Chapter 379
Zeke frowned after hearing Al’s words.
“Is there a problem with our new medicine?”
Al and Jeff shook their heads vigorously and said.
“N-No way!”
“There’s absolutely no problem! Please believe us!”
Zeke sat crossing his legs and said.
“Then why won’t the Alchemist Association give us permission certification?”
At those words, Al glanced around nervously and kept nudging Jeff’s side.
Jeff initially ignored Al’s signals, but as soon as Zeke cleared his throat once, he immediately spoke up.
“W-We’re on bad terms with the Association…!”
Zeke looked at Jeff as if asking what that meant.
Jeff sighed with a defeated expression and opened his mouth.
“Actually… since we make so many creative medicines, you know? Because of that…”
Zeke cut off Jeff’s trailing words.
“The Alchemist Association doesn’t trust the medicines you make?”
Jeff nodded with a pale, frightened expression.
Then Al defended themselves to Zeke as if feeling wronged.
“B-But this time is different! We put in the effort to perfectly complete clinical trials, and finished all the tests required by the Association!”
Jeff nodded vigorously at Al’s words.
“Th-That’s right. Even Sir Feinan said after seeing the test results that there’s no way the Association wouldn’t give permission certification!”
Zeke rested his chin on his hand while staring intently at the two and said.
“Hmm, so despite all tests being completed, the Association won’t give permission certification.”
Al and Jeff grabbed each other’s shoulders and trembled while watching Zeke’s expression.
‘Oh no. He has an expression like he’s going to bury us completely.’
‘This must be the end for us.’
After thinking deeply, Zeke asked the two.
“How much did we price our antibiotics at?”
Al and Jeff, who were gripped by fear, reflexively answered Zeke’s question.
“T-Ten silver or so.”
“What about the Association’s antibiotics?”
“For the same amount, it would be about 10 gold.”
Hearing this, Zeke made an expression of disbelief.
“There’s a hundred-fold difference? How about the effectiveness?”
At Zeke’s question, Al and Jeff suddenly got excited and shouted.
“Of course ours is much better!”
“There’s no comparison! What the Association makes is garbage, garbage!”
After hearing the two, Zeke clicked his tongue and said.
“Looks like they’re blocking it because if our new medicine gets released, the Association’s medicines won’t survive in the market…”
At Zeke’s words, Al and Jeff looked at each other’s faces in surprise.
“Huh? Is that how it works?”
“That could be it. We thought they weren’t giving permission certification because we sprayed acne-inducing potion at their headquarters telling them to eat shit.”
From their muttering, Zeke could tell these troublemakers had indeed done something to earn the Association’s hatred.
‘Still, it’s problematic to reject and not give permission certification to a perfectly good medicine.’
Zeke slowly stood up.
“Seems I’ll have to meet with the Association directly.”
Al and Jeff were shocked at those words.
“S-Sir Zeke, you’re going personally?”
“Really?”
Zeke nodded.
“I have business in the neutral city anyway. I’ll take this opportunity to put those alchemist bastards in their place. Al and Jeff, prepare to head to Central Continent. Simon, what’s the fastest way from here to the neutral city?”
At Zeke’s words, Simon contemplated before speaking.
“Since we’re not far from the sea, it would be fastest to call the Triangle from the Southern Islands, ride it to Tahuani, then take a portal.”
Zeke nodded.
“That sounds good. I’ll get to see Nerissa and the Fishermen’s faces after a long time too.”
Simon contacted Nerissa’s side and the very next day, Triangle arrived at the coast.
“Zeke!”
Nerissa, who he hadn’t seen in a long time, waved at Zeke from atop Triangle.
Then she approached where Zeke was, riding on a water spirit in the form of a dragon.
Having inherited the legacy of the deep sea tribe from Poseidon, she could skillfully use ancient spirit arts.
She jumped down from the spirit’s head and stood before Zeke.
“Oh, it’s been a while.”
Nerissa greeted Zeke with a reddened face.
Zeke smiled looking at Nerissa and patted her head.
“Indeed. Have you been well?”
Nerissa nodded with sparkling eyes.
Then she stood before Zeke as if asking him to notice if anything else had changed.
But Zeke just stared blankly at Nerissa, wondering what she was doing.
Receiving Zeke’s gaze, Nerissa turned around by herself embarrassedly and shouted with a red face.
“Wh-Why are you looking at me like that?!”
“…?”
Leaving Nerissa who went ahead by herself, Zeke boarded Triangle with Al and Jeff.
Nerissa, who had rushed across the sea all night trying to calm her pounding heart after receiving contact from Zeke, gritted her teeth.
‘Such a completely clueless human!’
Zeke somehow felt a stinging sensation on the back of his head.
The Triangle, Captain Kidd’s legacy, was noticeably faster compared to other ships.
Moreover, with Zeke, who received the title of Sea God, on board, the sea seemed to push the ship forward, advancing smoothly without hesitation.
Thanks to this, the ship was able to arrive at Golpa Port in just two days.
After disembarking, Zeke patted Nerissa’s head and said:
“Thank you, Nerissa. Let’s meet again next time.”
Nerissa’s face turned red at Zeke’s touch.
However, the words that came out of her mouth were completely different.
“What, what! Don’t think you can see me whenever you want! I’m busy too!”
“Then it can’t be helped. I’ll hope for another opportunity.”
“……!”
Nerissa watched Zeke’s retreating figure after his casual farewell with an expression mixed with regret and disappointment.
