Chapter 7: Poison Pharmacist

The successive setbacks made Count Raymond extremely disappointed in his son. After this disappointment, he actually became more "diligent" in another aspect. Don't get me wrong, he no longer had the intention to spend any more effort on this talentless and idiotic son of his. Count Raymond shifted his "efforts" to his beautiful countess. Since this son was already a good-for-nothing and destined to be unable to inherit his family or carry it forward, then... he had to try his best to have another son!

The count's continuous "efforts" on his wife for a month finally paid off. Soon, the countess became pregnant again. And in the winter of the following year, Count Raymond got his second son as he had hoped.

While the entire count's mansion was celebrating this happy event, Dwayne still stayed in his room, earnestly reading the hard-to-find books on "magic pharmacology". Thank goodness, the last words of that Master Clark before he left had finally had an effect. With the thought of "What else could be worse?", Count Raymond simply decided to let his idiot son study magic pharmacology.

For almost several months, the count had no interest in visiting this son who had completely disappointed him. Even the countess, who had originally been affectionate towards Dwayne, had to reduce the frequency of her visits to her son due to her pregnancy and approaching labor.

The day after his mother gave birth to his younger brother, Dwayne was led by the servants to the count's room to visit his mother, who was weak after giving birth, and his younger brother. It was obvious that Count Raymond was very satisfied. Because this newly born son, in line with the tradition of the Rollin family, had a loud and powerful cry. And although he was just a newborn baby, it could be seen that he would surely be strong and healthy in the future.

Count Raymond didn't even have the slightest interest in taking a second look at this good-for-nothing son. After a perfunctory greeting, he waved his hand to dismiss Dwayne. Although the countess lying in bed felt a bit reluctant in her heart, the cry of the newborn baby happened to draw her attention away.

Dwayne quietly backed out. Behind him were the count's satisfied laughter and the baby's crying. Even though his heart had become numb, Dwayne couldn't help but feel a trace of loss. He reminded himself in his heart: Stop thinking nonsense. You don't belong to this world. He isn't your father... And she... she isn't either...

Thinking of that rainy night when this beautiful woman had knelt in front of the statue of the goddess for him all night, Dwayne felt a twinge of sadness in his heart and shook his head vigorously. Trying his best to drive away the distracting thoughts in his heart, Dwayne could only shift all his attention to his studies.

It was undeniable that Dwayne still had a great interest in the magic of this world. Although that Master Clark had determined that he had no talent, Dwayne, who was unwilling to accept this, still held a glimmer of hope. And naturally, the grand count's mansion had a considerable number of books in its collection, many of which were about magic.

After reading numerous books, Dwayne had to admit that what Master Clark had said was right. He indeed had no talent to become a magician. Because even if he sat for a whole day and night, he couldn't sense any fluctuations of magical elements. Once, he even fell asleep without realizing it.

Then, Dwayne, who refused to give up until he had tried everything, shifted his focus to the "magic pharmacology" that Master Clark had mentioned. Because, it seemed that magic pharmacology was also a form of magic. Moreover, a magic pharmacist could barely be considered a type of magician.

However, after Dwayne asked the servants in the mansion, he learned exactly what status this so-called "type of magician" held in the hearts of people in this world! In this world, although people said that magic pharmacists were also a type of magician, and even the Magic Society had officially confirmed this in black and white, in reality, people's true thoughts were, "Is this really considered a magician??"

Magic pharmacology, as the name implies, was about studying the preparation of various magic potions. After hearing more about it, Dwayne made a very apt metaphor in his heart: If compared with the medical industry in his previous world, then a real magician was equivalent to doctors in various departments of a hospital! And a magic pharmacist... at most, could be regarded as a little nurse who assisted the doctors. Although they all worked in the hospital, the status and income of nurses were far inferior to those of real doctors.

However, after careful study, Dwayne developed a great interest in this magic pharmacology! In his view, this was a very novel field. For example... how to use the eyeballs of the Dorog jumping frog, combined with purple wormwood, to prepare a potion that could make a person lose the ability to speak for a short time. Or, how to use the saliva of the Starfen swordscale dragon, together with clovers and the liver of a Keke triangular scale fish, to grind out a powder that could turn a person into stone! Also, a substance extracted from firescale grass, when dried and crushed into powder and sprinkled anywhere, could cause an instant fire!

