Chapter : 182

The manufacturing method of the Golden Elixir.

The legendary recipe that countless alchemists had sought to find.

And a mere third-year student at the Academy had figured it out?

At the unbelievable fact, Lilia felt the golden potion, which had already felt heavy, become even heavier.

“Side effects?”

“The animal clinical trial results are perfect.”

Crazy! Laurel barely swallowed the curse.

He used that Golden Elixir on something like an animal clinical trial?! Was he lying? No, his eyes didn’t look like he was lying.

In the midst of confusion, Lilia opened the potion’s cap without hesitation and gulped it down.

“Lilia!”

Even if the clinical trials were finished, to drink it recklessly in a situation where she didn’t know what the result would be for a person, there was a limit to recklessness!

Laurel, startled, was relieved the moment she checked Lilia’s complexion.

Her wide-open eyes seemed to hold no exaggeration, but rather genuine surprise.

“The effect is this immediate?”

“It seems so.”

“How on earth did you figure it out?”

“That’s a secret, of course.”

Well… that’s true.

He couldn’t just casually reveal a recipe like that of the Golden Elixir.

Lilia savored the taste of the elixir that lingered in her mouth.

“The owner of the rights to the Golden Elixir’s manufacturing method is Theo Lisitoel.”

“…You made it.”

“Because the investor is Theo Lisitoel.”

If Theo hadn’t given the Golden Elixir to Lerwon, it was a recipe he would never have obtained in the first place.

Besides, Theo provided most of the materials and facilities needed for the experiment, so if only one person could have the rights to the elixir’s recipe, it would undoubtedly be Theo.

“With this, it should be a sufficient enough reason to rescue Theo, right?”

At Lerwon’s question, Lilia covered her mouth with her palm.

More than sufficient; it wouldn’t be strange if the entire Empire, no, the most powerful individuals from all over the continent, jumped in to save just one person, Theo Lisitoel.

A miraculous drug that could save anyone from any condition as long as they weren’t dead was the dream potion of people all over the continent.

“It’s not lacking in the slightest. Right, Cecilia-sunbae?”

“…Yeah.”

Following Lilia’s answer, after receiving Cecilia’s affirmation, Laurel’s expression brightened considerably before darkening again.

She was able to gain the help of the two, but that was Lerwon’s doing. She herself couldn’t sway Lilia and Cecilia.

“I failed to persuade them.”

Laurel muttered in a slightly gloomy voice.

“It’s okay, Laurel-sunbae, you persuaded me.”

Lerwon, however, spoke to her as if it were no big deal.

Is it okay with just that? Really?

“Anyway, you persuaded the most important person, me, so it doesn’t matter.”

Is that so…?

“So, about that—”

Laurel glanced at Lilia before cautiously asking Lerwon.

“Can’t you give me a little of the Golden Elixir too?”

“…Laurel-sunbae.”

“Why! I’d be grateful to have an extra life too!!”

Feeling a little embarrassed by the gazes of Lerwon, Lilia, and Cecilia directed at her, Laurel shouted with all her might.

* * *

“So, what are you going to do?”

At Beatrice’s question, Evan and Mordin were silent.

What to do, the condition Iris had presented couldn’t be more blatant.

Either present Lerwon before me or stand by and watch. Choose one.

“Of course, there is no compromise.”

Evan’s answer was firm.

He was worried about Theo, but he couldn’t choose a method that sacrificed another student to save him.

Evan was Theo’s father and at the same time a professor at the Academy.

At Evan’s hardened expression, Beatrice instinctively thought they were in trouble.

She was afraid he would declare, “I’m no longer a professor at the Academy,” and her body trembled.

Mordin, on the other hand, kept reaching out his hand toward the dungeon entrance, trying to open the door, even as lightning continued to spark.

“Tsk.”

However, even if he tried to force the entrance open, the dungeon only rejected the person who didn’t meet the conditions.

After persistently touching it a few more times, Mordin finally pulled back his hand, which had become half immobile.

“Hey!”

Beatrice, horrified by Mordin’s appearance, immediately cast a light healing spell with her magic staff.

Unlike Artemia, Beatrice was not particularly skilled in healing magic, so it was only at the level of first aid, but it was better than nothing.

After finishing the treatment to some extent, Beatrice said firmly.

“Let’s go back to the Academy for a moment.”

“Why?”

Evan asked, glaring at the dungeon entrance as if he wanted to devour it.

“Artemia must be reaching her limit trying to hold on by herself.”

A magician’s mental strength had its limits.

For the investigation and to prepare for any unforeseen situations, both Beatrice and Evan had left their posts, but Artemia’s mental strength must be at its limit by now.

However, given the seriousness of the current situation, they couldn’t completely exhaust the Empire’s best healing magician by telling her to use up all her mental strength and take a few days off.

“To research a magic that can ignore the dungeon’s conditions and enter, we’ll need the right materials. We can grab them while we’re there.”

Beatrice gestured lightly with her chin toward Mordin.

“My healing magic right now is just first aid. I have recovery potions made by Artemia in my lab, so I’ll finish the treatment with those.”