At that moment, Bill, who was standing beside her, shook his head.
“TSK TSK, Captain, what did I tell you? I said you should be nicer and treat him better.”
Other Fishermen nearby also chimed in with their comments.
Then Nerissa summoned her spirit and shouted.
“You guys! Get lost! All of you, get lost!”
Nerissa was taking out her frustration on the fishermen for no reason.
After disembarking, Zeke led Al and Jeff into Tahuani.
While under Cartel’s control, it had been full of poor people and a den of criminals who escaped from lawless zones, but after becoming part of the Cusco Kingdom, security had improved significantly.
Children playing in the streets and people smiling while going to and from the market were noticeable.
Zeke unconsciously smiled seeing how Tahuani had clearly changed from what he remembered in his previous life.
Meanwhile, Al and Jeff, sitting beside the carriage, felt somehow more terrified seeing Zeke’s smile.
The portals connecting the Southern Continent cities to the Central Continent were installed in Tahuani and Favela.
However, when Favela was destroyed, its portal disappeared with it, leaving Tahuani as the only remaining location.
Zeke had the Tahuani portal repaired to serve as a passage to the Central Continent.
Though the repairs cost an astronomical amount, he allocated the budget without hesitation, believing it was worth the investment.
Zeke arrived at the Tahuani terminal and took seats with Al and Jeff on the portal shuttle heading to the Central Continent.
And after a few minutes, they arrived at the Neutral City, the city of alchemists.
* * *
CRASH!
A golden cup fell to the floor with a sharp sound in the imperial palace hall of the Rom Empire.
The servants standing nearby trembled with pale faces.
Abel, seated on the throne, muttered something with bloodshot eyes while his long hair hung limply.
Next to the throne stood the Apostle of the Abyss, who gestured toward a trembling servant.
The servant summoned by the mage could only tremble with a pale blue face, unable to take a step.
When the servant didn’t come, the mage struck the floor with his staff.
ZZZZING!
Then the servant’s eyes rolled back, and they walked toward the mage like a stiff doll.
The other servants bit their teeth hard and held their breath, trying not to make any sound at the sight.
As the servant approached, the mage pulled out a dagger from his chest.
Then he immediately slit the servant’s throat.
The enchanted servant couldn’t even properly scream and could only stand there in that position.
The mage brought an empty bowl from the luxurious table and collected the blood flowing from the servant’s neck.
When the bowl was filled with blood, the mage gestured to the servant.
The servant, already dead, moved under the command of evil dark magic and entered a hole made in one corner of the hall by themselves.
It was a hole made for disposing of corpses, as there were so many bodies.
The Apostle brought the bowl of blood before Abel.
Then Abel, who had been muttering while slumped over, raised his head.
His two eyeballs rolled in different directions, and his blackened lips showed no trace of the Red Lion who once roamed the battlefield.
Abel took the bowl and gulped down the blood in one go.
Only after downing the blood in one breath did his face barely return to normal.
The Apostle approached Abel.
“Your Majesty, it’s time for you to retire to your chambers.”
Abel, who had been rolling his eyes around, seemed to come to his senses and nodded.
“Ah, yes. Has it already gotten so late?”
Abel, who had been speaking calmly, suddenly jumped up from his seat.
“Zeke Draker! Bring that bastard! Bring him here right now!”
Abel, seized by madness, overturned the set table in one motion.
Then he drew the sword placed next to the throne.
“Where is he? Where is that rat bastard?! Bring him before me right now!”
As Abel swung his sword with crazed eyes, the servants tried to quietly move away in terror.
At that moment, the door opened and someone entered.
It was none other than Ramon Jiemens.
WOONG!
When Ramon raised his hand, the moving servants froze stiff in their places.
Passing by the servants who had turned to stone, Ramon stretched his hand toward Abel, who was wildly swinging his sword in all directions.
“URRRGH”
Abel groaned at the unprecedented force binding his body, then dropped his sword and lost consciousness.
Ramon looked at Abel once and spoke to the Apostle behind him.
“The seizures are becoming more frequent.”
The Apostle nodded at those words.
“It seems the parasite cannot withstand the Dragon-human’s body and is causing seizures.”
The parasite had the habit of completely dominating the host’s body, absorbing memories to act like the host, and moving to another body after time passed.
Originally, it should have moved to another body by now, and since he was a Dragon-human with a heart tainted by madness, even the parasite couldn’t endure that body.
Ramon frowned, seemingly displeased with this imperfect situation.
“We failed in Dorta. What is the High Priest doing?”
Given Abel’s condition, they needed to secure more sacrifices before the time of the Second Baptism.
That’s why they had planned to start a continental war using the Republic of Dorta as a sacrifice, mobilizing all their forces.
It was the perfect opportunity to eliminate both Julius and Zeke Draker, who were having secret talks.
But the result was a complete failure.
They had lost both high-ranking demon lords that they had struggled to summon.
Ramon glared at the Apostle while grinding his molars.
The Apostle waved his hand at Ramon.
“Please calm yourself. Blaming us won’t improve this situation. You agreed to deploy the two high-ranking demon lords, didn’t you?”
Ramon knew this as well, which was why he couldn’t push harder against the Abyss faction.
As he tried to suppress his anger again, the Apostle approached Ramon and spoke.
“The Republic of Dorta was certainly a painful failure. But Master, there is one piece of good news.”
The Apostle licked his black lips with a red tongue as he spoke.
“We’ve found Arthur Draker’s weakness.”
