North had finished about two cups of wine before handing Roman one, and he had accepted it at once and drank everything with a single gulp.

It was evident how thirsty he had been. Since they had escaped from the caravan, it had only been about running from one place to another, trying not to get caught and be captured again.

Now that it finally seemed... settled... well, he would just take a deep breath and look forward to what he had been wanting to do, and then return to Blood Trial Valley as soon as possible.

He didn’t have an idea what was going on there, but one of his biggest hopes was that Rena was safe and fine, and she shouldn’t be in any other place but there.

North had noticed how he had reacted to the wine, and she smirked.

"You must be hungry," she said.

She immediately ordered for a meal to be delivered to him, and within minutes, Roman was already devouring a lot of food.

She calmly watched with a smile, and truly, not a single behavior he made had disgusted her. She only looked like she was getting entertained, however, Roman hadn’t even made any observation.

"My friend... We were two in the caravan," Roman said as he ate. "I have to find him."

"He escaped over the walls," North suddenly said, and Roman furrowed his brows in awe.

"A group of people called the Wanderers came to rescue him during the chase. Poor guy, if only he had known that they weren’t chasing him to capture him again, he wouldn’t have gotten himself into a big mess," North added.

It was clear that this was the first time Roman was hearing about the Wanderers, and well, the name hadn’t sounded too pleasing to start with.

Without hesitation, he quickly demanded more information about them, and North wasn’t refusing to explain everything to him.

"They are a group of Non-Entrants. Sure, everyone in the Badlands are Entrants, but this set of people, they have rejected that title. They wander around the Badlands without a specific residence. Anywhere can be their home. Any spot. Any region. They are led by a man called Clawrer, a lunatic."

"If one encounters the Wanderers handicapped, there are only two options. Either you join them, or you die trying to refuse."

"Hmmm, sounds interesting," Roman said with a wry smile.

"Yeah. Sounds like that until you get to encounter them and get a taste of their craziness," North nodded casually as she went ahead to fill up another cup of wine.

Roman had finished eating by that time, and North decided to hand him more wine. They were moving from topic to topic, and it soon looked like it was just two equals having a prominent conversation after a long-awaited meeting.

At that point, Roman had forgotten his place and status, but it wasn’t as if North was the kind of person who would want to remind him of that.

She was having fun talking to him, just like she had always been interested in chatting with him in the group chat.

She was the very first contact he could chat with, and that was because she was an S ranker. F rankers are usually restricted from having private chats due to disciplinary decisions from the top figures, and it had been installed into the BSP.

That was the main reason he hadn’t tried to reach Rena. He simply couldn’t get to her, and the only trace he could make was looking at her position in the rankings.

It hadn’t been moving for a couple of days and had even dropped three times. This clearly meant that she hadn’t been hunting, and that caused a small worry for Roman.

But he still thought that she could be waiting for him to return, or most likely be looking for him.

What he was sure of was that she wouldn’t be foolish enough to go to the Steel Empire, where her father’s chance of getting hold of her could increase.

If that happened, then everything would definitely result in a disaster, because not even Roman would want her to be in a place she doesn’t want to be.

...

Soon, North reached out for the drawer on her table and brought out a yellow book. It had no design and was just carrying that background color.

"Here."

She stepped forward and handed it over to him, and when Roman collected it, he turned the book and saw a few words written at the top of the front cover page.

"Search For Immortality."

Roman was completely intrigued, and he quickly opened it up and started skimming through the pages.

"Fundamentals of Proper Alchemy."

"Potion Making."

"Mixture Making."

"The Root of Venns."

There were quite a lot of topics on the pages, but Roman had just been skimming and scanning through them until he suddenly got to the last one.

"The Blossoming Grass."

Roman’s eyes widened.

"Where did you get this from?" he immediately asked North, who seemed to have been waiting for him to see that page.

"Who else if not the old blind man?" North asked with a rather casual expression.

"What? The old Alchemist gave this to you?"

North shook her head.

"No. He asked me to give it to you."

At that point, Roman was plunged between confusion and understanding. He thought for a moment before understanding what all these meant.

The guards that had captured him in the Alchemist’s house had brought him here, where he appeared to be safe because it was North who had sent them, of course...

So it simply meant that the old man meant no harm because he already knew that Roman was going to be held captive, and he had just decided to give him the reward for the mission as a surprise.

That’s not betrayal after all.

A smile appeared on his face, and he didn’t waste a second before focusing on reading that exact page.

("The Blossoming Grass is a divine ingredient that has the capacity to do unbelievable things. With the correct and appropriate combination, it can be used to create a life-saving pill.")

("When we talk about pills, we don’t talk about ordinary pills... We talk about pills that would cost a fortune, a fortune big enough to buy an entire community.")

Roman furrowed his brows at once and continued reading.

("However, the big deal is that the Blossoming Grass is very hard to find, and it can only be seen occasionally. Just after winter every year. It’s cold, small, and doesn’t spread like other grass, and you would only need one blade of it to create a pill.")

("One has to note that making the wrong mixtures and combinations can result in several disastrous outcomes. Examples are burns, explosions, unhealthy inhalation of particles, and most commonly, poisons.")

("While an experiment involving the Blossoming Grass has to be taken carefully, it’s still a chance to craft a legendary masterpiece and show society that the Alchemist Profession stands a chance as the best.")

When Roman finished reading, he had a lot of thoughts on his mind, ones that he just couldn’t pinpoint which to process first.

"The Blossoming Grass can create life-saving pills... Even though I don’t fully understand that, I know it has to do with healing and the rest. However, how does one come about making a perfect mixture that wouldn’t result in disaster?" Roman muttered to himself.

He then flipped and flipped before he suddenly caught sight of a couple of words written at the bottom.

("This is a reward for getting my daughter home. I apologize for handing you over so unexpectedly, but I hope this melts your heart.")

Below these messages was a bunch of ingredient lists to make a life-saving pill. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

There were about five of them, including the Blossoming Grass, and Roman couldn’t be more glad to have seen this.

However, his gladness was put on hold when he read the last line at the back of the page.

("The ingredients aren’t assured to be completely correct, as I have not finalized the mixture on my own. But good luck.")

******

Meanwhile, at the entrance gate of the bustling Strength City, a runner had been noticed by a couple of gatekeepers as it dashed toward the gate.

At a point, it stopped, and a young lady stepped out. She had a hood on, but her ivory face was noticeable, and that aura of boldness was undeniable.

"Where are you from, and why have you come here?!" one of the gatekeepers asked from a near distance. A normal routine question.

Rena only walked forward without giving her response yet, and she was bold enough to maintain her composure, walking further even with the readied formation of an attack from the gatekeepers.

She hadn’t done anything yet... Why would they attack her?

Then when she came close to the gatekeepers at the downside of the gate, she brought out a bag full of gold and smiled at them.

Their eyes widened at once.

"I have come to trade."