Year 2, Summer, Second Month, Third Week.

Lew cleaned the sweat off his forehead and looked towards the approaching village with unease. From a distance, the village didn’t seem special, but he knew it held many secrets. The trip hadn’t been long but he couldn’t brush away the discomfort inside his heart, being a wanted criminal was far from the shining path his father drew for him. However, de didn’t blame himself, bad things kept happening in his life, would this too bring him more problems?

He reached for the big crystal inside his pouch, the cold sensation of the high dense energy made him feel confident again. Although he suffered many setbacks, he got another HQ energy crystal. The crystal had cost him a lot, he had to exchange three MQ elemental crystals and the Enchanter’s book to get it, but it was worth it. Even after being schemed and hunted through Kingdom, if he met his father he would be able to give back the treasure that represented all of his father’s life work.

When he received the first HQ crystal, his father said he didn’t need to give it back, it was something to protect him, a life-saving item. But Lew’s pride would compel him to give it back to his father one day, so he didn’t regret paying a lot to get another crystal. However, he felt bad about using the Enchanter’s book as payment, the man had saved him and only asked for one thing in exchange, but how could he understand what that message meant? It was better to give it to someone the could use it, who knew if another Mage wouldn’t end up fulfilling the request. He had done what he could, writing the words he remembered and asking for Keller to pass it together with the book.

Anyway, now was time to see what Alchemy is. After seeing the other enhanced weapons and the lightened cart, Lew didn’t doubt it anymore. However, he didn’t believe such a magical thing had really come from this small village.

In the days to come, Caiset would change everything Lew believed about the Kingdom’s commoners. The first lesson came when they arrived, the organization and discipline displayed by the village escorts, made him re-evaluate their abilities. The Council had decided to keep the military display for their future deals, it would help them keep the professional relations with Keller, after all, they could rely on him blindly.

Since Lew was an ex-Captain, he was used to dealing with villagers regularly, so the differences in their health condition, posture and behavior were clear to him. From that moment, he decided to never underestimate them again.

As usual, Diana was responsible for welcoming and escorting the visitors to the village. Lew could clearly see that she was more trained than the others, probably since she was able to, she good foundations that couldn’t be built in less than three years. Apparently, the village wasn’t simple at all.

“Welcome to Caiset, I remembered everybody from your last visit, except him…”

“Oh, I’m sorry… I’m Lew, I work for Keller… I came to help with the delivery and offer my services…”

“Hmm… Services? Anyway, we can talk about it later, let’s head inside first… I bet you’re tired and hungry from your journey…”

“Yes, Miss!”

Keller’s employees couldn’t hide their eagerness to eat the village’s food. They didn’t care about the poor accommodation if they could eat the magic-infused meals. They even fought back in Wind Castle to see who would come to make the delivery.

***

“That’s… How could they serve this to us? In the middle of the day nonetheless… You said they eat like this every day?”

Lew couldn’t stop staring at the food, it tasted even more delicious than what he remembered. Actually, Lew had eaten a lot of meat during his trip into the Death Forest, but the food in the village tasted better than anything he had tried in his entire life. The magic properties he felt from the meal seemed to be stronger than when he ate the MQ meat.

“If you don’t want it, I can eat it for you…”

“…”

Everyone looked shocked at the shamelessness of the glutton man. But Lew didn’t care, he was too focused on trying to discover how they made it taste so heavenly. He tasted another piece of meat, slowly chewing it, the alkaline and salty taste could only be earth meat, he was sure of it, but he couldn’t accept its tenderness. The meat continued to shred inside his month, leaving behind the rich mineral taste. That wasn’t how earth meat should feel like, it was supposed to be tough and difficult to chew. He couldn’t restrain himself any longer, when he saw a villager passing he asked about the meal.

“It tastes great, doesn’t it? We don’t eat it every day… The wind meals are much more common, we only eat earth meals two or three times a month…”

Lew almost coughed blood when he heard how lightly the villager treated their heavenly and extremely expensive meals. But, how could they know how much all of it was worth in the city?

***

“This is the Council pavilion, you can wait inside if want to, the Council members should be here soon…”

“Thank you.”

Lew wanted to walk around the village but the guide (watcher), insisted the other places were out of limits for visitors, how they would keep it hidden when the inspectors came next spring was a mystery to him. Fortunately, the Council members arrived in few minutes and everyone entered the room. Lew looked around, but couldn’t see anything worth out of the ordinary. The furniture was a little more well crafted than he expected from common villages, but nothing too surprising, making him feel a little disappointed.

Omero didn’t bother making any presentations and jumped right into the matter.

“So, Mister Lew, how can we help you?”

“Ah… Keller showed me your enhancements and I became interested…”

“Oh, I thought I made it clear that he should keep it a secret for now, but maybe he doesn’t appreciate our deal…”

“He didn’t tell others about it… I work for him, so you should consider me like the other guys he sent, just… A little more independent, but I still work for him… I asked him to come here to offer you my services as a Fighter instructor…”

“Hmm, I see… We thank you for coming this far, but we aren’t interested.”

“…”

Lew was speechless, the service of a Fighter wasn’t something just anyone could get. Even Merchants would pay a heavy price for it, but the villagers didn’t seem to care about it at all. He was prepared to haggle on prices or for them to say they couldn’t afford it, but he didn’t have an answer for this.

“OK… So, could we negotiate some enhancements for my weapons?”

Omero exchanged a look with Karl, who made a negative sign.

“I’m sorry, we have too much work on our hands… Can’t you buy the enhanced weapons from Keller?”

“Unless you have a hybrid crystal or a MQ crystal…”

Everyone was surprised by Reiner’s intervention, but since Karl didn’t correct her, they guessed she was right. Lew almost choke with the woman’s greedy expression, he unconsciously looked at his pouch, which held his last possessions. He felt a little unwilling, but he could only steel his heart and offer them some good things if he wanted to learn more about their magic craft.

“I have some crystals with me, I’m sure they would satisfy you… How much would you give for the crystals? In enhancements, of course…”

Since Reiner was the one that asked, they decided to let her negotiate. Karl was also fine with it, his mother was responsible for the Alchemy Department and already knew everything about the crystals.

“It would depend on what crystals you have… We would only want it if we have a use for it…”

Lew felt a sting in his heart, but he could only clench his teeth while searching inside his pouch. He took three different-sized blackish crystals and placed them on the table. Marlen, Bill and Omero quickly reacted, almost standing up from their chairs. Karl didn’t miss their reactions, but his mother soon demanded his attention. She looked at him and said hesitantly:

“Are those … Are those death crystals?”