"I know exactly the word...
"Transmigrate! That's what killed my father... So it's effective enough."
He slammed his closed hand on the table.
"And I also know where we should draw attention. Irart, my home..."
He paused for a moment.
"After all, that place is a total dump, abandoned, with few people living there, but... It's important in the blacksmithing trade."
His eyes gleamed intensely, and euphoria took over his words.
Evandro smiled discreetly and walked slowly to the cabinet — which irritated Alexander a bit in the midst of his excitement and ecstasy — and took a new sheet of paper.
You can detail the entire place by drawing it.
He grabbed a fresh sheet and nodded with his chin for Alexander to remove the other one from the table.
Alexander pushed it with his arm and knocked over the bowl he had eaten from.
Pa!
Evandro simply stayed quiet and ignored it, with an ethereal and glowing smile.
"Can you draw a map of your village?"
Alexander nodded yes, with a sheepish smile still somewhat embarrassed, while picking up the bowl, silently thankful it hadn't shattered into a thousand pieces.
"Then... Don't make anything too complicated; we need to be objective."
"I couldn't make something complicated even if I tried... I have more logical reasoning." He said, bragging without realizing it.
Evandro let out a hearty laugh in response.
"You've got a good sense of humor sometimes, and despite everything..."
Alexander frowned, confused.
...
"Very well... This is... Err... I think it's good?"
Evandro was trying hard to understand the content of the drawing.
"I'll explain it again properly..."
With all the patience in the world, Alexander began to explain.
"At the top are the blacksmiths' houses. As you can see, they are five adjoining blacksmith houses, by the way...
"Following the path down the connecting street, we arrive at the square. It's circular, of course.
"Around it, there are two empty houses at each end of the circle, and each pair is separated by a street.
"The street on the right is where my house is, and there's only mine, plus a few empty ones beside it.
"The street on the left leads to the city entrance, and the one below is just a stretch of empty land, the same size as the streets, and it doesn't extend much because there's a stone elevation, a little taller than the houses, that leads to the forest."
Evandro sighed deeply, still confused, but realized that, rudimentary as it was, he had understood what was necessary.
As Evandro was thinking, his thoughts were interrupted by Alexander cursing.
"Now tell me where we're going to find an alchemical item with the right properties?"
The corners of Evandro's mouth widened, and this time he smiled showing his white teeth. That irritated Alexander a bit when he noticed.
'Why is everything about Evandro better?!'
Evandro walked over to the back table and pulled from one of the drawers a book bound in old red-painted leather with golden edges and covered in dust.
Pa!
He tossed the small book onto the table.
"Cough. Cough! What is this?"
Evandro blew the dust into Alexander's face with a friendly adventurer's smile.
"This, my friend, is how we're going to find a real alchemist."
Alexander frowned as he rubbed his face to get the dust off.
Evandro opened the book delicately, in a way that you could hear the sound of the page peeling apart after being closed for so long.
"This book belonged to my late father; my uncle gave it to me on the eve of his death... It's a reference guide for finding mages, witches, and alchemists.
"The thing is, these alchemists usually live hidden under the forest's protection, along with the mysterious animals that lurk in the heart of our Dásos All-Earth — to find them, we depend on brave and courageous adventurers willing to face predators, witches, and even necromancers."
He pointed at the book with his finger.
"If they find an alchemist — which is quite difficult due to their practices being similar to those of mages —, and if they allow it, they register a bit about their location."
Alexander looked confused.
"And why don't they just write down the sayings of such alchemists?"
"Most of them have a code not to record their recipes and knowledge for anyone other than other alchemists; and don't even think about stealing from them, they are more dangerous than the most powerful dragon of our era — not even the king dares mess with them... However, some of them gladly help travelers."
Alexander laughed.
"Different from most stories they tell us, where the hero needs a special item to receive help from the mysterious and reclusive being."
Evandro laughed internally, with the corners of his mouth slightly raised, noting how Alexander had a terrible sense of humor but was very natural.
Evandro then flipped through a few pages and stopped at a double page where the left one was blank and the right one was completely filled.
At the top of the page, there was a simple, colorless drawing that was impossible to understand. Below it, three paragraphs were written in the Elliniká Angliká language.
I was surprised, as I expected to find a frail old man, but who, deep down, was too powerful to be comprehended. But in fact, my idealization was abruptly broken when I came across a young man, good-looking, well-dressed, and polite with me.
He lives further north in the Dásos All-Earth forest, so everything is very fresh and cozy here — after all, it's where the flowering and fruit-filled trees concentrate around here. I hope only those who truly need it find this place, it is definitely unspoiled. He lives in a polished stone house built within an almost perfect frame of four trees and has four round windows without glass. All very different from what I'm used to.
If there's anyone, like an honest and kind traveler who needs a place to rest their soul, this is the right place. But regarding the world of alchemy, he didn't show me much, but anything I asked for, he willingly made, so I don't think the reader will have trouble obtaining potions or recipes. But I must add something: the location, as I said, is to the north of Dásos All-Earth, but to get there, you'll need to pass through a cave that will test you mentally. This isn't the alchemists' fault, but the witches', who cast curses to prevent curious eyes, because apparently, that entire forest used to be populated by witches a while ago.
Anonymous.