Otherworld Businessman Chapter 3

 

Chapter 3

Next mission: get a magician’s amulet from the guild. I pulled my wagon through the city streets until I came back to the magician’s guild adjacent to the cathedral. The wagon was too big to pull through the door so I threw a cloth over it and entered the building with a twenty pack of soda.

I approached the counter. An elf with green hair was manning the desk.

“Excuse me,” I said. “Where can I apply for a magician’s amulet?”

“Can you use magic?” said the elf.

I showed her the cola cans. “I am an alchemist and dimensional traveler. This is my product.”

“Yes, I recognize these,” said the elf. “A stranger came in two days ago and sold us forty-eight of these, um, vessels. We managed to find a use for them and they are in fact very valuable.”

“I’m that stranger,” I said. I planted the twenty-four pack on the counter. “I’ll sell you these if I can get a magician’s amulet.”

“Agreed,” said the elf. “There is a twenty gold fee for the amulet, but I’ll subtract it from the exchange for those elixirs.”

“Have you tried them yet?” I said.

“Heavens no,” said the elf. “At three gold apiece I couldn’t even imagine it.”

I handed her a single can. “Drink this. I’ll give it to you free as a mark of goodwill. We’ll probably be working with each other quite a bit. I have many magical items for sale. By the way, do you mind if I get some muscle to help me unload my wagon of magic items?”

“You brought a wagonful with you?” said the elf.

“Indeed,” I said. “I left the wagon outside. You won’t believe what’s in there.”

Five minutes later, the elf and two other guild workers were unloading the wagon. I had bought everything I could think of that a feudal society would find useful. Flashlights and batteries, lighters, plastic utensils and cans of food. The wagon was packed, and it was the size of a rickshaw.

Half an hour later all of my goods were laid out on the floor of the guild, privy to a number of curious onlookers. The elf walked among the items.

“That’s a flashlight,” I said. “It uses these cylinders—“ I held up batteries—”to produce a beam of light.”

I explained the function of all the items whose use was not obvious. They understood the ridiculously precise “craftsmanship” of the glasses and plastic utensils. They also understood the use of the red Solo cups.

The total value came to one thousand, two hundred and fifty gold coins. A veritable fortune, but of course this stuff was worth that in a world where people were still working the fields by hand. I already had enough Earth currency to support me for quite some time on the other end, so I decided to keep this new cash for use within the otherworld.

“You are an incredible mage,” said the elf. She extended her hand. “My name is Tris. Please, continue to patronize us with your magnificent alchemy skills.”

“Aahaha,” I said. “Okay.”

“You’re going to have to give a demonstration of your powers to the council before we assign you a medallion, however,” said Tris.

“Do you mind if I take a day to prepare?” I said.

“You can take a week if needed,” said Tris. “I understand Alchemy requires various ingredients that are quite hard to find.”

“Good,” I said. “Set me up a trial two days from now at sunset.”

Tris nodded and made some notes on a clipboard. “In the meantime,” she said, “I insist that you bring more of these magic items if you can. I do not  know where they come from but they are most certainly useful.”

“Well, I, ah, come from another universe.”

“Quite common,” said Tris. She smiled. “In any case, I wish you well.”

“I need to return to my home to retrieve materials for the trail,” I said, “But I don’t think I’ll be able to enter the city again without proper papers.”

“I’ll issue you a temporary travel permit,” said Tris. “It’s the least I could do.”

Two hours later I was back in my apartment, planning for the test. I understood that it would involve dry ice and liquid nitrogen, as well as helium and a lot of other chemistry. I could freeze a rubber ball and crack it. I could create bubbling potions.

I looked up “cool chemistry experiments” online and picked five to perform.

The list: mix copper and nitric acid; make elephant’s toothpaste; explode sodium in water; make a Lichtenberg figure; and finally, exploding thermite in dry ice.

I procured all the items at the local hardware store. When it was time for me to return, I brought all my materials with me. The temp papers allowed me in the city and I pulled everything to the guild hall.

Tris came out to greet me. “Are you ready?” she said. She led me through the entrance foyer to a meeting hall that looked like a classroom at my college. About a dozen magicians were sitting dispersed around the room.

I suddenly felt very nervous. What if my experiments failed? What if they didn’t work like advertised, or what if I got the mixtures wrong?

I stepped onto stage. “I am going to perform five alchemical spells that each produce a fascinating result,” I said.

I set up the experiment to mix copper and nitric acid. I then mixed the two ingredients to produce a spectacular display of blue and reddish-orange smoke.

“Ooh,” said several of the members of the audience. There was a bit of clapping as well.

“Quite the magic experiment, Mr. Ran,” said one of them, an older man with a mane of grey hair.

I bowed, and then began to set up my elephant’s toothpaste experiment. Elephant’s toothpaste is a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and yeast, colored with food coloring.

