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Chapter 92: Nfirea's Surprise, Grandmother Lizzie’s Silence
🕑 Added 2025-05-12 17:28:14 +0000 UTCLizzie's Workshop.
A modest but renowned alchemy shop run by the Bareare family, specializing in all kinds of healing potions.
Unfortunately, business hadn't been great lately.
Thanks to the mysterious happenings deep within the Great Forest of Tob, the Adventurer's Guild had yet to provide any clear information. As a result, the number of adventurers going out on expeditions had sharply declined.
And with the city gates implementing increasingly strict entry inspections, seasoned adventurers began to sense that something was off.
No injured adventurers meant no demand for healing potions. Simple as that.
But for Grandmother Lizzie, this was hardly a cause for concern. She had been selling healing potions for decades and had long since amassed a small fortune.
"Is this the right mixture?" The young man held up a set of freshly combined herbs and asked cautiously.
"Mm."
Lizzie nodded without expression.
She was quite pleased with her grandson's potion-crafting technique. At his age, she hadn't been half as skilled.
Ding-ling!
The bell over the door jingled as it swung open.
A customer!
Nfirea quickly and carefully set down the herbs and stood up, turning toward the entrance.
A figure in what looked like a priest's robe stepped into the shop. The robe had been modified to avoid the usual puffiness, cinched at the waist in a way that gave the wearer a trim, upright silhouette.
The moment he saw the man, Nfirea instinctively felt—this must be a kind person.
Clothing was, after all, the easiest way to judge someone at first glance.
But—
The moment he saw the man's black hair, Nfirea froze, his eyes narrowing in disbelief.
It was rude to stare at customers, but he couldn't help himself. The man standing before him was so different from how he remembered.
If it weren't for the unmistakable black hair, Nfirea might not have recognized him at all.
The last time they met, Lyle had looked like a mysterious, somewhat modest adventurer. Now, he gave off the air of a refined and gentle nobleman.
It wasn't just the clothes—it was his entire demeanor. He carried himself with elegance now, and Nfirea found it difficult to put into words.
"Long time no see, Nfirea."
Lyle raised a hand in greeting, his voice familiar despite his new look.
"You got rich, Lyle!" Nfirea blurted out after a beat.
"I did make a little money," Lyle said with a chuckle.
Nfirea's face lit up. He walked forward quickly. "I thought you left E-Rantel for good! It's been so long!"
Step!
He froze mid-step.
Peeking out from behind Lyle's legs was a small Barghest.
At the same moment, a faint, aged voice drifted over from the counter.
"A Barghest? Looks like you've been to the Great Forest of Tob."
"Lady Bareare, it's been a while," Lyle replied politely.
Behind the counter, Grandmother Lizzie looked as though she hadn't moved in hours—leaning on one hand, the other holding a long-stemmed pipe that puffed out steady curls of white smoke.
"That thing isn't dangerous, is it?" Nfirea asked nervously, eyeing the ghost hound.
It sounded like concern for Lyle—but Lyle, who'd spent some time with Nfirea, knew better. Nfirea wasn't worried for him. He was asking if bringing the Barghest inside was dangerous.
"I found it on the forest outskirts. It's quite docile around me," Lyle replied casually, answering both Lizzie and Nfirea at once.
Lizzie took her pipe from her mouth and turned to Nfirea.
"Nfirea, go count how many of the healing potions in the back have started deteriorating."
"Yes, Grandma," Nfirea said with a small sigh, brushing a hand through his blond hair. He shot Lyle a brief apologetic look before hurrying off.
As his footsteps faded into the back room, Lizzie spoke again.
"Have you taken care of your problem?" she asked, giving Lyle a sharp once-over.
The sudden question caught Lyle off guard. Then he realized—she must have been making her own assumptions based on his appearance.
"Not yet. But I've made some progress," he replied.
"Good."
Lizzie nodded, then reached below the counter and placed a familiar-looking potion bottle on the surface.
"This alchemical potion. You made it, didn't you?"
Lyle blinked.
Wasn't this the one he'd given to Master Bellory?
No wonder Lizzie had been eyeing him strangely since he walked in.
"I knew there was something off when you and Nfirea were talking about herbs and alchemy. I didn't expect this kind of talent."
Lizzie exhaled another puff of smoke and added lightly, "In E-Rantel, there are no secrets. If something isn't discovered, it's only because no one's bothered to look."
Hah.
Lyle barely restrained a snort.
Sure, that explains why Khajiit from Zurrernorn managed to hide right under everyone's nose for so long. If it weren't for Ainz's intervention, this city would've been flattened by two bone dragons.
And when Nfirea got kidnapped, they had to beg Ainz for help and stake their entire fortune on it.
Still, Lyle kept his expression unchanged.
"With talent like yours, you didn't come to buy potions, did you?" Lizzie asked knowingly.
"I'm here to sell some herbs."
"Fine. I'll buy them—at the highest price." Lizzie's voice shifted, becoming intent. She gave the potion bottle a gentle push toward him and leaned forward, eyes gleaming. "But before that... I want to purchase the formula for this alchemical solution."
"Two thousand gold coins."
"If that's not enough, name your price."
Her wrinkled face radiated a kind of excitement rare for someone her age.
This formula—it was unlike anything she'd ever encountered. She'd been agonizing over it for weeks, unable to make sense of it.
So that's why she's been staring at me like a hawk since I walked in.
Two thousand gold coins. It was a tempting offer.
But Lyle knew—this formula wasn't something Lizzie could replicate.
It relied on the passive ability of the Magic Swordsman class and a Level 10 Alchemist proficiency. Without those, it was impossible to recreate.
As Lyle hesitated, Lizzie prepared to raise the price.
"Do you have the materials?" he asked bluntly.
Her eyes lit up. She nodded eagerly and rushed off toward the back room.
Before long, she returned, holding several intact hanged spider corpses. Behind her trailed a very confused Nfirea, his arms full of delicate alchemical equipment.
He looked at Lyle, his eyes full of silent questions.
"Put that down and get back to work," Lizzie said, giving him a tap on the head.
"Okay..." Nfirea mumbled, clearly reluctant as he shuffled off, glancing back with every step.
"What else do you need?" Lizzie asked, visibly excited. "Just say the word."
"That'll be enough," Lyle replied, looking over the spider corpses with a glint in his eye.
As someone who'd fought these things before, he knew how tricky they were—and yet Lizzie had managed to preserve them this well?
"A venom sac from one of the spiders."
Even before he finished, Lizzie had already extracted one with impressive speed and handed it to him without a second thought.
With her watching carefully, Lyle dropped the venom sac into a beaker of ordinary water and casually activated his alchemy.
Within seconds, the venom fully dissolved, and the impurities in the water vanished at a speed that defied belief.
A soft blue glow shimmered, and a crystal-clear blue potion appeared.
"Done."
He tossed the beaker toward her.
Lizzie fumbled to catch it, blinking in shock. Almost mechanically, she cast Item Appraisal.
Silence.
"Ahem. Could you... make another one?" she asked, voice now meek.
Lyle shrugged and repeated the process.
Lizzie fell completely silent.
She had seen everything—Lyle had used no fancy techniques, no arcane steps.
He had made a high-quality potion using the same motions as crafting a low-grade one.
She didn't understand.
But one thing was certain: the young man standing before her had a profound mastery of alchemy.
She had always thought her grandson was a genius—but compared to Lyle, she now saw just how far Nfirea had to go.
After a long, heavy pause, Lizzie looked up, forcing a stiff smile onto her wrinkled face.
"Let's talk about the herbs you're selling."
