The Greatest Genius Alchemist Of All Time Wants To Retire - Chapter 22 - The Philosopher's Stone
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- Chapter 22 - The Philosopher's Stone - A Brief Rest and Disaster –
Chapter 22 The Philosopher’s Stone
Translator: Xean
Editor: SevenTails
EN: Changing sub-human => demi-human. It makes it seem less derogatory.
“Uwaaah! I don’t want to do this anymore! Let’s go home! Uwaaah!”
“Ha~a… ha~a… ha~a… so tired…”
“Huff. Y-yeah… It was a bit of a challenge…”
Fii was sobbing while Monica and I were breathing heavily. The battle had lasted for an hour with eggs everywhere pouring out endlessly. After I used my last bit of strength to burn up the carcass of the giant spiders, not a single egg remained. We were the only living things left in the perimeter. I didn’t think the spell would deal this amount of damage.
“Kiiiiiiiiiiiii!”
A moment later, the giant spider that we thought we had killed, came down. None of us had much power left to defeat this thing. With that, I guessed I had to pull out my sword.
‘’…<< Usubakagerō >>’’
<< Usubakagerō >> was the name of my sword. The blade was mostly pale green, surrounded by a darker shade of green. Regardless of how thin it was, its sharpness was unmistakable.
“… Hah!”
I constructed an alchemy formation with my remaining magic power, freezing all of the giant spider’s legs and slashing at them with the thin-bladed << Usubakagerō >>.
Then, with a single slash, the giant spider’s head was neatly split vertically, and the body fluids flowed out.
“Fuu… The blade’s very sharp. That’s good.”
After I sat down to rest, Monica cremated the corpse. Thank goodness.
“You did it. Isn’t that sword amazing? Is it some kind of magic sword?”
“No, this is a cucumber.”
“A cucumber?”
Yes, my << Usubakagerō >>’s main material was cucumber. I used alchemy to stretch the cucumber and make it as thin as possible. From there, the cucumber was processed into the shape of a sword and sharpened to the fullest.
“Yes. I can say that it performs very well.”
“Hmmm, so the rumor that you’re from a farming family is true…”
“Ah, yes. I’ll live and die as a farmer. I’m just learning alchemy because it’s good for genetic modification of crops. Being a Blue Stellar was just a coincidence…”
“Ha~a… I guess that’s what a genius would say…”
“What? Did I say something weird?”
“Haha. Well, I guess so…”
“Fufu, you don’t say, Monica.”
While we were talking, I noticed Fii crying her hearts out.
Uh-oh. Has the stress gone beyond her limit? Well, in any case, it’s tough to move to the second level in this state. Let’s go back.
“Ughhh… ughhh… Uwaaa~ah… It was so scaryyyy!”
“Let’s go back home, Fii. I don’t have the magic anymore, so can I ask you for the transfer spell?”
“R-Really? Can we go home now?”
“Yeah, although we will be back soon.”
“No! No more please!”
“F-for now, let’s just get back home, okay?”
“… Unn.”
Thus, we returned to the labyrinth’s entrance.
“Fii. Just in case, cast ice magic to block the entrance.”
“… sniff. Okay.”
Sniffing, Fii quietly froze the entrance.
Then Monica asked.
“Why do we block the entrance?”
“To prevent the giant spider from exiting. Once Fii and I report the current situation to the village chief, we will return to the Kingdom to report.”
“Ohh, the Kingdom. Can I come with you?”
“Don’t you have a job or something?”
“Fortunately, there are only crops to grow at the moment. So I don’t mind leaving it for a few days.”
“Then let’s go. Since Fii is not in a good condition, it will be just me and you, Monica, reporting to the chief. Are you okay staying at Monica’s house, Fii?”
“…sniff. It’s okay. Thank you, Monica, you saved me. I’ll definitely return this favor.”
We left Fii at Monica’s house and headed to report to the village chief.
“… Monica! Did you go with them?! You know it’s dangerous…!”
“Otou-san (EN: Father), I’m not a kid anymore, I can fight properly. Look, I’m perfectly fine.”
The village chief was furious when he saw our dirty appearances and realized that Monica had gone into the labyrinth. However, I wanted Monica to continue accompanying us since we need Monica’s help in the future to complete the labyrinth.
”Monica was very helpful. If it weren’t for her, we would have struggled more than we have.”
“… If that’s what Elweed-dono says. But please take care of my daughter.”
“I will. I’ll protect her with my life.”
“So what’s the situation with the labyrinth?”
“Actually…”
I told him about the Sixth Labyrinth. I mentioned how there were about 300 giant spiders on the first floor, how they had all been eradicated and how we had discovered the stairs to the second floor. Furthermore, I mentioned how we carefully sealed the entrance. I wasn’t in a perfect state at the moment to use alchemy, so we were going to rest and go again in a few days.
And there was the big question. Did the giant spiders have a habit of collecting? I asked the village chief about it.
“Giant spiders have such characteristics…? A habit of collecting… goods and clothes. And the corpses were drained of blood? Sorry, but it’s the first time I’ve heard of it.”
“I see. We will notify the association of the current situation and come back in three days. We’ll definitely capture that labyrinth. I have some things to prepare on my end.”
“Thank you for all the help.”
The village chief bowed his head and we thanked him in return, then left the room.
