Chapter 39 – The Apothecary Old Lady

Greta continued to keep a watchful eye on our surroundings as she escorted me back to my small room. Once we closed the windows and lit a candle, she sat down at the tiny table, looking anxious as she asked,

“So, are you really a dark wizard?”

“No,” I denied softly, causing Greta to let out a relieved sigh.

“Thank God. Then what the hell was that guy talking about earlier?”

“I’m not entirely sure… but most of the wizards who haven’t registered with the Empire yet seem to be from that… type of magic—curses or something like that.”

“Why haven’t you registered then?”

“I’m not a wizard,” I said, my voice trembling. “I can’t even use magic.”

After hearing the full story about my condition, Greta ruffled her hair in frustration.

“D*mn it, so that guy just misunderstood. But even if you tell him now that you’re not a wizard, he probably won’t believe it… Anyway, tomorrow, we’ll go see the old lady at the apothecary.”

“The apothecary?”

“Yeah, there’s a witch who runs a small shop in the capital, selling contraceptives. She might know something about your condition.”

For commoners who aren’t closely connected to holy power or holy water, magic is more familiar. Even in the countryside where my mother and I lived, there was an old man who ran an apothecary.

He had a talent for enhancing the effects of herbs by infusing them with magic, but neither Benjamin nor Eloise considered such minor talents as real magic.

I didn’t have much hope for this old witch at the apothecary, but I nodded anyway, unable to explain my doubts to Greta. As expected, the old lady at the apothecary shook her head as soon as she heard my story.

“The ones I knew are all long dead.”

“How can you talk like that?” Greta shouted in anger, to which the old lady covered her ears and shouted back even louder,

“How else would you talk about someone who’s dead?”

“Has this old hag lost her mind?”

I grabbed Greta’s arm, trying to calm her down.

“Greta, stop. I already knew. I’m sorry, ma’am.”

Greta bit her lip and held back. The old witch didn’t say anything more after I apologized. Instead, she rummaged through a drawer and pulled out a small box, handing it to me. As I was about to open it, she suddenly yelled,

“Hey, you thief!”

Startled, I quickly pulled my hand back from the box. Wait, wasn’t she giving this to me? Seeing my surprised face, the old witch grinned and opened the box herself, placing a single pill in my hand.

“Scared you, didn’t I? Take this. It’ll make you feel better.”

…Can I trust this? Relying on Greta’s apparent familiarity with the witch, I swallowed the pill, deciding to take a chance. And then I was surprised in a different way.

“How do you feel? Calmed down, right?”

In a daze, I nodded. My heart, which had been pounding until just a moment ago, had become astonishingly calm.

“Lots of actors look for this. It’s pretty expensive, you know.”

Is this some kind of calming pill? Hypnotized, I opened my wallet. After spending all the cash I had to buy as many of the pills as I could, Greta and I headed straight to Bill’s tavern. Bill was surprised to see us show up with our bags, but after hearing about what happened yesterday, he looked serious.

“If that happened, you shouldn’t have come here. Those guys are probably keeping an eye on this place.”

“But it’s broad daylight. Shady types like that don’t operate in broad daylight,” Greta argued.

“That just means you’ve never dealt with really dangerous people, Greta.”

Bill didn’t try to stop me from leaving the capital. While we waited, he went upstairs to change his clothes. When he came back down, he was dressed in a formal suit, complete with a hat, as if he were about to arm himself with weapons.

“Let’s go.”

Bill led us to the market. There, in a corner, he approached a small, makeshift exchange booth. I was shocked to realize that it was actually a branch of a bank. Inside a tent guarded by mercenaries, a banker in a suit sat, and the whole process of withdrawing money felt more like dealing with a loan shark than a bank.

Bill withdrew some money and took us to a rather clean area of the city, far from the Red Pub and in the opposite direction of my old lodgings. He brought us to a decent inn and arranged for me to stay there. As we went up to the room, Bill handed me a pouch of money.

“I’m going straight to report that there’s a suspicious wizard near the pub. So don’t even think about going back. If you want to earn more money, find another stage. Somewhere with better security.”

Without another word, Bill left the room. I hurried to thank him before he could leave.

“Thank you, Bill.”

He didn’t respond; he just closed the door behind him. When I looked at Greta, she simply shrugged her shoulders. It felt hollow, like this might be our last goodbye. Maybe this was Bill’s way of detaching himself. I felt a bit bitter about it. After unpacking my things, Greta spoke first.

“Coming back means he’ll bring his gang next time.”

