Apothecary Cheat Skill

The town of Corleone was where Roze had made her home for a year now, after leaving the orphanage. She had set up an apothecary shop, pitching brews and powders. With scenery facing the sea and inland forests on the other side, it made for a convenient location.

As such, Roze could find a host of foragable ingredients to pulverize into useful concoctions, the local archives possessing a wealth of recipes that served as a starting guide. It was hard work and few people would bother to come into the shop of a newbie practitioner, but she made a passable living on the coin of her poorer customers who had traded certainty for her lower prices.

“Who would put a bounty on you, Roze?” Gideon asked her, who was tending to her ingredients. It was clear she was trying to think amidst the clacking of wooden drawers moving in and out.

“You mean, you don’t know?” Roze turned to him, poking at his supposed knowledge from previous cycles.

“Hey, this is the earliest I’ve come to find you. On previous runs, I had to break you out of prison.”

“Thanks for affirming how terrible my life would have been without your interference, my savior. If you are trying to leverage that in hopes of my help, I would say that you could be a scam artist.”

“A scam artist probably wouldn’t know how proficient you are at concocting poisons on top of medicinals. I assure you that route only flags bad endings.”

Roze stopped what she was doing. It was an act of desperation, but she had few options for defending herself. Reluctantly, she decided to trust Gideon.

“It has to be the local merchant, Piazzo. He’s the only one with the sort of disposable income that could offer such a bounty. That point aside, shouldn’t you know how to resolve the issue? Did you not save me before?”

Gideon shrugged in response. “Every cycle is different. It took a few tries to even find you in time, and let’s put it this way. I’m not exactly the best at negotiations or tact. Busting you out of jail caused quite the commotion, so I didn’t have time for all the details. Honestly, I’d rather try another approach. Dealing with things before they become a problem has always been my work ethic.”

“And here I was hoping that you’d have my rescue package all wrapped up with a neat bow. Never mind that. Then, are you aware how much weight he has in this town?”

“If the gold statue at the entry gates is any indication, then I’m guessing he’s a hotshot.”

“You’d be right about that. His rise in wealth made it such that he even received a probationary contact as lord of the town. Everyone sucks up to him because of that. No one wants to draw the ire of someone with the crown’s favor.”

“And you happen to because…?”

“Maybe it’s the fact that I’ve been doing a bit better in business as of late. I’ve been able to afford a few more furnishings and tools.”

Gideon looked around the room, noticing that the building itself was a bit run down, but a few shiny trinkets stood out conspicuously in contrast.

“Every little bit helps improve my reputation, but maybe it has grown too quickly and caught his attention. I’m not sure why he was able to sniff out that I possess Time magic.”

Gideon watched as Roze tended to a few potted plants next to her. She inspected one before checking a recipe book on the counter. Turning back, she whispered to a flower not yet in bloom, making it glow.

“You know, that’s probably it, right there.” Gideon pointed. “Have you been harvesting plants early by using magic to speed up the growth?”

Roze blinked and looked at him, and then back at the plant. It was now in full bloom.

“I used to work in sales, so I’m used to catching discrepancies from our suppliers. If Piazzo is as good of a merchant as you say, he’d probably notice something strange about your stocks. I would assume that medicines aren’t well supplied and prepared beforehand in this world. To have the right ingredients in season and ready to combine would turn heads. Especially if you can keep your costs lower than market value.”

Roze closed her eyes and sighed, like the answer had been obvious all along and she refused to believe it. Her magic had been essential to making a living for herself, but she couldn’t very well make it public. While she could turn the clock forward on some things, the extent of the effect was only weeks to months. That made its usage limited.

“It unfortunate that I didn’t possess a normal magic. Piazzo can only get away with it because there’s a certain population of extremists watching over the town that will turn a blind eye on injustices to practitioners of Time.”

“I’ve run into a few of them before. Bad times they were.”

Gideon recalled one of his early cycles where he was foolishly walking up to everyone, showing off his mysterious mark. He had naturally become more cautious upon realizing that flashing his bare chest was not the smartest move, even by normal standards.

The kicker came when one person brought up his wand with fanatical disgust and brought down a meteor storm upon him. He had frozen time just barely enough to flee around the giant meteors that had come within arm’s reach from hitting the ground around him.

Gideon shook his head to push that memory back to the recesses of his mind.

“From what I’ve experienced of this world, it doesn’t seem like everyone hates Time magic, as the legendary heroes that wielded its power are still worshipped.”

“The study and growth of more conventional elemental magic rose in power. They became extremely vigilant, pushing down any archaic magic that they found difficult to control.”

“I imagine the power to instantly turn a person into a dried-out mummy or break the laws of nature wasn’t exactly school curriculum worthy.”

“Power on that scale invites trouble. Not to mention, it’s hard to regulate. Society turned from worshiping it to treating our clan as outcasts.”

“Piazzo being one of those that view your kind under a similar lens. Or maybe, he’s using it as an excuse to drive away competition. I hate crafty bastards like that. You see them in every workplace.”

Gideon didn’t have to work as a salaryman for long to recognize that kind of person – those who made themselves look bigger by knocking people around them down. They often were covering up for their own inadequacies.

“With his backing, getting the bounty off my back will be troublesome.”

“What are we up against, Roze?”

“That mercenary team is likely only a small portion. If we consider the number of other groups that would take interest in such a high bounty, I could imagine over a hundred.”

“One versus a hundred. I’ve won with those odds before… but it was unfortunately a trivia game.”

“Honestly, having you time stop and beat them all down would be the simplest solution. But…” Roze looked at him with hesitance. She knew that his power trumped anything that she could do herself, but he would be burning through his countdown to do so.

Gideon shook his head.

“I mean, I don’t mind resolving it that way, but there’s one problem. I’m not the one he is after. The guys that I struck down probably think that I was taking their target. I heard what they said. This Time Witch is nothing special. Easy money. But what if you weren’t? What if you show them how outclassed they are that they wouldn’t dare come for you again?”

“And how do I do that? I don’t know if you’ve seen my magic, but I can only cast rudimentary spells! A few beads shot into a crowd and some heavy ankles aren’t going to send any messages!”

Gideon placed his hands on Roze’s shoulders. A mischievous grin was on his lips, so wide that his teeth wanted to burst out. It made Roze question if she should have just kept her mouth shut.

“There’s a saying in my world. The best magic is one that no one can figure out. Roze, we’re going to put on a show together!”