Dave pushed a pair of wooden doors inwards and stepped inside. The doorbell made a chime, alerting the owner of the establishment of the arrival of a possible customer. The transmigrator looked at the glass bottles carved into the doors in nostalgia. Memories of his school days, of his shenanigans in the science lab, danced in front of his eyes. He shook his head and cleaned up his mind. Now was not the time to drown in memories.

“Coming,” An aged voice echoed from the back of the shop. Dave turned his head in the direction of the voice. There was a passage in one of the corners of the shop, well hidden between two shelves. If it wasn’t open, no one could find that door just from looking around.

He looked around curiously as time passed. Colorful bottles of different sizes stacked neatly on the shelves, and a heavy mint fragrance dominated the air inside the shop. A long table sat in the middle of the room, touching the entire establishment from one end to the other. Dave tried recognizing the bottles to pass the time. The owner was taking his sweet time to appear. He was bored.  

The third prince had extensive knowledge in many fields. Dave could, therefore, recognize a lot of potions on sale. Health-restoring potions, stamina potions, strengthening potions—those were among the majority. There were also some dubious and poisonous potions among the rest. One of the many shelves had only aphrodisiacs. Of course, those were no normal aphrodisiacs.

The main ingredient of those potions were pheromones of female Long-legged rabbits— known to have great sex drives. They were mainly used as baits to lure exotic monsters. It was not safe for humans either. In fact, the effect amplifies by several degrees when an intelligent species consumes it. Also, it was quite addictive in nature.

‘The owner of this shop is well connected,’ Dave noted. The shop had hundreds of potions on display. As for variety, Dave already recognized fifty different types. It wasn’t the work of a single alchemist. In fact, it was impossible for a lone alchemist to brew so many.

It was normal for a shop to have products from different brands. Potion shops, however, don’t come under this category. Alchemists were a proud bunch. They’ll never work with a merchant who already sells the potions of a different alchemist. For the owner of this little shop to have so many varieties of potions—it was both strange and fascinating.

“Hello, welcome to Oscar’s Apothecary.”

Dave fixed his gaze at the door leading to the back of the shop. There stood a man—around his thirties, he estimated—with unkempt hair and a square face. He doesn’t look as presentable as a shopkeeper. His sunken eyes had dark spots around them and a thick herbal aroma coming off his person. He looked no different from the beggars Dave was living with. 

“Are you looking to buy something?” The shopkeeper asked.

Dave noticed his eyes moving towards the backroom repeatedly, and he looked restless. He was also shifting on his legs frequently—in the span of a few seconds, he had already shifted twice.

‘Was he doing something in the backroom?’ Dave wondered curiously.

“I’m here to show you something,” Dave said, taking out a transparent bottle filled with red liquid from his pant pocket.

Looking between the bottle and him, the shopkeeper picked up the bottle and inspected it with scrutiny. He opened the cork cap and took a sniff. Then he poured a drop on his palm and licked it. Dave got a little weird out by the shopkeeper’s behavior. Looking and sniffing was one thing, but licking was… just pushing it. He looked away, feeling disgusted in his heart.

Suddenly, a gasp left the disheveled man’s mouth. Dave looked over in curiosity. The man was trembling and licking the drop on his palm like a dog. He was also muttering something incoherently which Dave barely even heard. For a second, he doubted his choice of coming to this shop.

To not get recognized by shops as a beggar, he came all the way to the other side of the town. He had taken a long bath groomed himself as much as he could. He had even changed his daily wear to a set of cleaner pairs. Despite being cautious, he seemed to have made a mistake while choosing a shop.

“This bottle-” the shopkeeper started with a bit of tremble in his voice, dragging Dave out from his thoughts. “Can I know from where did you obtain it?” He asked, gaze flitting between the bottle and Dave.

The bottle didn’t have an Alchemist Mark. Besides, Dave doesn’t look like an alchemist to the owner. More importantly, the potion’s effects were superb. If possible, he wanted to know the alchemist and form a long-term trade.

“I can’t,” Dave shook his head. What a joke? He wasn’t a fool to reveal his skill to others. “How much are you offering for this bottle?” Impatience was clearly shown on his face.

“Ah, okay.” The shopkeeper nodded in acceptance. He looked Dave in the eye and rose two fingers, “for this bottle of Health Potion, I can give you at most 200 crystals.”

“Deal.” Dave agreed in a heartbeat. He had compared the effects of the potion to the ones in the market. It surpassed the low-grade potions by a mile. An average low-grade health potion costs 150 crystals, thus, two hundred was a reasonable price in his opinion.

“How many bottles do you want to sell?” The shopkeeper asked curiously.

“Today, I’ve ten of such bottles to sell,” Dave said, bringing out ten bottles to the table.

“Cough~ sorry!” The shopkeeper choked on his own saliva. His gaze flitted between the bottles on the table and to Dave’s face. “Alright, I’ll buy all ten bottles.”

XXX

Sometime later, Dave stepped out of the shop with a beaming smile on his face. His pockets had become heavy. In a span of one afternoon, he went from a beggar to a moderately loaded guy. It felt great. Two thousand crystals—with this money, he can do a lot of things.

‘Let’s eat something. I’m super hungry,’ Dave finally acknowledged his rumbling stomach. He had not eaten anything since last night. In the morning, he missed the free meal distributed by the Radiant Chruch.

Coincidentally, his eyes fell upon the wooden plaque hanging above the door. The image of an upside-down cauldron craved on it was strangely familiar to him. He felt like he had seen that symbol somewhere before.

‘Wait-’ Dave scrutinized the image closer as a realization dawned upon him. ‘One of the shelves was full of bottles with this brand. Does that mean-’ He looked back at the now-empty shop through the window. The shopkeeper was nowhere to be seen. ‘No wonder he looked disheveled. He was an alchemist.’

XXX

Julian, the shopkeeper, rushed to the back of his shop after Dave walked away. His face had a wide smile on display. He held the ten bottles of potions securely as if they were precious treasures.

“What a naïve child,” He laughed, thinking about the happy face of Dave. “These potions are not just any low-leveled potions. The effects are immediate and there seemed to have no rejection from the body when consumed. Their price should exceed a thousand crystals per bottle. Haha! Jackpot! I made a jackpot!”