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I need to be positive. “Besides, he would hardly want his one and only disciple to die of alcoholism. If I persuade him a little, I know he will help,” I said aloud to myself.

My condition had become worse than what I had expected. But I still had three months before the incident foretold in the original story could come to pass. I just have to make the cure before that and improve my physical health. It wouldn’t be easy but there was no other way.

I will keep addressing him as ‘teacher’. Who knows that he might eventually get used to it and accept me as his official disciple?

* * *

If I could sum up my duties and my relationship to Kaichen, it would be ‘temporary disciple to the archmage’ on the surface, while also being his research subject and a capable maid.

Sitting on my bed, I recalled the past week. First, Kaichen had come home in such a long time that he didn’t emerge from the safety of his room for four whole days. When I prepared the first breakfast and saw that it had been left untouched, I opened his bedroom door to offer the food. I enquired whether he could spare some money so that I could buy some ingredients for better food. Upon which, he looked at me with deep contempt and threw a bag of gold coins at me and threatened to throw me out if I ever came to his room without being summoned. Granted I should have knocked (which I had forgotten to do, yet again), but did I really deserve to be looked at with so much loathing?

While repeating to myself that I needed to learn to knock, I walked to the nearby village with gold coins in my pocket. Sharatan was the southernmost village in the Empire. It looked completely different from Acrab, which was towards the east.

Due to its unique terrain, Acrab had only two roads to Hwangdo Island, one of which passed through the rugged Mencar Mountains. It used to be a very steep road, but in recent years it had been overrun with thieves, who stole all of the goods from merchants of Acrab.

The other way was a detour to the south, which took longer than crossing the mountain range, and the cost of passage was expensive as well. So, going that way was a loss for the merchants. Since both routes posed problems, I had no choice but to put a hold on the travelling merchants till I found a solution. I am so unlucky all the time.

I looked at the Sharatan village. It wasn’t as big as Acrab, obviously, but it was big for a village and had decent shops and taverns. The peculiar thing I found out about this village was that it was warm all year, so everyone wore light clothes. I, having been cold in Kaichen’s house, had opted for a thick robe thinking it would be cold here. Great! Now I felt like an outsider. My whole outfit screamed ‘outsider’, in fact.

People were very tan in Sharatan village. They had brown skin. I now realized why Kaichen’s complexion was copper-colored. In the original novel, it was briefly mentioned that he was from the southern part of the country.

“Mister, this is delicious! What is it made of?”

“You have good taste! It’s a desert-scorpion, grilled over a direct fire with Sharatan’s special seasoning sauce!”

It was savory and sweet and had a tangy, spicy taste which lingered in my mouth deliciously. The flesh was plump and juicy. I had never tasted anything of this sort in Acrab.

I barfed. A pity that my body couldn’t digest anything delicious. “I am so sorry,” I apologized hastily, “This is really delicious. I would eat it every day if I could, but I am not feeling very well right now, that’s all.”

“If you aren’t feeling well, maybe you should see a doctor.”

I paid for the food and waved to the shopkeeper as I walked away trying to avoid his concerned gaze studying my face. I had lost my appetite now. No matter what I tried, I felt queasy and nauseous. I gave up on tasting the various delicious food here. I couldn’t digest it anyway, so what was even the point?

I went to the furniture store next, cursing Dalia in my mind for being a drunkard that she was. I didn’t really need to buy too much but I was getting tired and lonely of the empty room. I at least needed a desk and a chair, and maybe a few other things to study and make my potion.

“You want to make a custom order?”

“Yeah, it’s a desk that looks like this, can you make it for me?” I asked, showing the owner of the store a blueprint that I had drawn myself. “I can explain everything in detail if you have any questions.”

“This is curiously a very detailed drawing. It won’t be difficult to make,” the owner looked at me. “But if you can draw it in so much detail, I am sure you can even make it yourself.”

“I am not well, so I don’t have the strength to make it myself.”

The owner nodded and agreed to make it, probably because I looked so sickly and exhausted after having walked all the way to the village.

“Seeing how fair you are, you don’t seem to be from around here.”

“Yes. I am visiting an acquaintance. I will be staying here for a while.”

“I didn’t really hear about anyone arriving in the village lately.” The owner looked at me, suspicion clouding his gaze.

I pulled down the hood low over my head. “It is a bit far from here. He doesn’t like associating with people.”

“What a recluse and a nerd.”

I laughed out loud. I had heard so many nicknames for Kaichen but ‘nerd’ was a first. And where was the lie? He was a nerd and a recluse.