Hearing the old woman’s words, Shaan instantly let out a long sigh. Thank God, at least they hadn’t come here in vain and could finally make the potion Sir Marshal had requested.
"Here it is, the ingredient you’re looking for." The old woman placed a plastic bottle containing a grayish-white powder on the table. "This is verulene leaf powder."
"Phew, so... how much is this thing?" Shaan asked.
"100 dark crystals per bottle."
’Wait, what?’ Shaan paused for a moment, hearing the old woman’s words. ’Just for a bottle the size of my pinky finger, it costs that much?’ Shaan shook his head. ’The price is crazy, it doesn’t make sense, but he has no choice but to take it.’
"So, what’s your decision? Do you want to take it?"
"Can’t you lower the price just a little?"
"No," said the old woman firmly. "This is the last of my stock, and there’s no way I can sell it at a lower price," she said, tapping her finger on the table. "Hurry up and make a decision. Do you want to take it or not?"
"Jeez, this old grandmother is really impatient."
"If you don’t want it, I’ll—"
"Yes, we’ll take it." Shaan reluctantly took out all the dark crystals he had collected. "Ah, damn. It turns out my dark crystals aren’t enough. I’m still short—"
"Just take this." She took a black bag out of her pocket and handed it to Shaan. "... I managed to get quite a lot of dark crystals while I was in the tunnel with Chelsie. Maybe this will be enough."
"Alright, thank you then.
"No need to thank me. It’s what we had to do if we wanted to make that potion."
"I also have some dark crystals that Mr. Marshal gave me earlier," said Mr. Courier, handing over his dark crystals. "It’s not much, but it should be enough."
"Thank you, Mr. Courier. You’ve been very helpful."
"I’m just doing what Mr. Marshal told me to do to help you," said Mr. Courier with a smile. "Now hurry up and give all these dark crystals to the old woman before she changes her mind."
Shaan quickly handed over all the dark crystals, and finally, they obtained the ingredients they had been searching for all this time. Good, now at least they were one step closer to their previous goal. "Since we’ve obtained these ingredients, it’s time for us to return," said Mr. Courier. "Mr. Marshal must be waiting for us."
When Chelsie heard a knock on the front door, she immediately stood up from the couch in the living room. A bright smile spread across her face — she was sure Shaan and the others had finally returned with the ingredient. Without wasting a second, she rushed to the door and opened it.
"Shaan, we’ve alrea—" Chelsie stopped mid-sentence when she saw a man in uniform standing at the door. "Uhm... who are you?"
"We are Madam Yashina’s members from the Twilight conclave faction, and we would like to speak with Dr. Marshal," said one of the men in uniform with red hair. "Madam Yashina has a message for him."
"Uhmm... Yes. He’s in the next room. Wait, I’ll be right—"
"Chelsie?" Dr. Marshal approached her, noticing that she was speaking with someone at the door. "Who is it?"
"Oh, yes, what a coincidence," said Chelsie, looking directly at Dr. Marshal. "Uhm... someone wants to see you. They said they are members of Madam Yashina, and they want to deliver a message from Madam Yashina to you."
"All right. I understand." Dr. Marshal walked towards the door. "Chelsie, I turned on the stove to heat water in a pot in the next room. Can you check if the water is boiling?"
"And if the water is boiling, please turn off the stove immediately."
"Yes, Dr. Marshal. I understand."
Chelsie left Dr. Marshal with the two Yashina members and quickly ran to the next room. Actually, deep down in her heart, she felt curious about their conversation, but she didn’t want to eavesdrop on something that might be private or confidential. After a moment of hesitation, she shook off the thought and hurried straight into the next room.
"Ah, good. I made it just in time." She immediately turned off the stove when she saw steam rising and tiny bubbles forming on the surface of the water."Now, I’d better go back to the next room and tell Dr. Marshal about this."
Chelsie soon returned to the living room and saw that the two Yashina members had left. It looked like Dr. Marshal had also finished talking with the two Yashina members, so she walked straight up to him.
"Dr. Marshal, I turned off the stove like you asked."
"Oh, okay. Thank you, Chelsie."
"You’re welcome, Dr. Marshal." Chelsie nodded her head. "Uhm... Dr. Marshal, what did those two from Yashina want? What were they talking to you about?"
"Oh, that... They came here to—"
The sound of knocking on the door was heard once again, and Dr. Marshal walked over to open it. Shaan, Nalira, and Mr. Courier were standing at the door with happy and confident expressions on their faces.
"Here it is, the Verulene leaf powder you needed."
"Great, that’s good news," said Dr. Marshal, taking the bottle and putting it in his pocket. "Now we don’t have to worry about the ingredients because we have everything we need."
"... So can we make the potion now?"
"That’s what I thought at first," Dr. Marshal said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "But just before you arrived, Madam Yashina’s member came and told me I had to fill out a report to submit to Madam Yashina."
"A report?" Chelsie frowned. "Uh... a report about what, Dr. Marshal?"
"I need to submit a signed statement saying I take full responsibility for all of you while you’re inside the Twilight Sanctum," he explained.
"If any of you break the rules or cause harm, they’ll immediately exile you from the Sanctum."
"All right, we understand."
"Oh, right—there’s one more thing I need to tell you," said Dr. Marshal.
"Those members of Madam Yashina mentioned that starting tomorrow, all detainees under social punishment must help the twilight articifier fraction repair the bridge."
"Understood," Chelsie, Nalira, and the courier replied at the same time.
"So, it looks like we’ll need to postpone making the potion for now and continue with it tomorrow."
"We understand, Dr. Marshal," Shaan said with a nod. "We don’t mind at all."
"Good. In that case, let’s eat. I’m sure you’re all starving, right?" Dr. Marshal smiled.
"Courier 020, please prepare today’s meal. We need to welcome our special guests properly, don’t we?"