Cleaning an underground laboratory was messy business. One had to be careful when dealing with powders and fluids that could not be identified, as one slip up could have tragic – and probably explosive – effects. Hansel stumbled while holding a blue sweet-smelling elixir and Miss Ling’s eyes flashed angrily.
“You spill that elixir, Mr. Hansel, and I’ll turn you into a newt!” she barked.
Hansel looked at her curiously. “Is that possible?” he asked.
“Make a mistake in my lab and you’re bound to find out.”
Miss Ling made no effort of hiding certain things. Sam had a keen eye for most alchemical ingredients and knew the rare ones when she saw them, but no one missed the large pile of gold coins that glittered in the corner. “This is expensive stuff, isn’t it?” said Sam. “How did you come into so much money? Did you transmute that gold?”
“Yes,” Ling answered, with a proud smile. “All philosopher’s stones enable the flawless transmutation of gold, but few can transmute and flawlessly as I can. A word of advice, though, about transmuting gold; don’t flaunt it! If you turn up one day with a wheelbarrow full of gold, people are going to notice. But I am a business woman. I own shops all throughout Da-Sei, the capital city of Eswerld, and for each shop I transmute a modest number of coins and add them to the legal profits.”
The exasperated expression on each of their faces showed that they were wondering how ethical their teacher’s methods were.
“We’re all criminals now anyway,” Ling went on. “And you’d be surprised how quickly you can get rich when laundering money the way I do it – another reason to keep our methods secret, I suppose.”
When the lab was more or less clean they went upstairs for some fresh air. Shi was lying on a couch in the living room; a pale red mark was still on his forehead but he was awake now, though still a little disorientated. Ling prepared a drink for him and examined his head. “She hit you pretty hard. I’ll see about treating that right away.”
Gretel sat down beside him and bowed her head. “Sorry, I uh, knocked you out.”
Shi placed his arm over his head and sighed. “Eh, your reasons were fair. My name is Shi. I protect Miss Ling.”
“Seems to me like she can handle herself.”
“Even still, I do what I can.”
Ling returned to treat his wound. “You do plenty, Shi, and I am very grateful.” She mixed a green paste and rubbed it gently over his forehead. Then she placed both her hands over the wound. A feint yellow light radiated from her palms and when it died the paste was gone and Shi’s forehead was perfectly healed.
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