chapter 7:The Alchemist's Elixir
The old man, Rashid, scowled at the boy who had his head buried in his bowl like a dog. He chided him in a low voice not to eat like that, but the boy didn't even pretend to listen.
He let out a long breath and said.
"It began when I was twenty. It was a terribly hot summer."
Under the scorching sun, the twenty-year-old Rashid was climbing a ladder. The ladder leaned against a dizzyingly high castle wall, and from atop it, soldiers with long spears shouted down at him. Soon, they thrust their spears at him amidst all sorts of curses.
Gripping the ladder with his left hand, Rashid twisted his body slightly, snatched a spear with his right, and yanked it hard. Before the soldier could let go, he was pulled off the wall and fell. As the enemy faltered in shock, he quickly climbed to the top of the ladder and jumped onto the wall.
Block him, block him! the defenders shouted as they rushed forward.
But their attacks were deflected by his plate armor, and Rashid slaughtered the enemy, swinging his sword and hammer.
"Damn it!"
After his rampage, there were no enemies left on the wall.
'Damned hot.'
He gasped for breath, resting his hands on his knees. Could there be anything more dreadful than covering your whole body in steel plates under the midsummer sun? He was even wearing a gambeson underneath the steel plates.
He took off his helmet and grabbed the waterskin at his waist. Though it was lukewarm, it quenched his thirst and restored some of his energy. He gave his sweaty, matted hair a vigorous shake and surveyed his surroundings.
The entire cityscape came into view at once.
It was a great city named Karmaya. Originally the stronghold of a great noble, its citizens had driven out their master, bought a title from the King, and begun to govern themselves. They had since built their wealth on trade, but an enemy had appeared to covet that wealth—and that enemy was the Lord whom Rashid served.
"Is it over?"
With a boom, the castle gate was breached.
Right after the wall was taken, the gate, too, had failed to withstand the assault and shattered. The roar of the besieging army echoed thunderously. The defenders, who had been holding on somehow behind the gate, turned and began to flee.
The saying, "If you've breached the gates, accept no surrender," was no idle threat. What's more, with the walls already fallen to the enemy, there was no hope of victory in resistance.
One side screamed, the other roared even louder, becoming the hunted and the hunters. Rashid watched without expression as flames rose from all over the city.
The saying, "If you've breached the gates, accept no surrender," was no idle threat. What's more, with the walls already fallen to the enemy, there was no hope of victory in resistance.
watched.
'Rashid.'
Tap. An elderly knight clapped him on the back. Rashid greeted him. The knight offered a few words of praise for his hard work and continued.
"It's an order from the Lord. Capture an old man."
"Who might that be?"
At Rashid's question, the old knight shrugged.
"Well, they say he's an Alchemist. The Lord must have heard some strange rumor. I'd think he's already fled, but... His Lordship is insistent on his capture, so we have no choice."
"Understood."
He immediately descended the wall and headed for the Alchemist's mansion. It was a magnificent mansion. As if it were the legation of some great nation, it was built of stone and three stories high.
When Rashid and his men arrived at the grand mansion, it greeted them with its main gates wide open. The guards who should have been there on such an evening were gone, leaving only their discarded spears as a trace of their presence. The other servants were gone as well.
"Looks like we're too late."
"Still, we have to check."
Rashid and his men split up to search every corner of the mansion.
There were a great many rooms, but most were storerooms. Few were living quarters; they were mostly filled with all sorts of materials. There was nothing of value, either. The gold and silver, the precious metals one would associate with an Alchemist, had already been taken.
"Hm?"
He stopped in a spacious workshop. It was clear that work had been done here just moments before. A fire was lit in the furnace.
A cauldron sat upon it, a black, unidentifiable liquid bubbling within. The smell was, needless to say, foul. The moment he leaned in for a closer look, his stomach acid surged, and he quickly pulled back.
What was he making?
Muttering a curse, he examined the metal pipe attached to the side of the cauldron. The pipe narrowed as it passed through various structures, and by the time it reached the table, it was as thin as his little finger and pointed downward.
Drip, drip. Very slowly, the liquid that had formed at the end of the pipe fell.
A vivid purple liquid was being collected in a glass bottle below. The bottle was small enough to be concealed in the palm of one's hand. When Rashid found it, the liquid had filled it to the brim. Without much thought, feeling he should close it, he picked up the stopper that lay beside it.
It was then that a roar erupted from behind him.
"Don't touch it!"
Startled, he spun around to see a young man standing in the workshop doorway, glaring at him. He wore a white toga, and judging by the gold-embroidered pattern on it, he was no ordinary person.
Rashid took a step forward, his hand moving to his waist.
"Get back, you savage!"
Just as he was about to speak, the young man extended his right hand toward Rashid. At a glance, it looked like a gesture to stay back, but Rashid noticed Mana gathering in front of the hand.
He instinctively twisted his body.
Almost simultaneously, the wall behind him crumbled like sand.
"Damn it!"
He instinctively twisted his body.
"Damn it!"
As Rashid hastily drew his sword, the young man aimed his hand at him again. Deciding it was too late to charge, Rashid reached his other hand to the table, grabbed an object, and threw it. It was an opalescent stone, and it exploded upon colliding with the wave of Mana the young man had unleashed.
The force of the explosion overturned everything in the workshop.
Rashid was thrown beyond the now-sandy wall and struggled to lift his head. He could see the young man moving through the dust. Instead of finishing Rashid off, he was frantically grabbing the rolling glass bottle on the table, trying to scoop up the spilled liquid.
He did not miss the opportunity. While his opponent's attention was diverted, he rushed forward and struck. The blade sank deep into the young man's back, piercing his heart.
