Enlightened Empire

Chapter 360: The Dangerous Life of a Treasure Hunter

A bit worried, Drachimine looked over to the alchemists again, but they were busy with work, seemingly lost in their own world. Like so many of these wise men, they seemed utterly disinterested in any real-life issues. Maybe they weren’t even aware that the balance of power had changed in the city outside. Surely, they wouldn’t notice if he went off to explore the workshop on his own.

Thus, he motioned to the rest of the warriors, who split up and search the large laboratory for their goals: Purple dye and vanillin powder. This workshop was quite a generous place considering how few people worked here, and it was also very open. On top of that, the chaos – and the fact that Drachimine couldn’t name half the things he saw – made it hard to find what he was looking for. Still, the mess couldn’t hide its treasures from his keen eyes.

After a while of investigation, he found a faint trace of purple color on the ground. Although it was only a smudge, it was enough to show him that someone had stained the ground here and had tried to wipe it off, without much luck. In fact, he managed to find an entire trail of faint residue, which he dutifully followed.

Soon, he reached a somewhat hidden section of the workshop that held the faint aroma of vanilla, and maybe a slight sour scent as well. It was distinctly different from the sharp smells in the rest of the workshop, and it was also hard to find without following the trail of purple. Maybe while the bearded alchemist had talked to them, someone else had tried to hide the real treasures in this place.

In fact, he soon found the object of his interest. The section he entered was almost empty, except for a large glass vat filled with a clear liquid, stored on a thick piece of cloth underneath a closed hood. As far as he could tell, the vanillin smell was coming from the vat itself. Although it looked like water at first, a strong vapor was escaping from the vat and was collected in the hood above. Maybe it was placed under the hood to collect the liquid’s aroma. After all, Saniya was producing vanilla-flavored products like soaps as well.

So far, the clues he had followed here didn’t confirm whether he was looking at an early stage of purple dye production or at the liquid form of the vanillin powder, but he was sure that it had to be one or the other.

That was a mystery he could easily solve with a bit of inspection. After all, he wasn’t a supervisor for nothing. Just as he was about to stretch out his hand towards the vat, a voice came from the distance.

“Official Drachimine, please do be careful with the Acetic Acid,” the nervous voice of the bearded alchemist called out from across the workshop. “It is very expensive, and not to be moved casually!”

Finally, the foreigner sounded nervous, just like Drachimine had expected him to act before. Wasn’t this man just trying to protect this liquid from his inspection? First, it had been hidden away in a corner like that, and now he was warned not to touch it. Clearly, this was something they hadn’t wanted him to find, so his determination only increased.

“This official is responsible for supervision!” he barked back. “This is none of your business.”

To find out what exactly he was dealing with, he bent underneath the hood and took a deep whiff of the liquid in the vat. He had expected the pleasant scent of vanillin, but only tasted flames. Before he could smell anything, his lungs felt like fire and robbed him of all other senses. A violent cough tried to expel the noxious gas from his body, but failed to do so.

He stumbled back to escape the danger, but his coughing fit drove his body down. A confused Drachimine tried to hold on and save his balance, but he only caught the glass vat. Thus he fell over, and the container with him. Its contents spilled all over the floor, which began to hiss and smoke in response. Some spilled on his hands as well, but Drachimine had no time to care about what damage it would do.

Until now, his cough was still going, and his eyes and face both felt numb, and as if they were melting away.

“Emergency!” someone shouted somewhere. “Get Official Drachimine some distilled water! He has come in contact with the acetic acid! Quick! Do you want to be executed for killing an official!?”

“I don’t care that it was an accident, or not your fault!” the same voice shouted after a mumbled response. “Bring the water!”

A hand touched his shoulder and helped Drachimine up, but in his current state, it was a scant reprieve from his pain. Even now, he was still wheezing for air. All he could see was the blurred face of the bearded alchemist, still with that hidden smile on his face.

“I warned you about the acid, sire,” he said. “Please be careful next time.”

About an hour after the first incident, Drachimine left the laboratory again, together with the other supervisors. Some of them had beet-red faces, itchy and irritated from strange gases and fluids. Others had singed robes and hair from the time they had watched the alchemists experiment with gunpowder.

None of them felt the cold around them, but all of them were shivering. Their scars would never heal, at least not the ones on their minds. What they had gone through in that room had been worse than any war they had ever been part of.

Worst of all, the alchemists could not be faulted at all. All accidents had happened due to their own decisions, often in defiance of the well-meaning warnings from the local workers. Thus, with no loot to take and nothing to criticize, the warriors decided to retreat for the day.

Broken in both body and spirit, Drachimine took his fellow warriors to return home without gains. Maybe there were still treasures hidden somewhere in that laboratory, but he would not risk his life to find them. Surely, somewhere in this large city, there had to be some easier workshop he could score big in. Even if there wasn’t, he just had to work a bit harder elsewhere to satisfy his master’s wishes. Anything would be better than another visit to the mad lab of Master Hieronymus.

While warrior Drachimine was fighting his own courage within Saniya’s labs, his fellow warrior Qirao was lamenting his poor fortune on his way to Saniya’s medical research center.

Of course, he didn’t know about the fate of his colleagues yet. As far as he was concerned, he had drawn the short straw among the supervisors of the league of lords.