It explodes out of the tube it is created in, creating a fountain of foam. It went off without a hitch, and this time the entire audience clapped.

Then it was on to exploding sodium with water. A pretty simple reaction when pure sodium is put into water, this reaction is spectacular and creates violent sputtering flames.

Then I made a Lichtenburg figure with a small electric lighter. A Lichtenberg figure is the tracing of an electric shock within a recording material, leaving behind a beautiful artistic lightning-esque tree.

And, finally, I exploded thermite on some dry ice.

The clapping from the audience was spirited.

“I have never seen such alchemy as this,” said one of the members. “You are the most promising young magician I have ever seen. You have many great things ahead of you.”

“We would be happy to give you the status of magician,” said the man with the fuzzy grey hair.

I bowed. A distinguished-looking magician came to the stage and ceremoniously presented me with a medallion about the size of a half dollar. I took it with reverence. I was now officially a magician within this world.

“Would you like to take a tour of the guild?” said the grey-haired magician, approaching me from the other side of the stage. “My name is Mikayus. I am the head of the department of alchemy.”

“I would be glad to,” I said.

Mikayus led me out of the lecture hall and into a corridor lined with doors, just like a school building back at university.

“This is the summoning center,” said Mikayus. “And that’s where the pure magicians work.”

He showed me through the rest of the building and finished the tour at the grand entrance.

“We should be getting you an office,” said Mikayus. “But that won’t happen for a bit. Please, let me treat to you to some dinner.”

“Is there a good place around here?” I said.

“There is a good Bulkian shop near my house.”

“Then let’s go there. I’ve never eaten Bulkian food before.”

“You’re in for a real treat,” said Mikayus. We walked in silence for a few steps.

“I was wondering,” said Mikayus. “Where, exactly, did you come from?”

“Another world,” I said.

“And where is this other world located?” said Mikayus.

“It’s a secret,” I said. “I am unable to tell you.”

“I suppose we all have secrets,” said Mikayus. “I won’t pry any further.” He paused. “I am aware of one other magician in this town who claims to be from an otherworld. Let me ask you this question: what are you planning on doing here?”

“A sort of portal exchange,” I said. “My world has many objects that could be used to this world’s benefit. Not to mention the knowledge I have about the world and how it works.”

“You certainly did demonstrate an exceptional knowledge of alchemy,” said Mikayus.

“I studied the stuff in school,” I said. I certainly had done chemistry labs during college and high school. Compared to the education of the average peasant from the medieval period, this was a considerable education in the subject.

“What school did you go to?” asked Mikayus.

“A university in my home nation,” I said. “I specialized in the study of the mind.”

“Ah, you are also a philosopher,” said Mikayus. “I took you for the type. Tell me, how does one contemplate divinity?”

“I am not so sure,” I said. “That one question may still be out of my reach to understand.”

“It’s good to be honest about these things,” said Mikayus. “In any case, we have arrived.”

We stood before a hole-in-the-wall shop whose only window was crusted and obviously salvaged. The whole place had a rickety look that did not really endear me to it.

Mikayus, paying no attention to the state of the building, pushed his way through the curtain in the doorway.

“Ma!” he yelled. “A brown soup for two!”

I followed him in. The interior, just like the outside, was rickety and poorly constructed. But I did smell an incredible aroma coning from behind the bar counter. A fat woman was cooking, dancing with surprising grace among the stoves and pots. She pushed two cracked ceramic bowls towards us before we sat down, and as we sat, she ladled huge portions of soup in to each one.

“Eat up,” she said.

I took my first bite with ginger anticipation. The flavor burst into my mouth with surprising complexity. It was unlike anything I had ever tasted on Earth. I could compare it to a mushroom stew, but that wouldn’t give it justice. It was, quite literally, impossible to describe.

The meat in the stew was gamey but flavorful. The noodles were soft and chewy, with just the right consistency. Overall, I really enjoyed it.

Mikayus took his time eating, and finished five minutes after I did. He wiped his mouth with a dainty handkerchief and stood up.

“Thanks,” he said, passing the woman a few copper coins.

We walked out of the establishment. The air was cold and I could see Mikayus’s breath come out in clouds.

“We are prepared to purchase more of the magic items which you seem to have so many of,” said Mikayus. “We will keep your involvement a secret so as not to attract too much attention. Somehow the guild is going to manage to sell off the items without garnering the eyes of any important people. We will, as always, pay a fair price.” He paused. “Do you have anywhere to stay for tonight?” he asked.

I shook my head.

“Then stay with me until you can find yourself a good home. With the money you made today you’ll be able to afford a mansion. But one does not go about buying such estates in an evening.”

“Thanks,” I said.

We stopped in front of a respectable-looking building.

“This is my house,” said Mikayus.

He opened the door and I entered.