CHAPTER 104
Nothing.
Hearing those words, Babiyen froze.
I wanted to get her a good elixir, but he said he had nothing.
“Are you sure there’s nothing?”
With Babiyen still frozen, I asked Dark Hood again. He opened his eyes into slits.
“Nothing is nothing.”
What an inflexible man.
Even when I saved his life before, he only knocked 1 gold off the price. He has no sense of flexibility.
“It’s fine, Harua.”
Disappointed, Babiyen was the first to shake her head and step back.
“Magic depends on one’s own abilities anyway. This girl will just have to study harder; there’s no reason to rely on an elixir.”
When did my little Babiyen become so diligent?
I think I’m about to cry.
But as the one who practically raised Babiyen, I couldn’t accept this situation.
My Babiyen is a child who can do anything if she sets her mind to it.
“In that case, how about you brew an elixir for us?”
“Hmm?”
Dark Hood looked back at me.
He didn’t seem completely uninterested.
I quickly opened my bag and showed him the elixir ingredients inside.
“There are several rare ingredients here. With these, couldn’t you manage something?”
Dark Hood rummaged through the bag.
After searching for a long while, he finally nodded.
“It wouldn’t be impossible. Many of these are helpful for a Fire Mage.”
As expected of Bulldog.
He didn’t gather these ingredients for nothing.
“May I request that you brew it?”
I asked with all the desperation I could muster.
My little Babiyen can do it!
“Harua, I’m grateful that you’re putting your heart into this for this girl’s sake, but why do I keep getting a weird feeling?”
I reined in my thoughts before Babiyen could get any more suspicious.
She’s always so sharp when it comes to things about herself.
“Fine.”
As if it were no trouble at all, Dark Hood reached behind his back and a wrapping cloth appeared.
“A spatial artifact?”
Babiyen’s eyes went wide, seeming to know something about the cloth.
Judging by her reaction, it was clearly a very rare item.
Immediately, items began popping out of his cloth.
They were all related to alchemy.
Then, without hesitation, he began adding the ingredients into something that looked like a flask.
He was fast.
His unhesitating movements revealed his expertise.
I also realized where the elixirs Dark Hood had been selling came from.
Most of the goods he sold were handmade.
That must be why you couldn’t find elixirs with the same performance as Dark Hood’s anywhere else.
‘Seriously, what kind of person is he?’
Looking at it now, these were elixirs that wouldn’t even cover the cost of materials, let alone labor.
It wasn’t for nothing that people were so desperate to get their hands on the elixirs Dark Hood sold.
Bubble, bubble—
After a moment, the herbs and ingredients Dark Hood had thrown in began to dissolve and boil in the water.
We stood there and quietly watched the spectacle.
Perhaps it was because of Aranseol’s looks and Dark Hood’s elixir-making show.
Before we knew it, people had started to gather around us, one by one.
“Oh, isn’t that the Saint?”
“Wow, we survived last time thanks to you, Saint!”
There were even some who recognized me and greeted me.
It was a testament to how far the name “Saint” had spread in this area.
I no longer bothered to deny the title.
To be precise, after my experiences in Monghwagol and with this recent earthquake, I had formulated an additional plan.
It would take a long time to complete this picture, but it would be able to change many things.
“Are you feeling better now?”
So, I could put on an act for the sake of the picture as much as needed.
Since it’s a long-term plan, I have to start sketching the groundwork now.
“It’s all thanks to you, Saint!”
“Thank you so much. If it weren’t for you, Saint, my leg still wouldn’t move.”
Before I knew it, more people were flocking to me than to Dark Hood or Aranseol.
Was it because I had been healing so many people lately?
It seemed my reputation had grown even greater in this area.
Beside me, Aranseol smiled with a look of pride for some reason.
She looked as happy as if my success were her own.
I felt a little embarrassed.
“It’s done.”
Just then, Dark Hood finished his brewing.
He poured the boiled liquid directly into an empty potion bottle.
And just like that, an elixir with a mysterious pinkish hue was complete.
“I bet that’s incredibly hot.”
As Babiyen muttered while looking at the elixir bottle, Dark Hood didn’t deny it.
In fact, he took it a step further.
“It will continue to be hot. I melted a Fire Bird’s feather in it.”
Dark Hood had also taken other ingredients out of his cloth from time to time.
The Fire Bird’s feather must have been one of them.
“What are its effects?”
“You’ll know when you drink it.”
Same answer as always.
Babiyen looked dumbfounded, but there was nothing to be done.
Dark Hood was always like this.
“Hah, I guess I’ll find out when I drink it.”
Just as Babiyen, with a slightly nervous expression, was about to receive the elixir from Dark Hood…
For some reason, Dark Hood held out his hand instead.
“One thousand gold.”
Aha, so this part is the same too.
“A th-thousand gold?”
Babiyen, who now understood the value of currency unlike when she was a noble, let her jaw drop.
A thousand gold wasn’t an amount one could just pay on the spot.
“Shouldn’t you at least subtract the cost of the ingredients?”
When I subtly asked for a discount, Dark Hood thought for a moment and then nodded.
“763 gold, 2 silver.”
He really did subtract only the exact cost of the ingredients.
That’s Dark Hood for you.
It couldn’t be helped.
I had anticipated this and already made a quick trip to the Pioneer Guild, so I decided to pay him right away.
“Wow, that old geezer always charges a fortune! Ah, what the hell. Saint, this isn’t much, but please, use it!”
At that moment, a citizen suddenly handed me 2 silver.
As I stood there, flustered by the unexpected situation, other citizens also took out their wallets.
“That’s right, the Saint healed us, so we have to help!”
“Here, take my money too.”
“I can finally repay my debt.”
Suddenly, money began to pour down in front of Dark Hood.
People were emptying their wallets so quickly that it was impossible to tell who gave what.
“Huh? H-huh?”
Babiyen also expressed her bewilderment at the sudden pile of money.
Even as a noble, she had never experienced a situation like this.
A situation where people were willingly giving money.
So many people were contributing that it was impossible to tell who had given what.
At this rate, there was no way to refuse even if we wanted to.
Moreover, as the people gave money, they all wore proud and happy expressions.
It was the satisfaction of having helped a benefactor.
After the earthquake, I had treated all the injured for free.
It was partly an investment in the future, and they also served as good practice for my holy magic.
So, I didn't bother asking for money.
I did accept food that people brought me, though.
That’s why I was so flustered; I never expected it to come back to me like this.
To me, the people of this world had always given the impression that they would backstab and run away at any moment.
“Whoa.”
Lululio let out a sound of admiration.
Even for her, a member of the Regular Army, this was a first.
Just then, Aranseol tapped me on the shoulder.
“Harua, shouldn’t you say something?”
The people had pooled their goodwill to pay the price.
Looking at the money gathered, I would have to pay less than 10 gold myself.
“The Fire Mage lady helped us a lot too.”
“When we were cold, she made fires for us everywhere! We would’ve frozen to death otherwise!”
“Right? Mages are so picky, I’ve never seen such kind mages in my life.”
“Keep it. Thanks to you, we spent warm nights even out in the dead of winter.”
“Ah, uh, uh.”
As Babiyen also began to receive thanks, she didn’t know what to do.
It would be one thing if she were receiving money as a noble.
But this money was all given to the mage named Babiyen, not to a noble.

