Chapter 190: Let Me Tell You About My Alchemy
Thud—with a loud sound, Rachel closed the heavy alchemy reference book. Just as she expected, even though the books sold in stores were thick, they only taught some very basic beginner stuff.
Rachel had originally planned to flip through some of the latest books to see if alchemy had advanced at all during the months she had been wandering. But judging by how simple these books were, she realized she couldn’t learn anything new from them.
“Ughh…”
Standing on tiptoe, Rachel struggled to push the thick, brick-like book back to its place. The shop owner was a kind person and, seeing her tiny arms struggling, reached out to help her.
“…Mm…”
Rachel did her best to give him a big smile in return, then wandered over to another bookstall. This time, she was smarter about it and went to one of the stalls where books were laid out on the ground. This way, she didn’t have to stretch up to reach books that were too high for her.
Because she was so small and had crouched down among the crowd, Armand, who had come looking for her, walked right past her without noticing.
But for Rachel, that was actually a good thing. After all, if Armand saw that she could understand alchemy books, he would definitely start asking questions.
Armand wasn’t like Evelia, he wouldn’t just come out and ask things directly. He would try to get information by asking in roundabout ways, and Rachel found that very tricky to deal with.
In the manor’s daily life, Rachel would act extra childish and innocent whenever she was around Armand. She didn’t want to trigger the "sixth sense of the Knight Commander."
Rustle.
Rachel flipped through another version of an alchemy book. Maybe because most people weren’t really interested in this kind of thing, no one was fighting her for the sample copies.
But occasionally, someone would notice the little girl carefully reading the alchemy books and mumble something like, “Can she really understand that complicated stuff?”
Of course she can!
Rachel shouted back in her heart.
Not only can she understand it, a lot of the research in those books had actually been submitted anonymously by her! Like it or not, she had made real contributions to the world of alchemy. Did people even know that the magical alchemy seals now used by the royal family were her invention?
But sadly, those were things she could only scream silently inside.
She was just like one of those novel characters pretending to be weak to catch others off guard, hoping to shock everyone one day by suddenly showing off her amazing achievements. But too bad. In order to stay alive, she couldn’t say a word.
“Whew…”
After skimming through the book, Rachel sighed. There didn’t seem to be anything particularly useful. If she wanted to know what was really happening in the alchemy world, she’d probably have to read the newspaper.
Rachel wasn’t an actual little kid. She didn’t panic just because she was alone in a crowd. She still clearly remembered how she had walked here, and after finishing with the books, she planned to walk back to the tree where Armand had been earlier.
“Hello there, little girl.”
Just as she got up to leave, she heard a kind voice from a nearby woman.
“Huh?”
Rachel looked up and saw an old lady with a hunched back. Her face was full of wrinkles from age, and her hair was already white, braided into a long plait that hung over her shoulder.
“Hello? Granny…”
Rachel almost blurted out the words “old hag,” but thankfully stopped herself.
Though honestly, if she thought about it, Rachel was technically an “old lady” too, in a way.
“Little girl, what are you reading?”
“Ah, um, it’s a book about alchemy.”
Seeing that the person talking to her was a kind-looking old lady, and thinking that Evelia and Armand wouldn’t go as far as hiring an old woman to spy on a girl who looked only three years old, Rachel spoke honestly.
“Alchemy? Wow, that’s amazing. This old granny has never even heard of such a thing.”
The old woman slowly walked over to Rachel and glanced down at the book that was still open. The pages were filled with tiny, dense words, enough to make most people dizzy just looking at them.
“Alchemy is a really great thing, Granny!”
As soon as Rachel heard someone say they had never heard of alchemy, a force that could change the world, she immediately got excited. She was a total alchemy fanatic, after all, and she loved this stuff with all her heart. Now that she had met someone who knew nothing about alchemy, of course she wanted to explain it properly.
“Haha, well, I’m getting old. I don’t really know what young people are into nowadays. But it looks impressive. Little girl, you can really understand all of this?”
“Ah—”
When asked if she could really understand it, Rachel paused for a moment to think. Then she cleared her throat and said,
“Well… not really. It’s just… I often hear people talk about alchemy, so I became really interested in it. I’ve heard about a lot of examples, and I think it’s truly an amazing thing!”
Rachel said this with a mix of pride and caution.
After all, no one knows how alchemy will develop in the future, or how it might be used. Alchemy could be used to help people, or to do terrible things. That double-edged sword always hung over Rachel’s head. Even though she was obsessed with alchemy, she didn’t dare take her research too far.
In fact, her project on the “Alchemic Body” was already something close to forbidden. When she finally succeeded in creating it, the feeling that followed her joy… was fear.
That’s why she never left behind any records about how to make a living body out of alchemy. Transferring consciousness like that was something she believed fewer people should know about was better.
“Well then, little girl, since alchemy is so powerful, why don’t you tell me more about it?”
The old woman smiled warmly, but her wrinkled eyes scanned Rachel up and down.
Just from her appearance, it was clear Rachel came from a wealthy family. Her clothes were of high quality, her face was clean and well cared for, and her way of speaking was mature, like a tiny grown-up. She wasn’t one of those wild, naughty kids who acted like monkeys.
Most importantly, this child, who was walking around without an adult, had knowledge. She wasn’t deaf, dumb, or slow. She was a “promising seed,” and on top of that, she was incredibly beautiful, definitely useful in some way.
“Alright! So, alchemy—”
“Little girl, it’s really hot out here. Why don’t we go somewhere cooler? Granny will buy you a juice.”
“Huh?” Rachel tilted her head. “You don’t need to buy me juice. I just wanted to tell you about our alchemy—”
When she saw the old woman slowly turn to walk away, Rachel followed along while talking, explaining complex alchemy terms. The old woman kept nodding and acting very interested, asking all kinds of questions to keep Rachel distracted.
“So, in short, alchemy is—”
But halfway through her sentence, Rachel suddenly felt a cold wind blow straight at her. She shivered and swallowed the rest of her words.
“What’s wrong, little girl?”
The old woman was still smiling, waving for Rachel to follow. She looked at Rachel the same way someone would look at a lamb about to turn into a pile of gold coins.
“Come on, let’s go to that cool place and talk. I’ve got something tasty ready for you.”
Such a pretty little girl… she’ll definitely sell for a good price.