And there was a faint sound coming from there. I held my breath and listened.

A sound like chewing on something.

Clearly there is something out there.

At the end of the hallway, you can see a thick iron door that is not even closed.

I approached the iron door and opened it slowly.

The interior is also dimly lit with dying magic stones.

There was a long space with bars on both sides like a prison.

A large magic circle was drawn on the ceiling, but part of it was lost because the ceiling on one side collapsed.

In the center is a hard bed in the shape of a cross.

And next to it, one ghoul was eating the corpse of another ghoul. They don’t even know I’m here and they’re preoccupied with eating.

The bricks on the wall in front of me had collapsed, and there was a huge cave that had been dug out of the soil and could have been used by horses.

“… .”

I took out the stitch Silverine gave me from my pocket.

When you place it on your palm and touch it, the hidden wings spread wide.

Immediately, Stitch flapped his wings like a wasp.

I threw Stitch backwards, and it flew straight down the hallway and up the stairs.

The loud sound of wings interrupts the ghoul’s meal and turns around quickly.

The ghoul looked at me carefully for a while, then raised its head and howled in a voice that sounded like a mixture of a human and a tiger.

oh oh oh oh—

momentary silence.

Dust drips from the ceiling.

Vibration transmitted to the feet immediately.

hard

Countless footsteps vibrate the ground.

getting closer and closer here Soon after, ghouls began pouring out of the caves in front.

Before long, half of this underground laboratory was filled with ghouls.

The ghouls licked their lips and crept up to me.

A little while ago, my heart was beating wildly, but now, when I should be very nervous, I am surprisingly calm.

I stretched out my right hand in the air and closed my eyes.

I could feel it even without seeing or calling. The sensation that knocks on the soul that I don’t know if it’s a sixth sense. The existence that was breathing calmly somewhere in my body.

The echo of that existence was stronger than usual. Like a fetus trying to come out of its mother’s womb, it keeps trying to get out of my soul.

I freed that being.

When I opened my eyes, I had a sword of light in my hand.