Black Onyx - Forgotten Magic

By speaking with an unnatural voice, lady Emily misunderstood him and thought he called himself master G, as in Alchemy Master G. After all, she heard about the mysterious potion, and it piqued her interest.

"So, Master G, I understand you have a potion for us?"

Gerald didn't mind her misunderstanding as it worked in his favor. He simply took out the Swiftness Potion and placed it on the table. "This is the potion in question. Take a look."

Emily Rosecloud examined the potion, but just like the receptionist, she couldn't recognize it. However, she didn't act arrogantly and instead spoke in a sweet voice, "I'm sorry, but I have never seen a potion like this before. I hope Master G can forgive my ignorance and expand my horizons."

'This girl surely knows how to speak, much better than that fool downstairs.' Gerald smirked in his heart. "Hehe, but of course Miss Rosecloud. It's not a problem at all. You see, this potion is my personal creation, a one-of-a-kind godly medicine. Never before seen miracle drink, capable of amazing feats."

Gerald went on a ramble, praising the potion to the high heavens, without actually saying anything about it.

"But, what does it do?" Emily asked after a while. Although she didn't believe all the praises Gerald spoke, it still elevated her expectations to a whole new level.

"I'm getting there, my dear, patience." Gerald cleared his throat, "Ahem! As I was saying, the name of this masterpiece is Swiftness Potion. It is a creation even the gods would envy! Just a single vial can recover your fatigue and give you inexhaustible energy for a while."

"No matter if you are running, climbing, swimming, or fighting, as long as you have a Swiftness Potion with you, you can operate at your maximum capacity! You won't get tired no matter how hard your work is! Now tell me, Miss Emily, don't you agree this is divine ambrosia for a warrior?" Gerald excitedly advertised his product.

"Eh…" The first sound coming out of Emily's mouth was not exactly what Gerald was hoping for. "It's not that I don't believe you, Master G, but it's just that our claims are too fantastic. Are you saying that if a normal person drank this potion, they could sprint at their top speed for the entire duration of the potion?"

"Yes!"

"And they could fight without getting tired as well?" She squinted her eyes as she asked. The claims seemed to be way too good to be true.

"Absolutely!"

"Hmm… And how long does this potion of yours last?"

By now, Gerald returned to his previous serious state, "Miss Emily, I can sense that you don't believe my words at all. But that is fine as I have expected this. That's why I'm prepared to gift you this potion as an expression of my sincerity. You can perform tests and then decide if what I'm telling is the truth or not." He pushed the potion towards her. At the same time, he also made it look like he was being wronged and taken advantage of.

Miss Emily lifted her eyebrow, "Really?"

By now the maid brought the steaming hot tea in fancy cups and placed it down on the table. She then quietly stepped to the side, waiting for new orders.

Gerald ignored the tea and helplessly lifted his hands, stating, "I don't have a choice, do I? For the sake of our cooperation, I'm willing to make this difficult sacrifice."

After a few moments of silence, Emily came to a decision, "Okay, I accept your gift. Then let's say that what you are saying is true… How many potions do you have to sell? And how much do you want for them?"

It was then that Gerald placed his chest on the table and opened it so that Emily could see the contents. "Twenty Swiftness Potions of the highest grade! As for what I want for them? They are one of a kind, so obviously the price would be high. However, you are in luck as I require some special materials."

He took out a stack of papers and placed them on the table. "Here is what I require. I'm sure your great association won't have any problems finding these few herbs. As for the amount…hehe... Depending on your generosity we might do more business in the future."

Miss Emily looked at the papers on the table without blinking, but in her mind, she thought, 'Tsk, who does this bastard think he is? Using the Golden Pouch Auction House like his personal servants? Depending on your generosity, my ass! Does he think he can just make demands?'

Still, she kept her cool and didn't protest. Until the effects of the potion were confirmed she wouldn't do anything rash. She took a golden pouch off her belt and stored the papers and the potion inside.

Gerald's eyes enlarged when he saw that. That's because there was no way for a potion and a stack of papers to fit in that small golden pouch!

"What is that?!" he shot up and asked.

"Oh, this?" Emily smiled and lifted the pouch. "This is, of course, our signature product, the Golden Space Pouch. You surely must have heard of it before?"

Now Gerald was the one that didn't know about the item in question. But he was currently playing a thick-skinned Alchemy Master, so he wasn't bothered by her mocking gaze. "A Space Pouch, eh? May I?"

