“”Eiko!””

“Cora! Nora!”

“””Yay!”””

The three baby slimes who hadn’t seen each other for a while greeted each other.

Laura and Livia, who had now become full-fledged Alchemists under the teachings of Grandma Annie, had improved by leaps and bounds due to the power of the Pseudo-Transcendent Flames that were given to them.

Heidi, who had become close friends with Laura and Livia, was helping in the shop by making candies. Since she wasn’t able to come with them to the Wanid Kingdom, she decided to master the art of baking and making sweets with the help of her mother, Lilia.

Bedivere’s family had completely integrated into Leaf Village, and now, everyone treated them as good neighbors and friends.

“Grandma Annie, you’re looking a lot younger now,” Lux said with surprise. “Did you eat something good?”

Grandma Annie chuckled after hearing Lux’s compliment. After receiving the Transcendent Flames and the Guild Buffs of Heaven’s Gate, her frail body seemed to have gotten a second chance at life, and her appearance had become younger by several years.

Right now, Grandma Annie looked like someone in her early forties, shocking almost all of the villagers of Leaf Village.

Even Lux’s blacksmith Master, Randolph, had the same changes to his body, making Cedwyn, who was the village chief, quite envious of them.

“The power of the Transcendent Flames is truly remarkable,” Grandma Annie replied. “Also, because of the resources that you have given me and Randolph, we have broken through the Initiate Rank. perhaps, that is the reason why our bodies became a bit younger compared to before.”

Lux pondered for a bit before nodding his head. This was the only explanation that he could think of as to why the kind Grandma of Leaf Village had turned into the kind Auntie of Leaf Village.

“Grandma Annie, how is the progress of the potions that we need for our future guild members going?” Lux asked.

“It is going at a very good pace,” Grandma Annie answered. “With Laura and Livia helping me with Alchemy, we are able to finish dozens of potions in a day. Also, Heidi and her mother, Lilia, have taken the burden of running the Candy Shop from me. This gave me more time to focus on Alchemy, allowing me to quickly finish the potions that we will put in our Guild’s Treasury.”

“That’s good to hear.” Lux nodded. “I’ll be going to the capital city of Aeronwen soon. Do you need something from there, Grandma?”

(A/N: Aeronwen is the capital city of the Kingdom of Gweliven).

Grandma Annie didn’t answer right away. Instead, she glanced at her two apprentices, who were busy crafting stamina pills.

“If you can get us an Advanced Alchemy Book that contains advanced pill and potion recipes, it will help us greatly,” Grandma Annie replied. “And, if possible, get us high-quality cauldrons as well. My cauldrons here are old, and I want to give Laura and Livia new equipment.”

“Consider it done, Grandma.”

“Thank you, Lux.”

Grandma Annie then handed the Half-Elf a small pouch containing several candied fruits of various colors.

“Heidi and Lilia made these candied fruits a few days ago,” Grandma Annie stated. “Take them with you. You’re going to meet with Colette and the others, right? Make sure to greet them on my behalf as well.”

Lux happily accepted the candy pouch from Grandma Annie and took a red-colored candied fruit from it, tossing it inside his mouth.

“Delicious!” Lux wasn’t able to help but praise the candied fruit that was made by Heidi and her mother, Lilia. “Do you want one, Eiko?”

“Un!” Eiko nodded and crawled on Lux’s shoulder to make it more convenient for her Papa to feed her the candy.

Just like the Half-Elf, Eiko loved the taste of the candied fruit and asked Lux to give her some more.

Seeing this, Grandma Annie chuckled and procured one more pouch of candied fruit from her storage ring.

“I’m afraid that Eiko will finish up all those candies before you meet your friends,” Grandma Annie commented as she handed the pouch of candies in her hands. “Here, give this to Colette and the others.”

“Thank you, Grandma,” Lux accepted the gift because he shared the same opinion as Grandma Annie. “I’ll be going now. If you need anything, just tell me in the Guild Chat.”

“Bye bye, Big Brother Lux!” Laura said with a smile. “Bye bye, Eiko!”

“When you come back, make sure you bring us souvenirs as well.” Livia grinned.

“Bye Bye!” Nora and Cora waved at Lux and Eiko and bid their farewells.

Eiko also waved at her friends with a smile as she also bid them goodbye. “Bye!”

After making sure that Grandma Annie didn’t have any major concerns with the pill and potion production for the guild, Lux returned to the Town’s Plaza, where he could use the Teleportation Gate to teleport to the Stronghold of Norria.

After becoming part of his Guild, Thoram thought that it would be more convenient to have a teleportation gate in Leaf Village that was also connected to his Stronghold.

Because of this, the coordinates for the Stronghold of Norria had been added to the Teleportation Gate of Leaf Village, allowing those who had received permission from the Commander of the Stronghold to instantly teleport into his territory.

——————-

Stronghold of Norria…

Keelan, the Guildmaster of the Adventurer’s Guild in the Stronghold of Norria, was already waiting for Lux’s arrival.

After being given the authority to manage the affairs of Heaven’s Gate in the Kingdom of Gweliven, Keelan didn’t waste any time and ordered one of his most trusted subordinates to create a Guild known as Ars Goetia.

This was the name of the proxy guild that Lux and his comrades used whenever someone asked them for their Guild’s Name.

Since they couldn’t casually say “Oh, I’m a member of Heaven’s Gate. Have you heard of us? You haven’t? Well, I don’t like to brag, but we are actually the only Mythical Guild in the world.”

The moment they say something like that, thousands of people would immediately pester Lux’s Guild Members for the opportunity to join their guild.

Of course, if those with malicious intentions knew about this, they would do everything in their power to take over their Guild by any means necessary.

“I’ve used the spare token given to me by His Majesty, and it allowed me to create a Silver-Ranked Guild,” Keelan explained. “For the time being, I will talk to some of my acquaintances and ask them to lend me some manpower. Of course, if you know someone who is quite influential, we may be able to use their name to convince other people to join us.”

For some reason, the first person that came to Lux’s mind when Keelan asked of an influential person was none other than the Third Princess of the Kingdom of Gweliven, Anastasia.

“Well, I’m not sure if she will help us, but I’ll talk to her if I see her in the Capital City,” Lux replied.

“She?” Keelan arched an eyebrow. “I happen to know a lot of people. Do I know her?”

“Yes. She’s none other than Princess Anastasia.”

“Princess Anastasia? Hmm… she has her own faction, so having her as one of our supporters will definitely help us in the long run. Are the two of you close?”

Lux pondered for a bit before replying with uncertainty.

“I think we parted on good terms with each other,” Lux stated. “If not, then I’ll just ask Nevreal to help us out.”

After hearing the name that Lux mentioned, Keelan laughed out loud while holding onto his belly. Clearly, he found Lux’s statement very funny.

“Lux, when was the last time you talked to Nevreal?” Keelan asked as he wiped away the tears in his eyes due to excessive laughter.

“Months ago?” Lux looked at Kellan with confusion. “Why? Did I say something funny?”

“I knew it.” Keelan chuckled after hearing Lux’s reply. “Do you not know that ever since you scammed ten million gold coins out of him, Nevreal has been cursing at you every opportunity he can? He even went as far as to tell all of his acquaintances, including me, to never lend you money or ask you for favors.”

The Half-Elf could only scratch his cheeks guiltily because Nevreal had every right to do what he was doing.

Although it happened months ago, he could still remember the expression on Nevreal’s face, which seemed like he had eaten a fly when Lux said that the payment for his services was ten million gold coins—an amount more than half of the middle-aged Dwarf’s life savings.