Chapter 21 - 『Potions』

"You are aware you're able to stay at the Manor, right?" Jack tilted his head looking over the man in the full plate armor. "We have more than enough rooms to accommodate you."

Momonga stared through his visor at the young man for a few moments before nodding.

"So how about you stay at my place? I'm sure my sister would enjoy the company, and you won't have to pay for rent." Jack snickered at this, since he would be gone, there was no reason for him to pay rent. Plus they were both part of the same team even though they were now currently playing different roles in order to create a live narrative in which they would carry for the time being.

Brita looked at the two of them as they spoke, putting the red potion into her pouch.

"I don't see anything that benefits you, my friend."

"Oh believe me, my sister needs the company." Jack said with a cheeky grin across his lips. He knew how much his sister would bother Momonga either to know where he was, or if she could go on adventurers with him.

He was rather interested to see how that would turn out on its own.

"Huh-oh," Momonga was well aware of how Eve behaved thanks to him leaving her alone at Nazarick just for a short time. And then when he had visited the house, she definitely had it out for him.

Jack's eyes then moved over towards Nabe, the Doppelganger and tilted his head to the side slightly. From what he can tell, she was someone who a lot of the null characters of Nazarick were jealous of, just because she was currently the closest NPC to be with Ainz.

He was sure that CZ, or Shizu, would have the same issue, or not at all depending on how they saw it. She was considered the cutest and most popular of the Pleiades. Perhaps the others would think it was an adequate choice for a supreme being to bring her along?

Jack just let his thoughts roam until the puff of a short red head appeared between him and the two friends. His eyes lowered to meet with the one's of the girl known as Brita. "Hm…?"

"Aren't you going to check on those potions you were talking about?"

"That's right," Jack said nonchalantly. He didn't need to be reminded, he was going to get to that later, but it seems she wanted to come along. Not that he minded. "Momonga-san, would you like to come along."

Momonga waved his hand in dismissal, "I'm alright, once I've gotten settled in here, we'll look at doing some quests tomorrow. We'll see you off when you leave for Baharuth though and.. Just call me Momon now, it's shorter and to the point."

Jack stared at his friend for a moment when he had removed the 'ga' from the end of his name. It wasn't that he minded all that much, it was just strange. Why not just go with his actual name?

Looking over towards the young woman with red hair, he would gesture for her to come with as he turned for the door. "It's good seeing you again, Momon-san," he'd say as he waved over his shoulder.

As the two left the building, he would kept going, not even stopping to chat as Brita walked after him.

He hadn't been seen in E-Rantel for days. Though it could just be assumed he was staying home, doing something or studying magic. He was a powerful caster, so no one would suspect he had gone all the way over to the Slane Theocracy and bombed the shit out of the capital.

No one would suspect right?

About halfway to the Pharmacy, he stopped and turned around to face the girl. "It's likely they developed something, so I'd like to hire your team if possible, to escort them to Carne Village and act as their bodyguards until further notice."

Blinking up at him, the girl didn't quite understand why she was suddenly being selected for this job. Her team was just an Iron Rank! There were surely some other groups that he could hire. Perhaps a Gold ranked adventurer group?

Pursing his lips slightly seeing her shocked expression on her face, "You're the only one I can currently trust, since you were there when I told them about the Kenku and Goblins."

He wasn't wrong. He had informed her and the Baleare family that some farm girl named Enri was given items to summon beast men as guards for the village. Even then she didn't know what to expect.

"And what about the Magician's Guild?" She stared up at him, assuming that they had even more progress as they were a much bigger organization than the famous pharmacist.

"They will be… Compensated," Jack said with a shrug. "If they figured out how to imbue lesser healing spells into the Zolue Solution without the use of enchanted Gold, then it should be good."

"Enchanted Gold?"

"There was a mine in our country. The Gold was naturally infused with magic energy and we often used it as both currency and equivalent exchange in the use of making potions and other alchemy byproducts.

"Ooooh..." Brita sighed quietly, it sounded like the country he was from was very stable, economically wise, or at least very strong in resources. "Did you not bring any here?"

"Oddly enough, once we left the Island, the Gold lost the energy it was infused with."

Brita slowly nodded at this. Perhaps the entire region was infused with a magic spell of some sort, there was no other way she could think of it being like that.

As he turned away from her, she went off to collect her group.

Jack then resumed his course and entered the front door of the Pharmacy.

He was greeted by a bright beaming smile of an old woman, "Jack-san!" Lizzie Baleare shouted as she ran up to him. In her hands seemed to be a violet-purple potion. His eyes stared through it for a moment before looking over her.

It looked like she hadn't been sleeping all that much. A frown appeared over his lips, "I see you made some progress." He held out a hand to have a look at the potion.

Lizzie nodded fondly and placed it in his hand.

Jack tried to look through the liquid, it was far too thick for him to do so. It had the consistency of syrup and it was slow moving. It even stained the glass which it was settled in. Perhaps it was brewed for too long? Or was this on purpose.