It was a valid reason. However, they couldn’t just leave their post like this.

Magic flickered from Evan’s staff, and a light barrier was layered over the dungeon entrance.

“We’re returning to the Academy.”

Evan clenched his fists until they seemed to break and silently turned his body, using teleportation magic to head to the Academy.

* * *

“So, how do you know where Theo is?”

Lilia, who had finished her preparations to some extent, asked a fundamental question.

“I figured out the coordinates a while ago.”

Evan had shown the thoroughness of even using anti-tracking magic meticulously.

But Lerwon was more competent than Evan thought.

From the first time he found the teleportation magic coordinates, he had secretly used magic to figure them out.

At those words, Lilia let out a hollow laugh.

“So how are you going to get there?”

At Cecilia’s question, Lerwon took out a movement artifact he hadn’t used yet.

It was distributed by the Academy to help students move around easily.

It was made to be used once to go to the desired coordinates, and once again to return to the Academy.

“If you use it once, the coordinates are fixed to the Academy from the second time—”

“You haven’t used it even once?”

“It just happened that way?”

The movement artifact could be used not just by one person, but by several people together.

Lerwon repeatedly threw the artifact up and caught it.

He hadn’t realized that using Lucian’s when heading to his orphanage, and then Zephyros’s when moving to the Lisitoel County estate, would be this helpful.

“Let’s move quickly.”

Lerwon, having reset the coordinates, modified the movement artifact’s coordinates and used it.

A faint light shone brightly on the four of them, and in the blink of an eye, the surrounding scenery changed from a mansion room to a lush forest.

“Where is this place?”

In that short time, Lilia, who had transformed into a magical girl, repeatedly clenched and unclenched her fists.

“Where do you think it is?”

Similarly, Cecilia, who had drawn her rapier, looked around and asked Lerwon.

“I think Professor Evan’s party also used some kind of magic to search the area.”

If they checked for traces of magic used by Evan, Beatrice, or a completely third party, they would be able to find the detailed location.

At Lerwon’s words, Lilia used analysis magic without hesitation.

But the moment the magic was complete, Lilia furrowed her brow.

“Analysis magic isn’t working?”

There was just too much information coming in from the analysis magic.

Either someone had left behind confusion magic, or it might be a characteristic of this forest itself.

Either way, it seemed impossible to find the location with magic.

Lilia lightly rubbed her head at the throbbing pain and suddenly noticed Lerwon, whose gaze was fixed somewhere.

“Lerwon?”

“It’s that way.”

Lerwon strode toward a path that was clearly overgrown with bushes.

Was there a path? It was strange, but they had no choice but to follow.

It was definitely a bush that was impossible to break through, yet a path was magically created every time Lerwon walked.

It would have been better if Lilia or Cecilia had seen through the magic, but the problem was that it was Lerwon.

Lerwon Viden, who Iris Viden was clearly targeting.

Finally, in front of the dungeon entrance, Lilia blinked her eyes a few times and then, to the three people who were also looking at the dungeon entrance, she proposed.

“Should we go back?”

It didn’t seem like a coincidence that Lerwon broke through the confusion magic and found the real path. It was definitely Iris’s doing.

Evan and Beatrice, on the other hand, would rather hide Lerwon away.

“You want to go back after coming all this way?”

“It’s better than being in danger!”

In a situation where Iris was blatantly inviting Lerwon, she couldn’t commit the dangerous act of brazenly entering Iris’s den.

She couldn’t commit it—

“Why are you two so calm!”

“Is there a reason not to be calm? We have the Golden Elixir.”

The reason they could be so relaxed was, as expected, thanks to the extra lives.

Before they set off, Lerwon had given each of them a bottle of the Golden Elixir.

“You both know that if it’s an instant death, you won’t have time to use it, right?”

Lilia asked, as if to scare Cecilia and Laurel.

“Mother generally doesn’t use attacks that cause instant death.”

However, it was Lerwon’s role to answer that question.

Lerwon asserted as if he was certain. She could leisurely fire off attacks that caused instant death multiple times. But given her personality, the probability of that was extremely low.

Killing someone painlessly in one go was, in Iris’s own way, an act of mercy.

The probability of it being more profitable to capture them alive and neutralize them was also high.

It was the combat style of a merchant who utilized everything.

At Lerwon’s monotonous explanation, Laurel’s expression soured.

“The notoriety of Gold wasn’t for nothing.”

“That’s the kind of place we’re going to, Laurel.”

“I’ll do better from now on.”

As Laurel nodded her head resolutely, Lilia let out a light laugh.

“I was against it until the end. Don’t regret it later.”

“If I was going to regret it, I wouldn’t have come this far.”

Lerwon reached out his hand without hesitation and opened the dungeon door.

At that moment, a sensation as if lightning flashed before his eyes assaulted his entire body.

《You’ve come?》

At the familiar, yet somehow eerie and strange voice, Lerwon hurriedly looked around.

Before they knew it, the four of them were no longer in the forest, but standing in the middle of the dungeon.

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