Arcane Innovator

"Ah, Darian, there you are!" Lady Elisa greeted me with a broad smile as soon as she spotted me.

"My lady." I bowed my head politely while throwing a quick glance at the other women seated around Elisa's table, trying to place them.

I recognized most of them from Sir Roderick's party I attended earlier. However, this is my first time speaking with any of them.

Meanwhile, Myra quickly followed my example and bowed, prompting Elisa to raise an eyebrow. "Another girl? You do seem to be quite the ladies' man, I must say, Master Darian," she teased.

Hearing this, Myra immediately blushed. "Ehm," I cleared my throat, wanting to quickly remove any possible misunderstanding."Hahaha! You jest, Lady Elisa. This is my childhood friend Myra. We explored the festival together before my dear sister seemed to wander off, so I came to collect her..."

I finally turned my head toward Helga, who looked at me with a pleading expression while firmly wedged between Elisa and another pretty woman.

Her cheeks have also turned deep crimson as she listened to the women's conversation. That made me narrow my eyes in suspicion as I wondered what they talked about before I managed to get here…

Elisa turned her head toward me while she playfully pouted her lips. "You never told me you had such a cute older sister! We had such a lovely talk together... But don't just stand there. Come join us!" She gestured at the only free seat conspicuously located right next to her.

Seeing this, I immediately took a step back. "I'm afraid I need to be somewhere else..." I quickly tried to turn down her offer, but before I had a chance to do so, Elisa interjected.

"Nonsense! Come sit with us, and let me introduce you to my friends." She winked at me before adding, "That's an order."

I released a sigh as I reluctantly took the seat. Now, I could do nothing about it, as refusing a direct order from a noble could have some dire consequences.

'All of this nonsense because some drunken bastard couldn't keep his pants shut. If I ever get my hands on him...' I thought spitefully as I had to once more endure Lady Elisa's unrestrained fondness.

As I begrudgingly settled into the chair she offered to me, I couldn't help but notice the suggestive glances that the other women were sending my way as Lady Elisa introduced them to me one by one.

I suddenly got a terrible feeling. 'Don't tell me that they all are just like her...' I shuddered with horror.

Having to deal with the naughty Baroness was already quite a chore, but a whole table of them? ...No, thank you.

There was no doubt that all of them were particularly interested in me as they seemed to completely ignore Myra and Helga's presence. I didn't dare look at the girl's faces, not wanting to imagine what they must be thinking now.

Lady Elisa meanwhile poured me a glass of expensive-looking wine and leaned in, especially close while doing so, "So Darian," she said sweetly. "What else did you forget to mention during our previous meeting?"

From the corner of my eye, I caught my sister's wide-eyed look, so I hurriedly took a sip of wine and cleared my throat. "Ehm, well, I'm pretty sure I already told you all there is to know about me..."

Lady Elisa leaned in even closer, her breath hot against my ear. "There is always more you could tell me..."

Seeing my uncomfortable expression, the other noblewomen giggled and flipped their hair playfully. Myra, meanwhile, looked incredibly uncomfortable as her eyes darted nervously around the table. 'She must be already regretting coming here with me...' I thought.

I took advantage of the situation when Elisa turned around to ask for more wine from one of her servants and jumped to my feet. "It was very nice to get to know all of you, but I'm afraid we must be going. It's getting late, and we have already made plans for dinner..." I said while looking intensely at Helga.

Thankfully, she seemed to get the hint, and she, too, jumped to her feet. I didn't have to tell Myra anything as she was already standing behind me, tugging at my sleeve, wanting to be out of there as soon as possible.

Lady Elisa pouted, but she didn't push the matter any further. Instead, she gave me a meaningful look. "Very well, Darian. It's a shame you can't stay, but I'm certain we will meet again soon..."

I gulped nervously as I bowed, and with Myra and Helga in tow, we quickly escaped. The girls didn't utter a single word during our ride back home. However, they were intensely blushing and making complicated faces the entire time.

I was more than glad they didn't ask me any questions, as I honestly had no idea what to tell them since any excuse would only complicate things even more…

As we arrived at the courtyard of our opulent mansion, I watched silently as Helga hurriedly ran away from the carriage, instantly disappearing behind the main entrance doors with a red face, and I couldn't help but chuckle.

In the end, as it turned out, I managed to fulfill my promise to her after all. Her debut in society was indeed an unforgettable experience.

***

The next day, it was the start of Ereneth's annual Autumn market.

During the next several days, the city's streets will transform into a bustling marketplace filled with a cacophony of sounds as countless merchants and farmers from a broad region around Ereneth will flock to the city to offer the fruits of this year's harvest to the eager residents who will be busily making their winter preparations.

I, however, had no thoughts about the coming winter and the need to fill our cellars with plenty of food to last us all the way to spring. This year, I decided to leave it entirely on Bernadette's shoulders as I now had a much more pressing issue to deal with. We were just about to launch our new product to the market.

A product that will undoubtedly take the whole city by storm. I decided to use this excellent opportunity when the city was full of people to do a little experiment, wanting to see how people would react to our potions.

Especially since during the market, the usual stringent rules regarding setting up stalls were laxer, so I had no problems with a little bit of Alaric's help obtaining a temporary trade license to set up a stall.

We will be selling under a pretty inconspicuous title of "medicinal products," which is quite a particular category of items where you can put basically anything that has any supposed healing effect, as there are apparently no laws regarding false advertisements.

So technically, selling a real healing potion under this title was totally fine, and we won't be breaking any laws. Although I chuckled with amusement thinking about it, I was pretty sure that this would cause quite a commotion among the venerable members of the Alchemist's Guild.

During the days leading to the Harvest festival, I completed two more batches of potions while testing the effect of my new enchantment.

It worked fabulously. The whole batch lasted long enough to finish bottling it without any signs of degradation.

I couldn't help but look with amazement at the intricate lines of Lily's magic circle inscribed on the wall of the infusion vessel every time I crafted the potions. It was way more complex than any alchemical inscription I had ever seen.

It made me wonder why the Alchemists were so adamant about keeping their secrets, as they obviously couldn't hold a candle to real magic.

Adding the newly made potions with those we made during our initial testing batch, we were now sitting at almost 500 potions in total, which would be a mind-boggling amount to any Alchemist.

I borrowed a wagon from my uncle, and with the help of my driver and a few other servants, we stacked the crates filled to the brim with potions, and just as the sun began to peak over the roofs, we headed toward the market square.

We found a nice spot close to the main street and set up a simple stall in front of our wagon. Now, we were finally ready to start making history.

When I looked around, I saw only a few people going about their business so early in the morning. Despite getting several curious glances directed at the small vials neatly lined on the counter, we still had to attract our first customer.

I smiled, glancing at the nervously shuffling Theo, who stood beside me. After a short moment of gathering my courage, I took a deep breath and by slightly modifying my sound wave spell to amplify my voice. I joined all the other bellowing merchants who loudly advertised their goods.

"Potions! Healing potions! Only 2 silver marks per bottle!"