Chapter 149  : Alchemist

I finished chatting with the old man and headed down to the entrance of the castle town since it was close to the meeting time.

By the time we made our way to the entrance, Firo and the slaves had gathered.

slaves: “ “Welcome back~” “

naofumi: “I’m back, is everyone here?”

I count just in case.

Yep. The whole group has gathered.

firo: “Hey Master~”

naofumi: “What’s up?”

Firo approached with a question.

Melty is….not here.

firo: “What’s that yummy-looking kid next to you?”

imia: “Eep!?”

Imia let out a frightened squeak.

Firo’s humanoid form was of similar height but…to say she looks yummy, did Firo really think that she could eat her.

Nevertheless, the slaves who knew her real form took a few steps away from Firo and whispered together.

anon slave: “So Firo-chan is really……”

anon slave: “That’s right”

anon slave: “Is she gluttonous or….”

Firo looked around uneasily, did that kid even notice her own slip up.

firo: “Wh-what? No~!”

Hm, I got to see an ostracised, flustered Firo which was rare.

raphtalia: “You know Firo……this child may look a little different from us but she’s still part-human”

naofumi: “And of all the things to say, you had to say she was yummy-looking…..so you finally reveal your true character”

firo: “Fuee!?”

Firo opened her eyes wide and sniffed Imia’s scent.

firo: “No~! Don’t avoid Firo!”

I can easily picture the motion of Firo, in her monster form, attacking Imia like an owl would eat a mouse.

This is probably what everyone here is imagining.

firo: “I won’t eat you! I won’t eat you so don’t be afraid!”

Firo tried frantically to persuade her but Imia’s fear didn’t go away.

Imia clung to me with extreme fright.

It’s good that she was attached to me but……what’s with this interaction.

firo: “Master, help me!”

naofumi: “Even if you say that……It’s good as a threat so won’t you become an embodiment of fear?”

firo: “NOOOOooooo!”

Ah, she’s so loud.

“I’m joking. Imia, you don’t have to be so afraid of her. Firo is a nice kid who likes playing with children. She might look like a little girl now but her true form is…..”

……She’s definitely not a normal Philorial…..how should I describe it?

imia: “H-her true form?”

Imia asked, frightened more than before.

raphtalia: “Naofumi-sama, if you just stop there, her fear will escalate”

firo: “Nooo!”

Firo let out an even louder cry.

naofumi: “My bad. I was thinking of how best to explain it…..er, this guy is something known as a holy bird in this country so it’s alright”

Imia looked towards Firo while trembling anxiously.

Firo smiled sweetly.

However, that just seemed to backfire and Imia hid behind my back.

firo: “Master~!”

naofumi: “There’s no other way to raise her confidence but to show sincerity. Work hard”

firo: “Aww…. I get it”

Somehow this incident became quite complicated. It seems that Firo is reluctant to be rejected by her friends.

Even though it was due to her own carelessness……

naofumi: “From now on don’t go recklessly saying that someone looks delicious”

firo: “Yeah….”

Firo learnt something today. Or I should say, just the fact that she’s choosing friendship over her appetite means she’s grown a bit.

naofumi: “And, we went off topic. Didn’t you guys hear about this from Kiel?”

kiel: “I thought it’d surprise them so I kept silent”

Jeez…..that Kiel.

naofumi: “Well, we’ll do a self introduction”

I shifted the frightened Imia out of hiding.

naofumi: “This child will be coming home with us from now on. Come on, introduce yourself”

Imia’s demeanour was a mix of shyness, fear and embarrassment but she squeezed out a few words while constantly looking up and down.

imia: “I’m Imia Lucullan Lisella Tereti Quariz. Please treat me well”

slaves: “ “Such a long name!” “

Ah, of course everyone thought that. Raphtalia and Kiel didn’t react so I had thought it was normal.

anon slave: “Then again, you are a girl. Nice to meet you Imia-chan”

imia: “Right….”

Good. It seems she’s quick to open her heart.

naofumi: “We’ll be returning to the village now. You guys haven’t forgotten anything, right?”

anon slave: “All good”

anon slave: “Yes”

anon slave: “Yeah”

After I checked everyone, we walked to the carriage.

And then, Firo changed into her monster form in order to pull the carriage.

imia: “Wah!”

