There was a high mountain far away from the Tree of Eternity.
On his Gondola, Angor looked below at the mountain tip that pierced through the clouds and smelled the scent of roses.
This was Rosebed, which was Leona’s territory. Angor had never been here before, but he heard it from Sunders many times that should he have questions and problems regarding his alchemy studies, this was where he should come.
Instead of landing inside Rosebed from the sky, he dropped his boat at the bottom of the mountain, where a mountain path that connected with Rosebed could be seen, and proceeded on foot.
The clouds that covered the sky around Rosebed were, in fact, poison traps placed by Leona to fend off ill-mannered visitors. The path on the side of the mountain would take some time to travel across, but it was the proper way to go.
Angor arrived at a thorn screen midway, across which he could see the silhouettes of buildings behind.
Those who didn’t know who they were dealing with would either fly past the blockade and risk touching the poison clouds above, or cutting through the thorns, which would undoubtedly anger the owner of Rosebed.
There was another approach, which was to “bribe” a particular rose to get in. Rumor had it that the thorns and plants around Rosebed were all commanded by a talking rose. Anyone who knew how to please this creature could easily earn a ticket inside.
This wasn’t Angor’s plan though since he had yet another means of entrance.
He took out a crystal-clear ornament that was shaped like a rose from his bracelet.
Sensing the item, the thorns in front of him moved aside and revealed a way.
While Angor carefully continued, he heard a high-pitched voice mumbling somewhere in frustration, “Curse it all! I thought he was another rich kid waiting to be ripped off!”
The crystal rose was a token Angor received from Sunders, which would get him into Leona’s home.
Angor ignored the annoying voice and kept walking forward. The rich fragrance of roses was getting stronger, and it wasn’t bad—he felt as if the smell had turned into soothing energy that coursed through his veins.
Click!
As soon as he reached the iron fence that surrounded Leona’s garden, the fence door opened on itself. A young man wearing a pair of large goggles and a pockmarked face was waiting inside.
“Angor! How’s it—”
Before Dave could say anything else, a moving rose shot out of the ground and rushed to Angor.
“Angor?! You’re that Angor?” The rose spoke using a mouth-like part at the center of it. “Aww! So you’re more than a ‘rich kid’! I could have—how the fu*ck did you find that token?!”
Angor frowned. So this is the gatekeeper of Rosebed?
“Well, okay, you have my master’s token. But don’t you know the rules? You’re supposed to show your manners to a guardian like me when you visit a new place! I don’t need too much, just gimme some crystals—”
Dave quickly came and dragged the talking rose aside by pulling on its branch.
“Ignore this guy. And don’t pay anything even if you’re not invited. Crop it up if you want. By the way, fire doesn’t work. It’s best if you freeze up its root—”
“DAVE!” the rose screamed. “How dare you treat your senior like that! I’ll tell my master to boot you out of Rosebed!”
“Shut it, Jackson!” Dave gave the creature a warning look and channeled a stream of cold air in his hand.
The rose quickly slipped back into the garden while not forgetting to place the worst curse it could think of on Dave.
With the rose dealt with, Dave turned around and greeted Angor with a friendly smile.
“It has been only two years, and you look a whole lot different.” Angor checked Dave from head to toe. “Was that ‘Freeze Trick’?”
Freeze Trick was a level-0 cantrip Angor “invented” by altering existing cantrips with his tablet. It was basically useless apart from causing some cold air. Dave probably studied it by reading the cantrip book he received from Angor.
“You’re right.” Dave scratched the back of his head. “I’m glad I have something to keep that lousy b*stard away, or he would talk me to death sooner or later.”
According to Dave, Jackson the Rose was Leona’s pet, and it loved nothing other than magic crystals and constant bickering. Dave would suffer from being annoyed by it every time he studied in the garden.
Dave was grateful that Angor’s book provided a simple means of keeping Jackson at bay. Without this, Dave would have to waste some time studying a proper cantrip just for this purpose.
“Shoot. Where are my manners...” Dave just realized they were still talking at the fence door. “Do you want to see my professor? I’ll call her right now.”
“Wait, no. I’m looking for you,” said Angor.
Dave took Angor to a table at the center of the rose garden with an apologetic smile. “I knew you’re back in Brute Cavern, but... Never found a chance to see you. My professor kinda demanded me to focus on studying Solidify these days.”
“It’s fine. Congratulations. Miss Leona is a very good teacher.”
“Oh, right!” Dave jumped from his seat and took out a one-use space capsule, alongside a music box. He then handed them to Angor. “This is the final income I collected from Remnant Auction, after selling your music box. As for your other music box... I didn’t sell it yet, so we might keep the rarity of it and keep the price high. I planned to deliver it to another auction in a few months. But since you’re back, you can handle it on your own.”
Angor returned the music box to Dave. “I’ll leave this in your hands. I’m going to leave Brute Cavern in a few days anyway.”
“Again? What are you doing this time?”
Angor shook his head and didn’t answer. Telling Dave that he was going to the Abyss Plane would only worry Dave.
He picked up the capsule and checked its content. “A hundred and ninety thousand magic crystals... You haven’t taken your share?”
Back at Lloyds, Angor heard from Rossum that his music box was sold at 200,000 crystals, and Remnant Auction would take 10,000 as a commission fee.
“I-I already got so much by selling it.” Dave shook his head. “It was all because of you that I got to study from Miss Leona. I’ll not take more from you.”
Dave explained his journey to Remnant Auction, including how Leona helped him escape from jealous thugs after he collected the sales money.
“Damn. I’m sorry.” Angor looked down. If what he heard was true, then Dave almost fell into great danger back then.
“Don’t worry. Everything turned out good! Well, more than good!”
Angor broke the capsule and collected 20,000 crystals from the content. “I promised that you can earn a percentage, and it should stay that way.”
“But...”
“The great destiny you found fully belongs to your own effort, and it should not concern our agreement.”
Dave nodded and accepted the crystals.
The ground beneath suddenly shook. Jackson emerged from the ground and snaked its way toward the crystal pile on the table.
“Stop it, or I’ll make you into an ice sculpture!” Dave warned. “Angor, get your crystals to safety, quick!”
“The garden is my turf, and everything in it belongs to ME!!!” Jackson screamed.
Countless vines enclosed the area and began picking at the magic crystals.
“Now you’ve done it!” Dave quickly cast “Freeze Trick” at Jackson.
Jackson simply endured the cold air since it wasn’t lethal at all. It might lose a branch or two, but this was nothing compared to all the money it could collect.
Dave grew desperate and tried to tear the veins down using his hands, which wasn’t very helpful.
In a matter of seconds, half of the crystals were gone.
Angor, who had been watching the farce quietly, slowly put a hand on one of the veins trying to pull more crystals underground.
Jackson suddenly froze in midair. It then started to quiver badly.