『All Appraisal Magic Item』

Hearing the spell he had just cast, the woman smiled widely. It was a much more advanced version of the spell she had cast to appraise his.

Jack was looking over all the information the spell was telling him. The creator, how it was manufactured, what was in it and so on. It appears they had added the pulps of various herbs together and it was still fermenting.

Overall though, it was good progress. He could drink the potion now and it would heal some abnormalities and minor wounds. Though he didn't have either of those to test it on.

"Are there any others?" Jack asked curiously as he looked over at her with his head tilted to the side slightly. He wanted to see if she used the Zolue Solution with any other version of a potion.

Nodding, "Right this way!" She ushered him into the backroom impatiently, wild eyed. She was pretty energetic for being a grandmother with grey hair and a venerable body.

As he entered the back room, he took in the view. There were several brewing stations set up and amongst the people in the room, there was someone who he hadn't met just yet. Nphirea was standing over one of the brewing potions while someone else was mixing them.

His eyes rested on a girl with unkempt work clothes which seemed to have been stained haphazardly with juices from various herbs. His eyes then rested on her head of red hair, which contrasted with the silver of Lizzie's and the Blonde of Nphirea.

She had a pleasant looking face, but her eyes were distant and black. Her eyes reminded him of Nietzsche's quote 'If you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back at you.' While some may see her as a monster, or a scary beauty, she was someone he could stare into the eyes of for a long time and remain entertained.

Just looking at her though, he couldn't tell how old she was as her looks made her appear more mature.

"And who is that?"

"Oh! That's Fei, my Granddaughter. She just returned from E-Libera and stayed after learning about the potion you shared with us!." Lizzie said as she guided him over with her hand on his lower back.

Jack had to admit, it was rather awkward with having someone so much smaller than him having their hand on his back and moving him like a pawn on a chest board.

"Jack-san!" Nphirea looked up and made his way on over to his cousin, Fei, as Jack was moved behind her as she was working on a potion.

"Heya Kiddo," Jack said as he looked over towards Nphirea, tilting his head to the side slightly.

Fei who had been focusing on her work, turned her head to the side to have a look at what was going on which was making everyone come over to her.

The moment she did, she flickered her lids and raised her head to look at Jack's face which was so much higher than her own head. A slight flush covering her face when she finally took in the sight. He was handsome and he was looking straight down through her eyes.

For an instant, she swore she could hear her own heartbeat trying to escape through her throat.

"Wh-who is this?!" She furrowed her brows suddenly with an aggressive tone of voice, annoyed that everyone has ganged up around her and interrupted her work.

A small grin formed over his lips as he heard this. "The name's Jack Graham, I am the one who contracted your Grandmother, and..." He glanced over towards the Blonde boy, then back to Fei. "Your cousin to try and replicate or develop potions from the one I supplied them with."

Fei's lips parted as she heard him, "Sorry," her voice had taken a complete turn for the sweet. She even averted her gaze and turned her head to the side, to glance at the potion behind her.

"So far your family has made great progress… I wouldn't mind if you joined them in Carne Village as well." Jack insisted as he planted a hand on Nphirea's shoulder who was nodding in a rapid fashion.

Fei centered her gaze on her cousin for a moment before looking up at Jack. She had little bags under her eyes from overworking. Just like her grandmother, it didn't seem as if she was sleeping enough.

"And make sure you get at least eight hours of sleep, or take naps during the day." Jack reached and waved a hand over her head. A green light engulfed her from beneath her feet and faded quickly. The black bags under her eyes vanishing in the process, even her stained clothes became clean as an end result.

"Now, I've hired a group of adventurers to escort you to the village. Once you're done brewing what you're brewing. Pack," He informed them as he would take out a set of three silvery looking whistles on a metal woven string.

"Each of these are known as 'Whistle of the Lesser Cupid,' they summon pint-sized angels armed with enchanted bows and arrows. If you're attacked on the way to the village, you can use them by blowing into them. Or you can use them for menial labor once you arrive and unpack… They're kind've intelligent."

The three stared at the items before each taking and tucking them into their work clothes. "Thank you Jack-san," Nphirea said with a calm and friendly smile across his lips. He was excited though, it could be seen in his one visible eye.

Jack simply nodded before putting the prototype potion into his item box. "I'll see you in Carne Village at some point. Your research will continue to be sponsored, and don't hesitate to open a clinic." He gave a light wink to Nphirea before taking a step back and turning towards the door.

"Wait!"

Jack turned his head to the side to look down at the red head who was reaching out towards him.

"Hm?" He didn't shift his body around to face her, just remained with his back to her and his head turned to the side. His eyes for some reason, were looking a bit dull, his expression had become entirely stoic like that of an angels.

Fei found herself staring for a few seconds before running her hand through her red hair. "Nevermind..."

Jack's brows raised slightly before resting, turning forward, he would continue to walk away. The next stop he was aiming to make was the Magician's guild to see what they have gotten accomplished in the past few days he was gone.