Imia let out her voice in surprise.

imia: “Th-this is?”

naofumi: “That’s right. This is Firo’s monster form. It’s hard to explain, right”

imia: “Yeah….”

Firo turned towards Imia and smiled. Imia timidly stretched out her hand.

anon slave: “And just like that her mouth will open and……SNAP!”

One of the slaves tried to intimidate Imia.

Imia anxiously retracted her arm in a hurry.

firo: “Aww~….”

A very dissatisfied Firo glared at the slave who had been doing the teasing.

Well, she was the one that had been made fun of……..

Firo is, how should I say it, usually the one causing problems so this is a little unusual.

Well, she is an omnivore so she can’t help eating everything.

This wasn’t the case when Firo was a child but now that she’s grown she seems like she will eat anything or was it just my imagination?

…. Ah, is it because I used her to threaten people.

naofumi: “For now, we’ll get on the carriage and take it easy”

raphtalia: “If you get motion sickness, say so properly okay”

anon slave: “Ok”

There was no need to hurry so we’ll go at a reasonable speed.

I ensured all the slaves had boarded and then instructed Firo to depart.

firo: “Ah, Master”

naofumi: “What is it?”

firo: “Melty-chan will be coming to play sometime in the near future”

naofumi: “I see”

So Melty will be coming to the village, just the thought of that loud, chatty girl coming makes my head hurt.

Well, she’ll be quiet when playing with Firo so it’s fine.

The next day.

After one night of camping, we arrived at the village. We changed the pace a little because last time Firo only slept when we arrived.

taniko: “Ah, Shield-niichan. Welcome back”

Taniko came to greet us. How rare.

That she would approach me even though we’re often conflicting when it comes to monsters.

taniko: “Nii-chan, some outsider came and was being very insistent, which was troubling. Please help!”

naofumi: “Huh?”

Taniko knocked on the door of the building the soldiers were lodging at and called for the female knight.

The female knight also seems a bit troubled.

female knight: “Just wait, you can keep a lookout without being so impatient”

taniko: “But she seemed like she would run away quite a few times!”

female knight: “It is indeed dangerous but, we haven’t got an arrest warrant yet. We can’t arrest her unreasonably and we ought to listen to the lord’s opinion”

naofumi: “What’s the matter?”

female knight: “An unpleasant, a little eccentric visitor came. She wanted a meeting with Iwatani-dono post-haste”

naofumi: “Sigh…..just who was she?”

female knight: “An alchemist who caused lots of problems in Faubley”

…….Come again?

The one whom the queen and the slave merchant had warned me about has already come to my village?

female knight: “She looked at the monsters that Iwatani-dono looks after many times, and by all means wanted to examine――”

??: “Oh~…..So this is the rumoured holy bird”

Really, before I knew it, an unknown woman came and probed Firo’s body thoroughly.

firo: “Master~!”

Firo let out a shriek.

??: “Oh, so she understands human language, this child seems to be of the legendary Philorial Queen species variant that I heard about”

Her hair colour was platinum blonde, she had long hair and tanned skin. She seems human based on her appearance.

She seems to be in her mid-twenties.

What stood out stood out, what didn’t didn’t, a standard expression from my world would be that she gave the impression of a sultry young lady in a white coat.

??: “Her plumage is thick. I wonder how her internal organs are?”

A fanatical alchemist? forcibly opened Firo’s mouth and grasped her tongue. Firo resisted but she was dealt with it easily, the Herculean Firo was repressed as easily as taking candy from a baby. [Note: Naofumi is not sure if she is an alchemist, hence the question mark]

And she even put her head inside her mouth…….

firo: “Unh!”

A struggling Firo suddenly spit the alchemist? out.

??: “It’s no good if she struggles. I suppose it can’t be helped”

Just before she fell, she pulled a syringe out of nowhere and threw it at Firo.

Firo wasn’t able to avoid it and with a *pop* the needle stuck in her mouth.

What a feat.

firo: “Funya……”

Firo collapsed with a thud.

firo: “I-I can’t summon any strength…..”

naofumi: “H-hey…..”

??: “Just wait a minute. I’m currently in the middle of an examination”

naofumi: “No, if you do these kinds of thing at your convenience, I, the owner will be troubled”

??: “Oh dear…..”

