The Alchemist Chapter 3

Chapter 3

“So,” I said, sitting at a table deep inside the Guardians’ volcano base. “How are we supposed to monetize my power?”

Claude, standing against the wall, turned her head towards me. “How?” she said. “We sell the stuff.”

Itrim shook his head. “That is how we’ll land ourselves a very powerful enemy.”

“The merchants’ guilds,” said Drex. “Itrim is right. Our newest member hasn’t even been proven yet. We don’t know what will work and what won’t work.”

Claude looked away. “Sure,” she said. Her eyes were looking far off.

“Something on your mind?” said Tanna.

Claude grunted. “I’m just worried about the reason why Markus was sent to this world.”

“Who can we ask?” said Tanna. “We just need to roll with what we’ve been given.”

Claude tapped her feet. “Of course we can. He’s a godsend. I just feel that something is wrong.”

I looked between Claude and Tanna. “Um, I don’t think I can help you with that. I’m as clueless as you are about why I’m here.”

Claude sighed, and then let her back drag down the wall until she was in a sitting position. She breathed out. “I suppose we’ll figure this out eventually.” She rubbed her temples. “But for now I think we should take advantage of the chance we’ve been given.” She turned to me. “Can you demonstrate to us the extent of your powers?”

“Well, first,” I said, as I got out of my chair and knelt down to the ground, “I can sense all the different elements that are embedded in the ground for a considerable distance. I can then, um, suck those elements up and form them into their pure state.”

“Can you suck up something like copper?” asked Claude.

“Better yet,” I said, “Stuff like aluminum and gold.”

“Aluminum?” said Claude. “Never heard of it.”

“It’s, um, the stuff that Napoleon’s forks were made of …” I paused. “Here, I’ll just show you.” I sucked up about ten ounces of aluminum from the ground. Aluminum is a very abundant metal, and the only reason why ancient cultures weren’t able to use it is that it is almost never found in its native state. There was plenty all around me for my purposes.

“Here,” I said, handing the metal to Drex.

Drex turned the ingot under the light. “If I’m not mistaken,” he said, “This is Starsilver.”

“Starsilver?” said Claude, standing up. “That’s worth ten times its weight in gold!” She turned to me. “How much of this stuff can you make?”

“Tons,” I said. “Like, literal tons of material.”

Claude looked incredulous. “Seriously?” she said. “Now we won’t have to worry about the goldsmiths’ guild! We can make our fortune selling starsilver!”

“What are we, a company?” said Blasé. She looked between the members of the Guardians. “We’ll take just as much as we need to maintain our operations. It’s not proper to be greedy about these things.”

Claude shrugged. “Sure,” she said. “As our treasurer, you probably know what’s best when It comes to money.” She paused. “Can you make weapons with this, alumainum?”

“Aluminum,” I said, using the American pronunciation.

“Aluminum,” said Claude. “Starsilver. If you can get us one hundred dunces of that, we’ll be able to afford some upgrades to our equipment.”

“May I ask what happened to your previous sponsor?” I said.

“The Romans decided that we weren’t being of enough use to them,” said Claude. “They’re the family that controls the nation behind the king’s back.”

“I’m not from here,” I said. “But I understand how politics work. The Romans are kind of like the Shogun to the Emperor, right?”

“Um, sure,” said Claude. “If that’s how you want to understand it.”

“Shogun?” said Blasé.

Claude shrugged. “He said he wasn’t from around here.”

“A different dimension, actually,” I said.

The Guardians looked around at each other. “Right,” said Claude. “There’s no other way to describe your sudden appearance.”

“So,” I said. “Are my alchemy powers uncommon here? It sounds like you don’t see many of my kind.”

“Magic exists int his world,” said Claude, “But it’s hard to use and takes much training. The magic you are capable of is of a different class than the kind we use.”

The griffon that the Guardians had ridden on poked its head into the meeting room. Claude reached over and began scratching its ears.

“This is Hypo,” said Claude. “He’s our main mode of transportation.”

Hypo crooned.

“We let him do whatever he wants around here,” said Claude. “He’s a very kind beast. Most griffons are.”

Hypo rubbed his feathers against Claude and then turned to leave the room.

“Anyways,” said Claude. “With this amount of starsilver we can finance our operations indefinitely.”

“I have to say,” I said. “I don’t know a thing about fighting, much less how I can help you defeat a demon lord.”

“We didn’t expect that,” said Claude. “Magic has many more uses than just combat and fighting.” She pushed a button and a chalk board appeared on the wall, flipping into place.

“We had that installed?” said Blasé, raising an eyebrow.

“It’s been here since we got this place,” said Claude. She took out a piece of chalk and began writing symbols. “Markus,” she said. “Walk up to the board.”

I got up and walked over to the chalk board. “What do you want me to do?” I asked.

Claude finished drawing an arcane signet. “Place your hand here,” she said.

I placed my palm in the signet’s center. “Nothing’s happening—” I paused. The signet began to flow with blue and yellow energy, crackling like sea foam turned into a tesla coil. I jerked my hand away.

“What the hell?” I said.

Claude tilted her head. “That’s an odd reading,” she said. “I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

“Well, he is from another dimension,” said Blasé. “We can’t expect him to follow this dimension’s rules.”

“But that’s the funny thing,” said Claude. “He’s following the rules in principle. It’s just that I’ve never seen a combination of auras like this. It’s theoretically possible, but …”

“I just care about the fact that he can produce starsilver,” said Drex. “We don’t need him to fight.”

“Though that’s kind of a blow to my ego,” I said, “I do agree with Drex.”

