Wizards: Starting as a Potions Master!

Chapter 131 The Witch: First-Class Apprentice in Herbalism

In a small reception room on the first floor of Peterhof Castle, Su Nan sized up the merchant who claimed to be from the Attica Peninsula.

This is a middle-aged man with a weathered face, clearly one of the countless merchants who traveled far and wide in this era.

His identity as a businessman is likely genuine.

The Attica Peninsula is located in the southern part of the Storm Kingdom, and is one of the two most important peninsulas, alongside the Achaia Peninsula.

Su Nan asked him, "What's your name? You mentioned before that you stumbled upon a witch's gathering. Assuming that's true, then I need to ask you, how were you able to escape from the witch's gathering?"

"Did those witches not notice you? What method did you use to prevent them from noticing you?"

"Merchant, don't be afraid. Even if some of your words are slightly exaggerated, as long as you can provide me with truly useful information, I will reward you equally, and you are welcome to come again next time."

Lionel, a merchant from the Attica Peninsula, glanced at Sunan with some fear. As an ordinary merchant, he would naturally feel a lot of pressure when facing a knight lord.

Moreover, Su Nan possesses a unique aura; his bright eyes seem to see through everything, as if he has seen through him from beginning to end.

The exaggerated words he had prepared were forced back down under Su Nan's gaze.

He decided to tell the truth.

The merchant Lionel stood up, performed the proper greeting to a nobleman to Sunan, and said, "Lord Sunan, it is an honor to meet you."

"Everything I'm about to say is true; there's absolutely nothing false about it."

"I have actually seen witches. My main trade route is to bring grain from the Attica peninsula to LS, the richest city in southern Thrace, for sale."

"I even met Count LS a few times because of this."

"But one day, as my caravan was traveling on a deserted path leading to LS, one of my packhorses injured its hoof and started bleeding."

"As you know, these nags are the most important asset for us merchants, but we cannot wait on the trade route for the injured nags to recover, because it is dangerous in the wild, and we also need to deliver the goods we are carrying to the city of LS as soon as possible."

"So, I want to lead my injured horse to a secluded, dense forest, and then when I come back, I can find it."

The merchant Lionel glanced at Su Nan and continued, "That day, I just led him, led him, deep into a jungle I had never been before, and which should have been sparsely populated. Who knew that a sudden storm would break out that day, with lightning and thunder in the sky."

"I slipped and fell down with that old horse. My horse died instantly. I was the only one still alive."

"Just when I thought I was going to die, by the God of Storms... I suddenly heard a group of women's voices."

Su Nan had become interested and gestured for him to continue.

Businessman Lionel continued, "I thought to myself, this is so strange. In this remote jungle, and in a stormy weather, a group of women are laughing and talking above the crater I fell into."

"But then, what they were talking about terrified me. By the God of Storms, this was horrible."

Su Nan sat down in a chair in the small reception room, even more curious about his story. "So what did they say?"

The merchant Lionel smiled bitterly: "Lord Sunan, they're talking about me. They're saying there's a man and an old horse that fell into the ditch at their feet. One woman is arguing that both the old horse and I are dead."

"But the other woman said, 'I'm still breathing.'"

"They started arguing. Some women thought that I was already dead, barely breathing, and not alive at all."

"The woman who thought I was still alive immediately got angry and said that as a first-class herbalist apprentice, she was most skilled at making healing potions and could save me anytime she wanted."

"She can use three kinds of plants next to the pit to immediately concoct a herbal remedy that can save me."

"The other women were laughing at her, so she made a bottle of herbs on the spot, but then she suddenly said to me, who was waiting to die in the pit, that she was a selfish witch and wouldn't help me like that."

"Because I can't pay enough."

"So she concocted this bottle of herbs just to prove her abilities. She'll leave the herbs next to the pit, but she'll never give them to me."

Merchant Lionel recalled, "But after the women saw the herbs she made, they stopped mocking her and started praising her amazing herbal preparation skills."

"Then, it seems they made some kind of deal. It seems they would make the deal next to that pit on the last day of every month."

"The number of people who come varies each month, but they say it's a very famous place called the 'Petrifying Witches' Gathering' where transactions take place, so many wizard apprentices hiding in the mortal world go there."

"They traded a lot of things, but I can't recall the names of any of them at all. Some of them... some of them give me a headache just thinking about them."

Su Nan's eyes turned serious.

Some of the wizard's things have spiritual radiation. For people with low spiritual power, even just remembering things can put a burden on their bodies, so their bodies will deliberately forget.

Since the merchant in front of him had mentioned this, it proved that he had likely indeed encountered this witch gathering.

Su Nan never expected that the wizard he had been searching for for so long would actually be in the Southern Seraphim Military District, where there was a wizard gathering that was held once a month for wizards to trade magical resources.

But that's normal.

Many things are actually hidden; they don't not exist, but you can't find them or see them.

As long as you have enough strength, these things will come into your view sooner or later.

Merchant Lionel, clutching his head, said to Sunan, "I also heard that one of them was a rather powerful old witch who spoke about the origins of this gathering."

"It seems that the petrification witch who is presiding over this gathering is a semi-formal wizard. A long time ago, she used something special to turn herself into real stone and buried herself in that pit. But when the tide comes, she will activate something to turn herself back into a human."

"I survived because the storm that day was so fierce, and I was incredibly lucky. Shortly after the witches finished their transaction and left, a bolt of lightning struck and smashed the vial of potion next to the pit."

"Then, the broken potion flowed into the pit with the rain and storm. I just drank a few mouthfuls of the herbal potion mixed with mud and water, and suddenly I felt strong again. I then climbed out of the pit, and the bleeding from my wound stopped."

"Although my fractures haven't healed and my wounds haven't fully healed, it's enough for me to find my caravan and then, with all my might, head to the city of LS to find a doctor to treat my injuries."

"That's all I know, Lord Sunan."

"There are some terms that I don't understand at all; I just memorized them by force."

"I tried to tell this to many people, but they all thought I was crazy. Some even tried to report me to the church."

"After that, I kept it deep in my heart."

"Until I met you."

The merchant Lionel asked somewhat cautiously, "Lord Sunan, how much do you think this information is worth?"

Su Nan fell into thought, then realized, "So that's how it is."

From this story, Su Nan realized that the petrifying witch was the core organizer of this witch's gathering.

This witches' gathering was probably an organization she created to trade magical resources.

(End of this chapter)