The alchemist? changed her interest after hearing my words.

??: “Might you be the Hero of the Shield-sama?”

naofumi: “T-that’s right but…. you are?”

?? → rato: “Me? I am Ratotil Anthreya. My friends call me Rato”

naofumi: “I-I see. My name is Naofumi Iwatani, Naofumi is my first name”

rato: “So it’s Naofumi-san. Nice to meet you”

Rato replied, pinning the limp Firo with her gaze.

rato: “And so, will you let me examine this child?”

She took the opportunity to request my permission.

Judging from her behaviour, she probably wouldn’t understand if I said no.

But Firo’s ecology was still full of mysteries.

firo: “Ma-master! No~!”

Hmm….. I feel like if I accept it then the enigma that was Firo could be solved but I also feel that it would heavily burden Firo.

anon slave: “Wow, she took down that Firo-chan so easily”

rato: “Isn’t it amazing. If it had worked properly, the drug I used should have caused her to lose consciousness and yet she’s still aware and able to talk”

naofumi: “So you used that kind of drug”

rato: “It couldn’t be helped. If she continued to struggle, it would have done more harm than good”

naofumi: “Sigh…. first of all, I’ll have to refuse”

rato: “Oh, too bad”

firo: “Ungh….”

Firo recovered and slowly got to her feet.

rato: “My my, it seems that if I don’t use a stronger drug it will be impossible to examine her”

firo: “Noo!”

Firo ran away.

She won’t be returning for a while.

naofumi: “So you’re the one who wanted a meeting with me”

rato: “That’s right”

naofumi: “What did you want?”

rato: “To be able to have a look at a variety of things. For example, a certain village’s plant or the monsters in this village”

naofumi: “Sigh…”

rato: “You see, this really attracted my attention. I’d really like to fiddle around with some of them”

naofumi: “To let you fiddle around, you say…..”

Just what did this fellow intend to do?

It looks like she even knows the origin of the Bioplant, so it should probably be fine to just let her do some research.

Was she an alchemist? At the least, she can be called a specialist. She might be pretty smart.

To be honest, I wasn’t very good at studying so I’m aware that I’m not good with this type.

Even if that’s the case, I couldn’t just let it go.

naofumi: “I also heard rumours about you. That you’re an alchemist who caused a lot of problems in Faubley”

rato: “Problems? That’s not right. They’re just saying that because they’re too incompetent to understand my research. And so they fabricated some lies and exaggerated some mistakes to turn it into something big”

naofumi: “Yeah yeah”

She said this like some mad scientist character. There’s no merit in looking after someone who’d follow that role too well.

Well, she took down Firo easily enough so that ability might deserve some appreciation.

She might have some war potential.

rato: “Those guys, they called my monster research ‘an act that would even scare the gods’ and banished me of all things. And by gods, they were referring to the Four Sage Heroes and the Seven Star Heroes, I think?”

naofumi: “And so, did you come to approve of the current Four Sage Heroes yourself?”

rato: “No. Their cries about the heroes were making me sick. They’re nothing but a hindrance!”

naofumi: “….Who do you think you’re talking about. Why did you come here then”

rato: “I came to examine the monster that was the Spirit Turtle. Incidentally, I also took the opportunity to visit this place”

naofumi: “Go off to Melromarc’s castle”

rato: “That’s good too. My interest has already moved on”

Rato stuck out her hand enthusiastically, intending to grasp mine.

I replied while avoiding that hand.

naofumi: “Don’t touch me. I hate women like you”

rato: “I see, then I won’t touch you so let me play with the monsters”

taniko: “You can’t!”

Taniko rejected her arbitrarily.

If it concerns monsters then she’ll charge unexpectedly, this kid.

naofumi: “Wait, wait……First I want to hear your objective”

It might be good to recruit her depending on the situation.

She is a monster specialist. There’ll be many uses for her.

I might be expecting too much of her but she might be able to take care of the modifying of the Bioplant and monsters in my place.

Well, that also depends on her motive.

If she’s thinking stupid things such as seeking revenge on the country or trying to destroy the world, I’ll drive her out without hesitation.

alchemist:“My aim? It’s to create powerful monsters of course”