“We haven’t asked you yet,” said Claude. “Do you want to work with us?”

“Sure, yeah,” I said.

“I don’t sense much commitment in this man,” said Itrim. “It bothers me.”

“I’ve never really been committed to anything real,” I said.

“At least he’s honest,” said Blasé. “I agree with Claude and Drex. Markus, you’re a useful asset to our team as far as we can tell.” She looked towards Claude.

Claude nodded. “We’d like to officially induct you into the Guardians.”

I smiled. “Of course. I’ve always wanted to be a superhero.”

“Superhero?” asked Itrim.

I shook my head. “Never mind. Just, know that I want to help people and make other people happy.”

“A great mindset,” said Drex.

“Very well, then,” said Claude, as she erased the magic circle from the chalkboard. “Welcome to the Guardians.”

“Just like that?” I said.

“Just like that,” said Claude. Her lips curled up a bit. “If I sensed that you were at all a bad person, I wouldn’t have given you this offer.” She extended her hand. “It’s nice to finally have another member of our team.”

I shook her hand. “Likewise,” I said. Then I looked around the room. “So, what’s our next mission going to be?”

“A fundraiser,” said Claude. She looked between the rest of the Guardians. They all nodded in unison.

“We’re going to collect as much starsilver as we can and sell it at the capitol market.”

“How are we going to do that, exactly?” said Tanna. “I know you grew up in a noble house, Claude, but selling things at the market takes more than just showing up at the gate with goods.”

Claude looked a bit miffed. “I know how this stuff works,” she said.

“Have you filed a claim with the merchants’ guild?”

“Um, no,” said Claude. “We just met Markus today and I haven’t had time …”

“Do you know how?” said Tanna.

Claude paused, and then shook her head. “No,” she said.

Tanna crossed her arms. “Then let me take care of it. You don’t have to do anything.”

“Sure, Tanna,” said Claude. She sat down in a wooden chair backwards and rested her arms on its back. “You know what’s best when it comes to these things.”

“We’re going to have to certify the origin of this starsilver,” said Tanna, beginning to walk back and forth.

“Maybe we found a deposit at the bottom of this volcano?” said Drex. “We do own the whole thing anyways.”

“A good idea,” said Tanna. “But what happens when people try to prospect other volcanos? Or when people come here trying to buy this land off of us?”

“We could pretend that the starsilver drops from powerful boss monsters,” said Blasé.

“No good either,” said Tanna. “We don’t want to push people to kill themselves by facing monsters they can’t beat.”

“Are we basically laundering metal here?” said Claude. “Because I don’t like how that feels. How about we just be honest and say that we have a magician who can summon up a bunch of the stuff.”

“Then Markus would be in danger,” said Tanna.

The Guardians looked at each other in contemplation.

“How about this?” I say. “We buy a cheap plot of land, and then I conjure a bunch of starsilver and bury it there and in the surrounding areas. Then we can pretend like we found a naturally occurring deposit. Anyone would be able to stake a claim and try their luck.”

“Creating an artificial starsilver rush?” said Claude. Her eyes twinkled. “That sounds like fun. You can produce multiple badgers of it, right?”

“Badger?” I asked. “How many dunces is that?”

“One thousand, five hundred and twenty,” said Claude. “Anyways, you can create at least five of those, right?”

“I can,” I said.

“Itrim,” said Claude. “Buy a patch of ground in a remote location that’s easily accessible from here. Make sure there are no villages nearby.”

“Done,” said Itirm. “Can I take Hypo?”

“Go ahead,” said Claude.

Itrim motioned to Blasé. Blasé nodded and the two of them left the room.

“While Itrim and Blasé are busy getting that stuff ready,” said Claude, sitting down and crossing her arms, “Tell me about the world you’re from. I can tell that it’s quite different from ours. Is there magic?”

“Yes and no,” I said. “The magic of my world is very, very deep and complicated. We call it “physics,” and “electricity.” It takes decades to understand it in depth, but at the same time it’s accessible by everybody.”

“I don’t understand,” said Claude. “Deep and complicated and accessible to everyone at the same time?”

“We have a universal education system that teaches everyone for free until they are eighteen.”

“Free?” said Claude. “Everyone? What takes eighteen years to teach? How much does your world know?”

“A lot,” I said. “There are these things called “computers” that can perform functions and create virtual worlds.”

“Computer …” said Claude. “You mean, like Bubble’s Machine?”

“Bubble’s machine …” I said. “Is it a big calculating mechanism?”

“Yes,” said Claude. “It’s what tracks the planets in the major capitol.”

“Like that,” I said. “Except with approximately a billion moving parts compacted into the size of a playing card.”

“A billion …” said Claude, “Into a playing card?”

“Yes,” I said. “And there are these things called movies …” I paused. “Do you know what a photograph is?” I asked.

Claude shook her head. “No,” she said.

“It’s like a device that produces a perfect painting of what it’s pointed at with the touch of a button,” I said. “It’s ancient technology where I’m from.”

“Wow,” said Drex. “So you world is much more magical than ours.”

“We have machines that can fly across the world in half a day,” I said.

“That’s a fast griffon!” said Tanna. “How do you handle the wind?”

“We’re actually packed into a tube and propelled by jet engines,” I said.

Tanna shook her head. “The world you’re from sounds so much different that ours.”

“And in my world,” I said, “Starsilver is so common that you usually throw it away as waste after drinking what’s inside of it.”

Claude, Tanna, and Drex were all staring at me with wide eyes.

“Well I’ll say,” said Tanna. “Your world sure is different from ours.”

“Indeed,” I said. “Very different.”