World’s Cutest Alchemist

With our hot chocolates in hand, we took a seat at an empty table. The chairs were quite tall, so my feet dangled off the end. I kicked my feet in the air and happily sipped away at my drink.

Luna sat opposite of me and calmly sipped her drink. She really looks mature in public—if I didn’t know her true personality, I’d think she was a working adult.

But alas, she’s just a hikikomori. Hehe.

With these…somewhat disrespectful…thoughts in mind, Luna eventually put down her drink and started speaking.

“So, this is a standard event town. Before most events, there will be a grace period to do whatever you want.

The town changes yearly, and you can only access it during event periods. It’s worldwide, so it’s available to anyone anywhere. However…Hm…How do I explain this…

Ah, it’s like a game server. Though we’re all in the same place, there’s different servers so that it doesn’t get crowded. After all, millions of people enter these events monthly and this little town can’t handle that capacity.”

“I see, I see.” I nodded, “As expected from a game addict—understanding things in a unique way.”

She narrowed her eyes at me and I giggled.

“However, there are certain places that are global. Like inside of buildings—this cafe for example. On any server, people can meet in this cafe.”

“Interesting.” I nodded and continued sipping my drink.

“People often use event towns as meeting places, business opportunities, or recruitment areas.

Popular guilds worldwide will rush the event town during town shifts—when the town changes—to buy buildings in central areas. There, they sell their goods or do whatever they do. I’m not too familiar with it.”

“Mm,” I nodded, “I think I get it. It’s certainly useful—I can imagine people selling limited time items in shops. I, myself, could sell potions here—likely for a marked-up rate too. I noticed that we used points during the transaction earlier, so, it’s also basically completely anonymous trading.

I can see criminal organizations or black market dealings happening. I bet I could even sell some dynokali potions without hassle.”

“…” She stared at me in silence for a moment, seemingly in shock.

What? Why’s she looking at me like that?

“Ah, no, don’t worry. I’m not selling anything.” I shook my head.

“No, no, it’s not that. I just…Didn’t think you’d see through so much in an instant.”

“Eh?? There’s nothing particular difficult to figure out.”

“Well, I mean, yeah but…It’s you…”

“What’s that supposed to mean!?” I slammed my palms on the table and glared at her.

“Hahaha!” She just laughed and shook her head. Under my intimidating(?) glare, she took out her phone and snapped a photo.

“Tch,” I clicked my tongue, noticing a bit of glances being thrown my way, “I will have my vengeance.” I muttered.

“Sure, sure. I’ll be waiting.” She said, eventually taking a deep breath and returning to explaining, “That’s right. Being an event town, there aren’t much rules or laws here except the ones by the tower. Of course, that’s not to say this place is a lawless wasteland—you can see that it’s quite a nice area. Well maintained and orderly. But, there are definitely a lot of shady deals that go on.

If, as you said, you were to sell those…dynokali potions… of yours here, there’d be quite a lot of underworld people interested.”

“Eh, an exaggeration.” I waved my hand, “Honestly, I don’t even get the hype. My dynokali potions are fine, but that’s it. They’re not some sort of world-ending terrorist device—it’s just a potion that explodes.

I’ve always thought this, but they’re really not that special. There’s thousands of people who can create deadlier and scarier explosives than I can. Most alchemists can probably even create chemical weapons that certainly violate the Geneva convention.

So, I’ve never really understood the ‘Raccoon is a dangerous person!’ narrative. Not to mention the people who can literally use magic. Skills and people are deadlier than my potions by a long shot.”

Luna took in my words for a moment before nodding,

“Hm…” She tapped her chin, “I understand your view, but, it’s a bit more complicated than that. Yeah, plenty of alchemists can create explosives or poisons even deadlier than yours. Sure, even I have a skill that can cause large-scale destruction. But…

There’s a difference.

For one, you’re unregistered. That alone is a huge reason why people would think you’re dangerous. It’s the same reason why people think the rank 1, Anonymous, is dangerous. No one knows who you are, they just know you possess dangerous things. And you specifically, have the capability to create and distribute bombs.”

“Potions.” I corrected.

She rolled her eyes and continued,

“Two, you’ve just awakened only a couple months ago. The first people saw of you, you were already using explosives and made the leaderboard. A more flattering reason is that they see your potential. Think about it. What happens when you reach the 20th floor? The 30th floor? The 40th floor? What type of potions could you create then? If we’re going a more destructive route, what version of dynokali potion will you be on and how much damage could it cause?

If we’re thinking beneficial, what type of buff or recovery potion could you create? Or innovate.

You’ve already made something new—and you haven’t even cleared the 5th floor yet. The bouncy bouncy potion. I have no idea how it works, but it could deflect my lightning—some more technical people could probably figure out thousands of different use cases for it.”

“Mm, well, I am pretty great.” I nodded.

“Three,” She held up three fingers, “This is close to the first reason, but you’re not a part of a guild—you’re completely solo. You’re like a snake moving through the grass, people are looking for you, but they can’t find you. At any point you could pop out of the grass and cause a stir.

You’re currently in the spotlight. With consecutive solo leaderboard rankings, people are paying attention to your every move. As time goes on and you become less and less prominent, the narrative will dim quite a bit.”