A sound like air escaping came from his mouth instead of a scream.
But the young man did not collapse. He began to thrash, his arms reaching back as if to grab Rashid. Stunned that he was still moving even with his heart pierced, Rashid pushed him aside and kicked him.
The young man tumbled onto the oil spilled by the explosion, collided with the furnace, and his whole body caught fire. Rashid blocked the workshop entrance and waited for him to burn to death.
It did not take long.
Rashid spat out bloody saliva.
"Sir Rashid!"
The urgent footsteps of soldiers followed. Rashid glanced down at the corpse for a moment before picking up the glass bottle, stoppering it, and putting it in his pocket.
"Are you alright?"
He replied that he was fine and ordered them to preserve the body and the workshop. The soldiers asked who the corpse was, but he had nothing to tell them. Judging by his age, he could only guess he might have been the Alchemist's son.
Later, after the city had been swept clean, the old knight visited the mansion with the Lord. While the Lord observed the mansion, Rashid stepped outside with the old knight.
The knight put a cigarette to his lips and spoke.
"About that body."
"Yes."
"It seems he was the Alchemist that Yangju-nim was looking for."
Rashid's eyes widened.
"That's impossible. He looked to be about my age."
"About your age? Not an old man?"
The old knight frowned, but when Rashid nodded with a firm expression, he took a deep drag from his cigarette and exhaled.
"That must be why the Lord was so tempted."
"What do you mean?"
"That's what the master of this mansion was researching."
Immortality, the old knight continued.
"The one thing all humans desire. A rumor was going around that some madman was researching it. Even if it's not true immortality, aren't there countless people who would spend a fortune just to live a long life without aging, like the Dwarves or Elves? I wondered why His Lordship fell for such a rumor, but now I see."
Rashid muttered, thinking of the Alchemist who had burned to death.
"Then he was successful to some extent."
"Successful?"
"He obtained youth, did he not?"
The old knight let out a hollow laugh.
"Then he was successful to some extent."
"Successful?"
"He obtained youth, did he not?"
"Listen here, Rashid. Don't get any foolish ideas." When Rashid asked what he meant, the old knight answered, poking Rashid's chest with his index finger. "I mean, don't get any strange thoughts. In my time, I've never seen anyone who pursued immortality stay sane or meet a proper end."
He threw the finished cigarette to the ground and crushed it with his heel.
"Immortality has never once been achieved. At best, it only slows aging a little. You can't live your whole life as a greenhorn. Just as the rumors called the man a madman, I'm sure there was some serious problem with it."
Rashid fell silent. The slight tilt of his head suggested the answer had not satisfied him, but the old knight didn't notice. Nor did he notice Rashid's fingers surreptitiously fidgeting with the object in his pocket.
"Don't worry about killing the Alchemist. The Lord's interest will fade soon enough. He's a wise man, so he'll be content with just collecting whatever was left in the mansion. What could be so special, anyway?"
The old knight said, patting Rashid's shoulder.
*
A few months later, Rashid returned to his hometown.
His meritorious service was recognized by the Lord, and with a handsome reward, he walked with his shoulders squared. He regaled his wife with tales of his valor, and in the process, he also spoke of the Alchemist. He had no intention of confessing that he had stolen the glass bottle.
His only goal had been to boast to his wife that he'd cut down the sorcerer in a single blow. But his wife pressed him about the item he had stolen, calling it a spoil of war.
"Why did you do that?"
His wife sighed and said immediately.
"You're not that kind of person."
"What do you mean, not that kind of person?"
Rashid scratched the back of his neck at his wife's question, his brow furrowed. Here he was, happily recounting his tale, and she was treating him like a criminal? He raised his voice.
"I told you the bastard almost killed me. Do you expect me to face danger and walk away empty-handed like a fool? There's nothing wrong with taking this as payment."
His wife stared at him for a moment before asking a different question.
"Wouldn't it be better to have the Priestess-nim check it?"
"No! Then I'd have to explain. What would I say if she asks how I got it? And even if I told the truth, do you think a Priestess-nim would keep my secret?"
"Then what will you do?"
"What do you mean? I'll just keep it."
He took the glass bottle from his tunic and shook it gently. Because it had been knocked over once, it was a little more than half full. His wife's eyes trembled as she watched the violet liquid slosh before her.
"Are you that frightened?"
"You know my mother was called a witch, don't you?"
"She had a peculiar personality," Rashid mumbled evasively.
"She had an excessive thirst for knowledge. If there was something she didn't know, she would dig until she found the answer, and because of that, she often committed acts that went against the norm."
"Just get to the point. The point."
"A mother like that taught me a maxim. 'Do not live forever.' Like the Dwarf who trespassed upon the Heavens, eternal life is something humans cannot and should not covet."
"More stories of the great gods."
Rashid shook his head.
"Just get to the point. The point."
"A mother like that taught me a maxim. Do not covet eternal life; like the Dwarf who trespassed upon the Heavens, eternal life is something humans cannot and should not covet."
"More stories of the great gods."
Rashid shook his head.
"Whoa. I don't think this is some elixir of immortality either. If it were, that bastard would have drunk it long ago and killed me. But... seeing what he was like, I do think I can sell it for a very high price."
He looked at his wife, whose expression was still stiff.
"When I get a chance to travel far away, I'll find out what it does and get rid of it. It's not like I said I'd drink it. You can agree to that, right?"
Only then did his wife fall silent.
And for a while, the two of them forgot about the glass bottle.
They had no reason to leave the domain, and besides, they were preoccupied after his wife became pregnant with their first child. In their cozy life, there was no room for immortality to intrude. The promise to dispose of it was not kept.
They remembered it again after nine years had passed.
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