Over the past trium, the supervisors had tested out the limits of their newly gained powers. In the process, they had become more and more audacious over time, to see how much the King of the South and his forces would put up with before they pushed back. While they hadn’t achieved much since a lot of the city’s manufactories were closing down for one reason or another, there had been hardly any active resistance from the local forces.

As a result, the supervisors had decided that today would be the true start to their operations. Today, they would try to gain access to all the major workshops in Saniya.

Some had gone to the so-called ‘chemistry lab’, where they would learn the secrets of Saniya’s purple dye and vanillin production. Others would go to the city’s gigantic foundry to learn the methods of their supreme steel production. Others yet had traveled to the workshops that produced porcelain, cement, clear glass, or fertilizer. However, only he was nowhere near the wealth of the city.

While all other supervisors were about to enter the real treasure houses of Saniya, and about to make real coin, only Qirao alone was stuck looking after Saniya’s medical research center. Although from its name, it seemed as fancy as the chemistry lab, no one expected to find anything of value in this place.

As far as they knew, none of the city’s famous products were being made here. In truth, it was no more than a large courtyard which housed all of Rapra Castle’s private physicians.

However, Qirao’s master Ogulno had been feeling unwell recently. Since his master’s house physician could not find the source of his troubles, he had tasked Qirao to come here and take away one or two of Saniya’s excellent physicians. The king’s medical experts had all been brought over from the Chutwa Empire, so they were bound to be outstanding in their field.

Thus, Qirao had been sent to this place, despite its lack of obvious value. Although he wasn’t too happy about the thankless task, at least his work would be easy to accomplish. How would some gray-bearded commoner doctors resist him?

All he had to do was accuse one or two of them with some false charges and take them away for an ‘investigation’. Once they left the city, there was nothing the cowardly southern king could do to get them back.

Thus, he was filled with confidence as he walked up to the two guards who stood at attention outside the courtyard.

“This official’s name is supervisor Qirao di Ogulno,” he shouted with authority. “On order of the league of lords, this official has been sent to investigate the operations of this royal workshop. Open the door, and make way.”

Both guards just gave him a strange look for a few seconds, before they replied.

“Are you hurt, master?” one of them asked as his eyes checked Qirao up and down for injuries.

“If you’re unwell, you may want to go to one of the city’s clinics instead,” the other guard added. “The local physicians take turns taking care of the patients there. Rather… this is not the place a patient would want to go.”

“On order of the league of lords, this official demands entry into this workshop!” Qirao stepped forward and spoke with more force. “Do you dare deny me, lowly one!?”

In the last few days, Qirao had played out this same act many times. Usually, the guards would either be scared and obediently give in, or they would get angry, which would give the supervisor an excuse to use real force.

However, this time the reaction from the guards was unexpected. For a second time, they just stared at him in confusion, before they shared a look that Qirao couldn’t quite place.

“Fine, but we are not responsible if anything happens to you, official,” one of them said in the end, and opened the door. Although Qirao was a bit confused by their behavior, the results were just as he had expected.

Too easy. These commoners have no backbone, just like their king, he thought, as he stepped through the entrance without another word.

As soon as he entered, he felt like something was wrong. All he could see was an empty hallway, but the metallic stench of blood hung in the air, mixed with alcohol and other smells he couldn’t quite place.

Not a soul could be seen, but in the distance, Qirao thought he could hear faint screams. Or was that just his imagination? He really couldn’t tell, but the entire atmosphere of the hallway felt off, as if he had stepped into a different, more sinister world.

Why was the daylight in the hallway so dim? Why was there no one to greet him at the entrance? Where were all the people? His chest tightened, and his back felt wet and cold. He tried to clear his throat and took a few deep breaths to relieve his anxiety, but it helped little.

Either way, I only have to find one physician and drag him out.

The thought dampened the fear a bit. Thus, he sneaked ahead with renewed spirit, but more careful than before. When he had entered, his head had been held high, but now his spine was bent, ready to react to any danger that may be lurking.

Step by step, his tension rose again, although it had just been relieved. What kind of physician’s shop was this?

“Finally!”

The bellowing voice came from Qirao’s side and shocked him to his core. As the giant figure the voice belonged to shoved the door open with a violent energy, the supervisor jumped back in defense. Yet as soon as he saw the figure, he gave up all thoughts of a fight.

The being had its entire body covered with a red robe, but it wasn’t the noble red of the warriors. Rather, it was the dirty, wet red of fresh blood. Even the creature’s face was covered by a white mask sprinkled with red dots, like a butcher after a hard day of work. However, what sort of animal would be butchered in a place like this? Qirao could only think of one, and it shook him to his core.

In its hand, the beast carried a short weapon of shiny silver. Despite its length, it looked plenty sharp, more than enough to be a threat to any warrior, even more so in this tight corridor.

Terrified, Qirao made another step back, ready to retreat or fight for his life at any moment.

“What!? Speak up!” the monster demanded in its bellowing tone. “You’ve come just in time! I’ve just run out of bodies, you know? You’re here to bring the new specimen, right?”

Before Qirao had even registered the final sentence, he had already turned and run as fast as his legs could carry him. If his master wanted a physician, the warrior would never dare get one from here.

Whatever abyssal things were happening in this workshop, Qirao wanted no part of it, and he didn’t want his master to fall victim to the inhuman beasts in here. Without noticing the confusion on the butcher’s face, or the stifled laughs of the guards at the entrance, Qirao rushed away, never to return.