22. A Shitty Job

As Bruno rather quickly found out, making what Nathan wanted wasn't easy. He couldn't let go of the opportunity granted to him by the thug and had to create something that wouldn't only cause severe diarrhea and vomiting, but also could be lethal in some cases. He wanted to stage an incident of the young thug getting sick from accidentally consuming poison, which would then cause a strong reaction leading to death.

The task wasn't easy, but he didn't have to sacrifice all of his time, like when he was creating the teapot, based on some vague story. He still was able to work in his little manufactory, attend the lessons with Batraz, and work on other tasks delegated to him by the rest of the alchemists.

Only Orfeo seemed to be openly hostile towards the boy. The rest was rather neutral or simply didn't care. Bruno actually regretted that he was too busy to dive deeper into the guild's affairs, to have a better understanding of his own situation.

He decided to put more effort into that matter as soon as his trouble would go away, and he wouldn't have to pay attention to Nathan anymore.

A few days passed and the thug started appearing every morning, and every evening, just across the street to remind the boy about himself. It was quite annoying, but the young alchemist couldn't do much about that. He needed to find the right recipe, and that was a time-consuming effort.

At some point, he decided to say it to Nathan's face, and just as he noticed him in his usual spot, shortly after leaving the main building, he headed straight there.

It was a windy day since the summer was coming to an end, and the autumn was slowly approaching. The thug armed himself with a sly smirk, to look confident, but Bruno knew better. He was just insecure and needed to pretend that he is the one in charge.

- You realize that this takes time, do you? - he asked him immediately, as he stopped just in front of his face.

- I need it now.

The boy sighed.

- Trust me. At this moment, there is nothing else I would want more than you to stop showing yourself here. There are some guys in the guild who don't like that I'm talking with you. I will get you what you need, but I need some time. We both work for Billy, but this can't go on like this. We need some ground rules here. How about we talk about this later, when I have some time? I'm quite busy with your request right now, but when I'll finish it, we really should talk.

Nathan spat the piece of chewing tobacco on the ground, and narrowed his eyes, to look scarier. The boy actually wanted him to feel victorious.

- Fine.

Bruno nodded and left, heading straight to the manufactory. The rest of the day passed him on working, and the few last hours he spent on his research, without any major breakthroughs.

On the next day Nathan didn't show up, so immediately the pressure the boy was feeling for the past few days got lighter. He went to work like he normally would, and in the evening closed the manufactory to visit Batraz and ask for a lesson. He found the old man at the very back of the guild's main building, where his laboratory was located. It was a large room with two big windows, to bring enough light inside, with bars for safety, and with large racks covering the remaining walls.

The shelves were filled with alchemical ingredients all the way to the ceiling. Dry plants, powders in pouches, animal parts in jars, and strange liquids in bottles. There was also a large ladder in the corner because without it there was no way of reaching for some of the things placed at the top.

The middle of the room was a set of tables, placed next to each other and filled to the brim with alchemical equipment. Fancy glass bottles, pipes, and things that the boy couldn't even name. There were devices to heat up the components, scales with weights to measure everything, and many, many more.

But that was not all, since there were a couple of strange items too big to be placed anywhere else than on the floor, which ended up being pushed to the corners, so they wouldn't block the way around.

- Good evening Batraz. Do you have some time to maybe teach me something? - asked Bruno.

- Here - the old man pointed at a piece of paper on the table. - It's a recipe I want you to follow.

- What is it for? - asked the boy, as he immediately moved to check the card.

- If you can make it, then I'll tell you - the grandpa smiled mysteriously.

Bruno just nodded and got to work. He already learned that Batraz liked to get people curious. The kid quickly read the text and went to grab the necessary ingredients from the shelves, which took him a few minutes. There was still an hour or two of light, but the clock was ticking, so he needed to be quick if he wanted to make it before the dark.

The old man, while working on his own stuff, kept peaking at Bruno from time to time. The whole thing about the recipe was that it was quite vague about a few things. Mainly how to prepare the ingredients, and some of them definitely needed to be refined, but the boy had the necessary knowledge and required logical thinking to figure everything out. He just needed a couple of minutes to think it through.

- You are doing fine - eventually said the old man. - I have to say... I never met anybody so smart. You have perfect memory and can figure out what to do, even with a vague recipe like the one I just gave you. Normally it takes a few years of experience, but you caught it all immediately. You have a bright future ahead of you.

After saying that he paused, but Bruno was looking at him carefully and noticed that there was something more Batraz wanted to say, so he waited patiently without a word.

- It would be a shame if you were to use such a talent for a bad purpose. I know that Billy brought you here, and you probably owe him a lot, but he is not a good person, and he might ask you in the future for things you wouldn't want to do. It's better to not get too close to him. You are so smart that you could attend some academy, and become somebody really special. I could help you with that.

- But aren't you working with Billy too?

The old man smiled.

- I have no other choice. The pirates control all of the trade-in this city, and my guild is too big to survive only on what we can earn around here. I have too many people to take care of. You see... Fifteen years ago it wasn't like this. We were actually making a lot of things and selling our products all over the place, but with pirates... They need a source of medicine they can trust, and we need them to survive after splitting up from Hanza. So we have to work together, but that doesn't change I don't like it.

Bruno immediately thought that the man sounded quite fishy. If he didn't like the pirates so bad, he could easily deal with them by providing something that would take a large number of them down, and create a possibility for Hanza to wipe them out completely, since the two factions were in a constant conflict.

Instead of saying something, the boy just nodded. That was safer than asking too many questions or saying something wrong.

Since Batraz was done talking, he focused on finishing the recipe. In the middle of work he figured it was quite potent medicine to help with erection.

- Is this for some noble? - he asked as he put down a bottle filled with black liquid in an empty space on the table, close to the old man, who was at that moment focusing on his work.

- You figured it out, didn't you?

Bruno just nodded.

- Yes. It's for lord Blackrock - he said.

Then checked the liquid by looking at it, smelling, and then even poured a single drop on his finger and tasted it.

- Mhm. It's good. Wery well done - he continued and smiled at the boy. - You might go now, it's late already. You probably want to have some time to rest too.

- I need some time to read before going to bed, yes - replied Bruno heading immediately for the door.

Batraz laughed, and then observed him, keeping up the smile. When the door closed and he was left alone, the old man just sighed with a happy expression still on his face.

Heading to his room Bruno passed by Orfeo who gave him an angry look but didn't say a thing. The boy ignored it since he had currently bigger problems to deal with. He spent the rest of his time reading but didn't find what he was looking for.

In the end, it took him three more days to figure out what to do. The solution he discovered, though, wasn't perfect and there was a chance of Nathan surviving his poison, but he just simply couldn't wait any longer and decided to go with it.