102 A Werewolf?
The cauldron had a blue liquid that smelled just like the sea. It was beautiful, and when Matilda looked at it, she was delighted.
“Truth be told. The reason for this test was to show all of you how hard alchemy is, and that is okay to fail, especially without prior experience. But this? Drakian crafted a difficult potion on his first try. Without a doubt, impressive.” Matilda said, looking at all the students.
Arthur was happy to succeed, but all that attention aimed at him wasn’t something he wished. He was disguised, so there was no point in becoming famous.
“Well, it just happens, right? I’m too awesome.” Arthur thought, proudly smiling after hearing Matilda’s words.
Matilda grabbed a few empty flasks from her purse and filled all of them with the potion. That full cauldron netted about 11 flasks, and 7 of them went to Matilda.
“I got more because as I was the one giving you the ingredients.” Matilda said.
He got 4 flasks of that potion, which was already excellent considering he spent nothing to get them. Well, he spent time, but it was during class, anyway.
Philip sat beside Arthur, and when he got there, he tapped on his shoulder and said, “good job, Drakian. Living with me has its perks, right? You are turning into a genius, too.”
“Obviously, that was the reason for my success.” Arthur said.
The rest of the class also gazed at him with curiosity, respect, and some envy. Before that event, no one had paid attention to Arthur, but now? His name would spread throughout the academy like a lightning.
“Now, everyone, I know you’re thinking alchemy is easy, but that youth right there is a monster. You can’t compare to him, and never will, speaking of alchemy at least. So, let’s start with the theory, shall we?”
It was their first class, so Matilda told them all the basics about alchemy, and did nothing practical besides Arthur’s test.
Arthur was almost sure she would do something practical for the next class so that all students failed, and understand how hard alchemy was.
That was exactly what she was trying to teach when asking Arthur to craft that potion. A good thing Arthur had talent and prior experience.
After Matilda’s class was over, it was lunchtime. Most students could not leave the academy because of the killer on the loose, but Arthur did not care about someone coming after him. Whoever did that would prove stupid.
He didn’t change his appearance, and left the school using his TP, so no one saw him. There were a few restaurants in the village, as well as the inn that served good food.
Now that Arthur had his TP, it was easy to get there. It only took him a few seconds, faster than his flying speed.
The place he chose was the inn, and as it was lunchtime, lots of villagers were there. They only glanced at him for a second, but Arthur was only as a student, and not as the president.
Arthur ordered the food and waited. To pass the time, he heard the conversation of others, to see if there were some rumors going around.
“Did you know about the werewolf? Some cows and sheep were attacked last night, and some villagers said they saw a werewolf.” One villager said.
“A werewolf? This is only a fairy tale. It was just a regular wolf, or better, a magical wolf that attacked the animals.”
“But there aren’t any wolves on the island, and surely not any magical ones. The president of the magic school wiped all beasts.”
One worker Arthur hired defended him. It was not a lie, honestly. Arthur destroyed the dungeon, and Sully hunt all beasts to eat.
“Yes, you’re right. There aren’t wolves around here. Could it possibly be a werewolf?”
“Maybe, and to add up, it was a full moon last night.”
Arthur heard all of that, and could not help but to think that Lucy was found dead close to that event, and close to the full moon.
“Is it related?” Arthur thought. He investigated more after eating.
The waitress came with the order, and he said, “thank you.”
After eating, Arthur went around the village, looking for the villager that supposedly saw a werewolf.
It was not near the shore, or the inn, but on a farm a few minutes away from the main part of the village.
There were lots of crops being planted there, and most were used to satiate the hunger of all habitants of the island.
“Excuse me, are you Ross?” Arthur said.
He got the name from the other villagers. Ross was cutting off the wild grass around his crops when Arthur arrived.
“Yes, you’re right.” Said Ross as he got up.
“I heard a werewolf attacked your farm. Could you tell me more about it?”
“Ha, the rumor spreads fast, it seems. Well, it happened just like people are gossiping about. I woke up in the middle of the night with strange noises and screams of my animals. So, I grabbed a weapon and a lamp to look outside, and at that moment I saw it,”
“I know wolves, and I even saw magical wolf type creatures before, but that thing was not it. It was a werewolf, I swear to you. When he noticed me, he ran away to the woods.”
“Which way?” Arthur said.
Werewolves were part of stories back on Arthur’s world, and with all the magic and weird stuff, it wasn’t impossible to have something like that.
Ross pointed in the direction where the thing ran. Arthur said thanks and goodbyes to him.
Then he went in that direction. It was the best clue he had.
“Now, there is no way he did not leave a single footprint behind, right? If it was in human form, maybe, but I don’t see werewolves as that smart.”
Arthur went into the woods, looking to know more.