Goodwill begets goodwill.
I learned that from Bulldog.
And in this moment, I felt it once again.
“Thank you.”
The first response to goodwill should be gratitude. And so, I bowed my head respectfully to the people.
These were people whose homes and possessions had been destroyed by the earthquake. A bow was the least I could do for the money they had gathered.
“Th-thank you.”
Babiyen also offered her thanks.
That alone was enough to bring rich smiles to everyone’s faces.
“Mr. Dark Hood, how much are we short?”
“10 gold,” he stated, having finished counting all the money that had been dropped. I opened my pouch and paid him the rest.
With that, the payment was complete.
He handed me the elixir bottle, and I passed it to Babiyen.
The bottle was still warm.
I figured it wouldn’t be easy to drink.
But Babiyen carefully took the bottle and downed it in one shot.
I didn’t expect her to drink it right away.
“Oh, how bold!”
“That’s the kind of spirit you’d expect from the Fire Mage lady!”
Ah, she must have been conscious of the onlookers.
She drank it to show them that their money hadn’t been wasted.
“Ghhk.”

Babiyen let out a low groan as she felt the elixir go down.
But she quickly swallowed it and clenched her fists.
“I drank it all.”
“So, how are the effects?”
“My stomach is hot. It’s like a furnace.”
Babiyen’s stomach was filled with the elixir.
From the looks of it, she wouldn’t suffer like Aranseol did.
“Thank you all so much. Thanks to you, Babiyen will grow into an even better Fire Mage.”
“We’ll be looking forward to it!”
“Saint, stop by my shop next time. I’ll treat you to the best thing we have.”
“My place too!”
Listening to the voices of the citizens, we left the area.
As we walked down the street, I felt a strange sense of restlessness.
I hadn't expected the goodwill I had shown to return to me like this.
Babiyen seemed to feel the same way; she was lost in thought, holding the empty bottle in her hand.
“Harua, you’ve grown up so well.”
“My growth spurt ended a long time ago.”
Aranseol approached me with a gentle smile.
“No, I mean mentally, apart from your body.”
Grown up well, huh?
What was I like back when I first met Aranseol?

Thinking back to that time, a small, hollow laugh escaped me.
Yeah, maybe I really have grown up well.
“Everyone, we’re heading to Monghwagol now.”
“We’re going to find Horizon, right?”
“We have to find her.”
Horizon is like the lubricant in our group.
She’s shy and a bit quirky at times, but she has a pure heart.
A person who puts you at ease just by being there.
That was Horizon.
That’s why the other two also felt a deep affection for her.
“I wonder if she’s lost somewhere.”
Babiyen, in particular, was quite fond of Horizon.
Her relationship with Aranseol had always been what it was, and she and I bickered so much, it was only natural for her to gravitate toward the pure-hearted Horizon.
And so, hoping that Horizon was safe, we headed for Monghwagol.
The war between the Regular Army and Black Dawn would soon begin.
This was to lay the groundwork for it.