Lord of Rot

”Of course not! Brewing Magic Potions requires not just materials, but a good mood as well,” Ramsnor said very seriously. ”What I mean is, you can hire me to brew the potions. You provide the Magic Potion Materials, and I’ll just charge a fee for my services.”

Leech mused, ”A bottle of Lucky Potion costs 10 Jinri, I believe. If I provide the materials for you to brew it, how much would you charge?”

”Five Jinri.” Ram raised her right hand, extending five slender fingers. ”The Lucky Potion is very difficult to make. Not only are the materials scarce, but its creation must also be aligned with the stars.”

’Brewing potions according to the heavens? This is suddenly a bit like the Alchemy from Earth’s myths.’

”And the cost of the materials?” Leech asked.

”Five Jinri.”

”...Is there any difference between that and just buying the finished product directly from you?”

”Of course there’s a difference,” Ram said, seeming quite enthusiastic about the arrangement of Leech providing the materials while she earned a processing fee. ”I’m quoting the base price for the materials. If you can find them cheaper, you might save one or two Jinri per batch.”

Leech, however, felt something wasn’t quite right. ”What happens if the brewing fails?” he asked. ”Or are you saying you succeed every time?”

Ram replied, ”That material cost already accounts for a portion of failure. If I fail twice in a row, I won’t charge you my fee.”

”And if you succeed on the first try, what about the extra materials?” Leech asked.

But Ram looked puzzled. ”If it’s a success, what more could you want?”

”Since it succeeded, shouldn’t the extra materials be returned to me?”

Ram asked, utterly astonished, ”When you go out to eat a chicken, do you also take the feathers and guts home with you?”

’I’ve never seen a noble be so stingy.’

”Those aren’t chicken feathers, they’re Jinri!”

Leech was now certain that under Ramsnor’s terms—where he would provide the Magic Potion Materials and pay her to brew them—she would not only be earning her crafting fee, but also pocketing enough materials for an entire extra potion.

Leech decided not to get hung up on the issue for the time being. ”How many bottles can you produce each month?”

”One bottle per month at most.” Ram held up one index finger.

’No wonder she’s acting like she’s fleecing a wealthy customer. Turns out she can only make one bottle a month, tops.’

Leech said, ”From now on, I’m buying every single Lucky Potion you make! You haven’t had a Lucky Potion today, have you?”

Although he had already decided to buy the potions, he wouldn’t be very happy if the only reason for his decision was the influence of a Lucky Potion.

”No.” Ram shook her head. ”They’re 10 Jinri a bottle. Why would I drink one myself?”

Her tone made it sound like the potions were meant to be saved for suckers.

Leech wasn’t sure if Ramsnor was telling the truth, but his decision truly came from his own convictions, and his goal was, after all, Magic Potions. ”As for other Magic Potions, I’ll need healing potions, poisons, and so on. I’ll send my men over to purchase them periodically.”

”But I only brew when I’m in the mood,” Ram said.

”Fine. Brew according to your mood. But I must have one Lucky Potion every month.”

’Leech had truly never met someone so uninterested in making money.’

’He was handing her business on a silver platter, yet she still insisted on working only when the mood struck.’

’Then again, for someone living alone, an income of 10 Jinri a month was more than ten times what some minor nobles earned from their entire villages.’

Leech asked, ”How many Lucky Potions do you have on hand right now?”

”Three bottles.” She seemed to have been waiting for him to ask.

Leech said, ”I’ll take them all.”

He was decisive, immediately pulling out the money to buy all three of her remaining Lucky Potions.

”The Lucky Potion only makes the good things already destined to happen to you more frequent,” Ramsnor said. ”If something was never going to be yours, then it doesn’t matter how much of the potion you drink; it will still be out of your reach.”

”I understand,” Leech nodded.

He pushed open the door and spoke to Fanong Gold, who was waiting outside. ”Go catch a chicken for me.”

”Right away, my lord.” Fanong Gold was highly efficient.