I agreed with Greta. The Emperor is trying to bring wizards into the open by enforcing a registration system.

However, dark wizards who are already involved in crime or can’t gain social acceptance still hide in the shadows. As their activities are increasingly restricted, they might band together to survive. That wizard from yesterday probably came to recruit Red Lips. Greta seemed to be thinking the same thing.

“He probably thought you were a mind wizard. He must have thought you made money by deceiving people.”

That feels a bit unfair.

“Is that even possible?”

“Well, I’ve only seen illusion magic once during a war. Someone pretended to be an ally and used illusion magic to deceive the commander, leading to a massacre of their own troops.”

I shuddered at Greta’s story.

“So, what happened?”

“Fortunately, Bill noticed and killed him.”

I swallowed hard. I remembered what Ian had said—something about needing at least some swordsmanship to cast spells.

“So, does Bill know how to use sword techniques or something?”

“What? Haha. Bill uses an axe.”

Greta’s laughter made me feel awkward.

“Do you think sword techniques are just something anyone can use? It’s all about bloodlines. There are specific bloodlines that use sword techniques, and they established their own countries during the war and are now nobles.”

That sounds plausible.

“So, how did Bill fight a wizard?”

Greta smirked.

“Surprisingly, it’s not that complicated. Before the wizard can use magic, you just need to decapitate them or pierce their heart.”

I felt a chill run through my heart. I decided to officially hire Greta starting next month. For this month, I had no choice but to stick with Bill’s arrangement since he had already paid the advance. Bill’s help didn’t end there. The inn he had arranged for me was apparently run by the Red Pub Mercenaries—the same name they used before setting up their shop.

Even though reservations were full, I managed to get a decent room because they kept some rooms empty for their members. I was ready to pay for the room, even if it was a bit pricey, but Bill had already covered that too, making me feel awkward again. Bill had already given me my wages and tips in full. Additional help felt burdensome.

“Just accept it gratefully. You look exactly like his lost daughter.”

“…Me?”

“Yeah. It turns out you might really be his daughter.”

“Didn’t you say the daughter was dead?”

Greta shook her head.

“No, the child’s mother disappeared with her, and the mother was found dead while the daughter is still missing. But honestly, she’s probably dead. If she were alive, they would have arranged to meet at Red Pub.”

But why did he say she was dead to me? Maybe Bill’s paternal instincts instinctively knew I wasn’t his daughter. I decided to do what I could. Bill had reported the suspicious wizard, so the wizard would likely lay low for a while. However, once the patrols quieted down, the wizard might reappear and cause trouble for Bill again. Until now, it was known that I was staying with Bill.

So, I planned to show up on another stage—somewhere larger, safer, and offering enough money to make it worth leaving. That’s why I went to see Betty.

The Canova Hotel, being in the middle of Central Street, would be far from any suspicious wizards, and since it claimed to have the best nightlife, they would surely pay well. If it weren’t for the calming pills I got from the apothecary, I wouldn’t have even considered it. Betty was delighted to see me, even though I had initially declined her offer.

“Good call. They offer 100 leads for each performance here.”

Wow, that’s impressive. I took another calming pill before the performance started. Thanks to that, my heart was calm. I wasn’t nervous at all, even with a big stage ahead. Betty smiled as she saw me take the pill.

“Are you nervous too? That pill works well, doesn’t it?”

It seems it’s popular among actors. I just smiled. We went on stage together, starting with the song we had prepared and then performing a few songs requested by the hotel, finishing with a final number. By the time we were done, it was already midnight. I planned to leave the hotel quickly with Greta. But Betty followed us and said,

“Leaving already? The streetlights are off and it’s dangerous. Let’s grab a table and stay the night. Performers get a free drink. When else will you get to try expensive drinks…?”

“Sorry, Betty. We need to go.”

“I’d feel a bit uneasy being alone. It seems like there are many guests who want to talk to you. Okay?”

“There are people waiting outside.”

That wasn’t a lie. Carrying large sums of money is risky, so two spare staff members from the inn were waiting outside. Even though they were just inn staff, they were ex-mercenaries with practical experience.

“Anne, don’t be like that…”

“Anne? Is that your name?”

The person who cut off Betty was a stranger. From his well-dressed appearance, he was at least a gentry. Since I didn’t recognize him, he wasn’t a high noble. He grabbed my wrist firmly.

“Don’t leave. Have a drink with me; it’s dangerous to be out at dawn.”

He acted friendly but showed no intention of letting go of my hand.