"Let me guess. You heard that I am the King's favored Lord and you want me to put in a good word with his highness?" The ogre stared down at Liam and spoke in a mocking him.
Hmmm? There was something like this? Liam chuckled inwardly and nodded with a grave expression. "Please, you know I did not do anything to deserve this. I am innocent."
"Thol city leader, you should have really thought about this before making an enemy out of my good friend." The ogre laughed.
I knew it. His being labeled as a traitor, summoned by the King, all the trouble he was in, everything was because of the damned mother and daughter pair.
I need to work those two harder. A lot harder and make them payback for all of this trouble. Liam shook his head helplessly.
"Lord, there is an explanation for everything that happened. However, I am not here to justify myself. I came here to make a deal with you." Liam said.
"I am listening?"
"I came across a mysterious scroll in a ruin not that far from here and I obtained some insight into alchemy from that discovery."
"The scroll was destroyed as soon as I touched it but I think I can help you make progress in your alchemy from the knowledge I obtained."
"Eh? You think that YOU can help me? HA HA HA HA!"
The ogre started clutching his stomach and laughing. He was now more than sure that this demon had come here just to try and trick him.
"Don't mistake me, my Lord. I don't think I will be of much help. After all, you are the alchemy genius in this area. I think maybe I can help you a little with the easiest recipe."
"That too there is just a possibility. But in the off chance that I am really able to help you, could I request my Lord to put in a good word for me?" Liam kept calm.
He was already here so he decided to just try and take a better look at things before leaving. And for that, this seemed to be a good enough reason.
"Just give me a chance, Lord." Liam tried to sound convincing. Maybe if he helped this ogre without bruising his ego, he could really put in a good word?
And as for the herbs, he did not have much hope now. Since the garrison leader himself was involved in this, there was no way he would be able to steal herbs from the main storehouse.
At most, they could camp in this place and rob the carriages coming to and fro from this place, but for that, they would be better off searching for herbs in other spots.
Either way, this trip wasn't too fruitful and Liam was almost ready to leave but surprisingly the ogre suddenly stopped laughing.
"Alright, let's see just much you can help me. Follow me, Thol city garrison leader."
Liam sighed and followed the ogre. Though he already knew this wasn't going to amount to anything, he was still curious to see just what equipment this ogre was using.
For not even being able to make the basic potions… that required a special type of talent.
Or maybe his items were bad? Was this guy using a cracked cauldron or something? He needed to give the ogre some credit. Maybe he was really not stupid?
Just as Liam was mulling over these possibilities, suddenly the ogre arrived at a room and opened the door.
Almost instantly, Liam stopped in his tracks and swallowed all of his previous thoughts. What the hell?
"What? Thol city leader, you look a bit shocked? Come in. Come in. You have some incredible luck to enter my alchemy chambers. KE KE."
The ogre looked quite pleased as he lead Liam inside the gigantic room if it could even be called a room.
The brick building was no longer to be seen. Instead, the inside of the room was like a giant garden. There were trees, plants, small birds chirping, and there was even a lake.
The entire place looked like a utopia. It was serene, calm, peaceful and from the looks of it, the best place for an alchemist to be attuned with the world and do his best work.
The moment Liam stepped in, he could feel the familiar presence of mana. There was also nether. The entire air was filled to the brim with energy.
It was an environment that stimulated one from top to bottom. How could such a place exist in the nether realm? Even in the Xion realm, something like this…
Liam did not know what to think. He had not remotely heard of or seen anything like this in his two lives combined. Just what the hell was this place? Some sort of inscription or illusion?
He silently took in everything around him as he followed the ogre into the huge garden.
The ogre hummed and walked a few miles coming to stop in front of a huge tree. It was a banyan tree, that had several branches, spread far and wide.
But the tree was not the most impressive thing about the garden. Under the huge tree, there was a small rectangular tablet.
It was a stone tablet with some archaic symbols etched on it and there was a faint glow surrounding it.
The moment Liam laid his eyes on it, he felt a mysterious aura seeping from the tablet. He could feel that the tablet was not something ordinary.
He also could not inspect it or see any details. There were only question marks on the thing.
"Ke Ke. Now, do you see my awesomeness Thol city garrison leader? How are you going to teach me anything about alchemy? Ba Ha Ha Ha!"
The ogre demon's words snapped Liam out of his trance.
"I don't know my Lord. I will just try." He replied absentmindedly. His gaze was still fixated on the stone tablet. He couldn't make out the words written on it.
However, the glow surrounding the tablet was definitely unmistakable. That thing was definitely a treasure.
Just how did it fall into the hands of this ogre guy? Was it because of this that he was not willing to give up on alchemy? No, that was not important. The more pressing issue was…
How was he going to take it out of the ogre's hands?
Liam did not want to risk anything for a few herbs but this tablet was definitely worth taking a risk. He had already pissed off one city's garrison leader, what was one more?