“So, basically, I’m just too strong and cute. Haah..I haven’t even reached my prime yet and people are calling me the Alchemy God.”

“No one calls you that.”

“Haah…I haven’t even reached a fraction of my peak and people are calling me the savior of alchemy.”

“No one calls you that.”

“Alchemy idol?”

“I think I’ve seen one or two people call you that.”

“Hehe, anyways. I think I get it now. Put that way, I understand the narrative a bit better. Basically, I’m a free agent with lots of potential that everyone wants to get their hands on. Criminals for illegal reasons, the association to hinder the possibility of me working for criminals, and guilds for the benefits of my future self.

Oh well, whatever the case it doesn’t change much. At the end of the day, I’m just an alchemist selling potions, hehe.”

“Mhm.” Luna nodded, “So, don’t even worry about anything and just focus on doing what you want. Oh, but be warned, I will stop you if you try to do anything bad!”

“How’re you going to stop me?” I leaned in with a mischievous smile, “Are you going to lock me up?”

“Ahem,” She cleared her throat, “Anyways,” she snapped her fingers and I watched as what looked like a translucent barrier around us shattered.

“What the…? What was that?” I asked

“I put up a sound barrier when you started talking about private matters. We’re in public, you know? You silly girl, are you trying to get caught? You have to be more careful about where you speak.”

“Woah…A sound barrier…So cool! I want to learn! Is it a skill?!”

“Haah…” Luna sighed, “No, it’s just an application of mana. You’ll be able to do it too when you get better at using mana.”

“Ah…I need to get better quickly then!” I reaffirmed my goal and sipped some more hot chocolate.

“Anyways, back to the original topic, there will be multiple ways for us to spectate the gauntlet when it starts.

We could watch it on a holographic screen—like how we watch movies on the TV. This can be done anywhere. Some people or guilds rent out buildings specifically to enjoy events with their people.

Or, we could go to the stadium-”

“That one!” I immediately answered. That seemed like the most enjoyable experience! Being in a crowd of people, all watching the same thing and experience the show together. It reminds me of being a sports fan.

“Got it,” Luna nodded, “Then, we’ll go to the stadium closer to when the event actually starts. I’ll explain more then.”

“Hehe, thanks.” I smiled.

Luna smiled back,

“So, I don’t think there’s anything more you need to know at the moment. Shall we go out and walk around?”

“Yes!” I stood up, “This reminds me of our first date~” I drew out my words.

“…Yes, the first time we met up.”

Luna stood up and we exited the building.

…

We walked side-by-side through the streets. It wasn’t too crowded since, as Luna said, there was a limit to how many people there were per server. Imagining this small town filled with millions of people—it’d be like a moshpit.

But, that didn’t mean there wasn’t a lot of people. Occasionally, I spotted stalls that were set up on the side of the road and groups who were interested in their wares.

With a glance, I noted that most of them sold equipment—weapons, armors, and the like, so I wasn’t too interested.

However…One particular stall did catch my eye.

I pulled on Luna’s arm and stopped walking,

“Look! Look!” I pointed at a stall.

“Hm?” Her gaze followed my finger and landed on a small stall selling cotton candy.

“Cotton candy! We need to get some!”

“Mm…You can get some, I’m not too hungry.”

“What? Really? Sweet-tooth Mouse isn’t going to eat?”

She glared at me,

“I don’t really want to eat much right now.” She said.

“Tsk, fine. I’ll just enjoy it myself.” I replied, leading her to the seller.

The seller was an older man with graying hairs. He looked nice enough.

“Greetings, are you two interested in some cotton candy? I’ve got all sorts of flavors.” He said. The man had a kind, distinguished voice.

“Hello!” I smiled, “Just one stick for me please! I want the blue!”

“Haha, of course, right away, young lady.” He smiled and the cotton candy machine started to spin.

Blue spiderwebs formed within the machine and the man lowered a white stick into it, soon, the spiderwebs started to cradle the stick and clouds formed around it.

Thinking of the sweet goodness started to make my mouth water. Throwing a quick glance at the silver-haired girl beside me, I noticed she was licking her lips.

…She should have just ordered one if she was going to look at it like that.

Soon, the machine stopped spinning and the cotton candy stick was finished. It looked like a blue cloud on a stick! There was way more than I expected to get.

A screen appeared in front of me.

I quickly paid the 800 points and took the stick offered.

“Enjoy and have a nice day. I hope you enjoy the event later, too.” The man said.

“Thank you! We will! Have a nice day!” I replied with a smile before Luna and I started walking away.

After a few steps, I opened my mouth wide and bit into the soft cloud of sugar.

“Mm!!!” It melted on my tongue, a dance of flavors lingering. “So good!~”

As I ate in bliss, I noticed Luna sneaking envious glances towards my way.

“Hehe…” I giggled, “Here, try some.” I offered the other end of the stick.

“What? No, I couldn’t…” She shook her head, but her face told me she clearly wanted it.

“There’s just too much, I can’t eat it all—won’t you help me?” This time I practically shoved the cloud directly in front of her mouth.

“W-well…If you can’t eat it all…We shouldn’t waste food…” She mumbled before her small mouth opened and took a bite out of the cloud of sugar. “Mm!” She let out, clearly enjoying the taste. She even unhesitantly took a few more bites.

“Hehe.” I smiled at the sight and bit into it as well.