He turned and broke into a jog. By the looks of it, he wouldn’t have to return to Iron Stone City—he could find a chicken right here in the village.

”What are you doing?” Ram, having just finished counting her Jinri, followed Leech outside, completely baffled by his sudden demand for a chicken.

”I just want to test the limits of the Lucky Potion.”

”Limits?”

Leech replied firmly, ”Yes. Its limits.”

Before long, Fanong Gold came running back, carrying a large rooster.

”Come here.” Leech beckoned to Fanong Gold. He took out a bottle of Lucky Potion, pulling the cork with a POP. Then he pried open the rooster’s beak and poured the entire bottle down its throat.

The Magic Potion flowed into the rooster’s mouth.

The rooster flapped its wings uncomfortably, but it managed to take it.

Ram cried out, ”What are you doing?!”

She couldn’t understand what this young noble was thinking. ’That’s 10 Jinri!’

”Let it go,” Leech said.

Fanong Gold immediately obeyed, loosening his grip.

The moment it was free, the rooster hit the ground and took off running.

Leech drew a Longsword from his subordinate’s waist and chased after the rooster.

”BOK BOK BOK!” The rooster sprinted frantically, its wings spread wide, flapping them in a desperate attempt to run faster.

But Leech kept pace right behind it, steadily closing the distance, refusing to be shaken off.

The other three watched this scene in confusion, having no idea what Leech was up to. Only Ram remembered what he’d said earlier, and she was convinced he had gone mad.

Suddenly, the rooster darted into a grove of trees and vanished.

Leech stopped as well, casually thrusting the Longsword into the ground beside his feet.

He held his breath and focused, using his superhuman hearing to scan the surroundings.

’There!’

Finally, he detected a sound from behind a tree.

Leech yanked out the Longsword, darted behind the tree in a flash, and thrust forward.

SCHLICK! The blade found its mark.

But when he lifted the blade, he found a rabbit skewered on the end, still struggling as fresh blood dripped from the steel.

With a casual flick of his wrist, Leech flung the rabbit’s corpse to the ground.

’He’d been outsmarted by a chicken!’

He turned to resume the search, but after only two steps, he whipped back around and slashed at the patch of grass where he’d just stabbed the rabbit.

A single chicken feather was sliced in two.

Flapping its wings and squawking, ”BAWK BAWK BAWK!”, the large rooster fled forward.

Leech, however, fiercely flung the Longsword from his hand.

With a THUNK, the Longsword pierced straight through the rooster’s body, pinning it to the ground.

The rooster’s wings continued to flap and struggle.

It continued until the bird finally stopped breathing and fell still.

Leech walked over and pulled his blade free. He tossed the chicken’s corpse to the ground, flicked the blood from the sword, and handed it back to his subordinate.

”So that was the limit you wanted to test?” Ramsnor asked.

”That’s right. I have a much better understanding now,” Leech said. ”Your Lucky Potion makes a person luckier. I figured the luckiest thing in the world would be to escape a situation of certain death. So I wondered: after drinking the Lucky Potion, how would that chicken escape from me?

I could kill that chicken whenever I pleased. So, I surmised that the luckiest outcome for it would be for me to suddenly decide to let it go. Unfortunately for the chicken, my will is firm. The thought of sparing it never once crossed my mind. It had to die.”

Leech continued his analysis for Ramsnor. ”Then, I let it get a head start. I suspect that impulse was the Lucky Potion’s influence on me, and because of that influence, it almost got away. After that, the chicken had several opportunities to escape my grasp, from hiding to having a rabbit conveniently block my sword. But in the end, it still died by my hand. This proves that in the face of absolute power, luck is meaningless.”

”You fed that potion to a chicken just to prove that point?”

’That was 10 Jinri!’

”This point is very important,” Leech said. ”At least in the future, if my life is in danger, I can save myself a potion and just obediently wait to die.”

The experiment was an even greater reminder for Leech: don’t bet your life on a Lucky Potion. Unless the opponents are evenly matched, there’s simply no such thing as ”luck.”

If you’re meant to die, you will die.