Gerald shamelessly extended his hand and asked to see the pouch up close.

'Unbelievable! How can there exist someone so shameless in this world?' On the inside, Emily was burning with anger, but she couldn't show it on the outside.

Ultimately she helplessly handed the pouch to Gerald. After all, even if he tried to steal it, the guards were just outside the door and they could come in at a moment's notice.

Gerald played with the pouch between his fingers. He utilized his Magic Eyes as soon as he saw the potion disappear inside it. "Interesting… I heard that to use spatial treasures there is a requirement of the Space Element… Do you possess a Space Element affinity, Miss Emily?" he inquired.

Emily shook her head and said, "I don't, but our pouches aren't like those artifacts from before the Dark Ages. There is a special skill required to access the storage space of our Golden Space Pouches. If you purchase one of them then you would naturally be able to learn it."

"Is that so?" Gerald lightly smiled through the fake beard. In fact, he was already trying to brute force his way inside. "How much would one of these beauties cost?"

"Only one hundred gold coins for a pouch with one cubic meter of space," Emily lightly smiled, but then her expression suddenly turned sour. Her Golden Space Pouch was broken into.

"Hmm, too bad I didn't bring enough money with me. Sigh, maybe next time…" Gerald casually continued the conversation as he was observing the contents of the pouch in his mind.

There was a tiny membrane around the space inside, but it broke apart with only the slightest touch of his mind. He was even uncertain if it was even there in the first place.

Anyhow, the items inside didn't interest him. There were some women's clothes and undergarments, some perfume, and jewelry, as well as a sword and daggers. 'Huh, this girl is a swordsman as well?'

What really interested him, though, was the structure of the space itself. The magic sustaining the space was quite interesting. The pouch didn't contain another dimension like he imagined, instead, it served as a door to a separate space. Even if the pouch was destroyed, the items inside would be fine. Just the access to them would be lost.

Gerald continued to observe the magic structure for a while before throwing the pouch back to Emily. She quickly caught the pouch, while anger burning deep inside her eyes. She thoroughly inspected her stuff and only after she noticed that nothing was missing did she relax.

By now Gerald already stood up and was at the door. "Oh, by the way, I'll be coming back tomorrow morning. I hope you will have my stuff by then. Take care." With these words, he left the room.

***

"This bastard!" Emily grabbed her teacup and threw it at the wall, only then did her anger somewhat subside.

"Hey, hey, hey, what's wrong my little sister?" a young man came into the room, smiling.

"Oh, Arthur!" Emily sighed, "You heard our conversation, right?"

Arthur laughed and sat down opposite Emily and drank the tea that was supposed to be for Gerald. "Every word. This guy is really interesting!"

"He broke into my Space Pouch! And I even set an extra barrier before handing it to him. He broke through it in seconds!"

"Oh?" Arthur made a surprised expression, but then his smile became even bigger. "Interesting, really interesting. Don't worry, I already sent someone to follow him, we will know who he really is before nightfall."

Emily sighed, "He was so annoying! Here, do you think what he said was true?" She handed him the papers and the potion.

Arthur ignored the potion and looked at the papers first. Finally, his eternal smile completely disappeared.

"What's wrong?"

"These herbs… I don't recognize all of them, but those that I do, well… They are all deadly poisons!" Arthur exclaimed.

"What?!"

"I mean… The names of some of them are not familiar to me, but luckily he left a drawing of the plants so I can recognize some of them… By the gods, what is he trying to do?"

Emily took the papers from his hands and scanned through them. "Dragonroot? Don't know that one… Ironstem? No… God's Blood? Sounds familiar, what is it?"

"Hmm, remember that famous herb that was supposed to enhance the Mana of a person? It was used to be called God's Blood. But after many failed experiments and deaths it was renamed to God's Joke." Arthur explained with fervor in his eyes.

"Oh, that one! You don't think that guy…that Master G, is trying to create a Mana Elixir, do you?" Emily asked with uncertainty. "Many genius alchemists already gave up on it, haven't they? It was considered impossible to make."

Arthur grabbed the potion on the table and stood up, "I think we will get a better understanding after we test this thing, won't we? Who knows? Maybe he wasn't just speaking nonsense."

"Now I'm really curious... Let's try to prepare the herbs for him, just in case," he then added.