”Well then, let’s get back to the kingdom at once. Monica, are you ready?”
“I’d like to bathe first, but it looks like we’d better get going. So, let’s go.”
“Aah.”
And so we rode the day’s carriage back to the kingdom. Fii was ranting all the time, “I hate spiders, I hate spiders, I hate spiders, I hate spiders.” It was as if she was chanting with empty eyes. It made her a little bit scary.
While travelling, me and Monica talked about a lot of things. Monica was curious about how I used alchemy on crops. When I told her about the homunculus I created, she said, “Please let me meet with them!” And so I’ll take her to Proto and the corn. They’re all in the workshop right now so it’s just the right time.[1]
A few hours later, we made it back to the Kingdom. It was a bit of a hassle at the checkpoint due to Monica being an elf, but since elves come to this kingdom rather often, we were able to enter easily.
“Wow… So this is the Kingdom of Canovaria. It’s amazing… Is there a festival today? There sure are a lot of people.”
“No, it’s just a weekday. And there aren’t that many, holidays are way more crowded.”
“Eh? This is few?!”
“The Canovaria Kingdom is one of the most populous in the world, and the capital is the most prosperous place in it. Now, let’s go to the Alchemist Association. Ah, there it is.”
“Hae~ It’s so awesome that my neck hurts just from looking up at it.”
Monica kept looking up. The Alchemy Association was quite the tall building. It was no wonder she saw it that way.
By the way, Fii has been holding onto my sleeve the whole time and trudging along. She doesn’t seem to have any intention of conversing with any of us.
After fifteen minutes, we arrived at the alchemist society and were in front of the Chairman. Apparently, he was on a break now. Perfect timing.
“Ooh! Welcome back! So how did it go? The Sixth Labyrinth that is.”
“It’s possible to capture it. I’ve figured out how to fight the giant spiders depending on their numbers. I think we can be more efficient next time, so we can make a lot of progress.”
“… Aah! As expected of Elle-kun. So, who’s the young lady over there?”
“Monica Dunn. She’s the village chief’s daughter.”
“… Nice to meet you. I’m here to help you complete the labyrinth.”
“Ho~ Are you good enough to help with it?”
When the chairman asked, I answered it.
”Yes. Monica can use the alchemy equivalent of a Platinum Class Alchemist.”
“I see. That’s unusual for a demi-human.”
Yes, the human race had a far greater aptitude for alchemy. Among the demi-humans, there was hardly anyone that was good at alchemy, but there were always exceptions to everything. And that was Monica.
Then I turned in the report I wrote up while travelling.
After reading the report, the Chairman saw that Fii was looking oddly tired and made a suggestion to her.
“Fii. If you’re having a hard time, should I send someone else as your replacement?”
“… No, I’ll do it. I-I’m still scared, but Elle and Monica need me s-so… I-I’m a g-good adult, s-so I’ll do my best… yes.”
“I-is that so? Elle, Monica, please take care of Fii. She seems to be having a hard time.”
“Leave it to us.”
Finally, we’re back home. As soon as I opened the door to Fii’s house, she started screaming.
“Uwaaaaaah! I’m baaaaaack!”
“Well, I’m going to take a shower in my room and come back.”
“Okay, Elle! Monica, let’s go bathe together, okay?!”
“What? We’re bathing together?”
“Of course! It would save us plenty of time!”
We then went to refresh ourselves. We ate dinner and discussed our strategy for the second floor.
“Regarding the strategy for the second floor… Probably hundreds of giant spiders will be the norm from now on. Let’s use this.”
“Are you okay using that, Elle? I thought you’ll use it for research.”
“It’s okay. It’s essential for conquering the labyrinth, and for the sake of the elven village, this is something not to worry about.”
“What are those little white stones?”
Monica asked and I answered with the stone’s name.
“They are philosopher’s stones.”
“T-the Philosopher’s Stone!!!”
Yes. I accidentally created it during my research but it was an imperfect one. Another name for it was Elixir. A type of elixir that can replenish magic power. With it, the number of times I can use the <<Singular Alchemy Special>> will increase dramatically.
“… It’s amazing that you can even make such a thing Elle-san.”
The Philosopher’s Stone. It was one of the greatest goals of alchemy. A substitute for golden metamorphosis, immortality, perfection of human spirituality, perfection of the universe, making everything possible, and so on. This was also one of the lost technologies.
It was clear from literature that in the past, there was a complete Philosopher’s Stone. And there were two types of it: white and red. The white one was imperfect, while the red one was the perfect one. The white one was something that even I might be able to make again if I put in the time, money and effort, but the red Philosopher’s Stone is impossible. In other words, it was impossible to create a complete Philosopher’s Stones. This was a kind of divine realm that humanity couldn’t reach.
“But, Fii. Are you sure you’re alright? If you can’t, then…”
“It’s okay… I’m scared, but you’ll be in trouble without me around, won’t you?”
“Well, yeah. You’ve been freaking out and running away, but we definitely need your help. It’s really important to have people like you who can use transfer.”
“Right. I might go crazy again, but…. No, I’ll go crazy, but I’ll fight while I go crazy…”
“O-okay. Then, I guess it’s fine…”
We cut our conversation off there and went to sleep.
[1]SevenTails: Whyyyyyyyyyyyyy. Already had the issue with homunculus being kidnapped and informationnnnn =w=