However, among the names of these animals and plants mentioned above, especially things like the "jumping frog", "swordscale dragon", "Keke triangular scale fish", "firescale grass", etc., Dwayne had never even heard of nine out of ten of them. It was just like the chemical system in another world! Dwayne had never imagined that the so-called magic could be explained in this way! A potion that could make people mute, a powder that could turn people into stone, a substance that could cause a fire... It was really interesting, wasn't it?

In Dwayne's heart, the profession of a magic pharmacist was actually more like that of a doctor. However, doctors saved people, while magic pharmacists were more skilled at making poisons to harm people. What Dwayne didn't know was that his idea exactly matched the evaluation of magic pharmacists by people in this world: poison pharmacists.

Time passed day by day. Dwayne was still immersed in the study of magic pharmacology. However, his knowledge was still limited to theoretical reading on paper. After all, many of the strange raw materials mentioned in magic pharmacology were not available even in the count's mansion of the noble Rollin family. Only the research rooms of real magicians would have these materials.

In the field of magic, pharmacists usually served as assistants and subordinates to real magicians. Moreover, for such a young child, even if he was the count's son, no one dared to provide him with those dangerous magic medicinal materials!

Unconsciously, six years passed. During these six years, Dwayne's younger brother grew up healthily. This child named "Gabriel", compared to the idiotic Dwayne, was more like a typical heir of the Rollin family. Dwayne's younger brother had been healthy, lively, and active since childhood. At the age of six, he had already started receiving training from Captain Alpha, the swordsman of the guards. It was said that Captain Alpha had a very good evaluation of the count's second son.

Almost everyone in the mansion regarded him as the future hope of the Rollin family! And Count Raymond obviously poured all his care into his second son. He had even decided that after waiting for another two years, when Gabriel was eight years old, he could officially teach him the family's inherited martial art.

The servants' love, Captain Alpha's praise, his father's care, and even an enlightenment teacher who had been invited thought that the count's second son was very talented. It was even said that, for the future of the family, Count Raymond had decided to arrange an alliance marriage with a certain family in the imperial capital and had already made a prominent engagement for his six-year-old son!

On the other hand, Dwayne, the eldest son of the family, was forgotten in the corner. The count could hardly see his eldest son even once a month. The only one who still cared was the countess. She often secretly came to visit her son. Even on some occasional nights, the countess would come to Dwayne's room barefoot in her nightgown, hold her poor child, sing a lullaby to him, and coax him to sleep.

Only at these moments would Dwayne's heart soften. Sometimes, he had to pretend to be asleep to escape these moments that made him want to cry. Often, the countess's tears and sighs accompanied him as he fell asleep.

Finally, when Dwayne was thirteen years old and his younger brother Gabriel was seven years old, news came. It was also the final decision made by Count Raymond! Starting from the next year, he would personally teach Gabriel martial arts and pass on the family's inherited unique skills to him. At the same time, Count Raymond also made an alliance marriage agreement with the imperial finance minister. The two political allies further strengthened their cooperation through this marriage alliance, and Gabriel's future wife would be the granddaughter (currently nine years old) of the current imperial finance minister!

In fact, there were also rumors that this engagement had been decided a long time ago! Even before Gabriel was born! However, originally, the one who was supposed to marry the finance minister's daughter was Dwayne! But now that Dwayne was considered a hopeless idiot, the responsibility of the marriage alliance that bore the weight of the alliance between the two families fell on his younger brother, the talented Gabriel!

As for Dwayne... on a dark and windy night, he left the imperial capital by carriage. His destination was the territory of the Rollin family in the Cort Province in the south of the empire! The official announcement was that "Young Master Dwayne, who was already thirteen years old and approaching adulthood, would go to the family's territory to take care of the family's property." In fact, Dwayne clearly understood: he had been exiled. Taking care of the family's property? That was just a joke. Everyone knew that the important business of the family was in the imperial capital! In the political center of the empire! And the properties in the family's territory... those farmlands? Those farmers? And the taxes? All of these only needed to send a few stewards to manage!

In fact, Dwayne received the exact news that he was probably going to leave the count's mansion from then on and live in a certain ancestral house in the countryside of the Cort Province in the south of the empire! Moreover... without the count's summons, he would never be able to return to the imperial capital in his lifetime!

Everyone understood that the title of "heir of the Rollin family" had been transferred from Dwayne's head to his seven-year-old talented younger brother.