Chapter 360 - 360 - Worlds Apart Between Trades

At the sight of Asfi, Leon's irritation lifted and his eyes brightened. He quickly shot Jeanne and Rose a look, signaling them to hold down the room for now, while he lowered his voice and struck up a conversation with Perseus:

"Asfi, if I recall, besides being skilled at crafting magic items, you've also made quite a name for yourself in alchemy... uh, I mean pharmacology, right?"

If Leon's memory served him right, he vaguely recalled that this Miss Asfi Al Andromeda, who shared the same princess origins as Lydia and had been granted the title of Perseus by the gods, possessed among her Development Abilities the trio of "Mixing," "Mystery," and "Engraving" all at once.

The answer was right there in the names of those Development Abilities: every one of the three was tied to alchemy.

What Leon wasn't certain of, though, was that this girl was only Lv.2 right now, so he didn't dare assert which of them she'd already acquired. But going purely off her background, Leon had placed a fair degree of trust in her from the very start.

It was common knowledge that Altena, the Great Nation of Magic, stood almost without peer across the entire world when it came to preparation in the mage-related industries. By the same token, the Sea Nation of Sadira was in a league of its own in the field of magic items.

Across the whole continent, the Labyrinth City and the School District included, no power could match Sadira in the craft of magic items.

That was precisely why Leon believed Asfi had the means to get her hands on rare Royal Honey.

"Hmm... 'Perseus,' is it. That's just a teasing nickname Lord Hermes and some of the other gods cooked up on a whim. I'm hardly as all-capable as the rumors make me out to be... at most I've just picked up a few insights in the fields connected to alchemy."

Leon's words brought a faint flush to Asfi's cheeks, and not knowing what to do with her hands, she fell back on habit and pushed up her glasses, using the little gesture to mask her awkwardness.

Still, she was, after all, a genuine princess of a great nation, and after several years of being "steeped" in the ways of an old hand like Hermes and toughened by experience, she quickly pulled herself out of that girlish bashfulness.

Her expression turned serious. She shot a glance at Royman, who was still going on and on, arguing fiercely with Finn and Hedin, then lowered her voice and asked:

"May I ask what you needed from me?"

Seeing Asfi cut to the chase, Leon stopped beating around the bush:

"Do you happen to have any Killer Bee Royal Honey on hand? Not the ordinary honey produced by Lv.2 Killer Bees, but the Royal Honey harvested by Lv.3 Killer Bee Queens."

At that, Asfi shot Leon a slightly startled look and asked with a trace of puzzlement:

"Royal Honey? That's a fairly rare material, and it's only used in a tiny handful of pharmacology recipes... what do you want it for? Wait... don't tell me you understand pharmacology too?"

Her eyes widened a fraction, and the look she gave Leon was full of disbelief.

She'd seen with her own eyes just how formidable this man's combat ability was, and by her judgment, so long as he kept growing smoothly, he'd at the very least become a second Nine Hell down the line, and might even surpass her.

A mage this powerful was now telling her that he also dabbled in pharmacology on the side?

What kind of joke was that.

If Leon had known Asfi's thoughts, he'd surely have told her with a smile: as a mage, wasn't it perfectly normal to know a little tailoring, alchemy, pharmacology, sorcery, and so on?

This was basic operating procedure, obviously.

Leon smiled modestly and put on a little teddy-bear shrug:

"On a normal day, I'm either off exploring and fighting in the Dungeon or holed up at home studying magic. In my free time, the most I do is chat with my companions, wander around the shops, do the things I enjoy doing. Oh, and now and then I go back to the pastoral life and savor a bit of country fun."

"Other than that, my days are pretty plain."

"So, you know how it is with me... as a promising young man set on contributing to my Familia and to Orario, I can't just lie flat and stall out. So out of curiosity, I tried dipping into pharmacology."

"Didn't expect to find I actually have just the tiniest bit of talent in this field."

Listening to Leon laying it on thick over here, Jeanne was so mortified she was practically curling her toes into a three-bedroom apartment inside her boots. Face red, she turned away and pretended not to know him. Rose, meanwhile, kept her composure flawlessly, still sitting there beaming as if Leon didn't exist at all, putting on a perfectly attentive show of listening to Royman, Finn, and Hedin argue.

As for Asfi...

She no longer knew what expression she was supposed to wear.

Her face shifted through one look after another, by turns confused, shocked, blank, then seemingly sunk into self-doubt... that dazzling parade of expressions cycled on and on like a revolving lantern.

In the end, she couldn't hold it together, and after a long while she finally squeezed out a single sentence:

"You... aren't you a mage who specializes in combat!? Where, where would you even find the time and energy..."

Leon chuckled:

"Maybe I'm just the teensiest bit special?"

As he spoke, he lightly pinched his thumb and forefinger together, making the "universe in a fingertip" gesture.

At that, Asfi's face went dark in an instant.

She felt like... all her years of hard work had been for nothing.

This guy, for whom pharmacology was clearly just a side gig, was already studying pharmacology knowledge and recipes at Lv.3 and above.

"Here, Royal Honey. That'll be a generous one-and-a-half million Valis."

She couldn't be bothered to say more and simply pulled a vial of honey, lustrous and amber-bright, from inside the white cloak draped over her shoulders, slapped it into Leon's hand without another word, then stuck out her hand to demand payment with an unfriendly look in her eyes.

"One-and-a-half million?"

"I used some of it making 'explosive concoctions,' but even so I used less than a tenth of it. This is a steal for you!"

Leon took it and held it up before his eyes, studying it closely.

Sure enough, it was utterly unlike the ordinary honey he'd used before. From the clear, gorgeous coloring alone, even without knowing its origins, anyone could tell at a glance it was an extremely precious luxury.

"Just what you'd expect from a treasure produced by a top-tier Lv.3 Rare Species... and the drop rate is pretty 'heartbreaking' too."

Asfi pushed up her glasses, her face blank:

"As for this stuff, the whole of Orario only puts out a meager trickle each month."

"The quantity is on par with unicorn horn, Mermaid's Blood, and Cadmus membrane. In rarity it's second only to Monster Rex Drop Items."

"Pharmacology factions like Miach and Dian Cecht, brewing-focused commercial Familias like Soma and Dionysus, and large factions like Ishtar and Freya... carved up that tiny share of the output clean long ago."

As she spoke, Asfi gave Leon an exceedingly odd look:

"I really can't tell whether you genuinely don't know the market, or you're just playing dumb."

Leon blinked, looking puzzled:

"What do you mean?"

Asfi sighed:

"Under normal circumstances, Royal Honey could never possibly circulate on the open market. Basically, any client who needs it puts out a designated gathering commission through the Guild, and only then is there an extremely slim chance of obtaining it."

"The batch in my hands, I only managed to get off the black market thanks to a stroke of luck during the festival."

Leon: "..."

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